Webinar: How to Work with China's Travel Trade

On Tuesday 30 July 2024 - at 4 AM (US EDT) | 9 AM (UK) | 4 PM (CN) - Beijing-based travel marketers Dragon Trail International will present in conjunction with China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) the results of their second annual Chinese Outbound Travel Trade Survey including the most up-to-date insights on working with Chinese travel agents in 2024.

Speakers will be:

• COTTM Sales Manager Jane Carter
• Dragon Trail Int'l Market Research Analyst Janice Meng
• Dragon Trail Int'l Director of Marketing & Communications Sienna Parulis-Cook

The webinar is free, and recordings will be shared with attendees, but registration is required:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rKjzRR6WRKGogeeA40ID1w#/registration

COTTM 2024 will take place in Beijing 16-18 October 2024.

Rhode Island launches "All That" tourism campaign

New RI tourism campaign "All That" was produced for Rhode Island Commerce by Florida-based Zimmerman Agency as a $482K piece of a $2.2M advertising contract awarded in June 2023.

The campaign, which highlights RI's diversity of tourism offerings, is being kicked off on network TV's The Jennifer Hudson Show. Other media used will include billboards, social media, digital and broadcast ads.

Centerpiece of the campaign is 6 videos with scenes of Providence, Newport, Castle Hill, Block Island, Narragansett and other tourist spots.

Print ads feature photos organized around themes like food, history and outdoors.

The launch video posted on Vimeo has as of right now (28 February 2 PM) received 4 comments, all of which are negative.

Will the new campaign outperform "Cooler & Warmer", "Fun Sized" and the "stuffies"? Stay tuned.

Tourism Ireland launches major 2024 ad campaign

Tourism Ireland has begun rolling out its major 2024 ad campaign to Britain, the US, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

It's anticipated the campaign will produce almost 100M ad impressions during the Christmas-New Year period.

Target cities and media by market:

• Britain: TV and BVOD ads, some running on ITV around entertainment and sports programming - 6M ad impressions; ads in 6050 cinemas reaching 3M consumers; YouTube ads with 3M impressions
• US: Network TV ads running in 11 cities - including Denver and Minneapolis which will have new direct flights to Dublin in 2024 - on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox
• Germany: TV ads including around Christmas movies on ZDF, RTL and Sat.1; also on CTV; ads in 808 cinemas in 540 cities reaching 1.5M people
• France: Ads around travel programs Echapees Belles and Les Nouveaux Nomades ; ads in cinemas around Paris and in cities with direct flights to Ireland including Nantes, Toulouse, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice, Carcassonne, Montpellier and Rennes expected to reach over 4M people
• Spain: Partnership with Movistar+ to create a new TV show Presenting: The Craic Show - Irlanda Legendaria hosted by comedians Joaquin Reyes and Patricia Conde
• Italy: Ireland ads running on 32 outdoor digital screens in the Gae Aulenti district of Milan, also online, with 6.1M ad impressions

Pre-COVID, in 2019, Ireland welcomed 11.3M overseas visitors who spent nearly 6 billion euro.

OTA loyalty programs threaten direct hotel bookings

Loyalty programs built by Expedia and Booking.com during the COVID pandemic are paying off now by enabling these OTAs to offer their members prices below direct booking prices being offered by hotels.

Both of these programs have more than 170M members who have access to membership rates at 360,000 participating hotels. That kind of reach gives OTAs increased market share, more repeat business and lower marketing expenses.

Hotels are now getting margins on bookings done through these loyalty programs that are around 18% below margins on direct bookings.

And on top of that, it's becoming more difficult for hotels to do direct bookings of consumers who use Google and other search engines because of changes related to increasing privacy concerns, and the phasing out of third-party cookies.

Accordingly, hotels are faced with a choice between (1) continuing to price above OTAs, losing direct bookings and making 18% less margin or (2) dropping rates and increasing marketing to get more direct bookings while retaining enough of that 18% differential to gain a larger net margin.

What will hotels do? Stay tuned.

2023: Final phase of travel recovery from COVID-19?

A new report by tour booking and payment platform WeTravel suggests that global travel and tourism will be back to "normal" by the end of 2023, but with big changes.

• 2023 could see 1.6B tourist arrivals, up 30% from 2022.
• 22% of US and European travelers may opt for more sustainable options vs. air travel
• 55% of travelers will be seeking simpler, more down-to-earth experiences.
• 50% say they look forward to experiencing "complete culture shock."
• Millennial and GenZ travelers will seek "pre-digital" experiences.
• 42% will opt for health-focused retreats.
• Tour operators expect to see an average of 58% revenue growth by 2025.
• Travelers aged 31-45 will dominate bookings (50%, +11% vs. 2019).
• More than 25% of tour operators claim their 2023 tours are more than 75% sold out.
• Bookings from travel agents will double compared to 2019, but half of all bookings will be direct via website or phone.
• 60% of operators say travelers are booking less than 3 months prior to departure.
• Only 30% of tours will be paid by cash or check.
• More than 75% of operators have increased prices by more than 10% vs. 2019.
• Demand for Asia and Australia is up, that for Europe down, other regions flat with 2018.
• 94% of travel advisors offer tour add-ons:
  • Activities and excursions (71%)
  • Meal plans (35%)
  • Transfers (29%)
• 94% of travel advisors' clients will pay be credit card.
• Group tour sizes will be:
  • Fewer than 10 persons (64%)
  • 11-20 persons (27%)
  • More than 21 travelers (9%)
• How operators will grow revenue:
  • Shift demand away from all-inclusive packages (56%)
  • Add departure dates (25%)
  • Increase depth of tours (16%)
• Threats identified by operators:
  • Down economy, pandemic, extreme weather (89%)
  • Staff shortages, supply crisis, room availability (22%)
  • Lack of access to money (15%)

Actions WeTravel recommends for travel sellers include:

• Target women and persons aged 35+
• Accommodate shorter lead times, or offer discounts for earlier booking
• Shift offerings away from Europe to Asia, Australia, Latin America. (US domestic remains strong.)
• Increase online direct booking options
• Increase prices slowly
• Offer flexible payment options
• Offer refunds as a value proposition

I would add to those recommendations: take full advantage of all of Google's travel products and services, particularly paid ads which although getting more expensive under conditions of tighter competition for consumer dollars in this down economy have essentially a lock on best ROI.