A new tourism update from Mary Mahon-Jones

Tourism One-Minute Report

Facts you need to know in one minute or less…

December 15, 2010

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT BEST CUSTOMERS? TARGET EMERGING MARKETS

According to an industry report by the World Travel Market (WTM) conducted for Euromonitor International, based on a poll of senior industry executives, new and emerging global markets provide the tourism industry with its greatest opportunities – particularly for short-haul destinations. The report shows that the industry is switching focus from the developed markets of the UK, Europe and the US to the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

India: The Indian travel market is expected to be $17.6 billion in 2010 (compared to $15.8 billion in 2009), with leisure travel contributing $4 billion. With easing of visa rules and processing, many Indians are taking advantage of short-haul ‘break’ vacations to Africa and the Middle East.

Taiwan: Taiwanese outbound visits are expected to top 9 million for the first time this year, up from 8.14 million last year. Japan (assisted greatly by a new direct flight between Taipei and Tokyo), China and Thailand are the most popular destinations.

China : Chinese tourists spent $43.7 billion US overseas in 2009.

Russia: Over 6 million Russians went on overseas packaged holidays last year. The head of Russia’s Federal Agency confirms that Russian outbound travel is growing quickly, citing preliminary data showing an increase of 30-40% in 2010.

CANADA – LOOKING GOOD, BUT STILL NEEDS WORK

A recent study by the Canadian-based National Travel and Tourism Coalition, notes that although Canada ranked 8th in the world for the number of tourists it drew, in 2009 it had slipped to 15th place.

Canada’s prospects to grow the $71.5 billion tourists are spending in Canada may be brightening - Canada climbed to top spot in Future Brand’s 2010 Country Brand Index, displacing the USA, largely because of the increased awareness brought by successful marketing around the 2010 Olympics and the lack of afterglow from the ‘Obama effect’ in the US. However, Canada has much to do to keep its lofty perch. The Coalition has some suggestions – improve our cost competitiveness and infrastructure, facilitate border crossing, bolster the labour supply and increase access to marketing resources.

GOOGLE MAPS – TAKING ‘HOT TOURIST SPOTS’ LITERALLY

Google can now produce a ‘heat map’ of the world, graphically showing the places in the world that are, well, hot. Using a dynamic tool called Panoramio, the map shows the most-visited places in the world as yellow (high activity), red (medium activity) and blue (low). Access the link on the website edition of this email (see below).

DEPRIVATION VACATIONS – COULD THIS REALLY BE A NEW TREND?

The World Travel Market Report mentioned above, also determined that “deprivation’ vacations, involving boot-camp style resorts or extreme trekking are trends to watch in the post-recession global tourism industry. Personally, anything with the word ‘deprivation’ in it just doesn’t work for me as a leisure option.

Some interesting products and services are surfacing on the market as a result of another weird trend – concern about bed bugs in travel accommodations. A company in New York uses dogs to sniff out the pesky critters for extermination. Bed, Bath and Beyond is promoting a Bedbug Pillow Protector that can be zipped over hotel pillows. Comes with a lifetime warranty – probably voided if you forget it on the pillow when you check out...

CANADIAN MARKET – are we getting our confidence back?

Canadian consumer confidence rebounded in October and November, rising 3.9 points in November. The Business confidence outlook has also improved over the time since the last report, with CFIB reporting a modest level of optimism among small to medium-sized businesses – pointing to a strengthening optimism for future growth.

The Canadian dollar continues to be strong and Canadian employment (up 1.9% over November 2009) is holding steady, but there was a ‘notable decline’ in youths in the labour market, which could be a sign of young people opting out to return to school to wait out the effects of the recession.

Canadians are still taking advantage of great travel bargains and the power of the Canadian dollar to travel to international destinations. In September, re-entry into Canada from the States by Canadian residents increased by 7.3% and from other countries by 11.5%, with an overall increase of 8.4%. Year to date (to September), over 22.5 million Canadians re-entered Canada after travelling abroad – an increase of 9% over last year.

