Monthly Market Report December 2012 Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Marketing Activity Consumer Update No consumer co-operations and promotions (online & offline) took place in December 2012. Technology Update Consumer Newsletter The monthly consumer newsletter was sent on December 20 with the subject line Savor, shop, science & win an iphone cover and included the following topics: San Francisco: Reindeer Rendevouz (holiday season in the California Academy of Sciences) Shopping Hot-Spots: not only for Christmas shopping Los Angeles: final destination for the Endeavour space shuttle incl. podcast from German radio journalist Henry Barchet (supported by VC Germany) California Restaurant Month iphone cover raffle California TV tips: Route 66 (supported by VC Germany) The newsletter continuously reaches good results, which are in line with the benchmarks for leisure and travel B2C newsletters in Germany (opening rate 22.4%, unique clicks 5.64%). Results for the December newsletter will be available in January. We will keep including tips and stories about California on TV, in consumer print magazines and online, whose production was supported by Visit California Germany, and thus link media and online activities even closer. We recommend activities to grow and retain the subscriber database. There is a natural reduction due to e-mails that do not exist anymore, opt-outs and bounces. As there are no consumer promotions in our market, which could generate new subscribers it is important to maintain the database.
Latest Web Visitation Statistics Website traffic grew in November compared to the previous month and compared to the same period last year. Search engines were the largest traffic source with more than 90% (organic and paid); approx. 74% derived from our Google AdWords campaign. More than 75% were new visitors and almost 25% returning visitors. November Visits 17,442 Unique Visitors 13,813 Page Impressions 48,799 Average Time on Site 00:02:32 Average Page Views 2.8 120.000 100.000 80.000 60.000 40.000 20.000 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 July 12 Sep 12 Nov 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 10.500 keywords and 250 ad groups. Besides general keywords and ad copy on California, it thus covers all of California s twelve regions. Account performance November: Campaign performance November:
Campaign performance History 2012:
Communications Update Highlights of media liaisons and ongoing projects Nothing to report for December. Press Clippings (Highlights) National Daily Newspaper: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Headline: Slab City, A community in the Californian desert Ad value: $ 198,481 Circulation: 397,588 Reach: 1,380,651 Travel & Leisure Magazine: America Journal Title: San Francisco Ad value: $ 77,294 Circulation: 30,800 Reach: 131,824 Result of the individual press trip of Margit Brinke and Peter Kränzle in 09/2012 Travel & Leisure Magazine: Freizeit Woche Title: Destination Dream California Ad value: $ 83,634 Circulation: 510,361 Reach: 1,699,502 Result of a media call w/ editorial department in 11/2012 Special Interest Magazine: Motorrad News (Biking and Motorcycle News) Headline: In the Land of Goliath Ad value: $ 68,946 Circulation: 70,831 Reach: 544,690 Result of the individual press trip of Frank Roedel in 08/2012 Special Interest Magazine: promobil (RV magazine) Headline: The Bridge to Happiness Ad value: $ 89,280 Circulation: 75,279 Reach: 116,682 Result of the Group Media RV Fam in September 2011 Crisis Management No serious incidents.
