LEISURE TRAVEL DEPARTMENT APRIL 2007 REPORT Recap of Trade Shows/Missions Attended See details below April 2007 4/12-15 Southern Women s Show-Nashville, TN 4/14-15 Spring Fiesta in the Park-Orlando, FL 4/16-19 NTS-Troy, Grand Rapids, & Novi, MI and Toledo, OH 4/17-19 Travel Impressions-Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC 4/19-22 Travel Professionals of Color-Ft. Lauderdale, FL 4/21-25 TIA International Pow Wow-Anaheim, CA 4/24-25 FL Live! Chicago, IL 4/24-26 HX Media Gay Expo Boston, MA and New York, NY 4/28 Black Travel Expo-Philadelphia, PA 4/28-29 Miami Herald Hispanic Travel Expo-Miami, FL TRADE SHOWS/SALES TRIPS Southern Women s Show-Nashville, TN April 12-15, 2007 ATTENDANCE: 40,000 PARTICIPATION: Brochure Distribution-Clearwater Regional Chamber, JCR Management, and Ramada St. Petersburg This show s target audience is women who are between the ages of 25-54, college educated and married. 25 percent plan to purchase travel within the next 6 months, making them a perfect fit for our destination. Florida was represented well, with Ft. Myers and Sanibel, New Smyrna Beach, Panama City and the Bradenton Area CVB also exhibiting. Many people reported having confirmed reservations to our area within the next 90 days and had mostly positive remarks for our destination. With Southwest Airlines low cost fares and the addition of Allegiant Air flying from Chattanooga and Knoxville, direct air service has increased to our area. In closing, our exhibit booth and promotional materials were well received, and the Nashville area continues to be a strong secondary fly and drive market for our destination. STAFFED BY: Rob Price 1
Fiesta in the Park-Orlando, FL April 14-15, 2007 ATTENDANCE: 5000+ PARTICIPATION: Ramada St. Petersburg Brochure Distribution-JCR Management This is our fourth year of participation in the annual spring event. Attendees were from the central part of the state making our destination a short distance drive market. The overall impression from the people we spoke with was that our beaches were more attractive and cleaner; there are more choices in price range for accommodations then the East Coast of Florida. There was interest in beach weddings and spa weekend getaways. National Trade Shows Troy, Grand Rapids, Novi, MI and Toledo, OH April 16-20, 2007 ATTENDANCE: Approximately 100-110 agents per city PARTICIPATION: TradeWinds Island Resorts Brochure Distribution-Clearwater Regional Chamber The format of these retail travel agent trade shows / presentations continue to draw proven sellers from the Michigan and Ohio markets. In addition to personally interacting with the agents during the trade show, we are allocated speaking to the entire group during the dinner portion of the event. Highlights included top ranked beaches, spring training baseball, downtown St. Petersburg s arts and culture venues and the redevelopment of Clearwater Beach. Most agents reported business is up over same quarter last year and they are forecasting a strong summer season due in part to the increase of new air service via Allegiant Air that flies non stop from Lansing, Detroit and Toledo. More and more Florida suppliers are exhibiting at these shows with the following in attendance: Pensacola, Miami, Seminole, Central Florida and Port Canaveral. It is imperative that we continue to maximize our exposure to these qualified groups of travel professionals to stay ahead of our in state competition. STAFFED BY: Rob Price 2
Travel Impressions-Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC April 17-19, 2007 ATTENDANCE: Atlanta 150 Charlotte 100 Travel Impressions is a wholesale travel company that invited the top producing travel agents and new agents to an evening tradeshow. Established agents were very familiar with our destination and send their clients to our upscale properties such as the Don CeSar and the Vinoy. New agents were very excited about learning about are destination with frequent questions regarding museums and art galleries. Travel Professionals of Color-Ft. Lauderdale, FL April 18-22, 2007 ATTENDANCE: 400 Travel Professionals Partnered with Visit Florida and hosted a breakfast for approximately 200 travel professionals of color. Gave a Power Point presentation on our destination. Afterwards, many agents advised that they were not aware of all the culture we have in St. Pete/Clearwater. Many expressed an interest in coming down to see the area. Two other Florida destinations were in attendance Ft. Myers and Sanibel and Universal Orlando. The host CVB was the Greater Ft. Lauderdale CVB. Shared a booth with Visit Florida and exhibited in a mini tradeshow. Distributed material to several top producing agents/tour operators in the African American market. Had the chance to sit in on a Heritage and Tourism workshop and was able to comment and give feedback on how to increase multicultural tourism. STAFFED BY: Cyndi Christopher TIA s International Pow Wow-Anaheim, CA April 21 25, 2007 PARTICIPATION: In the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area CVB Section: Sirata Beach Resort, Dolphin Beach Resort, Clearwater Beach Marriott Suites on Sand Key, TradeWinds Island Resorts, Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, Excel Hospitality, Bilmar Beach Resort and Sunset Vistas Beachfront Suites. Other properties at the show: Sheraton Sand Key, Don CeSar, Alden Beach Resort, Sandpearl, Condos By Sirata and Plaza Beach Resort. 3
