UK OFFICE JANUARY 2016 REPORT Prepared by: Venessa Alexander UK Director

Tour Operators  Benns/USA Tur, Oslo – We met with Bent Bjune, Sales Manager and Geir Soreng, USA Expert, to discuss performance and to provide an overview of the destination. They reported good bookings to Florida, despite exchange rates being against customers travelling from Norway. They are still seeing a mix of early and late bookings and are optimistic about the business generated during January. They also advised that the USAtur brand was no longer operating and they will be known as Benns.

Florida Huddle Met with the following operators at Florida Huddle:

 Virgin Holidays – Met with Scott Edwards, Product Manager as a follow up to a meeting held at their office in January. Room nights to the destination are currently down but Scott is not unduly worried about this as he feels it is early and things will turn around. Still trying to confirm co-op marketing with Virgin Holidays and much of this will depend on the final decision with regards a retail in-store promotion.

 American Holidays – Met with Dee Burdock, Product Manager to discuss the proposal on the table for co-op marketing later in the year. Dee advised that room nights YTD are tracking slightly up.

 Funway Holidays – Met with Melissa Tilling, Product Director. Discussed the recent co-op that we ran as part of a large Florida Beaches initiative. Room nights in 2015 were up 4.8% over 2014 and they are currently tracking up by 7.7% year to date. St Pete/Clearwater is by far their largest selling beach destination.

 BA Holidays – Met with Mark Tanner, Product Manager and discussed the consumer campaign about to launch. Confirmed detailed information about the Wednesday promotions during February.

 American Sky – Met with Kathryn Glover, Product Director. Room nights were level year on year for 2015 at 525 but are tracking up 8% so far for 2016. Kathryn understands that it will be difficult for us to allocate co-op marketing money on this base of room nights and has committed to a push on their website for the destination, to include as much content as possible.

 Hayes & Jarvis – Met with Nicola Holihead, Destination Manager who had been on the recent fam for her first visit to the area. On that basis they are looking to slightly revise the product they offer and increase their self-catering options. We will participate on a Florida training day on March 11th.

Meetings/Training/Events  Reiselivsmessen Oslo Travel Show – We participated in the annual travel show as part of Florida Beaches, which took place at Telenor Arena, Oslo on Friday 15th – Sunday 17th January, hosting approx. 350 worldwide exhibitors. This included destinations, travel agencies, transportation, hotels and activity providers. A total of approx. 41k visitors attended during the three days where brochures and information was distributed to both consumers and trade.

 Discover America Sweden Trade Show – We attended the travel workshop in Stockholm which consisted of timed workshops which allowed us to speak with and provide destination information to over 100 travel agents.

 Pre Huddle Fam trip – We finalised the itinerary and co-hosted the Pre Huddle Fam trip to St Pete/Clearwater with Visit Florida, hosting 7 UK and Irish Product Managers. Attendees were from BA Holidays, JAC Travel, TUI Specialist, America As You Like It, American Sky, American Holidays and USAirtours. The trip included accommodation for 2 nights at Barefoot Beach Resort, and the group enjoyed breakfast at Maggie Mae’s, Art from the Heart Experience, lunch at Dunedin Brewery, and dinner and drinks in downtown St Petersburg. The group also had the opportunity to visit Hyatt Regency Clearwater, Opal Sands and Sandpearl before travelling to Tampa for Huddle.

 Holiday World Show, Dublin – As part of Florida Beaches, we attended this show held over the weekend of 20th – 22nd January, which saw over 700 trade and 41.9k public attendees. The show was very well received with many enquiries from consumers who had visited Orlando previously but were looking to explore other areas on their next trip. We were able to provide brochures and maps to these customers.

TRADE LIAISON  UK Consumer Campaign – Extensive liaison with BVK, VSPC, Media Agency Group, Rooster PR and BA Holidays to finalise and sign off all elements of the campaign including artwork, landing page and detailed activity plan for the four Wednesdays in February using additional OOH media, the yetis and the wrapped taxi. Campaign launch is 1st February.

 Sainsbury Brand Affinity Campaign – We have now received the final elements for sign off in the Sainsbury campaign in association with TravelPlanners. The campaign is due to launch on the 1st February and will run for one month.

 Tour America – Confirmed a co-op marketing agreement for a Dublin out of home campaign in partnership with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment to run from 15th February for a period of one month. The campaign will include print (Sunday World Full Page Advert), digital marketing and social media (Touramerica.ie homepage takeover, retargeting digital marketing, Facebook takeover and Facebook adverts), a TV campaign (TV3 – Ireland AM promotion) and out of home activity on the Dublin tram system the Luas (tram domination, shelter wraps, internal footprints, tram stop promotion) including promotion via a Q102 radio campaign promotion including radio adverts. Work has commenced on providing Tour America with all the required elements they need to implement this activity.

