The Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society (SPEL) presented its promotional strategy for the coming year 2015 this Tuesday. The document is oriented towards the "consolidation of the large figures that the island has registered during the present year" and the "improvement of qualitative indices", among which SPEL counts "the increase in the average stay and daily spending of visitors, mainly". The president of the Cabildo and Minister of Tourism, Pedro San Ginés, has predicted that "the island will exceed 2,400,000 tourists in 2014" and has also pointed out that "Lanzarote led the accommodation occupancy rate throughout the country during the past month of August".
To develop this strategy, SPEL will "execute promotional actions in markets considered mature", such as the British, German or Irish, and "in emerging markets" that, they say, "are having a great response to the image of the destination, such as the Polish, Scandinavian or, above all, the French, without neglecting", they say, "some of our pending subjects, such as the Italian".
The president of the Cabildo, the CEO of SPEL, Héctor Fernández, and the marketing director of Turismo Lanzarote, Lorena Miranda, presented the results of the promotional plan executed during 2014 and advanced the main lines of the 2015 Marketing Plan to the island's tourism sector during an event held at the Arrecife Gran Hotel. The managing director of Promotur, María Méndez, also attended, to whom San Ginés thanked for the "key" role she has played "during the last three years, with agreements that give us guarantee and economic stability to continue working".
Pedro San Ginés detailed the content of the working day and pointed out that it is "necessary to strengthen the strategic axes of the promotional action around the tourist products of the island European Sports Destination, Saborea Lanzarote, Sustainable Destination and Lanzarote Film Commission" which, he advanced, "will be presented to society this coming Friday".
After inviting the sector to attend the event scheduled for the reopening of the Jameos del Agua Auditorium on December 5 and 6, Pedro San Ginés gave the floor to the CEO of the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society, Héctor Fernández, responsible for presenting to the sector a document that, he said, represents "the virtue of public-private collaboration".
Fernández outlined the global scenario for the current year 2014, "marked, without a doubt, by the 2,400,000 tourists who have arrived on the island under the protection of the confidence that Lanzarote offers to the major global operators, who see the island as a destination that guarantees security, excellence and confidence for their clients" and drew a 2015 "that starts from a year in which we have expanded the quantitative objectives to trace others that limit the dependence on a single market, in our case, the British". Fernández also pointed out that "there are indicators that reinforce the trend shown by national tourism during the last months and allow us to predict that next year we will witness its definitive recovery" and also considered "key the signs of recovery that the German market has offered during the last months". On the other hand, he explained that "Turismo Lanzarote has opted this year for an increasing presence at product fairs, not so much at generic fairs, following the trends presented by the major international markets".
Balance of 2014
Héctor Fernández gave an overview of the promotional actions carried out during the current year in a global way, and segmented by market and operator. Fernández indicated that Turismo Lanzarote was present at 8 fairs held on British soil and welcomed 19 travel agents and 20 journalists who participated in different trips for the press and agents held on the island. In addition, "an endless number of on and offline communication and marketing actions" were executed, such as "campaigns on the exterior of train stations, for example, and even, hand in hand with the operator Jet2, a good part of British homes were reached with a nationally broadcast spot. Sovereign, for example, a high-end operator, sent newsletters to all its clients and developed actions on its online server. Likewise, other actions were launched with lowcost holidays, British Airways and Thomson, among others", explained the CEO of SPEL.
Regarding the national market, which represented 12.17% of the tourists who arrived on the island in 2013, "Turismo Lanzarote was present at 14 fairs and welcomed 3 journalists on two trips for the media held on the island". Among the "most striking" actions carried out during the year, Fernández highlighted "the campaign with Vueling executed on buses in different Spanish cities, the videos on board Travelplan planes, the presence in the Verano fantástico 2014 brochure of Viajes El Corte Inglés", in addition to "an intense action on social networks and in the on and off line press. In national territory, actions were also carried out with logitravel.com, Barceló Viajes, Soltour and Muchoviaje.com", Fernández pointed out.
