Quality travel blogs are hard to find. This infographic helps with the clutter out there.
The State of Travel Blogging 2013 – An infographic by FHR
As a destination marketing professional, this study provides me with some good insight on how to measure the impact that social media has on our marketing initiatives.
Recently DMAI came up with these findings:
According to the Economist, the answer is yes! France seems to be on the top list of Chinese travelers visiting Europe, but the Grand Tour of the continent covers also some unusual stops such as Cambridge, Benelux, Verona… They spend a third of the travel budget on shopping rather than accommodation and/or fine dining, but are not cheap.
This is definitely an interesting guide to tap a market that is still in its infancy: the rewards might be tangible on a long term.
The PhoCusWright Conference 2009 in Orlando was a truly great event last week. Once again, it confirmed to be the Must Go conference of the year if you are involved in the online travel market. Before I keep on writing, I have to disclose that I was there simultaneously as Web Executive for Monaco Government Tourist Office and Italy Analyst for PhoCusWright. Here are some of my quick observations about the conference:
1) The organization of the event is awesome. Every single detail is taken care of. The conference was briefly disrupted by a fire alarm, but this had very little effect on the schedule of the event. The PhoCusWright team is phenomenal and I am not saying this because I am part of it. I had very little to do with the organization of the conference at all. Philip Wolf‘s insights are top-notch and entertaining at the same time. Read the rest of this entry »
The collection of markets that represent the foundation of the European travel industry has undergone significant change since the onset of 2008. Along with the rest of the globe, the economic softness that began to appear through the course of the year worsened abruptly in 4Q08. The prosperous early months of 2008 were followed by a summer of astronomical fuel prices and a fall season starved of the usual business travel swell, which left travel worse off than many other industries.
While EU gross domestic product (GDP) grew, the European travel market declined very slightly. Also, while common recessionary trends such as weakened consumer confidence have affected all nations, individual characteristics have exposed the strengths and weaknesses of each market (and its players) differently. Business/leisure mix, rail infrastructure, currency fluctuations, inbound/outbound tourism and unemployment rates are just some of the factors that shape how various travel markets are reacting to the downturn.
For more information or buy the full report (disclosure: I wrote the Italy section), please visit www.PhocusWright.com
