Trump Dumped By UK Travel Company
With all the focus that was given four weeks ago to the vote on Brexit, little notice was given when one UK online travel company announced that it was removing all Donald Trump-branded products from its website offerings. EarnAway.com, which allows members to earn cash back on their hotel bookings, said they took the action after receiving complaints from customers who were outraged that the site was featuring accommodates owned by the U.S. presidential candidate.
The company’s founders said that they “refuse to contribute any further to Trump’s domination of the American political system.”
Said company co-founder Robert Berrisford: “At EarnAway we have historically offered our customers the best deals on trips to some of Donald Trump’s most well-known international hotels, such as The Trump SoHo in New York, The Trump Plaza in New Jersey and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
“However, we have now made the decision to remove all of his hotels and resorts from our website as we feel it’s ethically and morally wrong for us to effectively help fund and contribute to a political campaign that we have such strong opposition to.
“As a company, we feel particularly strongly about this move as we don’t agree with Donald Trump’s personal or political views and do not think that this man should become president.
“Until recently, Mr. Trump was self-funding his own campaign, and therefore we don’t want to be contributing in any way to his electoral campaign by enabling users to find deals for his hotels on our site.”
“I am not at all worried about this decision having a detrimental effect on our business; in fact we have already had a number of complaints from some of our regular customers who don’t appreciate the fact that we promote Trump’s hotels in the first place.
“Hopefully, we can inspire other online travel agencies to follow suit and dissuade Britons from sending any extra money his way.”
Tui Ditching Print Brochures—What Will it Mean for U.S. Travel Brands?
Tui’s high-profile UK brands, Thomson and First Choice, will phase out traditional holiday brochures by 2020. The move was revealed as managing director Nick Longman announced the company will undergo its planned rebrand to Tui in the latter half of next year in the UK, with all shops changing their fascias to Tui from next summer.
The UK will be the last of the group’s markets to switch across to the Tui name—a changeover first announced following the merger in late 2014 of Tui Travel with its parent firm, Tui AG. Retail staff across the group’s 600 travel agencies in the UK were briefed as the announcement was made that the company will gradually phase out brochures over the next four years and replace them with technology in stores such as digital screens. What will this mean for US travel brands that are featured in their brochures? No one really know, but there is a possibility that the technology may include an analytics component that tracks consumer’s in-store visits to specific destinations and suppliers.
IPW Photo Memories, Continued
Before the glow of the memory of IPW 2016 in New Orleans fades somewhere into the gray part of your mental hard drive, here are images from Tuesday, the event’s fourth day and night. It was intense and action-packed on both the exhibit floor at the evening parties and functions. We start with Tuesday morning and some news conferences. (We’ll have our fifth and final day of IPW photos in our next issue of the Inbound Report.)
Post IPW Tips: Following up with Operators
While it is a little past the best time to launch your follow up with those operators who stopped by your booth at IPW in New Orleans, we nonetheless thought we should provide our tip sheet while there is still time to follow through on the process. Here is a quick list of do’s.
Wait until two weeks after the conclusion of IPW. Although many suppliers believe it is best to follow up immediately upon their return to the office, often the tour operator does not return right away. They might have taken a post-IPW tour and might take a day or two after returning home to recuperate.
Also, it is probable that your follow-up might get lost in the crush of the 43 other follow-ups the operator is receiving from the other appointments he or she had at supplier booths during IPW’s three days.
Divide your follow-ups into “existing clients” and “newbies”: the first should comprise friends—those operators with whom you have a relationship. The second should be those who are relatively new to IPW or with whom you made face-to-face contact for the first time.
For Existing Clients:
—Contact your best five appointments personally, by e-mail and conference call to summarize what they needed. If unable to reach the operator then, along with the others on your first list, send a personalized e-mail that summarizes what you discussed at IPW.
—Include a list of the four or five receptive tour operators that carry your destination or product in their packages and itineraries.
—If you are part of the TourOperatorland.com, include a link to your portal page as you will receive an immediate e-mail if they open your link and you can track what they downloaded. (Remind the operators that they can access an inventory of more than 2,000 royalty-free photos by including a link to the photo page.) Blind copy the receptive operators on this e-mail to show them you are supporting them as well.
For New Clients:
—Send a personalized e-mail along with a one-page PDF document that covers the points you made, and answers any questions they asked, during your IPW meeting. Also, in the e-mail, include a list of the four or five receptive tour operators who include your destination or product in their packages and itineraries.
