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FBS to go global at World Travel Market

By GuernseyAdmin on Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Filed Under: Guernsey, Jersey, Travel & Leisure

Isle News, 2 September 2009 – FBS Live, the tourism industry’s early warning system, is to be launched to a global audience at this year’s World Travel Market in November.

The system, which allows users to identify forward booking trends and adjust their marketing activity accordingly, has already been adopted by both Jersey and Guernsey Tourism and is attracting interest from tourist bodies in the UK.

Currently half of all local establishments use the system (including 12 of the top 14 hotels), which requires them to complete the monthly future bookings survey sent to them by FBS Live on behalf of Jersey Tourism and the Jersey Hospitality Association. This information is analysed and collated by FBS Live and each establishment is then sent a breakdown of the statistics which not only allows them to compare their own bookings with those across the overall accommodation sector but also helps Jersey Tourism and its industry partners to identify ‘problem months’ in advance.

Jersey Tourism is also asking establishments completing the monthly survey to advise them of actual occupancy figures for the preceding month, which will allow them to measure the growth in bookings during the month of the survey and, therefore, give a more complete picture of booking patterns.

Richard Lumborg, the managing director of FBS Live, a joint initiative developed by The Idea Works, First Research and BlueBox Creative, explained that the greater the number of hotels and guest houses using the system, the more detailed its information would be.

“We have recently upgraded the forward bookings system to allow for better reporting functionality and for greater flexibility, as there are a number of enhancements we are looking to introduce. We have also refined our security as we understand that users need to be completely confident that the information they supply will not be shared with their competitors. That’s why all information released is only shown as consolidated data, although we are hoping to provide sector by sector comparisons as the level of sample data we receive increases,” said Mr Lumborg.

David de Carteret, Director of Jersey Tourism, added “This tool is the tourism industry’s very own advanced warning system. The more establishments that take part, the more precise the forecast for the island will be, enabling us not only to market our facilities wisely but also to provide up-to-date and relevant information when the subject of additional funding or support for the industry is under discussion.”

Anyone wanting to know more about the forward booking system can contact Mr Lumborg on 755400 or Mr Bob Pallot at First Research on 840841.

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