New Landscape Report GERMANY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In fall 2020, Lieb Management was commissioned by Travel South USA to compile a New Landscape Report, to describe the current state of the Tourism Industry in the German speaking markets, note important changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic and point out future trends relevant for travel to the United States and specifically the Southern region. A challenging task in those quickly changing Corona-times, indeed. But after a second wave of infections since November 2020, now extensive vaccination campaigns have been launched in German speaking Europe and the US - and this fact, together with the findings of this study, actually allow us to look positively into the future.
The United States have been the most popular long-haul destination for our markets before the Covid-19 pandemic and signs are many, that this fact will not change: Germans, Austrian and Swiss remain a target group that travels more often, stays longer and spends more. Our economies are all in a relatively healthy position and go into 2021 confidently. The governments support people and businesses in a way never seen before. Travel and Tourism were the first sectors forced to shut down and will be the last to recover. The individual players are hit hard, but “are still standing”: The large wholesalers are re-structuring, the smaller specialists despite reducing staff, are partly finding new ways to survive and use the time to re-position and invest in digital resources. All receive financial support by the government, the effective tool of “short-time-work” helps to keep bright minds and knowledge in the companies. Destination webinars and agent trainings saw and still see immense popularity. No one is cutting product and hidden-gems in the Southern US-States and less-travelled routes might actually benefit in the end.
Travel to the US will continue to be booked with travel agents and tour operators, millions of “successful” cancellations have shown customers the benefits of these channels. Although flexibility in booking procedures, sustainability, safety and hygiene concepts in a destination as well as outdoor experiences massively gain importance, assets like authenticity, hospitality and a good value for price, will stay key for success. Personal trade meetings and travel shows remain important and cannot replace purely digital happenings.
The media and especially travel publications have seen a huge slump in advertising revenues, forcing many to pause issues, lay off staff and some to give up. Others re-invented themselves, expanded their digital offers and came up with new, creative concepts to reach consumers. Readers surprisingly trust more than ever in traditional journalism may it be newspapers or magazines, TV or radio, but the pandemic also increased their willingness to pay for digital offers and got them interested in new forms of communications like podcasts. Social media on the other hand is stagnating and use compared to other countries is still relatively low. For the United States having been the most popular long-haul subject for travel editors before Covid-19, recovery will be steady and all signs point to a very strong demand for US-content in 2021, once travelling will be possible again.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The desire to travel is unbroken in the German speaking markets and a large backdrop of long- haul travel dreams being thawed in 2020 will result in even higher interest in the years to come. Consumers in Germany however should not be put in tight measures of demographics, in particular the numerous US-fans scattered throughout all age groups, and a themed approach seems more promising. Especially because the advantages of the Southern-US states, such as magnificent nature, authentic experiences, exciting culture and history and delicious food, match so well with the general preferences our consumers have and are looking for in a vacation destination.
One insight that we encountered again and again in all areas of this study was how important a continuous presence in the market is: How much it is appreciated by tour operators and the media in these times of crisis when a destination remains present. All states with own representation on the German market, which are members of the Travel South association, are still active, maybe with reduced budget, but they still “fly the flag”. This strengthens the ties and will pay off in the future for sure, also for the region as such. Investments in our markets will continue to be worthwhile in the future and we look forward to supporting Travel South USA with our expertise wherever possible.
With this in mind, we thank Travel South USA for their trust and reiterate our confidence that the overall situation will improve soon. Political decisions to lift travel restrictions will obviously play a role, but the recently launched vaccination campaigns on both sides of the pond make the light at the end of the tunnel shine ever stronger.
Thank you!
Your Lieb Management Team
Munich, January 15, 2021
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 3 Overview
05 SWOT Analysis
06 Factors Affecting Travel
17 Travel Industry Landscape
42 Media Landscape
60 Social Media & Influencers SWOT ANALYSIS – SOUTHERN STATES USA
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES ✓ Great combination of history, culture ✓ Too much variety in travel themes – selling and nature point “South” doesn’t fit for all states as the ✓ Good accessibility with various direct differences between states are significant flights ✓ Limited travel season / travel season vary ✓ USPs with wide known attributes such throughout the states as Southern music, food and hospitality ✓ Long distances to cover everything – the ✓ Lots of variety in travel themes/routes region has the size of Europe ✓ Excellent value for money – less ✓ Some states and states are world-renowned, expensive than other US areas others almost unknown to Germans ✓ Many of the Southern states don’t have much product in TOs portfolio ✓ Infrastructure for trains and RV travel expandable
SWOT ANALYSIS Southern States USA
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS ✓ Create new product with TOs ✓ Political situations / BLM protests ✓ Hidden-jewel stories are assets for ✓ Covid-19 media ✓ Competitor states / regions ✓ Visitors can easily avoid mass-tourism ✓ Airlines might cut their connections to just post Corona established destinations; will it be logistically ✓ Develop more infrastructure for RV possible to trips with different inbound/ travel, which will be in high demand outbound? post Corona ✓ Other regions have better infrastructure for ✓ Visitors can easily avoid mass-tourism most likely growing popular RV travel post Corona ✓ Hurricanes might discourage to travel to ✓ Interesting for USA-lovers/repeaters southern states
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 5 Factors Affecting Travel OVERVIEW ECONOMY AND FORECAST 2021 Germany The coronavirus pandemic has led Germany’s economy – like the global economy – into a recession. However, the 2020 interim projection, which was published in early September by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, shows that the worst fears have not materialized and that the economy is recovering faster than expected. The recession in Germany has already bottomed out. The economic recovery process has been continuing, but the pandemic situation poses a risk. Following a historic 9.8 percent drop in GDP in Q2, the German economy experienced a palpable recovery in Q3, growing by 8.5 percent. This allowed economic output to reach approx. 96 percent of the level posted in Q4 2019, before the outbreak of the pandemic. Gainful activity and employment subject to social security contributions grew, whereas unemployment decreased markedly in November. Looking forward, however, the outlook is less bright. The ifo business climate softened in November and is now slightly negative, overall. The balance was tipped by the business expectations, which, like export expectations, are now considerably gloomier. The partial lockdown in force since the beginning of November and the additional measures adopted with a view to limiting social contacts mainly hit the hospitality sector and business in the fields of leisure and tourism. Now that a hard lockdown has been put in place, other sectors are also affected. The cautious export expectations chiefly reflect the force of the second pandemic wave that has hit a number of European countries. Altogether, it is likely that economic growth in Germany in Q4 will be much dampened (source www.bmwi.de)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 7 OVERVIEW ECONOMY AND FORECAST 2021 Germany The German Council of Economic Experts (GCEE) forecasts the real gross domestic product (GDP) to decline by 6.5 percent in 2020 (6.9 percent calendar-adjusted). For 2021, it expects positive growth rates of 4.9 percent (also 4.9 percent calendar-adjusted). Consequently, GDP is unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic level before 2022. The unemployment rate will continue to rise in the coming months and will only start to decline in the course of 2021. (source: www.sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de)
The travel industry is not expected to return to normalcy before 2023: The Statista Mobility Market Outlook estimates the turnover of the German travel industry at around 26 billion euros last year - that is 56 percent less than in 2019. Corona hit the cruise industry and package tour providers the hardest. For the current year, the analysts still expect a third less turnover compared to the pre-crisis level. It is only for 2023 that the forecast assumes a more or less normal travel and tourism turnover again (source: statista.com)
Pauschalurlaub = package Figures in billions of euros. tours (Source: statista.com)
Hotels = Hotels
Wohnungen = Apartments
Kreuzfahrten = Cruises
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 8 OVERVIEW ECONOMY AND FORECAST 2021 SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA
Switzerland After a decline of 1.7 percent in the first quarter and 7 percent in the second quarter, the Swiss GDP grew by 7.2 percent QoQ in the third, thanks to the lifting of restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. This is better than the consensus expectation. At the end of the third quarter, Swiss GDP was 2 percent below its pre-crisis level. The strong rise in GDP is mainly due to household spending, which increased by 11.9 percent over one quarter to reach 98.6 percent of its pre-crisis level. Investment in capital goods (+8.8 percent QoQ) and construction (+5.1 percent QoQ) also rebounded strongly. Construction even moved above its pre-crisis level. Strong domestic demand allowed imports of goods and services to rebound strongly (+11.2 and +9.9 percent QoQ, respectively). However, exports did not rebound as strongly. While exports of non-valuable goods rose by 6.9 percent in one quarter, exports of services increased by only 1.4 percent. This is due to the much lower number of foreign tourists visiting Switzerland this summer than in other years. All in all, a slightly negative quarterly growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 is expected. For 2020 as a whole, a contraction of 3.2 percent of GDP is expected. The recovery in 2021 should be solid, mainly in the second half of the year once the Covid vaccine eliminates any risk of a third wave of the pandemic. According to forecasts, a growth of 3.1 percent for the year 2021 as a whole is expected (source: https://think.ing.com)
Austria The economy should have emerged from recession in the third quarter. Industrial output growth accelerated in July–August—despite dipping in August—while manufacturing operating conditions improved markedly in the quarter as a whole. Moreover, business confidence—despite remaining in pessimistic territory—rose strongly in the quarter, while consumer confidence turned less sour in the same period, boding well for household spending. Looking at Q4, economic activity will likely be dented by new restrictive measures announced in mid-October amid a surge in new coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, on 14 October, the government tabled the 2021 draft budget, which will see greater spending on climate issues, despite a projected fiscal deficit of 6.3 percent of GDP due to the fallout from the pandemic. However, the budget does not include promised tax reform measures. After a record hit to GDP this year, the economy is forecasted to recover notably in 2021 as domestic and external demand strengthen. FocusEconomics panelists forecast a GDP growth of 4.7 percent in 2021, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month, and 3.0 percent in 2022 (source: www.focus-economics.com)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 9 GLOBAL INDUSTRY TRENDS What is Being Booked With hardly any destinations open for tourists at present, prospects for next year remain unpredictable. Sales revenues for winter 2020/21 (running until next April) are down by more than 70 percent at present, the TDA figures showed. However,the DRV optimistically referred to “the first slight signs of hope” for summer 2021 following news that COVID-19 vaccines will start to become available in the coming months. DRV president Norbert Fiebig said: “We also expect a catch-up effect as lots of people weren’t able to go on holiday this year and postponed it until 2021.” Advance bookings for next summer are showing higher demand for the western Mediterranean as well as for long-haul destinations, he pointed out. But the association accepts it will take time before the German travel industry can hope to get back to the record levels of 2019. “For 2021, we are cautiously optimistic that about 50-60 percent of the previous revenue levels of about €36 billion for the organized travel market can be achieved,” Fiebig said (source www.fvw.com)
Many tour operators stated that bookings are coming in, also to the US, due to the relaxed cancellation conditions all tour operators are offering. However, it is very uncertain whether these trips are feasible. Many Germans plan for this year rather vacation in Germany or in nearby European countries, as long as it is not clear which countries can be traveled
Example for marketing activities in market:
Germany and the UK are the two pilot markets in which Destination Canada is boosting inbound travel for 2021. Together with specialist tour operators, the marketing organization is targeting people interested in Canada and customers whose planned or already booked trip could not take place in 2020. The interest in Canada travel in 2021 is big, as tour operators unanimously confirm. Destination Canada has therefore already launched the first end- customer advertising in the two pilot markets of UK and Germany. In the fourth quarter of 2020, extensive cross-channel campaigns were set up with the key accounts America Unlimited, CANUSA Touristik, CRD Touristik and SK Touristik
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 10 VIEWS ON TRAVEL TO THE US Many US-specialist tour operators in the German speaking market informed us, that their clients are very interested in travelling to the US again: Especially regular customers can’t wait for the travel ban to be lifted and would travel rather sooner than later, despite any possible Covid-19 restrictions. Tour operators see recent developments regarding the elections and a new administration as additional positive signs.