Travel Trade Update Online Training Program Statistics (YTD) Number of all users (with no activity + active + completed): 2,039 Number of users completed: 680 Collateral Distribution (October 2012) German Visitors Guides: 746 Official State Maps: 776 Road Trips: 268 Wholesale Market Row over exhibitor sales plan A row has broken out over plans to allow exhibitors to sell holidays to consumers at ITB Berlin, the world s largest travel trade fair. Messe Berlin, organizers of ITB Berlin, has decided to allow exhibitors to sell travel offers on the two weekend days that are open to private visitors, which will be Saturday 9 March and Sunday 10 March next year. According to Messe Berlin, a clear majority of consumers surveyed at this year s ITB said they would like to be able to make bookings at the show as well as inform themselves about destinations and travel products. In addition, a large majority of tour operators and tourist boards exhibiting at ITB also backed the idea. Our aim is to make the ITB Berlin more attractive for private visitors and exhibitors at the weekend. In our view, the sale of holidays to private visitors is one of the most effective measures. Not only private visitors but also our exhibitors and travel agencies across Germany will profit from this move, Messe Berlin said in a statement. But the move has been sharply criticized by the German Travel Association (DRV) which fears that travel agents will lose business as a result and that there will be an inevitable price war at the show. Otto Schweisgut, spokesman for DRV s travel agency members, said: We are strictly against this and have made our views clear in numerous discussions with Messe Berlin. Selling holidays at a travel trade fair is to the disadvantage of the whole industry, especially for travel agencies. Schweisgut claimed that it would be impossible to offer professional advice about holiday offers in the busy trade fair environment
German operators expect growth in 2013 Tour operators in Germany generated good growth this year and are expecting moderate low growth again in 2013, according to this year s fvw dossier on the German tour operators market. Tour operator revenues increased by 7.5% to 19.3 billion in the 2011-12 tourism year (ending October 31), the 36-page dossier with figures from 58 companies showed. Customer numbers grew by 4.5% to 32.9 million. The difference was mostly due to higher prices, largely resulting from increased energy costs for flights and in hotels. In addition, sales of long-haul holidays and cruises, with higher average prices, went up, thus also influencing the figures, the fvw analysis showed. The tour operators in the dossier cover about 80% of the total market. The German Travel Association (DRV) estimates that the overall market grew about 5% to 24.4 billion this year. This lower growth rate is due to an expected fall in sales by smaller coach holidays and holiday homes companies this year due to the poor summer weather, according to Werner Sülberg (Rewe Group), head of the DRV s market research committee. Looking ahead to next year, German operators covered in the dossier are expecting growth of about 5% in revenues and 4% for customer numbers despite the euro-crisis and weaker economic environment. At present, bookings for the winter season are slightly ahead of last year after a slow start and early demand for next summer is good, according to tour operators. Higher profits in 2012 A clear majority of firms in the survey improved their results this year. As many as 36 of the 58 firms said this year s pre-tax profits were higher than last year. Six companies had stable profits, only five said profits had dropped while 11 did not comment. Larger companies appear to have won back market share this year from smaller operators (with revenues under 60 million) who had grown strongly in recent years. The clear revenue growth winners were FTI (+26%) and Schauinsland Reisen (+16%) while TUI and Thomas Cook continued to focus on profits ahead of revenue growth. Rewe Group and Thomas Cook head-to-head In terms of rankings, TUI remained the clear German market leader this year with revenues of 4.47 billion. Thomas Cook and Rewe Group shared second place with revenues of 3.2 billion as Cook caught up again on Rewe which grew more slowly this year. The following leading positions are unchanged, with FTI in fourth place with revenues of 1.6 billion, ahead of Alltours ( 1.4 billion), Aida Cruises ( 1.1 billion) and Schauinsland ( 0.7 billion).
Airline Activity Air Traffic Statistics Destinations October January to October 2012 2011 Change (%) 2012 2011 Change (%) Total passengers 9 321 988 9 423748 1,1 85 236 216 86 828 353 1,9 Germany 2 166 408 2 161 943-0,2 20 270 094 19 723 669-2,7 Abroad 7 155 580 7 261 805 1,5 64 966 122 67 104 684 3,3 Europe 5 632 50 796 52 096 1,3 5 561 702 349 390 329 2,6 European Union 4 100 261 4 140 386 1,0 38 470 444 39 087 297 1,6 France 306 405 322 785 5,3 2 985 630 3 131 769 4,9 Greece 210 741 176 417-16,3 2 129 798 1 890 239-11,2 Greek Islands 122 791 94 209-23,3 1 125 715 967 277-14,1 Italy 534 648 524 474-1,9 4 898 959 4 857 123-0,9 Austria 273 691 285 994 4,5 2 677 384 2 749 172 2,7 Portugal 129 936 138 464 6,6 1 156 921 1 238 074 7,0 Spain 1 113 481 1 077 334-3,2 9 802 828 9 823 394 0,2 Balearic Islands 460 258 443 923-3,5 4 011 159 4 082 399 1,8 Canary Islands 238 218 225 263-5,4 2 159 113 2 153 305-0,3 UK 516 514 549 873 6,5 4 931 420 5 046 192 2,3 Cyprus 23 008 25 778 12,0 161 250 186 180 15,5 Rest of Europe (Non EU) 1 461 441 1 491 963 2,1 12 325 946 13 009 032 5,5 Switzerland 272 552 270 088-0,9 2 543 642 2 572 618 1,1 Turkey 794 674 810 841 2,0 5 734 129 6 105 413 6,5 Antalya 458 430 458 765 0,1 2 761 641 2 873 009 4,0 Intercont. travel 1 593 878 1 629456 2,2 14 169 732 15 008 355 5,9 Africa 268 944 288 434 7,2 2 155 235 2 500 846 16,0 Egypt 102 036 105 179 3,1 786 860 1 018 298 29,4 Morocco 31 090 30 556-1,7 276 170 245 191-11,2 South Africa 34 227 34 612 1,1 310 311 301 716-2,8 Tunisia 48 307 63 992 32,5 297 879 448 969 50,7 America 645 852 649 805 0,6 6 041 895 6 204 299 2,7 Brazil 37 503 39 508 5,3 318 541 355 254 11,5 Dom. Republic 14 918 15 548 4,2 183 627 179 024-2,5 Canada 81 264 81 212-0,1 818 602 799 822-2,3 Mexico 14 101 16 343 15,9 142 586 149 794 5,1 USA 463 142 455 616-1,6 4 223 843 4 317 846 2,2 Asia 675 099 686 496 1,7 5 934 559 6 263 734 5,5 China 121 393 115 066-5,2 1 066 512 1 049 841-1,6 Hong Kong 29 875 29 083-2,7 257 904 259 763 0,7 India 60 296 58 839-2,4 552 422 498 967-9,7 Israel 47 866 53 476 11,7 426 620 442 148 3,6 Japan 56 973 62 962 10,5 477 497 564 525 18,2 Singapore 40 342 42 498 5,3 336 682 386 463 14,8 Thailand 42 971 35 045-18,4 440 264 379 987-13,7 UAE 117 274 138 941 18,5 952 535 1 219 534 28,0 Australia/ Oceania 3 983 4 721 18,5 38 043 39 476 3,8 Source: Federal Statistics Office Germany (2012)
Airline and Aviation News Fraport traffic figures - November 2012: Passenger traffic declines In November 2012, Fraport welcomed about 4.2 million passengers at its Frankfurt Airport home base down 2.7% compared to the same month last year. With the start of the winter timetable 2012/2013, the airlines implemented a wave of consolidation initiatives as they have been hit hard by the turbulent dynamics of the European and the global economy, and the burden of national aviation taxes. The reduction in flight destinations and frequencies by airlines resulted in the passenger decline during the month. Looking at the year overall, passenger traffic development remains unchanged: From January to November 2012 some 53.5 million passengers used Germany's largest hub an increase of 2.6% compared to the same eleven-month period in 2011. Traffic Growth continues at Berlin Airports A total of 1,993,856 passengers 4.8 per cent more than in the same month the previous year were recorded at the Berlin s airports Tegel and Schönefeld in November. The two airports thus handled 23,477,365 passengers by November this year; 5.6 per cent more than in the same period the previous year. For tenth years in a row, the airports of Berlin are growing faster than the average of all German airports. It is highly likely that the 25 million mark will be reached this year. The number of flight movements at both airports in November 2012 was almost the same as in November 2011, totalling 19,811 take-offs and landings. A total of 225,955 flight movements were recorded at Tegel and Schönefeld between January and November; up slightly on the previous year by +0.4 per cent. Lufthansa Group November Capacity: Traffic Declines, Load Factor Rises German aviation group Deutsche Lufthansa reported a 1.3% decline in passengers flown in the month of November compared to last year. The group, which includes Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo, said that traffic, for the group declined 0.5 percent in November. Capacity for the month declined 2.4 percent, while passenger load factor rose 1.4 percentage points. Lufthansa Group reported a 1.3 percent decrease in passengers flown in November from the year-ago period to 7.69 million. Passenger numbers were higher in America, while it declined in Europe, Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa. Lufthansa s capacity declined 2.8% and traffic decreased 1.6%. Passenger load factor was up 0.9 percentage points to 74.6 percent, while the number of passengers were down 2.1 percent from last year. Meanwhile, the number of flights the group operated during the month decreased 4 percent from last year to 81,311. Lufthansa plans premium economy seat Lufthansa is expanding its product portfolio and will equip the entire Lufthansa longhaul fleet with a premium economy seat. At the beginning of next year, a project group will be formed to manage the introduction and define the precise features of the product as well as a detailed timetable. This substantially up-graded Economy product will fill the gap between the superior Business Class segment on one side and the classic Economy Class on the other, aiming to appeal to both leisure travellers seeking additional comfort
and business travelers. New Germanwings to become Europe s most modern airline with à la carte travel German budget airline Germanwings is set to revolutionise the European low-cost market. In the future it will offer the highest value airline product in this segment in Europe. On July 1, 2013, the new Germanwings will launch a completely new brand and product concept allowing all passengers to enjoy à la carte flying. Passengers will then be able to create their own package and adapt it in detail to their individual needs, from low-cost flying without add-ons to a high-quality passenger experience with lots of amenities and extras. While offering Economy Class across the board, the new Germanwings will boast three fares with different service packages. Best, the highest quality product, will cover the needs of business passengers in particular but also appeal to leisure travellers, the Smart fare product will include certain add-on