—If you are part of the TourOperatorland.com, include a link to your portal page as you will receive immediate e-mail if they open your link and you can track what they downloaded. (Remind the operators that they can access an inventory of more than 2,000 royalty-free photos by including a link to the photo page.) Blind copy the receptive operators on this e-mail to show them you are supporting them as well.
Two weeks after they begin the brochure process (around July 15 in many cases): Send them sample itineraries that you have prepared or, if you’re a TouroperatorLand.com client, send a link directly to your itinerary so you can track interest directly.
Three weeks prior to the closing date for brochure preparation (usually mid-September): Make sure to send another follow-up message to all operators—especially to those who’ve expressed any interest in your destination or product—with a brief, personalized message that includes links to high res photos. (For TourOperatorLand clients, send them a direct link to your royalty-free photo page so you’ll be able to track which images they will be including in their marketing collateral.)
These points are just an outline. In some cases, you may find it feasible to make in-person calls as part of a follow up. For instance, if you’ve received a high degree of interest or made an informal agreement with three or four Brazilian operators, you might want to consider a visit to São Paulo, where all the major operators in the country have offices. Or, if you’ve had good feedback during meetings with UK operators, you should make it a point to attend the World Travel Market Nov. 7-9 in London and schedule appointments there.
Yellowstone Hires Mandarin-Speaking Park Rangers
Yellowstone National Park, has hired three Mandarin-speaking interpretive rangers this summer to help ease communication with a growing influx of Chinese tourists. In an action widely reported in the Rocky Mountain States, the Southwestern U.S. and in some trade news media, park officials said that they made the move in order to accommodate the growing number of Chinese visitors.
“It’s great to show the Chinese visitors my country, after they showed me theirs,” said Evan Hubbard, one of the rangers, who studied in China for two years, told the Associated Press. “They are coming here and everything that is so familiar to us is completely foreign to them.”
“During last summer we saw that this could be helpful,” said Rich Jehle, South District resource education ranger in Yellowstone. “We have all kinds of basic safety publications in different languages. But it’s different having someone who can speak directly to a visitor.”
Yellowstone doesn’t track visitation by nation of origin. Instead, the park’s staff is simply relying on a perceived increase, one that the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce has noted, as well.
“We just know it’s a significant number,” said Mary Sue Costello, president of the chamber. “We have felt this switch for probably three or four years. “Added Jehle, It’s probably been recognized for a few years but last year was where the increase was very evident.”
A story in the July 5 Idaho Falls, Idaho, newspaper said the city is seeing a big overflow of Chinese visitors who are on their way to and from Yellowstone and businesses are starting to cater to them with Mandarin speaking hotel receptionists, instructions written in Chinese and the use of translations apps on cellphones by businesses to close the language barrier.
The jump in Chinese tourism to the United States is due to the country’s estimated 300 million members of the middle class — who have more expendable income — and a relaxation of government travel restrictions.
One statistic that Yellowstone does track is the number of buses that pass through the park’s gates. In 2015 the park counted more than 10,500 buses, an increase of 17 percent over 2014, which saw a 21 percent increase from 2013. Tour buses on average have about 50 seats, but it’s not clear what the park counts as a bus. We don’t know how they are coming in,” Jehle said. “But there are a lot on tour buses and driving cars.”
Same Duties—Additional Language: The three Mandarin-speaking interpretive rangers have the same duties as any other interpretive ranger — providing information about park resources, orientation, giving formal interpretive programs like guided walks, roving the Old Faithful or Madison areas to talk to visitors informally and providing education on regulations. They also can interpret during medical emergencies.
Hubbard said Chinese tourists in Yellowstone are often looking to other visitors for cues on how to behave. “There tends to be two very distinct interactions: safety or regulation issues, like walking off the boardwalk in a thermal area,” he said. “That becomes an education opportunity. Often they say they had seen someone else or saw tracks.
“The more fun interaction is hearing Chinese speakers while I’m out roving and I will give them a greeting and their eyes will light up,” Hubbard said. “Usually it’s their first time here and they are excited to have this unique opportunity.”
Brexit, Shmexit! The Brits Keep on Coming … but for How Long?
UK Economic Slowdown Likely, but 2016 Still Seems Certain to Register Gain for Visit USA Traffic
The “gloom and doom” scenario portrayed as the outlook for the UK economy following the close June 23rd vote of British citizens to withdraw from the European Union—popularly known as “Brexit”—has given way to a “wait-and-see” attitude among economists and travel and tourism analysts.
