The Pinellas County Tourist Development Council (as created

Calls
Clearwater, Florida, April 12, 2006
Leads Workshop Contacts Mailed Mailed Shows
October 51 7 5 7 12 1
November 43 1 1 17 17 7 4
December 36 16 5 11
January 46 22 7 20 3
February 55 2 6 48 6 27 3
March 49 3 2 29 7 33 1
April
May
June
July
August
September
UNITED KINGDOM REPRESENTATION
Mr. Daniel referenced the following report submitted by Mr. Geoffrey
Rowcliffe, UK Representative, which has been made a part of the member’s packets.
FLORIDA’S BEACHES:
UK OFFICE
MARCH 2006 REPORT
Prepared by: Geoff Rowcliffe, UK Director
TUR,
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – MARCH 23/26: The Florida’s Beaches consortium once again exhibited in the See America Pavilion at this show. For the first
time in a number of
years, the Pavilion featured other Florida destinations. Both Kissimmee and the Florida Keys had small booths at the show.
The trade days at the show were slightly down on 2005, but the consumer days showed a substantial increase in attendance. Total attendance for 2006 was 53,000
giving an increase of 5000 on the 2005 attendance figure. Over 600 copies of the literature of each of the four partners was distributed.
The
annual tour operator dinner was held on Thursday, March 23. The hosts representing Florida included Delta Airlines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Kissimmee
Convention Bureau and Florida’s Beaches. Thirteen senior personnel from Nordic tour operators were guests, including representatives from Swanson’s, Select Travel,
Go West, E-Bookers, My Planet and Gulliver’s Travel.
SWANSON’S
TRAVEL: Swanson’s Travel is the largest tour operator in Sweden to the USA. They have been retained by Royal Caribbean Cruises to assist
with the trade launch of a new vessel, “Freedom of the Seas”, which will cruise out of Miami. On April
23 a train has been chartered to take representatives of the
Swedish travel trade to view the vessel in Oslo. One carriage on the train will consist of a lecture theatre and Swanson’s have
been invited to mount a series of training
sessions for the passengers. Tommy Swanson, the CEO of Swanson Travel, wants to focus on the pre and post cruise options in Florida and
has invited the Florida’s
Beaches consortium to be a central theme in his presentation. Florida’s Beaches have agreed to provide the special Florida map created by the partnership to highlight
the four destinations for use in Swanson’s Power Point presentation. Each partner will also provide 350 copies of their small area guide for distribution to those
attending the presentations.
VISIT FLORIDA:
On March 21, the UK office attended a Visit Florida partners meeting. 11 partners attended the meeting.
Visit Florida confirmed that all sources of information are predicting a flat year for Florida and the USA in general. There is a continuing trend towards late bookings
and the use of the internet. However, overall consumer
spending is down in the UK.
TIA has advised that the registration of UK buyers for Pow Wow 2006 is down by about 10%. It seems apparent that, due to consolidation and cost, UK companies are
reducing
the number
of delegates they send to Pow Wow.
Visit Florida have experienced increasing difficulty in pers uading the UK travel trade to attend trade functions and have, therefore, decided in 2007 to move
back into
consumer
shows. Visit Florida advised that whilst the final budget is not yet approved, they plan to exhibit at the 2007 Holiday
& Travel Show in Manchester and
Glasgow.
Based on input from the previous partners meeting, they plan to create a more professional look to their booth and make the cost of participation more
competitive. Several partners indicated they would
reserve judgement on joining Visit Florida at the shows until further details of the offers were available.
Visit Florida plan to repeat the annual northern and southern tour operator advisory lunches in 2007.
The 2006 World Travel Market booth is being redesigned and the “Florida Night” function is being moved to the Savoy Hotel.
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