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The UK’s top long-haul tourism source markets are revealed at WTM London

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The USA, Australia and India continue to take the top spot for the UK’s most favorite long-haul inbound tourism markets, according to research revealed today (Monday 4 November) at WTM London 2019, the event where ideas arrive.

In a list of the top 30 long-haul countries and the top long-haul 50 cities, there have been some significant new entrants. Nigeria has made it back into the top 10 countries, up 13.7% year-on-year, kicking out the UAE, and Bangladesh has made it in to the top 30, replacing Chile.


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Impressive growth has been recorded from several markets, most noticeably Bangladesh, up 32.5%, China, up 19.8 and Taiwan, up 16%.

The top three long-haul cities are New York (up 3.6%), Hong Kong (up 7.4%) and Sydney (down 2.1%).

The most notable risers in the list of cities during the past year are Abjua (up 21%), Delhi (up 21%), Miami (up 20%) and Seattle (up 17%), all of which have climbed four or more places up the ranking.

The research, carried out by travel analytics firm ForwardKeys and WTM London, was based on long-haul flight bookings to the UK for the year 1st October 2018 to 30th September 2019 and benchmarked against the same dates a year before and five years ago.

Behind the changes in rankings are strong trends including the continued growth of China and other Asian economies, the strength of the US dollar, improvements in connectivity, recovery of commodity prices, particularly oil, the Argentine debt crisis and even the attractiveness of the Cricket World Cup.

Currency, competition and connectivity have all helped keep the USA in the top spot according to author of the research, Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys.

“Overall connectivity between the UK and the US is improving, there is more competition with flights which reduces the cost of airfares. The UK has become a cheaper destination and it’s easier to get to,” he said, citing Norwegian Air’s 12.5% increase in capacity.

Despite retaining second place in the rankings, visitor arrivals to the UK from Australia are down 2.1%, the result of Australia entering its first economic depression in more than 20 years in the last two quarters of 2018, according to Ponti.

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“The Australian dollar was dropping, people had less money and it was becoming more expensive to visit the UK. The situation has improved in the year with forward bookings looking promising,” he said.

In third place, India showed a phenomenal growth, up 14.5% compared to 2018, with a quarter of all Indian arrivals staying more than 22 nights. The Cricket World Cup, held in the UK in May and June this year, were cited as having a huge impact on visitor numbers.

Ponti said there were some general principles that explain why origin markets become stronger or weaker, including performance of the local economy, currency fluctuations, airline competition and major events.

However he said the rise of second tier cities was an interesting trend, one that was most marked in the two leading outbound travel markets – the USA, where 16 cities feature in the top 50 list and China, where growth for the country exceeds the growth of its two biggest cities.

Simon Press, WTM London Exhibition Director, said: “These rankings will be useful to everyone who is in business promoting the UK.”

For more news about WTM, please click here.

eTN is a media partner for WTM London.

Malta Tourism Authority appoints Tolene Van der Merwe as new Director for UK and Ireland

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The Malta Tourism Authority is delighted to announce the appointment of Tolene Van der Merwe as the tourism board’s new UK and Ireland Director.

Tolene’s new role will focus on leading a London based team to further develop and cultivate partnerships with tour operators, airlines, travel agents and niche specialists as well reaching out to the UK public with PR and marketing initiatives to keep Malta and Gozo on top of mind and holiday destinations of choice for the UK public. Accounting for a quarter of Malta’s tourism arrivals, the UK market is the largest for the destination and Tolene and her team will continue to grow arrival numbers through diversification of on island experiences and strategies.

Tolene began her career in the tourism industry at Exclusive Getaways, the luxury South African operator. Tolene later joined London based tour operator African Affair Travel furthering her specialism in African tourism product before founding Boutique Travel Marketing, where she spent seven years growing the hotel representation company. Tolene joins the Malta Tourism Authority following five years as the Hub Head for South African Tourism for UK and Ireland.

Tolene commented “I’m thrilled to be a part of the Malta Tourism Authority’s UK team. The archipelago has had a fantastic boost in its tourism in the past few years and is now considered to be one of Europe’s hottest destinations for history and culture, LGBT+, gastronomy, diving, and soft adventure travel. With attentions now turning to wellness, city breaks and sustainability, I’m excited to be part of the tourism authority’s increasing success in drawing a variety of travellers to experience all that the islands have to offer”.

