Simon Pardoe - Marketing & Business Development

With all the economic doom and gloom being bandied about in the media, you’d think the world was coming to the end.  Well, OK, it might be soon!  But in the meantime, my client – The Healthy Holiday Company – is having a rip roaring start to the year.  Last week produced the highest ever week of bookings, the best ever single day of bookings, and – taking the month of January to date as a whole – sales are up 52% on last year.  Another record.  We know, from talking to other Tour Operators, that they are experiencing similar business at the moment, but nobody else is telling us that they are over 50% up on last year.  The median figure appears to be nearer 30%.  So, it looks like our carefully planned and targeted New Year promotions are really paying off.

This continues the upward trend in sales at The Healthy Holiday Company, with turnover for calendar year 2011 up over 30% on 2010, with all of the brands contributing strongly to performance.  This is very exciting as we are about to launch a new luxury tailor-made healthy holiday service that we anticipate contributing directly to the bottom line in the coming year.  The existing brands – in:spa retreats, Fitscape fitness holidays and destination yoga holidays are all fixed date offerings.  In other words, if the dates don’t suit you or if a particular trip is fully booked, we have to offer the potential client different dates.  However, the new brand – to be called The Healthy Holiday Company – will no longer be the name of the holding company but will become a consumer facing brand in its own right.  This launches in February and we expect it to have instant impact, courtesy of the 12,000 people we now have on the database, and the similar number of unique visitors that visit our websites each month.

It has taken over a year to put all the necessary agreements and expert ingredients in place for the launch of The Healthy Holiday Company website, and everyone is very excited about the prospects.  There will be loads of amazing holidays on offer for both adults and families, such as ski safaris in the Italian Dolomites, mountain biking in the Atlas Mountains, luxury villas in Marrakech and Cape Town, spa retreats to Bali, wellness holidays to Thailand, golf tours to South Africa, surfing in Portugal, yoga in India, dude ranches in Montana, desert safaris in Dubai, detox retreats in Austria, Spain and Germany, sailing in Croatia, white water rafting down the Zambezi, multi activity holidays in Mauritius etc. etc.

If you would like to be notified of when the new site goes live, please click here

I’ve just returned from a trip to southern Spain to play golf for a few days at Valderama with friends, but stayed on for a couple of extra days to check out some potential new properties for my client The Healthy Holiday Company.  However, only one of these was genuinely worth investigating:  Shanti Som.  It’s a most extraordinary place; a little slice of Bali in Andalusia.  Their idea is: why bother to fly long haul to south east Asia when you can jump on a short haul flight to Malaga and experience much the same thing?

Once you step through the doors of this boutique 14 bedroom residence, you enter another world.  Its stylish and elegant design, high beamed ceilings, thatched roof-tops, tinkling water and liberal sprinkling of giant Buddhas all create the sense of being on another continent.  It’s bizarre, but delightfully welcoming and instantly calming.

Tucked away in a shallow valley, surrounded by rolling hills and open countryside, Shanti Som lets you escape the hustle and bustle of modern life and immerse yourself in all things healthy and peaceful.  The food is delicious, nutritious and healthy; the spa offers an excellent array of treatments and therapies; the yoga pavillion is a triumph; the hillside pool is a tranquil oasis and the bedrooms are supremely comfortable, and all with stunning en suite shower rooms.  In addition to the 12 standard deluxe bedrooms, there are two larger suites, both with spacious wrap-around terraces.

As it’s only recently opened, Shanti Som is clearly struggling to generate business at the moment.  So much so that I swiftly agreed that ‘destination yoga’ (The Healthy Holiday Company’s specialist yoga holiday brand) would host a 5 night retreat there over New Year.  As a result, Liz Lark will be teaching guests on this retreat, with morning and evening classes every day.  Prices will start at £745 per person sharing, to include 5 nights accommodation, brunch and dinner every day, all yoga classes, and free use of the sauna, steam room and pool.

We plan to establish several more destination yoga weeks at Shanti Som during 2012.

