What top three source markets are your destination pursuing?

5 June 2012
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Todd Davidson - CEO, Travel Oregon

Travel Oregon’s current DOMESTIC marketing communications focus on a two pillar strategy that:

o   Provides a culinary focus during the Fall to position Oregon as a premier foodie destination.

o   Features Outdoor Recreation (including Adventure travel or as we call it “Adventurecation”) in the Spring.
For the Spring, we target consumers within our traditional Travel Oregon target who are more likely to be inspired by an Outdoor Recreation travel message:

  • Adults 25-64, who spend $1,000 or more on leisure travel (past 12 months)
  • Live in Northern California, Oregon, Idaho or Washington
  • Secondary: live in Southern California or Vancouver, B.C.
  • We focus on communicating with the “Active Explorer” segment within the broader target who engage in Cycling, Action Sports, and Golf
INTERNATIONAL

1. Europe: Germany, UK, Scandinavia, Netherlands and France. All five target markets have tour operators that offer adventure experience. Adventure focused Fam tour itineraries have created demand for the adventure experience to be included in the fly drive package.
2. Asia: Japan and Korea: In both countries we target ski, golf and cycling tour operators and media. China has not demonstrated a trend towards adventure travel.
3. Canada, Domestic Travel Trade and Australia


Luis Palacios  - Director, Baja California Sur Tourism Board

1. California (Los Angeles, San Diego, Different counties)
2. West Canada ( B.C. Victoria, others)
3. Mexico mainland, and after this, Spain.


Tejbir Singh Anand - President, Adventure Tour Operators of India 

United Kingdom, USA, and Germany.


Anna Dulina of the Kamchatka Region Ministry of Sport and Tourism, as interviewed by Mark Dudley - Sales Manager, North America of VLADIVOSTOK AIR AMERICA, INC.

Anna: In 2010, about 12,000 foreign tourists visited Kamchatka. The primary source markets for Kamchatka are:

  • Countries of the Asian-Pacific region: The USA, Japan, the Republic of Korea, etc, are Kamchatka's traditional partners in tourist exchanges. Tourists from the Asian-Pacific region make up more than 50% of all foreign visitors to Kamchatka, reflecting both the geographical proximity of the region and the interest in Kamchatka amongst the residents of these countries.
  • Europe: Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, etc. Travelers from European countries comprise about 29% of all foreign visitors to Kamchatka.  Regardless of Kamchatka's great distance from Europe, travelers are nevertheless drawn to the region to by its travel resources and the opportunity to experience  pristine nature.
  • Russian regions: The Russian Far East, Trans-Baikal, and central regions of Russia (Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg, and Leningrad region). More than 20,000 Russian travelers visit Kamchatka every year. Kamchatka is well known in Russia as a travel destination and the opportunities to attract more travelers are far from exhausted.
Mark: Anna mentions that Kamchatka receives about 32,000 tourist a year… 20,000 Russian and 12,000 foreign. By way of comparison, Alaska, a region comparable to Kamchatka in many ways, gets about 500,000 tourists a year, but it has a 100 year head start on developing travel infrastructure. Kamchatka can readily grow its infrastructure over the coming years so as to accommodate many more adventure travelers, but in doing so it must focus on education and preservations of its unique resources.

I would eleborate on Anna's message by emphasizing the importance of North America as a source market for Kamchatka and the Russian Far East. Because the area has been so hard to get to, it's fallen off the North American travel radar. Even within the adventure travel industry, few are aware that right next door is place with so much travel potential. It hosts hundreds of volcanoes (29 of them active), vast geyser fields and the giant Uzon Caldera, rivers choked with salmon and trout, diverse and abundant wildlife, rich native cultures…on foot, by helicopter, kayak, dog-sled, raft, or on skis. So, with regular flights and a little awareness-raising, I think the number of travelers from the U.S. and Canada to Kamchatka will skyrocket.


