UK OFFICE March 2015 REPORT Prepared by: Venessa Alexander UK Director

Transcription

1 UK OFFICE March 2015 REPORT Prepared by: Venessa Alexander UK Director Tour Operators Lotus Group Met with Sarah Wilson, Hotel Product Director, at their offices in London. Their product is client-driven and accessed mainly via receptives and typically 4/5 star hotels. Room nights in our area were reported at 1,034, slightly down on the previous year. Staff training was offered but they have a preference for online training modules and supplier floor workarounds to minimise time off the phone. They would be keen to discuss marketing opportunities for 2016 and have a client database allowing for some 290,000 monthly newsletters as well as 115,000 e-newsletters. Links to area images were sent as a follow up to the meeting. Funway Holidays Met with Melissa Tilling, Product & Commercial Director, at their offices in Bromley. Melissa was not in a position to provide room night performance data as it is subject to a NDA associated with their affiliated company, The Mark Travel Corporation. However this has been requested and we expect to receive an update next month. Funway are keen to participate in future coop marketing activities and also indicated an interest learning more about becoming a fulfilment partner for any future direct to consumer marketing efforts. Staff training is due to take place in late April and we will review the My America Holiday website and provide images and fresh copy as part of the agreed follow-ups. Meetings/Training/Events Kenwood Travel Area training was provided to the Florida sales team at their office in London. Each member possessed a strong knowledge of the area already but were grateful of the refresh session that included updates about the Opal Sands Resort and the recent TripAdvisor Best Beaches Awards announcement. Kenwood promote a lot of Orlando and St. Pete/Clearwater twin-centre holidays and provided feedback that they could greatly increase their room night sales if there was a public bus or luxury coach service serving the area from International Drive in Orlando. This would give UK families that prefer not to rent a car a cheaper option to travel to the beach after their time at the theme parks. Discover America Copenhagen Workshop Attended this annual trade and press event in the Marriott Hotel, Copenhagen, Denmark on 2 nd March. After an opening speech by the US Ambassador the evening event saw a large number of travel agents and press visit our dedicated table to discuss the area, receive destination brochures and collateral and view an area training video. As highlighted in the previous report we had great support from The Guy Harvey Outpost and Yacht StarShip providing great accommodation and dinner cruise prizes that were highlighted from the stage during the draw at the end of the evening. Trade Shows TUR - Took place in Gothenburg from 20 th to 22 nd March. We exhibited there as part of the Florida s Beaches Consortia in the USA area. TUR is Scandinavia's leading annual fair for the travel, tourism and meeting industries running for four days at the Swedish Exhibition &

2 Congress Centre in Gothenburg. Florida s Beaches participated at the fair which saw 14, 864 visitors and featured 274 exhibitors representing 133 countries and regions. There was great interest shown in our area from a constant stream of visitors to the stand and a large quantity of destination brochures and maps were distributed throughout the three days. TRADE LIAISON UK Ad Campaign The campaign has now ended and results are as follows: - National TV featuring 285 x 30 sec spots over a 4 week period - Sky Go featuring 285 x 30 sec spots over a 4 week period Buses in central London for a 4 week period - 50 Buses in Manchester over a 2 week period Interior rail panels on the national rail network over a 4 week period - 30 Taxis in central London over a 6 week period Total Impressions 44,118,831 Digital media (booked) - PPC text display on Google AdWords delivering 240,000 impressions over 4 weeks - PPC text display on Search Network delivering 240,000 impressions over 4 weeks - Display Advertising on Mobile delivering 33,333 impressions over 4 weeks - Facebook advertising delivering 1250 clicks over 4 weeks - YouTube advertising on Facebook delivering 8000 impressions over 4 weeks - Ad campaign on SkyGo delivering 150,000 impacts over 4 weeks Results of digital display Google Display Network Booked 500,000 impressions/delivered 371,161 impressions/click through rate 0.16% Google AdWords Booked media, clicks to site/delivered 1484 clicks/impressions 212,001/click through rate 0.69% Mobile Booked 1,500,000 impressions/delivered 1,500,666 impressions/clicks 20,156/click through rate 1.4% Facebook Booked 1156 clicks/delivered 1164 clicks/impressions 632,217/click through rate 0.18% YouTube Booked 8000 views/delivered 11,333 views/impressions 141,056 Total Digital Impressions 2,857,101 Total impressions delivered on the campaign - 46,975,932 Youneedsun.com landing page Date Range 1 st Feb 23 rd March 2015 Page views 22,562 Unique Page views 19,961 Average time on page 04:41 Entrances 19,876 Bounce rate 64.77% Competition entries Visitstpeteclearwater.com Date Range 1 st Feb 20 th March 2015 UK visitors to the site 25,226 a 336% increase over the same period 2014

