The Lanzarote Island Council's Tourism Board and the Foreign Promotion Society continue to maintain contacts and various negotiations within the framework of the World Travel Market (WTM) professional fair in London. During these working days, the Lanzarote delegation states that it has once again closed several agreements for the upcoming seasons.
The English, Irish and Scandinavian markets, fundamentally, have been the subject of work in this professional meeting in which, in addition, it is trying to position, through various agreements, the island's sports and nautical product.
Thus, regarding the English market, the Minister of Tourism, Carmen González, has made a "very positive" assessment of the forecasts announced by the airlines and tour operators themselves with whom she has had the opportunity to contact during the fair. Specifically, the British company from the north of England, Jet2.com, with whom Lanzarote maintains seven weekly flights, thanks to the promotion agreements that have been maintained since 2007, confirms a 9 percent increase in places this winter season, compared to the previous one, which means 9,000 more English tourists.
In this line of continuing to support the growth of places promotionally, the Tourism Board and SPEL have closed several promotional actions for 2011. Among others, an important Fam Trip will be carried out and one of the company's planes that bears the name of the island will be presented in Lanzarote. Among the objectives of this meeting, the negotiation of expanding a new route for next year has also been on the table.
With the Spanish Tourist Office (OET) in London, those responsible for tourism in Lanzarote were also able to hold a meeting in order to continue maintaining the line of collaboration with said OET of Turespaña. The CEO of the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society, Héctor Fernández, explained that "this line of collaboration has involved incorporating a promoter of the island into the London office itself for six months, who energizes and streamlines commercial efforts and maintains permanent contacts with the main British operators and companies."
Similarly, through this collaboration with Turespaña, various promotional actions will be carried out aimed at the direct public, such as actions in shopping centers, train and metro stations, among others. A Press Trip aimed at the English press is also being studied.
Annual conference in Lanzarote
With the Independent Association of Tour Operators (AITO), which includes 140 English tour operators, specialized in different products and of which only 13 currently work with the island, a very beneficial agreement will be closed soon so that Lanzarote, as a destination, can be integrated into the network of this association, which will allow reaching all these tour operators. In this meeting, it was also proposed to hold the AITO Annual Conference of 2012 on the island, with a large deployment of media and a visit from the delegates and main representatives of the 140 tour operators.
Among other contacts, at the fair forum it was also agreed to hold a press event to present the summer 2012 catalog of the tour operator Topflight in Dublin. Topflight is considered one of the most important alliances in the Irish market, with a middle-upper class tourist who arrives on the island through two weekly flights.
The Minister of Tourism assured that "despite the crisis that Ireland is going through, certain symptoms of recovery are beginning to be appreciated, at least in the tourism sector, as is the case of what was transferred by this tour operator that has achieved very good results with the island this past summer."
Good prospects for the Scandinavian market
With TUI Nordic, the first Scandinavian tour operator for the island of Lanzarote, the shared strategy to date was analyzed and new contacts were scheduled for the design of a promotional plan to be developed in the coming years.
Solresor, another of the major tour operators in the Scandinavian market, with a weekly flight from Stockholm and Gothenburg, told those responsible for tourism on the island that for this coming winter they have a forecast of an increase of 1,300 more passengers compared to the previous year, going from 3,800 to 5,200 customers who will travel to Lanzarote.
The CEO of the Society detailed that with Solresor "a new commitment has been reached to develop a Multiannual Plan, of two to three years, in order to increase the capacity of places and customers." "This, together with the economic recovery of the Nordic market, driven by the strengthening of the Swedish crown that is rising to the price reached in 2008, will allow attracting a greater number of Scandinavian tourists to our destination", he indicated.
Impulse of the sports product
Of the meetings aimed at positioning the sports product, the agreement to renew the commitments maintained with the international television network, leader in this specialized sector, Eurosport, among others, for the broadcasting of the most important events that are held on the island next year, such as the Ironman or the World Surfing Championship (Canary Islands Santa Pro), among others planned in the Lanzarote sports event calendar.
Similarly, a meeting has been held with Sport New Media, a consultancy that offers product and destination integrations in social networks to support online marketing actions on sports products and that is expected to join the online strategy currently carried out by the Lanzarote destination.
In general, both the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, as well as the Minister of Tourism and the CEO of SPEL, have expressed satisfaction with the new agreements that will be closed in the coming months, and have perceived from the tour operation sector "good expectations" for the coming seasons, given the economic and financial recovery that is beginning to be noticed in some markets, and thanks to the strong commitment that both the destination and the operators themselves are making to recover tourists.
