Monthly Market Report

Transcription

1 Monthly Market Report July 2012 Germany, Austria, Switzerland

2 Marketing Activity Consumer Update During holiday season in Germany, no consumer co-operations and promotions are being executed. Technology Update Consumer Newsletter The monthly consumer newsletter was sent on July 8 and featured the topic Alfred Hitchcock, Star Wars and a competition with the following content: Film sets outside of Hollywood (Northern California etc.) San Francisco Chefs food festival Raffle of California Cuisine cookbooks (same ones as for the mission) Road Trips 2012 new (online) brochure Travel deal: Discover Northern California rental car round trip (taken from deals page) The newsletter continuously reaches good results with an opening rate of 27.2% and a click rate of 5.77% (benchmarks for leisure and travel B2C newsletters in Germany: opening rate 22.4%, unique clicks 5.64%). This time, the most clicked content was the film sets article followed by Road Trips Latest Web Visitation Statistics Visits were slightly up in June and overall traffic was stable. In total, the German website had 17,021 visits, 13,352 unique visitors and 63,630 page impressions in May. Users stayed 2min 34 sec on average and looked at an average of 3.74 pages. Visits: 17,021 Unique Visitors: 13,352 Page Impressions: 63,630 Average Time on Site: 00:02:28 Average Pageviews: 3.74

3 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 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. Communications Update Clipping Analysis (Highlights) Regional Daily Newspaper: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Title: Double Feature on San Francisco and California Ad value: $ 701,686 Circulation: 421,563 Reach: 770,345 Result of a media call in April 2012 regarding the 75th Birthday of the Golden gate Bridge

4 National Daily Newspaper: BILD Zeitung Title: GO WEST California Ad value: $ 40,840 Circulation: 211, 461 Reach: 746,457 Result of a media call in June 2012 incl. new and known attractions in California: Cars-Land, Transformers 3D, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Jeff Koons), Hearst Castle, etc. Online - Leading National Weekly Newspaper: ZEIT Online Article: San Francisco Travel Tipps Ad value: 57,647 Euro Page impressions: ; Visits per day: Travel Magazine: America Journal Title: Treasures of the Sierra Nevada and Northern California Ad value: $ 38,700 Circulation: 30,800; Reach: 139,216 Women s magazine: Paula Title. California Country of Adventures Ad value: $ 47,080 Circulation: 280,000; Reach: 1,405,600 Crisis Management Wildfires in California: Dry weather conditions and much of the West Coast being categorized as being under drought-like conditions, the National Weather Service forecasted higher-than-normal chances for severe fire seasons for many of the region s states for the remainder of summer season VCA Germany did not receive any inquiries from the press. Anaheim/Orange County: The controversy over the use of deadly force by Anaheim police has attracted attention from German press, as the shooting sparked protests, which turned violent as protesters wanting to voice their concerns over the shooting were unable to fit into a crowded City Council meeting. VCA Germany received an on July 27th, by a group called Greener World stating `Don't visit Orange county California. Stay away from Disneyland in Anaheim. Sea World/San Diego: July 26th, 2012 After the release of a video from 2006 that shows a near-fatal whale attack of a trainer at SeaWorld being grabbed by his leg and dragged under water by a killer whale. German press and tourism newswires reported neutrally about this incident, but were questioning why the video has been released not earlier.

5 Travel Trade Update European Sales & Media Mission 2012 Visit California brought 45 delegates from 26 different companies from California to Germany to develop their business and create new networking opportunities with Germany s key tour operator staff and key media. The program in short: On Wednesday evening 80 travel agents from the Frankfurt area participated in the California Experts - event, a market place to walk around and talk with the delegates about their products. The travel agents needed to complete a questionnaire during that time to qualify for the final raffle. Thursdays the delegate group went to the Lufthansa Flight Training Center at Frankfurt Airport to meet key trade and media representatives (21 media reps, 26 travel trade reps and 2 Brand USA reps). A sample of the 26 travel trade reps include CEO s and product managers of key tour operators like Dertour, Thomas Cook, TUI, TUI Suisse, Canusa, FTI, Meier s Weltreisen, Airtours and many more. A sample of the 21 key media attending include editors from travel and lifestyle magazines, national daily newspapers, TV and radio journalists, a travel blogger, freelance journalists who travel constantly to California and key travel trade media from Germany and Austria. In the morning the delegates had the chance to present their products to the guests and talk about possible projects and partnerships. In the afternoon the whole group was split into 5 smaller groups to experience the fascinating world of aviation at Lufthansa Flight Training Center. Everybody joined a real Emergency Training and a one-hour introduction in aviation and piloting. The highlight was to feel the thrill to fly in a real flight simulator.

