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IMEX exhibitors invited to make Sustainable Exhibiting Pledge

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IMEX in Frankfurt has invited exhibitors at this year’s show (21 -23 May) to make a Sustainable Exhibiting Pledge as it continues to increase its commitment to demonstrating and leading through best practice in sustainability.


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Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, said: “Our approach to sustainability is to lead by example, to encourage others to aim higher and to shine a spotlight on key industry campaigns. This year I’m inviting exhibitors to make a sustainable exhibiting pledge, to implement three simple green initiatives to help reduce their environmental impact at the show. A list of ideas on how to do this features in our IMEX in Frankfurt 2019 Sustainable Exhibiting Guide.”

In January the IMEX Group highlighted its commitment by making sustainability the third ‘pillar’ of this year’s IMEX Talking Point “Imagination.”

Carina Bauer explained: “We’re asking everyone in the global meetings industry to imagine a new beginning: to ask what if we all really committed to cutting down waste?

“We’ve continued to improve our own sustainability performance at both of our shows each year and we’re proud to say that our Frankfurt show is now 100 per cent hydro-powered. Thanks to our waste donation program plus the responsible recycling systems at Messe Frankfurt, we now send zero waste to landfill. This is virtually unheard of in the exhibition business!

“Our work to reduce and recycle more waste generated by both exhibitors and visitors is explained in our first ever IMEX in Frankfurt sustainability report which joins our annual IMEX America sustainability report.”

In line with its determination to lead the industry forward, IMEX was a launch partner when the Events Industry Council introduced its Principles of Sustainable Events in January after hosting two forums at IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America in 2018 when these principles were formulated.

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A further element of its commitment to leading the industry, the IMEX team believes in sharing what it knows and has learned through experience. At IMEX in Frankfurt, learning about sustainability will feature prominently throughout the show. Starting on EduMonday, 20 May, there will be more than 20 opportunities to learn about sustainability among the 250 plus sessions in the extensive education program at the Inspiration Hub. What’s more, the first ever Sustainability Policy Round table, supported by Edmonton, will bring together industry leaders and experts to share insights at the InterContinental Frankfurt on 21 May.

Furthermore, in partnership with the Events Industry Council (EIC), IMEX will salute an organization making a significant commitment to reducing its environmental impact by announcing the winner of the IMEX-EIC Innovation in Sustainability Award at the IMEX Gala Dinner on 22 May.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, says: “At both shows we continue to work closely with our partners including Meet Green, EIC, The Venetian®| The Palazzo® and the Sands Expo®, Messe Frankfurt and GES. We are wholeheartedly committed to providing education, inspiration and leadership on sustainability issues. The business events industry still has a long way to go before thinking green is the first thought, not the last.”

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Tallest modular hotel in the world will be built in New York City

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The world’s tallest modular hotel – which will carry a brand of Marriott International – is on track to be stacked in late fall in New York City with prefabricated and pre-furnished guestrooms. Once erected over a 90-day period, the 360-foot-tall tower will represent a milestone for Marriott’s ongoing initiative to encourage hotel developers in North America to embrace modular for new construction projects. To be topped with a modular roof and modular rooftop bar, the world’s tallest modular hotel is expected to open in late 2020 as the AC Hotel New York NoMad.

“In North America, the construction process hasn’t changed significantly in 150 years and it’s ripe for innovation,” said Eric Jacobs, Marriott International, Chief Development Officer, North America, Select and Extended Stay Brands. “The world’s tallest modular hotel in one of the world’s greatest destinations will act as a game-changing symbol to ignite even greater interest in modular among the real estate and lending industries.”

Fully finished guest rooms

The 168-room, 26-story AC Hotel New York NoMad is scheduled to rise at 842 Sixth Avenue with prefabricated guestrooms arriving at the hotel site fully constructed, inside and out. Besides finished, painted walls, each “module” will contain a fully outfitted guest room – with beds, sheets, pillows, flooring and even toiletries. The hotel’s roof and rooftop bar are expected to be produced using modular construction, and its more customized public areas such as the restaurant and lobby are expected to be constructed using traditional methods.

