World Tourism Day!

28-09-2009

Today, September 27, will be World Tourism Day's 30th anniversary and presents an opportunity to highlight the wealth of cultural and natural diversity across the globe as well as the role of sustainable tourism in preserving this diversity. Diversity has long been the driving force behind tourism which in turn has become an engine for socio-economic development, poverty alleviation and international understanding. As world leaders come together to tackle the challenges of climate change and the economic crisis, diversity will continue to drive tourism, engendering international cooperation and ensuring sustainable development.

Following the successful experience of previous World Tourism Day celebrations, UNWTO is organizing with the host, Ghana, a Think Tank based on the World Tourism Day Theme: 'Tourism: Celebrating Diversity'. Bringing together leading public and private tourism stakeholders as well as members of the media and UNWTO representatives, the Think Tank promises to be instrumental in raising awareness of the significance of diversity and sustainable tourism.

The Think Tank will:

• Highlight tourism's capacity to maintain diversity in the face of globalization

• Outline how tourism can enhance cultural and environmental diversity

• Consider the role of tourism in engendering international cooperation

The main purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.

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Top Travel Trends: 2010

As you would imagine, the next twelve months promise significant change in the travel industry and will affect entire economy.

Travel Trend 1: Going Mobile: With the rapid integration of mobile capabilities to plan itineraries, track flights, receive travel alerts and serve as a boarding pass is making mobile devices such as smartphones indispensible to business travelers, mobile is growing!

Trend 2: Traveler-Centric Buying: The traveler-centric buying approach has the potential to enhance productivity by keeping travel employees informed about a guest’s plans pre-trip – their profile, preferences, historical behavior---adding last minute possibilities to the travel equation.

Trend 3: Video Conferencing: Traveling Without The Trip: The best way to control travel costs in a downturn is to simply cancel the trip altogether and use new super quality video conferencing tools as a practical alternative to business travel. Video-conferencing will be the lead trend in 2010.

Trend 4. Traveling on a budget: It’s time to look beyond what seems like a good rate, and seek out options - like free nights on a multiple night stay, gift cards, spa credits, complimentary dining, and more.

Trend 5. Traveling on a serious budget
Expect a lot from this suddenly relevant trend – call it traveling on pennies and expect it to include totally no frills hotels, flights, etc. - in 2010.

Travel Trend 6. Whole Body Scanners: Get ready to show your stuff. Travelers will soon find that checking through security will be a revealing experience with the rollout of whole body image scanners that can see beneath clothing.

Travel Trend 7. China, India and Gulf States are the new hotspots: Global travelers are going beyond Europe with their travels, and expanding their horizons. Industry insiders are expecting travel to skyrocket in China, India, and The Gulf States over the next twelve months. These parts of the world are offering incredible packages.

Tend 8. Luxury And Adventure Travel : For 2010, the jetset aren’t just populating 5-star hotels anymore. Now they arrange travel packages that will have them jumping out of helicopters, jetting to top ski slopes, taking safaris, getting high-speed car tours around major cities, arranging personalized art tours, and more exotics.

Trend 9. Eco-travel: Arrange a trip that will have you flying on a fuel-efficient plane to a self-sustaining villa running on solar power and green technology. It’s a growing industry, so if you want to spend a little extra cash and feel good about keeping the world clean, this is your travel mode of choice in 2010.

Trend 10. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics: Not technically a trend, but the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is an event that will affect travel like an explosion. It will attract millions of travelers.

Cruise Lines Alive and Well

Despite the economic turmoil of 2009, the cruise industry continued to grow. A total of 13.445 million guests are forecast to have sailed last year (totals through the third quarter, 2009 - 9,999,068 passengers - indicate that forecast is on track), U.S. and Canadian residents accounted for 76.5 percent of guests, with 23.5 percent sourced internationally.

Having weathered perhaps the most challenging 18 months in its history, the cruise industry as represented by Cruise Lines International Association's (CLIA) member lines, is looking ahead with optimism and a proud sense of accomplishment. CLIA, its member lines and travel agents, have adapted quickly and effectively to the global economic downturn in order to keep ships sailing at full capacity throughout 2009 and expect continued growth in 2010.

