Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

After a long period of slow business travel, corporations may once again be ready to send their employees on the road. During the Great Recession, business travel dropped as much as 15.6%. Corporate travel had shown some signs of life earlier this year but the sector slowed when the economic recovery proved to be uneven. However, analysts at the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) are looking for a 3.9% overall increase in 2010.

Are consumers getting tired of boring vacations? Would they rather rappel down the side of a mountain instead of lounge next to a pool with a cocktail in hand? The researchers who study the adventure travel market say it would be a mistake to ignore the sizeable number of consumers who are looking for something different on their next vacation.

As if the market for business travel wasn’t bad enough, traditional hotels and motels are facing new competition. It seems that business travelers are looking for the comforts of home when they are on the road. For many, this means renting a vacation home, an apartment or a condo.

After a long summer of turmoil wreaked by BP’s oil spill in the Gulf, consumers have been slow to purchase shrimp and other seafood products from the region. The volume of products available from the region has dropped significantly but businesses trying to sales levels and reputation. And tourism operators are struggling as well. The entire region finally received some good news last week when U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced federal disaster relief money was being made available.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Casinos. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

* One of the strongest growth areas for casinos in 2009 was racing: Gross gaming revenues for racetracks increased 17.2% over 2007.
* More casinos are embracing technology: Some are allowing guests to make sports wagers through their mobile phone and keep up on casino news via mobile applications.
* An emerging marketing trend among casinos is including celebrities in television commercials and events. Casinos report success from these appearances and that fees for celebrities are more than met by increased revenues.

AAA has projected the number of Americans traveling this Labor Day holiday weekend will increase 9.9% from 2009, with approximately 34.4 million travelers taking a trip at least 50 miles away from home. Last year, 31.3 million Americans traveled during the Labor Day holiday. The 2010 Labor Day holiday travel period is defined as Thursday, September 2 to Monday, September 6. Trips by automobile are expected to increase in popularity with 91% of travelers, or 31.4 million people, reaching their destination by driving. Median spending is expected to be $697 this Labor Day, nearly $50 more than last year when median spending was estimated at $650. Dining (63%); shopping (47%) and visiting with friends and relatives (43%) were named as the three top primary activities by travelers this Labor Day weekend.