It is not yet determined if the events of January 6 have any impact on the views of the German speaking clients and might affect travel plans. Experiences in the past show, that political events in a destination do not influence the intention to travel for longer.The memory of travelers is very short if the attractiveness of the destination does not change in general, whether it is a natural disaster or political unrest. The best examples are Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Twice in 2020, IPK International conducted a special survey on international travel behavior in times of the Corona pandemic with the participation of ITB Berlin. Based on population-representative surveys, this study examines the influence and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international travel behavior in Germany and in a further 17 markets worldwide. With regard to the German market it comes to interesting results:
Around a third of the Germans surveyed, went abroad in the summer months from June to August 2020 despite Corona. This puts theGermans well above the European average of 22 percent and the global average of 19 percent
The aspect of“traveling cheaper in Corona times” is not an option for the vast majority of respondents. This makes it clear that the pandemic has so far at least not had a negative impact on the travel budget
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 11 VIEWS ON TRAVEL TO THE US Around 60 percent traveled to a neighboring country, so the car was by far the most popular means of transport with 63 percent - followed by the airplane with 25 percent and the train with 12 percent. When asked about their experience of traveling abroad in times of Corona, 66 percent of Germans said that it was “better than expected”
The intention of Germans to travel abroad in the next twelve months has risen again in November compared with the June survey, at six percent, and is once again well above the European and global average. Many of those who still stated in June that traveling abroad was out of the question, are gradually returning to the circle of those willing to travel
In addition to Germans, the Swiss, Dutch and Austrians in particular are also showing above-average interest in traveling abroad in the next twelve months
Conclusion:
With vaccination campaigns well underway in the German- speaking countries and the United States, a significant backlog of demand for vacations in the U.S. and high interest among US specialists, and a generally high propensity to travel in market, we are looking confidently to 2021 and beyond.
Taking into account that the United States has been the most popular long-haul destination for Germans and that this has not changed (see Consumer Sentiment page 76), we expect a slow, but steady recovery.
Even though the view of vacations in the United States may have been dampened at the moment, long-term negative consequences are not to be expected. We expect the new administration to have a positive external impact and also to attract new first-time visitors.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 12 STATE OF LONG-HAUL OVERSEAS FLIGHTS Due to the travel ban issued by the US government in March 2020 and the Covid-19 restrictions on the German side, air travel has diminished massivly. Germany The US airline Delta cut their additional German connections during summer season from Stuttgart, Munich, Dusseldorf and Berlin. So far there is no news on when they can be re-established
Airlines like Condor and Eurowings previously offering connections to secondary airports important for the Southern USA, like New Orleans were cut.
American Airlines shrinked their flight offers and the important Charlotte, NC flight was suspended
Lufthansa temporarily suspended numerous long-haul routes from its Munich hub during the winter 2020/21 season. Flights to Washington DC will no longer be operated. Flights to San Francisco, Tokyo and Beijing have also been temporarily suspended, but are scheduled to resume from the beginning of March 2021
The main connections from Germany to the United States by Lufthansa, Delta, United and American Airlines are operating, but partly with less frequency
Non-stop flights from Germany to the Southern States (Please see next slide for an extended overview)
Delta Air Lines: Frankfurt – Atlanta Lufthansa: Frankfurt – Washington D.C. United Airlines: Munich – Washington D.C
Austria and Switzerland Austria’s direct connections to Washington D.C. were reduced. For Switzerland, the Delta connection Zurich-Atlanta operated only during summer season, there is not reliable information yet, weather it will be resumed in 2021.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 13 STATE OF LONG-HAUL OVERSEAS FLIGHTS
DELTA Airlines DIRECT AMERICAN Airlines DIRECT ATL – FRA Operating 6x a week CLT – FRA Suspended until further notice ATL – MUC Suspended until further notice CLT – MUC Suspended until further notice ATL – DUS Suspended until further notice DFW – FRA Operating daily ATL – STR Suspended until further notice DFW – MUC Suspended until further notice ATL – VIE Suspended until further notice DFW – BER Suspended until further notice ATL – ZRH Suspended until further notice DFW – VIE Suspended until further notice ATL – GVA Suspended until further notice DFW – ZHR Suspended until further notice RDU – FRA Suspended until further notice DFW – GVA Suspended until further notice
LUFTHANSA DIRECT UNITED Airlines DIRECT ATL – FRA Suspended until further notice ORD – FRA Operating daily ORD – FRA Operating daily IAD – FRA Operating daily IAD – MUC Bookable – IAD – MUC Bookable – codeshare with LH codeshare with UNITED IAH – FRA Bookable – IAD – VIE Suspended until further notice codeshare with UNITED CLT – FRA Suspended until further notice IAD – ZRH Suspended until further notice MCO –MUC Suspended until further notice IAH – FRA Bookable – codeshare with LH MCO – FRA Suspended until further notice IAD – GVA Suspended until further notice ATL – GVA Suspended until further notice CONDOR RDU – FRA Suspended until further notice MSY – MUC Suspended until further notice
LEGEND ATL Atlanta Hartsfield GA RDU Raleigh Durham NC ORD O‘Hare Chicago IL FRA Frankfurt Germany DFW Dallas Ft. Worth TX MUC Munich Germany MCO Orlando FL ZHR Zurich Switzerland CLT Charlotte NC GVA Geneva Switzerland IAH Houston, TX BER Berlin Germany IAD Dulles Washington D.C. VIE Vienna Austria MSY New Orleans LA STR Stuttgart Germany DUS Duesseldorf Germany
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 14 STATE OF LONG-HAUL OVERSEAS FLIGHTS Airlines are urging governments to find alternatives to general travel restrictions in the midst of the second wave of infections in Europe:
With Lufthansa and Alitalia wanting to use rapid antigen tests and the Lufthansa Group in particular is testing how best to integrate these rapid tests into the passenger travel chain and had some success recently
As of December 19, 2020, Delta Air Lines has started to offer flights between Atlanta and the Italian capital Rome, where passengers are being tested for the coronavirus several times and thus not have to go into quarantine after arrival
So far, we only have information of Delta Air Lines, blocking the middle seat:
Actually, the middle seat on Delta Air Lines flights was to remain free only until the end of January 2021. Now, passengers of the US carrier will be able to enjoy a greater distance from their fellow passengers until at least March 30, 2021. The airline is responding to persistently high Covid-19 infection rates in the U.S., as well as in other parts of the world, in hopes of increasing customer confidence in safe air travel
Conclusion:
With the second wave of infection numbers since November in the German-speaking markets and the fact that winter is also not the peak season for the United States as a travel destination, intercontinental flight connections are at a historic low.
With the prospect of recovery in the summer and fall months of 2021, we expect a renewed increase in the number of connections and are hopeful that from 2022 charter carriers such as Condor will again fly to US destinations.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 15 TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS TO THE USA Since Mid-March 2020 leisure-travelers from the European Schengen-area are not allowed to enter the United States. If this so called “travel ban” might be lifted by the new US-administration in the foreseeable future, there is the high chance, that additional safety and quarantine measures will be implemented. We are confident, that the traditional good and trustful relations between Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the one side and the United State on the other, will be revived soon and once again an unbureaucratic entry with the help of ESTA regulations becomes normal again.
Current entry regulations:
A ban on entry applies to persons who have been in Germany or another country in the Schengen area within a period of 14 days prior to entry into the USA. Exempt from the entry ban are U.S. citizens, persons with permanent legal residence in the U.S. (“green card” holders), persons who are in a close family relationship to a U.S. citizen or a person with permanent legal residence in the U.S. if certain requirements are met, and diplomats or employees of international organizations.
Further details are published by the U.S. missions in Germany, which may provide information on additional case-specific exceptions depending on the situation and in accordance with national interests (Source: USA / Vereinigte Staaten: Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise - Auswärtiges Amt (auswaertiges-amt.de).
Vice-versa, the USA are currently not on the positive list of countries from which entry to Germany is permitted (entry only in exceptional cases). However, the list is to be updated regularly. Changes may therefore occur depending on changes in the pandemic situation.
