“Table of Eight” – February 17, 2010 – Part 1

The HSMAI-South Florida chapter’s February meeting was held yesterday at the Design Center of The Americas in Dania Beach, FL. A crowd of about 100 people were in attendance to hear speakers Alfredo Gonzalez, VP of International Tourism, Great Fort Lauderdale CVB, and Virginia Sheridan, President, M. Silver Associates Public Relations, speak on international tourism and review trends for our industry. In addition, we heard from DCOTA about the facility as well as from Condor who will be introducing new nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale to Frankfurt, Germany beginning May 14th.

It was so nice to see some “old” friends as well as a lot of new faces in attendance. A portion of monies from the monthly raffle were designated from this meeting for the UNICEF Children’s Fund for children in Haiti. What a wonderful idea! A surprise drawing awarded two airline tickets on Condor to Frankfurt. Congrats to Bruno Perez (RevParGuru) on his raffle win.

Alfredo highlighted ten megatrends in International Tourism. He talked about its 1) Growth: Travel is a “right”, a necessity. 2) Energy Demand: With no other alternatives to jet fuel in the near future, airline pricing will continue to be a concern. 3) Rising Climate of Fear: Some people are making decisions based on this; triggered by the news media; more people are just adapting v.v. their travel decisions. 4) Participant Economy: Consumers are in the drivers’ seat. What do consumers want/feel? 5) Experiential economy: Consumers have “live your life” attitude; they have the basics; now they are willing to pay more for experiences than possessions. 6) Socio-Demographic Disparities: Social behavior is changing attitudes; aging population is now “hip”. 7) Urbanization: By 2020, 60% are living in a city. (Need to travel to “escape”) 8) Mobility: Traveling further and farther and more often. Decisions to travel (even in Europe) made by women. Wider use of Internet/multiple channels. 9) Global Warming – most not concerned, but… 10) Sustainability: going green becoming important and changing the way they buy travel. . (Comments are from my notes; presentation slides will be on the chapter’s website: http://www.hsmaisouthflorida.org/ under resources.)

In addition, Alfredo discussed consumer trends in Europe. What has changed in the last ten years? One of the main differences was the increased use of the internet. He mentioned the importance of not just dealing with tour operators, alone, as in certain markets consumer buying online has increased to about 50% and up. Knowing your market is important as not all behave the same (Sweden, e.g. 93% do their research online and 48% actually buy online; In Italy, however, only 17% actually buy online). There are new consumers: active seniors, extended family groups, cosmopolitan consumers, and the affluent.

To be continued... Best, HSMAInsider, Julie Wernick