Monthly Market Report

Transcription

1 Monthly Market Report October 2012 Germany, Austria, Switzerland

2 Marketing Activity Consumer Update No consumer co-operations and promotions (online & offline) took place in October Technology Update Consumer Newsletter The monthly consumer newsletter was sent on October 21. This time we prepared a pre- Halloween newsletter with a special layout and the following topics: Background information on Halloween Halloween events in California Pumpkin recipes and Halloween package raffle with original Halloween Candy and California backpack to win As many newsletters are sent on Halloween itself we sent ours ten days in advance with the message to prepare and get in the mood. Prior to the main dispatch we conducted a subject line split test with a part of the subscribers to find the better performing subject line (A/B-test). The newsletter continuously reaches good results, which are in line with the benchmarks for leisure and travel B2C newsletters in Germany (opening rate 22.4%, unique clicks 5.64%). Results for the October newsletter will be available soon. We have been working on some design improvements to increase clicks and decrease opt-outs.

3 Latest Web Visitation Statistics Website traffic was stable in September and visits were slightly up compared to the previous month. 17,125 visits from 13,509 unique users were made. Search engines were the largest traffic source with more than 93% (organic and paid); 79.75% derived from our Google AdWords campaign. Almost 74% were new visitors and 26% returning visitors. Visits: 17,125 Unique Visitors: 13,509 Page Impressions: 59,517 Average Time on Site: 00:02:28 Average Page Views: Page Impressions Unique Visitors 0 Mar 09 May 09 July 09 Sep 09 Nov 09 Jan 10 Mar 10 May 10 July 10 Sep 10 Nov 10 Jan 11 Mar 11 May 11 July 11 Sep 11 Nov 11 Jan 12 Mar 12 May 12 July 12 Sep 12 Search Engine Marketing The German Google AdWords campaign is running successfully on an ongoing basis. It is optimized regularly according to ads and keyword performance and is the largest traffic source for the German consumer website. It comprises 14 campaigns (including one on each California region, California in general as well as a banner campaign) with a total of keywords and 250 ad groups. Besides general keywords and ad copy on California, it thus covers all of California s twelve regions.

4 Account performance September: Campaign performance September:

5 Communications Update Clipping Analysis (Highlights) Lifestyle Magazine: audiophil Headline: California Edition Ad value: $590,000/ 440,000 Circulation: 80,000 Reach: 295,000 Result of a media visit in December 2011 Sports Magazine: The Red Bulletin Headline: California Beaches Ad value: $526,039/ 389,658 Circulation: 469,517 Reach: 600,982 National Daily Newspaper: freizeit (Kurier) Headline: Pebble Beach 2012 Tour d Elegance Ad value: $109,000/ 80,139 Circulation: 199,567 Reach: 255,446 Regional Daily Newspapers: Hamburger Abendblatt Title: Dreaming on Highway 1 Ad value: $111,406/ 79,485 Circulation: 206,910 Reach: 370,369 Result of a media visit in November 2011 Travel Magazine: America Journal Title: Skiing in California Ad value: $ 35,632 / 26,394 Circulation: 30,800 Reach: 139,216 Crisis Management No serious incidents.

6 Travel Trade Update A ir Berlin Travel Marts On October 4 and October 11, 2012 Air Berlin and Duesseldorf Airport invited almost 300 travel agents for a get together in Cologne and Duesseldorf to inform about Air Berlin's new business class, their North America flights and of course about the North America destinations it-selves. Therefore Visit California was asked to present California as one of the most important Air Berlin destinations (San Francisco and Los Angeles). Besides California the represented destinations were Los Angeles (Anette), Florida/Miami/The Keys, Arizona, Nevada/Las Vegas and British Columbia. During each evening the travel agents had the possibility to walk around the booths and talk to each rep to get the latest news about a certain destination or to get a first impression of a destination at all. Additionally they could answer a quiz for which Air Berlin sponsored two LA flights and two Las Vegas flights. Both evenings were free of charge for Visit California and a great success considering that we reached 300 interested and curious travel agents. VUSA Halloween Event During the weekend of Oct 26 to Oct 28 the Visit USA Committee Germany invited 26 members (Airlines, Rental Cars, Tour Operators, Destinations) and 150 travel agents to its third Halloween Event at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Frankfurt. We started on Friday evening with a get together of all 26 members to get to know each other and to get instructions for the weekend. Following we decorated the workshop rooms with brand materials and Halloween items. On Saturday morning 150 travel agents arrived from all over Germany. They split into groups and rotated through 13 workshops. Visit California's workshop partner was Steffi Ahlers who represented the California CVBs (San Francsico, Sonoma and San Diego). During the 30 minutes presentation Steffi and I showed the California educational video, which we paused at certain times to give some additional information on regions and attractions. Furthermore I included a slide with the OTP and some general information about California. As far as we know the agents liked this kind of presentation a lot and appreciated the pictures and emotions we provided.