US MARKET – SPENDING MORE ON DOMESTIC TRAVEL

According to the US Government, US tourists spent considerably more money travelling within the US between January and October of 2010 than they did in non-US destinations – creating a trade surplus of more than $25 million – exceeding 2009’s surplus in the same time period by 45%. Outbound travel increased from June 2009 to June 2010 by 4.5%.

After a dip in September, US consumer confidence improved in October and November. Other indicators show that economic recovery, albeit slow, continues.

Within the US, retail and food service sales have shown an increase by 6.5% in the 11 months of 2010, over the same 11 months of 2009. Sales are lead by gasoline stations, followed by non-store retailers (including on-line) and auto sales.

Canada saw a modest uptick in US visitation in September (1.2%), which confirms that Americans are still travelling internationally and that Canada is still on their radar.

CANADIAN CULTURAL CAPITALS

International cultural tourists looking for a great experience can head to the three Canadian cities that have won the designation of cultural capital from Canadian Heritage: Vancouver (British Columbia), Lévis (Quebec) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island). All three are launching cultural festivals and projects in 2011, designed to bolster the arts and heritage in their regions.

WORD OF MOUTH

“Don’t touch my junk…” A phrase that has received a fair amount of news play in the last month, resulting from a November 13 incident in the San Diego airport in which a local man, John Tyner, refused to undertake a full body scan and subsequently, in a pat-down body search, threatened to have them arrested if they did a groin check. After cancelling his flight and being escorted out of the security area, Tyner, who had recorded the entire incident on his cell phone, wrote about it on his blog. It has since gone viral – by that evening 70,000 people had accessed the entry. “Only 5% say I’m an idiot,” said Tyner, who also stated “I don’t understand how sexual assault can be made a condition of flying.”

“Still, from Mexico’s perspective, the visas were a slap in the face from a NAFTA partner and a supposedly friendly country. (“Gringo light,” one wag called Canada.) It didn’t help much for Canadians to explain that the fault lay within themselves.” Jeffrey Simpson, from his article in the Globe & Mail “Mexico-Canada relations are frosty, but it's not quite adios amigo”, November 13. Simpson notes that, despite efforts to beef up staffing at Canadian embassies and speed up visa processing, numbers of Mexicans visiting Canada has plummeted since the visa requirement was introduced.

The above is a brief synopsis of each story. For the full stories and information references, click here to access the full report online or to download a PDF copy.

Mahon Jones & Associates is a tourism consulting firm, with special focus on cultural tourism and the North American cultural tourist. For more information about our services or to discuss how we can assist your organization, government agency or business visit our website at www.mahonjones.com or contact us at mmj@mahonjones.com.

This report is the intellectual property of Mahon Jones & Associates. Feel free to circulate with attribution to MJA. If you no longer wish to receive this mailing, email mmj@mahonjones.com and write the word “cancel” in the subject line.

Tourism and cultural tourism consulting

Mary Mahon Jones, President

1588 Look Out Point

North Vancouver, BC

Canada

V7G 1X9

604-833-3290

mmj@mahonjones.com

www.mahonjones.com

Linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/mary-mahon-jones/14/292/285

WELLNESS TRENDS

Wellbeing Escapes Predicts Top Wellness Trends for 2011

They have compiled the following predictions for 2011:

Less pampering, more health In 2011
We will see an ever bigger shift to providing wellness options rather than papering. More spas and resorts are learning how to integrate treatments with wellness specialisms such as nutritionists and targeted activities to create an overall health enhancing experience. Beware of the inevitable marketers adopting the wellness buzzword but not being able to deliver the experience

Shorter Spa Menus
More spas will be editing down their treatment lists with the objective to deliver a better service. The days of endless lists of treatments at top quality spas are numbered. A specialist approach allows for the deeper, more thorough and ongoing training of therapists - let's face it, a ‘jack of all trades' therapist is unlikely to provide the highest quality experience. Look out for indigenous treatments using local ingredients which are also becoming more popular and in our opinion more authentic.