Feeding the frenzy of apocalyptic commentary in the immediate aftermath of the vote was a sharp one-day decline of 10 percent in value of the British pound sterling vs. the U.S. dollar. This was of particular significance to the U.S. inbound tourism industry, for whom the UK is the number one overseas source market.
There were steep declines, also, in the market value of publicly trade stocks at the major exchanges in North America and Europe.
But since the first several days after the Brexit vote, there has been a degree of stability on the overall economic landscape in the UK, even if that landscape looms less large. For instance, while the pound did indeed decline 10 percent in value against the dollar by the first five days after the Brexit vote, it has essentially remained at that level since then (see table below). And most markets have bounced back.
Value of British Pound Sterling (£) vs. U.S. Dollar ($)
June 23-July 19, 2016
Date Value of Pound Sterling vs. U.S. Dollar
23-Jun $1.48
24-Jun $1.36
25-Jun $1.37
26-Jun $1.37
27-Jun $1.32
28-Jun $1.33
29-Jun $1.35
30-Jun $1.35
1-Jul $1.33
2-Jul $1.33
3-Jul $1.33
4-Jul $1.33
5-Jul $1.30
6-Jul $1.29
7-Jul $1.29
8-Jul $1.29
9-Jul $1.30
10-Jul $1.30
11-Jul $1.30
12-Jul $1.32
13-Jul $1.32
14-Jul $1.33
15-Jul $1.32
16-Jul $1.32
17-Jul $1.32
18-Jul $1.32
Bottom Line: -10.80%
Source: Xe.com, as prepared by the Inbound Report
The Big Picture: Speaking at conference over the past weekend, Andy Haldane, chief economist for the Bank of England, said: “The amount of slack in the UK economy is likely to begin steadily rising in the period ahead, perhaps causing unemployment to rise. The main reason for that likely slowdown is uncertainty.”
He added, “And with uncertainty having risen sharply, caution may once more become the watchword for companies and households, as it has for most of the period since the crisis … Even though the economy is unlikely to crash, it is likely to slow, perhaps materially, in the quarters ahead.”
Markets worldwide await the next meeting of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee on Aug. 4 to see if it lowers interest rates and/or take other steps to prevent a further slowdown of the nation’s economy.
Meanwhile, they Keep Coming to USA in Greater Numbers: This year, 2016, could yield the largest number of visitors from the UK to the USA since the trough years of 2010-11 in the midst of the Great Economic Recession, which lasted longer for the UK than it did for the U.S. The newest data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) seem to suggest a continuation of the strong growth in Visit USA traffic beyond 2015, in which the number of inbound visitors to the United States increased by 18 percent over 2014, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO).
The ONS data reflect traffic to all of North America (meaning the U.S. and Canada), with the U.S. share usually comprising about 85-90 percent of the market. We’ve arranged the key numbers in a 10-year window in order to provide some perspective on the degree to which inbound visitation from the UK has increased.
UK Resident Travel to North America
Full-Year and First Quarter
2007-2016
(000s)
| Year | Full-Year Total | First Quarter of Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 4,403 | 772 |
| 2008 | 3.806 | 793 |
| 2009 | 3,564 | 618 |
| 2010 | 3,397 | 594 |
| 2011 | 3.396 | 591 |
| 2012 | 3,544 | 589 |
| 2013 | 3,509 | 571 |
| 2014 | 3,625 | 561 |
| 2015 | 3,974 | 606 |
| 2016 | -- | 640 |
| Source: ONS |
Why Controls at National Parks Should Not Affect Tour Operators … This Year
Reports just prior to this year’s Memorial Day holiday weekend that the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) was seeking input as it considered how to deal with expected record crowds at the national parks, forests, monuments and other units that it oversees sent shivers through many in the tour and travel industry—especially among those who bring groups of international visitors to what are probably the USA’s most popular attractions for such visitors—feared that the talk of reduced hours, limited access and caps on visitors that were mentioned in such reports would have a sharply negative impact on business.
But it appears that, even in a worst-case scenario, tour groups of visitors are likely to experience very little impact. The Inbound Report has spoken with different constituencies involved in the promotion of tourism to U.S. national parks and the following points, gleaned from our conversations, stand out.
—Practically speaking, it is too late in the 2016 travel season to do anything that would affect travelers planning to visit national parks, particularly in this, the 100th anniversary year of the creation of the United States national park system.