3 Largest % of traffic from London followed by Manchester and Liverpool. London showed a 377% increase, Manchester 301% increase and Liverpool 545% increase Top pages things to do/attractions, webcams and communities Facebook - Total page likes (UK) grew from 3,780 on 1 February to 4,607 on 13 March. An increase of 827 or 22% - Total engagement (clicks) rate grew from 998 in the period 25 Dec-1 Feb to 8,882 for the month of March, an increase of 897% - Total reach of our posts grew from 10,904 in the period 25 Dec-1 Feb to 183,247 during 2 Feb 13 March, an increase of 1680% - Total impressions including shares/likes/news feed placement grew from 23,587 in the period 25 Dec-1 Feb to 224,289, an increase of 951% - The most popular post was the sharing of the YouNeedSun.com competition and beach video while the most popular post from 25 Dec-1 Feb was the sharing of a double-rainbow photograph. - The beach post received 153 likes, 21 comments and 28 shares leading to a reach of 61,200. By comparison, the rainbow post received 34 likes and 0 comments or shares. Therefore the video received 450% more likes. - There were also 1,830 clicks on the link and image while the rainbow image received 8 clicks on the links. Therefore the beach video received 22875% more - The video was viewed 17,570 times. Average time of the video watched was 19 seconds with 2,680 watching the whole 1 minute 30 seconds Media coverage - The Daily Express (10.7 million unique monthly browsers): Story on the survey by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater - Scottish Daily Express online (UMB not available): Story on the survey by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater - Selling Travel (circulation 14,925): Story on the YouNeedSun campaign - Focus On Travel News (71,000 unique monthly browsers): Story on the YouNeedSun campaign - Travel Daily (circulation 44,000): Story on the YouNeedSun campaign - Just About Travel [cdtraveller] (60,000 unique monthly browsers): Story on the YouNeedSun campaign - Travel Bulletin (circulation 7,091): Story on the YouNeedSun campaign Call to action - Virgin Holidays Feedback shows that rooms nights booked in February 2015 were 4% up on the same period in 2014 at 736 room nights. Year to date Virgin Holidays have booked 9238 room nights an increase of 5% over the same period This is tracking slightly higher than overall Florida bookings. Unique visits to the St Pete/Clearwater pages on the Virgin Holidays website are up 82% at Expedia The campaign results from the co-op marketing campaign with Expedia & Hotels.com that ran between 17th December and 14th February have been received. o The campaign delivered 1,504,677 impressions with a CTR of.25% o Room nights booked during the campaign were up 143% versus pre campaign o Room nights booked post campaign were up 6.4% versus pre campaign

4 o Room night booked during the campaign totalled 1,721 versus 1,647 (+ 4%) o The average daily rate spent on a hotel room was down (-4%) from $201 to $193 o Average length of stay was also down slightly (-1%) from 3.53 to 3.51 nights Stella Travel Services The Travel 2 campaign has now ended and the following campaign results were achieved: o A total of 3,491 air passengers booked return tickets to Florida an increase of 70% versus the previous year. o Revenue of 1,067,573 was up some 48% during the same period. o There were 109 room nights booked in St. Pete/Clearwater during the campaign representing an increase of 75.8% (Jan 2014 was 62 room nights). o Campaign e-shots average open rate 18.2% o Online banners 603 clicks o E-shot 1 (30 th Jan) 9,909 opens, 1,328 clicks Signed off various elements of the Virgin Holidays/Visit Florida campaign which we receive as part of our contra deal including digital and direct mail elements. Also received information from Virgin Holidays on their social media posts on SPC that again are part of the contra deal. Secured amended 30 sec ad spot without the Virgin Holidays call to action for use as part of a co-op for video on board Thomas Cook and Aer Lingus flights for summer In addition Cosmos, Ocean Florida and USAirtours will