Latest numbers show that Malta is on par to match UK visitor arrival figures recorded in 2018.

Commenting on this appointment, MTA’s CMO & Deputy CEO Carlo Micallef said that “MTA is delighted to have secured the services of Tolene van der Merwe to join a strong highly professional team in London and continue building on the success achieved under Peter Vella’s stewardship in the past 4 years. Malta’s tourism industry continues to enjoy record performances year on year and MTA together with Ministry for Tourism have a strategy of further market diversification, route connection development, tourism product enhancement as well as Malta brand identity growth to ensure that the success continues.”

MEDIA CONTACTS: Lauren Williams, Emily Olsen or Georgia Gogarty at malta@finnpartners.com or 020 7326 9880

A catalyst for change and industry advancement – IMEX America closes on another high

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The ninth edition of IMEX America comes to a close in Las Vegas today after a week that left no one in doubt about the strength, vitality and appetite for business that currently defines the global meetings, incentive travel and events industry.

“This edition has been our most imaginative yet, and for good reason given that our annual Talking Point and annual research white paper were both devoted to the Power of Imagination,” said chairman Ray Bloom at the show’s closing press conference.

He was joined by Chandra Allison, senior vice president sales, Sands Expo; Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and John Schreiber CEM, vice president of business sales, LVCVA.

“In an age that’s marked by an exceptional rate of change, particularly in technology, it’s impressive to see how the whole industry is embracing virtual reality and experiential activations. I can also testify that innovation, creativity and imagination have been in rich supply here at the Sands Expo this week,” said Bloom.

Reporting on the number of pre-scheduled appointments made between buyers and exhibitors, a key performance metric for the show and its attendees, Bloom explained the show had achieved a new high with a 3 per cent increase to 76,000 appointments recorded this week.

“As many of you know, every year we strive to be our own competition, to push ourselves to deliver richer experiences, better education and, of course, a really strong business pipeline for our exhibitors. Our partners keep rising to the occasion too. We’ve seen some spectacular booths and activations this year and are delighted to see so many exhibitors aligning with our annual Talking Point and using it so innovatively each year. Their level of investment and commitment to business is remarkable. Equally the feedback about the quality and variety of our education program has been second to none this year.”

He went on to talk about the many industry “firsts” that had taken place during the week, including the launch of the Event Industry Council’s (EIC) new Center for Sustainable Events. EIC also announced that they plan to replace the old Apex standards with new EIC standards. In the process the standards have been consolidated and updated to make them more accessible for the whole industry; IMEX America is one of only two events that have committed to pilot them.

The signing by multiple partners of the Events Industry Sexual Harassment Task Force Pledge and the announcement of the events industry’s involvement in accelerating the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are the focal point of discussions at the UN Summit in New York later this month, also made this a stand-out edition of IMEX America. Other social justice issues, including ECPAT’s drive to encourage meetings and event planners to educate themselves on how to end child prostitution and slavery, were widely discussed at the show. IMEX is a proud sponsor of the ECPAT 20by20 campaign and has also signed the pledge.

Bloom recapped other highlights of the week, including dozens of high-level partner events such as EIC’s Hall of Leaders and Pacesetter Awards, MPI Foundation Rendezvous and SITE Nite. IMEX’s efforts to provide a wider range of healthier food and drink choices, including Impossible Burgers and Beyond Meat hotdogs had proved a big hit, together with its waterwise menu options. “We’re opening people’s eyes to what’s possible with health, wellbeing, sustainability and better nutrition on the road and during large events. We really appreciate all those partners who have stepped up to help us make these massive strides forward. It’s also noteworthy that, thanks to Sands Expo, this year’s show is 100% powered by renewable energy.”

Other themes ran strong throughout the week including diversity and inclusion, transformation and collaboration and sustainability, all of which featured in the IMEX Imagination research report, sponsored by PSAV. The report has been downloaded by 1,900 events industry professionals to date, a significant achievement for authors EventMB.com and IMEX.

Bloom also reminded his audience that 2020 see the 10th edition of IMEX America. He said: “We invite you all to share in our birthday celebrations. This isn’t about IMEX, it’s about you, your contribution and our collective desire to see this industry flourish, to use its influence and power responsibly and, above all, to grow in a sustainable way.”

