CENTRAL EUROPEAN OFFICE

Transcription

1 CENTRAL EUROPEAN OFFICE N O V E M B E R 2016 Prepared by: Marion S. Wolf Director Central Europe MARKET INTELLIGENCE / TRENDS Tour Operator Revenues Drop on Turkey Slump German tour operators have suffered their first revenue declines for years after massive sales declines for Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia outweighed growth for other destinations and travel products. Tour operators saw their combined revenues drop by 4% to 26.3 billion in the tourism year ending October 31, which is about 1 billion less than last year, according to figures presented by the German Travel Association (DRV) at its annual conference in Berlin. Travel agency sales dropped by 2-3% to about 23 billion, with lower leisure travel sales and stable business travel sales at about 7.4 billion. The main reason for the market downturn the first since 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis is that package holiday bookings for Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia dropped by between 40% and 60%. DRV president Norbert Fiebig said there was clearly a switch in the travel flows of German holidaymakers from East to West this year, citing GfK market research figures. But he admitted that strong growth for the Western Mediterranean, longhaul destinations and cruises could not offset the declines for Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. On the positive side, Spain, and especially the Balearics and Canaries, saw strong growth this year on already very high volumes. In addition, Portugal, Greece and Bulgaria generated double-digit growth in travel agency bookings this summer. Moreover, Germans booked more long-haul holidays and cruises this year. Sales of cruise holidays grew by a high single-digit figure thanks to new ships and new offerings, according to Fiebig. Tour operators increased revenues from long-haul bookings by 3%, and the segment now accounts for 22% of travel agency sales, according to the DRV. In terms of destinations, there was good growth for the Caribbean (+16%), led by the Dominican Republic and Cuba, for Africa (+14%) and the UAE. In contrast, demand for the USA and Thailand was somewhat weaker this year. TUI Germany: Hotel Portfolio Doubled for Summer 2017 TUI has presented a massive hotel capacity increase for next summer as it aims to extend its German market leadership. Like all tour operators, TUI has suffered this year from the slump in bookings for Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, but says it has kept revenues stable by switching customers to alternative destinations in the Western Mediterranean and elsewhere. TUI s main destination winners this summer were Spain, including a 30% revenue rise on the Canaries, Italy and Greece. 1

2 Germany chief Sebastian Ebel, who is targeting a 25% market share within the next few years, claimed the market leader gained 1.5 percentage points this summer, giving it a 22.3% share. For next summer, TUI is doubling its overall hotel portfolio to 150,000 properties, with new hotels mostly in long-haul, self-drive and city destinations, along with 300,000 holiday homes. Our ambition is to offer customers the biggest and best variety in the market, Ebel declared. There will be 15 new TUI brand hotels. In Italy, the hotel portfolio has been expanded by 50% with 1,000 new properties. There will be three new own-brand hotels in the country, with two adults-only Sensimar properties in Calabria and on Sardinia and a five-star TUI Blue hotel in the group s Castelfalfi holiday village in Tuscany. In Spain, TUI will increase capacity for the Canary Islands by 20% and sees great growth potential for mainland destinations, especially Andalusia, where it has increased flights to Malaga and Jerez, and expanded its program for Huelva. In Greece, hotel capacity for Crete, Rhodes and Kos has been increased by 40% and there is more flight capacity from Germany, including on new Easyjet flights from Berlin. Elsewhere in Europe, TUI has increased capacity for other destination winners of this summer, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal and Austria, and added city breaks in Scandinavia. Among long-haul destinations, TUI claims to have overtaken Dertour as German market leader to North America this winter, and has expanded its summer 2017 program for the continent by adding more hotels as well as Alaska and Yukon tours. Prices will remain stable overall, according to TUI. Holidays in Spain will go up by 3% on average but Turkey will be 5% cheaper and prices will also be lower in various long-haul destinations. DER Touristik: Biggest-Ever Program to Mark Centenary DER Touristik has presented its largest-ever program for summer 2017, a refreshed look for Dertour and a new cruise cooperation after mixed results this year. Germany s third-largest tourism group had a slight drop in revenues this summer, with growth in destinations such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Greece and various long-haul destinations failing to compensate for the heavy downturns for Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. The winter 2016/17 season also has seen a fall in sales so far, but early bookings for next summer have started well. Nevertheless, René Herzog, CEO Central Europe, is cautious about the outlook. The travel flows that we experienced this year will also continue next year, he predicted. Next year is a special centenary year for the company as its predecessor, Deutsches Reisebüro (DER), was founded in We ll celebrate this proud event appropriately, declared Herzog. The main innovation is a new look for Dertour, the largest brand, with a corporate design and logo similar to that of the overall group instead of the former colorful logo with a palm-tree. The claim has been modernized to Für mich. Perfekt ( For me. Perfect ), designed to reflect the brand s mix of flexible individual holidays with high quality standards. Matthias Rotter, managing director of DER Touristik Frankfurt (which operates the Dertour, Meier s Weltreisen and ADAC Reisen brands), explained: We want to sharpen our profile and position ourselves more clearly as part of the group with the new red logo. 2