distribute this ad as part of the Orlando video they send to all prospects and their customers which will reach approx 100,000 consumers. A 2 minute destination video will also be shown on British Airways/Visit Tampa/VSPC FAM Trip Work continues on the joint FAM trip to both Tampa and St. Pete/Clearwater that will take place from the 7th 11th May The final itinerary for our area is almost complete and confirmation of all attendees, which will include representatives from Travel 2 and Ocean Florida, is expected soon. Hotelier UK Training Roadshow An itinerary for the forthcoming mini-training mission involving three area hotels reported previously has been finalised. It will commence on 20th April and will include operator lunches, agency visits and some nine training appointments where over 200 agents are expected to be trained during multiple sessions at operator offices in London, Essex, Surrey, Glasgow and the North West. The last appointment is scheduled for 28 th April. Tour America The co-op marketing campaign with Tour America that took place from January to March has now ended. Results have been requested and will be reported next month. McColls Newsagent Promotion. The Brand Awareness campaign with McColls newsagents across 1,293 nationwide stores and featuring Virgin Holidays and Postcard Inn on the Beach ended on 15 th March. Elements included various in-store POS and website banners, a dedicated landing page, inclusion in a direct door drop mailing and an e-newsletter. Exposure results have been received as follows: o In-store POS estimated reach 3,000,000 o E-newsletter estimates reach 150,000 o Online estimated reach 78,000

5 o Loyalty Leaflets estimated reach 650,000 o Total Estimated Reach 3,878,000 o Total Media Value (estimated) - 73,500 o Return on Investment (estimated) 11:1 American Holidays (Ireland) The co-op marketing campaign with American Holidays that took place in February and March and included the screening of cinema advertisements across 84 screens has now ended. Results have been requested and are being prepared and will be reported next month. Visit USA newsletters/websites Provided information on the TripAdvisor Top Beaches Awards for 2015 highlighting St. Pete s Beach position at number two and Clearwater Beach at number 8 for inclusion in the next Ireland and Denmark e-newsletters to both trade and consumer databases. Due to an oversight the article was left out of the Irish e- newsletter but they rectified this with a solus containing an extended version of the article as well as images of both beaches. The Visit USA website in the UK was also updated with the information and image. Gold Medal Travel Finalised all activity for the planned retail promotion in partnership with Gold Medal Travel. The promotion will run during the month of April and will include A3 posters in their top selling UK travel agencies as well as a travel agent training day that will be held at their head office in Preston. Gold Medal Travel Agreement has been reached with Gold Medal to participate in their dual-channel Florida campaign between April and July. The campaign will consist of a trade campaign Ride and Unwind that will be targeted at independent agents and their customers, educating them on how to see more of Florida including the opportunity to unwind at the beaches after time at the theme parks. Separately the customer-facing brand Netflights.com will run a campaign Play & Pause that conveys a similar message promoting relaxation at the beach after the theme parks. Elements within both campaigns include various print and online initiatives as well as an in-store point of sale poster activity for the trade campaign. We are also in discussions with Gold Medal to support our participation with a possible staff incentive for the reservations team during the month of May. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Attended the recent business update conference held by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment at the Soho Hotel in London. Travel Republic The co-op marketing campaign with Travel Republic will end soon with a blog highlighting the fact that both St. Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach finished highly on TripAdvisor s Top 25 Beaches awards for We will soon request results and provide an update on these in the next report. USAirtours The staff incentive highlighted in the last report ended on 31 st March and we have requested results and winners details. Participants across both USAirtours and TravelPlanners brands can enter by making a reservation that includes a stay in our area with the top sellers throughout the incentive period winning Love2Shop vouchers. These will be detailed in the next report.