From January 26, all airline passengers entering the USA will need a negative Corona-test not older than three days and the CDC recommends a seven-day quarantine with another test 3-5 days after post-arrival. A well-thought-out testing strategy could help lift travel restrictions soon.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 16 Travel Industry Landscape OVERVIEW OF TRAVEL TRADE LANDSCAPE Tour operators continue to play a major role in the German market. There are approximately 3,000 tour operators in Germany. Travel agencies are the most popular medium for tour operator sales, accounting for around 70 percent of bookings. Evaluations clearly show that in the past 20 years the share of organized travel via travel agencies/tour operators has increased significantly. (source: DRV)
In general, Switzerland has a smaller tour operator outbound market compared to Germany. In Switzerland, travel agencies often act as tour operators themselves by putting together individual packages for their customers. The top tour operators in Switzerland for 2019 were Hotelplan Suisse, DER Touristik Suisse (Kuoni, Helvetic Tours, ITS Coop), and TUI Suisse.
Similar to Switzerland, the Austrian market is much smaller than the German market and Austrian tour operators will work with both outgoing and incoming travelers. However, the Austrian travel industry is similar to Germany’s, as the top 5 tour operators in Austria are owned by German tour operators. In 2018, TUI was by far the top tour operator in Austria followed by Verkehrsbüro Group (Eurotours and Ruefa Reisen) in second place and DER Touristik in third place.
The largest tour operators in German speaking Europe in 2019 were: TUI, Thomas Cook, DER Touristik, FTI, Aida Cruises and Alltours
The leading online tour operators in 2019 (by usage) were booking.com (24 percent), ab-in-den-Urlaub.de (15.3 percent), Expedia (14.6 percent), trivago.de (11.7 percent), and HolidayCheck.de (10.7 percent) (Source: Statista)
source: DRV
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 18 OVERVIEW OF TRAVEL TRADE LANDSCAPE Tour Operators with US Focus/product:
For travel to the US there are a number of specialists, which due to their focus, higher flexibility in product display, marketing activities and direct sales are more important for the Southern States than most of the wholesalers:
Specialists Wholesalers
Canusa Touristik Dertour/Meiers Receptives: Bonotel, ATI Weltreisen/Kuoni Receptive: owns New World Travel CRD Touristik Receptives: Bonotel, ATI, Tourico, GTA, Hotelbeds Explorer Fernreisen Receptives: Bonotel, ATI, Tourico,GTA, Hotelbeds America Unlimited Receptives: Bonotel, ATI, Tourico, GTA, Hotelbeds TUI (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) Receptives: Bonotel, GTA, Knecht Reisen Hotelbeds, ATI (Switzerland) Receptives: NWT, ATI, ART, Bonotel, Tourico, FTI Touristik (Germany, GTA Austria, Switzerland) Receptive: Meeting Point International
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 19 OVERVIEW OF TRAVEL TRADE LANDSCAPE Printed brochures (“catalogs”) are still important in the German speaking markets, consumers like to pick up a guide in the travel agencies to study it at home. Due to the corona crisis, not all tour operators produced catalogs this season. For example, CANUSA Touristik didn’t produce a new brochure for the next season, they have a new online inspirational guide for their clients. It’s becoming more important to inspire the clients with nice images and give some information about the destination.
Also TUI is changing its print products for next season, the Camper catalog will become a magalogue. These so-called “Magalogues” are becoming more popular, it’s a mix between a catalog and a magazine with many images, description of the destinations and insider tips, but no prices.
The trend might be that less tour operators work with brochures, online product will become more important, also in order to make changes more easily.
Brochure validity:
Usually year round: April to March. Brochures are published between November and February; re-prints with updated prices may be produced a few months later. Some operators run brochures that are only valid for six months (April to October and November to March/April)
Brochure space policy:
Product will be given space in operators’ brochures at the operator’s discretion. Product inclusion is generally dependent on the relationships or agreement with partners
Setting rates:
May/June for brochure updates which are published in November. July/ August for brochures which are published Dec/Jan/Feb. Rates are normally set two months before brochure is published
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 20 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA It’s not just the large US-specialists that can be relevant for regions like the Southern-US states. Smaller Tour Operators, who focus on the US often have very loyal customers who travel to the USA more often and are therefore ideal for 2nd/3rd tier destinations. Tour Operators specializing on certain travel types as Outdoor /active trips can be interesting. Due to the rich culture, musical landscape and history, group tour operators - which often emerged from small travel agencies with loyal clientele - are also highly interesting partners.
Travel Agencies US-Specialists Long-haul specialists (selling own product as well) (partly own travel agency) Cruising Reisen AAR Anglo-American Amerikareisen.at Erlebe Fernreisen Reisebüro GmbH America Unlimited Fairflight Touristik Fly2America Canusa Touristik Karawane Reisen Distinc Travel CRD Touristik Knecht Reisen AG Faszination Fernweh Diamir Erlebnisreisen Niche Tour Meridia Reisen Drp Kulturtours Ruck-Zuck Urlaub Wholesalers Maya Travel Inn Enjoy America TUI / TUI Suisse Usareisen.de DER Touristik FTI Touristik Explorer Fernreisen Hotelplan MTCH AG
All of the above named are still in business and have kept all of their US-Southern product! Even if some are not producing a brochure in 2020/21, their portfolio is online, and their offices are up and running.
Please find in the following short notes on selected companies, due to certain developments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 21 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA Most tour operators in Germany/Austria & Switzerland had to reduce their teams and their working hours during the pandemic. Many tour operators secure jobs in the corona crisis by facilitating short-time work. Short-time work (Kurzarbeit) is a social insurance program whereby employers reduce their employees’ working hours instead of laying them off. Here are someupdates from several tour operators from the German speaking markets (as of January 14, 2021):
CRD Touristik: CRD has been acquired by Berlin-based Geoplan Touristik GmbH after going into administration in April 2020. Both companies continued to work autonomously under the management of Geoplan CEO Tobias Büttner. The newly formed CRD Touristik GmbH is be a wholly owned subsidiary. It remains based in Hamburg and operate as a separate unit true to its values. In total 16 out of 28 employees remained with the company
CANUSA Touristik: CANUSA also had to reduce their staff members all over Germany, in their travel agencies as well as their headquarter in Hamburg. CANUSA stated that they already have bookings for 2021 and are quite optimistic for the time when the travel ban has been lifted. They also started marketing activities with some destinations
FTI Touristik: Germany’s third-largest tour operator FTI Group has gained €235 million in state financial support with the backing of majority shareholder Samih Sawiris. Nevertheless, they had to close down language holidays specialist LAL Sprachreisen, the small FTI Cruises business (with its single ship, the Berlin), the Fly.de flight sales portal and the Touristic 24 call center
STA Travel: The travel agency chain, which originally had 42 branches in Germany, had filed for insolvency under its own administration during the Corona crisis in August 2020. They have sold part of its nationwide branch network and 26 branches were taken over by Cockpit- Flug & Touristik GmbH
TUI Germany: The travel group, hit hard by the Corona crisis, is saved from bankruptcy by a capital increase. TUI’s owners have cleared the way for the German government to take a stake of up to 25 percent plus one share in the tourism group. The TUI Group also made top management changes, bringing hotel brands Robinson and Magic Life closer together, and expanding destination activities in a series of restructuring measures
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 22 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA America Unlimited: In 2020, CEO Timo Kohlenberg had the idea of offering trips to destinations without travel warnings and therefore they founded a new tour operator brand, called Corocierge (Corona and Concierge). Corocierge is the first Corona travel agency to specialize in travel in pandemic times. The new brand will prepare their customers on what conditions must be met, what restrictions are to be expected and how entry will be handled
Hotelplan: Hotelplan Suisse expects half of its turnover in 2021, but thanks to the backup of its mother company Migros, they are optimistic to survive the crisis. Hotelplan`s premium brand Globus Reisen will be stopped as of end of January 2021. All 5 Globus Reisen lounges will be renamed by January 31, 2021 and remain with the branch network of Hotelplan Suisse
DER Touristik: The Corona crisis is also taking its toll on DER Touristik. The travel group has to streamline its operations in Germany. The number of management positions has been reduced and the number of employees will be cut by 250 full-time positions as well
Boomerang: Formerly carrying a good portion of Southern-US product, Boomerang took out all of their US product and focused strictly on Canada. This decision was made actually before the Corona-crisis and might be revised in the future. During the year 2020, the company had to reduce their sales branches massivly, laying off a total of 22 employers
ARGUS Reisen: They had to lay off some staff, nevertheless the company benefits from government support. But they kept all product, also the various roundtrips and properties, being featured in the Southern US states. Many states are presented with own sub-pages on the Argus website, including tour suggestions, attraction highlights and special suggestions. Argus is very confident to survive the crisis and currently work on their new website layout
Americareisen.at: They are still busy with cancellations from 2020’s bookings and haven’t received all refunds from the airlines yet. They have not any bookings or requests for the US in 2021, not for Canada either. Their customers are very careful and will wait how the situation develops
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 23 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA Usareisen.de: As a travel agency and brand of Flamingo Company Fernreisen they are specializing in travel to North America. They offer programs and products of leading tour operators, mainly FTI and focus on direct sales through their travel portals USA-Reisen.de, drive-usa.de and drive-canada.de and their stationary travel agency in Berlin. With direct access also to portals such as Expedia, usareisen.de is able to provide customers with a variety of offers even in areas less covered by receptives. They also offer creative marketing ideas
Ruck Zuck Urlaub: The small US-specialist had an idea to boost the business: They advertise an online wine tasting with their customers and sell corresponding wine boxes. Since wine tasting is difficult in reality at the moment, the company moved such events to the Internet. Customers can order boxes of different types of wine to take home. The wine tasting will then take place via Facebook/zoom video. There, customers are shown which wines they should now open and all information about the wine. Participants can use the commentary function to directly participate in the event and ask questions
Explorer Fernreisen: Their sales offices have decreased working hours from 10am-4pm to 11am-3pm as they had little requests and bookings throughout 2020. Up to November the number of requests and bookings were higher, but even then, only 10% of last year’s revenue during the same time period. Popular destinations in the past months were Maldives and Seychelles, but when discussions about a second lockdown started the number of bookings decreased again
Cruising Reise: Up until January 2020, did not see any bookings for 2021 yet, some requests for Canada though. They don’t do any marketing activities or product development due to short-time working. They also didn’t produce a catalogue for 2021. Most of their clients rebooked their vacation from 2020 to 2021. Product-wise they keep all of their US-product, including the Southern States, routings for the South had been expanded significantly before Covid-19, also due to marketing efforts.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 24 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA Summary:
The major travel groups in Germany such as DER Touristik, TUI and FTI Touristik are currently in the midst of restructuring. Job positions are being re-staffed, and in some cases, jobs are being cut and reorganized in order to be able to survive in the future. Despite short-time working, many tour operators who are selling the US and are working with Travel South USA, had to cut jobs and/or downsize their companies already. But the main contacts in product management and their positions have hardly changed at the moment.
