LEISURE TRAVEL SEPTEMBER 2013 Prepared by: Rosemarie Payne, CHME Director Leisure Travel, USA & Canada RECAP Trade Shows/Missions September 2013 9/07-14 United Kingdom Sales Mission 9/10-13 Luxury Travel Expo Las Vegas 9/17-20 Travel Impressions Call Center Training 9/24-26 Ashville Travel Agent Event 9/28-30 MLT University Minneapolis MN UK Sales Mission September 7-14, 2013 100+ Staff at Tour Operator Trainings & Meetings, 20 VIP Tour Operators for Dublin Lunch and 40 VIP Tour Operators for London Dinner Event PARTICIPATION: Loews Don CeSar, Hilton Clearwater Beach, Postcard Inn, Sandpearl Resort, & TradeWinds Island Resorts 100 Destination Magazines, 100 Beach & Culture Maps & Partner Collateral Week long sales mission to Belfast, Dublin & London to meet with key tour operators and conduct destination training sessions for their staff. Our Power Point presentation was very well received and the new hotel video we created for partners was upbeat and seemed to leave the agents excited about selling our destination. Most staff members were already familiar with St. Pete/Clearwater and asked very productive questions. The VSPC VIP lunch & dinner events were also extremely well attended and the venues were exceptional. Sirin & Venessa crated very memorable events for both clients and partners. Learned a lot about Book-a-Bed a new Receptive Operator in the UK. More and more tour operators in the UK use them. The UK market is still up and down to Florida. Our biggest competition is the All- Inclusive Resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. Naples, FL is also gaining in popularity. Summer 2014 early bookings are up with most Operators. Met with British Airways. 6 flights a week to TPA this winter and daily service for the summer. 1
Not sure if Virgin s new partnership with Delta will result in new service to TPA from London. Met with Travel Republic. They are a 10 year old Online Travel Agency. They buy a lot of their inventory through Hotelbeds and they currently send 53,000 passengers to Florida annually. RECOMMENDATION: VSPC and partners will continue to create and execute sales missions to this important market, every other year. STAFFED BY: Rosemarie Payne Luxury Travel Exchange- Las Vegas, NV September 10-13, 2013 Over 1000 Travel Agents Safety Harbor Resort and Spa 150 Destination Magazines, Beach & Culture Maps, Assorted Logo Items This was the eight year VSPC exhibited at the Luxury Travel Expo and the attendance and quality of the attending agents has gone down from past years. This year VSPC chose not to purchase the additional appointments as it was cost prohibitive and many of our appointments last year were of poor quality. This show is still worthwhile for two main reasons. One, it allows us to reach many travel professionals from all over the country at one location and two, all of our competing destinations in the state also exhibit. RECOMMENDATION: VSPC will continue to attend this show in 2014 while staying open to any new shows that may emerge that showcase the retail leisure travel agent segment. STAFFED BY: Rob Price Travel Impressions Call Center Training September 17-20, 2013 100+ Call Center Staff in Bethlehem, PA 40 Call Center Staff in Farmingdale, NY PARTICIPATION: Marriott Suites Sand Key, Loews Don CeSar & Sirata Beach Resort 100 Destination Magazines, 100 Beach & Culture Maps 2
Travel Impressions is one of the largest domestic tour operators selling St. Pete/Clearwater. VSPC has had a long relationship with TI and their agents know our area very well. VSPC presented a destination Power Point presentation at the training sessions. Hotel partners also gave an overview of their properties and we showed our destination video. The training was well received and VSPC and partners spent two full days giving presentations at both offices. Agents are very excited about Dolphin Tale 2 and look forward to the movie s release. VSPC catered lunch at both offices and it was most appreciated by staff. In 2013 TI s bookings to St. Pete/Clearwater were up 9% in room nights, 9% in revenue. TI does not produce huge numbers to the area, approx. 