Prefabrication is a process that Marriott has found typically reduces the construction timeline, curbs site waste and noise, and results in a higher-quality product produced with factory level precision. The time savings comes from the ability to perform two crucial functions simultaneously – building the public spaces on site while manufacturing the guest rooms offsite.

“This is the moment where modular construction takes center stage,” says Danny Forster, a leading modular building advocate whose firm, Danny Forster & Architecture, designed the project. As he explains it, “This hotel takes every advantage of off-site manufacturing, as you might expect. But it does so in a way that defies expectation. We wanted to demonstrate that modular building can do more than just harness the efficiencies of the factory. It can produce a graceful and iconic tower. And yes, it can do so at the rate of an entire floor a day.”

Marriott sees a modular future

Marriott, which has the largest pipeline of hotels in North America, began researching modular construction in 2014 to offset lengthening hotel construction times – a trend attributed to the nation’s building boom and resulting labor shortages. Since 2011, Marriott has seen the average time to build and open a hotel in North America increase by as much 50 percent, depending on factors such as location and size of property.

Since 2015, Marriott has been educating owners, franchisees, architects, lenders, consultants, general contractors and other stakeholders across the industry about the benefits of modular by hosting town halls, factory tours and stacking events. The company also worked with leading modular manufacturers to help them better understand the untapped demand that hotel development companies represent.

Since the launch of Marriott’s initiative, the company’s development partners in North America have opened 31 Marriott-brand hotels – all low-rise structures – that incorporate prefabricated guestrooms and/or bathrooms, including a Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites in Folsom, Calif.; a Courtyard by Marriott in Pullman, Wash., and three AC Hotels in Oklahoma City, Louisville, Ky., and Chapel Hill, N.C. To date, the largest Marriott-branded modular-built to open is the 354-room, dual-brand Courtyard and TownePlace Suites by Marriott property in Hawthorne, Calif., while the first to also incorporate a prefabricated elevator bank was the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites in Prairie, Wisc. Later this year, a developer will start stacking the first modular-built Moxy hotel in the United States in downtown Oakland, Calif.

The company continues efforts to support developers interested in leveraging prefabrication, most recently launching modular versions of its prototypes for four of its higher-volume brands: Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott. Underscoring its commitment to igniting demand for modular construction, Marriott this year is offering an incentive to development companies that leverage prefabrication for guestroom construction.

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How does India travel? Let us count the 94 billion ways

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Bain & Company and Google India are together launching a report on “How Does India Travel.” According to the report, the Indian traveler has come of age, spending approximately $94 billion in 2018 on around 2 billion domestic and international trips. This has helped the Indian travel and tourism industry achieve unprecedented scale, and the momentum is expected to continue with the industry growing at a 13 percent CAGR to $136 billion by 2021, according to a report.

Fueled by digital, Indian travelers are expected to spend an additional $24 billion on online travel bookings over the next 3 years. The report outlines how India spends on travel, the influence of online channels in their purchase journey, and potential growth opportunities for travel businesses until 2021.

Deep diving into the $136 billion spends, the report cites a 12 percent growth in transportation ($50 billion), 13 percent growth in lodging ($21 billion) and consumption, which includes spends on shopping, recreation and food, to grow at 13 percent ($65 billion) over the next three years. Additionally, as more people come online, smartphone penetration improves and use of digital payments goes up, the report estimates that Indian travelers will spend an additional $24 billion on online travel bookings over the next three years, a growth from 25 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2021.

Online is a significant source of research

Elucidating the planning journey of Indian travelers, both for business and leisure, the report calls out five phases of a customer journey – Interest, Research, Booking, Experience and Sharing.  The report states that during key research-heavy phase of interest, research and experience, digital plays a pivotal role with over 86 percent of consumers being influenced by online channels. During this phase, travelers spend their maximum time on search, travel tour provider websites, price comparison websites, and travel articles. Online video too plays a significant role with 21 percent of travelers being influenced by this platform. In the booking and sharing phase, the report states that nearly 60 percent of customers book transport and lodging online, and over 50 percent share feedback online with social media being the dominant platform.

