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• In 2010, the US had a more cautious-than-expected economic recovery, with GDP growth of just 2.9%. GDP growth is forecasted to expand at a slower 2.3% in 2011 as the US deals with it sovereign debt, weak job recovery, depressed housing market and low consumer spending. (Source: Oxford Economics, July 2011)
• Total world outbound travel from the US grew to 64.5 million in 2010, up 5% over 2009. (Source: Tourism Economics – Tourism Decision Metrics, July 2011)
• US leisure travel represents Canada’s largest inbound travel market, accounting for 63% of all inbound travellers in 2010. US leisure travel to Canada outperformed business travel in 2010, with a moderate increase of 0.9% over 2009.
• While leisure travel to Canada declined in the first two quarters of 2010, the last two quarters saw increases of 2.8% and 4% respectively.
• Total spending by US leisure travellers of one or more nights improved in 2010, up 2.8%, with the average nightly spend increasing 3.4% to $116.
• The number of overnight US leisure travellers 55 years of age or older increased 8.6% in 2010 and accounted for 46.7% of all overnight US leisure visitors, making it the largest segment among US leisure visitors to Canada.
• Experiencing nature became more popular in this market with Visiting aquariums/botanical gardens and zoos (7.9%) and Visiting nature parks (7.2%) both climbing in 2010.
• In 2010, Quebec(4.2%), British Columbia(2%) and Alberta(1.7%) saw increases in visits, while Ontario experienced a 2.1% decline.

 

Source: Statistics Canada, International Travel Survey, unless otherwise indicated.All Statistics Canada numbers are preliminary.

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Contact our team for more information.

 

Meetings, Conventions & Incentive Travel(MC&IT) Read more > Close >

Meetings, Conventions and Incentive Travel(MC&IT)

The mandate of MC&IT is to develop a comprehensive and fully integrated program in the US market that maximizes the sales impact on Canadian meetings and incentive destinations. We accomplish this through direct solicitation, in-market promotions and incorporating the “Canada. Keep Exploring” brand. The program aims to elevate and expand core partnership opportunities to support reaching overall sales-led targets for the meetings and incentive markets.

CTC’s MC&IT program in the US positions Canada as an attractive alternative to other international meetings and incentive destinations, providing the cachet of a foreign experience with the familiarity and ease of being at home. We promote Canada’s state-of-the-art facilities, high service levels, diverse destinations and distinctive niche-product experiences in key geographic and segment-specific markets to generate new business opportunities away from competitive US and overseas destinations.

For more information on our upcoming programs and activities, see our events calendar or our International Meetings, Conventions and Incentive Travel Strategic Plan 2011-2016. For more information on the International MC&IT Strategic Program offerings, please contact phelps [dot] heather [at] ctc-cct [dot] ca (Heather Phelps), our International Program Director.

 

Current trends and market considerations

As the economy improves, 2012 will show incremental growth in the meetings industry. It is expected that corporate demand for meetings will approach 2008 peak levels by the end of this year.

• Trends include decreased lead time for planners, so they need to rely on established networks and familiarity with specific locations. 
• Companies will decrease spending on individual meetings. There will be decreased group size, and shortened duration of meetings.
• Companies will take a closer look at local meeting locations and shy away from luxury to stretch their budget. Look for sites closer to home. 
• The cost of air travel has gone up 7.9% and accommodations have gone up 16.7% so planners are looking for other ways to cut corners.
• The price difference between top-tier cities and second- and third-tier is expected to increase, which bodes well for the smaller destinations.
• Go Green! Almost three-quarters of meeting planners say their clients have green requests when booking meetings.

The Incentive Research Foundations cites the top 12 trends affecting incentive programs in 2012 are:

1.    Continued concerns about the economy

2.    Fast pace of change in the workplace

3.    Increased use of smartphones

4.    Influence of game mechanics (gamification)

5.    Growing need for proving ROI

6.    Alignment of all programs with corporate marketing strategy

7.    Challenge of retaining employees

8.    Influence of social media

9.    Incorporation of wellness values

10.Increased employee workload since the recession

11.Globalization of work forces

12.Popularity of CSR initiatives (corporate social responsibility)

 

(Forty businesses were studied and the white paper will be available in March on their website:  www.theirf.org)

According to a new report from travel industry research firm PhoCusWright, leisure and business travellers are using mobile devices to plan, purchase and enhance their travel experiences. 

US mobile leisure/unmanaged business travel gross booking reached nearly $2.6 billion in 2011, representing 2.4% of the U.S. online travel market. By 2013, that share is projected to grow to 6.5% when mobile bookings will represent 2.6% of the total US travel market. This represents strategic opportunities for suppliers, intermediaries and corporate travel organizations.

Much of the business coming in is very short term, just one to three months out. These tend to be more regional meetings with lower attendance than previously booked. Fewer flight options and higher airline prices are pushing more businesses to consider keeping to short programs within driving distance. Incentive programs are back and looking more to long-haul destinations such as Australia and China.

Airfares to Canada continue to be a challenge due to high fees and taxes added to the actual fare itself. It is less expensive in a number of cases to fly to domestic US and European cities than to fly to Canadian ones.

Trends in destination marketing were described by SITE Foundation in a survey to determine the effectiveness of each market category (note that the last two lines are new questions for 2011).

