Travel Barometer Program

Short-term Forecast to the U.S. and U.S. Destinations

Today, constantly changing market conditions demand access to consistent and timely short-term travel forecasts. The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries has established the Travel Barometer program in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil; and in 2004 in Japan, Mexico, and Canada. The Barometer program gathers timely qualitative data from in-country travel trade, providing U.S. suppliers with a reliable predictor for a short-term forecast of travel demand to the U.S. and profiles market conditions.

What is the Travel Barometer Program?

• Quarterly survey that gathers qualitative input on the short-term travel demand to the U.S. (3-6 months out).
• Conducted on-line with the questionnaire and results available in English and the native language.
• Reports travel demand to the U.S. and by select U.S. destinations and businesses.
• Identifies the top “actions” needed to expand travel demand to the United States.
• Highlights challenges for expanding travel (travel barriers).

Who Participates in the Survey?

• In the UK, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil, participants include tour operators/wholesalers, travel agent firms, corporate representatives, destination representatives, and other travel representatives.
• The German Barometer is open only to German tour operators that sell travel to the United States.
• No company-specific input is reported – all results are reported as an aggregate.

How can Your Destination or Business Benefit by Subscribing?

• Provides quarterly updates and short-term forecasts for travel demand based on the in-country travel trade’s business activity.
• Track bookings and inquiries.
• Defines and monitors barriers for travel to U.S. and solutions to increase demand.
• Reports demand for competitive destinations.
• Destination forecasts – the Destination Subscription provides states, cities, and marketing regions the option to collect short-term travel demand forecasts.
• Customized questions – the Customized Subscription allows DMO’s and businesses to add up to two customized questions to the quarterly surveys.

Subscription Options (see below)

• Core Subscription: provides access to U.S. quarterly results.
• Destination Subscription: Provides access to the U.S. results and destination-specific results (for official DMO’s).
• Customized Subscription: Provides access to the core results, destination results (if applicable), and two customized questions.

How to Subscribe: Subscribe by visiting the OTTI web site at http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/recovery or by contacting Scott Johnson, Program Administrator, by calling 1-518-963-4126. Or complete the form on the back of this page.

Travel Barometer Subscription Options

Core Subscription: (four quarterly reports for 1 year) $800.00

The Barometer Core Subscription 2003 includes the results to all questions other than the destination-specific and customized questions. The Core Subscription 2003 reports on bookings, inquiries, and travel demand to U.S., package travel, independent travel, competitive demand, barriers, and actions to increase travel.

Destination Subscription: (four quarterly reports for 1 year) $2,500.00

The Destination Subscription reports a short-term forecast of travel demand specific to your destination. This subscription includes all the core subscription results.

Example Destination-Specific Question:
"What is the expected demand for travel to the following states in July, August, and September 2003, compared to the same period in 2002?" The responses are reported on the following scale: Much Higher/Higher/About the Same/Lower/Much Lower/Don't Know.

Customized Subscription: (four quarterly reports for 1 year) $4,999.00

This subscription level includes the results of the Core Subscription plus the Destination Subscription (if applicable). The Customized Subscription is the tool you need to have a firm grasp of travel demand and changing market conditions. In addition to the valuable information collected in the Core and Destination subscriptions, this service can help:

• Gather quarterly input from key travel trade in an unbiased manner.
• Determine if a new campaign is taking hold.
• Determine if a slogan or logo is recognizable or get input on which is more likable.
• Inquire about product familiarity.
• Ask trade if they use the destination's web site and if so, what section was helpful.
• Ask trade if their clients use the destination's web site or printed materials.
• Ask trade what you can do to increase traffic to their destination.

Subscription Deadline: You can subscribe at any time. Subscriptions run for four consecutive quarters. To view the survey deadlines and corresponding subscription deadlines please go to the Barometer web page at: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/research/programs/barometer/.

Please contact me for additional information on the following subscription options:

Return via fax to OTTI at 1-202-482-2887.