6 Ocean Holidays Requested details of the proposal for the forthcoming coop marketing campaign with Ocean Holidays. Details expected in early April and will be underpinned by Visit Florida s Slice of Florida initiative which will mean our campaign will be homed on a Visit Florida holding page once it has finished so that consumers can still access the information easily. Room night details for 2014 have been provided and Ocean Florida have reported a 19% increase compared to 2013 with some 1, 049 room nights booked last year. Visit Florida Confirmed our participation as a partner at both the Visit Florida Dublin and London Annual Travel Trade Advisory events that will take place in May. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Provided Simon Parry, Head of Sales for the UK & Ireland with complimentary tickets to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium when he visits the area in June. TUI Finalised the elements of our joint coop marketing campaign in partnership with Visit Tampa Bay. Activities will include trade newsletter adverts, up to 4 regional training evenings, a solus e-flyer distributed to over 800 shops and a half page editorial in a Destination guide. Campaign will run from April to August. ENQUIRIES: Telephone/website enquiries for information and/or literature 48 MARKET INTELLIGENCE: Source Travel Weekly 5th March Florida sees 3.9% visitor rise in 2014 Florida attracted 97.3 million visitors in 2014, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year, as the state recorded its fourth consecutive year of record growth. The UK was the third largest international source market, contributing 1.6 million arrivals out of a total of 11.5 million overseas visitors up 2.6% Canada contributed 3.8 million arrivals, according to tourism marketing body Visit Florida. Chairman Andrew Hertz said: In 2014, a record 97.3 million tourists visited the state of Florida, an increase of 3.6 million people. That means there were nearly 4% more visitor s spending money in Florida last year. Anyone would be happy to see their business grow by 4% year-over-year. But it is absolutely amazing when an entire industry keeps beating record numbers, while adding jobs and supporting the rest of the state s economy. Florida's average occupancy rate last year was 69.7%, up by 4.4% over The average daily room rate rose 5.7% and the number of rooms sold grew by 5.3% compared to The Florida tourism industry has grown from 82.3 million visitors in 2010 to 97.3 million in 2014, said Visit Florida president and chief executive Will Seccombe. With all indicators up taxable sales, ADR, occupancy and rooms sold the industry is firing on all cylinders. Source Travolution 18th March Cruise poised to become big for online travel agents in the UK Is the growing UK cruise set to become a new vertical for the mainstream OTA retail sector? It seems it is. In the week that the largest ever ship built for UK market leader P&O Cruises was officially named by The Queen, getting cruise onto online agency websites is top of the agenda. On Monday dnata, the new owner of cruise retailer Imagine Cruising told Travolution's sister title Travel Weekly that the acquisition will allow it to develop online

7 sales. Central to this could be a presence for cruise on that other dnata-owned UK retailer Travel Republic. Iain Andrew, divisional senior vice-president of dnata s travel business, said Travel Republic boasted a remarkably diverse customer database which offered an opportunity for Imagine s bespoke Masterpiece Collection, as well as regular itineraries. Robin Deller, managing director of Imagine, added: The deal gives us the opportunity to sell cruise to Travel Republic customers. We have done a little testing and the results were what we wanted, so we can now do something more significant. Asked about Travel Republic s traditional focus on beach holidays, Deller said: If you don t have the skills [to specialise], it s best to stay out of it, which is what Travel Republic has done to date. Now, though, we can bring that expertise. Separately, the new boss of Norwegian Cruise Line, Brit Andy Stuart told Travel Weekly that the UK was likely to see online giants like Expedia move into cruise as it has in the US. He said four years ago the sector barely registered for Expedia, but was given main-stage presence at a conference the online giant ran last year in the US. There are many travel partners of all different sizes presenting cruise effectively online, he said. Online agents have shied away from cruise because it s a tricky sell, but Stuart said Expedia was following an offline conversion model driving leads to call centres. Stuart took over the role of president and chief operating officer after 26 years with the company, succeeding Drew Madsen who had been in place just six months. Cruise is set to undergo another period of significant supply growth with a succession of mega-ships set to be launched this year and more on the way. The UK cruise market is the