Solo Travellers Dominate
Busy schedules and the desire not to have to satisfy other people's needs on holiday are the main reasons there is an increasing percentage of people travelling solo on a spa or wellness holiday. There is no stigma attached to focusing on oneself anymore and in fact this segment is growing faster than others. Savvy spas and wellness resorts are addressing this sizeable market by providing no single supplements, busy activity schedules, and sociable facilities such as sharing tables at meal times.

The Power of Pilates
We are not talking about mat classes but fully equipped Pilates studios with Reformers, Cadillacs etc and qualified teachers. An increasing number of spas are reviewing how to further improve their fitness facilities beyond personal trainers and yoga classes and Pilates facilities are a very interesting option. Pilates provides a great solution for a number of personal challenges - back problems, post surgery rehabilitation, post pregnancy firming and strengthening, postural correction to name a few.

Healthy Ageing
Not to be confused with anti ageing. Many of the world's established destination spa, in addition to some new cutting edge wellness resorts, are developing comprehensive programmes to help us age healthily. The focus isn't about reducing wrinkles but about disease prevention and health enhancement. Personal medical evaluations, usually taken through blood tests, are followed by personalised health plans that include treatments, education and activities that will help achieve optimum health and boost vitality.

Health and Fitness for the Mind
The global recession has not helped the work life balance debate. It is now about survival of the fittest with people still worried about losing jobs in this cost cutting environment. Physical fitness is now firmly established and accepted as stress busting and increasing energy, however mental fitness is increasingly being recognised as equally important. Meditation is no longer viewed as a spiritual pastime for monks or lentil-eating, sandal- wearing hippies but being used as a daily tool to help with stress and efficiency. Leading spas and wellness resorts are including meditation instruction as part of stress reduction programmes and activity schedules to help people learn this valuable tool. Again, it is all about quality, quality, quality - it takes years of instruction to be able to teach this technique effectively, so make sure you learn from an authentic and experienced teacher.

Value and Return on Investment
Although the deals are still out there they are gradually decreasing as the economy slowly turns around and hotels and airlines start to focus on increasing yields again. The keywords are "Value" and "Return on Investment". As the spa going population becomes more sophisticated and experienced they will focus more on value rather than the cheapest price, demanding more from their experience. The cheapest spa will not necessarily bring them their return on investment in terms of measurable health benefits and long lasting results on their return.

Restorative Breaks for Men
Historically the spa world have generally marketed pampering to women and fitness to men. The focus for men was alpha goal orientated programmes that brought a sense of achievement and enforced the stereotype. We have seen a shift in what high achieving men are looking for, away from adrenaline filled action packed breaks to more restorative breaks that help with stress reduction and rebalancing. We predict this segment will grow as men realise that the detox, retox cycle is not sustainable and balance is not a feminine concept.

Increase of new Non Surgical/Non Chemical Beauty Treatments
With celebrities publicly turning away from chemical procedures such as botox, the emergence of fast and effective beauty treatments that are not toxic or chemical are becoming popular at spas. New procedures and machinery are being introduced at mainly European spas that show impressive results in skin texture and smoothing wrinkles and lines. Look out for innovative approaches such as extracting plasma from your blood and injecting into your skin by the process of non painful micro needling or more traditional approaches such as the vigorous tui-na Chinese facial massages.

Wellness Through Nature
This can take the form of fitness, holistic activities, meditation, and treatments. Rather than putting people indoors to carry out their wellness programme, many hotels spas and wellness resorts will be further focusing on getting guests to engage with the natural resources and uniqueness of their locations. Currently we have hiking in mountains, yoga in the gardens, fitness programmes that encompass kayaking, sea-swimming, Jungle gyms, outdoor rock climbing walls, challenging mountain biking. We predict this to become more creative with meditation walks along beautiful beaches, yoga in outdoor salas, tree-top spas, treatment locations where you can hear the sound of the ocean and birdsong - no more air-conditioned window-less treatment rooms playing CDs with nature music on repeat cycle.

