“Table of Eight” – February 17, 2010 – Part 2

The HSMAI-South Florida chapter’s monthly meeting was held Wednesday. Alfredo Gonzalez, VP of International Tourism, GFLCVB, and Virginia Sheridan, President, M. Silver Associates Public Relations, spoke about international tourism and travel trends. In addition, we heard from Biki Khurana, Managing Director of Condor. The airline will be starting flights between FLL and Frankfurt on May 14th with 540 seats weekly.

In Part 1 of our “Table of Eight” column, I highlighted Alfredo’s remarks. This is a continuation of that first column. (As previously mentioned, comments are from my notes; the presentation slides will be posted on www.hsmaisouthflorida.org under resources.)

After Alfredo spoke, we heard from Biki Khurana about the tourism potential of the German market. Some positives: the favorable exchange rate, fairly strong economy (only 3% down), their love of travel, and their 6 weeks annual vacation time. This market is increasingly using the internet (up to 56%), but most still go to a travel agent to book once they’ve done their research. For this market, it is important to work with the various tour operators (there are 5 big ones as most have consolidated). A recent travel agent survey indicated 82% sell Florida most frequently (50% of people coming to a t.a. book a trip to the U.S). In addition, Biki stressed that we should have a German language website to reach this market.

Virginia Sheridan talked about changes since her last presentation at the October GFLCVB’s marketing meeting. She noted that even experts disagree on whether we were or are still in a recession or a depression. Overall there is a general feeling of a more positive outlook for 2010. There’s some good news, but still facing some problems (tight credit; high unemployment; less time off; shorter vacations, et al). 2009 was bad for all areas of travel especially the airline industry (and hotel occupancies were down 55%).
What is the 2010 outlook? More/lot of the same; recovery in 3 to 4 years; consumer spending is stabilizing; ancillary fees are increasing which people are adjusting to in the airline industry (but don’t like in the hotel industry – creating more “shopping around”).

Some good news: some small increases in domestic/biz/leisure travel; increased travel from Brazil(Latin America);Luxury travel has increased some 5-8%;gas prices will not have much of an impact; Destinations catering to luxury vacationers will see an end to visitor declines; More “escapism” travel.

Here are some of the top tourism trends mentioned by Virginia: social groups; celebrations; hospitality industry incentives, e.g. credits, discounts, etc.; low cost airlines attracting the biz travelers; average number of hotel nights may increase; unpredictable booking cycles making it harder to forecast; consumers taking the deal – value is the #1 factor in travel; “Perkonomics” – rewarding your best customers differently than your other customers as loyalty programs become more customized; the growing importance of “doing the right thing” – social and environmental responsibility.

As buzz words come and go, we always hear them first from Virginia. Back a couple years ago, at another of her presentations, we learned the word “mancation” (and you can read about this in one of my old columns) which then became as popular (and overused) as the later phrase “staycation”. So keep your ears open for the “new normal” and for “perkonomics”, as I’m sure you’ll begin to see both these terms every where in the near future. Thanks Virginia for bringing us up to date.

Just a reminder: Send in your news for inclusion in the next “Around Town” column. Best, Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider.

“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