 Travel Republic – Discussions continue to take place with Travel Republic and Kissimmee Tourism regarding the bespoke joint co-op marketing campaign that we are looking to run from March – May 2016.

 National brand affinity campaign – Confirmed a campaign to run in mid-March for one month with national shoe retailer, Deichman Shoes. The campaign will include in-store POS in 90 stores, online, e-newsletter and social media elements.

 USAirtours/TravelPlanners – A proposal has been received from Linda Dixey, Product Manager, regarding joint co-op marketing activity in 2016 and is currently being reviewed with a view to partnering with this tour operator again this year.

 Virgin Holidays/Virgin Retail – After our recent discussions with Sonia Hunter, Senior Marketing Executive at Virgin Holidays, we have confirmed retail activity in the form of standee graphics that will run for a period of one month from the 14th March and will feature across their entire retail network and which will take centre stage in all their retail concessions. Discussions are also taking place regarding our participation in the Visit Florida/Virgin Holidays promotion, which this year is due to run from the end of April. Other activity will also be confirmed but at this stage has not been agreed.

 Premier Holidays – We have received a marketing proposal from Clare Crowson, Marketing Manager, which includes a Trade spa/golf day, training at their head office to their sales agents, window posters for their 50+ stores, PR, website presence, and newsletter to both trade and consumer. We have asked SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment to partner with this activity, and we are just in the process of confirming dates with Premier Holidays.

 Ocean Florida – We have agreed a proposal with Ocean Holidays which will focus on the homes in St Pete/Clearwater. The activity will include 3 newsletters, homepage banner for 2 weeks, landing page, and social media. We are waiting to confirm with Lisa Barrington when this activity will go live.

 American Holidays – Discussions have been taking place with American Holidays in Ireland regarding joint co-op marketing activity in 2016. We are currently waiting on a proposal and are keen to implement a campaign in the coming months.

 Experience Kissimmee – Following our conversation with Jo Piani, we have agreed to work in partnership with them during 2016. This will include partnering them with relevant marketing campaigns with Tour Operators including Travel Republic, joint training and a possible fam trip in September.

 Virgin Holidays – Sponsored the afternoon snacks trolley for the Virgin Holidays reservations staff. This entitled us to walk the reservations floor, giving out snacks, maps and giveaways as well as having brief conversations with the staff.

 Florida’s Beaches – Finalised shipping and booth set up for the Reiselivsmessen Show in Oslo and Holiday World in Dublin.

 My America Holiday – An Orlando and St Pete Beach twin centre holiday was featured on the Visit USA newsletter which highlighted that customers are able to book multi- centre holidays online with this operator, a key selling point for them as others are unable to offer this capability online.

 Visit USA Ireland – We provided copy and images of the Dali and Disney exhibit at the Dali museum for inclusion on the Visit USA website, along with details of the new hotel developments in St Pete/Clearwater, which are now live on their website.

 BA Fam Trip – We offered suggestions for their proposed in house agent Fam trip planned for March. We will continue to support this trip where necessary.

 Magic Holidays - John Hamer, Florida Specialist contacted us to advise he was attending the Travel and Leisure Show at Village Urban Resort in Blackpool on 31st January, so we have arranged brochures and maps to be delivered for show. It is expected that there will be up to 4500 visitors attending the show.

 Visit USA UK – The Visit USA UK monthly e-newsletter that is sent to both trade and consumers featured a twin centre holiday with American Sky to Orlando and St. Pete/Clearwater. The holiday was based on a 10 night package staying at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort and the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort, St Pete Beach.

 Unike Reiser – Following our meeting at Reiselivsmessen travel show, we provided Katharina Wiig, Product Manager, up to date copy and images for their website.

 Hays Travel – We provided Lindsey Allen, Assistant Head of Hays Tour Operating, images and copy for use in their brochures and website.