services with the customer being able to pick others as needed, while Basic will be the no-frills low-cost fare. AirBerlin: New network strategy from summer 2013 inspired by efficiency drive AirBerlin has strategically revised its route network for the upcoming summer season. The timetable modifications have been designed to increase efficiency and mainly refer to the intercontinental routes to the US. The important consideration was to transfer capacities, thereby enhancing the airline's profile in strategic core markets. The United States are a strategic growth market for airberlin. This will continue to be the case in the future. By restructuring its network in North America, airberlin has set the course for further growth in this market from summer 2013 onwards. The new non-stop service between Berlin and the American Airlines hub of Chicago from March 2013 underpins the strategy of the second largest German airline as regards developing the existing synergies. AirBerlin will also be increasing its non-stop services to New York JFK, Los Angeles and Miami from May 2013, while at the same time cancelling its seasonal nonstop flights from Dusseldorf to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Vancouver. The restructuring of the North American network is therefore aimed at selectively weeding out low-frequency routes while simultaneously strengthening the strategically important, high-turnover routes and making the best use of a strong network of partners. Consequently both San Francisco and Las Vegas will continue to be available for booking as codeshare flights with American Airlines, since this airline operates a far more frequent service to these destinations than airberlin and throughout the year. A new feature at airberlin's Dusseldorf hub is that the number of non-stop flights to Los Angeles will be increased from three to four per week. The flights are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Since the service from Berlin to Los Angeles will still continue in summer 2013 with three flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays airberlin passengers will be offered a daily flight from Germany to California from May 2013 onwards. The times of the flights between Berlin and Los Angeles, a service that airberlin has been offering since 11th May 2012, have also been optimised for better connections to and from destinations in airberlin's growth markets of Scandinavia and Russia. The service between Berlin and Miami is also being increased from three to five flights a week.
Competitor Activity Australia.com voted 'world's best' Tourism Australia s consumer website Australia.com has been recognised at this year s World Travel Awards (WTA), being voted World's Leading Tourism Authority Website by more than 220,000 travel agents and other industry professionals from over 175 countries. Tourism Australia relaunched the popular website in March 2012 with a cleaner design, simpler navigation and additional functionality, aimed at helping international and domestic travellers better research, plan and make the most of an Australian holiday. "We now have a website which is more attractive to the eye, stronger in functionality and easier to navigate with rich and engaging content which informs and inspires more people to look to Australia for their next holiday," said Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director, Tourism Australia. Tourism Australia's Facebook Page Hits Four Million Fans Tourism Australia's Facebook page, Facebook.com/seeaustralia, has confirmed its status as the world's most popular tourism destination page - now exceeding four million fans worldwide. Tourism Australia Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy, said the national tourism agency was harnessing the power of Facebook and its other social media channels to allow advocates of Australia to share their stories about what makes the country such a unique and distinctive place to visit. "Social media is now deeply ingrained and integrated into our marketing activities, including the latest phase of our There's nothing like Australia global campaign, which was even launched in Australia on our Facebook page," he said. In August of this year, Tourism Australia launched a new app on its Facebook page, allowing travelers to tap into their trusted network of Facebook friends for inspiration and ideas to plan and make the most of a holiday in Australia. The 'Discover Australia Through Your Friends' app - the first of its kind in the world - merges the best of Google Maps and Facebook technology to create a unique travel planning tool to not only help choose where in Australia to go, but also provide inspiration and advice from friends who may already have been there. Mr McEvoy said that Tourism Australia's Facebook page was also a powerful marketing tool for industry, allowing Australian tourism operators to showcase themselves to the world. "Operators can post content on our page, and even list themselves to our "Things to Do" tab - nearly 1,000 Australian operators have already done so - giving four million fans of Australia access to their tourism attraction or event - that's incredible free advertising," he said. As well as managing the largest Facebook page in Australia and largest destination page in the world, Tourism Australia boasts the most followed destination on Google+ and Instagram, as well as an active presence on Twitter and an increasingly large presence on major Asian social media platforms Weibo and Tudou.
