CTC, Competitive intelligence: Canada’s tourism rivals set ambitious travel targets

2012-12-21 — /travelprnews.com/ — With the holiday season fast approaching, there is no let-up in the frenetic pace of the international tourism marketplace. No rest, either, for CTC News in gathering the last round-up of campaigns, promos and name changes from around the world. Top of Santa’s delivery list: the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)’s colleagues, partners and general sales agents in its key international markets.

• Watch out for dragons: Air New Zealand is looking to capitalize on the world’s appetite for all things Hobbit with its new safety video, “An Unexpected Briefing.” There are plenty of hairy halfling feet on show, as well as elves, dwarves and other minor characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Holiday-season suggestion box: what other countries (and airlines) could adapt a similar humorous approach twinning with mega movies? Answers to @ctccct on Twitter or in the comments below.

•  Stretch your legs: Tourism Australia is trying to entice nature lovers with a new collection: “Great Walks of Australia.” Seven independently owned experiential paths from Tasmania to the Northern Territory look to build awareness of Australia as a nature destination (sound familiar?).
• Shop till you drop: Frankfurt Airport has unveiled a new service for Chinese travellers in Germany: personal shoppers. These fluent Mandarin speakers steer some of the near one million Chinese annual arrivals around the airport to the various shops and services. The service has added success through personal recommendations to friends and business colleagues.
• Luck of the Irish: Tourism Ireland is planning a shiny new website after acquiring the domain name Ireland.com.
• Numbers game: VisitBritain has set an ambitious target of 40 million arrivals by 2020. If successful, the visitors would bring an extra £8.7 billion to the UK’s depleted coffers as well as supporting 200,000 jobs. Currently, 31 million consumers head to Britain each year.
• Money, money, money: Tourism Australia has signed a global marketing agreement with Emirates to bump up visitor numbers from New Zealand and Europe. The ensuing joint marketing activities over the next three years in France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the UK will be worth AUS$ 14.3 million, making it by far Emirates’ biggest partnership. This comes at the same time as Tourism Australia has rolled out its largest global youth campaign.

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