Talking about the market opportunities for online travel players, Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director – Sales, Google India said, “New users perceive that online channels are geared towards the more frequent flyers and experience-oriented travelers; and existing travelers research online but the lack of trust in payments and booking experience make them end up booking offline. If travel players tap these online users through personalized marketing, messaging and travel plans, they can further augment online travel bookings. This can be done by adopting digital technologies to influence customers early in the journey and moving from one-time engagement to ongoing relationships to have a positive impact.”

“There is a perception amongst consumers that online channels are geared towards premium customers, along with a marked distrust around payment and pricing terms. It is imperative for businesses to address these concerns in order to effectively tap into the growing base of users.” Arpan Sheth, partner Bain & Company said.

Decoding the Indian travelers

The report further identified the five cohorts of travelers in India, across business and leisure travel, and categorized each against their online research behavior:

  • Frequent flyers: Nearly 70 percent of them booked online, cumulatively spent $17 billion in 2018. They make their choices based on convenience, availability, brand preference and past experiences.
  • Budget business traveler: 86 percent of them researched online whereas only 60 percent book online, cumulatively spent $20 billion in 2018. This cohort makes their decisions based on cost of travel, availability and consultation amongst their personal business network.
  • Experience-oriented traveler: Around 70 percent of their bookings were done online. and cumulatively spent $22 billion in 2018. They extensively research both online and offline for ‘authentic’ experiences and convenience of options; display high loyalty towards preferred brand of airlines or hotels and actively share experiences.
  • Budget group traveler: 90 percent researched online and 55 percent booked online, cumulatively spent $29 billion in 2018. They make multiple decision-makers in the process and take the final decisions based on minimal cost.
  • Occasional travel visiting friends/relatives: 92 percent researched online but only 60 percent booked online, spent $6 billion in 2018. They maximize family convenience within a budget and believe online terms and conditions are restrictive.

However, challenges remain in meeting the expectations of these travelers. Customers perceive online channels geared towards premium cohorts (frequent flyer and experience-oriented traveler), while mass cohorts, with $55 billion in spending, remain underpenetrated. There are about 160 million non-transacting active Internet users in India with only 5 percent of online travelers from Tier-2 or Tier-3 cities. There is a significant (20 percent) difference between the booking rates of premium cohorts and mass cohorts, the latter being also dissatisfied with online channels (~33 percent satisfied) vs. premium cohorts (~42 percent). The second challenge is in penetrating existing users who exhibit a marked distrust in use of online channels to make bookings, especially around payment and pricing terms and booking experience compared with offline channels. Consequently, their online usage drops between the research (>86 percent online influence) and booking phases (~40 percent offline bookings).

How travel businesses need to adapt to the needs of online consumers

The report cites five major shifts that marketers need to make to market to the online travelers – First, alleviate consumer concerns by improving the booking and payment experience to build a trusted brand and increase adoption. Second, they need to address the negative customer perception issues by mass customization to drive higher share in the segment. They also need to utilize consumer technology to penetrate mass segments (standardize, enable sharing), reach non-transactors (build offline presence), and create new user access.  Moreover, they need to find innovative and frugal ways to package the experience to increase both adoption and retention.  Finally, they need to create a robust digital backend to adapt to customer needs across the purchase journey.

“The contribution of travel and tourism’s spend in India has reached developed market levels, from 6.7percent of GDP in 2013 to 9.4 percent in 2018. This growth, combined with a rapidly growing internet user base and adoption of online bookings will lead to $24 billion in incremental revenues through online channels by 2021. In order to benefit from this trend, businesses need to actively increase new user adoption and increase penetration in the existing user base across the purchase journey.” Joydeep Bhattacharya, partner Bain & Company said.

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Brexit has not deterred business travelers in the UK

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UK’s 2018 Hotels Market Report shows that the UK regional capitals are performing strongly with overall room nights booked growing by 8% across the top 250 UK cities.

London continues to be business travelers’ favorite capital for work trips with 663,000 room nights booked in 2018, an increase of 5% when compared to 2017. But Edinburgh experienced the highest level of growth in 2018 with room nights booked increasing by 16%, Belfast was up 13% and Cardiff up 5%.

The 2018 Hotels Market Report analyses data from corporate hotel bookings made between January and December 2018 by Advantage’s TMC members, who represent around 40% of the UK business travel sector, highlighting business travel trends and booking behaviour.