3 For summer 2017, DER Touristik, with its six tour operator brands, has released a total of 76 brochures, its largest-ever number, covering a wide range of destinations around the world with an extensive portfolio of hotels and tours. Prices are mostly stable compared to this year, with increases for Spain and reductions for Egypt and Turkey. Thomas Cook: Lower German Profits and Condor loss Thomas Cook s German businesses suffered from the dramatic drop in Turkey bookings this year, but the group achieved overall stable results in a tough year. Europe s second-largest tourism group had a turnover decline of just 0.3% to 7.8 billion ( 9.2 billion) in the year ending September 2016 thanks to steering bookings to alternative destinations and positive currency effects from the strong Euro. Operating profits fell slightly to 308 million, but net profits dropped to just 9 million. As market leader to Turkey in both the German and British markets, Thomas Cook has been particularly hit by the slump in demand for the destination this year. The group s revenues from Turkey bookings dropped by 47% this year, while Egypt dropped by 54%. But the company managed to compensate by steering customers to the Western Mediterranean and long-haul destinations. Revenues from Spain holidays grew by 8% and long-haul holidays by 17%. CEO Peter Fankhauser stated: In what s been a difficult year for tourism, I m pleased with the progress that we ve made at Thomas Cook. The early actions we took to shift our holiday program into the Western Mediterranean and long haul, together with the benefits of a stronger Euro, helped us to maintain revenue at group level. Condor has been impacted even more by the Turkey crisis and has fallen into the red this year. It cut Turkey capacity by 40% early this year and switched planes to Spanish routes where prices were under pressure from strong competition. As a result, the airline s revenues dropped by 3% to 1.25 billion and last year s operating profit of 66 million turned into a loss of 10 million this year. The airline has now launched several initiatives to return to profit next year and improve its result by 35 million a year from 2018 onwards. Long-haul flights will be expanded rather than short- and medium-haul routes, the flight schedule will be made more flexible and cooperation deepened with the German tour operating business, and cost savings will be sought. More Germany-US Flights Next Summer Lufthansa's budget airline Eurowings will launch flights with its fourth A330 from Cologne/Bonn to Orlando and Seattle from July There will be twice-weekly services to Orlando and three weekly flights to Seattle. Other long-haul destinations next summer will include Boston, Las Vegas and Miami in the USA, Cuba (Havana, Varadero), the Dominican Republic (Puerto Plata, Punta Cana), Bangkok and Mauritius. Since starting long-haul budget flights one year ago, Eurowings has flown 420,000 passengers to various destinations in North America, the Caribbean and Asia. Rival Condor will also add another US destination with the start of twice-weekly flights from Frankfurt to Pittsburgh next June. The airline has already announced San Diego and New 3

