Conexión Florida – May

Here’s the Conexión Florida ‘Tourism in the Gulf’ article for May.

Why do you go on vacation? Certainly, it is to rest and recharge your batteries. According to a multi-lingual friend of mine a phrase like “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is used in many different cultures, so getting away from your usual routine is certainly a good reason to go on vacation. Here on the Northern Gulf Coast it’s usually assumed that our visitors come for the beach. After all our beaches are beautiful! Ask the tourists and that’s what they’ll probably tell you, but if you delve a little more deeply, the answers become more enlightening.

How many of our guests actually spend all their time on the beach? Relatively few, if truth were told. They come for the food, the shopping, and yes, the experiences. They come for the beach lifestyle certainly, but there’s much more to that than lying on the sand.

Tourists to the Gulf Coast are pretty much three main types: families, millennials (born between 1978 and 2000) and boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). The last two types are the largest traveling groups and they tend to arrive not only during the school vacations, but throughout the year. Both groups are looking for experiences. They want to do things that they can’t do in their day-to-day life, and they want to share that experience on their social media with friends……..

Read the rest of the article HERE

Talking Tourism: Generations have vastly different travel habits

The following article was published in the Northwest Florida Daily News on Sunday, May 28, 2017.

A few people have told me that they read the Talking Tourism column each week, but are a little puzzled by my references to Millennials, Boomers and Zoomers. Fair comment, so I’ll try to explain.

Much as we like to think we’re all the same in our outlooks and approach to traveling, we’re not. There are all sorts of influences on our opinions, but for those of us in tourism and hospitality marketing, we have to make a few generalizations. One of the easiest ways is by dividing the travelers into generations as it’s been found that’s a pretty accurate way to predict how people will behave, what their likes and dislikes are, and how we can best appeal to them. Obviously, the lines between the generations are blurred and, of course, it’s dangerous to overgeneralize how people behave. If you Google the subject you’ll be overwhelmed by academic and not-so-learned opinions.

To read the rest of the article, please Click Here