Northeast and Southeast doing well so far in 2025, West Coast less so

As we enter 2025, post-COVID US inbound travel continues to grow overall, but some regions fare better than others.

In part because travel to Europe and the Caribbean has become significantly more expensive since the pandemic, inbound travel to the Northeast and Southeast US - e.g., NYC and Miami - is growing strongly in 2025 from source markets that include Canada, Europe and Latin America.

With the USD at 0.98 Euro today, the US is looking especially good to residents of the Eurozone.

And US inbound travel from India is growing strongly - potentially by double digits in 2025 - as household incomes in India have grown.

But recovery of demand for US travel from traditional Asian markets China and Japan continues to lag, to the detriment of San Francisco and other West Coast destinations. The yen recently dropped to a 34-year low against the USD. If that situation continues, Japanese tourists could in the long term abandon Hawaii and California for lower-priced Asia-Pacific destinations.

How will US inbound trend in 2025 - overall and by region? Stay tuned.

Heidi Barfels named VP/Marketing and Communications at Visit Florida Keys

Heidi Barfels

The Monroe County (FL) Tourist Development Council has announced the appointment of Heidi Barfels as VP/Marketing and Communications of Visit Florida Keys. Ms. Barfels will be responsible for advertising, branding, PR, social media and website and content marketing for Visit Florida Keys. For the past 3 years she has been CMO of Visit Estes Park CO, and has previously held marketing positions at Visit Lauderdale, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and the Mandarin Oriental Group..

In August, then- Visit Estes Park CEO Kara Franker was hired as President and CEO of Visit Florida Keys. Ms. Franker said of Ms. Barfels:

“Heidi is a proven go-getter in the tourism industry and is the kind of innovative leader we need on the team.”

Mexican citizens now need eTA or visa to visit Canada

Since 29 February 2024, Mexican citizens have new requirements for visiting Canada.

Policy change - which does not apply to Mexicans who hold valid work or student permits - is believed to be driven by a surge in asylum claims.

Mexican citizens who hold a valid US non-immigrant visa or have held a Canadian visa in the past 10 years and will be traveling to Canada by air can apply to the Canadian government for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).

All others need to apply for a Canadian visitor visa and pay a fee of approximately $100.

Mexico is a major tourism source market for Canada. In 2023, nearly 600K Mexican citizens visited Canada and spent more than $750M.

The upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup - which Canada will be co-hosting with Mexico and the US - is expected to bring many Mexican visitors to Canada.

Some Canadian tour operators and other tourism businesses are complaining that the new visa requirement has killed their April-May business and caused them significant losses in cancellation fees and revenues forgone.

Pent-up travel demand to overcome inflation?

Florida-based travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth has released results of research suggesting that pent-up demand for travel will overcome the effects of inflation and lead to the full recovery of international travel in 2023.

Key findings:

• Nearly 90% of insured travel in 2023 will be to international destinations.
• International travel will reach pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
• Antarctica will be a top destination for the first time in 2023, also the most expensive destination.
• Top destinations will include:
  • Israel
  • Costa Rica
  • Japan
  • France
  • Spain
  • Mexico
  • Italy
• Travelers will be less concerned about COVID, more concerned about canceled flights

Comment: For reasons including unknown size, characteristics or timeframe of data sample and the fact that it includes only travel insured by Squaremouth, I'm inclined to be skeptical of these predictions. I'm presenting FYI only.

Hawaii tourism promotion remains in limbo

On his last day in office Monday 5 December 2022, outgoing Hawaii Departtment of Business, Economic Development & Tourism Director (DBEDT) Mike McCartney rescinded the state's US market brand management contract awarded in June to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), and canceled the RFPs for that contract.

McCartney said in letters sent to the parties involved that he no longer believes that it's in the best interests of the prople of Hawaii to award a single contract, but that instead there should be 2 contracts: one for marketing communications and trade marketing, the other for destination brand management and community-based economic development.

CNHA has filed and later updated a protest.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) - which had previously held the US contract - has continued to provide destination marketing services during the ongoing dispute over the June contract award, and has just received an additional 6-month extension.

A Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) spokesperson said its board will work with the new DBEDT director on going forward with tourism promotion.

I'm thinking: too many cooks spoil the broth.