Whilst it is something that my client, The Healthy Holiday Company already knows,  it’s good to see that it is being endorsed by third party research:  sporting holidays are destined to become a winning trend.

According to the latest survey of the World Travel Monitor, commissioned by ITB Berlin, over the last five years there has been a double-digit increase in sporting holidays among European tourists, which has even overtaken cruises, which five years ago ranked ahead of sporting holidays. Germans in particular are keenest on sports, and account for 42 per cent of the nine million sporting holidays taken by Europeans abroad. At 14 per cent the Dutch rank second. In other European markets sporting holidays make up only six per cent or less.

Among sporting holidaymakers the most popular destination is Austria, which among Europeans attracts 24 per cent of the market, followed by Italy and Germany, which each account for 11 per cent. During the last five years Germans also preferred Austria for testing their sporting limits. At 42 per cent Austria ranks ahead of Italy (18 per cent) and Switzerland (14 per cent).

The most popular activities among European sporting holidaymakers are hiking (38 per cent) and cycling tours (23 per cent). They are followed in third by motor sports (car, motorcycle and motorboat racing) at 14 per cent. At ten per cent golf ranks fourth in the sporting popularity stakes. Among German sporting holidaymakers hiking (34 per cent) and cycling (25 per cent) are the leaders among the top ten most popular sporting activities. Nine per cent of German sporting holidaymakers prefer golf.

Dr. Martin Buck, director of the Competence Center Travel and Logistics at Messe Berlin: ”Sporting holidays are a niche segment with a serious potential for tourism in the future. A growing awareness of one’s body and mind means that people are increasingly keen to improve their health when on vacation.“

What is striking is that sporting holidaymakers belong to the wealthier parts of society and as such are a much targeted segment of the market. European sporting holidaymakers average 43 years of age, and most of them live in households without children. More men than women are attracted to sports when they are on holiday. At 45 years of age, German sporting holidaymakers may be a little older than the European average, but in all other respects they are no different than other European citizens.

I have just returned from a brief trip to France visiting two leading spas and a privately owned chateau, as part of a fact finding trip for my client: The Healthy Holiday Company.  My first visit was to Chateau Dumas (pictured), about 45 minutes north of Toulouse.  Located on top of a hill with panoramic 360 degree views of rolling countryside and medieval towns and villages in the distance, I will be recommending that this comfortable, elegant Chateau be added to the company’s portfolio of properties for 2012 as a destination yoga venue.  The beautiful, oak beamed yoga studio is light and airy and just a short stroll across the Chateau’s formal gardens from the main building. There are currently 12 bedrooms, ranging from large suites to smaller studio rooms, and – by next Spring – 3 or 4 new bedrooms will be added in the delightful gate house.

The 18th century Chateau was purchased by an English couple six years ago and been lovingly restored and updated. The bedrooms all now have sleek, contemporary bath or shower rooms, and the feel of the place is like that of a large privately owned country house. Which, effectively, is what it is.

We look forward to formally introducing this terrific new addition to our detination yoga portfolio in a few weeks time, once all the paperwork etc. has been completed.

I also visited two exceptional spas.  The first, Les Sources de Caudalie, is located in the heart of the Bordeaux wine region on the Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte estate.  The spa is only 11 years old but has been so painstakingly built using reclaimed materials that it feels as it has been there for centuries.  The accommodation is super luxurious – there are 40 bedrooms, of which half are suites, and all have wonderful views of the surrounding countryside.  The spa (with 22 treatment rooms and an indoor pool) uses bespoke Caudalie treatments and creams which use as their base ingredient the skin of the pips of the grapes, and is the world’s first vinotherapie spa.  The ethos of the property is luxury pampering and pleasure.  So, more for relaxation and indulgence rather than slimming or detoxing.

