RDA English Newsletter February 2017

RDA English Newsletter

February 2017

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Dear RDA Members, Dear Readers,

Welcome to the February 2017 issue of our monthly RDA English Newsletter!

Over 300 exhibitors have already signed up for the RDA Group Travel Expo 2017 on 20th and 21st April 2017 in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance – up one-third on this time last year. Stand registration is open up until 22nd February 2017. This exhibition offers UK, Irish and Scandinavian coach and group tourism trade buyers a second-to-none opportunity to purchase popular products and destinations, discover new group tourism services and explore industry trends.

The RDA has just launched its new tour coach rentals platform www.bus.de. RDA member coach companies can now register to rent their coaches online to tour operators and to individual tour groups. Interested companies can send their coach rental request via www.bus.de to RDA members from whom they will receive several tailored offers from which they can then choose. This is not only an excellent membership benefit for RDA member companies but also a wonderful new service for e.g. UK group tour operators with flight group business to the continent.

We very much look forward to meeting you in person in 2017, either at the ITB 2017 in Berlin (8th – 12th March 2017), at the 66th RDA Annual General Meeting in Friedrichshafen (19th April 2017), at the RDA Group Travel Expo in Friedrichshafen (20th and 21st April 2017) and at the RDA Group Travel Expo in Cologne (4th to 5th July 2017) or at one of the many RDA regional get-togethers and valuable RDA Academy seminars being organised for your benefit.

Wishing you an informative and enjoyable read! Richard Eberhardt Dieter Gauf President CEO Editor Contact: Dr. Patrick Patridge E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.patrick-patridge.com Phone: +49-69-97840206 Twitter: @DrPatridge Hashtag: #RDAGTE17


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CONTENTS Select RDA Dates in 2017 and 2018 66th RDA Annual General Meeting

19th April 2017 (from 15.30 pm) in Friedrichshafen, Germany

RDA Group Travel Expo 20th and 21st April 2017 in Friedrichshafen, Germany

4th – 5th July 2017 in Cologne, Germany

36th Day of Coach Tourism

8th January 2018 in Saarbrücken, with informal B2B networking get-together on the

evening of Sunday, 7th January 2018.

Hashtag: #tagderbustouristik

RDA Academy Seminars RDA Academy Seminar Programme 2016/2017 http://www.rda.de/fileadmin/content/rda/Dateiordner/akademie/RDA_Akademie_Semina

rkalender_2016_17.pdf

Ms. Claudia Schnackerz, +49 221 91 27 72 16, E-mail: [email protected]

Qualified Tour Guides Seminar 10th to 12th February 2017

RDA Group Travel Expo Exhibitions Preparation - Coach Tourism Partnership Seminar

Federation News

RDA at ITB Berlin 2017 from 8th to 12th March 2017


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35th Day of Coach Tourism in Bremen / Bremerhaven

RDA.de – new platform for coach rentals now online

RDA Group Travel Expo 2017

RDA Group Travel Expo – Benedikt Esser appointed as new Managing Director

Industry News

2017 is the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

German market trends - tour operators report good start to 2017

New RDA Members


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Federation News RDA at ITB Berlin 2017 from 8th to 12th March 2017

The ITB Berlin from 8th to 12th March 2017 (opening times daily: from 10.00 am to 18.00 pm) is the largest travel industry exhibition worldwide (160,000 m²). In 2016 120,000 trade visitors attended (61% from Germany, 39% from abroad). A total of 10,000 exhibitor companies were registered (22% from Germany itself, 78% from 187 countries worldwide).

The RDA International Coach Tourism Federation and the RDA-Workshop Touristik-Service GmbH (RDA Group Travel Expo 2017 in Friedrichshafen and in Cologne) will be represented by Dieter Gauf, CEO RDA-International Coach Tourism Federation and Anna Schwenk, Operations Manager RDA Group Travel Expo 2017. The RDA team may be visited at the German National Tourist Board (DZT) stand in Hall 12, Stand No. 102 (http://www.virtualmarket.itb-berlin.de/en/search?term=rda+-+internationaler+bustouristik+verband+e.v.).

The RDA stand team and their availability is as follows:

Ms. Stephanie Weier 08th - 10th March 2017

Ms. Anna Schwenk 08th - 10th March 2017

Ms. Kathrin Aufderheide 07th – 10th March 2017

Mr. Dieter Gauf 08th - 10th March 2017

Ms. Salmin Behrens 08th - 9th March 2017

Ms. Claudia Schnackerz 10th - 12th March 2017

The RDA team will be available to answer any questions you may have concerning the federation, its services and current activities - and to supply information about coach tourism in general and on forthcoming industry events - including the RDA Group Travel Expo 2017 exhibitions in Friedrichshafen and in Cologne.

