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  • News: ITB Berlin 2013: Positive interim summary of ITB Berlin 2013

    During the 3 days reserved for trade visitors at ITB Berlin there has been a slight increase in buyer numbers from the united states, Middle East and Africa. That’s the results of an initial analysis of the world’s leading travel trade exhibition, that is currently occurring from 6 to ten March 2013. The collection of trade visitors and buyers from Spain, Italy and Greece was 1.7 per cent below last year’s figures. This trend also reflects the commercial situation in these countries, where citizens currently plan to take less trips abroad. In contrast, there have been more visitors to the show who declared they might be back. ITB Berlin reported a rise in trade visitors authorised to make purchasing decisions, a trend which the ITB Buyers’ Circle confirmed.

    At the ITB Berlin Convention mobile and social media events were in sensationally high demand and reported a 50 per cent rise in participants compared with 2012. The ITB Hospitality Day and ITB Business Travel Days also registered increased attendance. In 2013 visitor numbers at the first two days of the convention were 25 per cent higher than in 2012. Over the primary three days, participation within the social media and mobile travel services workshops and lectures on the eTravel World was twice last year’s figure. The ITB matchmaking event for bloggers, which this year passed off for the 1st time, was also all right received. Around 100 bloggers from Germany and abroad were ready to meet with exhibitors over a period of 2 days. a complete of 250 bloggers from world wide visited ITB Berlin.

    Commenting, Dr. Martin Buck, Director of the Competence Center Travel & Logistics Messe Berlin, said: “ITB Berlin has once more confirmed its role because the industry meeting place where growing emphasis is being placed on content, informal searches for management positions inside the hotel trade, as an example, and examining the longer term prospects of tourism.” On 9 and 10 March 2013 ITB Berlin opens its doors to the public.

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  • Concur adds advanced mobile communications and messaging platform

    Concur, a world leader in integrated travel and expense management, today announced it acquired privately-held conTgo, a number one cloud-based mobile communications and messaging platform for the worldwide travel industry. conTgo, based inside the UK and Australia, provides its communication platform to corporate customers and TMCs.

    conTgo adds comprehensive location-based services with advanced mobile communications and messaging capabilities to Concur’s offerings, extending the worth of the Concur T&E Cloud for partners, suppliers and clients alike.

    Concur expects to leverage conTgo’s market-leading technology to offer quite a number new services designed to optimize the traveller experience. By utilizing itinerary data and site information with insight and context from past behavior, Concur and Concur T&E Cloud partners could have the technology and capability to deliver applications which can:
    ·      Safeguard employees despite where they book – Proactively manage duty of care programs by consolidating and matching booking data with risk intelligence so companies can track, locate and communicate with travelers 24/7 with relevant value-added services.

    ·      Make travel plans around colleagues – Enable travelers to devise a visit using location and hotel data from select colleagues in order that everyone can stay within the same hotel and/or city.

    ·      Get discounts or offers from favorite merchants – Enable delivery of offers to travelers from frequently-visited merchants in line with location and itinerary data.

    ·      Take advantage of a travel delay – Enable delivery of offers to travelers from airport merchants within the event of a flight delay, turning the inconvenience into a chance for the traveler and the merchant.

    ·      Carpool with colleagues – Enable travelers who arrive on the same airport and stay on the same hotel to catch a ride together through a service that associates all of them with an available ground transportation provider, saving money and time.

    “We continue to find game-changing technologies that enhance the business travel experience and advance our vision for definitely the right Trip,” said Michael Hilton, EVP of Product Strategy at Concur. “The conTgo team developed an award-winning solution for corporations to trace, locate and communicate with employees no matter their location. Working along with the Concur ecosystem of application developers, customers, and suppliers, we plan to deliver numerous new location-based applications that benefit companies and their travelers alike.”

    “We are enthusiastic about this perfect fit of both technology and culture between our companies,” said conTgo founders Henrik Conradsen and Johnny Thorsen, who join Concur in new senior management roles. “We will continue to deliver duty of care offerings to our customers and partners and plan to exploit our award-winning technology for brand new services that support Concur’s vision of The ideal Trip.”

    Concur customers worldwide can immediately enhance their existing corporate travel booking and expense management solutions with the addition of conTgo’s award-winning duty of care solutions and the Concur Locate and Alert offering, that may leverage the conTgo platform.  The combined solutions may be the only duty of care solutions out there to watch travel whatever the source of booking – supporting the rage of Open Booking.

    The terms of the purchase weren’t disclosed. Neither the financial terms nor the revenue impact of the conTgo business are material to the Company’s business outlook for fiscal 2013. As a result of increased operating costs with regards to acquired headcount, the corporate expects modest dilution to its expected non-GAAP operating margin range for Fiscal 2013 and expects the purchase to be neutral to accretive to non-GAAP operating margin in Fiscal 2014.

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  • Tourism Australia welcomes Australia Week in China

    Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said Tourism Australia was very excited on the prospect of playing a number one part in ‘Australia Week in China’ next year.

    “The concept has worked well for Australian tourism in America, with G’Day USA, and makes many of sense given that China is now our fastest growing and Most worthy inbound tourism market,” he said.

    “Off the back of the hugely successful launch of our global campaign in Shanghai last year, we have now the numerous benefit of pushing at a door that is already open, with the Chinese ranking Australia primary on their international holiday ‘wish list’.