I also visited Les Pres d’Eugenie which is about 150kms south of Bordeaux near Pau.  This is a long established Relais & Chateaux hotel with 80 bedrooms, a 3 star Michelin restaurant, a traditional spa and a medical spa, set in 25 acres of well maintained gardens.  Apart from the benefit of exceptional spa treatments, based around both relaxation and slimming, the 3 star restaurant is the magic ingredient as the chefs create outstanding gourmet meals with very few calories.  It’s called cuisine minceur and each day’s meals come to about 1,100 calories, including breakfast.  And a glass of wine!

The reason for visiting the spas is that The Healthy Holiday Company is about to launch a new bespoke healthy holiday service that will include a selection of the world’s top spas.  Now there will be two in France in the collection!

Some interesting observations from World Travel Monitor, commissioned by ITB Berlin, and all good news for my specialist travel client: The Healthy Holiday Company.  It’s luxury health, fitness and detox brand – in:spa retreats – is the most directly relevant to World Travel Monitor‘s research.

German citizens are becoming more and more aware of the importance of staying healthy and energetic. Increasingly, they are taking health vacations to reduce everyday stress or to stay fit for their jobs. Over the past five years holidays at wellness and spa resorts have risen by 30 per cent.

Germans are especially interested in health vacations: at 3.3 million vacations, equivalent to 4. 6 per cent of all trips abroad, Germans are more interested in foreign health and medical tourism than their European neighbours. Currently, health and medical travel accounts for a total of 9.4 million trips or 2.4 per cent of all European travel abroad. Across Europe, over the past five years health vacations have increased by 38 per cent. Medical tourism has also risen by 24 per cent.

Martin Buck, the director of the Competence Centre Travel and Logistics at Messe Berlin: “Everywhere in Europe health vacations, which help to prevent society-related illnesses, are becoming more and more popular. This is a big opportunity for organizers, hotels and destinations to expand and improve their services.“

Germans and Russians are much keener to take health vacations than their European neighbours. Whereas the German market for health vacations abroad is approximately six times the size of Russia’s, with German citizens medical tourism accounts for only 22 per cent more. The French market is the third largest for foreign health trips, while Holland’s is the third largest for medical tourism abroad.

Among German citizens the most popular foreign destination for health trips is Spain, followed by Italy and Austria. The countries most visited for medical reasons are Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In Europe as a whole, the most popular countries for health trips are Spain, Italy and Austria, while Hungary, Germany and the Czech Republic are the leading destinations for medical tourism.

Women prefer cure leave to wellness vacations
According to the World Travel Monitor’s survey, socio-demographics also play a part. At an average age of 48, Europeans taking health vacations are younger than people travelling for medical reasons, who are 53. German travellers in both categories are older than the European average. People taking health vacations are 52 and those travelling for medical reasons are 61. Women prefer to travel for medical reasons rather than take health vacations. However they outnumber their male counterparts in both categories.

Massages less popular with Germans
Europeans say that when taking health vacations they prefer relaxing (50 per cent), followed by walking / hiking and swimming (43 per cent each). Among Germans, the most popular activities are walking / hiking (48 per cent), relaxing (47 per cent), followed by swimming (44 per cent). Germans are slightly keener on wellness programmes (30 per cent) than their European neighbours (26 per cent). By contrast, massages are less popular with Germans (15 per cent) than with Europeans as a whole (26 per cent).

Russia and China: a small, but growing share of the market
At growth rates of slightly under 100 per cent and 100 per cent plus respectively, at 0.4 million and 0.3 million trips each in 2010, at three per cent each of the holiday market in all categories, Russia and China are developing into attractive markets for health vacations, particularly for their neighbouring countries.

2007 was the last great year for almost all tour operators, including my client The Healthy Holiday Company.  2008 was pretty good, but only to the extent that the advance bookings made in the go go days of 2007 were still being redeemed.  Then everything came crashing down along with Lehman Brothers and the world plunged into a banking crisis and almost all consumers suddenly stopped spending.  So, 2008 and 2009 were dire, and there was a little bit of an up-tick in 2010.  Indeed, The Healthy Holiday Company returned to profitability.  But what’s happening in 2011?  Sales to end June 2011 were the same as the whole of 2010.  The obvious question is: why?  Apart from the simple point that we believe we have a selection of great holiday packages at attractive prices, we think there are six significant reasons…

