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I need to understand the consumer journey for residents of Brazil when booking ski holidays and other winter holidays.
Hello! Thanks for your question about Brazil residents booking ski holidays and other winter vacations. The short answer is that Brazil is a very digitally-connected country, and there is a tendency for Brazilians to prefer self-booking versus through a tour agency. Therefore leveraging digital channels such as YouTube and social media should be a key consideration in access the Brazilian outbound tourism market.
Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
To answer this question I conducted a review of media and industry reports on this topic and then compiled the information below for your reference. Once it became clear that online channels may be a strong option, I conducted further research in this particular area to confirm and identify the key platforms for Brazilians.
OUTBOUND TOURISM POTENTIAL
With it's sizable population of over 200m and it's economic potential due to it's considerable resource wealth, Brazil remains an attractive source market for tourism operators. Indeed, between 2009 and 2014, Brazilian outbound tourism spending nearly doubled, from $12.8bn in nominal prices to $29.6bn. And while spending has since pulled back due to economic and political challenges in the country, as well as major domestic tourism offerings such as the Rio 2016 Olympics, the World Tourism and Trade Council expects spending to start recovering in 2018.
DESTINATIONS
According to the OECD, the US was the largest recipient of Brazilian tourists in 2014, receiving 25.6% of the total, followed by Argentina (12.3%), Portugal (5.4%), Uruguay (5.2%) and Spain (5%). Of those visiting the US, the top travel times were December through January, marking key opportunities for ski tourism; however, just 2% of visitors participated in skiing.
A report by industry analyst Skift found that in terms of skiing and snowboarding, Brazilians typically first associate this with Canada (44%), followed by the US (36%), France (17%), Austria (14%), Italy (13%) and the UK (13%). For other winter activities, Canada also topped the list, with 44%, followed by the US (37%), Italy (19%), France (19%), the UK (16%), and Austria (14%).
PREFERENCE FOR SELF-BOOKING
A report by Optriant Travel Sales + Strategies found that Brazilian travellers prefer to travel independently rather than on package deals and that less than 20% of trips are booked through the country's 8500 travel agencies and 90 tour operators. Indeed, major booking sites have developed targeting the Brazilian market, including ViajaNet, Decolar, and Vai Voando.
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
The use of online media will be critical to reaching Brazilian consumers. According to internet researchers, We are Social, Brazilians spend the most time on the internet in the world, with a daily average of 5.2 hours on PC and a further 3.2 hours on a mobile device (compared to 2.7 hours on TV). 44% of Brazilians reported they had purchased a product or service online in the last 30 days, while 52% had researched a purchase online, and 46% had visited an online retail store. In terms of purchasing online, this was still largely done via computer (41% had made a purchase this way in the last 30 days), compared to purchasing on a mobile device (21%).
In terms of social media, the country has 103m active social media users, with 88m of these also accessing the sites via mobile devices. 31% of respondents were regular users of Facebook, with this dropping to 17% for Google+, 15% for Instagram, 14% for Twitter and 8% for Pinterest.
In terms of video-on-demand services, 84% of Brazilian internet users indicated that they use YouTube to view movies or TV shows, followed by Netflixs (71%), Globo (50%), Sistema Brasileiro de Televiso (40%), Google Play (40%), Amazon (20%), and iTunes (17%).
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, given Brazilian's heavy use of the internet and their preference for independent travel, online advertising is likely the best way to engage with potential ski tourists. This could be through a range of mediums including YouTube pre-rolls, dedicated booking websites, or social media campaigns, among others.
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