In closing, Bloom announced the annual IMEX Talking Point for 2020 and 2021. “I’m delighted to tell you that, for the first time, we have a Talking Point that will run for two years. It’s a big, timely, important topic, one we can all relate to and one that warrants our full attention; that Talking Point will be “Nature.” We’ll be exploring what nature can do for us, and what we can do for nature and we’ll be running this theme over two years to give it the traction it deserves.”

IMEX America concludes today, September 12, in Las Vegas.

#IMEX19

eTN is a media partner for IMEX America.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Emma Blake (UK): emma.blake@imexexhibitions.com  

Norman Birnbach (US): norman.birnbach@imexexhibitions.com    

IMEX AMERICA 2020

IMEX America takes place in September again next year: September 15 – 17, 2020.

#IMEXcited. Why? Because IMEX America is celebrating its 10th birthday in 2020. More details to follow soon.

Jamaica had Record Arrivals for July, says Bartlett

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says arrival figures for July shows that an estimated 250,584 visitors arrived on the island — the highest number the country has ever seen for the summer months.

Jamaica has also welcomed nearly two million visitors since the beginning of the year to July 31 and has earned over $2 billion.

“Stopover arrivals have increased phenomenally over the period. However, what is even more impressive is the progress we have made over the past five years. In 2015 – 2016 we increased arrivals by 29,022.  For 2016 – 2017 we increased by 75, 628. 

“During the period 2017 – 2018 we increased by 73, 941 and this year so far, we have increased by 132, 980 almost doubling the performance from last year,” said Minister Bartlett.

He noted that this performance places Jamaica is in a good place with the industry globally and outpaces the Ministry’s projections.

“This indeed is phenomenal and I really want to congratulate the industry’s workers, partners, stakeholders, my Ministerial colleagues and all others who have worked so hard to enable tourism to achieve this level of improvement. I am satisfied that the earnings, as projected, is also at a high – we’re 8.4% over last year,” he said.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

Taiwan extends visa-waiver for Russians and increases stand at OTDYKH Leisure 2019

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Taiwan is officially extending its visa waiver for Russian citizens until July 31, 2020 to encourage an increase in Russian tourism to the island.

On September 6, 2018, Taiwan announced that Russians would be allowed to visit Taiwan without visas for up to 14 days if visiting for tourism, business, to see family or for some form of international exchange. Originally the program was only to last until July 31, 2019, but the success of the initiative has meant it is now being extended until July 31, 2020.

Official statistics for the island show that in 2017 only 9,226 Russian citizens visited Taiwan. Russian tourists usually visit as part of combined tours including other destinations such as Hong Kong and Macao. From January to May this year, almost 7,000 Russian tourists have visited Taiwan, double the number from the same time period last year. One incentive for Russians to visit the island is that they no longer have to buy a visa which previously cost $100 USD. Another incentive is the fact that two airlines have launched direct flights, flying weekly between Russia and Taiwan. Royal Flight has flights departing from Moscow and S7 has flights departing from Vladivostok. But Russian tourism in Taiwan has been relatively low compared with other popular destinations in Asia, mainly due to the lack of information about the island among travel agencies and Russian tourists.

Taiwan extends visa-waiver for Russians and increases stand at OTDYKH Leisure 2019

Taiwan is taking great measures to remedy this – in 2018 it participated for the first time in the OTDYKH trade fair, and this year has almost tripled the size of its stand, going from 18m2 last year to 50m2 this year. The aim is to strengthen ties between the Russian and Taiwanese tourism industries and to make information about Taiwan more readily available to Russian citizens. It also aims to maximize the success of the visa-waiver program to encourage a greater flow of Russian tourists to Taiwan. 

The 2019 OTDYKH expo is also very pleased to welcome a newcomer, the Taipei City, who joins the trade fair for the first time with an exclusive stand.

The 2019 expo will span across 15,000 m2 with a total of 180 speakers at 30 business events including workshops, presentations and seminars from industry professionals from all over the world. In 2018 the expo welcomed 38,000 visitors over the course of three days, and 287 media attendees from 80 media partners. This year will feature multiple conference halls with guest speakers and exclusive live performances.

Exhibitors are invited to participate and celebrate the 2019 OTDYKH Leisure trade fair and celebrate 25 years of the expo’s continued success.

For further information, please contact Ms. Anna Huber at a.huber@euroexpo-vienna.com , International office: +43 1 230 85 35