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More than 150 managers of 4 and 5 star European hotels members of EHMA met for the first time in Russia to discuss with prestigious international institutions the future of the hotel industry: the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Orient Express Hotels, Cornell University School Hotel Administration, American Express and Hotrec presented the new trends in hotel technology, digital marketing, new markets’ profiles, vital issues vis-a-vis the EU institutions and the increased global competition.
In the University Day, organized by the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in collaboration with Lausanne Hospitality Consulting, Hilary Murphy, Professor of Information Technology & Digital Marketing, considered the changes brought by the new social media – particularly Facebook, Linked-in and Twitter – to tourism marketing while Remi Chadel, Professor at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne and management consultant at Chadel & Cie, tackled some key aspects of technology in the hotel business.
The theme of the meeting, “From crisis to new growth”, was discussed in the Educational Day with Paul M. White, President and Chief Executive Officer of Orient-Express Hotels, Gabriele Piccoli, who spoke for and on behalf of Cornell University School Hotel Administration, and Demian Hodari, Professor of Strategic Management at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, who moderated the panel.
Ms. Sujata Bhatia, Vice President American Express Business Insights Europe, brought good news to the assembly since research shows that lodging in Europe is recovering though not yet back to pre-downturn levels – some markets like UK and France being at least back at 2008 levels. Spending grew in 2010 7% overall vz previous year.
Business Travellers and Key Leisure Segments drive the growth: 50% Business Customers travel more frequently than leisure and their spending is rebounding more strongly.
After large drop-off, visitors are returning to Europe: major European markets register a spending growth of 13% in 2010 with luxury spending rebounding faster. Generation Y Travellers are an attractive emerging segment. With an average age 25, 42% female, 68% coming from outside of Europe, they are aspirational premium spenders and have high online spending affinity. Most popular destinations with them are UK, Italy and France.
Committed Euro Travellers (average age 54, 84% male) continue to maintain spending levels. They are of European origin, heavy travelers and travel consistently even in downturn. They spend more on travel retail and entertainment and are highly loyal guests.
Mr. Kent Nystrom, President of HOTREC, the voice of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe, discussed the hot issues affecting the hotel industry in Europe and how HOTREC tackles them in Brussels.
As a European Confederation, HOTREC currently brings together 43 national hospitality associations in 26 countries across Europe. Its mission is to promote, protect and defend the interests of hospitality businesses vis-a-vis the EU institutions. HOTREC also follows carefully economic trends affecting the industry in Europe. A survey published by Eurostat (28/02/2011), the EU statistical office, on the accommodation sector and tourism in Europe in 2010, confirms that the European hospitality sector was hit very hard by the global financial crisis of 2008, but that, following two years of negative growth, the sector started to recover in 2010, with nights spent at hotels (and similar establishments) increasing by 2.8% compared with 2009. Growth was observed in most EU Member States, with two-digit growth rates for Poland (+10.4%), Malta (+11.0 %) and the three Baltic states – Lithuania (+11.1 %), Latvia (+11.6%) and Estonia (+14.1%). Unfortunately, the negative trend of 2009 continued in 2010 in Romania (-8.7 %), Greece (-2.3%), the United Kingdom (-2.1%), Slovenia (-1.0%) and Italy (-0.8%). Overall, however, these figures indicate that the industry is “on the right track” and that it is gradually moving from “crisis to new growth” – the theme of EHMA congress.
As one of the major players in the European tourism industry, the hospitality sector certainly plays a significant role in the EU economy, in terms of employment and GDP. The hospitality sector in the EU consists of 1.7 million enterprises employing around 9.5 million people. Nevertheless, the extent of the contribution by the hospitality industry to the EU economy is not always as visible as in other sectors because our industry is highly fragmented compared to others (e.g. utilities, energy, etc.): 92% of hospitality enterprises are micro-businesses (employing less than 10 people) and over 99% are small businesses (employing fewer than 50 people).
Recent figures published by UNWTO on the World Tourism Barometer (February 2011), say that Europe was the continent showing the slowest increase in tourist arrivals (with an average figure of 3%). Nevertheless, in 2010 Europe is still by far the leading destination accounting for 51% (473 million) of international tourist arrivals around the world, followed by the “Asia and the Pacific” region (22% – 204 million) and the Americas (16% – 150 million).
“But we are facing increasing global competition, with emerging or developing countries attracting growing numbers of tourists” – concluded Mr. Kent Nystrom. "Therefore, if Europe wants to keep its place as the world’s N° 1 tourist destination, it needs to provide “oxygen” to hospitality businesses. Better impact assessments, balanced legislation, reduction of red tape, improved access to finance and lower taxation are the essential ingredients of a recipe for speedy recovery”.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