6 Later in the evening everybody was invited to join the farewell party at Hilton Airport Hotel with food and wine from California and a live band in a relaxed atmosphere. Additional representatives from key trade and media reps, who were not able to join in the whole day, attended the event. Delegates and guests who didn t meet during the day took the opportunity to talk at this occasion and to share their flight experiences, too. Online Training Program Statistics (YTD) Number of all users (with no activity + active + completed): 1,921 Number of users completed: 625 Collateral Distribution (June 2012) German Visitors Guides: 653 Official State Maps: 778 Road Trips: 458 Wholesale Market Good growth for travel agents Travel agents in Germany generated good growth last year and can look forward to strong sales again in 2012, according to fvw s annual review of the sector. In 2011, organised travel sales increased by 6.7% to 21.9 billion, the German travel sales 2011 dossier showed. Leisure travel sales grew by 5% to 12 billion compared to 9% revenue growth for tour operators last year. Business travel sales recovered to 2008 levels with a 10% increase to 7.4 billion despite lower booking volumes, driven by higher flight and hotel costs. The leading travel agency chains and franchise organisations generated good growth, with sales growth of 10% to 13 billion, which was ahead of slower growth for cooperation alliances and independent agents. The travel agency market leader remained Rewe Touristik, which grew 9.8% to 4.3 billion. TUI Leisure Travel, which grew 8.8% to 3 billion, followed in second place. Third-ranked RTK grew only 2.5% to 2.6 billion, TSS increased sales by 9.3% to 2.3 billion while Lufthansa City Center grew 11% to 2.1 billion. Strong bookings in June Travel agents in Germany enjoyed strong sales last month as consumers booked their summer holidays and a significant number already booked early for the coming winter. Sales in revenue terms soared 19% in June compared to May, market researchers GfK found in their latest monthly survey of 1,200 German travel agents. Summer sales were 16% higher than the previous month while early winter sales soared 40%, although on a

7 absolutely low basis. Summer 2012 sales are now up 9.7% on last year, which is an impressive figure given last year s good performance. June, the second travel month in the summer season, ended with a 3.5% decline in turnover due to the Whitsun holidays, but will probably remain the only travel month with a negative result this year. Demand for last-minute holidays was especially weak. Only 7.7% of total turnover (-2.9 percentage points vs. the previous year) came from bookings for travel in the same month. The European Football Championship is likely to have contributed to this low demand for late sales. Bookings for all other summer months improved in June. Sales for departures in July rose 14% while August was up 8.7%. September (+18.7%) was very strong while October (+0.6%) improved slightly. Early bookings for the winter season were up 8.3%. Winter brochures published During the month of July almost every tour operator published its new brochures for the upcoming winter season 12/13. Having a sneak peak on the biggest tour operator's news, it is obvious that the main focus is on long-haul destinations and luxury tours. At once there is still a huge demand for cheap holidays that leads to the conclusion that the gab between cheap and expensive increases constantly. Experts interpret this situation that most of the short-haul destinations are already explored and well known. Clients are looking for a new thrill and want to make new experiences. This year's trend destinations are the United States and Asia. TUI registers a guest plus of 60%, DERTOUR demonstrates a 5% plus after all. Some may ask if the long-haul trend banishes the short-haul destinations. The answer is no. The Germans travel more often than ever before, so they go on short- and long-haul holidays in the same year. Another very popular kind of traveling is luxury holidays. TUI's luxury brand Airtours had a sales volume plus of 30%, DERTOUR deluxe increases 20%. Nevertheless this is just a small target group. The bulk of clients try to make bargains and to safe money. That is why the gab between cheap and expensive increases constantly. German Travel Association (DRV) The German Travel Association (DRV) published its itinerary for the annual conference in November The major topic will be sustainable tourism. The board members will focus on the protection of the environment, social equilibrium and responsible, corporate acting as these are the indispensable foundations for worldwide tourism. Furthermore they invited one of the founder of Greenpeace to discuss how tourism can be developed as sustainable industry. In addition some experts show "best-practiseexamples" of different branches like hotels, destinations or cruises. Last but not least the agenda contains issues like future trends in tourism or the importance of social media. New long-haul tour operator "One Touristik" is a new German tour operator concentrating exclusively on long-haul destinations. Currently it's only bookable via "Traffics", but other booking tools like "Bistro", the most important booking tool in Germany and "Cets" which is the Austrian counterpart to Bistro will follow immediately. Responsible for this project are associate