First:  the strategic decision we took in 2008 to invest in launching two new niche consumer brands (fitscape – for exceptional fitness holidays at around £1,500 per person per week; and destination yoga for superior yoga holidays at approx. £900 per person per week) to complement the long standing (since 2003)  in:spa retreats brand (specializing in luxury health, fitness and detox retreats at around £2,500 per person per week).  Each brand targets a different market at a different price point, giving The Healthy Holiday Company a broader market reach and allowing our existing customers to trade up or down within our price points / holiday offerings to suit their requirements.

Second:  it takes time for new brands to become sufficiently exposed in the market as regards the all important ‘word of mouth’ introductions.  It’s now 2 years.  Alongside this, and equally importantly, it takes about the same length of time (unless you have very deep pockets) for Search Engine Optimisation on Google to really start delivering results for a company’s key words and phrases.  For example, destination yoga now appears on page 1 of Google for searches for ‘yoga holidays’ and ‘fitness holidays’ searches now return fitscape on page 1 of Google.

Third:  customer loyalty.  Approximately 33% of sales are to guests who have been on one or more of our holidays / holiday brands in the past.  This is true for each of the last 5 years.  So for every three new guests we attract in any given year, we can be sure that at least one will book another holiday with us again in the same or the following year.

Fourth:  almost all of our customers are in the higher socio-economic categories.  Whilst they, like everyone else, got thoroughly spooked in the early to mid part of the banking crisis / recession, they didn’t lose their (mostly private sector) jobs and actually found their costs of living (such as mortgage rates) decreasing or staying flat.  So, by 2011, with as much money or more as they had before, our customers are bored of not having a good time and not taking as much holiday as they would like, and with increasing confidence that the economy is moving in the right direction (or, at least, is in better shape than it has been in recent years) – are now choosing to spend their money on looking after themselves on a healthy holiday in the sunshine.  This brings us nicely to the fifth point…

Fifth: health and holidays go very well together, particularly amongst the more affluent 35 year old and upwards age groups.

Sixth:  the holiday companies that appear to be doing best are the specialist niche operators.  And The Healthy Holiday Company is certainly one of those!

The travel industry is making use of social media but it’s still doubtful about return on investment, TravelMole’s Travel Industry Question Time session heard in London on 5 July 2011

With limited budgets, lack of clarity on strategy and a fear of negative responses, only sections of the industry have grasped the nettle when it comes to engaging with consumers, delegates heard, and even then they may not be using social media as effectively as they could be.

With a panel of experts comprising search agency Hit Riddle’s Matt Barker, review site Qype’s Sarah Drinkwater, advertising agency Conrad’s Nick Henley and social media agency Yomego’s Richard Rust, the debate on how best to use the likes of TripAdvisor, Twitter and Facebook saw many at the session admit they were still perplexed on how to measure whether it was working in terms of bookings.

But Drinkwater was adamant everyone in the industry needed to get onboard. She said: “For me, it’s not a matter of whether you want to engage, it’s about having to. Businesses are nervous about it but more and more they are realising that it’s the best way forward to reach new consumers and solidify what the brand is.”

Henley added: “The problem with social media is that you put the money in and you have to work out where the value comes back. But people can’t always measure that.”  Hit Riddle’s Matt Barker disagreed with Drinkwater, however.  He said: “There is a myth that you have to do social media.  It is not necessary for everyone’s online marketing strategy. I think there is just too much hype about social media.  I ran a marketing team for a travel agency and I know that the traffic you generate from a Facebook campaign will not give you quality leads as much as more traditional stuff like organic search or pay per click.”  He said leads from travel discussion forums were much stronger than those from general social networking sites. “People using Facebook are not necessarily on the purchasing cycle,” he explained.

Yomego’s Richard Rust believes that it’s crucial to enter the social media world simply because it is an extension of people’s every day lives. He explained:  “It’s intrinsic to how people purchase things and that’s why Premier Inn incorporated TripAdvisor views onto its site.  Enhancing your reputation is very valuable – it’s just about measuring its value.”

