Memberandum-Greater Phoenix CVB

INDUSTRY NEWS

Travel Industry Announces Thousands of Jobs for Workers Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

The travel industry announced thousands of jobs available to workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The positions appear on www.katrinajobs.org, a clearinghouse for travel and tourism industry jobs developed jointly by The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), in partnership with the Travel & Tourism Coalition and the Travel Business Roundtable.

The travel industry in the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama accounts for $18.3 billion in travel-related business annually and more than 260,000 industry jobs. The travel and tourism industry is the largest private employer in New Orleans.

Hundreds of hospitality and travel & tourism companies currently have posted positions on the site, with others expected to join the effort and list open positions. Furthermore, businesses from any American industry can also post available jobs. Job seekers have the opportunity to post their resumes, job qualifications and search the available openings.

TIA is also creating a special section on its website to gather information and provide links to efforts performed by others in the travel industry in support of those affected by the recent hurricane. The site will also include statistics that show the travel-related economic impact on the devastated regions.

Companies that wish to post positions should go to www.katrinajobs.org.

Source www.tia.org

Travel Industry Association and D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd Partner to Provide "State-of-the-Art" Travel Research

Two leaders in the travel industry announced a market research partnership that will significantly improve the travel industry’s research-based information. This new partnership will better serve the U.S. destination markets and launch new research information products for other sectors such as cruise, gaming and timeshare.

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), whose renowned TravelScope program has been widely used among its 2,000 members and others in the travel industry to monitor U.S. travel volume and profile existing and emerging travel markets, and D.K. Shifflet & Associates (DKS&A), which has specialized in market research for the destination marketing, travel and lodging industries under the umbrella brand name DIRECTIONS®, announced they will combine survey operations and jointly release an enhanced product under the name TIA TravelScope®/DIRECTIONS® by DKS&A.

“While maintaining our reputation for independent analysis and insight, we will be able to take advantage of DKS&A’s sophisticated ongoing survey, as well as their research capabilities and user-friendly software, DIRECTABSSM, to provide additional information and to offer an even better TravelScope product to our members and clients,” said Suzanne Cook, TIA’s Senior Vice President of Research. “This new partnership will enable us to focus on providing richer information that is even more relevant and timely by leveraging more than two decades of experience and expertise from each of the two industry leaders.”

Doug Shifflet, President of DKS&A, said: “With the support of and input from TIA, we have now created one source of ongoing consumer intelligence and benchmarking of total industry volume and traveler activity in each sector, including destinations, airlines, lodging, traveler activities and more. We will be providing a state-of-the-art product developed and reviewed by the most experienced minds in the business.”

Source: www.tia.org

Price not Always King in Leisure Travel Decisions

The latest study from the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), Leisure Travel Planning: How Consumers Make Travel Decisions, shows that leisure travelers decide where they want to go and for how long before they consider the price tag.

The study helps travel industry professionals understand leisure travel decision-making among U.S. residents and the role of pricing in a highly competitive environment.

Based on the responses of more than 5,000 consumers who had taken at least one overnight leisure trip in the past year, leisure travelers most often decide on the trip destination before other decisions. Also, travelers tend to make the key decisions of destination and trip duration before deciding on a trip budget.

“Travelers continue to shop mercilessly for the lowest prices after they’ve made these two decisions,” TIA’s Suzanne Cook, Senior Vice-President, Research, commented on the report. “Obviously the destination or company that gets travelers interested in their offerings before the question turns to price has an advantage.”

Many factors affect leisure travel decisions: The trip occasion has the greatest influence overall (52% reported this as very or extremely influential). Travel companions (46%), time available (43%), and available finances (42%) also were important influencers. The time of year (38%), travel prices (32%), and information sources (21%) played lesser roles.

The most popular leisure trip occasions are: entertainment (for vacation or short getaways), family-centered, outdoor recreation, and combined business/pleasure. Findings suggest that money may not be travelers’ first concern when planning travel. In fact, more than half (55%) do not stick to a rigid budget as they travel, allowing themselves to stay flexible with their spending. Only about 14 percent of travelers stick to an exact budget while they are taking a leisure trip and 31 percent of leisure trips do not have a budget at all.

When selecting a leisure travel destination, important factors for travelers include a destination where they feel safe (46%), available activities (45%), and nearby friends/family (43%). Deals and discounts (22%) mentioned as the least important factor when choosing a destination.

Leisure Travel Planning also takes an in-depth look at the accommodation and transportation choices among U.S. leisure travelers. The study shows that location (60%) and comfort (57%) are priorities in choosing accommodations. Also important are the cost of the room (47%) and privacy (42%). Of slightly lesser importance are amenities (32%), the ability to accommodate the size of the travel party (28%) and special deals/promotions/discounts.

Also included in this report is data and analysis regarding information used for planning a trip and the parties involved, as well as methods for booking various components of the trip. Overall, the report helps to illustrate the complexity of leisure travel planning.

Source: www.tia.org