Let’s Talk About Tourism
By Martin Owen
Here we are. It’s December and Christmas and the New Year are nearly upon us. As the year comes to an end it’s traditional to look back. Just recently an old friend sent me some travel brochures we were both involved in producing back in late 1980s and mid-1990s. She had found the books during a clean out and sent them to me so that I could scan them and share them with other people we worked with back then.
Looking through the brochures was certainly a nostalgic trip and got me thinking how much things have changed since my career in the Travel and Tourism industry started. I began as a travel agent in Britain, but the industry was much the same the world over. From the point of view of the leisure traveler, the year actually began immediately after Christmas when the brochures for the next year’s summer season were released. They were, of course, actual printed books. They arrived in our agencies in vast numbers and needed to be stored and the racks in our stores needed to be regularly refilled as potential customers took stacks home to study. The impact of all that paper on the environment must have been staggering. Thousands of tons of newsprint being created worldwide, all with a a short life and destined to be sent to the garbage after only a few weeks.
Once the potential summer tourists had made their decisions about where they intended to visit, they were back to our office to discuss choices with us travel agents. We then had to phone the tour operators, airline and hotels to make all the arrangements. We were incredibly busy from the day after Christmas until about March. Then things eased off until the winter brochures – for winter sun and skiing – were published around April or May and the whole process started again.
Everything we did revolved around physical books and the telephone. No internet or computers in those days! The travel agency computers didn’t really start having an impact until the mid to late ‘80s and the internet really got a hold during the ‘90s.
Now of course, the travel agent is different. They are very specialized and knowledgeable, not that we weren’t, but the level of knowledge is much greater now. Many travelers do their own research spending hours browsing the web and are able to make bookings direct with airlines, hotels and operators, often with little or no human interaction.
The other change has been that the time between booking and taking the vacation has shortened considerably. Back in the day, six months advance planning was normal, but now it can be a matter of weeks or even days!
Was it a better time? It was certainly different. I don’t think I miss having to move all those brochures or the hours spent hanging on the phone waiting to be told that the vacation my customer wanted was already full.
Looking back on the past year here in the Northern Gulf Coast, tourism has boomed.
For Florida alone the third quarter of 2022 was up 6.9% on 2021 and actually up 8% on the same period in 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year). The first nine months of the year brought in 97.752 million US visitors up from 90.05 million in the same period in 2019. Regrettably overseas visitors have not recovered to pre pandemic levels, being 30% down on 2019. Canadian visitors are also still 46% down on 2019. Tourism is still Florida’s number one industry and is highest contributor to the general revenue of the state. Figures are from Visit Florida.
So, it’s been a great year and all bodes well for 2023.
In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Go and get those travel brochures out and start planning your next vacation!
