VIENNA, Austria -- The 23rd Austrian Travel Business (ATB) show
here brought together 970 suppliers and 1,000 buyers from Europe
and North America.
Michael Hoferer, general director for the Austrian National
Tourist Office, said the tourist office aims to continue to draw
more visitors by offering a quality product and hospitable service
as well as fostering cooperation between tourist boards and
suppliers.
Tourism is a $12.5 billion industry in Austria. The U.S. is its
eighth-largest market, and the tourist office began this year with
a new director for North America, Erich Neuhold, whose plans
include an increase in co-op advertising; going after niche
markets, ranging from hikers and cyclists to honeymooners, and
placing a stronger emphasis on the Austrian Certified Travel
Specialist.
Neuhold said that Austrian Travel Business show gives travel
professionals "an excellent opportunity to journey through [the
country] in just a few days" and a place to take care of
business.
Maybe that is why the majority of the 60 U.S. buyers are repeat
attendees. Take Sandy Cutrone. As president of the Roslyn Heights,
N.Y.-based European Connection, she has attended ATB the last 15
years and has seen the event attract a wider variety of suppliers,
with an attendant increase in the number of business transactions
handled.
Austria is responsible for 30% to 40% of the operator's Europe
bookings, and Cutrone is both an ACTS Master and member of the
Austrian National Tourist Office's advisory board.
She enjoys selling the destination because the suppliers are "a
pleasure to deal with, things are done in an orderly fashion and
are handled efficiently." The country has something for everyone,
she said: history, culture, sports and scenery.
Susanne Servin, an ACTS designee and president of New York-based
Herzerl Tours, which creates special-interest programs for groups
and FITs in Austria, said ATB is a "great networking vehicle" where
she has formed relationships with suppliers and other U.S.
operators and agents.
Although the majority of U.S. attendees were tour operators,
travel agents who participated in ATB also found the event
worthwhile.
Catherine Dameris, a travel consultant for Windsor Travel Corp.
in Houston, Texas, said attending this and similar events is
important for retailers because "you form personal relationships
with suppliers and are able to work out your clients' needs
person-to-person."
She said attending the event also gives her the opportunity to
get to know tour operators who specialize in a variety of niche
markets within Austria. Dameris said Austria makes up about 60% of
her Europe bookings, and that number has steadily increased since
she became an ACTS agent six years ago.
Dameris also said the ACTS program and ATB have introduced her
to areas and products she normally wouldn't be selling. For
example, after visiting the Rogner-Bad Blumau resort and spa on the
pre-tour this year, she could recommend the property to her clients
with authority and enthusiasm.
Lauren Ann Sherlock, a travel consultant and independent
contractor affiliated with Van Slycke & Reeside Travel in
Bethesda, Md., agreed. Sherlock, who also is an ACTS Master and was
attending her first ATB, said visiting the show "was not an
elective decision. These are the vendors I need to be in contact
with." Many of them, such as smaller, independent hotels, don't
have the resources to contact retailers in the U.S., "so you have
to go to them," she said.
Phil Scheidt, president of Wanderweg Holidays in Cherry Hill,
N.J., which specializes in hiking programs in Austria and
Switzerland, has attended ATB for several years and found the 1998
show productive. "Every year we find at least one new [destination]
candidate that is worth investigating, but this year we have come
across several new areas," he said.
Scheidt, an ACTS designee, also attributed some of the success
of this year's ATB to the tourist office's increased focus on
special-interest marketing. Austria is "doing the right thing in
aggressively going after niche markets instead of waiting for the
business to come to them," he said.