TrendSpotting 2013 is Here!

The abouTourism Trendspotting compilation is here to give you the whole picture of where the tourism and travel industry is headed in 2013 and beyond ! 

2013 is more about developing instant, personalized & bookable services. For destinations and tourism companies, what matters is offering customized and relevant information by gaining access to large amounts of data from multiple sources.

Consumer technology is changing traveler behavior and expectations. Organizations and companies try to keep up with the latest advancements focusing on cost optimization and performance enhancement while they also need to increase their focus on how technology can better meet their travelers’ needs.

The global travel industry is experiencing a continuing upward trend due mainly to an economic boom in Brazil, Russia, India, China and in other developing countries. More and more organizations worldwide are adapting their business models to take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets and especially the BRICS. But what about the SLIMMA and the TUsCKns markets?

Click here for the new TrendSpotting 2013 to check out all the latest Tourism & Travel Trends!

and don’t forget to register to our new Blog  to receive new updates & articles straight to your email!

Destination Marketing for Business & Pleasure

The MICE industry is reportedly experiencing a ‘moderate growth’ through out 2011 and into 2012 as the need for international corporate presence increases.

As companies are now ‘savvy’ at seeking out deals, to remain competitive, suppliers will need to understand their business customer and be able to provide added value to their accommodation, travel and facility offerings.

Key trends include the identified need for better collaboration between planners and suppliers, good quality venues and facilities, and greater content for MICE. Being able to meet corporate social responsibility requests will give providers a competitive edge, sustainability will remain a key objective for companies, and growing usage of technology is already visible within the industry.

A number of reports highlight the potential increase in the industry ‘dabbling’ with virtual channels and social media. Technology and alternative virtual channels are predicted to become more mainstream as interaction, innovation and ‘connectivity’ become more important, perhaps changing the way the industry works and communicates. The online environment is no longer seen as a threat to the live event circuit, but as a tool to deliver a greater impact and involve even more professionals.

So, how have destinations recently used this environment to attract business tourism to their area?

Tourism Ireland’s Twitter Tour for MICE

Tourism Ireland’s British office recently announced a new business tourism promotion offering senior executives a chance to win a tour of Ireland by Twitter.

In collaboration with the International Special Events Society (ISES) and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Tourism Ireland launched a competition aimed at senior executives involved in the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) sector. The prize on offer is a ‘t’weetour’ – a tour of Ireland that can be followed on Twitter.

Members of ISES and ICCA who are active in social media are being targeted to enter the competition. Three winners will be selected to travel to Ireland this month, courtesy of Tourism Ireland, and each will have their own itinerary. Winners are  invited to live tweet their experiences in Ireland, highlighting the country as a destination to their network of colleagues in the industry.

Source: www.siliconrepublic.com, www.tourismireland.com

Tourism New Zealand “Beyond Convention”

Tourism New Zealand has just introduced a new campaign to internationally market the business events sector. “Beyond convention” is the creative territory that will provide an umbrella theme for all Tourism New Zealand’s destination marketing material for the business events sector.

A sneak preview of the theme and marketing material was revealed at MEETINGS 2012 at SkyCity in Auckland.

Tourism New Zealand’s General Manager Marketing Communications Justin Watson said it is the first time a creative theme has been used by the organisation for this sector. “…Beyond convention can be applied across the sector – for meetings and conferences, convention relates to the event. In the incentives space, it is more about promoting that there is nothing conventional about an incentive trip to New Zealand.”

The theme will be rolled out promoting New Zealand across a range of concepts such as “beyond the meet and greet”; “beyond the morning break” and “beyond the cityscape”.

Source: www.tourismnewzealand.com

Visit York 4 Meetings

Visit York, the city’s official tourism agency, hasjust launched a new business tourism brand: Visit York 4 Meetings.

The changes will also see the first ever ‘Visit York in London’ meet the buyer event, aimed at attracting conference buyers from London and the South, as well as a number of international business tourism marketing opportunities in partnership with Visit England.

Other projects the Visit York 4 Meetings team are working on include the Conference Ambassador Programme with 30 Ambassadors on board, a dedicated sales day working with York venue sales staff to drive business conference bookings to the city and a programme of exhibitions and workshops promoting York’s conference venues.

Source: www.visityork.org

abouTourism’s TrendSpotting 2012 is Here!

abouTourism brings you a compilation of the latest Tourism and Travel Trends to shape the industry

Moderate growth is expected for the tourism industry in 2012, despite the uncertain global economic outlook. Factors such as rising incomes in emerging markets and stable unemployment and disposable income in mature markets are expected to drive demand this year. We have entered a period of drastic change and the industry is reinventing itself to meet changing expectations, rapid technological advancements and a shifting world economic environment.

