Germany, Switzerland & Austria Market Report November 2018

Transcription

1 Germany, Switzerland & Austria Market Report November 2018 Visit Finland Country Representative Jyrki Oksanen

2 Semiannual Report Germany, Switzerland & Austria Summer season 2018 and outlook for winter CONTENTS Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2018 Outlook for the winter season Prospects for the spring/summer season 2019 Trends and other relevant travel related topics Facts and figures - Market review data

3 Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2018 Reasons for the increase/decrease in overall outbound travelling from your market? Economic situation remains very strong in Germany, the feel for security has increased in many destinations who have had a comeback like Turkey and Egypt, which came with very competitive pricing later in the spring. The big drama in international travel has been a continuous super summer that started in April and lasted until October. So the German travel increased but mainly in the short haul as Germany itself is always the biggest competitor with a superb nature and culture offer paired with reasonable pricing. Another reason affecting was the every four years World Cup slump in travel. Paired with the super summer the bookings then came for short one-two week deals. Not ideal year for the Nordics. Considering the 2017 high increase we can be happy to remain clearly above 2016 and this gives us a solid sediment to continue

4 Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2018 Reasons for the increase/decrease in travelling to Finland? Changes in demand The interest and demand remains higher than what we can realize in sales. The 2017 super year covers the fact we ware on a high level in summer 2018 and the outlook 2019 remain positive Finland s image as a travel destination When the setting is given: accessibility, availability, service design and stimulation everything works well for happy customers. This shows the image is there as a Nordic nature paradise. Our culture is pretty unknown, this throws our image behind our Nordic neighbors. Especially the higher prices at Nordic countries like Iceland and Norway is partly shared by our potential customers. Changes in distribution Digitalization increases Finland visibility in distribution channels. We have new themed specialist starting at the market, also Finland. Those operators who can follow digital development face great challenges today. Changes in accessibility Finnair started Stuttgart-Helsinki as a new daily route. On top Finnair expanded capacity to 4 daily flights Berlin-Helsinki. In August EasyJet put in the 2 nd daily service Berlin-Helsinki. Lufthansa started their 4 th Munich-Helsinki service.

5 Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2018 Reasons for the increase/decrease in travelling to Finland? Products that have been attractive Touring, (especially) resorts & villas and short breaks remain main travel types to Finland. Nature as the big mover to Finland is always present. We see an increased variation around these themes and old hit products are having their revival: Helsinki-Tampere-Turku three cities tour. Touring along the eastern border. Helsinki is successfully continuing its face lift with new attractions, accommodations and more to enjoy be it sauna or food. The Slow themes work well as well as food themes seem to be more attractive than we can imagine at home. Regions that have been attractive Due to the touring character especially Germans spread out and want to discover all Finland. The split is amazingly even across the major regions which increase the importance of Germany a source market. Campaigns, joint promotions results Our Joint Promotion partners also had tough summer. However the main partners increased between % in their sales. Many have winter as main season so the dual seasonality is important is this aspect too.

6 Outlook for the winter season The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter? Increase/decrease and reasons for the increase/decrease We have new flight connections and improved Finnair service give a positive feel for the coming season. Geneva-Kittilä is a new charter from by Kontiki Reisen opening the French speaking market for Lapland in Switzerland. ViaNova Reisen has a new concept and opens numerous new direct connections opening several new routes, more at visitfinland.fi New winter products The product is spreading south and this give us in the DACH-area an advantage as Lapland does not be excluding other Finnish winter destinations as it used to be. Kuusamo and Vuokatti are developing fast and 2020 as it seems. The Finnish winter product with snow fun and relaxing is new and attractive to the market and the attraction of Northern Lights remain especially combined with special accommodations. Winter driving experiences seem to be expanding and Jokkis is taken up as a new product. New sales channels More specialists are coming to the market for events and culture driven products also in the winter.

7 Outlook for the winter season The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter? What are the trends for the winter ? We think short holiday combinations with air-sea has high potential. Especially Helsinki-Tallinn and Helsinki-Stockholm, but Helsinki-Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm can be equally interesting combination. Also the Travemünde-Helsinki-Hamburg Finnlines air-sea package has higher potential Lapland is the main area with Arctic winter, Northern Lights, special accommodations, unique tours and experiences that attract the most. Absolut Slowdown is the Visit Finland campaign theme and the combination of experiencing real winter and relaxing at open fire, sauna and delicious Finnish food. Our aim is to spread the demand more south from the north where the demand is high but at the moment we have limited availability. Which are the traveller segments? Nature Wonder Hunters, Authentic lifestyle Seekers, Nature explorers, City Breakers, Active nature explorers and Comfort seekers

8 Outlook for the winter season Finland enjoys great media visibility at the moment. In TV and top media like Elle. This drives more attention for winter. Summer planning is on and different PR, marketing campaigns with food, sustainable and Slowthemed content and actions are planned. There is still room to join, so ask you regional DMO for more information and what the plans for 2019!