8 JT Touristik, the Consolidator Aerticket as well as CEOs Marita Rohlfing and Lamia Azimi, who were responsible for e-commerce at FTI respectively "5vorflug" until In the beginning One Touristik's offer only includes the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, but more destinations as well as round trips, fly drives and hotels are planned. Airline Activity Air Traffic Statistics Destinations May January to May Change (%) Change (%) T otal passengers , ,0 Germany , ,2 Abroad , ,5 Europe , ,5 European Union , ,7 France , ,8 Greece , ,9 Greek Islands , ,6 Italy , ,1 Austria , ,8 Portugal , ,6 Spain , ,3 Balearic Islands , ,0 Canary Islands , ,1 UK , ,4 Cyprus , ,5 Rest of Europe (Non EU) , ,0 Switzerland , ,4 Turkey , ,1 Antalya , ,4 Intercont. travel , ,0 Africa , ,4 Egypt , ,0 Morocco , ,6 South Africa , ,6 Tunisia , ,9 America , ,5 Brazil , ,0 Dom. Republic , ,4 Canada , ,2 Mexico , ,5 USA , ,3 Asia , ,5 China , ,0 Hong Kong , ,6

9 India , ,9 Israel , ,6 Japan , ,0 Singapore , ,5 Thailand , ,4 UAE , ,1 Australia/ Oceania , ,6 Source: Federal Statistics Office Germany (2012)

10 Airline and Aviation News Germany Sticks To Airline Ticket Tax Germany will stick to its airline ticket tax amid criticism from airlines and from Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer. There is no massive damage to the industry with passenger volumes up by 4.6 percent to almost 200 million last year, citing a report from the Finance Ministry to the Bundestag, the German parliament. Non-stop Berlin Chicago: airberlin launches new destination from Berlin airberlin is adding yet another destination to its schedule and offering non-stop flights from Berlin to the US metropolis of Chicago as of March From 23 March 2013, the Berlin airline will start operating three flights per week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. From 1 May 2013, airberlin will increase the number of flights to five per week, including Wednesdays and Sundays. Flights will depart from Berlin at 10 a.m. and land in Chicago O'Hare International Airport at p.m. Return flights from Chicago will depart at 3.25 p.m., landing in Berlin at 7 a.m. airberlin's new non-stop connection to Chicago marks the fourth direct flight in its flight schedule from Berlin to the United States. The new destination will be added to the list of US metropolises already served by the airline Los Angeles, Miami and New York in March Lufthansa passenger numbers flying high in June Lufthansa reported it carried 9.52 million passengers in June, 4.8 percent more than during the same month last year. Taking the six months to June as a whole, passenger numbers grew 3.9 percent to million. The key seat-load factor gained 1.2 percentage points to 81.9 percent in June alone and by 1.0 percentage points to 76.9 percent over the six-month period. Fewer Passengers for airberlin Germany's second-largest carrier, Air Berlin has announced its number of passengers dipped considerably in June. The airline attributed the decline to recent restructuring and the delayed opening of Berlin's new airport. It carried just below three million passengers last month, down five percent from June 2011 levels. The airline has had trouble relocating enough flights to Berlin's existing two airports which are to close the very day the new compound at Schönefeld goes into operation. All in all, Berlin's two old airports saw a 7.7 percent year-on-year increase in passenger numbers in June, suggesting that other airlines were able to adapt more quickly to the havoc caused by the international airport delay

11 Competitor Activity No important competitive activity has been monitored this month. Economy Economic Indicators 1st Quarter /- to 4th Quarter 2011 GDP: 645 billion EUR +0.9% GDP Growth: +3.0% +3.7% June /- compared to June 2011 Consumer Price Index: % Unemployment Rate: 6.6% -0.3%

12 Exchange Rate As of July 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 Wholesale turnover in the 2nd quarter 2012: +0.1% in real terms on the 2nd quarter 2011 According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) the turnover achieved by wholesale trade in Germany in the second quarter 2012 increased 0.6% in nominal terms and 0.1 % in real terms compared with the second quarter Agreed earnings up 2.2% between April 2011 and April 2012 Agreed monthly earnings of employees in Germany rose an average 2.2% in April 2012 on a year earlier. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that this was the strongest increase of agreed earnings since January 2010.