U.S. International Visitor Record + An Apple Travel Reality + Asia Tourism's Poor Management

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

September 13, 2018

Editor's Note When we last saw international visitor numbers to the U.S. back in March from the U.S. Commerce Department, this country wasn't looking so hot on the global stage. That data, from September 2017, showed international arrivals down 5 percent year-over-year. Shortly after, the Commerce Department suspended releasing any more data, due to an apparent glitch in collecting information from airport passport kiosks. Conspiracy theories bloomed. Was Trump's travel ban killing U.S. tourism? Did Commerce want to mask a negative story? Fast forward to Wednesday, when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross released fresh numbers for all of 2017, touting a record 2 percent increase in international visitors to 77 million. All seems right again for travel, but that won't stop Skift from pursuing a Freedom of Information Act request it filed in April to get some real answers on how and why the data could have been so wrong. We are still waiting for those answers from the Commerce Department. — Tom Lowry, Managing Editor Skift Global Forum Is 2 Weeks Away Meet 1,100+ attendees from over 550 companies in travel and experience 30+ sessions with the industry's smartest leaders at our fifth Skift Global Forum. Only 26 seats remain, so grab yours now! Register Now Top Stories U.S. Had Record Number of International Visitors in 2017 as Kiosk Data Glitch Is Fixed It appears that the gloomy picture that U.S. tourism officials had painted of international arrivals in recent years wasn't actually as bleak as they thought. But a computer error isn't the only thing to blame for slower growth. American CEO on Gulf Carrier Pact: 'Someone Is Cheating Already' Remember when the Trump administration suggested in May it had solved the ongoing dispute between U.S. and Gulf carriers? Hah. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is already complaining one competitor is ignoring the spirit of the agreement. Travel Could Gain From Apple's Augmented Reality Push Of all travel companies, TripAdvisor has the most to gain by taking advantage of the expanding augmented reality functionality of iPhones and other devices. Overlaying rich hotel and restaurant reviews on real-world scenes could be widely popular. Will it act? Asia-Pacific Tourism CEO Points to Bad Management — Not Overtourism — as Key Problem Words as a means to define problems and trigger solutions are important. The label overtourism crystalizes a problem and serves as a call to action. We'd agree that a lack of capacity management is a big part of the problem, but the latter characterization hardly spurs the urgency the issue requires. Skift Global Forum Preview: How Puerto Rico Made Tragedy an Opportunity for Its Tourism While many headlines continue to depict Puerto Rico in tragic terms, and there certainly are plenty of areas that are still struggling, many hotels and restaurants are back on their feet and better than before Maria. The island's tourism industry is on its way to real change as it tries to put the hurricane behind it. Travel Managers Aren't Buying Basic Economy Fares: Here's Why Travel managers are avoiding basic economy fares, and rightfully so. The consensus is that travelers end up paying more over the course of a trip if they go basic economy and have a worse flight experience to boot. A Peddler of Fake Reviews on TripAdvisor Gets Jail Time TripAdvisor hopes that jail time will scare off the dishonest folks creating fake reviews. We hope so, too. BridgeStreet Adds Hostels and Vacation Rentals to Biz Travel Platform BridgeStreet is bringing homeshares and hostels to its platform in order to offer more variety to business travelers. The key will be finding success among travel managers by making it easier for them to book stays outside traditional extended stay hotels. Why Emirates Waited So Long to Add Premium Economy No matter what Emirates President Tim Clark says, the airline probably wishes it had moved faster to add premium economy. Most airlines say it has been selling well, as customers are flush with more disposable income. Of course, if and when a recession hits, passengers will stop spending on these perks. Companies Continue to Invest in Events Events have taken on an increased importance to corporate marketing efforts, even as costs have risen. It will be interesting to see if organizations are forced to reduce events in order to save on costs sometime in the next few years. Skift Table Last week we announced our final line-up of speakers for Skift Restaurants Forum. Chefs including Missy Robinson, Stephanie Izard, and JJ Johnson will be joined by restaurant tech leaders including OpenTable's Christa Quarles, Resy's Ben Leventhal, and Grubhub's Stan Chia. Register Now. Skift Restaurants Forum Preview: Resy CEO on Collaboration and Blind Spots While it's hard to measure the conversion rate that a social media channel like Instagram has for an experience like dining in a restaurant, Resy CEO Ben Leventhal is right — that platform is one restaurants shouldn't be neglecting. Skift Restaurants Forum Preview: Square Sees Itself as Championing Creativity Alyssa Henry's ace leadership is one of the unsung reasons why Square's engineers have effectively delivered intuitive payments software to many restaurants. Skift Restaurants Forum Preview: ThinkFoodGroup COO on Protecting the Brand Maintaining core brand identity, and being able to communicate the same level of hospitality and food quality to customers no matter which of Jose Andres' ThinkFoodGroup restaurants they are stepping into, is crucial as the company moves through a rapid pace of growth. Join the Discussion on Global Hotel Operations Trends Join VPs of Marriott, IHG, Wyndham, Hyatt and more at Hotel Operations Weekend (HOW) Festival. GMs and Operational Directors will gather to discuss the global trends in everyday hotel operations on October 3-5 in Porec, Croatia. Popular Now Apple's New iPhone Push Notification Tweaks Could Help Travel Brands Despite the hype, Apple is merely playing catch-up to Android by rolling out new tools for fine-tuning app notifications. But it's still good news for the many users of business travel apps on Apple devices. What's Behind the Face-Off Between Airports and Airlines in Australia Australia's airlines are urging the government to rein in the airports, claiming they are abusing their monopoly power to extract unreasonable charges. It's a tough call for Canberra, which wants to see more investment in airport infrastructure, but doesn't want to be seen allowing price gouging from some of the most profitable airport operators in the world. 25 Things That Inspire Me About the Travel Industry I wrote out all the things that inspire me and the team at Skift about the daily and larger promise of travel and the global industry that drives it. For Gmail users: If you are using the tabbed inbox, Skift emails may be pushed to the 'Promotions' tab. To get updates from Skift direct to your primary inbox, drag and drop this email to that tab. You received this email because you are subscribed to Skift Daily Newsletter from Skift.

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