—Even though everyone involved agrees that that some park facilities are bursting at the seams and that lines of cars are a certainty in a year in which visitor numbers are expected to be broken at some sites, the NPS is not about limiting hours, putting caps on the number of visitors or imposing constraints on visitors. As the superintendent of one national park facility told us: “Our mission is to enhance the visitor experience at our parks, not limit it.”
— One direction in which the NPS is likely to go is in calling for visitors to explore different routes within popular national parks or, instead, visit some of the lesser-known parks where the visitor experience is likely to be more pleasant. Bob Hoelscher, a long-time tour director, travel writer and national park aficionado (he says that he has visited every unit in the system—“412 by my count”) is trying to get park product promoters to include places and facilities such as Colorado National Monument, “a site that few of my guests had even heard of,” Natural Bridges, Aztec Ruins and Tuzigoot National Monuments, as well as Chaco Culture National Historical Park, among others—as well as “parks like North Cascades, Lassen, John Day Fossil Beds, Dinosaur and El Malpais.”
—The majority of international visitors to U.S. national parks are group travelers who arrive in buses, which park administrators don’t seem to mind when compared to the individual visitor or family in a single vehicle. One superintendent told us with a chuckle that the challenge they have with international tour operators is that the operators “want no one else to be there when their bus groups arrive.”
—More than any other shift in policy or direction, it seems, according to one park concessionaire, that they would like to find a way “to reduce the number of automobiles carrying few visitors … but Americans love to visit in their cars.” He said that the U.S. visitor wants to drive to the Grand Canyon and park his car 50 yards from the rim. This contrasts with some parks elsewhere in the world in which visitors have to park their cars in satellite lots and take shuttle buses into the actual park.
—The unanimous expectation or hope is that some new policy directions or changes in existing policy are certain, because everyone believes that the number of visitors will continue to increase, particularly among overseas travelers, as the popularity of national parks continues to grow due to their access, lower admission prices than other travel attractions and more promotion of national park product than ever before.
Will Ctrip End up as China’s Only Online Travel Agency?
Start-ups Can’t Survive vs. Giant Ctrip: Despite the deep pockets of venture capitalists willing to get behind them, start-up travel companies in China are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to stand up to the giant in the market—Ctrip.
According to an item last week in ChinaMoneyNetwork.com, venture capitalists have invested around $500 million in the Chinese travel sector during the past two years; this figure is from information provided by data tracker IT Juzi. In 2014, there were a total of 129 investment deals in the online travel segment, with 66 deals in the seed and angel round.
Several factors have contributed to the failure of travel startups in China, the article suggests, but no factor plays as large a role in this development as does Ctrip. Some cases follow:
—Tao.117go.com, branded as Taozailushang in Chinese, an online customized travel package platform with backing from Alibaba Group Holdings, Redpoint Ventures, Softbank Corp. and New Horizon Capital, has confirmed that it is currently going through liquidation.
—Maidou Travel, a start-up providing overseas leisure travel packages, has folded.
—Weekend get-away trip provider Where To Go On Weekends has shut down operations.
—Last-minute travel package start-up Ailvxing is no longer in business.
—Ailvxing’s one-time rival Lailaihui is cutting staff and fighting for survival.
Here’s What Happens: In the case of one of the aforementioned shutdowns, when Zhang Wenlong established Where To Go On Weekends in 2014, his plan was to zero in on weekend get-away travel products, a fragmented area with relatively low Internet penetration. Ctrip, however, had the same notion. Since last year, the company has made massive investments in one-day trips and local get-away packages. After Ctrip acquired Qunar in October 2015, it formally established a local travel business unit.
In another instance, Woqu.com, a start-up focused on high-end overseas travel packages, experienced another way to be defeated by Ctrip. After attracting two rounds of venture funding with Tencent Holding Ltd. as an investor, Woqu.com partnered with Ctrip by providing its tour packages on Ctrip’s platforms as a third-party supplier. Similarly, as Ctrip decided to expand its own overseas tour package offerings last year, it began giving its own products preferential treatment in search and guided traffic flows. Woqu.com soon realized that it wasn’t able to generate enough traffic on its own to survive.
Aside from bad timing, the article speculates, Chinese travel start-ups believe their failure may be partially attributable to a speculative mindset, or the so-called “2VC” model, meaning that founders started companies with the sole purpose of raising venture capital money, which is used to acquire users and then to raise more money, without a solid business model or innovative technology.
