TTRA Blog

The February 14th mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida reignited a heated debate on gun control in the United States. It also demonstrated once again the need for destination organizations to have a crisis management plan. From city officials urging gun rights advocates to relocate meetings, to activists calling for boycotts of destinations, our industry continues to be impacted by political conversations and legislation. We invite you to read our latest political threat analysis, The Shifting Conversation on Gun Control and How it May Affect Destinations, where we examine the rapidly changing conversation in wake of the Florida shooting and how it affects our industry and address what the growing trend in consumer boycotts means for destination organizations. READ REPORT … [Read more...] about The Shifting Conversation on Gun Control and How It May Affect Destinations

A look at international tourism trends on the back of a possible 'Trump slump' While the U.S. still makes up a sizable chunk of world travel, new data measuring 2017's first seven months of international travel to the U.S. from the U.S. Commerce Department indicates a dip of 4 percent year-over-year. The gut reaction, of course, is to point to a "Trump slump." But what are the major influencers on international travel from an academic point of view? Curious, we reached out to Robert Li, Director of the U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism & Hospitality Research and professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University, for some insight. The data, coming out of Davos, shows a decrease in international travel to the U.S. in 2017--after already losing travelers in 2016. And, mostly, [the common narrative attributes this] to a "Trump slump." But does politics have this kind of effect on other countries' … [Read more...] about How Does Politics Affect Tourism?

In this video, Bronwyn White chats about her experience at the 2016 TTRA International Conference in Vail, CO USA.  https://youtu.be/-unY40X375A … [Read more...] about Bronwyn White Chats About 2016 International Conference

What’s Old is New Again...with a Twist! Marketing Outlook Forum, or MOF as it has come to be known, is one of two conferences produced by the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA). While the summer conference is focused on research, measurement and best practices, the MOF is focused on the “outlook” for travel in the coming years. Although travel almost never shows a decline, it’s growth does slow from time to time, thus while travel is still expected to grow, the growth in travelers, and their associated spending, will be slower in the next couple of years than in the past few. There are several factors leading to this forecast including safety fears, and the uncertainty of the global economy. In fact, we may see fewer international travelers in the U.S. largely due to exchange rate depreciation, which is making travel to the U.S. much more expensive than in the past several years. While the economic outlook may not be as exciting, the horizon looks bright for many … [Read more...] about Takeaways from TTRA’s 2016 Marketing Outlook Forum