Overall, tour operators have not reduced their product portfolio during the pandemic and have left it unchanged. Some tour operators who are still printing catalogs have shown less product there in some cases, but the all products are still available online.
Many tour operators already have some bookings for 2021 to the US, mainly for fall/winter 2021. Due to the relaxed cancellation conditions, many customers cannot wait to book their vacations and are planning their trips already.
Some tour operators have gotten creative with new ideas, such as America Unlimited and Ruck Zuck Urlaub, who now offers digital wine tastings for example.
The tour operators are optimistic because of the advancing vaccination possibilities. Nevertheless, a complete recovery of the travel market is still not expected in 2021 by them.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 25 STATUS OF TOUR OPERATORS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH TRAVEL SOUTH USA All tour operators with Southern States product and with whom the destinations in the German- speaking market have been working are still in business (as of January 14). With support from the German government, the companies will probably manage to overcome the Corona crisis.
These are a few examples of whatthe German government is doing to help companies:
The German government wants to secure more jobs in the unprecedented Corona crisis by extending short-time work benefits. This was extended from the regular 12 to up to 24 months (until end of 2021). This helps companies to save staff costs and at the same time allows them, to keep long developed expertise and knowledge
Relaxations in insolvency law are to be extended to prevent a wave of bankruptcies in the Corona crisis. Accordingly, the regulation on the suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency continued for the reason for filing for over-indebtedness
The so-called“bridging assistance” offers financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises, self-employed persons and non-profit organizations. It helps to mitigate declining sales during the Corona crisis. The support is offered by the federal and state governments. This assistance will run from January 2021 to June 2021
In order to improve the liquidity and cover running costs during the pandemic, it’s also possible to obtain a loan for companies which is easy to apply for, so-called “KfW loans”. The Federal Government has extended this special program until June 30, 2021. In addition, solo self-employed persons and companies with up to ten employees can also apply for a KfW rapid loan
Conclusion:
The Germantour operators have been receiving a lot of support from the German government to survive this crisis and most of them do not need to fear ending up in bankruptcy thanks to the support. As costs remain high, many operators had to lay off some staff members while most of the key personnel in product management remain in place, at least for the time being. In addition to the support of the government, many tour operators worked on creative solutions in order to overcome the situation. Therefore we hopefully won’t see many US tour operators go into insolvency.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 26 TOUR OPERATORS WITH POTENTIAL FOR TRAVEL SOUTH USA Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the tour operator landscape in German-speaking Europe remains diverse and promising companies are appearing that Travel South USA has not yet been able to invite or had on its radar – because they are expanding the USA in their portfolio, or because they are pursuing new business models.
MESO REISEN: A small-sized German tour operator based in Berlin specializing in long-haul destinations including USA, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America and Africa. Their main focus is on FIT products and sustainable travel. MESO also represents AMTRAK in the German market. Currently they are updating their website with more information about the destinations.
TOURLANE: An online tour operator for individual and adventure holidays, based in Berlin. They offer their customers the consulting expertise of an offline travel agency combined with the ease and speed of the Internet. Tourlane’s portfolio so far includes trips to more than 40 countries, including Canada and the US (West coast, Hawaii, Florida, Western National Parks and Route 66). Plans before Covid-10 were, to expand into other US-areas. By visiting the website or using the app, users are connected online to travel experts who will personally assist them during their free consultation, the booking procedure and the actual trip.
BIKE THE BEST: A German tour operator specializing in motorcycle vacations in North America. They offer pre-planned or tailor-made motorcycle tours throughout the US. So far, their product in the US-Southern States has much room for expansion. The owner Micky Kern, is a passionate biker and US-fan herself.
DNDS GmbH – USA-REISE EXPERTE: A German travel agency and small tour operator with strict focus on the US. They do not have a brochure, but a detailed website with their offers. They already offer several of the classic- Southern round trips (use New World Travel and Expedia), however there is potential for growth, especially in the South. The owner David Siemetzki is updating his clientele on a regular basis via online video podcasts.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 27 PRODUCT PRE/POST COVID-19 Most tour operators stated that they will not change their product portfolio during the pandemic. Due to staff reductions and short time working, there is not much time at the moment and the tour operators don’t see the need to change their portfolio now. They stated that they will keep the Southern States in their portfolio like before, the product will not be cut at the moment. They only take out hotels/attractions which are not open anymore or where the contracts expired.
Suggestion: The existing product of the Southern States remains in the portfolio of the tour operator for the time being, but some states such as Arkansas, West Virginia and Missouri are almost not included in round trips at all. These states in particular should cooperate with neighboring states and launch new round trips together with a tour operator and carry out smaller marketing activities to promote them, provided that budget is available. Other new combinations of round trips of the states are also possible and easy to implement especially for specialized tour operators.
Certainly, the tour operators are open for new suggestions like new itineraries and hotels. They will work on product additions post-Covid and when it is certain that the travel ban has been lifted and the entry into the USA is possible again
For most tour operators the hotels will automatically be adapted in their system (if hotels close or made major changes) and they have mostly dynamic rates
Many specialized tour operators are currently expanding their product portfolio in general and start offering new destinations.Mainly tour operators specialized in long-haul travel start now with programs in Europe and/or Germany. For example, round trip specialist Ikarus Tours is expanding its European program significantly in the coming year. Also US-specialist CANUSA started to offer trips to Northern Europe for the time being, this will just be an addition to their US/Canada portfolio
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 28 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 1. TRAVEL TRADE Germany continues to be a very traditional market with about 11,000 travel agencies in Germany (number of agencies pre Covid-19 crisis). Unfortunately, the number of travel agencies will decrease during/after the corona crisis
After the crisis, travel agencies will continue to be important, if not even more so, for German tourists. Due to many cancellations and rebookings during the pandemic, travelers noticed that it is easier to have a contact person to handle these matters for them
The topic safety will be much more in the focus when booking a trip than before When it comes to the type of travel booking, online bookings are increasing. Online booking platforms such as Tripadvisor, Booking.com or Expedia are becoming more popular. The number of online bookers increased up to 41 percent in 2019. Bookings via smartphone are also becoming more common
Tour operator packages remain the preferred booking option for long-haul trips and the demand for offline and printed material continues to be high
Conclusion:
Bookings via OTAs are mainly for short trip or hotels/flights only, travelers mostly need more assistance when booking long-haul trips. Trips to the Southern States of the USA, and thus mainly round trips, continue to be booked through tour operators/travel agencies, as these types of trips are very complex and sometimes require more consultation. Consumers feel safe when booking with an agent and appreciate the personal service and more importantly they feel secure, also due to the insurances. Therefore it is still important that Travel South cooperates with tour operators in the German speaking market. source: DRV
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 29 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 2. ACCOMMODATION In recent years hotels belonged to the preferred types of accommodation for German travelers. According to the German Travel Association DTV (Deutscher Tourismusverband), 48.5 percent of Germans stayed in hotels in 2019 while 22.3 percent planned their overnight stays in a holiday apartment/ home. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, this ratio has changed. For 2021, holiday apartments/homes are the preferred accommodation type (63 percent) while hotel stays are on second position with 31 percent. This shows a survey by the holiday home platform HomeToGo.
The Swiss traveler prefers quality and excellent service when travelling. Therefore, according to Visit the USA Market Data, 60 percent Swiss travelers tend to book 4-star hotels.
These are important trends during/post Covid-19:
Travelers now place more emphasis on safety and hygiene measures and standards. They feel more comfortable in remote places like campsites or vacation homes/apartments and they pay more attention to the hygiene standards when choosing a hotel
It is becoming more and more important for hotels to comply with hygiene rules and to make sure that it is safe. Due to the pandemic, when it comes to lodging, people will prefer smaller hotels, boutique hotels or even private lodging. This is because these proposals turn out to be safer and generate greater trust. Another important priority for travelers is hygiene and following each of the health protocols in the different phases of the tip
Another new accommodation trend might be “Glamping”: this one mixes the concept of camping with luxury in ultra-equipped tents, including all comforts and amenities. Like road trips and nature tourism, camping also stepped into the spotlight among 2020 travel trends. People like the idea of sleeping under the stars. But, they also like hot showers, fluffy towels and the amenities of a 5-star hotel suite which will be delivered by glamping as well
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 30 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 2. ACCOMMODATION RV/Motorhomes In Germany, there was a guest record on campsites in 2020: Despite the Corona crisis, there were 8.57 million overnight stays in July on mobile homes and camping sites, the Federal Association of the German Camping Industry announced. That is 0.5 percent more than in July 2019. This trend will definitely continue over the next years for travel in general. In a camper you have the possibility to be on the road in your own four walls and yet spend your vacation far away from your own balcony or garden. Under observance of special hygiene measures one can go with the camper again confidently on the camping sites (source www.t-online.de)
Due to the Corona pandemic, the demand for motorhome travel will continue to grow as travelers feel safer and can travel to more remote locations rather than staying in hotels. Many tour operators already promote booking RV’s for 2021, since shortages are expected for offers in the US, due to the high demand of motorhomes
Conclusion:
The Southern States might not be the states with the most offers in this area, therefore one should look there for alternatives for the travelers and offer them comparable possibilities. For example, encourage states to promote more small B&B’s instead of bigger hotels or focus on apartments where the travelers can cater for themselves and therefore avoid crowds in a dining room.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 31 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 3. TRANSPORTATION Aviation status Due to the Covid-19 crisis, over one million commercial flights have been cancelled in Germany since March 1, 2020. This represents an 83 percent drop in passenger numbers year- on-year. This was reported by the European air traffic control organization Eurocontrol. The largest share of current flight movements is accounted for domestic German connections, of which around half the pre-crisis volume was offered. There were 61 percent fewer connections to European destinations. (source: www.fvw.de).
