Looking ahead to November 16-17 in Orlando, we want to keep you informed. We’re currently in the planning stages for this year’s RTO Summit and INBOUND Symposium—the later is the new name for all of the Summit’s first-day educational seminars and panel discussions. We’re updating the SYMPOSIUM program content as well as the mix of receptive operators invited to the one-on-one appointments to reflect the latest trends in the marketplace, including:
-New direct service from Emirates into Orlando means more lift and better access from India and Middle East to Florida and Deep South destinations. Forty percent of the passengers on Gulf airlines (Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Air and Etihad) arriving in the USA are from India.
-Chinese tour operators, driven by the FIT and MICE market, are now expanding programs in Florida, and the Southeast
-Colombia is emerging as one of Latin America’s surprising new growth markets and little is known about this market.
Updates To RTO Summit Orlando—Inbound Symposium Topics:
-First, theRTO Symposium-Orlando has been rebranded as the INBOUND Symposium in order to leverage the INBOUND Report newsletter, which now has over 1,800 weekly readers.
How Gulf air carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar, are driving growth from India and the Middle East
– “In Conversation” with leading receptive tour operators about their business and perceptions of the industry
-Open Skies or Bust: While the three US legacy carriers try to limit competition from the Gulf airlines, inbound tourism will be the biggest casualty
-What Do Tour Operators Want? A selection of RTOs discuss their needs and answer questions.
-The state of MICE. What incentive operators are looking for in 2016 and 2017.
-Latin America updates from operators who sell in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.
-How to manage international and PR reps.
-PLUS: MICE presentations to a panel of three tour operators, a la “Shark Tank.”
Updates to RTO-Orlando Marketplace:
-New! “Hosted-Buyer.” This outreach program will include LA- and NYC-based Chinese and India receptive operators interested in developing more product in Florida and the Southern USA.
-New! “Idea Factory.” In addition to their normal sales pitches, DMOs will be encouraged to provide operators with three new ideas for one-on-one appointments.
-New! “New Product Outreach.” Without receptive operator distribution, 95 percent of suppliers have no chance to sell their products through international wholesale channels, so we will initiate an outreach program for new attractions and hotels interested in expanding their worldwide reach.
“Our new approach for the INBOUND Symposium is to fill the void of international inbound information with the most current, up-to-date data and to educate the market about new opportunities by providing market intelligence with research and real time insights fom operators who have the most current information,” explained Jake Steinman, CEO of the NAJ Group. “In interviewing receptive operators, we’ve learned that they’re looking for creative ideas to sell aroud, so this eemed like the best direction to evolve the RTO Marketplace. After all, the best DMOs are actually the creative directors for their destinations and, in this competitive environment, it’s great ideas that sell.”
