6 NEWS AccorHotels
6 NEWS AccorHotels Reinforce Upscale Positioning with New Joint Venture AccorHotels and Rixos Hotels have announced a strategic partnership that goes in the direction of AccorHotels’ expansion into the upscale and luxury market, with a primary focus on developing the global resort segment. Under a long-term joint venture, both parties intend to collaborate, develop and manage Rixos branded resorts and hotels worldwide. AccorHotels will own a 50% interest in the joint venture management company. Through the partnership, AccorHotels will integrate in its network 15 iconic hotels that are ideally located in premium resort markets in Turkey, UAE, Egypt, Russia and Europe and that benefit from strong room rate performance. Rixos is one of only a handful of iconic resort brands in the region that caters to both high-end transient and group customers. It is recognised as one of the leading luxury destination brands in Turkey and the Middle East due to its best-in-class facilities, dining options and entertainment venues Hall 9 / Stand 214 Travelzoo Proposes to Certify Safety and Security Travelzoo and Bournemouth University will together forward a proposal to implement a safety and security Kitemark certification system in the travel industry. The certification will apply to airports, hotels and popular tourist attractions. The call comes following a joint research report on global security and the “fear factor” conducted with 6,000 consumers in nine countries. It found that, despite safety and security being more important than ever for tourists when booking their holiday, the majority remain ill-informed about which destinations are safe for travel. The report found that a majority of respondents (97%) said safety and security is on their mind when choosing where to holiday. Almost three quarters (71%) say safety and security is on their mind more now than it was a few years ago. Terrorism is the biggest safety issue for most nations, while Russians (83%) Indians (70%) and the Japanese (67%) are the most concerned about terrorism. Meanwhile, Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Australia and Spain are perceived to be the safest travel destinations Hall 25 / Stand 149 © Shutterstock ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 9 th March 2017 www.itb-berlin-news.com
NEWS 7 World Travel Monitor Reveals Global Upturn IPK International uses ITB Berlin to present forecast data IPK’S OUTBOND TRAVEL FORECAST 2017 7% 6% 6% 6% 5% 4% 3% 4% 3% 4 - 5% 2% 1% Considered to be the world’s largest travel survey, the ITB World Travel Monitor in co-operation with global tourism marketing consultants IPK International formed the basis of ITB Berlin Convention’s essential Future Day presentation, Wednesday March 8th. Delivered by Rolf Freitag, CEO of IPK International, the findings usually form the basis for decision-making across the entire tourism industry. Despite political unrest and security fears impacting a number of important destination countries in the last year, such as Turkey and France, the survey found that people around the world kept travelling more than ever before in 2016. Worldwide, the number of outbound trips increased by 4%, reaching nearly 1.1 billion international trips. Asia remains the number one source market region for growth in international travel with an overall increase of 9% compared to the previous year, followed by South America with 5%. Outbound trips from North America and Europe both grew by 3%. But Europe prevails as the number one source market with more than half of the outbound travel volume worldwide. When it comes to inbound tourism, Spain outperformed the US as the number one travel destination in 2016 while Germany is still in third place. Further revelations included the fact that, despite terror alerts, city trips are the fastest-growing holiday market segment, catching up with sun and beach holidays which are still the number one. Touring holidays had the third largest market share in 2016. For the third time, IPK International conducted a special survey on the ways in which travel behaviour is influenced by fear of terrorism. The study revealed that for 45% of international travellers the recent instability and terror warnings will have an influence on their travel plans for 2017. This is a 6% increase compared to February 2016. However, the survey exhibits regional differences between source markets in Europe, Asia, North and South America. Regarding the question what kind of influence the current situation could have on travel behaviour, 16% of international travellers indicated that they will not travel abroad in 2017 or will only go on domestic trips within their own country. A further 29% stated that they will still be traveling abroad, yet only to destinations they perceive as “safe”. For some destinations the situation regarding safety has actually deteriorated compared to the previous year. For example, while in February last year 64% of the respondents perceived Turkey as “unsafe“, in February 2017 this figure has increased to 76%. Hence, shifts from “unsafe“ to “safe“ destinations will further continue in 2017. 0% Asia North America Europe South America Source: World travel Monitor ® 1-8, 2016, IPK International Translating the data into a tourism forecast, IPK International anticipates global outbound trips to increase by a robust 4% in 2017. Asian outbound travel is once again expected to be the main growth driver with an increase of 5%, but North America can also expect a strong outbound travel year while international travel of Europeans and South Americans is expected to continuously show moderate growth, potentially over 3% for both World CITY TRIPS ARE THE FASTEST-GROWING HOLIDAY MARKET SEGMENT, CATCHING UP WITH SUN AND BEACH HOLIDAYS WHICH ARE STILL THE NUMBER ONE ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 9 th March 2017
