Business travelers have been grounded and vacations postponed due to widespread layoffs and corporate cost cutting. This is a headline we've all seen.
We've seen the incredible shrinking media landscape. More than 300 magazines closed in 2009 , including Travel + Leisure, Golf, Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Newspaper circulation continues to drop, ad revenue is shrinking and the industry has experienced an unprecedented wave of layoffs, bankruptcies and closings. At a recent meeting of travel journalists, a prominent travel editor of a major metropolitan daily was quoted as saying that only eight full-time newspaper travel editors remain in the United States.
Television viewership also continues to decline, as consumers spend more time with their computers or mobile devices. It's no surprise that the social and digital industry continues to flourish, and as a result practitioners have to keep pace with an ever-changing media landscape.
Management continues to look to public relations to deliver measurable results, often without proper resource allocation and planning. Competitive pressures are at an all-time high as companies vie for their share of a dwindling pool of travelers. This has sent PR professionals into a reactionary mode of hardly being able to plan for the month, let alone six months or a year. The name of the game has become last-minute, short-cut tactics and constant change to respond to a highly competitive environment.
The light at the end of the travel tunnel
As we climb out of recession, increased consumer confidence is propelling the travel industry to move towards recovery. The statistics are promising and pent-up travel demand is sending consumers back to the skies, seas, roads and rails.
The U.S. hotel industry will end 2010 with increases in two out of the three key performance measurements, according to Smith Travel Research. A 3.6 percent rise in occupancy to 56.7 percent is now anticipated for the year, as well as a 0.6 percent dip in room rate to $97.26, and a 3 percent rise in revenue per available room to $55.13. A 5.7 percent lift in demand is expected to outpace a supply growth of 2 percent.
The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reports that travel expenditures by international visitors within the United States rose 11 percent in March to $10.8 billion. This marks the second consecutive monthly spending increase as well as the largest increase since August 2008. For the first quarter of this year, spending by visitors to the United States was up 4 percent to $31.8 billion. Cruise Lines International Association estimates 14.3 million passengers will cruise this year, up 855,000 of 6.4 percent over last year.
Looking forward
This past year, it was often the case that many social campaigns were rapidly created as a result of “presence pressure,” without much thought given to overall business objectives, cultural fit or strategy. Very often programs were created simply to revolve around the “it” social media platform or tool of the moment: “We must have a Facebook page, we must be on Twitter!” It's vital that social media plans are integrated into a broader strategic business plan.
Power of traditional media
While social and digital will continue to play a pivotal role in travel PR, it shouldn't be at the expense of traditional media. We must bring the romance and the magic back to the travel story, and engage the powerful traditional media to tell these stories. With a shrinking pool of traditional media, it's now more important than ever to continue to cultivate relationships with editors, staff writers and freelancers and to integrate traditional channels into digital and social platforms.
As media channels compete for fewer eyeballs, the blurring of what is social, digital and traditional will continue. In the end, it will be rich and engaging content that attracts consumers – no matter what the channel.
Meaningful measurements
In order for content to be seen and heard it must rise above the clutter. Creative, compelling concepts and stories are the answer. Yet in a cost-cutting, last-minute, time-pressed environment, innovation, creativity and “wow” ideas often take the back seat to the more mundane and mediocre. It should be a priority to return to an environment that inspires innovative thinking that breaks through the sea of sameness and captures the attention of media and consumers alike. In the end it will be fresh thinking that drives increased consumer awareness and demand.
With a return to a longer-term, strategic approach that fosters creativity and is accountable, public relations will help the travel industry to continue down the road to recovery.
We've seen the incredible shrinking media landscape. More than 300 magazines closed in 2009 , including Travel + Leisure, Golf, Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Newspaper circulation continues to drop, ad revenue is shrinking and the industry has experienced an unprecedented wave of layoffs, bankruptcies and closings. At a recent meeting of travel journalists, a prominent travel editor of a major metropolitan daily was quoted as saying that only eight full-time newspaper travel editors remain in the United States.
Television viewership also continues to decline, as consumers spend more time with their computers or mobile devices. It's no surprise that the social and digital industry continues to flourish, and as a result practitioners have to keep pace with an ever-changing media landscape.
Management continues to look to public relations to deliver measurable results, often without proper resource allocation and planning. Competitive pressures are at an all-time high as companies vie for their share of a dwindling pool of travelers. This has sent PR professionals into a reactionary mode of hardly being able to plan for the month, let alone six months or a year. The name of the game has become last-minute, short-cut tactics and constant change to respond to a highly competitive environment.
The light at the end of the travel tunnel
As we climb out of recession, increased consumer confidence is propelling the travel industry to move towards recovery. The statistics are promising and pent-up travel demand is sending consumers back to the skies, seas, roads and rails.
The U.S. hotel industry will end 2010 with increases in two out of the three key performance measurements, according to Smith Travel Research. A 3.6 percent rise in occupancy to 56.7 percent is now anticipated for the year, as well as a 0.6 percent dip in room rate to $97.26, and a 3 percent rise in revenue per available room to $55.13. A 5.7 percent lift in demand is expected to outpace a supply growth of 2 percent.
The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reports that travel expenditures by international visitors within the United States rose 11 percent in March to $10.8 billion. This marks the second consecutive monthly spending increase as well as the largest increase since August 2008. For the first quarter of this year, spending by visitors to the United States was up 4 percent to $31.8 billion. Cruise Lines International Association estimates 14.3 million passengers will cruise this year, up 855,000 of 6.4 percent over last year.
Looking forward
This past year, it was often the case that many social campaigns were rapidly created as a result of “presence pressure,” without much thought given to overall business objectives, cultural fit or strategy. Very often programs were created simply to revolve around the “it” social media platform or tool of the moment: “We must have a Facebook page, we must be on Twitter!” It's vital that social media plans are integrated into a broader strategic business plan.
Power of traditional media
While social and digital will continue to play a pivotal role in travel PR, it shouldn't be at the expense of traditional media. We must bring the romance and the magic back to the travel story, and engage the powerful traditional media to tell these stories. With a shrinking pool of traditional media, it's now more important than ever to continue to cultivate relationships with editors, staff writers and freelancers and to integrate traditional channels into digital and social platforms.
As media channels compete for fewer eyeballs, the blurring of what is social, digital and traditional will continue. In the end, it will be rich and engaging content that attracts consumers – no matter what the channel.
Meaningful measurements
In order for content to be seen and heard it must rise above the clutter. Creative, compelling concepts and stories are the answer. Yet in a cost-cutting, last-minute, time-pressed environment, innovation, creativity and “wow” ideas often take the back seat to the more mundane and mediocre. It should be a priority to return to an environment that inspires innovative thinking that breaks through the sea of sameness and captures the attention of media and consumers alike. In the end it will be fresh thinking that drives increased consumer awareness and demand.
With a return to a longer-term, strategic approach that fosters creativity and is accountable, public relations will help the travel industry to continue down the road to recovery.