Stacey Mitchell - Director of Sales, Florida Keys & Key West Tourism Council

The "Experiential Traveler:" One who evolves from a passive destination observer to one who more actively experiences it. This can include visitors who try scuba diving for the first time, paddleboard yoga or wildlife viewing in one of the national refuges in our 'backcountry' waters. This type of traveler desires to learn and immerse themselves into the destination's history, culture, language and traditions.

Voluntourist: A visitor who desires to do something good while experiencing new places and adventures that lie within while contributing to the destination with the hopes of not only lessening their impact on the environment, but aspires to make it better.

Geo-Tourist: Attracting a visitor who understands and embraces the concept of preserving a destination's environment; by helping to sustain or even enhance the geographical character of the area visited including the well-being or quality of life of its residents. These travelers want to feel as if they are part of the local community. They desire to contribute to the advancement of natural environs and their potential effects on residents' quality of life.


Ms. Maria Claudia Lacouture - President, Proexport Colombia

1. According to the UNWTO (2011), the emerging countries will be responsible for most of the growth as they will have greater disposable income. For example: It is expected that China will become the largest source market for outbound travelers in 2020 and Brazil in Latin America. Therefore, countries such as Brazil will be one of our main destinations for the promotion of Colombia in 2012. According to the Central Bank of Brazil, Brazilian tourists increased their spending abroad by 32 percent and information obtained from UNWTO state that these tourists are on the verge of being included to the list of "top ten" that most spend when traveling, joining Germany, USA, China, UK, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Russia.

2. Given that the financial crisis in Europe affects the amount of travelers from that area, the existent/current market and the UNWTO projections indicate emerging countries to lead growth. Neighboring countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru, are also key source markets to pursue in 2012. These countries have traditionally been among our top 10 markets for inbound travelers to Colombia.

3. The United States will undoubtedly continue to be one of the countries where we will focus our promotional strategy, as this is our main source market. In 2011 for example, we received 317,954 visitors from the US, representing 20.1 percent of the total amount of arrivals to the country.


Mr. Digu //Naobeb - CEO of the Namibia Tourism Board

The Namibia Tourism Board is making strong in-roads in China and the United Arab Emirates. Also, through our North American Destination Marketing Campaign, we are pursuing the United States and Canada as potentially strong new source markets.


Sthu Zungu - President,  North America, South African Tourism

The USA has become an important source of international tourist arrivals for South Africa recently surpassing Germany to become the second largest market after the United Kingdom. Within the U.S. our top markets markets have remained New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta.  There are other markets that while still small are showing great potential such as Texas and Washington State.  Americas, Europe, Asia are the primary source markets for South Africa.


Anders la Cour Vahl - Deputy Director,  Visit Greenland Ltd

Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland), North America (U.S. and Canada), Germany


Alex Herrmann -  Director Americas, Switzerland Tourism

We'll continue to focus on the most important markets for Switzerland, which are the domestic tourists, then Germany and the U.K. Being number four overall, the U.S. leads Britain as a market during the summer months, which are the key months for active travel (apart from snow sports, of course). The Swiss themselves are generally rather outdoor-minded, which is why they're, by far, the most important group for active and adventure travel in all seasons.

At the same time, we're investing significantly in growing markets such as China, India, Russia, Poland and Brazil; however, these are mainly still touring markets yet with great potential for active and ("soft") adventure travel.


Maria del Carmen de Reparaz - Director of Tourism, PromPeru

We focus on 14 markets: (USA, Canada, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Australia) and starting this year we are looking into other markets such as Russia, China, South Korea, Holland, Switzerland and the Nordic Countries.


Carla Portalanza, Markets Director, Ecuador Ministry of Tourism

We are continuing to pursue our key source markets which are the United States and Canada. Visitor arrivals into Ecuador from these countries have been steadily growing over the past 10+ years and are we will continue to cultivate networks there. Additionally we are beginning to pursue source markets in Asia as well as in Latin America, with a focus on Brazil.

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