Serendipity seems to be the word to describe Orlando and its place among USA destinations favored by British travelers. Long the No. 1 long-haul overseas destination of UK visitors and UK families, in particular, because of its range of hotel inventory, theme parks, family restaurant options and other attractions, Orlando is positioned to benefit from a confluence of a series of factors that no marketing guru could have predicted five years ago, when the number of travelers from the UK to the USA had fallen off by 20 percent or more. And now, there are the following factors, all coming together within a one-month window:

• In a little more than three weeks (May 30-June 3), Orlando is hosting ipw;
• As of last Friday, May 1st, the government-imposed Air Passenger Duty (APD) for children under 12 traveling from the UK is eliminated, reducing the cost of travel to the USA by £71/$107 per child (an APD remains in force for those traveling in costlier classes);
• An intense marketing and promotional campaign by UK-based Merlin Entertainments for its new I-Drive 360 collection of attractions in Orlando (the Orlando Eye, a larger version of the London Eye, a Madame Tussauds museum; and a Sea Life aquarium) is generating huge interest in the market;
• Lift capacity between the UK and Orlando (many flights are charters provided by tour operators) continues to increase—last month, budget carrier Norwegian started serving Orlando from Gatwick; and
• The destination is fortifying its position as the destination with the most options for shopping (the number one activity for Brits while traveling) with the announcement that the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores, one of the Orlando area’s first outlet malls, has plans to expand their existing outlet center by a third.

Of all of the above, nothing has captured the attention of the British traveler as much as the elimination of the APD for children—largely because the tour and travel industry, include the travel trade media, has been so focused on the issue, which is so easily translatable to the consumer. Begun in 1994 as a measure to create a revenue source for funding environmental activity, it quickly became a source of easy revenue for budget balancing.

Then, In 2013 a study by PwC, “The Economic Impact of Air Passenger Duty,” found that abolition of APD could provide an initial short-term boost to the level of UK GDP of around 0.45 percent in the first 12 months, averaging at just under 0.3 percent a year between 2013 and 2015. This and other findings inspired the industry into full battle mode, and in another year (last year), the government announced a simplification of the APD and the elimination of the APD for children under 12 on economy flights operating out of the UK. Next March, the APD abolition will be extended to children under the age of 16—for all flights.

The latest data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, while winter holiday departures to Canada and the USA do not mean much until they are seasonally adjusted (February, on its own, is usually the weakest month of the year for travel from the UK to North America), the trends suggested by the numbers shows that a steady recovery continues. Key numbers indicated the following:

• For the three-month period ending with February 2015, visitation to North America by UK residents is down 2 percent (down 1 percent overall);
• For the year-to-date period ending with February 2015, visitation to North America by UK residents was down 2 percent (down 1 percent overall);
• For the 12-month period ending with February 2015, visitation to North America by UK residents was up 8 percent (up 3 percent overall).

Outbound Visitation by UK Residents

January-December 2014

(000s)

Source: ONS

Outbound Visitation by UK Residents

January-February 2015

(000s)

Source: ONS

The intensity of Brand USA’s Beyond the Gateways campaign—trying to get overseas travelers to visit non-gateway, second-and-third tier U.S. destinations—is more apparent than ever in the number one overseas source market for inbound tourism: the United Kingdom. As long as Inbound has been following the travel trade news outlets in the UK, it has never seen anything like the level of boosterism that has been urging travel agents to register for next month’s second annual USA mega FAM, which will break down a total of 100 agents into seven groups and take them on itineraries that will cover destinations in 22 states—about half of which have never been included on a Brand USA-sponsored fam before. The entry period for registering for the mega FAM ended April 3, following a two-week flurry of notices from trade journals urging agents to make sure that they have entered the pool of registrants. The mega FAM takes place May 14-21.

But the mega FAM is just one of the channels promoting the Beyond the Gateways campaign. The Visit USA Association UK, in its Travel News USA e-newsletter, devoted the landing page of its current issue to current products that, with the exception of some generic Visit USA pitches, plugged destinations such as Oklahoma City, The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, and Dutchess County, New York. (Hyde Park, in Dutchess County, is both the birth place and resting place of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President.) Featured product that highlighted non-gateway itineraries included the following:

• “The REAL Deal! Or Cowboys & Indians—Kansas and Oklahoma,” from Complete North America, USA & Canada Travel Specialists, is a 14-day itinerary that takes travelers to and through Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Fort Sill and Sulphur, Oklahoma; and Wichita, Cottonwood Falls, Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas. (www.completenorthamerica.com/cowboys-and-indians-kansas-oklahoma-tulsa-wichita-lawrence-fort-sill/)

• Bourbon Country, which moves visitors along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail through the heart of bourbon country and stop in on eight of the state’s distilleries such as Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam and Woodford Reserve. Guests are able to experience the bourbon making process, view the facilities set in beautiful surrounding landscapes, and stick around for after-tour tastings of the best Kentucky bourbon. (http://www.kentuckytourism.com/dining/bourbon.aspx)

• A Self-Drive 17-Day Route 66 Tour— from £1,729 ($2,580) per person—from American Sky USA Holidays & Tour Specialist (www.americansky.co.uk). The self-drive itinerary takes travelers on a journey that includes through the classic Route 66 destinations that include: Chicago; Springfield (IL); St Louis; Springfield (MO); Oklahoma City; Amarillo; Santa Fe; Albuquerque; Holbrook (AZ); Williams (AZ) ; Las Vegas; and other stops before ending the trip with two nights in Santa Monica—the official end to U.S. Route 66.

• Dubai-based dnata travel, part of the Emirates Group, has acquired a majority stake in Imagine Cruising, a UK-based holiday firm. Apart from its UK location, the company also has offices in Cape Town in South Africa. So does dnata, and the deal is still subject to regulatory approval in that company. The acquisition is dnata’s latest in the UK. It has previously acquired Travel Republic, Gold Medal and Stella Travel Services.

• Casey Hurford, product manager for letsgo2, has joined Kenwood Travel as product manager. Also joining Kenwood is Pete Brudenell, former partnership marketing manager at British Airways Holidays.

• Thomas Cook has appointed former Tui UK managing director Chris Mottershead as business development director. Mottershead, who has been working for Tui in Russia for the last four years, started at Thomas Cook’s Peterborough headquarters on April 1.

• Andrew Cooper, CEO of the Owens Cooper consulting firm,, told a recent seminar held by McIntyre Hudson and Barclays travel, that he foresees a good year for travel in 2015, but warned the more risk-averse firms that hedged currency and fuel could suffer. The former Thomas Cook director of government and external affairs added that, although he was in a generally positive frame of mind because the number of people travelling overseas is rising, there are a number of indicators that are giving contradictory messages. Although oil prices have fallen, he said, the strong U.S. dollar is offsetting any advantages for those that buy their oil in dollars. The weak Euro is good news for the sector, however, but not for the likes of the main bedbanks that have bought their accommodation in advance.

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  B2B hotel accommodation wholesaler JAC Travel has acquired accommodation provider TotalStay Group for an undisclosed sum. The transaction was supported by Vitruvian Partners, the existing institutional shareholder of JAC Travel. TotalStay founder Peter Clements and the management team of TotalStay Group will retain a “significant” minority interest in the enlarged group.