4 Orleans as new US destinations next summer. In total, the leisure airline's long-haul fleet of 16 B767s will serve 39 destinations in summer 2017, including 16 in North America. Moreover, Delta Air Lines will expand its Germany flights to eight daily next summer with the start of seasonal summer flights from Detroit to Munich in May With eight flights a day next summer, Germany will be Delta's fourth-largest European market, said Dwight James, Senior Vice President Transatlantic. Meanwhile, Lufthansa, Eurowings and Air Berlin are all facing more turbulence. Lufthansa's pilots are threatening once again to go on strike over failed pay talks. The pilots union Cockpit is seeking a 20% pay increase to cover the last five years when there were no salary increases, but Lufthansa wants another year with a pay freeze. Pilots have already gone on strike 13 times in the dispute, which has been running since April The Lufthansa Group will need to find a new Eurowings boss next year after 60-year-old Karl Ulrich Garnadt announced his retirement next spring. The experienced manager, who has held diverse posts at Lufthansa during a long career, took over as head of the budget airline in December 2015 and was tasked with building it into an effective competitor on European and long-haul routes. Air Berlin's finances have worsened after it made a surprising net loss of about 46 million in the third quarter of this year compared to last year's Q3 net profit of 56.2 million, and revenues dropped by 5% to 1.23 billion. CEO Stefan Pichler blamed the loss on tough price competition and restructuring costs, and warned that he did not expect an improvement in the fourth quarter. Normally airlines make their biggest profits in the summer and can thus compensate for losses in the winter season. Ryanair Takes on Lufthansa in Frankfurt Ryanair will directly take on Lufthansa and Condor at Frankfurt Airport with the launch of flights to Spain and Portugal next summer, prompting competitor claims that it is benefitting from discounted airport charges. Europe s largest low-cost airline and Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport jointly announced that Ryanair will station two B s at Germany s largest airport starting next March and initially operate daily flights to the prime holiday destination airports of Palma, Malaga, Alicante and Faro. The launch is the latest move by Ryanair to operate more flights from major German airports to broaden its customer base, especially among business travelers, and is a direct challenge to Lufthansa at its main hub as well as to Thomas Cook s German carrier Condor, which is based in Frankfurt. The Frankfurt-Majorca route is already operated during the summer by Lufthansa, Condor, Air Berlin, TUIfly and Sun Express. In response to Ryanair s impending arrival at their largest airports, Lufthansa and Condor both criticized lower charges for the aggressive budget airline. Condor chief Ralf Teckentrup warned that Ryanair would get a cost advantage of 15-20% at Frankfurt for years to come. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr declared at his presentation of the Q3 results that he wants Lufthansa to get the same conditions as Ryanair next summer. Similarly, Michael Engel, president of the German Airlines Association (BDF), said: If these cheaper conditions exist, then they must apply for all airlines. Engel said Frankfurt Airport s new charges scheme, which would apply from January 1, 2017, offered discounts of up to 40% for newcomers, which discriminated against carriers already operating at the airport. It cannot be that the red carpet is rolled out for competitors with unequal preferential conditions, and those (airlines) 4

5 that have financed Frankfurt s infrastructure expansion for many years with high charges now have to pay up for Ryanair, he declared. US Election: German Travel Industry Worries About Trump Effect on US Bookings The German travel industry has mixed views about the election of Donald Trump as the next US President, with some travel agents warning about a negative impact on the image of the USA. The German Travel Association (DRV), which represents the vast majority of German travel agents and tour operators, kept to a neutral standpoint, stating: It is far too early to speculate about consequences. No one knows whether anything will even change concerning immigration rules, and if so, then what. But in an online survey by TravelTalk.de (a fvw.de sister website), which was conducted ahead of the November 8 th election, more than 40% of respondents said a victory for Trump would be bad for the image of the USA and would keep Germans from visiting the country. More than 40% also feared the Republican could damage US tourism by toughening immigration regulations. Only 10% believed his election would not affect travel to the USA. In contrast, tour operators said they did not expect that a Trump victory would result in fewer bookings for the USA. Moreover, experts noted that if the US Dollar weakens in the coming months, that could even boost demand by reducing the overall costs for trips to the USA. Canusa chief Tilo Krause-Dünow admitted that the election result had surprised him, but stressed that he expected the USA to remain a big magnet for tourists and did not foresee a drop in bookings. We don t expect any drop in business, he declared. The US election campaign had not had any impact on early bookings for next year, he pointed out. Michael Merkentrupp, managing director of the North America specialist CRD International, commented: As a specialist, we see ourselves less affected than large tour operators as we have passionate and loyal North America customers. We assume that they will not be influenced by the election result. Speaking ahead of the election, a DER Touristik spokeswoman commented: We don t expect any fall in US bookings if Trump wins the election. A USA trip is the trip of a lifetime for many holidaymakers. A Thomas Cook spokeswoman commented similarly: We don t expect any consequences for our USA business or trips to the USA. Some portals were quick to ask consumers about their views. One third of respondents to a survey by Urlaubsguru.de said they would avoid the USA in future, but 55% said the election result would not affect their travel planning. One winner, however, could be Slovenia, the birthplace of the future First Lady, Melania Trump, which might be able to attract more international tourists as a result of the publicity surrounding the US election. An area of uncertainty is immigration. During the election campaign Trump not only promised to build a wall to Mexico, but to keep Muslims out of the country and even to toughen entry regulations extremely for Germans and French as these countries were affected by terrorism. 5