CLIA was founded in 1975 to serve the needs of a small, new venture - the transformation of increasingly obsolete maritime transatlantic travel into trend-setting leisure vacationing. The industry's story is one of impressive growth - 118 new ships since 2000, and, since 1980, average annual growth in passengers of 7.4 percent, despite numerous economic downturns and other obstacles.

Hot Travel Trends

Travel specialists revealed their top travel trends, including the continued growth of trends that have been building steadily over the past year. Though some emerge out of this year’s economic downturn, others show travelers determined to create new and fulfilling travel experiences despite the economy.

Second City Travel— Visiting smaller, lesser-known cities within a destination can yield a more affordable, though equally enriching, vacation experience. For example, visiting Birmingham, England instead of London; or vacationing in Montreal instead of Toronto.

Tried and True Travel— Travelers are expected to return to destinations that they know and love in greater numbers. Not only is it a safe way to ensure an enjoyable vacation, it allows travelers to explore destinations more thoughtfully, while giving them a true sense of costs.

Closer to Home Travel— Expanding beyond this year’s “staycation” trend, travelers are expected to seek “closer to home”, affordable alternatives to overseas destinations. For example, visiting Montreal instead of Paris .

Vacation Home Rentals Support Multi-Generational Travel— Vacation home rentals and villas that offer multi-generational families a “home away from home” experience while on vacation, will continue to gain popularity.

Value Vacations Expected to Grow— Value oriented vacations, such as all-inclusive resorts and cruise lines that continue to expand their offerings will become more appealing to travelers that had not considered them in the past.
Other trends indicating that some consumers are moving forward with their travel plans regardless of the economy are:
Climate Sightseeing— A growing number of travelers are moved to visit destinations threatened by climate change such as the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Alaska and Canada’s Churchill, an area whose polar bears are threatened by extinction.

Authentic Travel and Niche Tours— According to American Express travel agents, demand for vacations driven by special interests will continue to rise in 2009. Among these, agents named both “authentic travel”— experiencing a destination more intensely through longer stays and deep cultural immersion— and niche tours, where groups of people with like-minded interests travel together.
Solo Travel— Travel agents expect to see a rise in solo travel due to lifestyle factors, and the rising age of couples getting married.

Travel Trend Tidbits

Here are some projected travel trends for the coming year:

* Eighteen percent of travelers said they are taking a "staycation" this coming year.
* Twenty percent of travelers have taken items from a hotel, such as towels, flatware, or decorative pieces.
* Fifteen percent of respondents have been to a clothing-optional or adults-only resort.
* Fifty-two percent of travelers said it takes them less than one day to unwind.
* Thirty-four percent of travelers are uncomfortable with the new full body scanners used by some airport security.
* Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they spent more than they budgeted on travel in the past 12 months.
* Fifty percent said unfavorable exchange rates will prevent them from or limit their travel to Europe in the next 12 months.
* Sixty-one percent of travelers will visit a beach destination in 2009, 60 percent will go city sightseeing.

Back to Classic Travel

Travelers are returning to traditional destinations and old-fashioned manners, seeking out comfort and serenity and quiet. What’s old is new again this year.

The shaky economy has lead to some drastic changes in the ways people travel, creating new breeds of travelers, like flashpackers. The flashier version of the backpacker values the same low-cost methods of traveling as the traditional backpacker but would rather steer clear of group accommodations in lieu of a private (but affordable) room.

Cruise lines are reinventing themselves. Take the launch of Celebrity Cruises’ Solstice, the first of five in a new class of ships, intended to change the way people feel about cruising by putting a modern spin on the glamour of ocean liners past. The luxury ship exceeds the average ship’s accommodations and level of sophistication-and even adds a touch of eco-friendliness, like its heat-absorbing half-acre lawn, where can guests picnic and play croquet.

2010 Travel Projected to Grow

The U.S. Travel Association today announced that projected modest 2010 increases in leisure, business and international inbound travel will enable the industry to add nearly 90,000 American jobs. Leisure travel is expected to rise 2.0 percent, business travel is projected to increase by 2.5 percent and international inbound travel will increase by nearly 3.0 percent. These job gains come on the heels of 400,000 combined travel industry job losses in 2008 and 2009.

Domestic leisure travel is expected to increase 2% in 2010 with a corresponding increase in leisure travel spending of nearly 5%. Domestic business travel will also grow 2.5% next year and business travel spending will increase 4%. Dr. Susanne Cook, a senior official of the U.S. Travel Association, stated that projected growth in leisure travel is an indicator of rising consumer confidence and disposable income. Business travel will increase, she added, based on pent-up demand for face-to-face meetings that drive growth and productivity.