Mr. David Scowsill, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council

(http://www.wttc.org/about/members/), stated that ITB Berlin is the key place to learn


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about new trends and market developments, and to deepen existing business

relationships. If you are an RDA member and you are planning to exhibit at this year’s

ITB in Berlin, then please contact RDA Head Office in Cologne for an RDA member adhesive logo sticker for your ITB stand. This way, visitors to ITB 2017 in Berlin and

RDA members attending or exhibiting at the show will be able to clearly identify you as

an RDA member and potential business partner.

Contact persons for RDA - International Coach Tourism Federation appointments:

Ms. Claudia Schnackerz, [email protected]

Tel.: +49-221-912772-16

Ms. Kathrin Aufderheide, [email protected]

Tel.: +49-221-912772-21

Contact person for RDA Group Travel Expo appointments:

Ms. Anna Schwenk, [email protected] (Organisation)

Further information: http://www.itb-berlin.de/en/ITBBerlin/ and “Brief Analysis of the

exhibitors’ survey ITB Berlin 2016” http://www.itb-

berlin.de/media/itb/itb_dl_en/ITB_Analysis_Exhibitors_Visitors_Survey.pdf

35th Day of Coach Tourism in Bremen / Bremerhaven The 35th Day of Coach Tourism start-of-year RDA kick-off conference took place on

Monday, 9th January 2017 in the wonderful GOP Varieté-Theater Bremen

(www.variete.de/spielorte/bremen) with an impressive B2B networking get-together on

the evening of Sunday, 8th January 2017 in the stimulating Bremer Überseestadt (http://www.bremen-tourism.de/virtual-tour-of-ueberseestadt) which included a welcome

reception in the Steigenberger Hotel Bremen attended by 140 colleagues

(https://www.steigenberger.com/hotels/alle-hotels/deutschland/bremen/steigenberger-


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hotel-bremen), a short but enjoyable walking tour which took in the Schuppen Eins – Centre for Automobile Culture and Mobility (http://schuppeneins.de/) and a delicious

meal in the stylish and friendly PORT im Speicher XI harbour restaurant (http://port-

speicherxi.de/).

Photo: Welcome to Bremen – Bremerhaven © Dr. Patrick Patridge 2017


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This year’s conference theme was “Upheaval in the coach tourism market – Challenges & Opportunities” and the speaker line-up was as follows:

Peter Siemering, Managing Director BTZ Bremen – Bremerhaven Tourist Office and Vice-President of the DTV German Tourism Association officially welcomed

some 260 participants to Bremen and Bremerhaven – sister cities that offer coach and

group travel operators and their guests attractive programmes, price-competitive hotels

and memorable visitor attractions.

RDA Vice-President Heinrich Marti opened the conference outlining how the RDA

offers apt advice, targeted solutions and effective B2B platforms for its members in

times of crisis, uncertainty and transformation. Newsworthy, in particular, was the re-

naming of the RDA-Workshop to RDA Group Travel Expo (#RDAGTE17) in order to

properly reflect the scale and significance of the Friedrichshafen and Cologne

exhibitions for the international coach and group tourism sectors.

Dieter Gauf, CEO RDA reflected upon the manifold political, terror, marketing,

competitive and fiscal challenges presented by developments in 2016, setting the stage

for the following expert statements.

DRV German Travel Association President Norbert Fiebig spoke about the effects

of terrorism and changed political, legal and fiscal conditions on the tourism sector as a

whole and about DRV lobbying on behalf of our industry in Brussels and in Berlin.

Fabian Stenger, Managing Director, Flixbus Dach GmbH portrayed how Flixbus

grew from a start-up with a staff of three four years ago in Munich to European inter-city

coach transport market leader with 1,000 employees and offices in Munich, Berlin,

Paris, Milan, Zagreb and Copenhagen. He also explained their recent move into the

coach rentals business.

Klaus Eikmeier, Chairperson Reisenetz e.V. German Confederation for Youth Travel illustrated how schools, universities, clubs and special interest group travel


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organisers react to changing competition and framework conditions, illustrating in great

detail what factors are influential in their organisational and decision-making processes.

