Tourism Trends | Blog

There was a major retrenchment in the travel industry in 2009, as the U.S. economy started to slump, and travel hit a 3.4 percent downturn after years of increases. Travel in 2010 picked up slightly in the second half of the year and is expected to continue its upward path this year. Below is a forecast in numerous hospitality sectors for 2011…

As economic times continue to waver, the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau remains committed to one of its strategic initiatives . We are committed to hosting and attracting as many industry shows as we can so as to get the meeting planners and decision makers into Louisville. Once they see what we have to offer, they are more likely to bring their own conventions and meetings here. We will work to host as many as we can accommodate. This summer we have already hosted three industry shows which has brought over 450 prospective meeting planners to town. This week we are hosting the Rejuvenate Marketplace which brings to town 400 religious meeting planners. The investment we are making in hosting Rejuvenate Marketplace will surely pay off for us in huge dividends especially now that Louisville has added the KFC YUM! Center to our fast-growing downtown. We have several major religious conferences already booked in the arena, and with this show we hope to add more conventions to that list in the not-too-distant future.

Well the much anticipated KFC YUM! Center is now open and ready for business. We will all remember 10-10-10 as the day Louisville took another giant step forward with the opening of the KFC YUM! Center. The $238 million arena is a testament to the will and determination our city and state government leaders have demonstrated along with the numerous corporate partners who stepped up to the plate in a collaborative effort to make this dream a reality.

On Thursday, July 1, Louisville Bureau President & CEO Jim Wood ushered in the new fiscal year by presenting the Bureau’s upcoming sales and promotional strategies to a large crowd of hospitality partners at the Kentucky International Convention Center. An overview of the Bureau’s new marketing plan was explained along with ways the Bureau will implement the plan to grow tourism in the coming year. After Wood’s presentation, attendees chose from three break-out sessions that included; social media; getting the most out of the Bureau’s website; and upcoming industry shows and how to be involved. Click here to download a complete copy of the Bureau’s 2010/2011 marketing plan and here for a copy of Wood’s presentation.

Today's announcement regarding the $490M Museum Plaza project will provide an immediate economic boost to Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in terms of job creation (7000 construction jobs) and into the future with new business relocations to our area. It also speaks well to the current and future sustainability of Louisville's tourism industry. The addition of the two new hotels will increase the number of rooms we can offer future conventions. It will help us to attract new convention business into Louisville. And it will also help us retain existing conventions that currently call Louisville home. Today I have spoken with several existing clients and they have told me how excited they are about this new development and how it will positively impact their future shows. The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau applauds the developers of Museum Plaza and we look forward to selling this magnificent property and to the day when they are open for business.

The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau gathered hospitality officials, business leaders and mayoral candidates to hear details of a newly released Destination Development Plan today at the Kentucky International Convention Center. 

On March 4, 2010 President Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act which was championed into legislation by Roger Dow, President of the U.S. Travel Association. This piece of legislation was a long time in coming as it now forms an agency to market America as a tour and travel destination worldwide.

Finally..The decline in international tourism has started to bottom out and lodging demand should start to recover next year, according to two new and separate studies.

International tourist arrivals declined by seven percent between January and August of this year, but the rate of decline has eased in the past few months, says the UNWTO World Business Barometer. The group expects "moderate" growth next year. In a nutshell the negative outlook for travel overseas is beginning to lift.

As talk about the United States slowly emerging out of the worst economic recession since the 1930's depression, I wanted to communicate to you all once again that the hospitality industry is by no means out of the woods. Our industry typically lags by at least six months once the economic indicators tell us we are out of a recession and the recovery is in full swing. But this recession is different than the others. Current economic projections state that we will emerge very slowly out of this recession instead of experiencing the usual bounce as we have in other post recession periods. Meaning: The hospitality industry will likely emerge very, very slowly out of this current recession.
 

The September 4, 2009 Kiplinger Letter (Volume 86, No. 36) has made some interesting forecasts for 2010. First off, the Kiplinger Letter forecasts for management decision-making. It covers a wide spectrum of topics especially economic trends in a variety of businesses.