Even international bound travel will increase nearly 3% in 2010, though overseas travel is projected to remain stable at 1%. Overseas travelers usually contribute much more per capita to U.S. coffers than Canadian or Mexican travelers, so there is a concern there. However, overall, travel is looking to pick up a bit next year.

Business Travel Tight This Coming Year

A survey of members by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives underscores the caution prevalent in the industry. Only a quarter of respondents said they will spend more on corporate travel next year, while about half will operate at 2009 levels.

The outlook:

Airlines

Airlines, with their ability to quickly add or remove seats, could be on the cusp of a slow recovery. American Express Travel estimates domestic fares in North America will grow 2% to 7% next year. Business-class fares will grow 1% to 6%.

Low-cost carriers already are seeing more travelers. JetBlue's September traffic was up 10% from a year earlier as it, unlike other airlines, added capacity. Southwest's traffic rose 9% in September, and the percentage of seats filled reached nearly 75% vs. 63.4% a year ago.

Hotels

It's been an ugly year for hotels. In the second quarter, revenue per available room, the industry benchmark of measuring performance, fell 19.5% from a year ago, says Smith Travel Research.

The decline will continue for much of 2010, analysts say. Room rates will fall 1% to 6% in North American hotels, and upscale properties will offer deeper price cuts, American Express says.

Business Travel Tight This Year

Vacations on Auction

Last winter, something unprecedented happened in the travel industry. People with reservations for peak holiday weeks at popular Caribbean resorts looked over their finances -- and canceled their plans.

The resorts had to do something with all those newly available rooms, so they turned to online auction companies, which put the rooms out for bid at prices well below retail. That surge in auction listings set off a wave of tremendous deals for savvy travelers.

The trend has only gained strength recently. Luxury Link, which specializes in high-end online vacation auctions, saw its listings jump 91 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the same period a year before. Meanwhile, Sky Auction, which lists trips in a broader range of prices, says its number of auctions has been growing steadily too, with its sharpest increase also in luxury offerings.

So how do you get involved? Vacation auctions work like any other kind of online auction: A trip is listed on the site, and travelers bid on it until a preset end date, at which point the highest offer wins. In many cases, picking dates and booking is then left to you.

World Tourism Day!

Today, September 27, will be World Tourism Day's 30th anniversary and presents an opportunity to highlight the wealth of cultural and natural diversity across the globe as well as the role of sustainable tourism in preserving this diversity. Diversity has long been the driving force behind tourism which in turn has become an engine for socio-economic development, poverty alleviation and international understanding. As world leaders come together to tackle the challenges of climate change and the economic crisis, diversity will continue to drive tourism, engendering international cooperation and ensuring sustainable development.

Following the successful experience of previous World Tourism Day celebrations, UNWTO is organizing with the host, Ghana, a Think Tank based on the World Tourism Day Theme: 'Tourism: Celebrating Diversity'. Bringing together leading public and private tourism stakeholders as well as members of the media and UNWTO representatives, the Think Tank promises to be instrumental in raising awareness of the significance of diversity and sustainable tourism.

The Think Tank will:

• Highlight tourism's capacity to maintain diversity in the face of globalization

• Outline how tourism can enhance cultural and environmental diversity

• Consider the role of tourism in engendering international cooperation

The main purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.

Venezuela: Plastic Surgery Heaven

VENEZUELA'S afterglow from winning yet another Miss Universe crown has not only illuminated national pride in its Latin beauties - but also its women's widespread recourse to cosmetic surgery.

Surgical enhancement of the body has become such a norm in the South American nation that it has emerged as a top destination for “scalpel tourism” by foreigners looking for a lift or new contours at a cheaper price.

”There are patients who come from Colombia, the United States, Ecuador, the Caribbean islands... They have surgery and then spend a few days on vacation,” explained Rosi Oyon, head of a French subsidiary selling silicon breast implants.

The passing of the Miss Universe crown from one Venezuelan to another, from 2008 winner Dayana Mendoza to Stefania Fernandez a week ago, could spur an uptick in a plastic surgery sector already booming, several participants in the industry said.

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