The report also shows significant growth for cities in the Midlands and North East, with Derby seeing the highest growth with 31% more booked room nights compared to 2017, while York, Nottingham and Gateshead also saw double-digit percentage increases.

Top Ten UK Cities – Booked Room Night Percentage Increase (year-on-year), January – December 2018

1. Derby – 31%
2. York – 22%
3. Plymouth – 21%
4. Inverness – 20%
5. Nottingham – 18%
6. Edinburgh – 16%
7. Reading – 15%
8. Belfast – 13%
9. Norwich – 11%
10. Gateshead – 10%

Global Results

The business world continues to travel widely, with the 2018 Hotels Report recording that hotel demand remains strong in many international cities with New York, Auckland, Wellington, Houston, Paris and Sydney topping the Advantage Top Cities list. In total, worldwide volume grew by over 393,000 room nights, a total increase of 8.74% compared to 2017, indicating that SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) corporate accounts, in which Advantage TMCs specialise, continue to perform strongly.

The total number of bookings made by Advantage business travel members in 2018 saw similar growth – up 8.76% – while the average length of stay remained constant, at 1.87 nights. Increased demand and higher occupancy globally meant hotel rates have increased by US$2 to an average daily rate (ADR) of US$169.41.

The report also looks at trends on bookings and ADR for cities and locations around the world, with New York once again topping the list as the highest volume worldwide city outside the UK, with 90,799 room nights booked at an average rate of US$395.97 per night. Increases were also seen in Bangalore (up 54%), Kuala Lumpur (up 36%) and Boston (up 27%).

The corporate hotel sector continues to grow, with another significant increase in bookings year-on-year, made by independent TMCs. Despite continued uncertainty in both the global and UK economies including Brexit, hotel room night demand is at record levels in many destinations. Although not all destinations in Britain saw an increase in room nights booked, ADR remained strong.

The report is representative of hotel bookings made across most of the major international and independent hotel groups including: Accor, Apex Hotels, Choice Hotels, Citadines, Clayton Hotels, Design Hotels, The Doyle Collection, Edwardian Hotels, glh Hotels, Hallmark Hotels, Hilton, HotelREZ, Hyatt, House of Daniel Thwaites, IHG, Jurys Inn & Leonardo Hotels, Loews Hotels, Macdonald Hotels, Maldron Hotels, Melia Hotels International, Millennium Hotels & Resorts, The Montcalm Hotels, NH Hotels, O’Callaghan Collection, Omni, Park Plaza, Pegasus, QHotels, Quest, Rotana, Radisson Hotel Group, Sabre Hospitality, Small Luxury Hotels, TravelClick, Travelodge, Village Hotels Club, WorldHotels Collection and Wyndham Hotel Group.

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Egypt Tourism Minister: Tourism is key to rapprochement and peace

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Egyptian Tourism Minister Rania al-Mashat and winner of IIPT Award said that Tourism and travel are the key to peaceful borders, cultural exchanges, bridge-building, communication, rapprochement and peace, especially in light of recent political and economic changes in the world.

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) conducted a study revealing that the growth rate of the tourism sector in Egypt reached 16.5% in 2018.

In statements on the sidelines of her visit to Jordan for the World Economic Forum in the Middle East and North Africa, which was held from April 6 to 7, Mashat explained that this rate is higher than the average global growth of 3.9%, noting the remarkable development and improvement witnessed by the tourism industry.

The minister pointed out that her goal since taking on her role in tourism has been to change the stereotypical image of Egyptian tourism, a goal that has already begun to be achieved. The impact of these developments has been shown through the expressed appreciation of many international institutions and international reports for the developments and growth witnessed within the sector.

She pointed out that Egypt recently won the Global Champion Award in addition to positive reports published by several international agencies and media on tourism in Egypt.

She pointed out that Egyptian tourism now has a common vision and plan, which is being worked out by all parties related to the sector from government, Parliament, private sector groups, investors, etc., pointing out that the structural reform program launched by the Tourism Ministry for the development of the sector is the result of the consolidation of these visions and ideas.

The minister pointed the importance of cooperation and openness between peoples, adding that this comes within the framework of the new recreational plan for Egypt through the concept of People to People (p2p), which is based on the openness of the Egyptian people to other peoples.

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