11.11.11 "Lest we Forget"

11.11.11

"Lest we Forget"

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Price, Proximity and Ease of entry - the drivers of tourism worldwide

A few days ago FutureBrand, the organization that ranks countries' brands, announced that Canada reached the top spot in the Country Brand Index. This prompted some lively discussion on Twitter and on the Canadian Tourism Professionals Group on LinkedIn regarding the value of such rankings in tourism performance. I believe that rankings of this type do not materially affect tourism performance one way or the other. While ranking at the top in the Country Brand Index is something to be proud of, just as being in the top 10 countries on the United Nations' Human Development Index is something to be proud of, the facts don't support the idea that any of these rankings help tourism performance. In general what drives tourism around the world (and domestically) is proximity, price and ease of entry.

Proximity - when you look at tourism on a global scale and see where destinations are actually getting their tourists from, you'll see that most of them travel from countries nearby - No #1 source of international tourists to Mexico is the US followed by Canada. No #1 source of international tourists to the US is Canada, followed by Mexico. No # 1 source for Spain is the UK followed by Germany and France. Most international tourism in Australia is generated by Oceania countries and East Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan). China derives the biggest percentage of tourists from neighbouring Asian countries. But we don't have to go global to see this. We have always seen that domestic tourism is also driven by proximity (if you are tourism marketer you have known this for a long time). Most visitors to Muskoka, Ontario are from the Greater Toronto Area. Most visitors to Whistler are from the Greater Vancouver Area. Most visitors to Montreal (outside Quebec) are probably from Toronto, etc., etc.

Price - we can come up with the best and most creative campaigns to attract visitors to our destinations or attractions, whether these campaigns are digital, physical or singing telegrams, but unless the price points are affordable to our guests we will not grow the business (and in some cases won't survive). This is a bit of a cruel truism in business. Not only must the visitor see an attractive benefit per dollar, but he or she must be able to afford it. Currency wise, Canadians are rich at the moment vis a vis the US greenback and the Mexican peso. What do you think will happen this winter when Canadian winter destinations will be competing for Canadians travel plans if an all inclusive week in Mexico, Dominican, Cuba, etc., will cost them a fraction of what it would cost to spend that week in Tremblant or Whistler? We are in for a spike in our travel deficit this winter courtesy of the weakness in the US dollar and higher commodity prices. At the same time, the appreciation of the loonie is making our destinations more expensive than they already were 2 or 3 years ago. Skiers in the US may find that skiing at home will be more affordable than skiing in Canada. European skiers (those left who can afford to travel) will find European slopes much more affordable than Canadian moguls.

Ease of Entry - there are various reasons why most tourism industries around the world are sustained by domestic tourism. The biggest is ease of entry. People can move around their own country with the most ease (and of course there's significant VFR travel domestically). Speaking internationally, we have seen how important this driver of travel is by witnessing how it has affected the flow of US visitors to Canada since 9/11. Another case is the dramatic drop in Mexican visitors when Canada imposed visa restrictions on them last year. But ease on entry not only refers to visa and security issues, it also refers to airlift, airport fees, and other issues. Ease of entry is very much related to proximity and cost. 9/11 notwithstanding, it is still very easy for Canadians to enter the US and for Americans to enter Canada. And it's still very easy for both Americans and Canadians to enter Mexico. In North America, Mexico is a good example of a destination that competes very well with other destinations because of its proximity, its prices and its ease of entry. It is remarkable that with all of Mexico's image and security problems, its tourism industry has not seen a significant drop in American and Canadian tourists in the last 2 years, and according to the Mexican Tourism Ministry (Secretaría de Turismo de México) Canadian visitations have grown 38% since 2008!

In conclusion, look at your destination or tourism business and remind yourself where you get or can get most of your guests/customers. Sharpen your pencil and price your offerings so that they are attractive and affordable to your target community/tribe/market. Regarding Ease of Entry, you may not be able to do much about it, since you are where you are (on the other hand, make sure that the directions and maps on your website are correct - and definitely make sure that your place appears correctly on a Google Maps search).

Jaime Horwitz MBA

The US Market and Canadian Tourism

Tweets from the Tourism Summit:

EventsWest

Great article in today's Vancouver Sun: Canada's tourism slump & what to do about it. http://ow.ly/33SzC#TIACsummit

Pierrebellerose

La Commission canadienne du tourisme se retirera du marché leisure américain pour laisser la place aux joueurs canadiens #Tiacsummit

AkBeattie

#tiacsummit Doug Fyfe sites ongoing concern affecting US tvl to CDA: Economy, Security, X-chng Rate, Competition, Product, Mktg, Consumers

The Canadian Tourism Commission, CTC, announced at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada's Tourism Summit, that it is leaving the US leisure market. Most leaders in the industry already knew this, so it didn't come as a shock to them. Veteran industry insider Doug Fyfe, speaking about the decline of the inbound US market, talked about the various issues that have contributed to that decline, issues that all of us in the industry have known for years, whether it was 9/11, SARS, the economy, security or the exchange rate. The one element Doug touched on that is very important to keep in mind is Competition. In my opinion, it is this issue, more than any others that has affected the US travel market for Canada.

