Your April 2013 Tourism & Hospitality Newsflash!

Your April 2013 Tourism & Hospitality Newsflash!
Weekly Inbound & Outbound Travel to 17 March 2013

INBOUND travel
Total international visitor arrivals are up 11.1% compared to the same four week period last year.
Visitor arrivals/departures:
Ups: USA 28%, Germany 24%, China 22%, UK 18%, Japan 15%, Canada 12%, Australia 7%
Downs: Malaysia -43%, Singapore -7%
No Change: Korea

OUTBOUND travel
NZ Resident Departures (short-term overseas trips)
Total NZ trips abroad are down 1.2% compared to the same four week period last year.
Visitor arrivals/departures:
Ups: USA 11%, China 5%, Cook Islands 1%
Downs: Samoa -32%, Malaysia -28%, UK -20%, India -13%, Thailand -1%, Fiji -3%
No Change: Australia

TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, has announced it is the first travel site to reach 100 million reviews and opinions – a more than 50% increase year-on-year. Covering more than two million tourism businesses in more than 116,000 destinations around the world, the site has candid traveller reviews of hospitality businesses in every country of the world. According to a recent study by PhoCusWright, commissioned by TripAdvisor, 87% of users agree that TripAdvisor hotel reviews “help me feel more confident in my decisions.” Despite travellers’ increasing expectations and demands, the study also revealed that 80% agree that TripAdvisor hotel reviews “help me have a better trip.” Facebook-connected users currently submit 35% of new reviews on TripAdvisor meaning travellers are able to see and share valuable perspectives with their own friends and friends’ friends. Travellers cite their top three reasons for writing hotel reviews as follows: 1. I feel good about sharing useful information with other travellers. 2. I wanted to share a good experience with other travellers. 3. I feel that I’m part of the TripAdvisor social travel community. The average review rating on TripAdvisor in 2012 was 4.1 out of five.
Source: Tripadvisor

Five Guaranteed Ways to Lose Customers……Sales is the business of building relationships, establishing trust, and creating rapport. Unfortunately, many sales people are unwittingly doing the exact opposite by:
1. Employing overly aggressive sales tactics.
2. Refusing to take "no" for an answer. Customers don't like to be bothered, and they hate feeling like they're talking to a brick wall.
3. Being ill-prepared for a call. Potential customers hate it when they get calls from salespeople who are "just checking in," or cold calls from people who have obviously not done their homework.
4. Taking too long to respond. When you find a customer who is interested in hearing more, it's imperative to respond as quickly as possible.
5. Focusing on the sale, not the customer. Customers hate to be treated like a number for a sales quota.
Source: Alan Davidson

A Beginner's Guide to Pinterest for Restaurants and Hotels……… Pinterest, the online pin-board, turned out to be one of the rising stars of the 2012 social media landscape and is, perhaps, proof that - very often - the simple ideas are the best. We all have pin-boards in our offices and homes, which we'll stick things on we'd like to remember or want to keep - Pinterest takes this concept online and lets you build ‘virtual' pin-boards. The advantages are obvious: You'll never run out of pins or pin-board space, and you can share your boards with friends. In January 2012, Pinterest had 11.7 million users and became the fastest website in history to exceed the 10 million users mark. In August last year, Pinterest recorded just under 25 million monthly visitors and was said to refer more business to companies' websites than Facebook or Twitter. Hotels and restaurants should be particularly interested in getting to know Pinterest better, because some of the website's most popular categories are closely related to our industries, such as food and drink, holidays, or travel.
Source: Martin Kubler

Treetop Hotel……Selecting the perfect hotel can make or break a vacation. Friendly customer service and a comfortable bed are must-haves, but nowadays, adventurous travellers are looking for lodgings that also provide one-of-a-kind experiences. One of the most innovative hotels, Treehotel includes five -- soon to be six -- quirky treehouses in the small northern Swedish village of Harads. Each of the rooms features a different design, thus offering every guest an individual experience. One room resembles an enormous bird's nest with twigs sticking every which way; another looks like a silver UFO hovering above the ground; yet another is fashioned with large mirrors so all you see from the outside is the reflection of the forest. When you're not enjoying the custom-designed amenities of your particular treehouse, you can canoe or kayak along the Lule River, take a break in the Tree Sauna or explore Harads's quiet streets.
Source: Huffington Post

