News & Stories

Philadelphia. The recovery gathers speed in US conference centers. In 2012, regional meetings increased, drove occupancy and general growth. Increasing revenues and strict cost control finally led to a higher net income.

Frankfurt/M. Business travellers must expect global prices rises for hotel stays in 2014. Responsible for these rises won't be global economic trends, but rather individual events in various regions. These include, for instance, Brazil's preparations for two large international sporting events.

Singapore. The sixth edition of ITB Asia, which came to a close on October 25 at the Suntec Exhibition & Convention Centre in Singapore, confirmed its position as the leading annual travel trade show in the region. Across three very packed days, it attracted more than 9,100 visitors from over 110 countries, a 7% increase over 2012. The number of exhibitors from the United States was the highest on record. The increased interest in ITB Asia from trade visitors and exhibitors alike is the rich accompanying programme of events.

Vienna. In Austria, 82 percent of small and medium-sized businesses take their travel decisions without long-term budget planning. With a new online tool called "BEeasy.at", Verkehrsbuero Group aims at taking advantage of the increasing enthusiasm in online booking among these businesses. The group analysed the booking behaviour of small and medium-sized businesses via its own special survey and is now in the process of readapting its services to this target group. Accordingly, SMBs are increasingly becoming direct bookers on the Internet. When it comes to flight reservations, there have already been changes in behaviour, and the same can be observed in terms of hospitality.

Sochi. Sochi 2014 seems to be occurring under the motto "Taking part is everything - but expensive." The winter sports men and women will go to Sochi on a medal hunt next year from the 7th to the 23rd of February. These games are a direct topic for the winter sports nation of Austria and they should ultimately further boost their own business at home. Austria's economy is pumping more than two million Euro into the presence of the "Austria Tyrol House" during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but Germany and Switzerland have also allowed themselves the cost of their presence in the millions. Each of the three countries is represented with their own "House", either by the Black Sea or in the mountains. Meanwhile, everyone is having problems inspiring sponsors of the domestic economy for Sochi. The other side of a mega event.

Hanover. When booking their holidays, the Germans are increasingly making use of online offers coupled with personal counselling. Today, every second trip starts with internet research followed by the final step of booking at the travel agency. All in all, more than every third trip is booked via internet in the meantime.

Vienna. The Congress of Vienna does not dance any longer. The bottom line of the current trend in the MICE business, as the leader of the Vienna Convention Bureau, Christian Mutschlechner, on the trade fair for meetings, incentives, conventions and events "Access '13" in Viennese Hofburg drew. Apart from the perfect organisation, only content and contemporary forms of the mediation counted today, the event programmes stepped into the background for several reasons. "The touristic environment of the venue is becoming dull", he describes one of the results. This places the Austrian MICE marketers in front of new challenges. But probably not only the other countries - the trend will emerge far beyond Austria.

Hamburg. Horst Rahe, Head of Deutsche Seerederei in Rostock, which has recently made the transition to a pure hotel and real estate company, has separated from his long-term Managing Director for A-Rosa Resorts and is now in the process of reshaping the strategy of the four hotels in Germany and Austria.

Munich. The hotel industry has been one of the smallest sectors represented at Europe's leading property and investment trade fair, the Expo Real, in Munich. Nevertheless, the "asset class hotel is no longer niche, but mainstream," Simon Redman, Managing Director of Invesco Real Estate London, said in his keynote speech at the Expo Real Hotel Conference last Monday. Hotel performance is driven by exactly the same factors as apply to every other commercial property: confidence in the location, in the tenant and the concept. For this reason, every hotel owner and operator should listen intently today and learn how the entire real estate sector ticks. "The show must go on!" was the motto this year yet again. Yet in contrast to Cannes, there are no beach parties in Munich, rather time is put to use in intensive meetings. Later, there's the odd get-together allowing leading companies and specialists from the industry to feel the pulse of the trade fair with greater clarity. A first summary.

Chamonix. There is still no talk yet of a common, even successful marketing of the Alps. The Internet is too coarsely netted and the differences between the tourism regions in the East and the West Alps are too clear. The sales platform, theAlps, and a symposium through which the Austrians are struggling to bring the interest groups more closely together has recently found its continuation in the French Chamonix. While valuable new contacts with the Alps visitors have been made, the organisers stand before great financial challenges in the border-covering marketing. At the same time, there are strong content differences: On the one hand, the playgrounds in the summit regions are being conferred awards and on the other hand, tourism researchers plead for the new discovery of the "native country" in the Alps. And the tourism managers should become experience managers… The look in the soul of the Alpine marketers also indicates the diversity of Europe.