According to the statistics from the National Travel and Tourism Office (https://travel.trade.gov), arrivals from Germany to the United States were down 97.3 percent in August 2020, and down 78.9 percent for the year to date compared to the same period in 2019.
German leisure airline Condor successfully completed a year-long financial turnaround and will resume its search for a strategic investor once the worst of the corona pandemic is over. Condor was forced into insolvency protection following the collapse of former owner Thomas Cook Group in 2019 and gained financial support from German state authorities to keep it in the air. Since then, the Frankfurt-based airline has managed to reduce its structural operating costs through efficiency measures. Despite the current worldwide travel restrictions, Condor is looking rather positive into the future, restructured its winter flight plan and recently announced new connections to the Dominican Republic and Malé on the Maldives
Following a rescue operation by the German government, among others, Lufthansa is now partly state-owned. In total, the countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland invested nine billion Euros in the airline group. In addition the airline was able to raise money on the capital market and issued a corporate bond in the amount of one billion Euros. The goal for the airline however is, to touch as little of the money as possible and to free himself from state ownership as quickly as possible
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 32 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 3. TRANSPORTATION Rentals Sixt, the German rental car company, is again making a quarterly profit: when the half-year figures were presented, Sixt had already reported that things were slowly starting to pick up again. For the future, the service provider is confident and firmly believes in its business model: “The long-term trend towards individual mobility is more likely to be promoted by Corona,” CEO Erich Sixt is convinced. Sixt is undoubtedly proud of its business in the USA. The expansion there is progressing. Sixt is now represented there at 100 stations and has a presence at almost all important airports. According to his own statements, Sixt was recently able to take over ten airport stations from insolvent competitor Hertz (source: fvw.de)
Conclusion:
In our opinion, rental cars will continue to be important for German travelers, as they allow them to be independent and explore a lot at their own pace. It will continue to be a popular means of travel post-Covid.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 33 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS 4. ATTRACTIONS During the pandemic, the tour operators kept the attractions they featured before in their portfolio, but didn’t add any new ones though. It’s possible to book them separately from the trip, but sometimes they are also included already. For 2021, the tour operators will continue selling all available attractions and will be open to add new ones once the borders are open. The attractions should be bookable through a receptive operator
According to several tour operators, City Pass as well as individual attractions are good for their portfolio and they don’t have a real preference. Especially the “smaller” attractions might be better via City Pass, certain others, such as Alcatraz for example, are very popular and are therefore more of a single attraction. It might be more attractive for the tour operator as well as for the attraction if they can promote them individually. But if this “attraction” is then also included in the City Pass, it’s good as well
Conclusion:
In the future it will be more important, also for attractions, to follow the hygiene concepts and rules for the client’s safety. It is definitely recommended for big cities to offer some kind of City Pass to bundle the attractions for the traveler. It is much clearer and possibly one could also offer uniform hygiene concepts and promote them via a so-called Attraction Pass/City Pass.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 34 DURATION AND TYPE OF VACATIONS TO THE US Due to the high number of paid vacation time, Germans stay in the United States for around two weeks on average. Certainly, short trip such as Christmas Shopping are popular, too. Due to the new rules and regulations caused by the pandemic (Corona testing etc.), most likely German travelers will not just stay for a short time, but extend their stay by e.g. combining destinations with beach and city vacation. They will continue to visit more than one state and combine states during their stay
The US traveler from Germany mainly wants to be independent and explore the country on his own. He brings a lot of time and would like to see a lot and preferably several states and not just one region. His goal is to experience a lot and also get to know the other culture. This will probably not change much “post Covid”, but the traveler will become more careful and pay more attention to safety and hygiene and perhaps avoid larger crowds and especially in the first time rather enjoy nature than the bigger cities
A good example which will work well in the future and will most likely become more popular in the future are tools to create round trips which are completely adapted to the needs of customers. The German tour operator FTI invented such tool called “360Grad”, it’s very flexible and FTI only give suggestions to their clients and they can change and adapt the room nights and route as they like
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 35 DURATION AND TYPE OF VACATIONS TO THE US Tour operators have changed their product somewhat in the last years, because more and more theme trips are offered,with which it concerns e.g. music, history, films or nature. Thus again different target groups are addressed and this kind of journeys become ever more popular with the German travelers. One example is the “Civil Rights Trail”, for which trips in Germany were launched and according to the tour operator also some inquiries and bookings came in, which then unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the Corona crisis
Sustainability is becoming more important: ReiseAnalyse reports that a nature holiday is one of the most popular types of holidays for Germans. The most important aspects of a nature holiday for Germans are enjoying nature and being active outdoors. It is also very important to Germans that while they experience nature, no harm is done to it. ReiseAnalyse also reports that for the majority of German tourists, sustainability is an important aspect of a holiday. Sustainability trends are becoming more prominent in the tourism industry and will be important to look and plan for in the next few years
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 36 BOOKING PROCEDURES & REGULATIONS A study by the Research Association for Vacation and Travel (FUR) found out end of October 2020 that 55 percent of the Germans planned a journey in the next half year. At the same time, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic is huge. Most of all, the respondents are worried about getting their money back in case of a cancellation and that they could be put into quarantine. As a result, general conditions and restrictions have a greater impact on travel behavior and travel mood than individual fear of the virus. Individual afflictions have an influence, too: 22 percent of Germans say that they suffer financial losses due to Corona. 15 percent are affected by short- time work, and 5 percent fear for their jobs. These uncertainties lead to a change in booking behavior. 39 percent of respondents in Germany say they would wait and see how things develop and book at very short notice. Every third person plans to book only in the last four weeks before the travel date. (source: www.Tourism-Review.com)
These are some new regulation from tour operators regarding booking procedures:
Due to the new cancellation policies from most tour operators, the rates with the receptives have to be flexible and tour operators can’t accept deposits with hotels/ranches in the US. In case of cancellation of a trip, the full amount must be refunded, otherwise the tour operator will have to pay these costs which they can’t in the current situation and the also the receptives can’t do that. Some hotels, especially in National Parks and also some ranches, currently take large deposits, which makes it difficult to work with international tour operators at the moment
From now on, DER travel agencies are introducing a service flat rate for all bookings. With the collection of the service fee DER travel agencies stresses the increase in value of a reservation in the travel agency and facilitates it for the travel experts to communicate these to their customers confidently
Tour operators are now required to participate in the state insurance for travel vouchers. Tour operators must pay a guarantee premium to the federal government when they issue vouchers to their customers for trips and flights cancelled during the Corona crisis. Small and medium-sized companies have to pay 0.15 percent of the voucher value, large companies 0.25 percent (Source: Handelsblatt)
For example, for all trips starting after January 5 2021,German specialist CANUSA Touristik also gives customers a “safety promise” at no extra cost. It provides for all new bookings the possibility of rebooking at any time free of charge, cancelling free of charge up to 70 days before departure without giving reasons and receiving a 100 percent refund
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 37 BOOKING PROCEDURES & REGULATIONS Also, other tour operators like TUI and DER Touristik are protecting their customers against corona infections by offering special measures.The tour operators are offering customers a special hotline on immigration and health issues. DER Touristik offers specially trained staff and experts from the Kneißler analysis laboratory, virologists and doctors who are available to guests around the clock. Should a corona disease occur during the holiday, DER Touristik guarantees “close meshed care”
The graphic is part of a survey taken by Lieb Management and Travel Consul in October 2020 where 1,021 tour operators worldwide took part.
