Distribución y Revenue Management

🛈 Un especialista ha detectado incongruencias en la nueva plataforma online para el registro de viajeros, afectando tanto al website como al API móvil, previendo problemas en su lanzamiento en octubre. El Ministerio del Interior registrará la identidad y movimientos de clientes de agencias de viajes. Tanto hoteleros de CEHAT como agencias advierten del caos en la implementación. El CEO de Beroni señala la falta de información y sugiere webinars para formar a técnicos. La plataforma presenta fallos técnicos y acepta datos falsos o incompletos.

🚩 In Mallorca, protests against tourism led to only slight drops in tourism indices, with normalcy resuming in nine days after the May 25th protest and five days following the June 16th protest. Mabrian's GTPI for Mallorca remains above 80 points, indicating strong tourist perception and resilience. Travelgate reported a 15-20% increase in bookings to the Balearic Islands from July 22nd to August 12th. Son Sant Joan Airport saw a 5% year-over-year increase in passengers, reaching 4.6 million in July.

💸 FTI Group customers targeted by phishing SMS fraud posed as communications from the German rescue fund DRSF. The DRSF began the largest refund process on August 8 with "more than 215,000 canceled tourist packages." Fraud attempts coincide with DRSF contacting customers for refunds, involving millions in three digits. Refunds processing requires three documents from consumers and will take several weeks, potentially until September. This follows FTI Touristik's bankruptcy and DRSF's creation post-Thomas Cook collapse in 2019.

🏖️ Mexico welcomed 21.82 million international tourists and garnered $16.276 billion in tourism revenue from January to June 2024, marking increases of 6.2% and 6.9% respectively. Air arrivals totaled 12.43 million, up by 4.9% from 2023 and 19.5% from 2019. Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués reported $14.896 billion in earnings, up 7% from the previous year and 40.2% from pre-pandemic levels. Cruise passengers reached 5.15 million, a 10.2% increase from 2019, contributing $435.1 million, 34.3% higher than pre-pandemic figures. The balance for international visitors hit $12.719 billion, a 2.7% rise from 2023 and a 51.4% jump from 2019's first semester.

🏅 Paris welcomed 11.2 million visitors during the Olympic Games, a 4% increase from the previous year but just shy of the 11.3 million anticipated. Hotel occupancy reached 84% from July 23 to August 6, up 10.1 points from 2023. Of the visitors, 44.6% were local, 27.7% domestic day-trippers, 12.5% from other French regions, and 15.2% foreigners. Tourists from the USA, Germany, and the UK made up 13.5%, 7.6%, and 6.8% respectively. International arrivals are expected to rise by 7.9% between the Olympics and the upcoming Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.

📡 GDS (Global Distribution System) connects travel agencies with car rentals, airlines, and hotels worldwide in real-time. It allows registered users to check availability and book instantly, such as Business class tickets, convertible car rentals, or capsule hotel rooms. GDS for hotels specifically automates room reservation processes for travel agents. It provides information, rates, and photos of hotel services, boasting about 500,000 points of sale globally. Well-known GDS examples include Amadeus, Sabre, TravelPort, Galileo, and Worldspan. They differ from IDS (Internet Distribution System) used by websites like Expedia or CRS (Central Reservation System) used internally by hotels for managing reservations. GDS offers benefits such as global visibility, new markets access, immediate transactions, real-time information, automated processes, and competitive advantages, essential for any hotel's sales and marketing strategy.

📌 Hoteliers in the Valencian Community, led by Francisco Ribera, President of Agretur and hotel section spokesperson of Ashotur, deny contracting with Ávoris for the 2024/2025 Imserso season. Ávoris claimed to have secured the planning, but Ribera alleges no agreements exist for approximately 50,000 spots in his province, and there's uncertainty over another 100,000 spots in Valencia and Alicante. Ribera accuses Ávoris of misleading media statements regarding the guaranteed spots for the social program.

🏖️ World2Meet (W2M), the travel division of Grupo Iberostar, acquired the incoming travel business of BestDay in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, including transportation companies. BD Experience, part of BestDay acquired by Despegar for $56.5 million in 2020, joins W2M offering ground transport and group travel services with offices in Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Punta Cana. The strategic operation in the Caribbean complements W2M's other acquisitions: Viajes Cibeles, Viajes Eroski in 2023, Bytour in 2022, Grupo Azul Marino in 2021, and Viajes Dos in 2020.

🛫 Air Europa, following a failed sale to Iberia resulting in a €50 million compensation, aims to quickly repay its €475 million debt to SEPI. The debt includes a €240 million portion with a rising interest rate, currently at 9% and potentially 11% next year. As of spring 2024, Air Europa has repaid 15% (€95 million) of its loans, including €41 million to SEPI and €25 million to ICO, plus €66 million in interest. The company holds approximately €300 million in cash, boosted by strong 2024 sales.

🏕 In 2023, Eurostat data shows Paris leading with 19.3 million tourist overnight stays in short-term rentals, followed by Rome (12.5 million), Barcelona (10.9 million), Lisbon (10.5 million), and Madrid (9.5 million). The top five account for 8.7% of the EU's 719 million stays booked through Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor. Spanish cities Málaga, Sevilla, and Valencia are also in the top 20. Benidorm, Benalmádena, and Torremolinos in Spain have the highest tourist-to-local ratio in the EU, with figures like 8.2%.