Trade and PR report Italy February 2013

Trade and PR report Italy February 2013
Market Overview Italy
Last stats from OTTI, October 2012:
In October 2012 the decrease of Italian travellers to the US dropped to 59.902, -7.7% compared to same
month of last year. From January to October a slowdown of – 6.2%.
Spain dropped to 47.887 visitors a – 18.7% in Oct, a year to date – 18.9%.
Very negative trend also for France, visitors dropped in October to 119.871 a – 16.7 %, a year to date –
3.2%.
Germany is also showing negative numbers, with 188.238 visitors in October a -6.8 %, however still
positive on a year to date increase (3.2%).
In Europe, the month of October shows a general decrease in visitors to the US: UK (-4.8%), Sweden (4.7) and The Netherlands (-4.8), very bad results for Switzerland (-17.6)
Press releases
- Orange County 2/11
- Los Angeles 2/20
- Central Coast 2/28
- San Francisco Culture 2/28
- Visit California at Showcase USA – Italy 2013
PR & Communication
Upload of press releases in SP.
Inquiries from consumers
Several inquiries about maps and guides received from consumers.
VisitCalifornia.it
Continuous translation, update and localization of the content of VisitCalifornia.it
In February visits were 3.319 (- 17 %); unique visitors 2,864 (-18%); pages viewers 10,261 (-17%).
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it
TRADE
Attendance to BIT in Milan, 14th to 16th on behalf of San Francisco Travel, below a brief recap of most
significant meetings promoting also California:
Tour Operator Gastaldi 1860 srl
Met General Manager Enrico Paumgardhen, e-mail epaumgardhen@gastaldiglobal.com
Well known tour operator proposing tours in North America, Mexico, Oman and South Africa.
Mr Paumgardhen said that in yr 2012 the general crisis heavily affected total revenue: they registered a 50% compared to 2011. However, during the second half of January they see an increase in
reservations, showing positive signs of recovery.
L’agenzia di Viaggi Travel Trade Newspaper
Met Sandra di Meo and Cristina Ambrosini (owner of the travel trade newspaper). Presentation
of Showcase USA – Italy where we’ll have a big delegation from California, 4 of the 6
companies coming from San Francisco.
US Airways
Met Corrado Ceccarossi Account Manager Italy and Greece, the news regarding the merger of AA and
US Airways arrived during BIT 2013.
Rome Philadelphia/Charlotte San Francisco/Los Angeles are performing very well and it is one of the top
O&D from Italy to USA for US Airways.
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it
Prestige Italia srl ROME
Met Marco Massari, Sales Manager. Tour operator specialized in Japan, New Zealand, India. They
started to feature US and San Francisco/California two years ago, they are working well with
honeymoons.
La Fabbrica dei Sogni
Tour Operator specialized in USA tours. We spoke with Laura Baccanelli e Bruno Pallotta who have
accompanied a nice Fam Trip to San Francisco in February 2012.
California did well during the Summer and they expect a good performance also for 2013.
Press Tours
Met Maurizio Di Bella Product Manager Usa and Canada Division, the TO started to feature US and
Canada almost two years ago, they hired Maurizio as an expert of the destinations. He is now starting to
work a lot with 30/40 requests per month. They might hire a new person to develop the division.
Requests are for individual and group tours of 10/15 days.
Best Western International Inc
Met Marco Marzinot Sales Account Leisure Southern Europe and Eleonora Leccardi Worldwide Sales
Manager Italy and Southern Europe.
BW is a good partner for us supporting incentives of the Visit California on-line training program and
willing to sponsor the special prize, a trip to San Francisco in business class, that will be drawn during
Showcase USA – Italy 2013. They are still interested in hosting fam trips in their hotels.
Sonders and Beach Italy
Met Andrea Cosimi and Alessio Virgili, TO specialized in gay and lesbian tourism. They recently put on
the web site of the G&L association some information about San Francisco and its attractions dedicated
to the G&L community. Both Andrea and Alessio visited San Francisco in 2010 on a fam trip.
NAAR Tour Operator
Naar is a big tour operator in Italy, the cooperation with them is good. They are the exclusive TO for
Touring Club Italiano TCI. Lucia is working at a special brochure for high scaled groups with unique
itineraries around the World, the brochure is known as I Viaggi del Club and is addressed mainly to the
600,000 members of TCI. For September 2013 they have a new special itinerary named Pacific
Northwest starting in Seattle and ending in San Francisco.
Alidays spa
Met with Giuseppe Gerevini, very active tour operator featuring the US and California for quite a long
time. They recently added some photographs and a video of San Francisco on their web site. California
and San Francisco are doing well for them.
Easy Market (TUI.it)
Met with Harry Calvert Product Manager, USA are increasing every year since they started to feature the
destination 4 years ago. San Francisco and California are in strong demand. They are selling flights and
hotels on-line but are planning to add in the future additional services/attractions.
Gioco Viaggi
Met Davide Luzzati Product Manager, To specialized in cruises. They feature the US, however, this year
they reduced US tours. In 2013 catalogue they are proposing a new product for honeymooners,
combining one week cruise with one week tour mostly in the West Coast.
Kuoni Italia spa
Sergio Agrò Market Manager North America, Kuoni is one of the most important TO in Italy, they are
member of the Visit Usa association. Sergio Agrò said that despite the Kuoni’s HO intention to close in
the future their TO operations in most Countries in Europe, sales are still good especially to USA. He is
expecting some changes in the ownership of Kuoni Italia in the next future (either a MBO or an outsider
company).
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it
Travel Configurator
Mauro Coin Product Manager, new medium size Tour Operator. Mauro Coin knows very well the US,
he has been in the business for more than 30 years. He has been working for Travel Configurator for
almost two years. He has also been President of the Visit Usa Association before Sandro Saccoccio.
Travel Configurator is evaluating entering the Visit Usa Association.
See below, in the section new TOs new California products, samples of their website with several
California packages.
Tecnitravel
Ilaria Cassano Product Manager, traditional Tour Operator specialized in US tours based in Milan since
1973, Ilaria Cassano is the daughter of the founder. They propose a wide range of tours and San
Francisco/California is always requested. They are specialized in Alaska.
Attendance to Visit California Outlook Forum, 18th to 22nd
OTP Online Training Program
2119 travel agents registered, 548 California experts at the end of February.
We are facing some difficulties in renewing the incentives for the travel agents that complete the course:
Alitalia, which was giving an e-coupon of 100 euro value has recently sold the frequent flyer program to
an other company therefore all e-coupon or similar incentives are no more under the Alitalia marketing
department’s control. They will replace the e-coupon with a different incentive which should be available
at short notice.
Hertz has recently terminated their GSA agreement with Interplanet and nominated from January 1st a
new one: Global-GSA. The new GSA confirmed its commitment to support Visit California OTP they just
need the new special travel agents rates.
BW is on board as usual.
SHOWCASE USA – ITALY 2013, Milan 3rd to 5th March
Preparing flyers with talking points and prize regulations for Monday’s meetings with TOs and for
Tuesday’s workshop with retailer travel agents.
Prepared and sent a newsletter introducing Visit California’s delegation at Showcase USA – Italy.
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it
New TOs, new California products…
TravelConfigurator
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it
CARRIERS
Ongoing relationship with carriers to evaluate marketing campaign, press trip cooperation and
partnerships.
***
Visit California – Italy and Spain
c/o Master Consulting FL srl - 00187 ROMA – Via Aureliana, 63
Tel. +39 06 4201 1376 Fax +39 06 4200 3836 info@mastercons.it www.visitcalifornia.it