world s second largest behind the US with 1.7 million annual customers, although Germany is catching up fast. Source Travel Weekly 18 th March Phil Boggon departs Monarch Travel Group Monarch Travel Group managing director Phil Boggon will leave the business at the end of next month. Boggon s abrupt departure was announced this afternoon. Richard Francis, finance director of Monarch tour operator Cosmos Holidays, will take over as managing director. He will also replace Boggon on the Monarch group executive committee and report directly to chief executive Andrew Swaffield. Francis has been with Cosmos for more than 14 years. Swaffield said: I m very pleased to announce Richard s appointment and welcome him to the executive committee. His 20 years of tour operating experience, the majority with Cosmos, will be a huge asset to our executive team. Swaffield said: I would like to take this opportunity to wish Phil the very best for his future and thank him for his commitment and outstanding contribution to the tour operating division. Phil and Richard have been working together for some time and I m confident we will see a seamless transition to Richard s leadership. Francis said I m delighted to be moving into the role of managing director of the tour operator. Having been with the company for some years I m looking forward to bringing my experience to this new role and working closely with the executive committee to achieve our objective of creating a sustainably profitable business. Source Travolution 18th March Intuitive solution lets Virgin Holidays sell extras A responsive online attraction ticketing platform has been created for Virgin Holidays, allowing the operator to sell extras to customers in advance. The ivector booking system from technology firm Intuitive has been used as the foundation for the new platform, enabling the operator to manage all bookings through a responsive website and central system. When customers sign in and find their existing booking, the site shows the availability of extras for the dates of their holiday. They can select members of their group, or additional people, before proceeding to buy tickets for their chosen attractions. The automation of the platform is seen as the latest technological innovation from the operator.

8 Bookings are now made by resort staff on Samsung tablets and call centre staff use ivector on PCs. Using the new platform, Intuitive has also completed a project to create a booking system allowing resort representatives to upsell on-site using a tablet. They can retrieve customers bookings, pull up availability and download and print ticket documentation on a handheld ticket printer. Jackie Groves, sales and marketing director at Intuitive, said: We believe our fast, flexible reservation platform provides the perfect solution to help Virgin Holidays maximise the upsell of their attraction tickets. Pauline Wilson, operations director of Virgin Holidays, added: The Intuitive platform provides us with a great opportunity to develop our online concierge service with improved functionality that provides more convenience and flexibility making it even easier for our customers to get the very best from their holiday and create a truly amazing experience. Source Travel Weekly 18th March Budget failure to tackle APD disappoints industry Travel industry bodies expressed disappointment at the Chancellor s failure to review or make fresh cuts in Air Passenger Duty in the Budget. But Abta joined business leaders in welcoming the positive economic indicators outlined by Chancellor George Osborne and a series of business-friendly measures. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: The Government s review of business rates will provide a welcome opportunity to overhaul the outdated and expensive business rates regime. Other measures such as investment in transport infrastructure and tax changes will be welcomed by travel businesses and employees. Tanzer noted: On APD, it is disappointing that Band B APD will rise by inflation from April However, he added: The Government s commitment to looking at the negative impact of devolved APD on England is an opportunity to highlight the damaging impact of this tax overall. Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association (AOA), said: UK levels of APD are the highest in the world and continue to act as a barrier to tourism, trade and investment. UK airports welcome the Treasury s reduction of the longest-haul APD bands and abolishing the tax on children. