Live From ESTO: New Traveler Sentiment Research from Longwoods International

Intro: Recorded live at ESTO in Columbus, Ohio, this is Brand USA Talks Travel. Get ready to take mental notes from the top minds and creative thinkers who are driving innovation in destination marketing, content, research, public relations, policy, and more. Now here's your host, Mark Lapidus. 

Mark Lapidus [0:19]: How did I not know that your wife is in the travel industry? 

Amir Eylon [0:22]: Yeah, you know, people think I'm a seasoned industry veteran, which is code for old guy. 

Mark Lapidus [0:27]: I get that too. 

Amir Eylon [0:28]: Yeah, I've only got 35 years in the industry, Mark; my wife has 40. We're sitting here in Columbus, Ohio, and in the state of Ohio, I'm known as Mr. Karen Eylon, okay? So, yeah, she's been a DMO for pretty much all those 40 years, and she runs a small CVB on the northwest side called Union County Convention and Visitors Bureau. And she's a rock star. 

Mark Lapidus [0:48]: I'm curious, do you give each other career advice? 

Amir Eylon [0:50]: Yeah, so our kids, our poor children, when they were growing up in the home, you know, and I remember when the kids were little and I was a State Tourism Director for state of Ohio, and Karen was running her DMO, and we'd come home at the end of the day, and we tried to limit the shop talk around the dinner table, but invariably it kind of came up. We'd talk to each other about, "Hey, my marketing agency did this," or "Can you believe one of our partners did that," or something. And all of a sudden, the kids just look at us like grrrrrr. And we're like, "What's up?" They're like, "Tourism, tourism, tourism. That's all we hear. Can you stop talking about tourism, tourism, tourism." It's like, noted. So we started a rule that when we came home from work, we can talk shop for ten minutes while the kids were still awake. After they go to bed, we can talk about all we want. 

Mark Lapidus [1:31]: In case you haven't figured it out, my guest today is Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International. I know Amir, actually, from working at Brand USA, cause he was there for years. That's where we first met each other. But he also was a State Tourism Director for Ohio; based here in Columbus, I'm guessing, right? 

Amir Eylon [1:47]: Absolutely. My office was just a few blocks down the road. 

Mark Lapidus [1:49]: How about that? And you also work for the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association, right? 

Amir Eylon [1:53]: That's right. 

Mark Lapidus [1:54]: And your favorite job so far has been? 

Amir Eylon [1:56]: Oh, the one I do have right now. 

Mark Lapidus [1:58]: That was the right answer. 

Amir Eylon [1:59]: Longwoods International, baby. It's a lot of fun. Listen, you know me a long time. You know I've always said that the important thing in life is making a difference. You know, when I worked at Brand USA, I got to make a difference for our nation's industry, right? Ohio tourism, I got to make a difference for industry in the state of Ohio. Now, we work with 175 different destinations. Our team gets to make a difference for them each and every day. That's pretty awesome. 

Mark Lapidus [2:21]: That's awesome. You're hearing a lot of noise right now because it's lunchtime here at ESTO. We have, like, I don't know, hundreds of people walking by the podcast booth, many of them waving at Amir. 

Amir Eylon [2:31]: Yeah. Two of them just made faces at me, so it's like - oh, there comes my wife! 

Mark Lapidus [2:34]: There she is. 

Amir Eylon [2:35]: Here comes Karen Eylon. 

Mark Lapidus [2:39]: You know what's funny, Karen, is we were just talking about you. 

Amir Eylon [2:39]: Yeah, I just said on-air how many years you've been in the industry. 

Mark Lapidus [2:44]: That's very cute. You couldn't plan that, you know, the fact that she just walked by. 

Amir Eylon [2:49]: That was organic. 

Mark Lapidus [2:50]: Hundreds of people walking by, and there's your wife. 

Amir Eylon [2:52]: Timing is everything, baby. 

Mark Lapidus [2:53]: And as these people are walking to lunch, I'm reminded that you just told me you're starting a new podcast with a fantastic title. 

Amir Eylon [2:59]: Yeah, so those who know me know I'm a little bit of a foodie. I think there's an industry verb called "an Amir dinner." That's one of the joys of travel, is that you get to experience different places, different cuisines. So I've kind of become a foodie over the years, and I've got a great friend here locally in Columbus. His name is Mark Rickle, and we used to work together years ago at the state, and he works for a local PR agency, and he's got a podcast going for them. And we go out to eat all around town all the time, and they're always picking my brain cause I'm the foodie. He is a stickler on service. So we've been talking about it for about six months now. We said, you know what would be fun? If we start a podcast. So we're gonna do it. It's called, You Gonna Eat That? And we're gonna set up a local restaurants. It launches next month, and we're gonna see what happens. 