6 SALES ACTIVITIES USA-Canada Experience Netherlands (November 3 rd 4 th, 2016): Now in its 3 rd year, this relatively new Dutch travel trade event USA-Canada Experience is a two-day event providing supplier partners with an exceptional opportunity to inform and educate the Dutch travel trade and conduct one-on-one sales meetings directly with product managers and media. A full-day workshop saw us holding comprehensive training sessions for over 80 agents from all over The Netherlands. The event will culminate in an exciting contest and travel prize raffle, with a trip to our area including flight being one of the main prizes. Visit USA BENELUX Road Show (November 15 th -16 th, 2016): The first Visit USA BENELUX Roadshow took place in three important Belgian cities, i.e. Ghent, Liege and Brussels. In a new, dynamic program combining training sessions and workshops, the travel agents were trained for a half day in each city. The road show culminated in a knowledge test and presentation of a travel prize, including an attractive accommodations package to our area. A total of 123 agents were trained. DER Touristik Campus Talk & Dine (November 17 th, 2016): The tour operator has unveiled a new educational concept for their 10,000 travel agents entitled Campus, which is focused on bringing their sales force closer to products and destinations with a view toward fostering loyalty through education. Participants not only obtain expert knowledge on products and destinations during themed training courses, but also become eligible to take part in an in-destination Campus Live experience upon successful completion of several course segments. With North America being among the training themes, we joined forces with Visit Orlando and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment in presenting our destination to over 50 agents in Karlsruhe, Germany. The next training segment of the North America series will be held in Essen, Germany on February 14 th. Tenzing Travel Fam Tour (November 17 th -18 th, 2016): Formerly known as Kuoni Netherlands, Tenzing Travel brought a group of 15 select travel agents on a whirlwind tour through Florida this month, which included a visit to our area. The co-sponsoring carrier was KLM, which launched new service into MIA from AMS the end of last month. We continued to liaise closely with our Leisure Travel Department putting the finishing touches on the program. Upon the group s return to The Netherlands, the tour operator contacted us with a most complementary report of their experience, adding that agents left our area feeling very enthusiastic about promoting St. Pete/Clearwater. Visit USA Seminar Austria (January 26 th 27 th, 2017): Known as Austria s premier travel trade event, the Visit USA Seminar Austria will be held in Vienna next year and is expected to attract up to 140 agents. The format will comprise an afternoon seminar with an ensuing evening event. The seminar program will include a table top marketplace and an on-stage interview session with each exhibitor. The Visit USA Committee Austria will again organize a post-seminar evaluation breakfast during which we will have the opportunity to provide feedback and discuss future planning. Our earlybird registration has been submitted thereby securing a discounted participation fee. Visit USA Seminar Switzerland (January 31 st February 1 st, 2017): This program is Switzerland s premier travel agent training seminar held annually in Zurich. The seminar s main goal is to provide the local trade with more insider knowledge as well as 6