For example, the founders of Maidou Travel reportedly gleaned information on which public account venture capitalists followed the most on WeChat. They then bought advertising dressed as real content on these WeChat accounts to gain investor attention and eventually venture funding. While the ChinaMoneyNetwork concedes that the 2VC model is prevalent among Chinese start-ups across all sectors, the difference is that travel start-ups have awakened earlier than others to the problems of not having a sustainable business plan.
On the other hand, Ctrip has been steadily buying competitors and/or investing in smaller competitors. Last year, the online travel giant acquired a large stake in eLong, announced the Ctrip-Qunar deal, and invested in many smaller companies.
“As a result,” the article states, “Ctrip is now the absolute monopolistic force in online travel in China. One anonymous analyst jokingly describes it as holding a 100 percent market share, as the company does not disclose its market position for fear of attracting regulatory attention—although numbers gleaned from its annual report are telling evidence of its dominance. For the first quarter of 2016, Ctrip reported total revenues of $682 million, an 80 percent increase year-on-year primarily due to the Qunar deal.”
What Is Southern California Soul?
And Other Destination Marketing Moves
Surf City Has Soul: In Southern California, Visit Huntington Beach, the tourism bureau for the destination that is officially billed as Surf City USA, has another brand to brandish for both international and domestic marketing: “The Soul of SoCal.” Just announced, the new brand/slogan was developed in conjunction with the San Antonio-based Atkins Group.
“Huntington Beach has long been known as Surf City USA and one of California’s quintessential beach communities,” Kelly Miller, president and CEO of Visit Huntington Beach, said in a news release announcing the “Soul” brand, adding, that in the research that led to the development of the new brand, “We learned that Huntington Beach resonates deeply as a destination that authentically delivers our brand promise: endless summer, flawless waves, laid-back luxury and an unhurried, welcoming future … that represents ‘The Soul of the SoCal’ experience to our visitors domestically and internationally.”
Objections notwithstanding, Visit Huntington Beach is going ahead with a multi-channel campaign this summer using the new branding. Said Susan Thomas, chief marketing officer to Visit Huntington Beach, “Our new campaign is focused on storytelling and content engagement around three distinct visitor experiential pillars: laid-back luxury, multi-generational family travel and action sports,” Thomas said in an email to the Los Angeles Times.
She added, “Given the dynamic, competitive environment in the travel marketplace in general, and many exciting new products adding to the Huntington Beach experience for visitors, Visit Huntington Beach is following industry best practices by assessing our brand position, including quantitative and qualitative research with leisure and group travelers domestically and internationally.”
Nebraska Has The Good Life: For more than 40 years, the official Nebraska slogan has been “Nebraska. The Good Life. Well, now it’s even better, were one to believe the enthusiastic launch given last week in an official announcement by the state’s governor, Pete Ricketts, who revealed a new brand: “Nebraska. Good Life. Great Opportunity.”
He said the “Good Life. Great Opportunity.” slogan reflects who Nebraskans are and what they feel about themselves. “From Sandhills ranches to Omaha high rises, this brand is inspired by the men and women who grew Nebraska for our first 150 years,” Ricketts said, explaining that it will also be flexible enough that it can be adapted for use by specific state agencies or local governments: i.e., the Nebraska State Patrol will use the tag line: “Good Life. Great Tradition.” The Department of Labor will use “Good Life. Great Connections.” And the Department of Roads will be “Good Life. Great Journey.”
As is the case with any new branding announced by a destination, the new effort produced mixed results. Online comments ranged from “Simple and keeps a very popular phrase with a new twist” to “This looks like a company. Nebraska: The Corporation.”
Left untouched by the announcement is the state’s tourism brand, “Nebraska Nice,” which was introduced in 2014. Amy Struthers, a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said that “Nice” has not clicked with the public. “The people of Nebraska certainly let it be known in the past that they believe in the Good Life as an accurate slogan,” Struthers told the Omaha World-Herald. “Using this one tag line would help our citizens become the state’s best brand ambassadors.”
NYC Has Shanghai—Largest Cities in USA, China form Tourism Partnership: The Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration (SMTA) and New York City & Company, New York City’s official destination marketing organization, have announced a first-ever city-to-city partnership to boost tourism. The partnership brings together the USA’s largest city (pop. 8.55 million) and China’s largest city (pop. 24.5 million in its administrative district) in a two-year alliance includes a reciprocal outdoor media advertising exchange in Shanghai and New York City, the sharing of best practices in tourism marketing between the two destinations and other initiatives designed to stimulate travel between the two cities during this year’s U.S.-China Tourism Year and beyond.
