LEISURE TRAVEL November 2016 Prepared by: Rosemarie Payne, CDME Director Leisure Travel, USA & Canada RECAP Trade Shows/ Missions/ Events November, 2016 11/2-4 Working in Travel Services Seminar and Trade Show (WITS) - Albany, NY 11/3-6 National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA) - FL 11/3-7 Nat l Women s Show & itravel2000 Call Center Training - Toronto, Canada 11/4-6 Fiesta in the Park - Lake Eola, Orlando, FL 11/14-16 Eastern Travel Association (ETA) Trade Shows - PA 11/17-19 Maritime Travel Staff Conference - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 11/18-20 AAA Superbowl of Knowledge - Charlotte/Concord, NC Working in Travel Services Seminar and Trade Show (WITS) - Albany, NY November 2-4, 2016 180 Retail Travel Agents 200 Destination Magazines, Beach and Culture Maps and Assorted Logo Items This is our sixth year hosting a Florida lunch seminar and exhibiting at this annual event for retail travel agents located in the Capital District area of New York. WITS is a membership travel organization that offers the WITS Professional Enhancement Day and Meet Your Rep events. During the lunch seminar Visit St. Pete/Clearwater presented a destination overview and our Top Ten video. Visit Central Florida and Beaches of Ft. Myers & Sanibel co-hosted this luncheon. The luncheon was followed with an evening trade show and dinner allowing Visit St. Pete/Clearwater a second opportunity to showcase the destination to a larger group of travel agents. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater should continue to support WITS for the 2017 Professional Enhancement Day by participating in both luncheon sponsorship and evening trade show events. These travel professionals are extremely dedicated and interested in educational events to enhance their destination knowledge. STAFFED BY: Gail S. Yeager, Sr. Sales Manager 1
National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA), FL November 3-6, 2016 400 Travel Agents Marriott Sand Key 100 Destination Magazines and Beach & Culture Maps, Beach Bags and Towels (unable to offer a lot of collateral because the agents boarded a cruise after the show) The show consisted of travel agent roundtables and a trade show. All of the agents were present at both events and the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater destination was showcased very well. The show also included dinners allowing for the opportunity to network with agents during the meals. In addition, Visit St. Pete/ Clearwater is now a member of NACTA and can work with regional NACTA chapters when doing sales calls in other locations going forward. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater should attend this show every other year. STAFFED BY: Darryl Boggess, Leisure Sales Manager Nat l Women s Show & itravel2000 Call Center Training-Toronto, Canada November 3-7, 2016 40 Travel Agents at itravel Call Center Training; 30,000 Consumers at National Women s Show Sirata Beach Resort 555 Destination Magazines, 555 Trade Show Bags, 300 Luggage Tags, 150 Pens This is Visit St. Pete/Clearwater s first visit to itravel2000. Due to a connection made at Florida Huddle, Leisure Travel followed up on their request for a call center training. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater provided a presentation to 40 travel agents. itravel2000 was recently purchased by Red Label, one of Canada s largest OTAs. Red Label is also a parent company of TravelBrands and Redtag.ca. The National Women s Show is the largest women s consumer event in Canada, attracting over 36,000 consumers throughout the weekend. Sunwing Airlines and the Sirata Beach Resort donated 2 roundtrip airfare and a 4 night stay to conduct a raffle at the show. 2
RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater should attend this consumer show next year in another city. The National Women s Show is held in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. STAFFED BY: Kristin Coryn, Leisure Sales Manager Fiesta in the Park, Lake Eola Orlando, FL November 4-6, 2016 BROCHURE DISTRIBUTION: 100,000+ Consumers TRS Travel Resort Services, Hampton Inn Downtown St. Petersburg Hampton Inn & Suites Clearwater Beach and Clearwater Marine Aquarium 700 Destination Magazines, 700 Beach & Culture Maps, 700 Trade Show Bags, 700 Assorted Logo Items Saturday great weather, good crowds compared to previous years. A lot of interest in the destination including the museums and Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Lots of talk about the new hotels coming online and the new Chihuly location. Sunday another great day talking with consumers about St. Pete/Clearwater. We had a drawing for two give-a-ways so industry partners were able to collect e-mail information from consumers. The show producers give us the same spot at the festival each year, so some clients come looking for us. This year we were next to Sprint and will ask that they be moved to another location as Sprint encroached on our space too much. Consumers are looking forward to the new version of our Destination Magazine and especially like the Beach & Culture Map. There is always such positive feedback on our destination from these important drive customers in Orlando. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and partners will continue to attend this consumer event. Considering attending both the spring & fall shows in 2017. STAFFED BY: Rosemarie Payne Eastern Travel Association (ETA) Trade Shows, PA November 14-16, 2016 300+ Travel Agents DISTRIBUTION: 330 Destination Magazines & Beach & Cultural Maps By partnering with Eastern Travel Association trade shows, we had the opportunity to showcase our destination to top producing travel agents in this region of Pennsylvania. This program consisted of a table top trade show, allowing ample time for presenting destination highlights to the agents. 3
Allegiant Airlines was represented along with three other Florida destinations: Visit Central Florida, Pt. Canaveral, Beaches of Ft. Myers & Sanibel. We also visited with AAA Travel Offices throughout the region. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater will definitely plan to attend in 2017 during the Eastern Travel Association annual trade shows. STAFFED BY: Gail Yeager, Sr. Leisure Sales Manager Maritime Travel Staff Conference: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada November 17-19, 2016 450 Travel Agents Travel Resort Services 222 Destination Magazines, 222 Trade Show Bags, 250 Luggage Tags Maritime Travel s annual National Staff Conference is a mandatory event for all Maritime & LeGrow travel agents throughout Canada. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater exhibited at the supplier trade show. All travel agents were required to visit each booth at the trade show. The agents from Toronto, Montreal and Halifax areas were familiar with St. Pete/Clearwater. The agents from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia regions weren t as familiar. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Winnipeg all have direct flights into Orlando all cities Visit St. Pete/Clearwater can promote a two center holiday. Business cards were collected from all agents and Visit St. Pete/Clearwater now has contact information for these agents. Visit St. Pete Clearwater also conducted a destination presentation with 20 Travel Professionals International (TPI) before the Maritime Travel Trade Show. This was a fantastic opportunity to educate the agents, although all agents except one had visited St. Pete/Clearwater. Several agents have followed up from the presentation with additional questions. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater should attend this show every year. It is a great opportunity to be able to meet with all Maritime Travel Agents throughout Canada at one show. STAFFED BY: Kristin Coryn, Leisure Sales Manager AAA Superbowl of Knowledge Charlotte/Concord, NC November 18-20, 2016 430+ AAA Staff Members N/A 300 Trade Show Bags with Destination Magazines, Beach & Culture Maps, Partner Collateral, Assorted Logo Items 4
This is an annual conference and trade show that Visit St. Pete/Clearwater attends every year because the format allows us to interact with every employee for the entire AAA of the Carolinas Club, representing both North and South Carolina. The Carolinas are a very import drive market for St. Pete/Clearwater and our participation over the years has increased bookings to our destination from this AAA club. Again this year there was a strong showing of other Florida destinations exhibiting including Tampa, Sanibel and Ft. Myers, The Florida Space Coast, Visit Central Florida. RECOMMENDATION: Visit St. Pete/Clearwater will participate again in 2017. STAFFED BY: Gail Yeager, Sr. Sales Manager UPCOMING EVENTS SALES MISSIONS December, 2016 12/7-8 CCRA Orlando, FL 12/13-16 Travel Industry Exchange EDUCATIONAL VISITS 1/15-16 Post Huddle China FAM 5