Visit our TrendSpotting 2012 Page to see all the key trends to influence the global tourism and travel industry in 2012. The list keeps growing as it is frequently updated with all the latest tourism and travel trends. Enjoy!

Market Snapshot: Russia MICE Industry

Meetings & Incentive business from Russia continues to grow

According to Dmitry Smirnov of Events Magazine Russia, the meetings industry in Russia has experienced substantial growth in the last year with the leading 12 specialists recording International MICE business in excess of €.70 million and this figure represents only 40% of the total as domestic events, business travel and official delegations to conferences are not included!

Turkey remains the leader in Russia whilst Egypt has lost market share with clients now looking for alternative destinations. Recent conferences have been held in many high end destinations including USA with 2 groups in excess of 200 participants, Italy with 3 groups that exceeded 300, Spain with almost monthly events with 50-100, Brazil 2 groups of 200+, Cuba, Emirates, China and Thailand also reporting large movements. One of the greatest challenges for Russian specialists is to find suppliers and destinations able to cater for corporate meetings fro 400-800 delegates. Their main requirements being simple visas, easily accessible, warm climate and good business/resort infrastructure.

Smirnov also commented that “The average event planning period in Russia is 4-6 months from the first RFP and bidding to materialisation with most groups taking place in Q3-4, the most effective time for promotion is in March. Therefore we highly recommend the Moscow International MICE Forum on March 19^th as the ideal time and place to meet with all the leading Russian MICE specialists”.

Unlike other countries around the world, the prognosis for the Russian economy is strong, with Morgan Stanley predicting GDP growth of 4.6%. Inflation is down, employment is up, industrial production is increasing as are retail sales. With these encouraging forecasts, an increasing number of Russian companies are looking to reward their employees and clients with Incentive travel. In addition as Russian products and services become more competitive, there is a growing demand for participation at conferences and exhibitions around the world. This combination presents an excellent opportunity for International MICE suppliers to satisfy this increased demand.

Russia’s premier Meetings and Incentive event, The Moscow International MICE Forum takes place on Monday 19^th March offering International suppliers a professional platform to meet with leading Russian MICE specialists and Corporate Buyers. Concurrent with other tourism events held in Moscow at this time, the Moscow International MICE Forum enables participants to maximise their sales visit.

Full details can be viewed at www.MiceForum.ru

Press Contact: Kim Waddoup, CEO aigroup/ Email: kim@aigroup.ru

Business Events Offer More to Destinations than Tourism Dollars Alone

Australia’s leading convention bureau, Business Events Sydney (BESydney), has released the second phase of its Beyond Tourism Benefits: Measuring the social legacies of business events research, which quantitatively examines the extensive social, innovation and knowledge benefits of business events.

Lyn Lewis-Smith, Acting Chief Executive Officer of BESydney comments, “Our industry has long struggled to measure the important legacy effects of hosting conferences and conventions. This research is a huge step in the right direction: we believe this is the first quantitative research examining this subject.”

The Beyond Tourism Benefits research, undertaken by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) on behalf of BESydney, demonstrates that the international norm to evaluate the lucrative business events sector in tourism terms alone overlooks perhaps the most valuable legacies – the many educational, intellectual, trade and investment outcomes from business events.

“If we don’t measure the multiple, long-term benefits, such as the ability to increase professional knowledge, improve local education offerings and career opportunities, disseminate the latest technical practices and forge international networking, research and business collaborations, we are undervaluing  our industry.

“The research highlights that business events offer much more to our destinations, economies and global community than tourism dollars alone: they are a key driver in knowledge economies,” Lewis-Smith concludes.

The key outcome of the research was an innovative framework developed to classify and understand the diverse and valuable benefits outside of the tourism sector. Five broad legacy categories – social, intrinsic, practice, economic and attitudinal – comprise the framework and relate to benefits delivered to delegates, sponsors and exhibitors, professional bodies, the host destination and even the wider community.

The lifeblood of any business event, delegates are the benefactors of a large number of the legacies identified. Over 90% of delegates surveyed believe that congresses have facilitated the dissemination of new knowledge, ideas, techniques, materials and technologies and 85% indicate that they have applied these new insights to their professional practice.

Collaboration is a key outcome from the shared social interactions created at business events – 95% of respondents agreed business events fostered networking that led to the sharing of knowledge and ideas, whilst almost 60% agreed events either acted as a catalyst for research collaboration (58%) or resulted in business relationships (57%).

Professor Roy Green, Dean of the UTS Business School and BESydney Ambassador agrees business events provide essential opportunities for collaboration.

“In a knowledge economy, education and innovation are principal drivers of productivity and prosperity. And innovation is driven by collaboration, not silos. Innovation requires the exchange of ideas, skills and passion. Business events provide opportunities to network and collaborate locally and globally.”

