Another entry from Mary Mahon Jones

Tourism One-Minute Report Mahon Jones & Associates
A global market scan in one minute or less…
April 9, 2011


CANADIANS OVER 55 ARE DRIVING GLOBAL GROWTH OF ONLINE USE
Canadians are one of the world’s most engaged online audiences. Social media site usage by Canucks saw strong growth in 2010 (up another 13% over 2009). Although overall usage is still highest among the younger set, the greatest growth in usage is from persons over 55. More firms are using this fact to advertise online: 15.6 billion online ad impressions were delivered in Q4 of 2010 alone on social networking sites - Facebook continues to be the most popular.


NORTH AMERICAN MARKET WATCH
PATA is predicting that North America will add close to 18 million arrivals by 2013 over 2009. Most of this growth will be intra-regional – 83% heading to destinations within the Americas. In North America, one-third of all travellers are grandparents, leading the trend towards more multi-generational travel.

US Travel: ↑ Increases in US travel demand will be led by households of $125K or more. Business travel is making a comeback – led by meetings travel rather than individual business travel.

The number of US mobile users who research travel on their mobile devices will climb from 19.7 million in 2010 to 29.7 million in 2012. Those booking via mobile will nearly double in the same timeframe, from 8.7 million to 15.1 million.

US Economy: Poor weather played a major role in dampening retail sales growth in December and January. In February and March, consumer confidence continued its roller coaster ride – up to its highest level in almost two years in February and then dropping again in March. But here’s some good news – the unemployment rate dipped to below 9%.

Canadian Travel:→ The number of overnight car trips by Canadians to the US declined (1.4%) in January (over December) but air travel increased slightly (0.8%). Trips to overseas destinations were down 2.2% over December.

Canada’s Economy: After slowing mid-2010, Canada’s GDP rose 0.8% in Q4, leading growth in the G7 nations, led by the energy sector. The news doesn’t seem to be getting through to Canadians though – consumer confidence plummeted nearly 6 points in March 2011 (from 89.3 to 83.7) Employment rose in both January and February of 2011 (0.4% and 0.1%), led by part-time positions. The labour force is expanding again, after many had taken time off during the recession to do other things (like going to school) which kept the unemployment rate steady at 7.8% in February. Alberta is leading in job growth. In November of 2010, demand for accommodation and food picked up, notably for restaurants.

Mexico: The country’s GDP grew at its fastest rate in 2010 – up 5.5% over 2009.


EUROPEAN MARKET WATCH
Europe overall: ↑ GDP rose in the euro-zone in the last 2 quarters of 2010 and retail sales volumes increased in January for the first time since last summer. The unemployment rate eased to 9.9% but inflation increased by 2.3%, led by costs of fuel, housing, alcohol and tobacco.

United Kingdom:↓ Britain’s economy suffered in 2010 – there was a little uptick in consumer spending in January, but probably due to pent up demand resulting from December’s weather issues. The last 3 years have seen reduced outbound travel and this is not changing anytime soon, due to fears of rising interest rates and no improvement in the economy. In the 12-month period to January 2011, visits by UK citizens abroad fell by 6%. (European visits fell by 6%, North American by 4% and other parts of the world fell by 3%.)

Germany:→ Exports, which drive growth in Germany, were up 18.5% for 2010, although recovery slowed in the third and fourth quarters. Unemployment eased to 6.5%, but inflation rose to 2%.

France:↑ Real GDP in France was steady at 0.3% in the last quarter of 2010. Inflation and unemployment both eased slightly in the New Year. France is expecting accelerating improvement in 2011, with growth of .6% in Q1 and .4% in Q2.


ASIA PACIFIC MARKET WATCH
Within Asia, the fastest growing sub-regions (2009-2013) will be South/Central Asia and Northeast Asia, which are predicted to gain 17% and 14% per annum respectively. Like the Americas, much of this will be intra-regional (i.e., Northeast Asia to Northeast Asia). Although many traditional tourism destinations continue to predict growth, market share will be dwarfed by the rise in dominance by Asian markets.

Japan:↓ Prior to the quake and tsunami, the Japanese economy was seeing its first annual growth increase in 3 years. Next month’s Golden Week is a key travel period for the Japanese and could be a telling indicator of Japan’s travel resilience.

China:↑ Chinese travel is undergoing a structural change, from packaged tours to FIT tours – with more affluent Chinese looking for a chance to broaden horizons and experience foreign cultures. Although many still rely on travel agents to arrange flights, more than 80% research and educate themselves about destinations and brands online. With over 450 million internet users, 92% engage in social media (not including blocked sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Foursquare).

China is now the world’s largest auto and energy consumer. Inflation rose to 4.9% in January, driven by the growth of food prices (+10%). The government has announced measures to stabilize prices. Total retail sales growth was 15.8% more than in Jan-Feb 2011, compared to the same period last year.

Australia:↑ In 2010, Australians took 6.2 million trips abroad (mostly leisure), averaging 20 nights for each trip. The most popular destinations were New Zealand (15%), USA/Canada (11%), Indonesia (10%) and the UK (7%). The strength of the Australian dollar, the solid economy and strong international air capacity combine to predict that Aussie’s will continue to be strong international travellers.


WORD OF MOUTH

“I think inside every one of us is a Sinbad who lives for travel and tourism.” Turki Al-Dakheel bemoaning the fact that Saudi’s spend more than SR50 (US$13.1) billion travelling abroad – instead of travelling at home.


Mahon Jones & Associates is a tourism consulting firm, based in Canada, with special focus on cultural tourism and attracting the cultural tourist. The information above has been compiled via desk research of the internet for clients and key contacts, primarily located in Canada. It is intended to provide contacts with a quick snapshot of currently available market information.

For more information about our services or to discuss how we can assist your organization, government agency or business contact us at mmj@mahonjones.com. Unfortunately, as our website host suddenly ceased operations (without prior warning!), the www.mahonjones.com website is not in order at the moment. We will have a new one launched soon. Note to the wise for the future – back up those websites.

Source references are provided in the attached PDF.

This report is the intellectual property of Mahon Jones & Associates. Feel free to circulate with attribution to MJA.

Mahon Jones & Associates
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
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President, Women in Tourism International
Authorized EQ Trainer, Canadian Tourism Commission
Authorized Consultant, Sustainable Tourism International