September
2005
The Travel Bug - Issue 4
Launch of Vanuatu Hospitality Awards coming
soon
The Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association
(VHRA) in conjunction with the Yia Blong Turisim Committee is proud to announce the first Vanuatu Hospitality
Awards to be held this year, ‘The Year of Tourism’. The Awards presentation, in November, will present prizes
to the winner in each of four categories; Resort; Hotel/Bungalow Accommodation; Adventure/Cultural Tour and
ni-Vanuatu Staff Member of the Year. The competition will be open to all facets of tourism participating in
the above four categories.
Full details, and entry forms, will be
available at the official launch at the end of June; regular updates will appear in this column, subject to
space availability. The VHRA is proud to be associated with ‘The Year of Tourism’ initiative and hopes this
first Awards presentation will become an annual event with, eventually, the number of entry categories being
expanded to cover the vast, and varied, number of tourism products being offered in Vanuatu. (Source: VHRA)
Internet Travel
Planning
The Internet: Consumers’ Favourite Travel Destination.
Overwhelmingly, consumers are turning to the Internet for their summer travel planning and purchasing needs,
according to independent research conducted by Feedback Research, a division of the Claria Corporation a leader in
online behavioral marketing. By analyzing the actual online traffic and conducting a survey among a sample of
Claria's tens of millions of software users, Feedback Research was able to gain insight into online travel research
and purchasing habits. Data was analyzed from April 1 through July 1, 2005, in the months leading up to summer
vacation travel. A survey was also conducted among users who viewed travel category sites in the prior 30 days and
also had purchased travel in the prior 12 months.
Results indicated that consumers are still taking a trip to the
Internet for their travel planning and purchasing needs, with 88% of survey respondents who went or are planning to
go on summer vacation using or planning to use the Internet to research and/or purchase their summer vacation
arrangements this year. 61% of respondents who went or were planning to go on summer vacation this year purchased
or planned to purchase airline tickets online, +11 pts vs. those who went on a summer vacation last year. 52%
purchased or planned to purchase hotel accommodations online, a +12 pt increase from last year.
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