Travel Trends

Speaking at the launch of the Regional Economic Outlook in October. Gilbert Terrier, IMF's senior advisor for the Western Hemisphere stated that,“Smaller islands in the region have experienced a sharper and more prolonged decline in arrivals than some of the larger islands. Destinations that significantly reduced hotel prices following the crisis experienced milder declines in arrivals.” read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - November 2, 2010) -- The 2010 Portrait of American Travelers - a recent study by Ypartnership/Harrison Group - indicates that irresistible travel offers are driving impulse demand, encouraging more Americans than ever before to take “last minute” vacations.  

One of the market forces accelerating the trend toward more impulsive vacation behavior on such short notice is the growing use of ‘flash sales’ by travel service suppliers. These impulsive offers, delivered through unsolicited Emails, have become more commonplace during the past 12 months as suppliers have tried to liquidate what would otherwise be unsold inventory. The study found that fully one out of seven recipients of these unsolicited Emails reported purchasing a travel service as a result. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - November 1, 2010) -- Spas, they are a changin'.  According to a recent article in the New York Times, demand has waned the over-sized opulent spa service at most large hotels and destination resorts. The troubled economy and low hotel occupancy rates have caused hotel spas to scale back plans, adjust their service offerings and create new promotions to keep their spas viable.

To compensate for the downturn in business, many hotel spas have scaled back in size with new spas being built  in the smaller 5000 - 7500 sq. ft.range, rather than the 35,000 sq. ft. luxury giants of years past.  Hotels have started special promotions to entice local clients to replace the travelers they lost.  Many hotels have started offering spa packages, add-ons and spa credits for hotel guests (giving a voucher for the spa when a room is booked, for example). read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - November 05, 2010) -- Speaking at the recent 18th World Travel Monitor Forum in Pisa, Rolf Freitag, President of the consultancy IPK International, said: "The world’s international travel industry is back and now even more dynamic, and this year has underlined its role as one of the mainstays of the global economy". According to Rolf Freitag,  after the worst losses in recent history due to the worldwide economic and financial crisis in 2009, the world’s travel industry is back on course for success, much faster than expected and defying the predictions of international industry analysts. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - August 10, 2010) -- A recent study by online travel company Travelocity reports that the misperceptions about the Deep Horizon Oil Spill on Gulf Coast travel plans may take far longer for the travel industry to fix by press releases alone.

There has been progress in stopping the leak in the Gulf since the well was capped several weeks ago:  The outflow of oil appears to have stopped and the process of permanently sealing the well may be complete with the next ten days.

Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and northwest Florida have all experienced oiled shorelines. Beaches have been cleaned up and are monitored daily. The vast majority of beaches is now open to the public.

Current  projections by scientists in the field indicate it is very unlikely that the Western Gulf Coast, South Florida, the Florida Keys, and the East Coast will experience any effects from the remaining oil on the surface of the Gulf. 

However, the online travel agency's recently conducted poll of over 2,000 Americans found that many travelers believe the oil has spread far beyond its actual reach. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - August 6, 2010) -- According to new research with Survey Sampling International's (SSI) global online panels 60% of consumers around the world are planning to spend as much or more on their vacations this year as they did on their last getaways. The consumers most likely to increase their vacation spending are in the Pacific Rim. Americans and Japanese are the likeliest to skip their vacations.

The Chinese and Singaporeans are most likely to be increasing their vacation budgets, with almost half of respondents in those countries anticipating spending more on their upcoming vacations. In addition, about a third of New Zealanders and Australians are investing more this year in their vacation plans. In contrast, just 10 percent of American and Japanese consumers, 11 percent of French consumers and 12 percent of German consumers plan to boost their vacation spend. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 10, 2010) -- In the recently published American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, a majority of survey respondents report that quality customer service is more important to them in today's tough economic environment (61 %). They also say they will spend an average of 9 % more when they believe a company provides excellent service.

The new American Express report indicates that customers want and expect superior service but companies haven't done enough to improve their approach to service in this economy. Highlights of the survey include:

• Nine out of ten Americans (91 %) consider the level of customer service important when deciding to do business with a company. 

• Only a little more than a third of Americans (37 %)  believe that companies have increased their focus on providing quality service. About one quarter (27%) feel businesses have not changed their attitude toward customer service.  Another 28% say that companies are now paying less attention to good service. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 13, 2010) --  The BP oil spill off the coast of Louisana in April has caused Florida's hotels to ramp up the advertising of their white-sand beaches. And now hotels along the Gulf Coast are trying to ease the worries of travelers skittish about putting their vacation dollars down on a potentially greasy beach by offering an "Oil Free Guarantee".

Some hotels are easing booking policies by waiving cancellation charges if the property is subject to an "oil event', others are guaranteeing full refunds for prepaid reservations if the guests cannot use the beach and many are waiving early departure charges should the oil spill affect a guest's stay.

Check the fine print though. For instance, Marriott is offering refunds if there's "an official beach closure" by government authorities while Hilton Worldwide will give guests a full refund if their stay was "in any way affected by the Gulf oil spill." Hilton's offer includes those who are uneasy about coming regardless of whether oil has washed up on the beach. read more »