Regarding the German market, the SPEL executive stated that "Turismo Lanzarote was present at 10 fairs held in Germany during the current year and welcomed 11 German travel agents and almost thirty media professionals". The "most striking" promotional actions have been carried out by Airberlin, with the projection of videos in train stations; with Germania, which held a 'roadshow' in the cities of Erfurt and Berlin; Der Touristik, which delivered almost 9,000 posters about the island in different travel agencies and Schauninsland Reisen, which occupied different advertising spaces at Düsseldorf airport with images of the island". In addition, Fernández said, "there was an intense on and offline action and a strong presence in the German press and radio".
The last of Lanzarote's traditional markets, the Irish market, which accounted for 8.54% of tourism to the island in 2013, has held a trip on the island with 8 travel agents during the year, Fernández said. In addition, "11 journalists have visited Lanzarote, which has been present at three fairs held in the Land of the Shamrock". The Irish co-marketing actions have been developed with Sunway.
Among the emerging markets, "the strong dynamism" of the French market "is striking", says SPEL. Turismo Lanzarote has been present at six specialized fairs in French territory. In addition, "it has welcomed more than 300 French travel agents, with special mention to the macro trip organized by its main partner in that market, Thalasso nº1, and 9 journalists participating in different press trips". The balance reflects that in this market it has worked hand in hand with Air Mediterraneé, Thalasso nº1, Marmara and Karavel.com.
In the Scandinavian countries, it has been present at five fairs held in Malmoe, Gothenburg, Oslo and Helsinki, the document states. In addition, it has welcomed three journalists participating in two press trips held hand in hand with the OETs of Stockholm and Scandinavia. The report also echoes the promotional actions in this market, which have come from Solresor and Apollo.
In the other "great powerful current market, the Polish market, it was present during the last year with campaigns in trams in the cities of Katowice and Wroclaw hand in hand with Itaka, and in an animated spot and an intense action in social networks together with TUI Poland, among other actions", says SPEL.
Thomas Cook and TUI have been the main business partners of Turismo Lanzarote in the Dutch market. During the year, co-marketing actions have been carried out aimed at "boosting a market that represented 3.63% of the total tourists who arrived on the island during 2013", Fernández said.
Belgium and Italy have been other target markets for Turismo Lanzarote. The destination has been present, either at fairs, such as the Salon des Vacances in Brussels, or in advertising actions with Viaggi dei Turchessi, with whom an exterior action was carried out on trams in different transalpine cities and in different Roman metro stations.
Héctor Fernández also reviewed the campaigns carried out with Ryanair, the presence of European Sports Destination in different markets, the Golf product, scuba diving, and the presence of the island as a sports tourism destination on the thematic channel Eurosport.
2015 Marketing Plan
During the morning, Héctor Fernández also advanced some aspects of the 2015 Marketing Plan which, he indicated, "is focused on the consolidation of the volumes of the present 2014 and on the increase of the qualitative ratios for 2015".
"For this", he assured, "a strong boost will be given to the tourist product clubs towards the optimization of the holiday experience, the concept of tourist information points will be changed and a commitment will be made to the qualification and excellence of services at the destination through the SICTED project".
In parallel, "a boost will be given to the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society as an entity for inter-institutional cohesion and the public-private sector for collegiation in tourist-promotional decision-making", the CEO said.
The Board of Directors of SPEL held on November 17 agreed to urge the Cabildo of Lanzarote to dissolve the Tourist Board and eliminate the tourist promotion powers of the Tourism area of the Cabildo and transfer them to SPEL, responding, according to the Society, "to a request made by the tourist employers' associations Asolan and Aetur, in addition to the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce".
Finally, Fernández announced the presence of the Lanzarote destination in almost fifty specialized fairs that will be held in different European cities during the next 2015.