ttglive.com
exhibition report news WTM 2010 • November 8-11 • ExCeL, London
LUXURY DEBATE. Brochures key in luxury Philippa Jacks.
PRINTED BROCHURES still play a huge role in selling luxury travel, according to leading operators. So said heads from Caribtours,
SPINNING AROUND: Visit Florida held its annual Strictly Come Floridaevening at London’s Cafe de Paris during WTM. Six travel industry couples took to the floor, including SeaWorld’s Claire Walters and
DoSomethingDifferent.com’s Lee Burns, along with Strictly’s Vincent and Flavia.
In brief
■ Chile to use miner rescue to attract visitors Chile’s latest tourism campaign aims to capitalise on the good will created for the country through the dramatic miners rescue. Next year’s “Chile is Good for You” campaign will be a long-term theme in the country’s campaigns, director of tourism Alvaro Castilla said at WTM.
■ Panama sets sights on five targets for 2011 Panama is to launch a major campaign in five target markets next year, including the UK. Ernesto Orillac, advisor to the Authority of Tourism for Panama, said the UK had huge potential in leisure, business and meetings travel, and that the tourist board hoped to take on full- time representation in the UK for the first time.
■ Barbados adverts to return to UK screens The Barbados Tourism Authority will run its first TV campaign in the UK for five years in 2011. Adverts will be shown in the peak-booking month of January and make use of existing footage of the destination. Buoyed by two extra British Airways flights per week, Barbados hopes to increase UK arrivals from 230,000 in 2010 to 250,000 next year.
■ Multicom’s Fab3 lets agents amend bookings Travel software specialist Multicom is taking on more staff, launching a new booking system and planning expansion. It unveiled Fab3, part of its FindandBook system, at WTM, saying it would be able to deal with larger booking volumes and allow agents to amend bookings for the first time. Multicom also aims to increase staff at its Bristol offices from 50 to 80 in two years.
W&O Travel, Eden Luxury Travel Group, Loyd & Townsend Rose and Original Travel at a ttgluxury debate at WTM. “We wish we did not have the
overhead but there is still a real need for it, particularly for the trade,” said Kerry Golds, tour operations director at W&O Travel. “They are expensive and time-consuming,”
said Paul Cleary, managing director of Caribtours and The Private Travel Company. “But in such a crowded marketplace, you need to do something to make yourself stand out. To stamp your personality on things, the brochure is the way,” he added. Sally Booth, marketing director for the Eden
Luxury Group, which owns Seasons and Eden, agreed, adding: “In an ideal world we’d like not to have a brochure, but people really do like them.”
Booth also said that Eden
reduces its costs by only printing a brochure every 18 months. In debating the importance of
search engine optimisation for luxury operators, the co-founder of Original Travel, Alastair Poulain, said it was the least important of his marketing methods.
“SEO is wonderful for a marketing team, as
you can measure return on investment very easily, but the quality of the leads is poor,” he said.
“If a customer comes to you by internet search
there is no relationship there and you have to work hard to get the booking.” Kerry Golds agreed that such leads took more
work, but said operators must still invest in SEO. “You cannot put all your marketing budget
there, but you do need to be doing it,” she said. “You’ve got to be there.” The session was hosted by ttgluxury editor April Hutchinson.
CENTRAL AMERICA. El Salvador Iberia boost
DIRECT IBERIA flights from Madrid to El Salvador’s capital San Salvador will “open up the skies” for the country, according to its minister of tourism Jose Duran. The new route, which started in October, is the
central American country’s first direct flight from Europe.
“It is helping to put El Salvador on the map,”
DIVING DEEPER: Sandals’ excursions operator Island Routes could go worldwide in the future, according to Sandals chief executive Adam Stewart. The operator, which offers trips such as swimming with stingrays and dolphins, already operates on every island with a Sandals resort, excluding Nassau Bahamas. Next year will see the operator launch outside these destinations – in Aruba, Barbados and the Cayman Islands.
Duran said. “Before it was more difficult to compete with other countries in our region.” The destination currently receives 1.5 million international visitors per year, but hopes to hit two million by 2014. The tourist board’s priorities are El Salvador’s cities and towns; gastronomy; and mountain- related tourism, including coffee-plantations and Mayan heritage. “The best thing about El Salvador is that,
because of its size, you can see all its highlights in a short space of time. After a long flight from the UK it is perfect as you do not need to take more internal flights,” Duran added. International hoteliers Crowne Plaza and Barcelo are also investing in the country.
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