7 In the evening everybody joined the spectacular Halloween Party, which was also organized from the VUSA Germany team. With spooky decoration and delicious food we could take on talks with agents and review the day in a relaxed atmosphere - costumes mandatory! The next day Fraport, Frankfurt Airport's operator, invited everyone to a one hour airport tour before we finally went back home. Online Training Program Statistics (YTD) Number of all users (with no activity + active + completed): 2,020 Number of users completed: 670 Collateral Distribution (September 2012) German Visitors Guides: 1,479 Official State Maps: 2,326 Road Trips: 971 Wholesale Market Good start for winter TUI Travel has closed the summer 2012 season with good results thanks to strong late sales and has made an encouraging start into the winter season, according to its pre-close trading update. The UK-based group said its summer trading had resulted in improved margins and load factors while the encouraging start to winter trading was driven by differentiated products and online sales growth. CEO Peter Long declared: We remain on track to meet our full year expectations, with strong underlying trading offset by the impact of retranslation of fourth quarter Eurozone earnings. Our continued outperformance in a challenging macroeconomic environment demonstrates our robust strategy is delivering clear results. TUI Germany has again performed well this year. Summer revenues were 5% higher, based on a 4% rise in prices and a 1% increase in customer numbers. For this winter, revenues are up by 9% and customer numbers are 7% higher.

8 Autumnal slowdown in September Germans booked fewer holidays in September than the same month last year, according to market surveys, but the underlying conditions for the tourism business remain good. Holiday revenues in travel agencies and at online travel retailers dropped by back 1.6% last month, the latest monthly survey of 1,200 retail outlets by market researchers GfK showed. This was the first monthly decline this year and left the cumulative growth figure for summer 2012 at 9.6%, down from more than 11% in July. Demand was weaker in particular for last-minute holidays but winter holiday bookings and early summer 2013 reservations were also lower, the survey found. Bookings for departures in September fell by 3.8%, leaving the month down by 10.7% for the year to date. Winter sales revenues were also down in September, according to GfK, although the forthcoming season is still up by a strong 10.2% due to good earlier bookings. The winter trend was confirmed by Thomas Bösl, head of the RTK travel agency consortium, which has a 6% rise for summer 2012 but is feeling a chilly start to the winter. We are still behind last year for the winter season, he commented. The initial trend for summer 2013 is also disappointing, although it is still very early in the booking cycle and only some parts of the tour operator programmes have been opened for bookings. The proportion of customers booking holidays from May 2013 onwards was 8.8%, 1.2 percentage points behind last year. The GfK figures were confirmed by the September survey of travel agents by services provider TATS. This revealed a 4% drop in leisure travel sales last month, in terms of revenues of holidays taken, leaving a 3.6% increase for the first nine months of However, in contrast to the weakening booking figures, the underlying outlook for the German tourism market in 2013 remains very positive, according to GfK CEO Matthias Hartmann. The conditions for leisure as a growth motor could hardly be better at present, he told the recent German Tourism Summit in Berlin. The consumption climate in Germany actually went up slightly in September despite the euro-crisis and weakening economic conditions, he said. Consumers were saving less due to low interest rates but buying fewer new cars, thus leaving disposable income free for travel and other activities, he explained. This was underlined by the historic trend for domestic holidays to grow faster than GDP. Hartmann said German travel agencies and tour operators were showing an overall 3% rise for the tourism year, as of end-september. Germany is developing better at the moment than Great Britain or the Netherlands, where bookings for the new tourism year are lower than last year, he commented.

