Many formerly fearless flyers became skittish about traveling following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And already several catalogers that sell vacations, travel accessories, and luggage have seen sales tumble.
Lee Witcher, vice president of Boston-based Database Marketing Solutions, a catalog consultancy specializing in travel, estimates that in the two weeks after the attacks, travel mailers lost 10%-20% of sales for the year due to reduced bookings, cancellations, and the two-day closure of U.S. airports following the attacks. Travel catalogs such as El Cerrito, CA-based Mountain Travel-Sobek and Berkeley, CA-based Backroads had to give grounded customers the choice of a full refund or a chance to rebook in 2002. Backroads spokesperson Julie Snyder says that only 1% of the affected travelers opted for a refund. Despite the attacks, Snyder adds that Backroads’ revenue is up 10% from last year’s.
Then there’s the timing of catalog mailings promoting trips for next year — most travel companies drop their largest catalog mailing in September. Mountain Travel-Sobek’s book was already in the mail at the time of the attacks, says director of marketing Robyn Gorman. Backroads, however, was able to pull back its Sept. 17 mailing, instead waiting until Oct. 8 to drop the 2002 edition. But travel mailers can’t delay mailings too long, since the major booking season runs from early January to March, says consultant Witcher.
STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
Both Backroads and Mountain Travel-Sobek are adding more North American and South American expeditions. “Since the attack, 70% of the bookings we are getting are for trips to North America and Latin America, which is on par with what we saw during the Gulf War,” says Mountain Travel-Sobek’s Gorman. Indeed, Witcher says, the catalogers with diverse destinations will fare better than tour operators that specialize in places such as the Middle East, where people are now more reluctant to travel. Both Backroads and Mountain Travel-Sobek say they will wait and see before changing any trip destinations or itineraries for next year.
With consumers concerned about traveling far — or at all — travel accessories and luggage marketers have seen sales slide. At Manchester, VT-based cataloger/retailer Orvis, “sales in the luggage category have almost entirely disappeared” since Sept. 11, says vice president of mail order Tom Rosenbauer. Luggage accounts for only 5% of Orvis’s merchandising mix, but the marketer owns its luggage supplier, Tipton, MO-based Gokey Co., and slow sales prompted the company to lay off nearly 10 Gokey employees, Rosenbauer says.
At travel accessories cataloger Magellan’s, sales fell 40% since the attacks, says chief operating officer Bob Manning. But the Santa Barbara, CA-based cataloger has seen a lift of up to 300% in security and safety products such as alarms and water purifiers. It has even sold out of its Evac-U8 Smoke Hood, which protects the lungs and face from smoke and fire. Magellan’s plans to send targeted e-mails promoting the safety and security items, Manning says.