	Very Eff.	Eff.	Mod Eff.	Mod Ineff.	Ineff.	Very Ineff.
Email Newsletters
FAM Trips	48%	34%	10%	2%	2%	0%
Trade Shows	18%	46%	24%	6%	2%	1%
Dest websites	14%	37%	37%	8%	1%	0%
Direct Mail	2%	15%	34%	18%	18%	8%
Office Present’ns	25%	44%	15%	5%	4%	2%
Phone Calls	7%	19%	34%	15%	11%	11%
On Line Videos	22%	37%	27%	5%	11%	11%
In mkt Sales reps	11%	28%	40%	11%	4%	1%

Current trends: insurance market

Incentive and recognition travel to Canada and Mexico continues to be popular and remains a better option than Europe due to budgets and optics. The inclusion of professional development and social responsibility (give back) programming are becoming key components to insurance/financial incentive programs and meetings. 

 

2012 Q1 US MC&IT events

• Jan 7-11: Participated in PCMA Annual Meeting in San Diego. Attendance was 3,750 of which 119 were at first their PCMA Annual Meeting.
• Jan. 25-27: HelmsBriscoe – Annual Business Conference – Reno. CTC received International Destination Partner of the Year Award 2011.
• Jan. 26-28: HelmsBriscoe ABC Annual in Reno, NV: a marketplace with educational and networking opportunities where CTC partnered with destination marketing organizations.
• Feb. 13-16: Sales calls and sponsorship of MPI So Cal “State of the Industry” meeting and meeting with Canadian Consulate General – Los Angeles.
• Feb. 16: MPI northern California tradeshow and client networking event, shared with partner Pan Pacific Hotels Regional Sales. Other Canadian partners that exhibited included Tourism Vancouver and Tourism Toronto, with other representation by national hotel chains. Tourism Vancouver and partners hosted a reception/dinner for Bay Area clients.
• Feb. 16: Partnered with Travel Manitoba in a hockey event in Minneapolis, MN. Forty incentive and tour buyers (50/50 split) attended.
• Feb. 26-29: CTC sponsored coffee break at the CESSE CEO Mid-Winter meeting in Banff, AB. Nearly 60 Association CEOs attended the program. 
• Feb. 27-29: Fairmont client events in San Jose and Seattle, with 80-100 clients at each event.  Networking and relationship building while promoting Canada in “commercial” format.
• Feb. 29-March 1: Sales calls mission with SME in Atlanta, GA.
• March 2: Attended Leading Hotels of the World event in Dallas, TX.
• March 6-9: Attended and sponsored MIC of Colorado annual educational event and tradeshow.  Partnered with Tourism Toronto to take clients to hockey game as well as to make sales calls in Denver area.
• March 8: Hosted luncheon during Experient’s EnVision Conference in Reno, NV, attended by 200 Experient staff and meeting professionals.
• March 12-15:  Sales calls, partnership in Krisam Group event, Meeting Sites Resources Client Day event in southern California.
• March 12-16: Participated in Fairmont Incentive Week in Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Minneapolis, MN and Des Moines, IA.
• March 20: Couture Canada event in Dallas, TX, for meeting planners and decision makers at Neiman Marcus – Willow Bend.
• March 25-28: Participated in the Pharmaceutical Meeting Managers Forum in Orlando, FL, in partnership with Tourism Toronto.
• Sales calls in South Florida included a call at the Canadian Consulate General in Miami to discuss tourism issues and trade development in Florida.
• March 26: Hosted dinner at ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference in Colorado Springs, CO. Forty association executives attended.

MC&IT Atlanta participated in a trade mission from Atlantic Canada provinces to Atlanta, featuring a breakfast presentation and a dinner hosted by the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal in February, at the invitation of the Canadian Consulate General, Atlanta, GA.

CTC sponsored four FAMs from the US: at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, BC, at the Marriott Gateway in Niagara Falls, ON, at Four Seasons in Vancouver, BC, and at the Canadian Rockies Fairmont in Calgary, AB.

 

Marketing and Sales Programs Insurance

Q1 US MC&IT events –insurance market

Feb. 21-24: CTC attended the LIMRA Distributors Conference & hosted key client for two nights. Over 30 clients attended the hospitality suites and15 clients attended the CTC co-hosted dinner.

March 6: Launch of “Be our guest” FICP partnered campaign. CTC and partners hosted one FICP planner member at the FICP Summer Education Forum to promote CTC’s new professional development program.

April 12:  Signature Educational Experience, Montréal. Inaugural“Day Tripper” CTC-led professional development program and Canada partner showcase for key corporate and insurance/financial clients located in the US northeast.

 

Marketing and Sales Programs Insurance

Q1 US MC&IT events –insurance market

Feb. 21-24: CTC attended the LIMRA Distributors Conference & hosted key client for two nights. Over 30 clients attended the hospitality suites and15 clients attended the CTC co-hosted dinner.

March 6: Launch of “Be our guest” FICP partnered campaign. CTC and partners hosted one FICP planner member at the FICP Summer Education Forum to promote CTC’s new professional development program.

April 12:  Signature Educational Experience, Montréal. Inaugural“Day Tripper” CTC-led professional development program and Canada partner showcase for key corporate and insurance/financial clients located in the US northeast.