Prof. Dr. Harald Bartl, popular, controversial and humorous Day of Coach Tourism

contributor, explored and illustrated the legal implications, consequences and costs of

the new EU Package Travel Directive. Prof. Bartl plans to hold a series of one-day

seminars in 2017 so that tour operators and their staff will be properly informed and

equipped to deal with 20 significant situations when the directive comes into operation

in 2018. Prof. Bartl has estimated the cost of implementing the new directive at EURO

30,000 per company for small- and medium-sized tour operator companies.

Photo: Joël Fauquette, Sales Manager Europe Coach Travel, Eurotunnel le Shuttle, Dr.

Patrick Patridge RDA UK Representitive and Stephen Smith, Operations Director CPT

UK and Chairman, EACT – European Alliance for Coach Tourism © Heinz Lopuszansky


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RDA Vice-President Benedikt Esser reflected about the challenges and opportunities

for family-run coach tourism operations, working in tandem and under the umbrella of

the RDA International Coach Tourism Federation. He outlined in particular the costs and

dangers connected with a proposed “German Holiday Tax” on hotel accommodation. He

also presented Bus.de – the RDA’s new coach rentals platform for group travel

organisers and operators. The RDA Terms & Conditions for Coach Rentals have

also been updated accordingly and are available to RDA members from RDA Head

Office in Cologne.

Johannes Hübner, Manager RDA RBI Crisis Management, moderated a brief but

concluding podium discussion.

Some iPhone snapshot photo impressions © Dr. Patrick Patridge 2017: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9cqsz6bmbdmn58n/AADVSxo48KB9y9uqI9Z6TKH2a?dl=

0

The 35th Day of Coach Tourism was conceived and organised by RDA CEO Dieter Gauf, with the operative support of his wife Beate and son Wolfgang in close co-

operation with and co-ordination with event hosts, Peter Krüger and his superb BTZ Bremen - Bremerhaven Tourism team.

SAVE THE DATE: The 36th Day of Coach Tourism will take place on Monday 8th January 2018 in Saarbrücken (http://www.saarbruecken.de/en), the state capital of the

Saarland, with informal B2B networking and get-together on the evening of Sunday, 7th

January 2018.

Information about Bremen and Bremerhaven: www.bremen-tourism.de YouTube Video Impressions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3XUSNYc_LY Twitter Hashtag: #Tagderbustouristik


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Bus.de – new platform for coach rentals now online The RDA – International Coach Tourism Federation has just launched its new tour

coach rentals platform www.bus.de. RDA member coach companies can now register to

rent their coaches online to tour operators and to individual tour groups. Interested

companies can send their coach rental request via www.bus.de to RDA members from

whom they will receive several tailored offers from which they can then choose. This is

not only an excellent membership benefit for RDA member companies but also a

wonderful new service for e.g. UK, Irish and Scandinavian group tour operators with

flight group business to the continent.

Coach rental enquiries via www.bus.de are gratis and non-binding, with offers coming

directly from RDA member coach companies. There is no commission fee involved and

payment is made directly to the coach rental company. Bus.de is an initiative of RDA

Vice-President Benedikt Esser.

Further information:

Frau Yvonne Blumling at [email protected]

RDA Group Travel Expo 2017

RDA Group Travel Expo – Benedikt Esser appointed as new Managing Director

The RDA Workshops have been renamed as the RDA Group Travel Expo Friedrichshafen (20th and 21st April 2017) and RDA Group Travel Expo Cologne (4th


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to 5th July 2017). The new name reflects the true international nature of Europe’s largest

sales and purchasing exhibitions for the coach and group travel sectors.

RDA Vice-President, Benedikt Esser, succeeds RDA CEO Dieter Gauf as Managing

Director of the RDA-Workshop Touristik-Service GmbH, organiser of the RDA Group

Travel Expo 2017 exhibitions.

Over 300 exhibitors have already signed up for the RDA Group Travel Expo 2017 on

20th and 21st April 2017 in Friedrichshafen – up one-third on this time last year. Stand

registration is open up until 22nd February 2017. Taking place some six weeks after ITB

Berlin 2017, the RDA Group Travel Expo in Friedrichshafen offers coach and group

tourism trade buyers and planners a wonderful opportunity to purchase much sought-

after products and destinations, discover new services and explore industry trends.

Trade visitors who wish to attend can register free-of-charge online.


