Disneyland’s 50th anniversary has at least one travel agency working overtime: its own.
Walt Disney Travel Co. California in Anaheim brings more than 1 million people to Southern California each year, according to Kenneth Svendsen, vice president of travel operations and in-market sales for the unit.
“This destination is known for having a booking window of 45 to 60 days,” Svendsen said. “With the 50th anniversary, we’ve seen an expanded booking window of 90 to 100 days for the first time.”
The bulk of those travelers come from the West and most fly into John Wayne Airport. Walt Disney Travel pitches roughly 40 hotels in the Anaheim area.
Package travelers get some perks, including savings on a three-day park hopper ticket and early morning park entry and character visits at Toontown for package customers.
Tour operators might not be household names here, but they do have a big impact. Some 33.3 million adults who traveled in the past year say they bought a travel package in the past three years, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association.
Travelers pick package tours through groups such as United Vacations, Southwest Vacations, Funjet Vacations and other wholesalers who work directly with hotels and attractions to create tours. Many of the Southland travelers end up in Orange County.
Milwaukee-based Mark Travel Corp. and Anaheim-based Walt Disney Travel are among the largest inbound operators for U.S. visitors.
Mark Travel brings 28,000 vacationers each year. Most come on Southwest Vacations packages, though the company represents 16 tour groups.
The typical package traveler is 43 years old, according to the Travel Industry Association. Some 68% are married and half have children. Household income is $72,400 on average.
“People who buy packages sit down in advance and plan it out,typically, they are bigger spenders,” Svendsen said.
International operators also are important.
International travelers make up 5% of OC visitors,2.2 million people,but account for 12% of the travelers who stay in hotels. Visitors who stay in OC hotels spent $361 per day in 2004.
California visitors from outside the U.S. traditionally have come mainly from Japan, Germany and the U.K., though that’s changing with India moving up to No. 8 and China expected to break the top 10 soon.
FunSun Vacations, the No. 1 inbound tour operator from Canada, brings about 50,000 people to OC each year. Canadians stay for five days per trip.
“The majority come to Disneyland,” said Terry Vanderlinden, FunSun’s director of marketing.
Other top attractions include Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Legoland, San Diego Zoo, Pechanga Casino and Tijuana, he said.
Some 40,000 European visitors to California a year are lured by New World Travel, which is affiliated with DER Travel, the largest agent in Germany.
“Most tour the entire Southwest and stay for two to three weeks,” said Jeff Karnes, New World’s regional vice president and general manager.
Karnes said pent-up travel demand and a favorable exchange rate for Europeans should bolster visitor numbers this year. Industry analysts project international travel to the Southland to be up by about 10% this year.
The Los Angeles office of Japan Travel Bureau is the top tour operator from Japan, bringing 21,000 people to the Southland annually, including OC.
That doesn’t include visitors booked by JTB’s international group.
“They do three times more,” said Nagako Vermillion, director of Japan Travel Bureau in L.A.
Japanese visitors typically stay one to two weeks, Vermillion said.
Visitor numbers from Japan plunged after the 2001 terrorist attacks, down from 800,000 travelers to Southern California in 1997 to 320,000 in 2002. Last year, 400,000 visitors came from Japan.
Gov. Schwarzenegger’s tourism trade mission to Japan last fall helped restore confidence, Vermillion said.
“There will be more this year,” she predicted, saying the favorable exchange rate and Disney’s anniversary would help bring visitors back.
“In the case of foreign tour groups, the local operator’s service is invaluable in providing cultural and commercial understanding of a destination,” said John Lu, president of Best of USA Marketing in L.A.
_________________________________________________________
The Accidental Operator
Bed and breakfast inns aren’t typical lodging for packaged tours.
But when California Travel and Tourism Commission member Rick Anderson went to Japan with a trade mission headed by Gov. Schwarzenegger last fall, he was told that Japanese wanted to see more than just major attractions.
So Anderson, president of the California Association of B & Bs; and owner of Casa Tropicana in San Clemente, invited some of the Japanese tour operators to come visit.
“One of the main themes we heard from the tour operators was that the Japanese are getting away from tour bus trips and wanted to know how to see the real California,” he said.
In January, six Japanese visitors came for a week, traveling by van and plane from OC to San Francisco.
,Sandi Cain