The Kiosk Is King: The End of the Check-In……Old-fashioned room keys are exactly that nowadays-old fashioned. It seems like the check-in desk may be heading the same way. Increasingly hotels around the world are moving to electronic and kiosk check-in systems, the New York Times recently reported. Luddites and the nostalgic will no doubt complain, but for the business traveller it is excellent news. After a long trip, few things irritate more than a 30-minute queue to get your hands on a room key. Widespread adoption of kiosks (like the ones in the airport) and electronic check-in services (by which you receive a numeric door code in an e-mail) will make checking-in far faster. Machines don't get paid by the hour, get distracted, nor impatient with guests (though users sometimes get frustrated with them). They are the future.
Source: Gulliver on The Economist

International media spotlight on destination NZ …. Around 26 of the world’s leading travel and tourism media will jet into Auckland to attend TRENZ 2013 (21-24 April), the New Zealand tourism industry’s annual showcase event. TRENZ will bring together around 250 New Zealand tourism operators as exhibitors, with 280 invited international travel and tourism buyers plus international and domestic Media. The event directly helps to grow New Zealand’s tourism industry, worth $9.6 billion in foreign exchange annually. Hosted by ATEED, TRENZ 2013 will be held on Auckland’s waterfront, 21-24 April.
Source: TIANZ

Top New Booking Sites that You Need to Know…….The hotel industry is constantly changing, and evolving as technology evolves. That means that our pricing strategies, operations and overall business goals need to change as well. But because it can be tough to stay on top of what’s new … this quick overview of the top three new online sites that will have a big effect on hotels revenue management strategy and revenues.
BackBid is a hotel booking website that revolutionizes how travellers book hotel rooms. BackBid empowers you, the traveller, to find the best possible hotel room, for the best price, with no elaborate or time-consuming searches necessary. By posting your existing hotel reservation to BackBid, hotels are able to see your travel plans and offer bids for your business, offering either discounts or value-added services, like upgraded rooms, free parking or breakfast.
Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world online or from a mobile phone. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 33,000 cities and 192 countries. The site is essentially a Craigslist for hotels. Individuals or vacation rental companies can list their room, apartment, boat, castle, etc. for rent. Travellers can book and pay online and will be vetted to ensure that they are trustworthy. Unlike the OTAs, Airbnb does not require rate parity so the owners can list the property at any rate they choose and can offer discounts on a case-by-case basis to incentivise bookings.
Tingo is the only site that automatically rebooks you at the lower rate if your hotel drops its price and then automatically refunds the difference to your credit card. All without you lifting a finger! Basically, a traveller can book their trip through the site and if the price drops at any time before departure, the site automatically rebooks the traveller at the same property for the lower price (and it will continue to do so, as long as the rate decreases).
Source: Jean Francois Mourier, CEO of REVPAR GURU

Ten Trends the Hotel Industry Should Watch for During Chinese Tourism Boom……The entire travel and tourism industry is paying close attention to the more than 100 million Chinese travellers expected to cross borders by 2020; however, many global hotel brands with Western roots are struggling to cater to the distinct cultural tastes of their new guests. The Centre for Hospitality Research interviewed 51 outbound Chinese tour operators to understand what Chinese package bookers seek in their travels and published its findings in its most recent report, Preferences and Attitudes of Chinese Outbound Travellers.
1. Bali, Korea, Macau, and Malaysia will be the most popular Asian destinations, but Chinese travellers will be much more interested in international trips.
2. Europe is expected to receive the greatest boost in Chinese tourism, followed by North America. Travel to the United States is weakened due to its arduous visa procedures.
3. Budget is, and will be, the most influential factor when planning a vacation, while Internet is the most influential when choosing a destination.
4. Chinese travellers will allocate most of their budget to lodging and transportation and less on meals and entertainment.
5. The fastest growing segment of Chinese travellers is expected to be families with young children, retired couples, and children.
6. Chinese travellers would rather be in the centre of a bustling city than in a rural setting and they prefer full-service hotels over resorts.
7. Tea kettles and coffee pots are more important to Chinese travellers than Wi-Fi and storage.
8. Chinese travellers would rather see a buffet-style dining room than sit down for dinner from a celebrity chef.
9. Shopping and beach activities are expected to grow the most while theme parks and gambling increase the least.
10. Chinese travellers prefer hotels designed with local touches and don't seek out hotels with a traditional Chinese design.
Source: Samantha Shankman

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