ENQUIRIES: Telephone/website enquiries for information and/or literature 33

MARKET INTELLIGENCE: 7 January 2016, Source Travelbiz Tens of thousands of schoolchildren to get a 'stand-alone' week's holiday to allow their parents to take them on CHEAPER vacations Brighton and Hove City Council considering overhauling summer holidays. It comes after the Government cracked down on unauthorised absences. Holidays during July and August can cost hundreds of pounds more. Move could affect around 32,000 pupils in Brighton if it comes into power. Parents could be given a special week to take their children away for a cheaper holiday - and not get fined - if plans to cut the lengthy school summer break go ahead. Brighton and Hove City Council is considering overhauling school holiday dates to help families avoid the steep rise in the cost of breaks during the summer months. It comes after the Government cracked down on unauthorised absences from schools, telling headteachers that they can no longer let children go on holiday during the term. Families are often left with the dilemma of whether to pay more to go on holiday during the summer break, or take their child out of school and run the risk of a fine. In Brighton, the city council may look at cutting the six-week summer holiday and creating a 'standalone' week's holiday when going away is less expensive. Inset days could also be co-ordinated into a block to create a long weekend or even a full week's break at a time when holidays are less dear. New rules introduced in September 2013 mean that the 10 days of discretionary absence teachers used to be able to apply in 'special circumstances' must now only be applied in 'exceptional circumstances'. Unauthorised absences are liable to referral to the authority's Education Investigation Service, with warnings and fines a possibility. Persistent absence is currently any pupil that has 85% attendance or less. In September 2015 the Department for Education raised the persistent absence figure from 85% to 90%. That means a child who is absent for seven mornings or afternoons in half a term is classed as persistently absent. At this point any absence remains unauthorised unless medical evidence is available. Individual schools make their own decisions about when they take their inset days. The council has no powers to tell schools to take them at particular times. Councillors claimed they were introducing the move to benefit poorer families, despite the area's affluent reputation with a higher than average proportion of dynamic young workers and low proportion of single parent families. Committee chairman Tom Bewick said: 'If there is something we can do to offer lower- income families in particular the chance to take holidays that would otherwise be unaffordable then I think it's worth exploring. 'Being able to take a cheap family holiday in March, for example, would make a huge difference to thousands of local people including, of course, our teachers. An investigation by the Press Association in October revealed the number of fines given to parents for taking their children on holiday in term time has almost trebled in two years. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed that in the last academic year alone, at least 50,414 penalty notices were issued due to children being taken out of lessons for trips. This is up 25% on the year before, when at least 40,218 penalties were given out, and up 173% from the 18,484 fines handed out by local authorities in 2012/13. These figures cover 71 councils that provided data for all three years. The hikes came in the wake of a Government crackdown on absence, including strict new rules on term- time holidays introduced in England. The penalty for taking children out of school without permission is a £60 fine per child, rising to £120 if it is not paid within 21 days. Those who still fail to stump up may be prosecuted, with a maximum fine of £2,500 or a jail sentence of up to three months. In Brighton, schools make their own decisions on when to take inset days. Any plans agreed through the new proposals would not come in until the 2017-18 academic year. If councillors agree to explore the options, proposals would be brought back to a future committee for talks before further consultation with parents, carers and schools. If approved, the Brighton proposal could pave the way for other authorities to follow suit – although each council would have to pick a different week in order for the system to work.

7 January 2016, Source TravelMole Ryanair unveils new Gatwick route Ryanair will launch a new service from London Gatwick to Belfast International in March. The service will operate four times daily as part of its summer 2016 schedule. In addition, Ryanair will increase its London Gatwick to Dublin service to seven times daily from March. This means it will offer 18 daily return services in total between London and Dublin including eight from Stansted and three from Luton.

