When visitors decide to visit Britain and when they actually book their trip or aspects of their trip is important to the travel and tourism industry. Understanding when international visitors initially start planning their holiday and considering a destination and what booking method they are most likely to use, can help you decide when and how to market your product. Planning, decision-making and booking cycle of international leisure visitors to BritainIn spring 2016, VisitBritain commissioned new research in 20 markets to understand the holiday decision-making process. Researching and Planning:
Booking:
Technology and Social Media:
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March IPS figures show that inbound tourism is off to a strong start this year with revenue up 11% over the first quarter of 2016, with visitor number up 7%. The main area of increase is in Holiday visits to the UK (up 18%) which shows how overseas visitors are taking advantage of the drop in the value of the pound although, business travel continues to struggle.
In terms of markets, it is worth noting that it is the long-haul markets doing the best (North America is up 17% and RoW is up 18% - which are predicted by the econometric modelling as a 15% price saving is more significant if you are spending more on your visit to the UK. One interesting factor is that despite the fall in the value of the pound, outbound tourism continues to grow by 3% in terms of visitor numbers. From IPS Report: Visits: The UK received 2.9 million overseas visits in March, 11% higher than last year and setting a new March record. There have been 8.1 million visits so far in 2017, up 7% on the same period in 2016 and setting a new record. In the last 12 month period, visits are tracking 4% ahead of the period before, at 38.1 million visits and setting a new record for highest volume of visits in any 12 month period. Spending:March spending is up 14% on last year at £1.51 billion, and setting a new March record. So far this year, visitors have spent £4.18 billion, setting a new record for the first three months of the year. Spending over the last 12 months is up 4%, at £22.96 billion and setting a new record for the highest spend in any 12 month period. Spend per visit: On average for the last 12 months, spend per visit is at £602, which has increased since the beginning of 2017 as spending growth has outpaced visit growth so far this year. Connecting Wales. Plaid state...
The other parties have left Wales behind. Our transport is old fashioned and we don't have the best links with the rest of the world. Plaid Cymru would: Work for an all Wales transport system Reopen the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway Have better trains in the valleys Improve the A55 and the Traws Cymru bus services Work for ultra-fast broadband in all Wales Spend more to encourage people to come and visit Wales. Think about how Wales works with other countries in the World. Roll out 5G mobile signal through the country. Plaid Cymru MPs have been working so that people in the country areas have a good mobile phone signal and broad band internet. Energy and the environment: Our environment is being destroyed. Our electricity bills are too high. Many houses have to use too much energy to stay warm. The earth is getting warmer because of all the pollution that we put into the air. This will lead to much worse weather in the future if we don’t change things. Plaid Cymru would: Increase the amount of electricity we get from the wind, sun and tides. Set up a Welsh energy company that keeps the electricity we make for local people. Work to make homes warmer by helping people with insulation. Protect our wildlife: Work to reduce the amount of pollution that we put into the air. Plaid Cymru MPs are working so that all our electricity will be made without causing harmful pollution by 2035. Country areas: The country areas of Wales will become poorer if the Tories make bad trade deals with the United States and New Zealand. Plaid Cymru would: Insist that our farms continue to get the money that we used to get from the EU. Make the UK government check with Wales before any trade deal is signed. Bring back money to help farmers sell their meat. Putting electricity cables underground so they don’t spoil our countryside and coastline. Stop fuel prices from going up. Labour tourism and hospitality related manifesto pledges:
Labour will ensure that tourism becomes a national priority again. We will reinstate the cross- Whitehall ministerial group on tourism, and ensure that government ministers across departments understand how their roles fit into the national tourism agenda. Labour supports the expansion of aviation capacity and we will continue to support the work of the Airports Commission.Labour will recruit 1,000 more border guards to add to our safeguards and controls. Introduce a package of reforms to business rates – including switching from RPI to CPI, indexation, exempting new investment in plant and machinery from valuations, and ensuring that businesses have access to a proper appeals process – while reviewing the entire business rates system in the longer run. The next Labour government will bring in a 20 point plan for security and equality at work including: 1. Give all workers equal rights from day one 2. Ban zero hours contracts 3. Introduce four new public holidays 4. Double paid paternity leave to four weeks and increase paternity pay We will continue working with our neighbours through the European Union’s Highways of the Seas and by negotiating to retain membership of the Common Aviation Area and Open Skies arrangements. The EU accounts for 44% of our current exports and will continue to be a priority trading partner. As our trading relationship with the EU changes it is vital that we retain unrestricted access for our goods and services. Labour will guarantee to cover any shortfall in EU Structural Funding that occurs as a result of Brexit. We will scrap the Conservatives’ Brexit White Paper and replace it with fresh negotiating priorities that have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union. A Labour Government will immediately guarantee existing rights for all EU nationals living in Britain and secure reciprocal rights for UK citizens who have chosen to make their lives in EU countries.Labour will not make false promises on immigration numbers. Our economy needs migrant workers to keep going. We will work with employers who need to recruit from abroad, but we will crack down on any employer that exploits the system to undermine wages and conditions. A Labour government will introduce a Public Ownership of the Railways Bill to repeal the Railways Act 1993 under which the Conservatives privatised our railways.Across the country we will enable the creation of municipal bus companies, publicly run for passengers not profit. A Labour government will complete the HS2 high-speed rail line from London through Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester and then into Scotland, consulting with communities affected about the optimal route. We will link HS2 with other rail investments, such as Crossrail of the North. We will deliver universal superfast broadband availability by 2022. Labour will improve mobile internet coverage and expand provision of free public wi-fi in city centres and on public transport.We will improve 4G coverage and invest to ensure all urban areas, as well as major roads and railways, have uninterrupted 5G coverage instruct the National Infrastructure Commission to report on how to roll out ultrafast’ 300bps within the next decade. Labour will maintain free entry to museums and invest in our museums and heritage sector. The Cultural Capital Fund will have a particular focus on projects that could increase museums’ and galleries’ income and viability. Labour will invest in rural and coastal communities, and guarantee the protection and advancement of environmental quality standards. A Labour government will also welcome international students who benefit and strengthen our education sector. They now generate more than £25 billion for the British economy and provide a significant boost to regional jobs and local businesses. A Labour government will establish a Constitutional Convention to examine and advise on reforming of the way Britain works at a fundamental level. The Convention will look at extending democracy locally, regionally and nationally, considering the option of a more federalised country. We will reduce the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals from £100 to £2. Labour will also legislate to increase the delay in between spins on these games in order to reduce the addictive nature of the games. We will set up a National Review of Local Pubs to examine the causes for the large-scale demise of pubs, as well as the establishment of a joint taskforce that will consider future sustainability. Businesses tell us that they need a more skilled workforce to boost productivity and growth – and so extra corporate tax revenues will contribute to education and skills budgets. We will also protect small businesses by reintroducing the lower small profit rate of corporation tax. We will also exclude small businesses from costly plans to introduce quarterly reporting. Reinstate the lower small-business corporation tax rate. We will introduce a £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund to upgrade our existing cultural and creative infrastructure to be ready for the digital age and invest in creative clusters across the country, based on a similar model to enterprise zones. The fund will be available over a five-year period, administered by the Arts Council. It will be among the biggest arts infrastructure funds ever, transforming the country’s cultural landscape. Rural infrastructure and industry has been neglected. Labour will invest in broadband, housing and transport to create jobs and ensure that the nation’s prosperity is felt beyond our large towns and cities. Conservative Party tourism and hospitality manifesto commitments:
