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Trends: Medical Tourism Forecasted to Grow Among Americans

Sun, 08/31/2008 - 14:25 — anne

Here's something for healthcare brands to think about:

The increasing cost of medical care, growing numbers of uninsured or underinsured Americans, the global outsourcing of record-keeping and x-rays, the recruitment of doctors and nurses from other countries, and the increasing quality of hospitals in other countries is paving the way for the growth of medical tourism says The Economist. They report that Americans can save as much as 85% by 'shopping around’ for medical care and that the number of Americans traveling for care will grow from 1 million in 2007 to 10 million in 2012, costing American hospitals $160 billion in annual business.

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG),  has teamed up with the Medical Tourism Association, an international, non-profit association made up of the top international hospitals, insurance companies, healchcare companies, medical tourism companies, etc., to launch an initiative to offer medical-related travel into Latin America. Expect more of these partnerships as costs mount in the US and interest grows in cost effective alternatives.

 

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Travel Brands Beware: “Economic Woes Cause Americans to Hit Brakes on Travel”

Thu, 07/17/2008 - 15:00 — anne

Leisure travel expectations off sharply. Staycations on the horizon.

The tourism industry risks being hit with significant declines in leisure travel volume and spending according to the findings of Destination Analysts' bi-annual The State of the American Traveler survey released today. The survey of 1,000 American leisure travelers shows that 45.8% expect to reduce the number of leisure trips they will take in the coming year in direct response to the overall economic climate. General travel spending expectations are also depressed, with 29.8% saying they will spend less for leisure in the next 12 months, a figure that has more than doubled from just six months prior.

In the past 12 months, nearly one-in-four (23.6%) say they have taken a "staycation" -- a vacation spent at home -- in response to gasoline prices. 28.5% of survey respondents said they plan to take a staycation in the next 12 months.

"We expect to see travelers taking fewer leisure trips and visiting destinations that are closer to home. With more than half of travelers saying they will actively look for travel bargains and discounts and another third saying they will visit less expensive destinations, affordability is certain to be top-of-mind. In this climate, destinations, hotels, and others that market to leisure travelers must provide compelling offers that promise and deliver value," says Erin Francis, Managing Partner of Destination Analysts.

The average number of trips the typical American has taken in the past 12 months has already fallen 7.3% to 5.1%. The top impediments to travel continue to be high gasoline prices (57.8%), personal financial reasons (49.5%) and expensive airfare (35.2%). The percentage of survey respondents who have cited these factors as having prevented them from traveling as much as they would have preferred have all grown significantly since the survey was first conducted in July 2006.

A four-page summary report of findings can be found at http://www.destinationanalysts.com/SATSJuly2008.pdf


Source: Destination Analysts/PRNewsire

Tactics: WeatherBill Helps Marketers Guarantee the Weather

Tue, 07/15/2008 - 01:00 — anne

WeatherBill says they are “the first service to provide affordable and easy-to-use weather coverage to protect revenue and control costs for the millions of businesses impacted by the weather.” Based on research into the ways that weather affects a wide range of industries, the company sells coverage to customers online and pays “automatically” when bad weather occurs, without “unnecessary paperwork,” claims process, proof-of-loss or waiting for payment.

Priceline has used WeatherBill to cover vacations they sell that are affected by bad weather, says The Economist, and reportedly other travel firms are planning to incorporate similar offers.

The website makes purchasing coverage sound like a no brainer, with costs about 2-5% of payout and 40% increases in revenue when “Good Weather Guarantees” are added to promotions, plus the PR opportunities you'll receive when customers are paid.

Still not convinced? WeatherBill invites you to upload your daily revenue data to their website to create a custom “weather sensitivity report” that provides you with the potential financial impact of the weather on your business.

What will they think of next?

Sources:
“Something For A Rainy Day,” The Economist, 7/12/08
WeatherBill.com

Weather.com

Weather.com offers advertising solutions from cable advertising, cable affiliate sales and mobile advertising, to online advertising and radio advertising.

Trivop

Trivop specializes in producing audiovisual presentations and documentaries on hotels for the Internet that travelers can download and view before they book.  

The company also hosts the videos and distributes them to major video platforms such as Veoh, YouTube, etc.

The French company plans to expand into the U.S. in early 2008.

TrafficMagnets

TrafficMagnets provide free, live dynamic traffic data for your surrounding area.

VibeAgent

VibeAgent.com is a travel social network where travelers can research and book hotel accommodations based on user-generated hotel reviews and metasearch.

Kaboodle

Kaboodle is a social network focused on shopping.

Kango

Kango is a travel search service that filters results based on opinions and reviews across 1,000 travel-related sites.

Source: Techcrunch

Extravigator

Extravigator is a social network for sophisticated world travelers, not to be confused with tourists. According to the webiste, Extravigators seek out "the world's top hotels, resorts, museums, shopping and anything else worth traveling for."

Extravigator.com 

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