But all agreed that if companies are to engage in social media, then it has to be done properly and consistently.
Said Drinkwater: “There are dangers in not using it wisely. You must have something to talk about, useful content and a particular campaign in mind.”  Henley said one of the best aspects about social media was that it made companies raise their game.  He explained:  “You can’t go out there and start talking about your company unless it’s good.  Social media makes you sort your house out.”

It was also unanimously agreed that companies should take a cross-departmental approach to social media.  Said Henley:  “15 years ago, when we talked to companies about the internet, the web was dealt with by a single department. Now it impacts every department. It should be the same approach for social media. Everyone should be involved in reacting to customer feedback.”

Have just returned from a week in South Africa, concentrating my focus on properties in and around Cape Town, but also including a quick trip up to the eastern Cape to visit a malaria free (i.e. family friendly) game reserve called Kwandwe.  The object of the trip was to (a) meet with the two sisters who own and run the Ground Handling Agency (GHA) that my client, The Healthy Holiday Company (THHC), had been recommended; (b) visit a selection of 4 and 5 star private houses and apartments (c) inspect the best residential spas.  We covered a lot over the week, but the most important aspect was discovering that our GHA totally understood what we were looking for and completely understood the idea behind THHC’s new venture.

The new venture?  Historically, THHC has operated fixed date trips on its three consumer facing brands (in:spa, fitscape and destination yoga) and is seeking to enter the more traditional Tour Operating world by offering holidays – whenever and wherever (within reason) – the client chooses, but with a ‘healthy’ service overlay.  For example, if group of friends wanted to visit Cape Town and stay in a 5 star cottage on the beach, THHC can provide that.  But so could lots of other operators.  The difference is that THHC will provide customers with a selection of healthy services to make the trip truly special.  For example, a yoga teacher could visit the property every other evening, whilst a fitness trainer could visit for an hour or two each morning.  Guests may require the service of a specialist chef, or wish to go on a hike across Table Mountain, or spend a day exploring Fransch Hoek on road bikes, or take to the mountain trails on mountain bikes with a professional guide.  Essentially, THHC will offer a menu of interesting and varied health and fitness activities for guests, and will then create a bespoke schedule for each group.  The packages will be available for both adults and families.

We are now busy working on itineraries and prices so that the smorgasbord of opportunities will be ready for the launch of THHC’s new website in June.

The European Travel Commission (ETC) has just published its first quarterly report on European Tourism in 2011 – Trends & Prospects. The following gives a brief overview of the report for the first quarter of 2011.

• Destination and industry data indicate a positive start to 2011. Foreign visitor arrivals were reported higher through the beginning months of the year by most destinations.
• Both airline and hotel industry data confirm the continuation of travel growth to Europe, however at a more measured pace than experienced during the peak growth periods of 2010.
• International passenger traffic to Europe outpaced global growth over the first two months of the year. European airlines also report growth in traffic over the first 14 weeks of 2011, but growth has slowed over recent weeks.
• Hotel occupancy has improved further, but appears to have peaked. Average Daily Rates continue to push up across Europe in response to demand.
• ETC expect the overall growth trend to slow in 2011 as comparisons are made to stronger performance in 2010 and high energy prices affect both disposable income and transportation costs.
• Wage spiral inflation is unlikely in the developed economies as unemployment and spare capacity persist. Capacity utilisation is higher in emerging markets where food and energy prices are also having a bigger impact, thus more monetary tightening is expected. The aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake will affect the Japanese economy and consequently outbound travel considerably in the short run. Japan is likely to briefly re-enter recession in 2011 with a 10% drop in outbound travel. A considerable rebound is expected on both fronts in 2012.
• Capacity of European airlines continues to expand, carrying on the trend from late 2010. Capacity surged between late 2010 and early 2011, averaging a 7.8% increase in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) over the first 14 weeks of 2011. This should translate into competitive fares and act as a driver to travel demand over the next 6-8 months.