We will encourage the world to visit, study and do business in the UK through the GREAT Britain campaign and Visit Britain. We will continue our programme of strategic national investments including the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Reform business rates, with more frequent revaluations. We will continue to support small businesses through business rate relief and low taxation. Increase the National Living Wage to 60% of median earnings by 2020. Ensure people working in the 'gig' economy are properly protected. Exit the European single market and customs union, but seek a "deep and special partnership" including comprehensive free trade and customs agreement. Convert EU law into UK law and later allow parliament to pass legislation to "amend, repeal or improve" any piece of this. Seek to replicate all existing EU free trade agreements. Support the ratification of trade agreements entered into during our EU membership. Commitment to "bear down on immigration from outside the EU" across all visa routes Immigration cut to under 100,000. We will therefore ask the independent Migration Advisory Committee to make recommendations to the government about how the visa system can become better aligned with our modern industrial strategy. We will double the Immigration Skills Charge levied on companies employing migrant workers, to £2,000 a year by the end of the parliament, using the revenue generated to invest in higher level skills training for workers in the UK. Review rail ticketing to remove "complexity and perverse" pricing, with a passenger ombudsman introduced. Minimum service levels agreed with train companies and staff during times of industrial action. A pledge to make this mandatory if a deal cannot be reached voluntarily. Focus on creating extra capacity on the railways to ease overcrowding, bring new lines and stations, and improve existing routes - including for freight. Continue investment in High Speed 2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and the expansion of Heathrow Airport, while ensuring these projects develop the skills and careers of British workers. We will help provide the skills and digital infrastructure that creative companies need and will seek to build upon the favourable tax arrangements that have helped them, including the highly successful creative industries tax credits scheme. We will work to provide gigaspeed connectivity to as many businesses and homes as possible. We will introduce a full fibre connection voucher for companies across the country by 2018 and by 2022 we will have major fibre spines in over a hundred towns and cities, with ten million premises connected to full fibre and a clear path to national coverage over the next decade. By 2022 we will extend mobile coverage further to 95 per cent geographic coverage of the UK. By the same date, all major roads and main line trains will enjoy full and uninterrupted mobile phone signal, alongside guaranteed WiFi internet service on all such trains. We will maintain free entry to the permanent collections of our major national museums and galleries. We shall produce a comprehensive 25 Year Environment Plan that will chart how we will improve our environment as we leave the European Union and take control of our environmental legislation again. Students expected to leave the country at the end of their course unless they meet new "higher" requirements allowing them to stay. Overseas students to remain in the immigration statistics. With devolution now established in London and other parts of England, we will consolidate our approach, providing clarity across England on what devolution means for different administrations so all authorities operate in a common framework. We will support those authorities that wish to combine to serve their communities better. For combined authorities that are based around our great cities, we will continue to support the adoption of elected mayors, but we will not support them for the rural counties. Cut corporation tax to 17% by 2020. Our system remains too complicated, making it hard for people – especially self-employed people and small businesses – to assess their taxes. We will therefore simplify the tax system. Introduce a new cultural development fund to turn around communities. Hold a Great Exhibition of the North in 2018 to celebrate achievements in innovation, the arts and engineering Support a UK city in making a bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. We will continue our strong support for the arts, and ensure more of that support is based outside London. We will also take steps to enhance the provision of public services in rural areas. We will safeguard the post office network, to protect existing rural services and work with the Post Office to extend the availability of business and banking services to families and small businesses in rural areas. A third of all SMEs in rural areas use their post office weekly and our ambition is that all routine small business and consumer banking services should be available in rural post offices. We will support pharmacies and village schools in rural areas. Regulate more efficiently, saving £9bn through the Red Tape Challenge and the One-In-Two-Out Rule. We will continue to support small businesses by reducing the bureaucracy and regulation that prevents small businesses from flourishing. The Liberal Democrats main tourism-related policies include:
