By Caroline Beteta
After months of doom and gloom news about major losses in the travel industry, there’s no better time to focus our attention on the light at the end of the recession tunnel.
There are encouraging signs that consumer confidence may be foreshadowing a better year than originally anticipated, which could mean positive news for tourism.
Consumer confidence increased in April and May, according to the U.S. Conference Board. That confidence is reflected in travelers’ intentions for vacations and business trips in the next 12 months.
In November, only 10% of travelers said they foresaw increasing their travel in the next 12 months from a year earlier, according to Travelocity.com LP’s traveler confidence report. By April, that figure rose to 21%.
The converse is true as well,the percentage of those planning to decrease travel in the next year compared to a year earlier fell significantly from November (34%) to April (24%).
A key factor: smart marketing. The travel media’s touted “year of the deal” has helped turn the tide, with decreased airfare and value hotel packages giving wary travelers an offer they can’t refuse.
When asked how lower prices would impact travel plans, a quarter said lower airfares would allow them to take a trip they had not expected, while 18% said lower hotel rates would allow them to stay at a hotel with a higher star rating.
Best of all, travel budgets overall are stronger than anticipated. According to Travelocity, two-thirds of respondents report their summer travel budgets will remain the same or increase from a year earlier. Of the third planning to reduce their budgets, the vast majority will do so by 50% or less.
In California, the picture is looking a little rosier as well. Despite a difficult fourth quarter, data released in April show that travel spending in California increased 0.9% to $97.6 billion for the year, according to Dean Runyan Associates of Portland, Ore.
Also, the number of domestic stays was down just 1% in 2008, despite high gas prices in the first half of the year and the economic downfall in September, according to D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd. of McLean, Va.
Contributing to this stability is the large number of travelers within California. They helped boost in-state leisure travel by 6.4% last year, according to D.K. Shifflet & Associates.
The international markets had an even better year in 2008, with overseas visitors to California up 3.5% for the year and international visitor spending up 9.6%, according to the Department of Commerce and Dean Runyan Associates.
Looking forward, 78% of traveling Californians surveyed recently by Strategic Marketing & Research Inc. of Indiana said that they intend to take a trip within the state in the next 12 months.
This is on par with intentions from a year ago (79%) and is up considerably from fall (71%).
It seems that despite economic difficulties in California, residents are becoming more optimistic. California is also a top destination for visitors from other western states, and the numbers indicate that travel intentions from these “primary” markets,Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Utah,are high, with more than half (52%) of those surveyed declaring intentions to visit the Golden State in the next year.
This is up a bit from last year (50%) and again up considerably from fall (45%).
This is good news for the Orange County tourism industry, which attracts about $8.5 billion in visitor spending each year, supporting 86,000 jobs.
Although we are seeing some encouraging trends, it’s important that the travel industry in California and the U.S. not take this for granted, and continue to provide the greatest value possible for consumers by creating “must do” deals and experiences.
Destination marketers also must do their best to remind consumers about the benefits of travel, from creating special memories in wonderful places to enhancing health, relationships and productivity.
We believe it’s important to continue working smarter together to make the light at the end of the tunnel grow brighter and brighter.
Beteta is chief executive of California Travel & Tourism Commission, a nonprofit venture of the state of California and the travel industry.