Source: Lieb Management/Travel Consul survey 2020
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 38 ROUTE TO MARKET – RECEPTIVE OPERATORS Tour operators rarely book directly, but more likely book through an US based receptive operators (inbound operator). Almost all international tour operators book their product with an US based receptive operator (i.e. New World Travel, ATI, MeetingPoint, Bonotel, Hotelbeds, Travalco, Tour Mappers, etc.). Specifically, RTOs sell tourism products, whether they are sold in a tour package or alone, to tour operators and/or travel agents. They are essentially wholesalers and they don’t sell directly to the public
Since a local receptive works with many tour operators in Germany and worldwide, there will be many more bookings, rather than working with each individual (international) tour operator. Moreover, billing procedures with an US based company are much simpler than invoicing international companies. It is very important to provide reduced rates to receptive operators, in order for them to offer competitive rates to their tour operator clients. Since the international traveler (normally) plans trips up to 12 months ahead, it is very important to offer and guarantee rates in advance. Receptive operators either contracton a free sell basis, meaning that they can book the contracted rooms/excursions as long as they are available or on an allotment basis (a certain number of rooms is guaranteed, sold out dates can of course apply). Discounted rates should be offered – approximately 20 percent - 30 percent less than rack rates, in order for receptives to be competitive. Different promotions, like “3rd-night-free or “breakfast included” can be offered as well
Overall, receptive operators create awareness and establish a clear and strong market position for the respective area/product, they increase the quantity of products (hotels & excursions) in tour operator programs as well as media exposure for any particular area/product. They also educate and train travel trade partners in the regions
Most tour operators in German speaking Europe work with RTOs and they don’t book directly, if possible
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 39 KEY TRAVEL INDUSTRY EVENTS Trade Shows Roadshows & National Virtual Events ITB in Berlin has been the leading trade show for the In 2020 many roadshows and global tourism industry since 1966. Countries, cities sales mission were cancelled, and regions, tour operators, booking portals and hotels therefore the number of digital as well as many other service providers from up to more roadshows and also webinars than 180 countries present their offers and themselves increased. Visit USA Germany at this trade show. In March 2021, the world’s largest offered a few possibilities to travel fair will take place in digital form only when ITB hold a webinar and they also becomes “ITB Berlin NOW” organized roadshows as well International trade shows themed webinar specials for a IPW certain region with additional Brand USA Travel Week Europe leverage to draw attention to their destinations in case they are able International trade events to partner up. Travel South International Showcase and others like e.g. Go West Summit, Florida Huddle or Other virtual alternatives are RMI International Roundup e.g. virtual fam tours. There are different options to accomplish this fam, for example the partners Consumer Shows in the destination could prepare Germany a video with activities and visits CMT Stuttgart at an attraction for the group F.RE.E Munich or is presenting it live during a Oohh Freizeitwelten, Hamburg webinar. Austria Another idea are virtual Ferienmesse Vienna tastings/happy hours (wine, Moonshine,…) or cooking Switzerland classes with media and/or trade Ferienmesse Bern contacts to keep in touch and FESPO, Zurich introduce the regions and also To get in touch with consumers it’s a good possibility for include some partners. the Southern States to team up e.g. with a tour operator who will work on new itineraries with the Southern States and attend consumer shows with them to introduce these to consumers.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 40 KEY TRAVEL INDUSTRY EVENTS Conclusion:
With individual state appointments at the booth and evening events for networking, ITB in Berlin has always been a good choice and opportunity to meet with many tour operators und trade partners from the German speaking countries to talk about marketing activities and the product development.
But with lesser attendance of US destinations in the future, due to the withdrawal of Brand USA support, it might become less frequented by relevant trade partners and the value for cost will decline.
Other opportunities to meet trade contacts are sales missions and roadshows which might be possible “in person” again in late 2021 or 2022. There is more time for individual meetings and there is more time to talk to the tour operators as well as do trainings to travel agents.
International trade events relevant for the industry on the German speaking market like Travel South International Showcase will continue to be important in the future. They allow tour operators to be in direct contact with local suppliers and also include Fams to experience the destination first hand.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 41 Media Landscape OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING MEDIA LANDSCAPE The German print media landscape is very diverse, including more than 300 daily/weekly newspapers. Online versions (also often paid and only accessible by subscribers) have gained massive market share.
The sheer number of newspaper publications is accompanied by their use: 37 million German citizens read printed daily newspapers / 16.3 million use them digitally every day. The reach of the daily newspapers is thus 52 percent. This means that more than every second German aged 14 and over reads a print edition every day (Source: ma daily newspapers 2020).
This is supplemented by the increasing reach of the digital newspaper offers: They register 16.3 million users every day and thus reach 23.6 percent of the German-speaking population aged 16 and over (source: AGOF digital facts June 2020)
Newspapers have a very high credibility in the German-speaking market, which is regularly confirmed by studies and user surveys. According to a representative study conducted by Infratest dimap on behalf of WDR at the end of 2019, 76 percent of Germans consider daily newspapers to be credible
By contrast, Germans largely consider information on social networks to be less trustworthy. While 19 percent of respondents still rate YouTube as credible, Twitter (8 percent), Facebook (7 percent) and Instagram (4 percent) fall far behind. (source: bdvz.de)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 43 OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING MEDIA LANDSCAPE Aside from the strong national ones, regional daily newspapers are very popular in the German-speaking markets. Most of them publish at least one weekly travel feature. However, more and more publishing houses tend to purchase their travel content from third parties such as freelance journalists or news agencies like dpa or RND
Travel journalists still prefer “traditional PR-tools” to gain coverages, such as press releases, story placements and press trips. Journalistic independence is key for German-speaking media.
Radio is strong in Germany, too: More than 75 percent of Germans between 14 and 49 listen to the radio on a daily basis.
Germany is facing a growing market for special interest and consumer magazines (women’s and men’s, mindstyle, personality and outdoor magazines, magazines for best agers, travel and culinary magazines etc.)
According to the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ), the number of popular magazines in Germany in 2019 came up to around 1,570 titles. This was an increase of 520 titles compared to 1997. In 2019, a total of around 26.8 million Germans were reading magazines several times a week. The highest-circulation magazines in Germany are the TV listings magazines tv14, TV Digital Hörzu and TV Direkt. According to Nielsen, the news magazines Stern, Spiegel and Bunte were the most successful in 2019 in terms of advertising revenues. (source: statista.com)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 44 OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING MEDIA LANDSCAPE Many of those special interest magazines are quickly pushed to market, but can be discontinued again within a short term, as demand and interest change. Various publications on home decoration and interior / garden design – a topic especially trendy during the Corona crisis – are a good example
Many of the German publications are also published in Austria and Switzerland. These markets of course have their own magazines and newspapers, too, but the portfolio is limited to much smaller numbers compared to the very complex German media market. The developments in the media segments in Austria and Switzerland are much slower and more stable
The diversity continues in the segment ofleisure travel publications, with around 53,800 copies, Geo Saison was the highest-circulation travel magazine in Germany in the third quarter of 2020, followed by ADAC Reisemagazin, with around 49,100 copies, and Geo Spezial, with just under 9,500 copies (source: Statista.com)
One publication has a special significance for the US-destinations, which is the America Journal (bi-monthly, 34,260 copies, 130.000 readers), which exclusively focusses on themes and articles about the United States
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 45 OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING MEDIA LANDSCAPE Most of the German leisure travel magazines are also published in Austria and Switzerland while some magazines are specific to their countries. Others, like Lonely Planet Traveler for example are only German editions and are edited in other countries.
A short overview highlights the ones which promise the best coop-possibilities for the Southern States:
GERMANY AUSTRIA SWITZERLAND Reisen Exclusiv Food & Travel Reisen Exclusiv Food & Travel Bucketlist Holiday & Lifestyle Reise Holiday & Lifestyle Reise ArtundReise & Preise Die neue Reiselust & Preise Die neue Reiselust Globetrotter Magazin Spartacus Traveller Spartacus Traveller Reisemagazin (Tourismus Lifestyle Verlag)
Conclusion:
Despite the fact that newspaper and magazine circulations are declining, their influence should not be underestimated and will continue
It is precisely the diversity and the constant “coming and going” that makes the industry in our German speaking markets so special
With some titles, there are good opportunities for cooperation to reach a diverse readership
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 46 OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING MEDIA LANDSCAPE The market for travel trade publications is clear-structured with a rather small number of players:
Germany: FVW International, Touristik Aktuell, Travel Talk, trvlcounter.de, Reise vor 9 / Counter vor 9, Luxusinsider
Austria: tip / profireisen.at, tai – Tourist Austria International, traveller Switzerland: Travel Inside, Travelnews.ch The leading trade publications arefvw and touristik aktuell. Both are very respected and have high standards regarding topics. Their main focus for the print magazines are groundbreaking news, interviews with industry leaders and profound analysis
Thecorresponding newsletters of these publications (often week-daily ) andonline portals gain importance, as circulation of printed editions declined. They reach tens-of thousands of people working in the or with the tourism industry and are an important source for travel agents. In general, their expertise for the industry is highly regarded
The magazines usually don’t attend press trips, only trade fams, butoften pick up press releases from destinations for their websites and newsletters. However, it is important to have real news (new campaigns, cooperations, ground-breaking technologies, unique approaches) to be featured
Special printed editions like the Austrian – “tip USA special” complement the regular issues
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 47 CHANGES IN PUBLICATIONS – IMMEDIATE CHALLENGES Opportunities are part of every crisis: The Corona crisis has actually accelerated processes that were previously developing slowly but steadily in the -media landscape of the German-speaking markets. Times like these are both a challenge and an opportunity. Challenge, because concepts for success from the past no longer necessarily work and the entire industry is shaped by external influences that it cannot control itself.Opportunity, because in these situations the “familiar wheat is separated from the chaff”. The task now is not only to find new paths, but to define them. Those who shine now stand out from the competition more than ever. Those who sleep now will lose the connection.
Fact is that all publications, but especially travel sections and travel magazines faced a massive slump in advertising revenues, which lead to editorial offices were put into short- time work, employees were withdrawn into other sections or even dismissed in Germany, Austria but also in Switzerland. Most prominent example being the renowned “Abenteuer & Reisen” magazine, which was discontinued in April 2020
Many travel pages / travel specials of the major newspapers were discontinued, shortened or merged with the business/feuilleton pages. The latest development is the merging of the leading travel trade magazines “FVW” and “Travel Talk” in Germany since January 2021
Magazines skipped or paused, not only due to financial shortage due to less advertising but also due to less interest and lack of content or no means of distribution like the “Lufthansa Magazine”
Others turned to strict online-only publishing, as German trade magazine Touristik Aktuell, the Austrian “traveller” and several others did during the height of the Corona crisis in April and May.
Articles researched at the destination became very rare and strict travel restrictions increased the lack of content. Also - how to get a heartfelt “vacation” theme across when politics put a stigma on it?
LEARNING:
Destinations and tourism industry suppliers who continued communication and adapted content to be more inspirational and creative, were highly appreciated and could gain trust in the long term.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 48 CHANGES IN PUBLICATIONS – LONG TERM OPPORTUNITY Despite a thinning out of travel publications, current developments show that the qualitatively high-value and innovative ones will also hold their ground in the long term. The great diversity of publications in the German-speaking market in particular leaves plenty of scope for healthy recovery and exciting new concepts in the future.