The St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area CVB met with 58 confirmed appointments over the 3- day show. In addition to scheduled appointments, daily lunches and evening events provided excellent opportunities to network with suppliers. Follow-up includes in-bound educational visits, sending out specific property leads, review co-op advertising opportunities and web based promotions. Overall 2007 International Leisure Travel is expected to increase slightly over 2006 numbers. The UK market is still not performing as expected, with the British Pound being so strong against the US Dollar. Canadian, German and Central European operators are predicting positive revenue and room night increases for our destination. Continued growth in our area and new products to sell were met with great interest by suppliers that want to expand their program in Pinellas County. Dertour is planning a Super Fam for 100 agents in May 2008 details for this joint venture with Orlando will be coordinated through the CVB s German office and Leisure Travel Department. Emerging markets that wanted to talk about featuring our destination in the future included Latin America and China. Pow Wow 2008 June 1 5, 2008 Las Vegas, Nevada. STAFFED BY: Rosemarie Payne, Lee Daniel, Mary Haban, Kimberly Harley-McMurray, Barbara Schuch-Beckers and Geoff Rowcliffe FL Live Trade Show Skokie and Oak Brook, IL April 24-25, 2007 ATTENDANCE: Skokie 60 agents Oak Brook 200 agents The format of these retail travel agent trade shows / presentations was a trade show for accommodations and attractions followed by a dinner in which six CVB representatives presented a Power Point to the group. Other destinations in attendance were Pensacola, Central Florida, Lee County, Palm Beach and the Tampa CVB. Our presentation focused on top beaches, St. Petersburg arts and cultural attractions, Tarpon Springs and the Beachwalk project on Clearwater Beach. Due to the outstanding support of our local suppliers, we were the featured grand prize at both functions. Each prize included a week long stay, dolphin, dinner and sunset cruises, tickets to the zoo and Busch Gardens. At the Oak Brook event I was able to secure two roundtrip tickets on Air Tran Airways that were also packaged with our grand prize which really set up apart from the rest of Florida. STAFFED BY: Rob Price 4
HX Media Gay Travel Expo-Boston, MA and New York, NY April 24-26, 2007 ATTENDANCE: Boston 600 New York 1000+ This was our first time attending the Boston Gay Travel Expo and our second time attending the New York Gay Travel Expo. Attendees were interested in our destination s local arts and entertainment with special interest in downtown St Petersburg and the Gay Pride event in June. The new GLBT destination guide was introduced during these two travel show bringing a positive response from attendees. This guide provides the gay travel market accommodations, restaurants along with additional destination information regarding their travel interests and for all to feel welcomed in our destination. Black Travel Expo-Philadelphia, PA April 28, 2007 ATTENDANCE: Approx. 2,000 PARTICIPATION: Brochure Distribution-JCR Management and Ramada St. Petersburg Distributed material to hundreds of interested consumers. Had several inquiries about what airports we service. Advised consumers of TPA and PIE, distributed and referred to Area Guide. Many consumers were unaware of the activities we have to offer in our destination. Advised of all the beach activities, sports, and the culture. Advised we have hundreds of festivals annually and distributed the Pinellas County Culture Map, which many consumers were interested in. Quite a few consumers expressed the desire to book vacations to St. Pete/Clearwater at the show! Advised them of their options to book directly with the property, use the internet, or go through their local travel agent. STAFFED BY: Cyndi Christopher Miami Herald Hispanic Show-Miami, FL April 28-29, 2007 ATTENDANCE: 3,800+ This was our first year of participation for the fourth annual Miami Herald Hispanic Travel show. The attendees consisted of both seasoned travelers and young families. The well 5
traveled were interested in arts and culture and the families were interested in kid friendly accommodations and planned activities. The show offered a three hour time slot entrance for travel agents only. This allowed us to showcase our destination for local travel professionals. OTHER Transat Holidays April 24, 2007 Transat Holidays/Nolitours based in Halifax, is one of Atlantic Canada s leading tour operators for Florida. Escorted Ken Nickerson, Sales Representative for Transat Holidays on site inspections of 4 area hotels in their program. With the possibility of increased air service into PIE from Halifax, Transat Holidays is looking to expand their program. Mr. Nickerson was also very impressed with our area as a destination wedding venue. He experienced this first hand as he was here to see his sister get married on Sand Key Beach. STAFFED BY: Cindy Clydesdale UPCOMING EVENTS Trade Shows/Missions April 2007 5/1-3 GoGo Appreciation Dinners-Northeast and Philadelphia, PA & Baltimore, MD 5/4 I-75 Welcome Center-Jennings, FL 5/19-20 NEI Heath & Fitness Expo-Miami Beach, FL 5/22 Hotelbeds.com Destination Training-Orlando, FL 5/22-23 Pentagon Show-Washington, DC 5/23 Mark Travel Training-Orlando, FL 5/24 I-95 Welcome Center-Yulee, FL 5/31 Orlando Gay Days-Orlando, FL Training Trips 5/7-10 FTI-Germany 5/7 Virgin Holidays Dinner 5/10-11 Discover America-Norway 6/5-6/6 Thomas Cook-UK 6