8 January 2016, Source Travelbiz The great escape starts now! Online holiday bookings are expected to peak today with post-Christmas blues pushing workers to travel sites This week was extremely busy for online bookings - up 40% on average. On Monday, January 4, British Airways also reported record web traffic. Celebrity hotspots like Miami and Jamaica also saw increased interest. Today, Friday, January 8, will see more people book a holiday online than any other day of the year as workers try and stave off the post- Christmas blues. This follows what has been an exceptionally busy week for holiday bookings - up more than 40 per cent compared to the average week. And among the most popular destinations for those looking for a New Year escape? New York, Rome and Amsterdam. Travel website Expedia.co.uk analysed site data from across the past two years and anticipate that online holiday bookings will peak today. This follows the most popular booking period of the year as people rush to secure their 2016 holidays early. British Airways reports that on Monday, January 4 - the first Monday that people returned back to work after the Christmas holiday - its website also saw record traffic, jumping more than 25 per cent. Searches reached their peak at 11.32am as workers scoured the Internet after clearing their emails and catching up with colleagues. Although New York, Rome and Amsterdam are expected by Expedia to prove most popular among holidaymakers, experts also anticipate Barcelona, Paris and Las Vegas to top travel wish lists. On Monday, British Airways saw heightened interest in holidays to New York, Orlando, Dubai, Barbados and Barcelona. Claire Bentley, managing director of British Airways Holidays, said: 'Almost everyone suffers a 'Miserable Monday' being back at work for the first time after being off during Christmas and New Year so inevitably thoughts turn to summer holidays. 'We know lots of people are mulling over places to fly and go on holiday to and have looked at lots of flights and holidays before they finally commit to a favourite destination and secure their holiday break away. 'January is the time when many of our customers are shortest of cash so they can secure their trip away with a deposit of just £150, and pay the rest up to ten weeks before departure.' The celebrity 'copy-cat culture', meanwhile, has been in full swing, with searches for holidays to Jamaica increasing by 335 per cent (compared to searches on the first day back at work last year) after Simon Cowell, Kendall Jenner and Harry Styles were spotted sunning themselves in the Caribbean over Christmas, British Airways adds. Interest in holidays to Miami also saw an uplift of 68 per cent after celebrities like Rita Ora, Caroline Flack and Nick Grimshaw were photographed ringing in the New Year at the US holiday hotspot. Recent research from Homestay.com reveals that Britons tend to stick to what they know when it comes to booking holidays, despite browsing more exotic locales. Fifty three per cent of Brits book the same holiday year on year, though 40 per cent of those polled consider themselves to be adventurous. Less explored destinations include Bhutan, Ghana and Madagascar and on average, British holidaymakers have seen less than five per cent of the world. The Northern Lights topped the poll as the dream holiday destination.

11 January 2016, Source TravelMole Visit Florida launches London campaign Visit Florida launches a month-long campaign this week designed to woo UK visitors by 'brightening up the days of Londoners'. The 'Moments of Sunshine' campaign runs throughout January, each time hosted by a different Florida partner. The first initiative will be on Tuesday morning at Waterloo train station when the tourist board's official car hire partner Hertz will surprise commuters with free gifts, including fresh oranges and free copies of Family Traveller magazine. There will also be a brief photo opportunity with an astronaut. A special Sunburst tuc-tuc will then appear at other locations across the capital, including Canary Wharf, South Bank, Old Spitalfield's Market, and Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush.

12 January 2016, Source Travelbiz Florida says UK 'more important than ever' Florida is aiming for a 6% rise in visitors from the UK this year following a rise to 1.6 million in 2014. Visit Florida vice president of global brand Susannah Costello said the UK was 'more important than ever' to the Sunshine State. Speaking as the tourist board launched its biggest every consumer, shared-brand campaign in the UK, Costello said it was aware that 'every country in the world wants in on [the UK's] long-haul travellers'. "We have always had a strong relationship with the UK, we are like tourist cousins, but now it is more important to Florida than ever before. "Your economy is great, one of the strongest in Europe, so we think it's a good time to remind you about Florida," she said. Florida is working with at least 13 trade partners, including BA, Thomas Cook and Hertz, on a month-long, London-wide campaign. The events being staged throughout January will be supported by adverts in the national press and competition to win holidays to Florida run on Heart radio. Florida has also created the first multi-destination video for TripAdvisor. In addition to the month-long campaign, the tourist board is planning to continue with educationals for travel agents throughout the year, said Costello. "One of our biggest challenges is telling people what they don't know about Florida because it is one of the most dense travel products in the world," she said. "People might think they know Florida if they've been once, but it's constantly changing. "Once there was Disney, now there's Star Wars; once there was Universal, now there's The World of Harry Potter; Miami changes almost weekly. There is such a lot going on and there are new things being added all the time."

22 January 2016, Source Travolution Early booking competition heats up as OTAs offer low deposit deals Competition for early bookings is set to be more cut-throat than ever this year after online travel agents (OTAs) introduced low‑ deposit deals. An arrangement with payments firm Wex has allowed Atol Flight‑ Plus package agents to take deposits from as little as £49 per person while adhering to Civil Aviation Authority trust fund rules. The rules require agents who dynamically package to place all customer money in a trust, even when it’s a booking with a low-cost carrier, which requires the whole fare to be paid up front. Wex pays for the flight while the deposit is placed in trust. The OTA then repays Wex when the full amount is due from the customer. Similar to a short-term bridging loan, the Wex deal is available on low-fee virtual debit cards agents use to pay for flights that incur lower charges from airlines. Among OTAs promoting low deposits are Alpharooms, dnata Travel-owned Sunmaster, Sunshine.co.uk and Teletext Holidays. Andrew Bigger, head of XML commercial at Alpharooms, said: “Everyone is offering payment deals at the moment to encourage people to book early.” OTA bosses were not concerned about the risk of cancellations, saying deposits of around £200 are high enough to secure bookings from family groups who tend to book early. Sunmaster managing director Paul Edwards said: “There is always the question of financial risk, but it’s something you have got to do now.” Teletext Holidays non-executive chairman Steve Endacott said the move meant tour operators no longer have the peaks family market to themselves. “It’s removing a reason people have not to book,” he said. For destinations that see high cancellation levels after terror attacks agents are either not offering deposits or are asking for higher downpayments.

