AAF goes to London

[spuwho]

All Aboard Florida starts their international travel pitch in London.

I am thinking of the day when they can pitch a flight into Jacksonville for soccer or football, take AAF to Orlando for a week @ Disney and then on to Miami for a cruise. It's all coming together.

Per the Palm Beach Post:

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/all-aboard-launches-pitch-for-passengers-at-london/npD7F/

All Aboard launches pitch for passengers at London travel conference

A team of All Aboard Florida representatives is in London this week to attend one of the travel industry's largest international trade shows — a trip that marks the company's first major effort to market its passenger train project to tourism industry leaders across the globe.

All Aboard Florida's team joined officials from travel organizations around the state, including Discover The Palm Beaches, Palm Beach County's tourism marketing arm, at the annual World Travel Market in London. The event, in its 36th year, is expected to draw more than 51,000 travel industry professionals, government officials and international media representatives.

"This is the start of educating and creating excitement in the tourism and hospitality industries both internationally and domestically," All Aboard Florida's Chief Marketing Officer Julie Edwards said Monday.

After the rail project cleared several governmental hurdles this year, All Aboard Florida officials are focusing their efforts on marketing the rail line. "We are in that evolution of rolling out a product and a service," Edwards said.

All Aboard Florida plans to run 32 trains a day along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks with stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando. Service is expected to begin in 2017.

For weeks, All Aboard Florida has taken to its Twitter account to hint at "exciting news" it plans to release in the coming days. Officials have been mum about the details of the announcement. A press conference is planned for Monday.

Some of the project's supporters have speculated on social media sites that All Aboard plans to re-brand itself with a new name and logo.

Over the next year, All Aboard plans to attend three more tourism marketing events, including the U.S. Travel Association's IPW, which stands for International Pow Wow. The event is one of the largest generators of travel to the U.S., according to the U.S. Travel Association.

As All Aboard Florida moves forward with its marketing efforts, the company plans to target tour operators in what have been large markets for tourists to Florida, including Canada, South America and Europe, as well as throughout the U.S., including Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Since 2013, All Aboard officials have attended seven tourism trade shows. All of those were held in the U.S., and only one was held outside the state of Florida.

All Aboard Florida's attendance at this year's World Travel Market marks the company's first effort to market the rail line outside of the U.S. Local officials said the company's presence at the annual event will only help promote the state as a destination for international tourists, particularly to Europeans accustomed to traveling by train.

"Europeans are highly attuned to using train service between cities," Discover's President & CEO Jorge Pesquera said. "All Aboard Florida's participation is an enormous opportunity to show new transportation options for visitors in South and Central Florida."

Roughly 1.6 million tourists from the United Kingdom visited Florida in 2014, making the country one of the state's top tourism markets, according to VisitFlorida, the state's tourism marketing organization. Europe is also a big market for Palm Beach County.

Officials with Discover The Palm Beaches have attended World Travel Market's annual trade show for more than a decade.

"This is the leading global event for the travel industry," Pesquera said. "We target the UK and German markets, which are important for us in terms of visitors to The Palm Beaches."

[Adam White]

I'm on the fence about this. On the one hand, it seems like a bit more like a nice 'perk' and not so much like a necessary meeting. On the other hand, British tourists are really big money in Florida (over a British million citizens visit Florida every year), so it makes sense to sell them on the idea of using the train rather than renting (or "hiring") a car while they are in Florida.

[spuwho]

I'm on the fence about this. On the one hand, it seems like a bit more like a nice 'perk' and not so much like a necessary meeting. On the other hand, British tourists are really big money in Florida (over a British million citizens visit Florida every year), so it makes sense to sell them on the idea of using the train rather than renting (or "hiring") a car while they are in Florida.

While the event was held in London, it is a "world travel" marketing activity and designed for travel brokers around the globe, not just Brits.

[Adam White]

I'm on the fence about this. On the one hand, it seems like a bit more like a nice 'perk' and not so much like a necessary meeting. On the other hand, British tourists are really big money in Florida (over a British million citizens visit Florida every year), so it makes sense to sell them on the idea of using the train rather than renting (or "hiring") a car while they are in Florida.

While the event was held in London, it is a "world travel" marketing activity and designed for travel brokers around the globe, not just Brits.

Yeah, I saw that. But it's the same thing, though, isn't it? The chance to market your railway to the millions of people who visit Florida every year (and likely won't bring cars with them). I can see the point of doing it - though you'd hope there would be some analysis to see what, if anything, actually comes from this.

[spuwho]

European vacation habits for the most part are much different.

Many, but not all get vacation time frames that are much more generous than a typical American.

Sanford Airport in Orlando services these large vacation brokers (like Thomson) who create these large travel junkets to Florida. I cant tell you how many times I have seen entourages of Euros walking to the liquor stores along Vineland Apopka, because there is no rental car in the package. AAF wont solve that problem particularly, but the point is, many of these brokers will package these all inclusive deals for travelers, and providing a high speed train link facilitates broader options that are appealing without the expense of hiring a car.

I have noticed that a large user of those Disney shuttle buses that circulate through Orlando arent from the US.

I think AAF is extending that vacation mentality to include other locales.

[Adam White]

European vacation habits for the most part are much different.

Many, but not all get vacation time frames that are much more generous than a typical American.

Sanford Airport in Orlando services these large vacation brokers (like Thomson) who create these large travel junkets to Florida. I cant tell you how many times I have seen entourages of Euros walking to the liquor stores along Vineland Apopka, because there is no rental car in the package. AAF wont solve that problem particularly, but the point is, many of these brokers will package these all inclusive deals for travelers, and providing a high speed train link facilitates broader options that are appealing without the expense of hiring a car.

I have noticed that a large user of those Disney shuttle buses that circulate through Orlando arent from the US.

I think AAF is extending that vacation mentality to include other locales.

Most of the people I know who have visited Florida from the UK have flown into Orlando (or Sanford) and then visited Ft Lauderdale and/or Miami (and maybe Tampa, too). I can see how a train might be more appealing to people who choose to do that.

[exnewsman]

Europeans are also much more familiar with riding trains as transport than here in the U.S. It makes senses to market to them.