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Further information: RDA-Workshop Touristik-Service GmbH

Tel. +49-221-12 04 48

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web: http://www.rda-workshop.de/en

Twitter Hashtag: RDAGTE17

Please also see ‘Looking ahead to RDA exhibitions in 2017’ published in the January

2017 edition of leading UK trade magazine Bus & Coach Tourism Professional http://www.busandcoach.com/news/articles/2017/looking-ahead-to-rda-exhibitions-in-

2017/

Information about Friedrichshafen: http://en.friedrichshafen.info/ and

https://www.messe-friedrichshafen.de/mfn-en/

Information about Cologne: http://www.cologne.de/ and

http://www.conventioncologne.de/en.html

Industry News

2017 is the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of

Sustainable Tourism for Development recalling the potential of tourism to advance the

universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs).


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The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and

consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute

effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals.

“This is a unique opportunity to build a more responsible and committed tourism sector

that can capitalise its immense potential in terms of economic prosperity, social

inclusion, peace and understanding, cultural and environmental preservation” said

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Accounting for 7% of worldwide exports, one in eleven jobs and 10% of the world’s

GDP, the tourism sector if managed well can foster economic growth, social

inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets.

The International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development plans to promote

tourism’s role in the following five key areas:

• Inclusive and sustainable economic growth

• Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction

• Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change

• Cultural values, diversity and heritage and

• Mutual understanding, peace and security

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Specialised Agency for

Tourism, has been mandated to facilitate the organisation and implementation of the

International Year, in collaboration with Governments, relevant organisations of the

United Nations system, international and regional organisations and other relevant

stakeholders.

Further information:

http://www2.unwto.org/tourism4development2017 and

http://www.tourism4development2017.org/


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See also:

http://www.patrick-patridge.com/blog/supporting-wildlife-and-species-conservation-

opportunities-for

German market trends - tour operators report good start to 2017

German travel agents and tour operators reported upbeat bookings in January 2017 as

a sales recovery continues into January - traditionally the strongest booking period of

the year. Market researchers GfK, whose monthly travel agency survey showed a 13%

summer bookings rise in December, said demand had picked up strongly in the second

week of January. Many Germans who skipped taking a holiday last year are booking

their holiday particularly early. Travel agents are also happy with the start to 2017 with

sales increases of about 8% compared to last year being reported.

In terms of destinations, Greece is seen as this year’s growth winner with strong

demand already for Crete, Rhodes, Kos and other islands. Spain remains the clear

number one destination with stable high demand – Majorca is already fully booked out,

while Italy and Portugal are apparently also selling well, and Egypt is making a clear

comeback after a dramatic slump this time last year. In contrast, bookings for Turkey

are continuing to fall after a heavy decline last year. Strong demand is also being

reported for Majorca, the Canaries, Portugal, Greece and Bulgaria.

Among long-haul destinations, Mexico is performing very well, with strong growth

reported for the USA, South Africa, Canada, Mauritius, Seychelles, the Dominican

Republic and Indonesia.

Further information: http://fvw.de


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New RDA Members

A big and warm welcome to the following new RDA members:

Almresort Gerlitzen Kanzlerhöhe Südtirol Concerts UG A 9521 Treffen D 82481 Mittenwald 0043 .4248 .20160 0049 .346 .3622566 www.almresort.eu [email protected] Informa Medien Ltd. Bavaria Motel GmbH & Co KG D 08606 Oelsnitz/vogtland D 81249 München 0049 .37421 .707888 0049 .89 .89356250 www.informa-medien.de www.bavaria-motel.de [email protected] [email protected] Hotelpark "Der Westerwald Treff" Loock Hotels Austria GmbH & Co. KG Ehlscheid GmbH Hotel Maria Theresia Kitzbühel D 57641 Oberlahr A 6370 Kitzbühel 0049 .2685 .870 0043 .5356 .64711 www.westerwaldtreff.de www.loock-hotels.com [email protected] [email protected] BusBetten - TVV Touristik Verlag TABBY TOURS SP.Z.O.O. D 34233 Fuldatal PL 02930 Warszawa 0049 .561 .400850 0048 .48 .605356793 www.bikerbetten.de www.tabbytours.pl [email protected] [email protected] Novi Kondor d.o.o. Sandini GmbH SI 4260 Bled Schlaf- und Reisekissen 00386.4 .5797522 D 24146 Kiel www.sportina-turizem.si 0049 .1525 .1976869 [email protected] www.sandini.de [email protected]