9 New Germany chief wants more satisfied customers and higher margins The new head of TUI Germany, Swedish-born Christian Clemens, wants to improve customer and staff satisfaction with a new corporate culture and more exclusive offers, and achieve higher profit margins. Outlining his plans to German journalists, Clemens stressed he did not want to be seen as a Nordic Mr Internet intent only on more online sales. Better customer and staff satisifaction as well as higher profits were his key aims, he said. Internally, Clemens wants to introduce a new management culture of openness, including symbolic measures such as not wearing a tie, giving up his company car and operating an open door style of management. The Swede confirmed he wants to improve TUI Germany s profit margin from the current 2% to the group average of 3.5% at least. This could be achieved through improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, by offering more exclusive holidays and selling more via the internet. At the same time, the company s structure needed to be as streamlined as possible, he stressed. Clemens said the core TUI brand should not offer everything for everyone and should increase its proportion of exclusive or differentiated offers from the present 60% to 80%. Although he had increased TUI Nordic s online sales proportion to 65%, this was not comparable with the German market and TUI Germany should always have the best offers available in every sales channel, he stressed.

10 Airline Activity Air Traffic Statistics Destinations August January to August Change (%) Change (%) Total passengers , ,1 Germany , ,3 Abroad , ,5 Europe , ,6 European Union , ,5 France , ,5 Greece , ,3 Greek Islands , ,6 Italy , ,2 Austria , ,7 Portugal , ,3 Spain , ,1 Balearic Islands , ,7 Canary Islands , ,2 UK , ,6 Cyprus , ,9 Rest of Europe (Non EU) , ,0 Switzerland , ,9 Turkey , ,2 Antalya , ,7 Intercont. travel , ,5 Africa , ,5 Egypt , ,1 Morocco , ,8 South Africa , ,7 Tunisia , ,3 America , ,1 Brazil , ,1 Dom. Republic , ,1 Canada , ,0 Mexico , ,6 USA , ,6 Asia , ,2 China , ,0 Hong Kong , ,9 India , ,7 Israel , ,0 Japan , ,0 Singapore , ,6 Thailand , ,4 UAE , ,1 Australia/ Oceania , ,3 Source: Federal Statistics Office Germany (2012)

11 Airline and Aviation News Lufthansa to launch new low-cost brand Lufthansa will merge its European and German domestic routes under a new low-cost brand from 2013, hoping to improve profits and fend off growing competition from lowcost carriers. Lufthansa flights within Germany and Europe, excluding those from its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, will be merged with its existing low-cost airline Germanwings. The service will carry over 18 million passengers in its first year. Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, carries around 106 million passengers a year. A decision on the brand name would be made in the coming months. Lufthansa is not the only European legacy carrier trying to find an answer to the low-cost challenge. The French arm of Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM is also overhauling its European passenger network, with plans to develop low-cost unit Transavia. Lufthansa: Savings won't have desired effect in 2012 Lufthansa's efforts to cut costs will be thwarted by higher fuel prices and a weak economy this year, the CEO of Germany's leading airline said. The company launched a savings programme - dubbed SCORE - earlier this year to boost annual earnings by 1.5 billion euros by the end 2014, compared with The airline - whose business is caught between low-cost rivals such as easyjet and Ryanair in Europe and Gulf carriers such as Emirates in the premium long-haul market - has said it has identified more than 1 billion euros in potential cutbacks in its passenger airline business alone. It announced this month that it will merge its European and German domestic routes under a new low-cost brand (see above). While SCORE will reach its target this year, high jet fuel prices and the weak economy, as well as fees and costs for materials, were mitigating its effects. Lufthansa Group lifts passenger figures to over 78 million Lufthansa Group continued the course for further growth in passenger numbers: From January until September 2012 Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried a total of 78.8 million passengers, an increase of 3.5% on the year-earlier level. Capacity rose by 1.8%, while sales increased by 3.3%. The seat load factor in the Group s passenger traffic grew accordingly on the prior-year level by 1.2 percentage points to a total of 79.3%. Lufthansa had a share of 57.2 million in the total number of passengers carried by the Group s airlines. This means 3.6 per cent more passengers opted to fly with Lufthansa in the first nine months than in the same term last year. The strongest increase in passenger numbers was recorded in traffic regions Middle East and Africa and Europe, whereas the number of passengers transported in Asia/Pacific and America remained on the level of SWISS transported around 12.9 million passengers in the nine-month term, an increase of 3.9% in comparison to the previous year. Frankfurt Airport opens Terminal A-Plus as scheduled Frankfurt Airport's new Terminal A-Plus - the 800 meter-long westward expansion of Terminal 1 - opened on schedule after about four years of construction. Flight operations begin on October 10 at the new pier, allowing Germany's biggest hub to serve up to six million additional passengers per year - thus a total of approximately 65 million passengers per year. The 700 million terminal complex will be exclusively used by Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners. In particular, Terminal A-Plus provides more