    “We look ahead to working with the govt., industry and our state and territory partners to develop a program for the week so that you can drive tourism from China and support our China 2020 Tourism Plan,” Mr McEvoy said.

    Australia Week in China may be held within the second 1/2 2014 to coincide with Tourism Australia’s Greater China Travel Mission, that is expected to draw greater than 120 Australian tourism operators.

  • News: WTM Latin America signs big names for inaugural show

    WTM Latin America has created a dedicated area at the exhibition floor to showcase organisations with global representation.

    The ‘Global Village’ will host international hotel chains, technology companies and wholesalers who’re heading to São Paulo this April for the inaugural World Travel Market Latin America, with many exhibiting at a Brazilian travel trade event for the primary time.

    World Travel Market Latin America, the leading global event for the Latin American travel industry, also confirms that Accor is the official Hotel Partner for the show.

    Accor recently strengthened its leadership in Latin America with the $265m purchase of Mexican hotel chain Grupo Posadas.

    It has greater than 200 hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    Hyatt Hotels Corporation is heavily specializing in Brazil, following its strategic decision to expand outside its core North American market.

    It has nine hotels open in Latin America, with another thirteen Hyatt-branded properties within the confirmed pipeline.

    Accor and Hyatt are joined within the Global Village by Worldhotels, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton Worldwide, Grupo Melia, Vila Gale and Trump Hotels.

    Trump Hotels can also be making its first appearance at a travel event in Brazil.

    The volume of worldwide hotel giants in attendance, lots of whom are listed on their home country’s stock exchange, confirms that non-public sector businesses see World Travel Market Latin America as a valuable and worthwhile business opportunity.

    Other hotel sector specialists exhibiting include the Caribbean giant, resort operators Sandals & Beaches, Austria-Trend Hotels and the east African experts The Zanzibar Collection.

    WTM London regulars from the hotel technology sector, including Pegasus and TripAdvisor, also are in attendance.

    Finally, quite a few B2B wholesalers supplying groups, tours, hotels and activities are exhibiting on the inaugural event, reflecting the significance of Brazil as both an inbound and outbound destination.

    London-based JAC, Miki Travel, Go Global from Israel and HotelsPro from america are some of the wholesalers seeking to check with suppliers.

    Reed Travel Exhibitions director WTM Latin America Lawrence Reinisch said: “Interest within the first World Travel Market Latin America from the personal sector have been outstanding.

    “I am especially pleased to bring quite a few exhibitors to Brazil for the 1st time, including one of the most world’s major hotel chains.

    “This demonstrates the worldwide appeal of the arena Travel Market brand and in addition the strong interest the personal sector has in conducting business in Brazil and Latin America.

    “I am delighted that World Travel Market Latin America is the primary exhibition that’s ready to facilitate such business opportunities for both Brazil and the region.”

  • Futureshift joins International Coalition of Tourism Partners

    The International Coalition of Tourism Partners announced today that Futureshift, a brand new York-based marketing consulting firm, has joined the coalition as a brand new member.

    Futureshift specialises in market intelligence, strategic planning, and building digital communities. Its focus is on product and destination branding with emphasis on sustainability and green initiatives. Futureshift’s experience includes development and management of the strategic marketing plan for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the Chilean Image Campaign, and lots of food, wine, and tourism campaigns for countries all over the world. Lots of its clients include wine, food, and tourism together, and its current client roster includes the wine region of Rioja, Spain, Wines of Greece, and the Maine Lobster industry.

    “We see ICTP as an organisation which could both bring focus to sustainability issues for destinations and be an advocate of best practices for the travel and tourism industries. We glance forward to being part of the organisation’s growth and a participant in its programs. As a sign of our interest, we wish to provide ICTP member firms a 20% discount off of all our consulting and database services for all projects initiated before June 31, 2013.”

    Futureshift has developed its own proprietary software, DirectLink™, which enables it to invite open-ended questions of huge databases, provide real-time analysis tools, instant segmentation and direct email access to those who fall in specific segments. This allows its clients to focus on market their customers according to their expressed needs and perceptions. It’s a device that doesn’t exist elsewhere due to complexities of contextual search and analysis. Clients who use DirectLink™ become smarter, faster, and build better relationships with their customers.

    “That Futureshift comes on board as a brand new member and immediately offers all ICTP members a coupon off their services is a brilliant value. Futureshift is a pacesetter in product and destination branding, and the truth that they work with an emphasis on sustainability and green initiatives, fits right in with the efforts of ICTP,” said Juergen T. Steinmetz, Chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners.

    The firm’s founder, Jon Stamell, has 25+ years of expertise in market research, strategic planning and marketing, including international consulting, expansion and acquisitions, brand management, image enhancement, ecommerce and multi-media. He formerly was CEO of the most important marketing communications firm in Northern New England and Chairman of Communitas Online, a market research company. He has spoken on destination branding at conferences world wide and was profiled by CNN-TV and CNBC-TV. Jon is author of “Celebrate Your Mistakes (Irwin Publ., 1998) and FutureShift 2010, a study of U.S. consumer behavior for the Chilean Foreign Ministry. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, did graduate work at Harvard University, and received an M.B.A. from the University of Maine. At the side, Mr. Stamell is a broadcast cartoonist and his cartoons, taking a satirical study business and technology, are located on the net and in various publications.