7 the needed contacts and sources of information. An estimated 400 travel agents are expected to attend this important Swiss event. Our early-bird registration has been submitted thereby securing a discounted participation fee. Per the organizer s request, we have delivered several items including destination-oriented questions for an online knowledge test, query contributions to a questionnaire to be distributed during the event, imagery for development of new stand backdrops, etc. German Consumer Shows (January & February 2017): We are in the planning stages to present our area at several important consumer shows in Germany in cooperation with Visit Florida. Registration was completed this month for the following tourism fairs: CMT Stuttgart January 14-22, 2017 ABF Hannover February 1-5, 2017 Reisen Hamburg February 8-12, 2017 f.r.e.e Munich February 22-26, 2017 ITB (March 8 th 12 th, 2017): Known as the world s largest tourism fair held annually in Berlin, Germany, we again plan to exhibit within the Visit Florida Pavilion. Registration was completed last month. One accommodations partner will be joining us. Updates to be forthcoming. Swiss Tour Operator Appreciation Event (March 13 th, 2017): We will again orchestrate an upscale appreciation event for Switzerland s most influential and productive tour operators, with 2017 marking our 5 th consecutive year. The venue has been selected and applicable paperwork processed. Visit Tampa Bay has agreed to co-host this event. In the works are menu selection, guest list identification, invitation creative, function room needs, hotel room block, reservations form development, hospitality gift selection, etc. Updates to be forthcoming. Additional Activity: Yvonne Schmidt of Thomas Cook AG was provided with assistance in planning her visit to our area prior to Florida Huddle. Katja Wagner of Dertour was provided with assistance in planning her visit to our area following Florida Huddle. Assisted Michaela Vagner of Derpart Travel Agency Gaggenau with her plans to visit our area. Provided Bike the Best, a tour operator specializing in motorcycle tours with comprehensive information and material on our area. Supported travel agency Tauchen und Reisen Kriz in Ingolstadt, Germany with giveaways and collateral material for an agency open house event on December 10 th which will include a prize raffle. 80 clients have been invited to attend. Assisted Lisette den Boef of Travel XL in The Netherlands with arrangements for her visit to our area. Ms. Boef was the winner of the travel prize presented at this month s USA Canada Experience show in the Netherlands. 7

8 MARKETING INITIATIVES Our efforts continued this month in conducting marketing initiatives and advertising programs, which included: Tour Operators: Amerikareisen.at (Austria) B2C Dedicated Direct Mailing January 2017 Austrian tour operator Amerikareisen will produce 4,600 high-quality, glossy postcards depicting VSPC key visual, intriguing destination description and logo which will be mailed to top clients and distributed at a number of consumer fairs. All creative and content elements were provided, layout received and approved this month. Canusa Touristik (Germany) B2C Online Promotion Package January 1 st - February 28 th, 2017 We will join forces with Canusa on an innovative online promotion package initiative focused on attracting new customers and raising awareness for VSPC. Content recommendation ads comprised of key visual and snappy text teaser will link to VSPC content on the tour operator s website and point customers to the booking engine platform. Approx. 5 million ad impressions and 15,000 visits to relevant content are projected. We delivered all relevant elements this month and are awaiting final layout. DERTOUR (Germany) B2B USA News Newspaper Ad January 13 th, 2017 Published monthly, the USA News is an 8-page piece distributed to all of Dertour s travel agencies in Germany and Austria. It is also placed on Dertour s travel agent portal Come Closer and is announced in the weekly Counter Mail. VSPC will be featured with a ½ page, 4c advertorial including general information, images and logo as well as special travel packages developed by the tour operator. The layout was discussed and developed this month. We are awaiting final proof. Explorer Fernreisen (Germany) B2C Newspaper Ads November 14 th, 2016 We joined forces with the tour operator this month in producing VSPC dedicated tactical travel offer ads for placement in 12 major German daily newspapers with a combined circulation of approx. 7 million. All creative elements were delivered, the newspaper ads were created, approved and published this month. B2C enewsletter December 10 th, 2016 A special St. Pete/Clearwater travel package will be advertised in Explorer s weekly enews to 30,000 customers. This will link to a dedicated VSPC landing page on the tour operator s website. Content and layout of the newsletter as well as the landing page were created and approved this month. B2B2C Storefront Window Display December 2016 VSPC will be featured on an oversized poster with enticing visual, logo and travel offers in the storefronts of all 12 of the tour operator s dedicated stores for four weeks. All creative elements were delivered, layout received and approved this month. 8

