French Market Update Mr Blaise Borezee WTM London November 7 th, 2013
Summary Overview of the French Travel Market Achievements, measure of success in 2013 Plans for 2014 How to participate in our plans / benefits of partnering with CTO
OVERVIEW OF THE FRENCH TRAVEL MARKET
Overview of the French Travel Market 31,2 millions International French travelers in 2012, increase of 6% (vs 2011) among which, 9.000.000 for long haul destinations (Source: Echo Touristique Barometer 2013) Caribbean represents 36% of the long haul activity on the French Market TOP 50 Destination 2012 1. Spain 2. Italy 3. UK 4. Portugal 5. Maroc 6. Allemagne 7. Marocco 8. USA 21/ 22. Guadeloupe / Martinique (vs 11/ 12 in 2011) 23. Reunion Island 28. Mauritius 29. Dominican Republic (vs 30 in 2011) 38. Mexico *Source: Echo Touristique 2013 2010/2011: Caribbean: +19.3% in 2011 (vs 2010) 2011/2012: Caribbean decreased by -1,7% (vs 2011). Potential reasons: French President Elections, bank holidays, increase of the cost of oil in 2012, global European crisis. TOP 4 Caribbean destinations for French travelers in 2012 1. French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Martin) : 700 025 French arrivals ( -10,1%) 2. Dominican Republic : 259 991 French arrivals (-0.2%) 3. Cuba : 101 522 French arrivals (+7.6%) 4. Bahamas : 12 853 French arrivals (-2.6%) 4
Overview of the French Travel Market Key Caribbean players on the French market -5 national offices -5 PR representation agencies -2 Embassies -French Tos featuring Caribbean (around 120 ): Exotismes, Nouvelles Frontières, Voyageur du Monde, Vacances Transat, Kuoni, Nouvelles Antilles, Tourinter -Airlines: 5 Direct regular airlines: Air France, Air Caraibes, Corsairfly, (daily flights) XL Airways (5 time per week) Cubana Airways, (weekly flights) 5
Overview of the French Travel Market TOURISM TRENDS IN FRANCE FOR 2013/2014 Economy: PIB forecasted in 2013 : 0,1 % PIB forcasted in 2014: + 1,1 % "A la carte upscale and exclusive packages" > increasing demand for customized and thematic trips: eg/ wellness, golf, luxury, trekking, religious... Increasing demand for original & unique experiences. Importance of the global situation of the destination: 81% of French people are afraid of traveling to a destination that knows political troubles or instability, which is not the case of Caribbean. New distribution channels : - More and more consumers book directly their holidays. The role of TOs/TAs is thus changing. - Former important operators as Kuoni, Thomas Cook, Nouvelles Frontières are today less considered. It is important to work with specialized TO or thematic TO Travel agents are becoming experts. Strong growth of online tools > information, price comparison and booking tool. And growing importance of social media and blogs as well (C2C communication). Importance of visuals, of sharing experiences, buzzes is more and more important. 6
ACHIEVEMENTS, MEASURE OF SUCCESS IN 2013 7
Destination Caraibes Roadshow -April 2013 Data base analysis 8
Meetings, BtoC and BtoB shows 9
Radio Campaign More than 8 000 participants!! 10
Newsletters Facebook posts 11
PLANS FOR 2014 12
Plans for 2014 Activities Targets Objectives Reinforce CTO joint actions with the CTO members (Tourism Boards, Hotels) PR and Media opportunities Boost CTO website & Facebook Advisory Councils set up and animation Roadshow in 3 French + media reception Trainings (e-learning, or webinars or classical trainings) TOP RESA in September 2014 French Guide (Tour Hebdo or Inhouse brochure) 1 Webinar French Market Update / CTO members Radio campaign or other barter agreement Posts, special offers, newsletters B to B B to B + media B to B B to B B to B and B to C In-house B to C B to C B to B 3 time a year meetings Minimum15 TO, Airlines, tourism boards, travel agencies At least 10 co-exhibitors Cities: Paris, Lyon, Monaco Dates: March 25th, 26th and 27th 2014 Train travel agents on Caribbean highlighting the several Islands. At least 4 co-exhibitors (+CTO) Tailored meeting schedule proposed to the co-exhibitors (at least 10 meetings with Tour Operators) and a market brief Creation a French guide/brochure in order to present the CTO and each of its member countries on a nice brochure in order to show a certain level of quality and expertise Explain and share with the destinations the specificities of the French Market. This could be presented by Interface Tourism, or asking to a director of TO to share its expertise Increase the visibility of the Caribbean Brand Regulars advertising opportunities proposals Upload of at least 10 TOs offers each 3 months Upload of the 12 newsletters At least 10 post per months Pending budget availability, implementation of a Facebook campaing. 13
Destination Caraibes Roadshow + Media Reception 3 French cities targeted: - Paris- March 25th 2014 - Main city for Tourism business - Lyon - March 26th 2014 More than 60 leisure travel agencies - Monaco- March 27th 2014 Nice travel agencies are also considered. This geographical zone owns a high level of purchase power. Format: Media cocktail + workshop + dancing party in Paris 1 Objectives: - Paris: 120 participants - Lyon: 60 participants - Monaco (Nice) : 30 participants 2 3 14
Trainings Objectives - Show the dynamism of the Caribbean zone - Train travel agents experts and make them aware of what offer Caribbean Islands - Increase the business volume and boost sales Concept Several formats are possible: Webinars Elearnings Interface Tourism will own in its new offices a big meeting room which could be used for training sessions 15
IFTM - TOP RESA 2014 Dates: from the 23th till 26th of September 2013 (4 days) Targets: BtoB (29.500 travel agents, buyers, journalists ) Objectives: - The CTO together with IFTM TOP RESA will work on a special concept for Caribbean Islands. - Build a Caribbean Village with a place in middle shared by all the Caribbean exhibitors to entertain visitors - Intense communication on the Caribbean presence and highlight each Island. CTO added value: - Benefit from a space to train agents - Benefit from a space to entertain - Costs sharing - CTO staff available during the show - Market brief given to the participating members - TO data base up-dated given to the participating members 16
French Caribbean Guide Concept: - Implement a Caribbean guide that would be distributed on all the event organized by the CTO or were the CTO is participating - Created in cooperation with the professional magazine Tour Hebdo in order to benefit from their reputation, their advertising contacts and their distribution channel Objectives: - Show a qualitative image of Caribbean - Inform the public on what is the CTO about and what offers the Caribbean region Targets: - BtoB and BtoC 17
Website promotion & Social network Goal: Increase the engament rate Pending budget availabilities, possibility to organize a Facebook ad campaign 18
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR PLANS - BENEFITS OF PARTNERING WITH CTO 19
How to participate in our plans - Benefits of partnering with CTO How to participate? Being part of the Advisory Council Meetings Sending us your information: Relayed on CTO facebook page, website and newsletters Being reactive Participating to joint marketing actions proposed by the CTO or any other event Giving us your feedbacks Your benefits: Lobbying/ networking of CTO (for eg, to work on access) Data base of the tourism industry, tour operators Caribbean image Build synergies Visibility on the CTO s French website, newsletter and Facebook page Market intelligence and industry trends information from the CTO 20
Thank you for your attention! Merci! Caribbean Tourism Organisation c/o Interface Tourism France 16 rue Ballu 75009 PARIS Tel: +33 1 53 25 03 50 Fax: +33 1 53 25 11 12 caraibes@interfacetourism.com 21