Source: wellbeingescapes.co.uk

What is Ottawa Doing to the Tourism Industry?

I am in a daze......

First of all we lose our dominance in the Alaska Cruise Market because of our outrageous fees and taxes we place on our customers for trying to do business with us.

Then we make the decision to close the US Leisure Travel offices of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC). After all, it is our biggest market! Why not concentrate our efforts on India? Makes perfect sense to me!

We totally offend the United Arab Emirates by our ongoing attempts to give world-wide protection to Air Canada and instead of living up to the concept of OPEN SKIES they now have ensured that any Canadian carrier (commercial or military) are not allowed into UAE skies. (Scares me to think if this is going to have an effect on the operation of Fairmont Hotels in Abu Dhabi and Dubai).

And now, Ottawa is moving towards closing the border! We have a commitment from Washington State and DC to continue to operate a 2nd AMTRAK Train into Vancouver daily. All it costs is $1500 a day to cover the costs of Canadian Border Services to greet the train customers. How short-sighted! These trains brought over 25,ooo visitors in July! They spend over $11 MILLION dollars in our economy! Ottawa spend $1500 a day on Taxi and limo fares for their bureaucrats!

What can they do next?????

CTC US Leisure Marketing closing?

Rumour has it that the Canadian Tourism Commission has shut down all of the Leisure Marketing Offices in the United States. They are going to leave the selling of Canada up to the Provinces so the CTC can concentrate on China, India and who knows where else.

What is Canada's major market? the United States!

Where is Canada's biggest potential? the United States!

My mind boggles!

SOCIAL MEDIA and its affect on Public Relations

An amazing article:

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=172988943&gid=127474&type=member&item=27387385&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fmashable%2Ecom%2F2010%2F08%2F16%2Fpr-social-media-future%2F&urlhash=uibf&goback=%2Egde_127474_member_27387385

10 Surefire Ways to Land More Customers by David Brim

Wow....this is an amazing article:

So many people all around the world have great ideas, products and services. And yet some businesses do well, and some fail.

What separates the businesses that starve from the businesses who feast?

For the answer, we turn to another way people have been setting their feast table for hundreds of years: fishing.

Landing a fish, just like landing a customer, requires strategy and know-how if you’re going to come home successful.

Here are my top 10 ways to land the catch of the day.

1. Know what you’re after

In fishing, you always use the best bait possible for the particular type of fish you’re after.

So many times clients come to me and say, “I don’t have a target market”. They’re always wrong.

At a minimum, you should understand:

• The problems your customers have
• Their buying habits
• Their potential objections to your product
• Where they go to find information
• What influences them (their heroes and idols, TV shows they watch, websites they enjoy, magazines they read, etc.)
• What their core demographics and psychographics are

Even if your product “appeals to everyone,” typically 20% of your audience will generate 80% of your revenue. Your job is to figure out who those 20% are, so you can find the kind of bait that appeals most to those customers.

Bait that works for trout won’t necessarily let you land a great white shark.

2. Know where to fish for your customers

Determining the right fishing location can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and going hungry.

Knowing the places where your customers hang out online gives you a much greater chance for marketing success. Figure out which sites your customers frequent and you’ll have a much better chance of reeling one in. Try seeking out:

• Blogs they read
• Forums they participate in
• Social networking sites and other membership groups
• Entertainment or other non-work related sites

You don’t want to use a top water lure if the fish you want are feeding on the bottom.

3. Be aware of your competition

All fishermen guard their secrets closely, but newcomers can still pick up plenty of tricks by watching what their competition does.

I’m not saying it’s smart to copy your competitor exactly. “Me-too” marketing doesn’t work.

But learn from them and get a feeling for the overall marketplace you’re in. Incorporate those insights into your own marketing and content strategy.

By analyzing your competitors you can also figure out how you can position your brand to stand out from the crowd.

4. Use good bait

When you’re hoping to catch a fish standing side by side with a row of other fishermen, you have to make sure your bait is the most appealing fish food dangling the water. Otherwise, that fish is liable to go for one of your neighbor’s hooks instead.