9 Jan Doets (Netherlands) Inspirational Sensory Promotion Thanksgiving Sunday November 20 th, 2016 VSPC is partnering with tour operator Jan Doets on a second unique B2C inspirational sensory promotion being held at Jan Doets completely renovated offices in Heerhugoward. Beyond comprehensive presentations on several U.S. and Canadian vacation destinations, the full-day event will include American wine/beer tastings, a Thanksgiving turkey grilled in an authentic Green Egg, several games stations, musical discovery stations for kids, a dance floor with DJ for adults and last, but not least, a treasure digging (Florida) sand pit for young and old. We ve provided the tour operator with our popular Reef Safe sunscreen as a giveaway for the treasure digging as well as our brightly colored eco tote bags packed with our collateral material. Over 1,000 customers are expected at this events, where travel can be booked on the spot. We provided the tour operator with all necessary material for their November event this month. Billboard Campaign January 2017 For four weeks, VSPC will be featured on 40m² highway billboards strategically placed along the A9 north/south autobahn running from Alkmaar to Amsterdam (81,000 vehicles /day) with key visual, logo and snappy text hook. This month the layout was received, corrected and approved. TUI (Germany) The TUI Experience Tour (TET) familiarization tour is among the most important programs TUI Germany orchestrates annually for its top 120 travel agents. Inasmuch, we are exceedingly proud to be part of the 2017 TET to Florida in April. For 8 months leading up to the TET fam, B2B multi-channel communication initiatives are deployed inspiring curiosity, building awareness and generating bookings. Past TETs have shown that this strategy has proven to be particularly successful among the travel trade and trade press due to its consistency and longevity in the marketplace, making it the talk of the trade. The first initiative to launch: B2B elearning November 2016-January 2017 This is an exclusive, destination-dedicated elearning program for placement on TUI s travel agent website within the North America platform, which is utilized continuously by 30,000 travel agents. Our content will comprise comprehensive VSPC unique selling points such as award-winning beaches, culture, events, dining, nature, excursions and attractions. A test element will also be included, which participants must complete with a minimum test score of 85% in order to be eligible to attend the tour. The elearning was launched on 11/15 and will run through 1/11/2017. B2B2C InStore Digital Screens January 9 th - 22 nd, 2017 VSPC will be featured in 270 retail travel agencies on in-store digital screens with imagery, video, logo and flash animation travel offers for 10 hours/day. The transmission loop will be 6 minutes in length with 10 repetitions per hour. Respective imagery, video and logo materials were provided, layouts received and approved. B2B TUI News Ad January 19 th, 2017 circ. 8,000 This activity is part of the B2B multi-channel communication initiatives for the TET. Our ad, comprised of key visual, logo and text hook, will be placed in the TUI News, a print piece with a monthly circ. of 8,000 distributed to TUI s travel agencies all over Germany. We discussed and designed the layout together with the tour operator and the final proof was received and approved this month. 9

10 TUI (Switzerland) B2B Incentive Promo October & November 2016 In an effort to push new bookings to our area, we ve developed a B2B incentive promotion including a sweepstakes element in cooperation with this important Swiss tour operator. The challenge: Generate as many new bookings as possible between 11/14/2016 and 02/28/2017 (for travel between 6/01-30/2017 and 09/01-11/15/2017) to become eligible to win a one-week stay in St. Pete/Clearwater + air for two. Communication channels include: B2B enewsblast October: Special deals and information on travel and hotels are deployed weekly via the TUI enewsletter. Our incentive promo was promoted in an enews blast to 700 agencies deployed on 10/13. B2B Incentive Flyer November: A flyer was produced promoting the incentive program and will be distributed among the 100+ top-selling travel agents attending this year s TUI Suisse World experience in Las Vegas (11/02-07). Catalog Advertorial Page We were offered placement of a full-page advertorial in the tour operator s new annual catalog which will be valid April 2017-March 2018 with a print run of 95,000. This comes to us on a complimentary basis, which is due to our excellent relationship with the tour operator. We have provided with applicable content and creative. The catalog will be in-market come January Travel Trade/Consumer Publications & Portals: America Journal (Germany) circ. 36,500; readership 145,000 Consumer ½ page, 4c Advertorial 1/17 issue (Christmas Special) Dec. 16 th ½ page, 4c Advertorial 2/17 issue (ITB Special) Feb. 24 th This German high-gloss consumer publication is dedicated exclusively to the USA providing in-depth coverage on American travel, culture and customs as well as insider tips and helpful hints. VSPC s placement will include logo, imagery and content. Creative was delivered to this publisher this month and layout approved. Pub frequency: 6x/yr TIP Travel Industry Professional (Austria) circ. 10,500 Trade Profi Reisen is the publisher of Austria s leading travel trade and tourism industry publication TIP, which targets travel agency decision makers and counter staff alike and is known for its precise reporting of current events, insider tips and background information. Pub frequency: 26x/yr ½ page 4c advertorial in the USA Supplement Issue 2017 January The publisher will again produce a special USA supplement for distribution in conjunction with the Visit USA Seminar to be held on January 26 th in Vienna with an overrun of 16,000 copies for additional distribution at travel trade outlets. Austrian travel agencies may also order additional issues free of charge to utilize in POS and mailings to their customers. We provided the publisher with all materials needed for layout development. Our area is featured with logo, imagery and insider information. 10