12 docking positions for serving widebody aircraft like the Airbus A380 superjumbo and the Boeing B747 family. The opening of the new terminal marks a further milestone for Frankfurt Airport and secures long-term development opportunities in an extremely competitive growth market. Frankfurt Airport Reports 3.3 % Rise In Q1-Q3 Passenger Traffic Fraport's Frankfurt Airport in Germany recorded a 3.3 percent rise in passenger traffic during the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2012 to 44.1 million passengers and reported a 1 percent rise in passenger traffic during September to 5.36 million passengers. The airport recorded a 0.1 percent rise in aircraft movements over the first nine months of 2012 to 366,544 takeoffs and landings, while aircraft movements declined 0.7 percent during September to 42,214. Air Berlin, Air France-KLM, Etihad plan partnership Air France-KLM, Air Berlin and Abu Dhabi flag carrier Etihad, plan to offer passengers access to some of each other's services from October 28 in a sign of improving relations between European and Gulf carriers. A codeshare deal with Air France-KLM will enable Etihad customers to fly on KLM's daily Amsterdam-Abu Dhabi flight, while Air France customers will be able to travel on the daily Etihad service between Paris and Abu Dhabi, Air France-KLM said in a statement. At the same time, Air France announced a new code share agreement with Air Berlin, in which Etihad Airways holds a percent stake. The deals are seen as a further step towards improved relations between European carriers and younger state-backed Gulf carriers, which are aggressively growing to gain scale globally. The relative success of the Gulf carriers has been met with charges of unfair competition by struggling European and U.S. airlines, but some industry leaders like International Airlines Group Chief Executive Willie Walsh have backed more alliances between the two camps. Etihad has steamed ahead with its growth strategy this year, signing code share deals and picking up stakes in four carriers including Air Berlin, Virgin Australia and Aer Lingus. Air Berlin Traffic Figures September 2012 Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest airline, reported a decline in passenger numbers and capacity for the month of September, following its earlier decision to reduce capacity and fleet with a view to bringing the company back to profitability. Air Berlin had unveiled its cost-cutting program in August This initiative also includes cancellation of unprofitable routes, flight frequency reductions, the partial withdrawal from regional airports, and the concentration on the Berlin, Düsseldorf, Palma de Mallorca and Vienna hubs. In September last year, the company had also introduced efficiency-increasing program 'Shape & Size', which targets improvement in earnings by 230 million euros in 2012, and cutting debt by 300 million euros. Net debt is targeted to be around 500 million euros by the end of The company is yet to report an annual profit since For month of September this year, Air Berlin welcomed a total of 3.54 million passengers on board, down 4 percent from 3.68 million passengers last year. The airlines reduced its capacity by 6.9 percent to 4.14 million seats, while increasing its capacity utilization rate in the month to percent, up 2.6 percentage points over the percent in the previous year. In August this year, Air Berlin had welcomed a total of 3.57 million passengers on board. During the month, plans were afoot to sell eight of

13 its passenger planes, in an effort to improve equity ratio and liquidity position. This was part of the airline's efficiency improvement program to return to profitability in For the second quarter, the company had reported a pre-tax loss of 82.1 million euros, while revenues improved to billion euros from 1.12 billion euros last year. Single European Sky: EU urges action on joint airspace The European Commission says EU governments could face fines if they continue delaying measures to create a single European airspace. The Commission, responsible for drafting EU laws, says there is too much national fragmentation in Europe's air traffic control - and that costs the EU nearly US$ 6.4 billion (EUR 5 billion) annually. It says the Single European Sky plan could triple air traffic and cut costs. It adds that the US a comparable aviation market - handles twice as many flights for the amount that Europe spends on flight management. Member states which fail to implement EU laws on time can be taken to the European Court of Justice, which has the power to impose fines. Under the plan, the many national air traffic control systems would be merged into nine Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs). Competitor Activity In October, the Frankfurt Book Fair took place with New Zealand as Guest of Honour. Tourism Australia has been very active this month with various new activities and campaigns. Tourism Australia: European travelers discover why There's nothing like Australia Tourism Australia s latest phase of its There s nothing like Australia campaign is rolling out across Continental Europe, with marketing activity underway in Germany, Australia s second largest source of visitors from Europe. German travelers will be able to discover why There s nothing like Australia through broadcast, digital and outdoor advertising promoting indigenous culture, wildlife, nature and outback experiences. Marketing activity will also soon commence in France, with Tourism Australia building on an indigenous art exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, which opens on 8 October, sharing Australia s unique indigenous culture with French consumers. The Minister for Tourism, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP said that a united one voice approach with states and territories working with the Commonwealth, helps strengthen Australia s presence in the dense European market. Continental Europe is an important long term market for Australia, with almost 700,000 visitors to Australia in the 12 months to July 2012 including 150,000 German