9 Prospects for the spring/summer season 2019 The overall outlook of travelling to Finland? What trends should be considered in product development to increase the demand in the spring/summer time? In the summer midnight sun and lakes have been communicated. The availability during the domestic season is partly low and suppliers rather seem to give capacity for direct business. The more north you go the less trust we have in our product. The market demands SLOW products, which we are shy to offer. Lately Löyly and Kuuma are creating a new understanding and possibilities. August-September has a higher potential with Ruska, the foodie-season, double-auroras than the spring. Basically the summer market is the May-October Which present target groups should be considered to increase the demand? The millennials and the Z generation with the experience focus should be put first. Which new target groups should be considered to increase the demand? More special interest, more themed, more storyfication, more niche. So the new target group will be more fragmented, except the selfie tourist, which will be even more for less value for us as destination.

10 Trends and other relevant travel related topics Trends It seems that millennials and the Z generation are too impatient to read, so they start calling. Just to have a targeted answer to a specific question. Often after booking. So the human to human aspect is not going anywhere soon. However AI comes with automated chats and similar services to support the faq management. AI also enables more dialogue. Big brands like Expedia, Bundesbahn come with their Alexa skills to making talk driven application and management of services available for consumers. New distribution channels Good content remains the key. Many generic OTAs and small specialists are facing trouble as unique content and large resources are needed to keep up with the digital development. Here the SAAS services like Bokun enable smal companies access to the global travel market which is historic development. Online channels I would like to promote platforms: they will drive and dominate the travel sales in the next future. We constantly evaluate new opportunities. Platform linking service providers like airlines with api-portfolios create a new setting, where the travel agent can tailor packages dynamic. For us in Finland Finnair Holidays is something to study and learn from. Blockchain seem to experience first hangover: at the moment it is used and seen more a b2b tool and some for the financial part.

11 Trends and other relevant travel related topics Competitors actions Every destination has sustainable travel on their agenda. Often the communication is linked to overtourism. In this area Visit Norway is consequently profiling themselves as authority in their communication, which seems a clever thing to do as their messages are published widely even if the content is about restricting and guiding than promoting. Something we should study more. Visit Sweden has a nice angle with Design and promote all Swedish homes as design objects to visit, links nicely to holiday home rental. We had some content exchange with Visit Britain and their regional project the Wales Way is a great example of regional tour product development creating new themed routes to discover destinations

12 Trends and other relevant travel related topics Free word We have demand on the market. What to do so the consumers find you? Sales channels, online availability and regional cooperation are important. When you plan your activities in the digital era make sure that your content is right, but equally important is that consumers can find you: how to be recognizable among numbers of similar competitors? Country-region-destination-company should be included as consumers looking for holidays seldom start with your company, but the destination or experience hiking in finland Holiday home in Kuusamo etc.

13 Germany Market Review 20/11/2018 First name Last name 13

14 German overnights in Finland Seasonal overnights in 2017 & 2018 Year 2017 Whole Finland No. of German overnights in Finland Actual /(expected) seasonal change 2017 vs vs Winter (Dec-Feb) % +7% Spring (Mar-May) % +8% Summer (Jun-Aug) % -6% Autumn (Sep-Nov) % (+xx%) Reasons behind the actual / expected change Kittilä/Levi 21% Rovaniemi 19% Muonio 17% Inari/Saariselkä 13% Sodankylä 9% Kolari/Ylläs 8% Lapland 2018 Winter % Spring % Summer % Autumn Lakeland 2018 Winter % Spring % Summer % German overnights in Finland by season in 2017 Coast & Archipelago 2018 Winter % Spring % Summer % Autumn Turku 20% Oulu 10% Rauma 7% Pori 7% Uusimaa (excl. greater Helsinki area) 18% Aland 9% Helsinki 81% Tampere 16% Jyväskylä 11% Savonlinna 10% Kuopio reg. 8% Lahti 6% Mikkeli reg. 6% Autumn Helsinki area 2018 Winter % Spring % Summer % Autumn Source: Rudolf data base, Statistics Finland

15 Trends for seasonal overnights in Finland German visitors High winter season (12-02) High spring season (03-05) High summer season (06-08) High autumn season (09-11) Source: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland