The Florida Attractions Association hosted its first industry Roundtables in October and November.
October 20 - Visit Jacksonville
October 21 - Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex - Titusville
November 3 - Fun Spot Action Park - Orlando
November 5 - MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) - Tampa
November 6 - Imaginarium Hands-on Museum - Fort Myers
November 10 - Doubletree Grand Key Resort - Key West
November 12 - Butterfly World - Fort Lauderdale
November 13 - Jungle Island – Miami
Host Committee Members
Several themes emerged-
- Economic times are tough, and will get tougher.
- Look to the Florida resident market to grow your business. 2/3 of Floridians vacation outside of Florida.
- Europe will be hit harder by recession. If you’re depending on overseas, particularly European visitors, significant softening is forecast.
- Lodging industry is seeking value-added packaging opportunities rather than excessive ADR reductions. Some markets are projecting ADR increases in 2009. Attractions – make packaging simple and hassle-free for your lodging industry partners.
- Guest’s expectations for excellent customer service are increasing. Is you business providing “knock your socks off” customer service?
- FAA is collecting and will provide guest service training resources to our members through our web site. If you have experienced success with a training program and would like to share it with your attraction colleagues, please contact the FAA.
- Economist’s recovery predictions range…2nd quarter of 2009 to 3rd quarter of 2010 (really, no one knows).
- Regional promotions are big. Work with other attractions to develop packages. Promote attraction packages to hotels for inclusion in lodging packages. Extending visitors stay is less expensive than getting them there in the first place.
Presentation deck in .ppt (PowerPoint) 3.2 MB
Presentation deck in .pdf. (Portable Document Format) 1.2 MB
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please contact me at your convenience.