11 Extra Editorial in the USA Supplement Issue 2017 January In addition to our ½ page advertorial in this special issue, VSPC will also receive extra coverage in a special article about cuisine. This extra exposure comes to us free of charge due to our long and excellent relationship with the publisher. Travelution (Netherlands) circ. 7,500; readership 10,000 Trade 6-page Destination Feature/Infotorial January A Florida Special issue is planned in January for which the publisher has secured a segment on Lufthansa s service to Tampa. We will thus jump on this bandwagon with an extensive destination feature on our area. In addition, our area will be featured on Travelution s website including a VSPC banner ad. We have provided the publisher with comprehensive information in preparation for his development of the infotorial. Travelution is the Netherlands leading travel industry publication with a readership of 10,000. With a personalized cover letter, issues are mailed to all business and leisure travel agents. The magazine is also distributed to all tour operators (product managers, buyers, sales managers and board members), incentive organisers, airlines, tourist boards and NATM members in short, Travelution reaches close to 100% of the Dutch travel industry. The publication enjoys a long shelf life and research shows travel professionals utilize it as a reference piece due to the up-to-date and high quality information provided. In addition, Travelution has his own website giving a weekly overview of most important news items in the travel industry with cross links to complete press releases. The website boasts approximately 31,407 unique users, 370,684 page views and 1.2 million page impressions monthly. Pub frequency: 1x/mth USA Travel Guide (Germany) circ. 20,000 Consumer 1 page, 4c Advertorial January With detailed information on all 50 states, a fold-out map and a list of all Visit USA Germany Members, the USA Travel Guide is an ideal complement to Brand USA's image brochure "Travel USA". It will be published in January 2017 with a circulation of 20,000 and will be distributed at the major German tourism shows, the Visit USA events and through the INFOX "Bestellservice", which allows travel agents to order the magazines free of charge. In addition the travel guide will also be available online, as a "flipbook" on the Visit USA Germany s website. VSPC will be featured here with a full page including text, images and logo. All input for the layout was provided this month. Online Aggregators: ASNM New Media AG Newsletter (Germany) 1,900,000 subscribers Consumer Florida Newsletter Campaign November 2016 and February 2017 St. Pete/Clearwater is part of a Florida enewsletter campaign consisting of enews blasts on up to 20 online travel portals with a total of 1,900,000 subscribers. In addition, the news will be integrated repeatedly into the search engine optimized news portals of flugprofis.de as well as being posted on Facebook sites with approx. 20,000 Likes. This initiative is being conducted in cooperation with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale and Alamo. The November enewsletter was developed and approved this month. 11

12 We continued to follow up with several vendors regarding their submissions of marketing proposals for our 2016/17 initiatives in order to move forward with our strategic planning. Public Relations: Kaus Media Services - VSPC s German PR Agency This month saw us assisting the agency with the following projects: Press Release November: Proofread and corrected. Newsletter November: Proofread and corrected. All initiatives, activities and programs described herein have been duly completed as described. 12