The corona pandemic has driven media use in Germany to a new record high.Currently, Germans consume 620 minutes per day of media offerings, in other words 10 hours and 20 minutes. People still spend the most time watching television. Internet usage, rose sharply to 133 minutes per day, 36 minutes more than in the previous year (source: Media Activity Guide by SvenOne Media and Discovery Germany)
Content was adapted to the at that time current travel options and became more innovative: Travel pages became more advisory, covering refund instructions and legal issues. This was complemented by inspirational content: “armchair-travel stories” and articles on virtual experiencing a destination were extremely popular during the initial Corona months
The e-paper circulation of German daily newspapers has risen sharply. According to the latest study by the German Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) from September, e-papers increased by around 20 percent in the 2nd quarter to more than two million copies. High-income earners in particular like to use electronic newspapers
Online media consumption increased significantly – especially certain forms e.g. web radio and podcasts: This emerges from the current online audio monitor of the state media authorities and the associations BVDW and Vaunet. In the meantime, 70 percent of the population regularly listen to Internet radio and podcasts etc., which corresponds to 50 million people over the age of 14. The corona pandemic is also likely to play a role in the strong growth in digital audio use (source: Horizont.net)
Strict division between print and online or even multi-media offersdisappears and makes room for innovative new concepts like travel podcast “Tracks and Travel” by renowned travel writer Stefan Nink or the video-podcast “No trip –what an experience” by America Unlimited
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 49 CHANGES IN PUBLICATIONS – LONG TERM OPPORTUNITY Three representative studies by Deloitte before and during the Corona crisis revealed: Willingness to pay for media consumption increased, hhigh-quality digital content benefits, traditional media are predicted continuing to decline(source: Horizont.net)
The latest survey from Havas Media concludes, thatmedia usage will remain different in the future: Streaming formats and podcasts are among the media that continue to benefit from the hype caused by Corona. Thus, still above average many listen to Podcasts, while television, radio, newspaper, etc. are in the meantime no longer above the normal level. In general, however, it can be observed that media have gained in importance during the crisis, as “the most important source of information and entertainment” and “gateway to the outside world”. Among the younger respondents, 45 percent said that media will continue to be more important to them in the long term (source: Horizont.net)
Clear winners of the crisis are online media like reiserporter.de, which focus on pure online publication and linking with multi-media content and at the same time include a “call to action” by offering the possibility to book a trip
Summary:
In general it can be stated, that the Corona crisis accelerates the development towards more online media consumption and this remains a major trend even after the pandemic. Nevertheless, the market for printed publications in German speaking Europe remains stable - especially in comparison to other European countries and the USA. Moreover, studies show that there has even been an increase in credibility of print publications, also among younger age groups. The tight advertising budgets accelerate are forcing traditional print publications to seek new ways to gain reader loyalty, which will be there to stay.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 50 EMERGING TRENDS IN THE TRAVEL PRESS SECTOR TheCorona crisis has worked as an accelerator for long-term developments which were predicted for the media world already before – like strict streamlining process on the one hand and a rapid digitalization on the other. Some trends specific for travel press sector on the German-speaking market were very visible before the Corona-Crisis and since then have even gained in importance.
Alternative communication methods gain importance – podcasts /online magazines / radio: One in three people aged 14 and over has already listened to podcasts. A total of 15 percent and thus around ten million regular listeners, among 14 to 29 year-olds it is even 30 percent. The Corona period gave the audio format a boost because half of all listeners have been using it more intensively since then. According to a survey by Goldmedia, Spotify is number one in terms of platforms, ahead of Youtube, Apple Podcasts and iTunes (source: Reise vor 9)
Optimization and new technical approaches are the future. Almost a third of the publishing houses are expecting a drop in sales of between 25 and 50 percent in the year 2020. At present, very few publishing house strategists are thinking about expansion. Instead, optimization is the daily order, both in the use of resources and the deployment of more and better technology (source: Horizont.net)
Also travel trade publications seek new approaches, a good example is the purely digital outlet of former trade editor Iris Köpke, with her Luxusinsider.de portal. In fall 2020, America Journal launched a digital newsletter to their readers for the first time, which might not be a technical revolution, but shows that former media focused exclusively on print products are opening up to online offerings and are also being forced to do so
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 51 EMERGING TRENDS IN THE TRAVEL PRESS SECTOR On the trade side, a trend is more one-to-one communication with travel agents may it be through infotainment, webinars, raffles or even interactive chat-groups on WhatsApp. Luxury travel magazine “Connoisseur Circle” for example, developed a monthly offshoot especially for travel agents. The richly illustrated e-magazine “CC VIP” focused on luxury hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in May 2020
A trend specific for the German speaking markets – actually also before Corona – is storytelling and articles which focus on personalities. The soft-inspirational content high in demand during the pandemic has increased that trend even more. Examples are Dirk Rohrbach and his multi-media approach presenting real characters and personalities during his reportages or various articles by dpa journalist Christian Röwekamp, with local people in the destination and their portraits being the main hook
More print publications reach out to target groups in a multi-media manner. For example Austrian travel journalist Claudius Raichl started a cross-media content initiative, cooperating with traditional print media like Kurier and Salzburger Nachrichten called “wirreisenwieder.at”
Three representative studies by Deloitte before and during the Corona crisis revealed: Willingness to pay for media consumption increased, high-quality digital content benefits, traditional media are predicted continuing to decline (source: Horizont.net)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 52 COVERAGE OF THE USA / THE SOUTHERN US STATES Outlook on Post-Corona crisis development Feedback from media (December 2020):
PR-work of US-representations is seen positive, raising the flag is seen as a good sign (also in regards to possible advertising funds in the future)
Since December 2020, there is a strong impression that travel media are more open again about covering the US after the outcome of the US-presidential elections
A continuous feedback is, that the US are and always will in high demand and that there is a large pent-up demand
America Journal continues to publish bi-monthly and will keep in line with the former timing of their “South Special”
In fact - although travelling to the States is still not an option, there have been more articles resulting from former fam trips which say “there is no chance to come to US destinations at the moment, but with this coverage, we want to express our hopes that they will return very soon”
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 53 COVERAGE OF THE USA / THE SOUTHERN US STATES Outlook on recovery of coverage
Recovery will be slow but steady and include many opportunities for third-tier destinations and hidden-gem highlights – See “Opportunities and Trends for Editorial pitching”
Factors however, might also be the development of Covid-19 cases in the US and the underlying feeling that health and safety are guaranteed during a vacation
Full recovery of coverage can be expected for after the lift of the travel ban, restoration of regular air-connections and clear travel procedures between Europe and the US
Very likely there will be a high demand for real, in-destination researched travel stories Pent-up demand of travelers for visiting long-haul and longing destinations like the US will also be reflected in the themes of the travel stories
In one way or another, 2021 will be a complete reboot of travel itself - even to areas that are currently rather unknown. There will be a great demand from the media and this is an opportunity for the Southern US states
Conclusion:
Recovery will be slow, but all signs we see point to a very strong demand for US travel content in 2021, once travelling will be possible again.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 54 THE FUTURE OF PRESS TRIPS
BACK TO NORMAL? OR A NEW “NORMAL”?
Editorial offices will have even less Many well connected freelancers will be staff, funds to pay for flights will be eager to travel again and the editorial tight, also freelancers are losing some offices are most likely welcoming those of their buying outlets stories. A solution could also be to focus more on dpa or RND – big news agencies, Organizing group or individual press which promise a wide array of coverage trips will involve more planning and paperwork Media will appreciate careful planning and clear rules / regulations, possibly a solution More work means also higher cost is to rather concentrate on individual for the destination (administration, PR trips transportation cost in the destinations etc.) There likely will be a huge pent-up demand for long haul stories. Quality The past was that journalists were publications will survive and once travel flooded with invitations for press is top theme again, new opportunities for trips, therefore were sometimes less coverage need to be considered appreciative and demanding Due to less opportunity for press trips, Only re-discovering destinations journalists currently seem to appreciate might not be of interest, long-haul the effort of a well drafted itinerary and travel might take a long time to come- seem better prepared and interested back during the press trip The new “Post-Corona” vacation Offering the opportunity to travel will might look different and will require be even more appreciated and will pay new and adapted procedures and off with credible articles, which again safety measures will increase interest, awareness and later bookings Summary:
There will be lots of new challenges, butnew opportunities arise as well. Nevertheless, a careful selection of media, a long-run and detailed planning process as well as expert-knowledge about current travel regulations and the situation in the destination, will be key for success.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 55 OPPORTUNITIES AND TRENDS IN PR Coverage will increase again when the travel ban will be lifted and/or there will be clear travel regulations in sight.
Hidden gem suggestions compared with a good hygiene concept at the destination will be of high demand for leisure media
The right messaging and stories can establish consumer confidence,which will be key for actual bookings later on
International relevant* news about new attractions / trails / campgrounds / unique outdoor activities will be picked up by travel trade media
Nevertheless – editorial pitching has always been a challenge and will continue to be during Covid-recovery
Hygiene and social distancing concepts will be assumed to be implemented in the destination – therefore mentioning of those is a must – but they should not be the main news
*often times tiny museums, local restaurants or one-off event organizers think they have the greatest news – however they need to be relevant for international visitors.