The Beyond Tourism Benefits research also found that legacies extended to sponsors and exhibitors. Those surveyed reported an important economic legacy, with 90% confirming they gained product exposure and awareness, and also obtained leads for further business. Although, not applicable to the whole sample, one respondent indicated that they had benefited from investment worth more than $10 million as a result of exhibiting at a business event.

And at a time when the education and training of the young workforce is so topical, the research revealed that business events equip the destination’s workforce with skills and knowledge and foster global networks and collaborative projects to drive innovation. 82% agreed that the events exposed local delegates to cutting edge research and the world’s best practice and 76% agreed the capacity of the professional sector was enhanced post-event.

From a destination’s perspective, the host city (for this research, Sydney) was shown to also benefit from a wide range of valuable legacies. Sydney’s reputation for driving social change and action was enhanced (52% agree) and the business events increased the attractiveness of the local education sector for delegates from outside of Sydney (60% agree).

Full Report and information here.

Study Snapshot: Benchmark Hospitality International’s Top Ten Meeting Trends for 2010

Benchmark Hospitality International, the leading privately held hospitality management company in the United States, which operates 30 award-winning hotels, resorts, and conference centers nationwide, announces its annual “Top Ten Meeting Trends” as observed by its properties in 2010. According to B H I focusing on saving seems to have become a major priority of companies and cancellations of conferences, which cost a huge amount, have become a rarity. It used to appear that companies did not make a fuss about cancelling at the last minute. Indeed, if there are more profitable and less time-consuming things to devote yourself to then why not? However, the attitude has changed and companies now stick to their plans. Linked to this trend is the fact that companies now have a shorter booking time for conferences, as 30/45 days are now typical booking times. Meeting groups are smaller than they used to be and the participants now tend to stay in the hotel for shorter time. Again, this is linked to saving money. Companies have understood that there is no point in paying for another night in a hotel just to avoid a little evening tiredness. Similarly, getting back to the office is of prime importance and time is money. The number of participants in hotel conferences in Europe has dropped by around 50% in the last 15 years. Companies have been thus saving significant amounts.

Top Ten Trends

Trend #1
Cautiously Optimistic for 2010, with Strong Pacing for 2011!

Trend #2
Booking in the Month, for the Month in 2010 … but at least meetings aren’t cancelling!

Trend #3
Extreme Price Sensitivity, with Hotels once again competing for Meetings Business with Aggressive Package Pricing.

Trend #4
Meeting Groups are Smaller in 2010 and Carving a Day off their Stay.

Trend #5
Being Green is now generally assumed, but for certain segments, such as Federal & State Government and Education business, it’s a requirement.

Trend #6
No Frills Meetings are ROI driven and have pushed Teambuilding, the Spa and the Golf Course onto the back burner.

Trend #7
Maximum Internet Bandwidth is the expectation for Planners this year. All other technology demands are eclipsed by this.

Trend #8
Today’s planner is a fierce price negotiator, and feels empowered to expect concessions.

Trend #9
Health-conscious Food & Beverage Options Scrutinized. Buffets for All

Trend #10
Social Media and the Meetings Industry … LinkedIn, Trip Advisor, and Facebook Friends.

Click here for the full article.

Presentation: Convention 2020

Partly to improve meeting and venue design and success and partly to avoid being caught flat-footed in the midst of future crises like the global downturn of the past 12 to 18 months, two major meetings organizations and a consulting firm have announced a research project called Convention 2020, which will consider the future of live events, venues, and meeting destinations.

The International Congress and Convention Association, IMEX Group, and Fast Future Research are the three founding sponsors of the study. Discussions are under way with a number of other potential sponsors.

The ultimate aim of the study is to develop rich insights into how the industry’s future may play out in order to make better decisions today. This means exploring different scenarios for how live meetings might evolve, considering a range of models of what events could look like and examining the strategic implications for venues and destinations.

The study is divided into two key phases of activity – taking place between February and October 2010 – with the ultimate aim being to develop rich insights into how the industry’s future may play out in order to make better decisions today.

The study is also designed to ensure that the industry responds strategically to future shocks. “The economic downturn has highlighted the importance of thinking ahead and preparing for an uncertain future,” notes Bloom of IMEX. “We all believe in the importance of live meetings, but belief is not a strategy. We need to challenge our assumptions, develop real insight into what the future may hold, and rethink our event designs and business models to help all members of the meetings industry prepare for the decade ahead and ensure they stay competitive.”

A number of Web-based mechanisms are being used to boost participation in the study, while workshops and seminars will be held around the world to provide input. “We will make full use of both traditional futures methods such as trend-scanning, scenario-planning, and expert interviews, along with new tools such as social media dialogue and ‘crowdsourcing’ to generate ideas and stimulate new thinking,” Talwar says.

For more information, click here or send an e-mail to convention2020@fastfuture.com You also can take the survey here.

Click here to download the project overview