Tourism experts say discounts, economic upturn will make 2010 a good year

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s no secret that 2009 has been a rough year for the travel industry. With everyone tightening their belts, discretionary expenses like holidays are often the first thing to go. But industry leaders meeting in London for the World Travel Market say 2010 is looking better.

Cautious optimism about the economy is one cause for this brighter outlook, but travel companies know positive indicators such as increased productivity and exports don’t necessarily translate to more money being spent on travel. What will also help is the shift to more budget travel options. Tour operators have been choosing budget airlines and more modest hotels in order to offer lower prices, and some budget companies have actually seen an increase in business. This trend will continue into 2010, experts say, which is good news for people who want to get away from it all without spending it all. An increased emphasis on budget travel will keep people moving and hopefully encourage them to choose more luxurious options once we get into another prosperous period.

The travel industry is certainly looking for a silver lining around the tsunami that hit it this year. A report released at the World Travel Market estimates there will be an 8% drop in global travel bookings this year, as well as a 14% drop in airline passengers and a 16% drop in hotel bookings.

With figures like that, 2009 will be an easy act to follow.

International visitor spending down 20%, misses $10bn mark

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Visitors to the United States from other countries spent a mere $9.6 billion in July, down almost 24% year-over-year, according to data from the Department of Transportation. Currency exchange rates continue to make a recession even more … ummm … recessed(?) for the travel business. So, we’re looking at nine consecutive months in which tourists from overseas just aren’t plunking down the cash they did last year.

The price paid to travel – called “passenger fare receipts” – plunged 26% from July 2008 to July 2009, with only $2.1 billion spent to get from Point A to Point B and back. This is the lowest level reached for passenger fare receipts in two years. Travel receipts – i.e. the purchase of travel-related goods and services – amounted to $7.5 billion for the month. This is the cash spent on food, lodging, entertainment gifts, and it’s down 23% year-over-year.

The fact that July was the ninth month in which international tourist spending fell masks an even greater problem: this trend has been gaining momentum. In November 2008, foreign visitor spending was off 4% from November 2007. By January 2009, the year-over-year change fell to -6% and -10% in February. May, June and July all posted travel export declines of worse than 20%.

For the year so far, travel exports (same thing as spending by foreign visitors) has reached $69.2 billion – a decline of 17% relative to the same period last year. What’s this mean? People visiting the United States have spent $13.9 billion less than they did last year.

But, in the spirit of fairness, we’re spending less when we leave the United States. American travel imports are down almost 13%. We’ve spent $8.3 billion less than we did last year. But, we still shelled out a total of $57.5 billion in “support” for the local economies we’ve visited in 2009. The United States is still sitting on an $11.7 billion trade surplus in the travel space – but the balance is $5.7 billion less favorable than it was last year.

Overcrowded Venice may ban day-trippers

by Katie Hammel on

There’s no question that Venice is a city overrun with tourists. 20 million people visit the sinking city each year, yet only 60,000 Italians call Venice home. It’s no wonder then that the city starts to feel more like an open-air museum, a well-preserved relic of the past, rather than a living, and lived-in, city.

The residents of Venice put up with a lot (though or course, many of them profit greatly from the massive tourism industry too), and many are fed up with the overwhelming crush of tourists that descend on the town each year. And they aren’t above fighting back. Last year, the city created a (short-lived) locals-only vaporetto line from the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Technically, anyone with a 3-year Carta Venezia pass could ride, but at 40 Euros each, most visitors wouldn’t buy one.

The latest tactic in the battle of locals vs. tourists is to ban day-trippers. Only about 30% of Venice’s annual visitors stay there overnight. The rest stay outside the city, stop by on their way to or from other destinations, or come for the day by cruise ship. The proposal would limit visitors to the city to those people who have a pre-booked hotel reservation.

Enrico Mingardi, the head of public transportation in Venice, is the mastermind of the proposal. He says that Venetians can “no longer tolerate the discomforts” caused by the influx of thousands of tourists each day. He didn’t say exactly how the system would work, what rules would apply to cruise ship visitors, and if those without proof of hotel reservations would be locked out of the city.

Proposals that would limit the number of Venice’s tourists have been brought up before, but always defeated. If the policy does take effect, I have a feeling Venice will feel even more like a historical theme park. What’s next – turnstiles and a ticket window?

United States considering $10 “tourist fee” to pay for promoting tourism

by Scott Carmichael on

A proposal currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress may soon charge visitors to the United States a $10 entry fee.

The fee will go into a fund used to pay for promoting tourism. By now, I can imagine you are laughing about this (unless you don’t live in the U.S.). The concept of having tourists pay for the PR activities of a country they are already visiting is completely insane.

The idea behind the bill is that promoting tourism should not cost the U.S. taxpayer, something I completely disagree with.

The European Union is obviously against the concept, and given the hassles tourists already encounter when they come to the country, I have to agree with them.

The $10 tourism sponsorship fee would be linked to the ESTA pre-registration system currently required for all visitors from visa waiver countries. When ESTA was introduced, foreigners were told that it would always be free, and by hiding the new fee as a “tourism sponsorship fee”, the government obviously thinks they are keeping their word. The site currently says that there may be a fee in the future.

A family of five will have to pay $50, just for the right to travel to the States, in addition to any new luggage fees imposed by the airlines. This means a trip to the United States could start costing about $400 more than it used to – a price many people may simply refuse to pay, making them head elsewhere instead.

As always in the tit-for-tat world of immigration, if the U.S. pushes ahead with this, expect other nations to do the same to Americans heading abroad.

The end result could easily be a really well filled tourism promotion fund, but another slump in tourism and American tourists having to pay a reciprocal fee whenever they visit Europe.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that this fee (if implemented through ESTA) will most likely require a debit or credit card, something not everyone abroad possesses. ESTA itself is a horrible system, because it requires a computer to access, locking out anyone without Internet access. Now the penalty could be double – you’ll need Internet access and a credit card if you want to visit the US of A.

The bill in question, and all details about the proposal can be found here: Travel promotion act of 2009. The bill calls for a non-profit company to manage the money, and proposes to fund it with $100,000,000 in its first year.

Paris pins its tourism hopes on Americans. . . and shopaholics

by Katie Hammel on

Poor Paris. The city was recently voted “most overrated in the world” and tourism is down by 11% (or more, according to some reports) compared with the first half of 2008. The number of British and Japanese visitors dropped nearly 25% each, while the number of tourists from China declined by over 17%.

Mon Dieu! What’s a city to do? Well, according to the AP, the director of the Paris Tourism Office is “counting on Americans” to make up for the drop in visitors from other countries. Because the United States was hit first by the economic crisis, it is expected to recover sooner, which means more American tourists may be looking to travel before others. And the plan for luring those tourists to Paris: the promise of extended shopping hours.

Most French stores are closed on Sunday, but a new law would allow more stores, particularly those in areas popular with tourists, to stay open. The Paris Tourism Office thinks this would encourage visitors to stay through the end of the weekend instead of leaving Sunday morning.

It’s an interesting idea, but somehow I don’t think shopping is the key to the city’s survival. I like to shop as much as the next girl, and I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, but what has stopped me wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t hit the stores on Sunday, so much as a desire to score a better deal on airfare. I can never seem to find Chicago to Paris flights that aren’t at least $200 more than any other European destination. Until that changes, sorry Paris, but you can’t count on this American to help with your tourism troubles.