The 2010 EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit North America is all set to take place at The Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago from Oct 13-14, 2010. For a basic introduction of the summit, refer to Part I.

TDS Social Media Strategies conference

The 2-day event actually consists of four distinct conferences, as outlined below.

Per diem rates for federal travel have been slashed heavily in the new FY2011 (effective Oct 1, 2010) per diem announced by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

GSA per diem rates

The biggest drop in per diem was in New York City ($340 to $269), followed by Chicago ($205 to $173) and San Francisco ($192 to $174).

The new per diem rates will result in a decrease of 5.73 percent of the estimated federal lodging costs, as compared to FY 2010. The decrease in per diem costs overall is 3.85 percent when factoring in meals and incidental expenses.

Total federal travel spending in 2008 was pegged at around $13.8 billion. The GSA’s E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) processes over 170,000 travel vouchers each month.

Per diem is the allowance provided to government employees for lodging, meals and incidental expenses incurred while on official government travel. The GSA has two kinds of rates – Standard and non-Standard.

Around 2,600 counties are covered by the standard rate, which is reviewed once in three years. For FY2011, the standard per diem rate has been adjusted upward to $77 to reflect the average daily rate for lodging across the country.

There are 378 non-standard areas. These are frequently traveled areas, and the rates are reviewed annually. Out of 378, rates have dropped in 310 areas.

The GSA uses ADR (Average Daily Rate) data to calculate the per diem rates. The problem, as far as the hotel industry is concerned, is that the ADR data the GSA used was compiled based on Monday-Thursday rates for a period between April 2009 to March 2010.

So the federal goverment will actually be paying 5.73% less for lodging in an improved, post-recession period with higher rates. This will lead federal employees to downgrade their lodging choices and will likely also result in a drop in federal travel to costly cities.

More info: www.GSA.gov/perdiem

Related posts:-
Federal Agencies Using GSA Software to Reduce Business Travel

EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010 is scheduled to take place Oct 13-14, 2010 in Chicago. The theme for this year’s TDS is “Essential Growth Strategies for a Changing Travel Market.”

EyeforTravel TDS North America

The two day event includes four distinct travel conferences, with 70+ expert speakers and over 750 travel professionals on hand to fill up The Westin on Michigan Avenue.

The four distinct travel conferences are as listed below:-

1. Online Sales & Distribution
2. Revenue Management
3. Mobile Technology & Travel
4. Social Media Strategies

Event Director Marco Saio says “We know that maintaining a ‘business as usual’ approach to markets and consumers that have transformed almost beyond recognition is not an option.”

The keynote session on Day 1 emphasizes this point – the lasting impact of the recession, how the distribution game has changed, how to stay ahead of the game and plan for the ‘next big thing’ in online travel.

Part I of this series on TDS North America 2010 takes a look at some of the highlights of the Online Sales & Distribution conference.

Profit Enhancing Distribution Strategies for a Changed Market: Topics covered in this session include the changing power dynamic between OTAs, suppliers, metasearch and the GDS companies, and the change in distribution models amongst OTA’s, metasearch and search engines.

Also discussed in this session will be an important question that everyone is grappling with under the new normal – How can you leverage traffic away from intermediaries and grow your direct channel for highest returns? 

Speakers for this session include:- Keith Watson, VP, Rate Tiger
Eric Hofer, Senior Director of Commercial Sales, Travelport
Robert McDowell, Managing Director Distribution & E Commerce, United Airlines
Sunil Bhatt, VP & GM, Expedia Affiliate Network Americas
Rick Seaney, CEO, FareCast.com (Panelist)

Anticipate The Evolution of Search: Online search has undergone a sea change in the last year, with the inclusion of twitter feeds and micro blogging. This session starts off with the importance of adapting to the semantic web, an in-depth look at the current state of the search landscape, and charting how the travel consumer’s interaction with the web has changed.

Attendees will find more about the future of social search, how personalized search result mechanisms affect SEO ratings, and how developments in web 3.0 will help you reach, engage and influence the next generation of online travelers.

Speakers for this session include:- Jane Butler, Industry Director for Travel, Google Inc
Krista Pappas, Global Director & Head of Business Development, Bing Travel at Microsoft
Yen Lee, Co-Founder and President, UpTake
Elisabeth Osmeloski, Managing Editor, Search Engine Land

Innovative Post-Recession Distribution Models: Disruptive change results in established business models struggling to stay relevant, while space opens up for entrepreneurs who can see the opportunities and come up with innovative models.

This session puts together four such companies who will share their secrets and predictions regarding the next phase in the evolution of online travel.

Speakers for this session include:- Drew Patterson, CEO & Founder, Jetsetter
Adam Healey, Co-Founder & CEO, hotelicopter
Gregg Brockway, CEO, TripIt
Carl Shepherd, Co Founder and Chief Strategy and Development Officer, HomeAway Inc

See the full Distribution agenda of EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010.

A new report from Visa (Tourism Outlook: USA) shows that spending by international travelers in the US in the first six months of 2010 jumped 20% over 2009 levels.

Visa Tourism Outlook USA

2009 Visa spending by international visitors had dropped 12% over 2008, from $32.9 billion in 2008 to $28.9 billion in 2009.

The 20% jump from Jan 1-June 30, 2010 means that by the end of the year, 2010 spending could end up higher than 2008 levels, and may even breach pre-recession highs.

Visitors from Canada ($4.6 billion) and the UK ($1.2 billion) made the biggest contributions to inbound tourism spending in the first half of 2010, followed by Brazil ($835m), Mexico ($819m) and Japan ($787m).

The biggest year-on-year growth  (H1 2010 compared to H1 2009) came from Chinese visitors (74%), followed by Brazil (73%) and Australia (44%).

A statewise breakup of H1 2010 inbound tourism spending shows that Florida was the biggest beneficiary ($2.4 billion), followed by New York ($1.6 billion) and California (also $1.6 billion).

The other seven states on the top ten list include Texas ($594m), Nevada ($558m), Hawaii ($504m), Arizona ($274m), Washington ($262m), Illinois ($201m) and Massachusetts ($197m).

But Florida, inspite of getting the biggest share of inbound tourism spending, also suffered huge losses due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast.

In May 2010, one month after the oil began leaking into the gulf, inbound tourism spending from international travelers to the Gulf Coast states was actually up year-over-year. But in between May and June 2010, the spending tanked by 42%.

Lodging took the biggest hit, with Visa cardholder spending on Gulf Coast lodging decreasing by 50%  (a loss of $6 million) from May to June 2010.

Tourism Outlook: USA – Download (pdf)