Facebook facts: 4 million fans Reaching 1 million unique users daily Largest page in Australia Most popular destination page in the world 1,400 photos posted to our wall weekly German travelers to be inspired by the best of Australia Tourism Australia has created a content special on web.de, one of the top four websites in Germany targeting 40-49 year old travelers. The campaign, which runs until 24 December, highlights Australia s unique nature, top lodges, national parks and stunning self-drive touring routes and signature events as great reasons for German travelers to visit Australia. Singapore Airlines deepens commitment to Australia Singapore Airlines has signed agreements amounting to more than A$5 million with six Australian tourism organizations, in line with the airline s ongoing efforts to promote tourism into the country. New agreements were signed between July and October with the South Australia Tourism Commission and Destination New South Wales, while existing agreements with Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Victoria and Tourism Western Australia were expanded to increase their value and include new markets. Key markets covered under the agreements include selected the UK, Germany, India, Indonesia and Singapore and other countries in Europe and Asia. 100% Middle-earth campaign wins world's best travel award Tourism New Zealand's 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign has taken out the award for 'World's Leading Destination Marketing Campaign' in the World Travel Awards 2012 Grand Final. The win was announced at a red-carpet awards gala ceremony in New Delhi on December 12. The evening marks the culmination of a year-long search by The World Travel Awards for the very best in travel and tourism including destination marketing campaign. The award winners were decided by tourism professionals in over 171 countries across the
globe including travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says: "It is a huge honor to win this category, recognizing the strength and effectiveness of our new 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign. We believe that we have identified a valuable opportunity to enhance the country's international profile through its association with the filming of The Hobbit trilogy. Through our new 100% Pure New Zealand campaign we aim to leverage the attention that New Zealand will receive by starring in these movies, and convert that attention into travel. Receiving recognition from the international tourism industry for the work we are doing is a great achievement." The award comes at the end of a great year for Tourism New Zealand having been voted 'Leading Tourist Board' in the 2012 Australasian World Travel Awards, named the 'Favourite Country - Worldwide' at the Telegraph Travel Awards and 'Favourite Emerging Destination - Overseas' at the Condé Nast Traveller Reader' Travel Awards in India. Massive Month for Media Website: Middle-earth content highly sought after Tourism New Zealand's international media website recorded its biggest ever month of visits in November with 72,000 visitors seeking news stories about tourism in New Zealand. The result coincides with the global premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which was hosted in Wellington and drew significant international attention. Significant time and energy was invested in the international media website in advance of the world premiere. The "Middle-earth hub" hosts 36 features/backgrounders and 37 media releases - all providing additional news-worthy New Zealand tourism content, free for use. The week of the premiere saw around 100 international media in Wellington who were all provided access to New Zealand broadcast footage, imagery and news stories by Tourism New Zealand. South Africa with out-of-home, online and cinema promotions South African Tourism is currently running a promotion with the flight portal fly.de, which belongs to the FTI Group. It includes out-of-home posters as well as an online special with banners and a South Africa subpage with flight deals and destination information. South African Tourism also runs cinema advertising and shows its spot in cinemas across Germany (e.g. ahead of the new James Bond film Skyfall ).
Economy Economic Indicators 3rd Quarter 2012 +/- to previous Quarter GDP: 674.85 billion EUR +0.6% 2011 2010 GDP Growth: +3.0% +3.7% November 2012 +/- compared to Nov.2011 Consumer Price Index: 113.2 +1.9% Unemployment Rate: 6.5% +0.1 % Exchange Rate As of December 27, 2012: 1 US$ = 0.7539 Euro; 1 Euro = 1.3265 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 2011 2012
Economic News Real earnings up 1.0% in the third quarter of 2012 on the same quarter of 2011 In Germany, real earnings increased by an average 1.0% from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2012. As the Federal Statistical Office also reports, nominal earnings rose by 3.0% in the same period and consumer prices were up 1.9%. Hence real earnings have not fallen for the eleventh quarter in a row since the first quarter of 2010 they increased in nine quarters and remained constant in two quarters. Public financial deficit down to 21.6 billion euros in the first three quarters of 2012 As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, the total price-adjusted value of orders received by enterprises in main construction industry and civil and underground engineering in Germany increased 30.5% in October 2012 from the same month of the previous year. In main construction industry, demand increased 17.0%, in civil and underground engineering it increased 47.7%.