10 TRADE TALK
10 TRADE TALK ITB Berlin: Where Leaders Speak Directly to Leaders Michael Ho is General Manager of Overseas Travel Service Ltd., a General Sales Agency in Taiwan specialised in representing airlines, cruise companies, hotels and ground transportation companies. While staying in Berlin for the entire duration of ITB Berlin, we asked Mr Ho to tell us about the main goals of his visit… Michael Ho General Manager, Overseas Travel Service Ltd., Taiwan I am here to look for good and reliable partners for outbound market development, and also try to seek out new business models for future possibilities. ITB Berlin is the most important travel fair to my company for sure, because I can meet with European supervisors rather than branch managers. In the meantime, ITB Berlin also have diversity kinds of travel business to develop. What kinds of new products are you primarily seeking this year? I’m especially looking for new ideas with cruises, adventure tours & special interest tour operators. What volume of business do you do at ITB Berlin? Usually, we are searching for new suppliers or of service brands in the cooperate sector, and our outbound market is USD 300-million. We are always looking for new opportunities. I’M ESPECIALLY LOOKING FOR NEW IDEAS WITH CRUISES, ADVENTURE TOURS & SPECIAL INTEREST TOUR OPERATORS What do you see as being the main trends at the moment, and what is your personal forecast for business for the upcoming year? Two game changers are LCC (Low Cost Carriers) & the Internet with real time service. As a Travel Agency and Aviation GSA in Taiwan, our focus is more on transportation. The tourism market is blossoming in Asia, and we are trying to develop theme tours and all-inclusive tours, especially in the luxury high-end sector. Taiwan may become a good choice for Chinese travellers, as long as we can keep a focus on good service with customers offering excellent choice. We will intensify our efforts in branding by constantly improving our service. Do you follow any of the conferences at the ITB Berlin convention? That depends. I usually follow some when it comes to new travel technology solutions & new destinations. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Saturday 8 th March 2014 www.itb-berlin-news.com
EUROPE REGION 11 TRAVEL TRENDS The European Travel Market MAIN TRAVEL DESTINATION [ by IPK International ] Europe has 740 Million inhabitants. European Russia (some 100 million) and Germany (82 million) are the biggest population concentrations, followed by UK, Italy and France (some 60 million each). Whilst in many European countries GDP was not dynamic over the past four years, Russia and some other emerging markets in Europe registered rather high income growth rates. In 2012, Europeans undertook 420 million international trips corresponding to some 45% of global outbound travel. Mean length of stay abroad was 8.2 nights per trip. On their trips Europeans have spent 3.5 billion nights abroad. Mean spending per international trip was 815 Euro. Total sales turnover was some 350 billion Euro. With an average growth of some 2% over the last five years Europe is a stable but only moderately growing outbound region. The biggest European travel markets of origin are Germany (74 Million), UK (57 Million), France (32 million), Russia (27 million), Netherlands (23 million) and Italy (21 million). MAIN TRAVEL DESTINATION TO EUROPE Germany 52 Spain 54 France 42 Also Switzerland (18 million), Spain and Belgium (16 million each), Poland (15 million) and Austria (14 million) are important European travel markets of origin. INBOUND TRAVEL* In 2012 European destinations welcomed 394 million international overnight stays, counting for 3.1 billion inbound overnight stays. Mean length of stay of foreigners on a trip to Europe was 7.7 nights. Mean spending per international visit to Europe was 822 Euro resulting in a total inbound sales turnover of some 330 billion Euro. Compared to the slow GDP growth European inbound tourism is doing much better (3.5% p.a.). However global inbound market share of European inbound is decreasing as Asian inbound is increasing at double speed. Main travel destinations to Europe are Spain (54 million visitors), Germany (52 million), France (42 million) and Italy (40 million). Also UK (29 million), Austria (26 million), and Turkey (24 million) are important destinations of global travel to Europe. Best inbound performers over the last years were Turkey, Germany and Spain. in million visitors Italy 40 Turquey 24 Austria 26 UK 29 48% of international visitors to Europe come by plane, 32% come by car and 8% by bus. There is also 7% travel by train but only 3% by ship/cruise. Preferred accommodation type is the hotel with 56% share, followed by holiday homes (as well paid as not-paid-for) with 21% share. From all hotel stays 57% are spent in upper class accommodations, 36% in middle grade and 7% in budget hotels. Most visitors to Europe come from Europe (86%). Major markets of origin are Germany (17%), UK (11%), France, Netherlands and Russia (5% each), not to forget Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland (4% each). 85% of visitors to Europe come for leisure motivations and 15% on business trips. The main type of foreign holiday in Europe is sun & beach (30%) followed by city visits (21%) and touring holidays (17%). But there are also 25 million holidays spent for relaxation and hanging loose on the countryside or in the summer mountains and some 11 million international snow holidays. 71% of international visitors to Europe have used internet for their trip decision making. 13% were in the internet exclusively as information lookers. 58% of international visitors to Europe were also booking online. * Only overnight stays, no day excursions Eds: While these figures pertain to 2012, IPK International outlined preliminary 2013 figures in their ITB Berlin conference on Wednesday 5 th March. Confirmed 2013 reports will be available for purchase in the next weeks from IPK. EUROPE ÅLAND ISLANDS HALL 18/128A-E ALBANIA HALL 3.2/112 AUSTRIA HALL 17/104 BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA HALL 1.2/214 BULGARIA HALL 3.2/101 CROATIA HALL 1.2/218 CYPRUS HALL 2.2/111, HALL 2.2/115 CZECH REPUBLIC HALL 7.2B/102 ESTONIA HALL 18/126C FAROE ISLANDS HALL 18/112 FINLAND HALL 18/128A-E FRANCE HALL 2.2/201 GERMANY GIBRALTAR HALL 2.2/114 GREECE HALL 2.2/101 GUERNSEY HALL 18/124 HUNGARY HALL 2.2/209 ICELAND HALL 18/128A-E IRELAND HALL 18/122 ITALY HALL 1.2/101 JERSEY HALL 18/124 KOSOVO HALL 1.2/232 LATVIA HALL 18/126A, HALL 10.2/101 LITHUANIA HALL 18/126B LUXEMBOURG HALL 18/129 MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF HALL 1.2/223 MALTA HALL 1.2/222 MOLDOVA HALL 1.2/234 MONTENEGRO HALL 1.2/219 NORWAY HALL 18/128A-E PORTUGAL HALL 2.2/208 PRINCIPALITY OF LIECHTENSTEIN HALL 17/102 ROMANIA HALL 7.2B/101A-C RUSSIAN FEDERATION HALL 2.1/108 SERBIA HALL 2.2/211 SLOVENIA HALL 17/110 SPAIN HALL 4.2/101 SWEDEN HALL 18/128A-E SWITZERLAND HALL 17/101 UKRAINE HALL 2.1/107 UNITED KINGDOM HALL 18/121 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Saturday 8 th March 2014