Immediate: May 25, 2017 An organisation that represents around 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Mid Wales has announced a new partnership to deliver training courses focused on increasing sales and profits. MWT Cymru has signed up Tourism Growth to deliver courses with member businesses receiving a preferential rate. The courses begin with ‘Boosting your sales on social media’ at Aberystwyth University on Thursday, June 8 followed by ‘Getting more sales from your website’ at The Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells on Wednesday, June 28. The courses, which start at 10.30am and finish at 4.30pm, are business specific and completely focused on helping tourism operators increase sales and profits. They are run by tourism sector specialists, who have a breadth of experience, knowledge and best practice from working with tourism employers, especially smaller independent businesses, all around the UK. Each course is available to any tourism related business at a preferential rate of £89 +VAT - a £40 saving - per person for MWT Cymru members. MWT Cymru’s chief executive Val Hawkins said: “Tourism Growth’s courses fit perfectly with our aims and objectives: supporting our members to take advantage of every opportunity to market their businesses more effectively to a wider audience, particularly online and helping them build reputation, increase profits and enhance the overall quality and attractiveness of Wales as a great destination.” Tourism Growth runs a series of open training courses, workshops and seminars at venues across the country, from coastal resorts and rural towns to cities. Training programmes have been specifically developed to meet the needs of the owners, directors and managers of tourism businesses. Course topics include sales and marketing, team management, social media, revenue management, quality management, standards of performance and financial management. The company also designs and delivers ‘In-house’ training and development and business coaching programmes and best practice visits to top performing and award-winning tourism businesses. The courses may be booked online at https://tourismgrowth.co.uk/ or through MWT Cymru on Tel: 01654 702653 Ends For more information please contact either Val Hawkins, Mid Wales Tourism chief executive, on 01654 702653 or Duncan Foulkes, public relations consultant, on 01686 650818. Salop Leisure
Immediate: May 18, 2017 Customers are seeking an experience as well as a quality location when they choose a caravan or camping holiday in Wales, park owners were told an event organised to celebrate Wales Tourism Week - May 15-21. Caravan park owners, tourism leaders, Assembly Member Russell George, Shadow Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure, Glyn Davies, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Montgomeryshire and university graduates attended the event in Machynlleth organised by British Holiday and Home Park Association’s Mid Wales branch. A tour of the five-star Morben Isaf Holiday Park at Derwenlas was followed by visits to Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust’s Dyfi Osprey Project, caravan dealership Salop Leisure’s Machynlleth sales centre and Plas Dolguog Hotel, where there was a tour of solar panel and biomass systems. Speakers included Rufus Bellamy, son of famous botanist and environmental campaigner, David Bellamy, Dr Brian Garrod, head of tourism at Aberystwyth University, Glyn Roberts, head of quality development and operations at Visit Wales, Dylan Roberts, managing director of Salop Leisure, Val Hawkins, MWT Cymru chief executive, Richard Rhodes, director of the BH & HPA’s Mid Wales branch and Mr George. Visit Wales data shows that quality standards on caravan parks in Wales are constantly rising to match customer expectations. Seventy-seven per cent of parks achieved four and five star gradings in 2017 compared to 72 per cent in five years ago. Caravanners and campers spent £428 million in Wales in 2015 when there were 2.6 million visits. The prime months for visitors were from May to August with 63 per cent attracted by the seaside, 23 per cent by the countryside and 14 per cent by small towns. A quarter of all visitors to Wales stayed in caravans or camping accommodation. More than half – 52 per cent – of caravan and camping businesses welcomed more visitors last year and 87 per cent of them are confidently looking forward to 2017. Occupancy rate from April to October was 82 per cent for caravan holiday homes and 28 per cent for touring caravan and camping pitches. Dylan Roberts confirmed how important customer experience had become to the industry. Many park owners were now organising activities, such as guided beachcombing, artist classes fishing and cycling, for customers. Local businesses, such as pubs, restaurant, shops, café, petrol and tourist attractions, all benefit from the spending power of caravan holiday