Emerging themes to consider for pitching and for itineraries during press-trips:
Sustainability (highlight attractions / museums etc. which honestly consider that aspect)
Diversity (include minorities / Black owned businesses)
“Human factor” (after the loneliness of the pandemic, personal stories will become even more important)
The Southern States as great example for cooperation and unity (unlike the current impression many have of the US at the moment as “Divided states of America”)
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 56 OPPORTUNITIES AND TRENDS IN PR The Southern US-States can actually profit from the lack of stories, which could not be researched in 2020 and the high demand of inspirational content, which travel media will see in the future. Therefore certain opportunities arise, which however go along with certain conditions. Some Suggestions:
Establish Travel South Covid-proof itineraries and route suggestions including hidden gems, state/nationalparks, and outdoor activities, quaint small towns, opening times of main highlights and best suggestions when to avoid the crowds
German speaking media are hesitant to fly to the US to only stay 3-4 nights in one state. A combination of several states works best, with a set itinerary along a red-thread, which either results in one large story and even several smaller “offspring” articles
Combine high value / world famous sights and attractions with news/facts about lesser known. Get the attention first (e.g. world renowned Kentucky Bourbon Trail, but then surprise with hidden gems)
Think “off the beaten path” – e.g. introduce not the bold attraction itself, but the hidden secrets or personalities around them (portrait of the guy takes care of Elvis‘ gravesite at Graceland)
Sustainability in travel destinations will be a growing trend, also for the media to write about it. Many will travel more consciously. Gather and encourage content on e.g. green hotels / eco-initiatives
Images are often times key for a coverage.High res / jpg format / clear title and © copyright information are a must! Encourage all CVBs / destinations / suppliers to contribute a good selection of images and establish a database
Less is more: German media are interested in the real news without much ornamental vocabulary. The less promotional, the higher the chances for successful coverage
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 57 KEY MEDIA EVENTS IN-MARKET: ITB: With individual state appointments at the booth and the annual Visit USA Media Breakfast on Fridays, ITB has always been a top choice to meet with many editors from Germany and raise awareness amongst the media for a destination. Media meetings also with several states are always possible and took place. With lesser attendance of US destinations in the future, due to the withdrawal of Brand USA support, it might less frequented by relevant media and value for cost will decline
VISIT USA Media Events: Twice a year, usually with an large number of journalists from Germany attending. The open networking concept makes interaction without set- appointments possible. There is no time limitation either. Lately the organizers lately put large focus on quality over quantity. Despite the fact that ad-hoc cross-boarder talks to e.g. plan story ideas covering several states are theoretically possible, exhibitors need to be Visit USA members and in reality coop-talks are very complex
IMM Events: Those events draw a large number of journalists, but in reality also large scattering-losses have to be accepted, mainly due to the strict match-making concept, a limited time frame for the individual meetings and also due to the more than often questionable quality of media attending
Media events and personal visits during missions: Personal visits with destination staff are generally appreciated by media in the German-speaking-market. They should be planned in detail, also due to possible cross-boarder itinerary suggestions, Southern US themes and pitch- ideas to ensure a fair distribution of attention for the partners INTERNATIONAL: IPW: Only a very selected number of editors from the German-speaking countries are attending and since the states are in charge of the media appointments. Meetings with journalists apart from pre-scheduled meetings are seldom possible and require detailed preliminary planning to be off success
Conclusion:
An “inhouse-made media event / roadshow” for the German-speaking-market will have the best value-for-cost and will be able to comprise all Southern US States, without any competition and strict focus on the Southern states individual needs.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 58 CAMPAIGNS & ADVERTISING Classic advertising campaigns in print media are often not effective in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: They might look good, but impact is negligible. Strict ad-campaigns are ideal for well known and established destinations or countries, but lesser known and third-tier areas will not see an effect in bookings. It takes a lot of time and financial backbone to establish a consumer effect in becoming such a brand
Readers in the German speaking markets are very experienced and more interested in deeper information about a destination: They will not be lured with catchy phrases, especially since post-Covid readers will have a larger demand for explanations about safety and health concepts in the destination
Advertorials can be an alternative, as they look like an article, but destinations can supply own images and text - ideally also in cooperation with a Tour Operator which gives a direct “call to action” and link to an offer. Still for a large coop like Travel South USA, theneed for explanation is far too high to achieve promising results. A very specific readership, knowledgeable about the US as e.g. the readers of America Journal might be a fitting target group. But for a large majority, the concept will be difficult to translate into success
On the other hand, paid-media efforts, like advertorials encourage the publications to be more open to include additional features and off-the-plan editorial content
Conclusion:
With the complexity of so many states and the variety of themes and travel routes, a normal ad-campaign to us does not seem effective. First because it is not possible to feature all partners equally. Secondly, ads will not meet the need for information, as there is no adequate German website or brochure yet to support this afterwards (e.g. by reference in the ad). Analternative could be a multi-page insert, in cooperation with a travel magazine.
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 59 Social Media Influencers OVERVIEW OVER THE GERMAN SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE
Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest
23 million Nine million 1.4 million Seven million daily users daily users daily users regular users
“Lazy” users in Visual network Rather B2B in Underestimated Germany Germany network Younger target Has the most users group Never really caught Making a on, also because of comeback Rather older Very important very long German audience for tourism, high Combination of words quality photos tips and visuals Moving images and videos meet Rather irrelevant and great visual Recommendable authentic content for tourism content work well if linked to a in stories and Popular source for meaningful website Popular as a creative videos in events reels “service and info Good target channel” through Goals: Multiplier audience (women Sets trends Messenger for news as travel decision regarding hotels makers) and destinations “Digital regulars’ table” Goals: Topic- Goals: specific campaigns, Goals: Dialogue, Entertainment, “more in-depth create brand inspiration, image content” awareness, image building cultivation, source of information
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 61 OVERVIEW OVER THE GERMAN SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE
TickTok YouTube LinkedIn Xing youtube 28 million users 14 million 17 million 5.5 million users daily members members Very young Very heavily used, International job Only two million audience especially by the network active weekly younger generation Those who join Many influencer The German now can still Costly, as high- collaborations to LinkedIn become “famous” quality content is become better Good for talent organically crucial known search and Strong competition Less “social” than Currently exchange from Instagram other networks experiencing a Goals: Reach Reels comeback Goals: Inspiration, multipliers, spread Privacy issue viral marketing Good platform to economic news reach multipliers Goals: “rejuvenating” a Goals: Reach brand, reaching a multipliers, spread young audience, economic news image building
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 62 INSIGHTS ON THE GERMAN SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE
“Social media is more about sociology and psychology than technology.” Brian Solis, Digital Analyst
“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.” Jay Baer
“Content builds relationships, relationships build trust, trust drives sales.” Tom Fishburne
Compared to other European Markets, Germany and German speaking countries have a much lower rate of social media users. For once, Germans value data protection personally and culturally. Furthermore, Germans are extremely lazy when it comes to commenting and interacting. In general, the use of social networks has increased by 9 percent worldwide, in Germany, social media is stagnating. 46 percent of Germans use social media compared to the 70 percent in North America. (source: wearesocial.com, digital 2020 report)
Especially on emerging social platforms like TikTok, users are extremely young, thus will most likely not have the money for a vacation in the United States
Although Facebook is the leader in marketing for social platforms, in recent years, Xing and LinkedIn have evolved into a great B2B marketing tool. Xing has traditionally had a strong presence in the DACH region with about 15 million users and LinkedIn has always had a stronger international presence but is gaining ground in Germany with approximately 13 million users
Recent studies have shown that social media is not really influencing users choice in German speaking countries for a vacation destination, it is among last of the factors named to influence decision making (source: fvw.de). Even though, social media plays a huge part in the lives of the younger generation and is continuing to grow in popularity worldwide, surprisingly, social media use by international travelers has become less important than expected. Ralf Freitag, head of market research institute IPK reported that only 19 percent of International travelers use Facebook & Twitter for travel information. Instead they are using mediums such as websites with accommodations, online travel agencies, and travel related communities such as TripAdvisor
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 63 INSIGHTS ON THE GERMAN SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE Influencers Influencers have evolved from not being taken serious a couple of years ago to being essential for communication, particularly for younger target groups. Some influencers have founded strong networks with huge communities. However, compared to markets such as the UK or US, the numbers of top German-speaking influencers are still small
Throughout the last years, agrowing number of influencers with focus on lifestyle has established themselves on the German-speaking market
For the travel-related topics micro-influencers,which have a lower follower number, but higher interaction rates should be considered as better partners (e.g. Sonne und Wolken, jileileen, travelettes)
Influencers specializing in travelvery often charge per post or performance,besides the complete travel costs, these are immense financial resources that are in no way inferior to an extensive advertising campaign
Key insight: numbers and rankings are not everything! In fact, micro and niche influencers – although having much smaller follower numbers – often call a very active community their own, use a more personal approach and produce high quality content Content Creators and bloggers : Special interest content creators, which also communicate through own Social Media Channels, but have established blogs at their disposal and use their content through other channels have become more important for reaching certain target groups (e.g. filmtourismus.de with focus on movie-sights and film-locations, German Roamers, pangeaproductions with focus on outdoor and nature sights, Reisedepeschen.de). A cooperation is often costly, but does provide additional outcome to only some posts on Social media, as e.g. rights to high-quality images taken during the trip or access to a large special interest community and defined target group
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 64 OPPORTUNITIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA Maintaining a Facebook page is generally considered an absolute must these days -whether it’s for big brands, mid-sized companies, or specialty businesses. Even in the travel sector, it is good form to be able to refer to a own in-market Facebook page. A primary goal is certainly to generate attention - however, studies have shown that classic advertising measures on TV, print or even online ads achieve far more success ( source: reposit.haw-hamburg.de/Ulrike Kasper).
With regard to the Travel South Facebook page we see that it is an international page and recognize that it launched in October 2020 with 2 posts per month submitted in German and the visual language and the target pages that are not linked to the German website.
Conclusion:
For a stronger presence, we recommend to essentially improve the German Facebook page and link to the German landing/page
It makes sense to include the German-language Travel South Facebook page in any campaigns that might take place with tour operators
It can also be a supportive tool for press work and increase awareness, for example, when it is included in press releases or any other communication
We also advise against the promotion of influencer trips in the near future Beside strong content, community management and user interaction are key when it comes to social media: Response rates are the currency of the social web. In order to achieve this, posts need to be submitted more frequently and might also need financial promotion, content needs to involve more call-to-action, visual language needs to improve
The Travel South “product” needs much explanation, but online research is growing : a comprehensive website / or at least landing page in German might be a first good step to lay the groundwork, linking to good video content on Youtube, valid and entertaining information on Facebook – and again linking back to the widespread information on the website
Lieb Management | Travel South USA 65