25 January 2016, Source Travel Weekly Summer visits abroad by UK travellers rise 9.1% Visits abroad by UK travellers last summer rose by 9.1% to 22.4 million, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. Spending from overseas trips during the July to September peak period was up by 13.6% to £14.4 billion. The number of holiday trips increased by 8% year-on-year to 15.7 million. Visits to friends or relatives showed the biggest increase at 12.6% in the quarter, followed by business visits with an increase of 10.3%. UK residents spent 268.9 million nights abroad in the period, an increase of 13.4% over summer 2014. The number of nights spent in North America rose by 18% and those to Europe increased by 11.5%, while other countries saw growth of 17%. Expenditure in Europe rose by 14.3% and spending in North America increased by 25.9%. Spending in other countries was up by 4.3%. The number of international visitors to the UK in the period increased by 4.7% to 10.5 million but earnings fell by 3.8% to £7.1 billion despite a 6% rise in the number of nights spent, according to ONS.

25 January 2016, Source Travel Weekly UK holiday spend up 20% in five years Consumers now spend almost £700 per person on their annual family holiday, according to new research. The average per-person spend per trip is now £694, up 20% on five years ago when the average spend was £597. While the majority of people are shopping around for deals and savings, one in five will spend upwards of £1,000 per person when holidaying with their family this summer. The time spent planning holidays has also risen from 10 to 13 hours over the same period, the study by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found. Decisions on destinations take the most time with more than one in ten people (11%) spending nine hours picking the perfect location. Despite the care taken on booking, more than a third of people (32%) admit to rushing holiday admin and spending less than half an hour booking insurance and checking for Atol protection. A fifth (20%) admit they would sacrifice these elements if it meant getting a cheaper deal. More than two-fifths of holidaymakers (42%) now travel with their extended family, with a quarter taking their grandparents with them. Wi-Fi is cited higher on the holiday essentials list than a TV in the room, spa or gym. Travel insurance and Atol protection top the list, followed by many of the usual destination requirements, including beach, transfers included, swimming pool and guaranteed sun. Andy Cohen, head of the CAA's Atol section, said: “The tradition of the family holiday remains strong but the shape and size of these holidays is always evolving. “It is reassuring to us that more and more people each year recognise that protecting your holiday is an essential part of booking your trip, but there remains a significant number who are willing to put a cheap deal ahead of protecting their hard-earned cash. “With so many options we want to encourage people to pack peace of mind when booking their family holiday by checking for Atol protection to safeguard their holiday in case the travel company collapses.”

27 January 2016, Source Travelbiz Dara Murphy meets ambassador in lift-off effort for Cork-US flights The minister for European affairs is due to meet the US ambassador to the EU in Brussels today, as part of intense diplomatic efforts to secure the first transatlantic flights from Cork this summer. The minister, Dara Murphy, said he would stress to Anthony Gardner, America’s highest-ranking diplomat in the EU, the need for the principles of fair trade and commerce to be upheld, as the US department of transportation (DoT) continues assessing an application from Norwegian Air International (NAI), a subsidiary of low-cost giant Norwegian, for a foreign-carrier permit. NAI says despite an unprecedented two-year delay assessing its application, it is still committed to launching its Cork-to-Boston service in May, and a Cork-to-New York service next year. “I will be highlighting the urgency around the need for the US DoT to make a decision on NAI’s foreign-carrier permit application, and also highlighting the spirit of the ‘open skies’ policy,” said Mr Murphy. Today’s meeting is the latest diplomatic effort to secure a licence from the US DoT, which would clear the way for NAI to launch the Cork-to-Boston service in May. The Irish Examiner has also learnt that the DoT has, in recent months, granted foreign-carrier permits to Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary, Eurowings, to LCC SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, and to Spanish airline Evelop. The DoT has granted such rights to at least 64 European airlines since the ‘open skies’ agreement was signed in 2007. The average wait for applications was 53 days.