home owners, “The trend is to create a community within your park so that owners want to visit their caravans and the local area more than to stay at home,” he added. Mr Rhodes said it was important that customers staying on parks had a range of interesting things to do, which highlighted the need for quality local attractions. Mr Bellamy, who now manages the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme and is the BH&HPA’s national adviser on conservation and environmental management, said the award scheme was very much a partnership between his father and the industry to celebrate what is being done to help individual parks to improve. He was impressed to see the partnership between Morben Isaf Holiday Park and the Dyfi Osprey Project. He said there was a lovely balance between managed parkland and wild areas on the park that allowed holidaymakers to get close to wildlife. Kim Williams, Dyfi Osprey Project officer, spoke of the good relationship between the project and the holiday park. She said tourism was crucial to the project, which attracts around 40,000 visitors and is now self-funding. “Without tourism we wouldn’t be here,” she said. “We do draw people from the local community, but the majority of our visitors are tourists.” Mrs Hawkins outlined the work of MWT Cymru to promote Mid Wales as a tourism destination. She said the partnership between Morben Isaf Holiday Park and the Dyfi Osprey Project was an excellent example of collaboration and helped to showcase what the Dyfi Biosphere has to offer visitors. Mr George said: “More tourists than ever before are visiting Mid Wales to see what our wonderful region has to offer with its world-renowned heritage sites, fantastic food and drink, the coastal path, beautiful market towns and fantastic mountain ranges. “It has a countryside other holiday regions in Britain would die for and I want to see the Welsh Government shout about these assets from the roof tops. Tourism habits are changing and Mid Wales is well-placed to benefit from this, but only with the right action plan which will allow the tourism industry in the region to flourish and reach its full potential.” Dr Garrod stressed the importance of Wales Tourism Week for bringing together stakeholders from across the tourism industry to work collaboratively. As the UK moves to leave the European Union, he said it was important that universities and training providers collaborate with the tourism industry to prepare to fill any skills gaps that could be left in the workforce by European workers leaving following Brexit. Wales Tourism Week is organised by the Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), the voice of the tourism industry in Wales, in association with Visit Wales and the tourism industry. This year’s theme is a ‘celebration of our tourism heroes'. Picture captions: Caravan parks owners and invited guests who attended the Wales Tourism Week event at Morben Isaf Holiday Home Park. Pictured during the event at Morben Isaf Holiday Park are (from left) Glyn Roberts from Visit Wales, Val Hawkins from MWT Cymru, Dylan Roberts from Salop Leisure, Rufus Bellamy, Richard Rhodes, Mid Wales director of the British Holiday & Home Parks Association and Dr Brian Garrod from Aberystwyth University. Rufus Bellamy views Glesni the osprey on the nest at the Dyfi Osprey Project. ENDS For more information, please contact Dylan Roberts, Salop Leisure’s MD on Tel: 01743 4282400 or 07803 290680 or Duncan Foulkes, public relations adviser, on Tel: 01686 650818. A seven-point manifesto for the Welsh tourism industry post-Brexit will be launched at a summit in Mid Wales (May 18) to celebrate Wales Tourism Week - May 15-21.
Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure, will be the keynote speaker at the summit, which has internationalism as its theme, at the Hotel Metropole, Llandrindod Wells. Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), the voice of the tourism industry in Wales, has chosen the occasion to raise the potential of the tourism industry and wider visitor economy in their post Brexit plans. The manifesto sets out the main challenges and opportunities facing the industry when the UK leaves the European Union and calls on the Welsh Government in partnership with the industry to:
Tourism businesses are being encouraged to lobby AMs, MPs and councillors to hammer home the key points. “Brexit presents challenges for the tourism industry in Wales, but also great opportunities for growth in business and employment,” said WTA chair Adrian Barsby. “It is a time when the rules are being re-written. Let it be done in a way which realises the potential of the tourism industry and wider visitor economy.” Co-ordinated by the WTA in association with Visit Wales and the tourism industry, this year’s Wales Tourism Week is designed to be a ‘celebration of our tourism heroes' as well as raising the profile of the industry, highlighting its huge revenue generating value and the job and career opportunities it provides. ENDS For more information, please contact Adrian Greason-Walker, Wales Tourism Alliance, on 07749 785147. |