This marks the first time New York City’s tourism organization has inked a partnership of this kind in China. Outdoor media promoting New York City and its new global “See it for Yourself” campaign will appear throughout Shanghai in four major subway stations through August 11 (People’s Square, Xujiahui, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum and Xintiandi). Additionally, the façade of the Citi Bank Wall in Lujiazui will be lit with imagery promoting New York City.
Reciprocally, Shanghai will be promoted on 164 bus shelters in New York City from September 26 to October 23. Also, Internationally acclaimed pianist and New York City resident Lang Lang will serve as New York City’s first-ever New York City Cultural Tourism Ambassador. Lang Lang, who has a home in Manhattan, and is a United Nations Messenger of Peace, announced his partnership with NYC & Company via a video statement in Shanghai.
UK Online Operator Shuts Down
Lowcost Travel Group ceased trading on July 15. While the online travel agent had a sizable presence in the UK, it is actually headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. At the time of its shutdown, it had 27,000 customers overseas and 110,000 forward bookings. (Bankruptcy) administrators have been appointed, a notice has been posted on the company’s website, and a total of 451 staff have been laid off.
The closure was not necessarily a surprise. In 2013 the CAA issued a statement warning consumers to be cautious about booking with the company. It came after the online travel agency announced it was moving its base from London to Spain and would therefore no longer be required to offer consumer protection guarantees required of UK travel providers. Also, last September, the company laid off staff as it centralized core functions to new offices in Poland to drive cost efficiencies and maximize profits. It moved its marketing, IT, sales, aviation and customer services divisions to Krakow.
Sources told Travel Weekly UK the week before the shutdown that Lowcost had been due to receive extra funding towards the end of last year, but that it didn’t materialized, resulting in the layoff of a number of senior level staff.
Also, the Irish travel trade publication Travel Extra said that on July 17 that Irish travel agents had been reporting that clients have been turned away at hotels where they have been booked in recent weeks because of unpaid bills. An advertising campaign offering supposed savings of 60 percent had also driven consumer sales in recent weeks. Just prior to this move, a proposed restructuring of the Irish operation led to the departure of Grainne Caffrey to Sunway.
HODGE PODGE: Shifts, Shakeups and Occasional Shaftings in the Tour and Travel Industry
In Brazil, the TGK Travel Group has announced the appointment of Renata Costard to the company’s commercial department. Costard, who has more than a decade of experience in the industry, previously served with MMTGapnet, serving the regions of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Peter Hunt (left), currently the chief financial officer of Virgin America, will assume the presidency of the airline after the acquisition of the company by Alaska Airlines is approved by U.S. regulatory agencies. The current chief operating officer of Alaska Airlines,Ben Minicucci (right), will assume the position of CEO of Virgin America.
Kerri Post is leaving her position as deputy secretary of state for Florida to take over as director of tourism development for Leon County, Fla., which includes Tallahassee, the state capital. Post had served as deputy secretary of state since January of 2013; prior to that she was director of marketing for Florida’s Department of State. Here previous experience includes tenures at Visit Tallahassee and a decade at Visit Florida.
Kazuhiro Takayama was recently named general manager, U.S. inbound, for HIS International Tours, New York. Previously, he was Honolulu inbound branch manager for the company, which he joined in 2006.
Richard G. Edwards has been appointed vice president of sales and marketing Un-Cruise Adventures, a small ship cruise line based in Seattle. Edwards takes over the role from Tim Jacox, who assumed a new role as president and COO. A 15-year travel industry professional, Edwards has worked as vice president at Wildland Adventures, founding executive director of the Trusted Adventures consortium, and as the director of marketing at G (GAP) Adventures.
Trend Operadora, one of Brazil’s largest tour operators, has announced a number of personnel moves. It has named five new regional sales professionals charged with growing the company’s client base. They include: Helena Francesca do Carmo (Midwest), who once worked for CVC for five years; Francyelle Dubas (South); Taiane Martins (Rio de Janeiro); Noele Ferreira Silva (Northeast); and St. Anne Arley (São Paulo). Also announced as new regional product managers were: Thereza Belloni (Southeast, except São Paulo); Lucilene Luna (São Paulo); Danielle Rose (Central West); and Patricia Jacobsen (South). The latter were already part of the Trend group. And, of course, Jay Santos, formerly with Visit Orlando, has joined Trend Operadora.