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the overall rate of APD keeps increasing and is expected to net the Government a staggering 3.7 billion by the end of the decade. Caplan said: The AOA has called for the Government to set out how and when it will respond to the devolution of APD to Scotland, and potentially Wales, so the industry can start planning. We urge Ministers to ensure this process is concluded as swiftly as possible. He added: The Scottish Government could not have been clearer that it intends to reduce APD by 50% as soon as the power to do so has been devolved. The Treasury cannot wait until this happens to respond. British Air Transport Association chief executive Nathan Stower agreed, saying: The Government has missed an opportunity to go further in setting a new course on APD. With the Scottish Government committed to halving APD rates when powers over the tax are devolved, the next Government should avoid unnecessary complication and boost the UK economy as a whole by simply abolishing APD in the new Parliament. Tax specialist Kal Siddique, partner at accountancy and consultancy firm EY formerly Ernst and Young said: It s disappointing the Government has already committed to post-election APD increases from The Treasury appears addicted to the 3 billion in annual APD receipts and is finding it difficult to let go. But Siddique pointed out: APD is a hugely efficient revenue raiser for the Treasury that 3 billion is administered by less than eight people in HM Revenue and Customs, with the bulk of the work done by the airlines as unpaid tax collectors. However, the UK s leading business federation the CBI welcomed the Budget and made no mention of APD. CBI director-general John Cridland said: Stability and consistency are what businesses need to grow and prosper. This Budget sets the tone, providing a clear plan for

9 fiscal health and growth. He added: The Budget has some encouraging measures to help businesses create jobs. Source Travel Weekly 30th March Thomas Cook appoints former Tui UK MD Thomas Cook has appointed former Tui UK managing director Chris Mottershead as business development director. Mottershead, who has been working for Tui in Russia for the last four years, starts at Thomas Cook s Peterborough headquarters on Wednesday (April 1). The appointment means that in a long and distinguished travel career dating back to 1993, Mottershead will now have worked for all the original Big Four vertically integrated operators: Airtours, Tui, First Choice (which he worked for in Canada) and now Thomas Cook. Speaking exclusively to Travel Weekly, he said: I am going to be helping Thomas Cook to improve the quality of their product and developing the business in general. They have already started to introduce differentiated product; having unique hotels that are specific to Thomas Cook is critical. Asked if Thomas Cook was pursuing the same strategy as Tui in that regard, Mottershead replied: It s not that Thomas Cook want to copy Tui. "It's about finding their own steps forward to offer something that others can t, or that isn t comparable online, but is specifically yours. For me, that s the key to making yourself the number-one choice, which is what Thomas Cook needs to do. Mottershead revealed he had always wanted to work for Thomas Cook because of the strength of the brand. It s almost happened in the past on several occasions so it s great to be doing it at long last. It s 100% the right time for me to be doing it. "I believe in Thomas Cook because of the brand, the heritage. It s the original travel brand, so to have completed my career without ever having worked for Cook would have been a very sad thing. Mottershead revealed he had contacted Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser through mutual contacts to ask about joining. I told him I wanted to join Thomas Cook as I believe in what he is trying to achieve, he said. He added: I don t think Thomas Cook is broken, because the brand is so strong. It is in a position to take advantage of the market as it stands for quality and service. "I just need to take a good look at the organisation and see how I can improve it quickly. But it can be done as it s all there. Mottershead stressed he would be looking to work with the existing teams to support them and had no intention of bringing his own people in. Mottershead started his travel career as finance director at Airtours Holidays before being promoted to managing director and then president and chief executive of its North American division. In 2001, he became managing director of Tui UK, a position he held for almost three years before quitting and being succeeded by Peter Rothwell. Between 2005 and 2009 he spent time outside of the majors when he founded and was chief executive of Travelzest, an umbrella firm for a number of niche operators. The acrimonious collapse of Travelzest saw him leave to become First Choice Canada chief executive in 2009, before taking the role of Tui Russia managing director in July 2010 based in Moscow. Mottershead will report to Thomas Cook UK & Ireland managing director Salman Syed, who said: I m delighted to announce this new and exciting addition to the UK management team. Chris has an impressive pedigree in the international travel industry, with substantial experience over a number of years at a senior level. He enjoys an excellent reputation, with a well-proven vision of meeting the needs of customers in an omni-channel, technology-driven world.