Consumers have lots of options and offers dangling in front of them in any marketplace. You’ve got to have some pretty juicy bait to stand out from that crowd.

So what makes good customer bait?

• Magnetic headlines
• Compelling images
• Content that’s valuable in its own right
• An attractive niche that makes your customer feel “this is for people like me”
• Easy-to-swallow landing pages

5. Setting the hook

Just because a fish bites doesn’t mean you can reel it in. Many a marketer has a woeful tale about the big one that got away.

Once a customer is interested and bites by clicking through to your sales page, you have to set the hook by making an offer that’s so great it’s practically unfair.

6. Forget catch and release

Remember, it’s a lot easier and more profitable to re-sell an existing customer than acquire a new one.

So if you land a big fish, keep it! Don’t throw it back for someone else to catch.

Re-marketing, high-quality affiliate offers, and up-sells are great for keeping the customers that you currently have, instead of letting them drift back into the stream for some other savvy marketer to reel in.

7. Test the waters

Fishermen often track different variables, like what time of day they went fishing or what bait they used. They measure their results over time to figure out the smartest way to get certain fish.

Similarly, in marketing it’s always wise to test various aspects of your marketing campaign. Measure your results to see what works best, and track your results over time.

Try different images, headlines, or layouts to see which one maximizes time spent on your site, lowers bounce rate, and produces the best ROI.

8. Don’t get discouraged

Some days the fish just aren’t biting.

Sometimes you are not going to be as successful as you’d like, but it’s a process. Continue to educate yourself about business and marketing, keep analyzing your competitors, keep talking to your customers and refining your message.

Keep going and don’t get discouraged. Tomorrow’s the day you’ll get the big one.

9. Partner up to get a bigger catch

Fishing with a buddy helps you to both cover more water and come home with a bigger catch than usual.

If you’re hoping to land more customers than you’ve ever reeled in on your own, find a partner. By knowing your own skill set, you’ll be able to effectively select partners that complement your skills. This strategy can also help you get bigger customers than you could have handled on your own.

10. Enjoy the trip

It’s definitely a lot more fun to catch the big one than to see it get away, but no matter what happens, remember to enjoy yourself.

Entrepreneurship is a lot like fishing. Even when it’s not going as well as we’d like, it’s still a privilege to be able to spend our days doing it.

About the Author: David Brim is the founder and CEO of Brand Advance, an interactive agency that provides marketing consulting, web design, and marketing staffing to emerging companies. David is also the founder of GroupTable.com, collaborative software to increase group productivity. David blogs at Filled to the Brim, and can be found on twitter @davidbrim.

What a year so far!

Well, after my postings about Tourism BC and the Ministry of Tourism merge.. .it seems like the Ministry has got all of their ducks in a row and, hopefully, with the last bit of tweaking.... we will be on our way to capitalize on those amazing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games!
SPEAKING of the Games..... February and March were a BLUR!
Starting on March 6th in Lillooet, BC where I was fortunate enough to Run The Torch, then on March 10th...a day I will never forget....where over 1,300 Bowen Islander's got up and joined in the Torch Relay Celebration here on Bowen! In our wildest dreams our committee never expected more than 400 MAX! Wow. Take a look at www.onbowen.com for an amazing Voideo.
After the torch left the island I quickly changed and met the Danish Olympic C0mmittee President and Secretary-General who I was going to be looking after until the end of the Games. Amazing people. Then in March I met a wonderful gentleman, Patrick Jarvis a Governor of the International Paralympic Committee and Executive Director of the Paralympic Foundation. It was so interesting looking after him during the Paralympic Games as he was so busy presenting Gold Medals (twice) and attending numerous functions both in Whistler and Vancouver.
I had to miss a Bowen Chamber meeting as I was driving Patrick to the Airport at the end of the games, and upon my return to the Island, found out I had been presented with the CITIZEN FOR THE YEAR award for 2009/2010. What a wonderful honour.