Canada has lost significant market share to other destinations in the last decade. While the US economy has indeed affected travel in that country, the fact is that Americans continue to travel abroad, a fact that may surprise many. According to Forbes Traveler, based on data from the US Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, 63.6 million Americans traveled outside the US in 2008. Yes, you might say, but that was 2008, not the disastrous 2009. Well, according to an article in the New York Daily news (that quotes the Forbes Traveler research), up to May 2009 the decline of US outbound travel was only 7.7% below 2008 levels. While significant, it is not what many people would expect. Even a 10% drop in 2009 would indicate that over 55 million Americans traveled abroad last year. While Mexico is still the #1 foreign destination for Americans (negative image notwithstanding), Canada is still strong at #2 (proximity matters) receiving almost 40% of all those travelers in 2009. I personally think that the CTC's abandonment of this market jeopardizes that standing. Yes, the cities and provinces will continue to invest in the US market, but I think that the CTC's support is still important, if not critical. Consistency is also important. The US economy will come back. Will Canada be in Americans minds when it does? I don't think the lack of better results has been for a lack of effort and hard work. What I think is needed is more creative thinking and more risk taking to stand out from the crowd (yes, making it easier for travelers to cross the border and fly into Canada is very important, but only part of the solution).

What I would recommend is to look at the US with fresh eyes and to work on sending the right message not only to Americans, but, very importantly to Canadians, that Canada loves America. Whether we agree or not with their various political views, most of us do like the diverse American people. It was tweeted at the TIAC Summit that with Social Media we can reach passionate communities. True. The hard work lies in discovering and engaging those communities with the right messages about Canada. This does not mean that social media alone would do it, we still need to use traditional methods like paid advertising and most of all, be creative, be creative and be creative.

Jaime

Is your brand a One Night Stand or a Serious Relationship? Part II

Staying with the topic of relationships and tourism destinations or businesses (see previous blogpost), tourism marketers would benefit from strategies that segment their visitors between those who are just looking for a "one night stand" and those who want or could develop a "serious relationship" with their destination, attraction or tourism business. This is easier said than done, but not impossible. At the micro-level, small tourism businesses like lake resorts, B&B's, restaurants and some attractions already have "going steady" relationships with many of their customers. For example, my family has an ongoing relationship with the Gravenhurst, Ontario area. We try to go to the same vacation rental property every year. Every year we go to the same ice-cream parlour at the Muskoka Wharf and the same café in Port Carling. We always shop at the stores in that town - I particularly like Muskoka Bear Wear.

I also have a "serious relationship" with the IHG Hotel Group. I am a Priority Club Ambassador member. Informally, I have made a commitment to stay at IHG hotels wherever I go if at all possible. Priority Club is their loyalty program and Ambassador is a higher level of membership, and implies a bigger commitment from IHG to make these loyal guests happy and treat them in a special way. As long as I perceive a real benefit from this membership, I will remain loyal to the brand. The main reason for this loyalty is that I always know what I'm going to get when I travel and stay at the different IHG brand hotels.

In today's "world of the customer," in the new "era of pull", where the "customers are the message", and brand is the sum of customers' Public tweets, comments, complaints, videos, etc., knowing what kind of relationship your business or destination can aspire to and with whom is critical for long term viability. The number of substitutes for all leisure and entertainment products is growing exponentially. The current global economic reality will force consumers to make tough decisions. "Should we go for a weekend to Montreal or New York or should we buy the new Apple MacBook Air?" We are not just competing with other destinations or attractions. We are competing for consumers' share of wallet with a myriad of products and services. Today more than ever we must strive to make our guests and visitors feel special. We should focus on developing "long term relationships."

When applying Social Media strategy to these two kinds of customers what might be the right approach:

• For your "going steady" customers you should strive to develop an ongoing dialog. These customers should be more open to receiving your newsletters and follow you on Twitter. It is very important that you listen and respond to these customers more than any others. They will be the champions of your brand. Applying what I call PERL to these guests would yield the best results. P for promotion, E for engagement, R for responding and L for listening, not in that particular order, of course, but easy to remember. Furthermore, you should consider a loyalty program of some sort. With the explosion of geolocation services that are easy to use, you should think about a FourSquare, Gowalla, Living Social, WagJag and/or other geolocation and group buying strategy.
• For your potential "one night stands" you would apply more traditional marketing tactics, including digital and traditional advertising, supported by social media elements (and attractive price points). Harness the positive content created by past guests and your brand champions and do everything possible to distribute that content for all to see. Tourism British Columbia is an example of a destination that has striven to do this with their blogs. TBC was one of the first destinations in Canada that offered travelers the opportunity to create blog posts on their official website. When TBC started its blog social media had not taken off yet so readers could not share blogposts via Twitter and FB, but today they can and TBC rightly added "share this" buttons to every post.