14 and 96,000 French travelers our two biggest European markets after the UK, Minister Ferguson said European visitors have long been major contributors to Australia s economy and tourism industry with many young Europeans visiting Australia to study, work and travel through programs such as the Working Holiday Visa program, in many cases providing temporary seasonal labour to Australia s tourism industry. Importantly, European travelers have a high dispersal rate to regional tourism areas such as the outback and North Queensland underscoring the importance of maintaining and growing our share of this market despite Europe s economic challenges impacting on visitor numbers. By marketing Australia s tourism destinations with the cooperation and participation of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, Australia s marketing dollars are able to go further to better expose Australia to this market that could be worth up to $2.3 billion by Tourism Australia launched the latest phase of its There s nothing like Australia campaign in China in June Marketing activity will also take place in Switzerland and Italy as part of the campaign roll out across 18 key international markets over coming months. Tourism Australia signs AUS$14 million joint marketing deal with Emirates Tourism Australia and Emirates have signed a global marketing agreement aimed at using the world's largest international passenger airline's growing network to further boost visitation from key markets in Europe and New Zealand. Under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two parties intend to collectively spend up to AUS$14.3 million over the next three years on a range of joint marketing activities focusing on some of Australia s leading inbound visitor markets the United Kingdom, Germany and New Zealand, in addition to France and Italy. The arrangement will feature joint marketing on traditional and digital media platforms as well as event and sponsorship activities. Both parties have agreed there is now a need for a more strategic, longer term agreement to more effectively market Australia to Emirates extensive global customer base, in particular throughout Europe where the airline is so well established," he said. Emirates AUS$14.3 million partnership with Tourism Australia takes the airline s investment in destination Australia to the next level. This is the largest investment Emirates has ever made with a global tourism body, highlighting our commitment to Tourism Australia s strategy for attracting global travelers, said Andrew Parker, Emirates Senior Vice President, Public, International, Industry and Environmental Affairs. Mr McEvoy said that the markets covered by the new MoU arrangement align strongly with Tourism Australia's 'balanced portfolio' approach and represent another important building block towards Australian tourism achieving its Tourism 2020 strategic goal of doubling annual overnight visitor expenditure to up to AUS$140 billion by the end of the decade. Under the new marketing partnership and in line with our continuing efforts to have our tourism industry speak with one voice in the international marketing of our country, Tourism Australia will seek to work with those of our State and Territory partners who already have agreements in place with Emirates in markets covered by the new MoU, Mr McEvoy said.

15 Tourism Australia and Singapore Airlines team up on German campaign Singapore Airlines is offering German travelers competitive fares to Australia as part of the next phase of Germany s There s nothing like Australia campaign. Running until 25 October, the promotion targets affluent, long-haul travelers in key German regions and showcases iconic Australian nature and wildlife experiences. Promotional activity includes a banner ad and dedicated page on Australia.com and billboard advertising in four key German cities, in conjunction with three German tour operators, Tourism Victoria and South Australian Tourism Commission. A group press trip will follow at a later stage. Tourism Australia Germany launches tablet app and hub pages German travellers can watch inspirational videos, see stunning imagery and research their desired Australian destinations with the new There s nothing like Australia tablet app for the German market. The free, interactive app features breathtaking imagery from the recent TV advertisement and is available for both ios (ipad) and Android. A German language trade widget and Australia.com hub pages in both German and French have also been launched with the latest phase of the Tourism Australia campaign. Australia s best in Germany Sunday Paper Australia s must-do experiences and destinations are the focus of a 6-week campaign running with one of Germany s leading Sunday newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. A 24-page supplement showcasing inspirational travel ideas and a N-TV travelogue on Australia went out to around 380,000 readers on 7 October. The digital campaign on kicked off the following day, for a potential audience of 3.6 million unique monthly viewers. Tourism Australia partnered with five State Tourism Organisations (NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory), five tour operators and Singapore Airlines on this promotion. New Zealand: Guest of Honour 2012 at the Frankfurt Book Fair New Zealand was the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest of its kind in the world, which took place from October 10 to 14, New Zealand presented 5 magical days at the exhibition grounds and in Frankfurt. Visitors anticipated books, stories, exhibitions, music and dance and the spirit of Manaakitanga (sharing, hospitality). New Zealand has used numerous events, exhibitions, presentations, lectures and concerts to showcase a fascinating mix of traditional and modern influences that go beyond the country s literary and cultural treasures. According to the Guest of Honour s motto He meomoea he ohorere/ While you are sleeping/ Bevor es bei Euch hell wird