3500 room nights. RECOMMENDATION: VSPC and partners will continue trainings at these offices in 2014 to update new staff. STAFFED BY: Rosemarie Payne AAA Offices Asheville, TN September 24-26, 2013 3 AAA Offices Approx. 8 Agents per Office Postcard Inn, Sirata Beach Resort 50 Destination Magazines, 50 Beach & Culture Maps VSPC, Postcard Inn and Sirata Beach Resort gave presentations at three of the major AAA offices in the Asheville area. These presentations at each office are annual visits to update the agent s perception and current knowledge of our location. Allegiant Airlines flights and packages in and out of the St. Pete/Clearwater Airport were also highlighted and promoted. RECOMMENDATION: The trip to the Asheville Area key AAA offices has become an annual event. Due to the very positive feedback received from these agents, it is recommended that VSPC continue visiting these AAA offices in 2014. STAFFED BY: Gail Yeager 3
MLT University Minneapolis, MN September 28-30, 2013 3000+ Retail Travel Agents TradeWinds Island Resorts, Loews Don CeSar, Marriott Suites Sand Key, Sirata Beach Resort Over 400 Destination Magazines, Beach & Culture Maps and Assorted Logo Items This was VSPC s 11 th year exhibiting at this important annual trade show. Every day of the event, MLT provides airfare to fly in over 1,000 travel agents from all over the United States to attend. The agents attend destination training workshops in addition to networking with exhibitors during the trade show portion of the event. The Florida isle continues to expand every year with over 20 properties and exhibitors in attendance. This is MLT s only event each year and therefore it is critical that VSPC have an exhibit at this show. VSPC had a very successful meeting with the MLT Marketing team in planning our new 2013-2014 marketing Co-Op that will launch in November. New for this year, VSPC created an online destination training promotion that awarded four agents a hotel stay for completing our online destination test. RECOMMENDATION: With MLT Vacations continuing to have year over year growth in Pinellas County, it is imperative that VSPC continue to have a major presence at this event in 2014. STAFFED BY: Rob Price CANADIAN MARKET UPDATE VSPC and partners will be featured on the January cover of Travel Courier for our 13 th Annual Best Beach Contest. Over 800 travel agents registered to win the grand prize vacation to St. Pete/Clearwater last year. The magazine is distributed to over 30,000 travel agents in Ontario and Baxter Travel Media also distributes this issue at Florida Huddle. Canadian Travel Press, another Baxter publication, will have a Florida Supplement in their January 6 th issue. VSPC will have a full page ad and the circulation for this magazine is 31,879 agencies. Sunwing has just begun radio advertising in Halifax to promote the new air service into PIE. Transat will not be flying in PIE from Halifax this winter, so we are hopeful that the new Sunwing service will make up for this loss. 4
Aldenham Canada Acquisition Corporation has entered into a sales agreement to acquire itravel2000 in what it says is a "strategic, long-term investment in the growing online travel industry." While in the initial announcement it was indicated that the agreement is subject to approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, at press time, sources told Press Today that the sale transaction has been approved by the courts and a further announcement from the company is expected soon. UPCOMING EVENTS SALES MISSIONS October 2013 10/10-13 Southern Women s Show, Orlando, FL 10/16 Midwest ASTA Travel Show, Chicago, IL 10/19-26 AAA S. New England Fall Travel Show 10/28-30 Home Based Travel Forum, Orlando, FL EDUCATIONAL VISITS 10/5-8 Willy Scharnow Foundation FAM Germany 10/11-14 UK Product Managers FAM 10/14-16 Copa Airlines Tour Operator FAM 10/30 11/1 OSSN FAM Home Based Travel Agent FAM 11/4-7 AAA Southern New England FAM 11/5 Ancoroduro/TAM Airlines Brazil FAM 11/10-11 Voyageurs du Monde France FAM 11/14-16 Delta Airlines - Brazil FAM 11/26-28 USAirtours UK FAM 12/9-11 FTI Touristik Austria FAM 12/9-11 Mark Travel FAM #1 Orlando 12/12-14 Mark Travel FAM #2 Orlando 1/27-30 Allegiant Airlines Travel Agent FAM 5