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GO News>
GO News
February 24, 2004
Welcome to the February 2004 edition of the GO News
There is continuing turmoil among some of the smaller
European cruise lines as Royal Olympia Cruises announced
last week that it was putting its staff in Greece on unpaid
leave as it tries to work out an agreement on its
outstanding creditors. The Olympia Countess has been sold
at auction and the Olympia Explorer and Olympia Voyager
have been arrested by creditors. Meanwhile Festival
Cruises, which markets in the US as First European Cruises,
has just announced that it is going to restart its cruise
schedule this weekend while it continues negotiations for
financial restructuring.
The drop in value of the dollar in comparison to the Euro
has caused Americans to generally be facing higher prices
for European travel this summer. There are, however, ways
to avoid this. Cruises remain an affordable way to visit
Europe and their prices are holding steady from last year.
Also, some tour operators are also holding prices to
previously published levels. And packages are a better
value than ever, since they include more that doesn’t then
have to be purchased on-site at those higher rates. If you
have not booked your group’s European trip yet, you might
want to seek out those who have not raised summer pricing,
such as Collette Vacations or Travcoa. If you have a trip
scheduled, check with your suppliers to ensure no surprises
are in store.
The Association of Travel Marketing Executives held its
industry forecast panel a couple of weeks ago. The basic
mood was upbeat, with most expecting a return to the levels
of 2000, really the last good year the travel industry has
had. Both the tour and cruise sides cited consumers
demanding more choices within their trips and more leisure
time built into tours in particular. The appeal is for an
active image and experiential travel. The biggest concern
is lower profits driven by consumers buying over the
Internet based strictly on price and the lack of branding
to combat this. Another challenge for the entire industry
is the shorter booking cycle, which has created problems in
meeting cutoffs. There was some disagreement over the big
areas of potential growth, with some citing adventure
travel and others extended families.
We had asked via a survey in the last GO News how often you
wanted to receive this newsletter. Overwhelmingly you said
twice a month. So we will up the frequency from monthly to
bi-monthly.
Teleconference Series
Our first tele-seminar, led by Mike Marchev, was a lively
40 minutes on how to grow your business. Mike pointed out
that people don’t read and don’t like surprises. You need
to thank customers for their business and to invite them
back. You also need to ask them for referrals for new
business. He also recommends asking your suppliers for
referrals for business and discussed the two-step marketing
approach. We expect to have the audio version in the
Archives section of goexperience.com by the end of the
month. Speaking of which, our next one is on Feb. 27.
Watch your e-mail and the “Teleconference Series” section
of the goexperience.com web site for further details. We
hope you will join us for this great free GO member
benefit.
GO Benefits
Our current benefits include our on-line forum, bookstore,
travel protection plan, surveys, tele-seminars, and
Business Advantedge program. I believe all of you have
received information recently on the Travel Protection
program. This edition I’d like to tell you a little about
the Business Advantedge offers. GO has contracted with a
company that negotiates discounts on business services on
behalf of many associations. Office Depot offers discounts
that average 30% off their normal prices and range up to
70% off. To qualify, you must fill out the form on our web
site and fax it to them to register. These discounts are
also available at their stores. Hewlett Packard offers a
6% discount off their HP and Compaq computers and even
bigger savings on other products. American Solutions for
Business offers big discounts on document holders and
ticket wallets. The credit card merchant program allows
you to accept credit cards for a fee under 3%. Discounts
on luggage tags and other premium items are available from
Willow Press and Cruise Albums. In the telecommunications
area, discounts are available on phone service, cell phones
and pagers and on-hold messaging services. This page is
the index to these offers:
www.goexperience.citymax.com/page/page/715727.htm.
I dream of men who take the next step instead of worrying
about the next thousand steps.
Theodore Roosevelt
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