16 New Zealand has shown what lies on the other side of the earth, waiting to be discovered. More than 60 New Zealand authors were in Frankfurt, along with New Zealand performers, artists and chefs. Guest could see what the country has to offer in the New Zealand Pavilion, throughout the Book Fair and around Frankfurt. Discussions, readings, and multi-media events with leading New Zealand writers took place under the pavilion s starry sky over the five days of the fair. The pavilion, the center stage, with impressive state of the art technology and its magical appeal lured the visitors right into the fascinating stories from Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud (as New Zealand is called). Daily performances, dances and exhibitions offered an in depth look into the heart of New Zealand s culture. The cultural program provides us with yet another opportunity to depict New Zealand and our society. In our program, the visitors in Frankfurt can discover the magic of our country, while realizing that New Zealand is an innovative and exciting place. In addition to 68 newly translated books from New Zealand, ranging from light fiction to scholarly literature, graphic novels, comics and non-fiction books, there were also a series of lectures and talks serving this aim. The once in lifetime opportunity of the Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour status not only raises the profile of New Zealand s literary and cultural life in Germany (and Europe) this year, but has ongoing benefits for trade, tourism and creative, education, cultural and publishing industries. New Zealand has already received focused, extensive press coverage in Germany as result of our Guest of Honour status, and there is a lot more to come, said Kevin Chapman, president of the Publishing Association of New Zealand. South Africa: Over the next 3 months virtual visitors will experience the Mother City via a Facebook-based travel app Cape Town Tourism has launched a unique Facebook travel app that will see a major influx of 'virtual' visitors to the Mother City. Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, Cape Town Tourism CEO, explains: The Facebook app is a creative user experience that utilises the latest technology and Facebook s immense global reach to raise awareness of one of Africa s most beautiful and inspiring cities. From October, Facebook users around the world will be able to send their Facebook profile on a holiday to Cape Town and stand the chance of winning a trip to the city for real, she says.

17 The Facebook travel app is fun and entertaining, and users can tailor-make experiences that fit their personal interests with a unique itinerary designed around their perfect Cape Town holiday. The app offers a wide variety of experiences and is a marvellous interactive showcase of what the city has to offer as a world-class leisure destination. Anyone signing their profile up for a trip gets a boarding pass in their profile's name from their home town and heads off on a 5 day virtual trip to Cape Town, Du Toit- Helmbold explains. Each day they receive an update with photos of where their profile ate, went, partied or stayed with gripping point-of-view photos and videos showing the full experience. Cape Town Tourism continues to lead the trend in terms of social media in the travel space. Du Toit-Helmbold believes the campaign will give thousands of people a chance to do a virtual test drive of a trip to Cape Town in a really engaging way, and it should whet appetites around the country and around the world resulting in more arrivals for Cape Town. Economy Economic Indicators 2nd Quarter /- to 1st Quarter 2012 GDP: billion EUR +0.7% GDP Growth: +3.0% +3.7% September /- compared to Sep Consumer Price Index: % Unemployment Rate: 6.5% -0.1%

18 Exchange Rate As of October 30, 2012: 1 US$ = Euro; 1 Euro = US$ The exchange rate in comparison 2011 and 2012 ( for 1 US$): 0,9 0,8 0,7 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Economic News September 2012: employment growth looses momentum In September 2012, a total of 41.8 million persons were in employment whose place of residence was in Germany, according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The number of persons in employment was thus by 324,000 above the level of September 2011, which is an increase of 0.8%. Employment growth on the preceding year continued in September 2012 with ebbing momentum: the relative increase on the same month of the previous year had amounted to 1.4% in January 2012 and fallen by 0.6 percentage points by the current reference month. The number of unemployed was some 2.20 million persons in September 2012, which is a decline of about 48,000 from September 2011.