In conclusion, I suggest you begin to look at the marketplace with fresh eyes. Take time to figure out how marketing fits with this idea of your "steady" guestfriends vs. your "short term affair" guests and how you can use digital marketing to engage them both. Remember that divorce is a very real threat and that there are many other destinations that could take your "steady" guestfriends away if you don't treat them right. I leave you with another TIAC Tourism Summit tweet from Pierre Bellrose - I believe - about Doug Fyfe's presentation on the US Market:

Pierrebellerose

"Peut importe ce que le Canada essaie sur le marché touristique américain depuis 10 ans, cela ne donne pas de résultats #Tiacsummit" "No matter what Canada has tried to do with the American tourism market, after 10 years we haven't seen results"

Cheers,

Jaime

Is your brand a One Night Stand or a Serious Relationship? The challenge for Tourism Destinations in Social Media

"Thanks to all re: #TIACsummit. Seems #socialmedia is top of mind. What are your thoughts on its place in the #tourism industry? Discuss! ^AJ" Deloitte Canada's Tweet from the Tourism Summit 2010 - Ironically, Social Media is not an official topic in the conference (for that don't miss Canada-e-Connect 2011, next February in Toronto)

More than 15 million people like "Starbucks" on Facebook. Same goes for Coca-Cola. The Skittles brand has generated about 12 million likes on the dominant social networking site. (see "5 Most Engaged Brands in Social Media" on Mashable). The official Facebook page for the city of Paris has only 381,818 likers as of today (Nov 2, 2010). Amazingly the official FB page for NYC & Company, the official tourism board for the Big Apple, only has 7,964 likes! Ironically, a non-official community (Community Pages are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic) Facebook Page for New York City has over 1 million members. Canada? Well, the Canadian Tourism Commission's official "Keep Exploring" Facebook Page has 16,309 likers as of today. Tourism Toronto's official FB page? 25,144 likers. Tourisme-Montreal, which does not have a direct link to Facebook on its official website's home page (sacrebleu): 18,286. The blog I ♥ Mtl, which is not connected to Tourism Montreal, has over 41,000 likers.

Starbucks and Coca-Cola are two of the biggest global brands. But one could say that New York, Paris and Canada are also global brands. These destinations are known the world over. So what happens in the world of social media that the difference in engagement between these product brands and just about any destination in the world is so big? The answer is simple. Consumer brands have the potential to develop "serious relationships" with consumers, they can achieve a "going steady" state of affairs.

Many consumers drink a Starbucks coffee or a Coke soft drink every single day so they have an ongoing and physical relationship with the product. Millions of consumers use their iPhones not only every day, but every hour! They even feel attached to their mobile device (not me).

Tourism destinations, on the other hand, particularly for leisure travelers, are usually "one night stands." This is great for the traveler, but not so good for the destination. Given the myriad destinations available to the average traveler, why would anyone commit to visiting the same place year after year? Similarly, if I will probably visit your destination only once (maybe twice) in my lifetime, why would I join your Facebook page or your Twitter feed? If I joined all the FB pages of destinations I want to or plan to visit in the future, my FB wall would be clogged to the point of annoying frustration (I have already started deleting some "Likes" in order to clean up the stream).

Fortunately, not all destinations are a "one night stand" for every traveler. It is possible to "go steady" with many (sometimes millions) visitors. While not all destinations (or specific tourism businesses) can aspire to achieve this in any substantial way, activity specific destinations and large urban centers have the best chances for two reasons: 1) passion and 2) proximity. Passion refers to people who belong to specific groups or tribes who travel to the same destination because of the activity that takes place there and nowhere else. The Caribana and Toronto International Film Festivals are two examples. Many passionate Caribana revelers and avid film-goers go to these events every year they can. The SXSW Festival in Austin Texas attracts many repeat visitors every year as do many music Festivals like Coachella in California. Proximity: destinations that are easy and affordable to get to in a short period of time can also develop "long term relationships" with travelers (e.g. New York City, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa can all be reached relatively easily from each other - of course some pairing work better: NYC-Toronto, Toronto-Niagara, etc). I know destinations close to other cities, states or countries have always targeted those nearby consumers in traditional ways, it is important to revisit this in the age of social media.

It is the consumers closer to your destination that are the best prospects for ongoing social media engagement because it is these consumers that are most likely to be repeat visitors. It is these travelers who may be most interested in what's going on at your destination, e.g. events, festivals, special offers, etc. And it is with these travelers with whom your destination has the best chances at developing a dialog with. Finally, it is these visitors that you should find a way to reward for their "loyalty."

To be cont'd.....

Jaime Horwitz MBA
Cactus Rock New Media