Mark Lapidus [3:40]: I do want to cover the latest research from Longwoods. That's why you're actually here; we'll get to that in a second. First of all, I'd like to learn more about your ESTO binder. I saw a link about it on LinkedIn, and it just intrigues me so much. What is an ESTO binder? 

Amir Eylon [3:53]: I love being organized, you know, because in my world, in my day, every 30 minutes I'm wearing a different hat. And when you go to a big conference like ESTO, and also Destinations International, I'm wearing three or four different roles. Maybe I'm running a panel, like I am here tomorrow afternoon, talking about politics and travel; maybe I've got a charitable event like ESTO Cares that we organized yesterday and had 105 volunteers. I end up having eight different events I've been in charge of organizing or I'm speaking or whatnot. So I don't have time to keep, like, trying to rifle through my notes, keep looking through my emails. 

Mark Lapidus [4:25]: Hence the ESTO Binder. 

Amir Eylon [4:27]: Hence the binder. It's tabbed, baby. I know exactly where I gotta be every minute, and I can rip out a factoid faster than you can say "Jack Robinson." 

Mark Lapidus [4:34]: Update me now on how many DMO's Longwoods is currently working with. Amir Eylon [4:38]: DMOs, over 175. We have somewhere close to 200 active clients, from state tourism offices, national tourism boards, to small local CVBs. 

Mark Lapidus [4:48]: How many panels are you on at ESTO? 

Amir Eylon [4:50]: Just one. But running ESTO Cares, Longwoods and our friends at Miles Partnership, we also host an annual gathering of all the current and former state travel directors, client meetings. 

Mark Lapidus [4:59]: Let's talk about the panel that you are on. "Decoding traveler insights" is the title, and it's about politics and travel decisions. And, wait, before you say anything, can we keep it nonpartisan? 

Amir Eylon [5:09]: Absolutely. Oh, believe me, I don't want to go there. Yeah, I'm honored to be speaking tomorrow afternoon. You know, Longwood does an American travel sentiment tracker. Once a month, we go out and talk to a thousand American travelers, a random sample, and we ask them a short list of questions about certain issues of the day. You know, initially, it was Covid. Now it's the economy and other things, and ask them about their sentiment and how that might impact their travel decisions in the next six months to a year, depending on the issue. And we get all kinds of really interesting information. Given the year and the time of year it is, that we're getting closer to the big election day and kind of a big roller coaster ride in American politics here in the last few weeks alone, it's time to ask the question: how does politics... 

Mark Lapidus [5:51]: You're keeping me on the edge of my seat here. What's the answer? 

Amir Eylon [5:53]: Well, the answer is this. We asked a few questions. One of the key questions that we asked is, does the political reputation of a destination actually impact one's decision to travel? 

Mark Lapidus [6:04]: That's a great question. 

Amir Eylon [6:05]: It turns out that for a significant number of travelers, it actually does impact. 

Mark Lapidus [6:10]: It's kind of sad, actually. 

Amir Eylon [6:11]: It's kind of sad. Almost a third of American travelers told us that it does impact their travel decision in some form or fashion. Now, we also know that what people say they're gonna do and what they actually do can be two different things. So we followed it up with the question of saying, "In the past year, have you changed your travel plans at all as a result of political reputation of the destination, its policies, et cetera?" And the interesting thing is, while one third of travelers on the first question said, yeah, that they would change their travel plans due to destination's reputation, only 6% actually canceled trips as a result of the destination's policies or political affiliation. We did see 8, 9, 10% saying they've changed their itinerary a little bit, rerouted, maybe they're spent a little less time than they initially planned in said destination. But the actual cancelation, the actual decision to absolutely not to go there, was only about 6%. But if 6% of all trips may be canceled, that's a significant volume of trips, considering that, you know, every year there's about a trillion trips taken. 

Mark Lapidus [7:16]: So is there a remedy for this? 

Amir Eylon [7:18]: Unfortunately for destination marketers, the political climate, policies that are passed, wherever the political leanings are, that's something that's beyond their control, right? You're going to have to market your way through or around it. And I think the key thing is really focusing on being a welcoming destination, right? Focus on the experience. At the end of the day, we travel because of experiences. At the end of the day, focus on the experience, stay out of the politics, and be consistent in that messaging. 

Mark Lapidus [7:43]: This is domestic, right? 

Amir Eylon [7:45]: Domestic, yes. 

Mark Lapidus [7:45]: Do you think this survey is worth doing internationally? 

Amir Eylon [7:48]: Actually, US Travel has just done a survey, and they'll be releasing it next month. And actually on stage tomorrow, Josh Friedlander from VP Research from US Travel will be sharing a few nuggets from that. And obviously our image, depending on what our politics are, does have an impact. 

Mark Lapidus [8:07]: One of the things that you and I talk about every year, because it seems like we do this every year at ESTO, are economic headwinds. How does it look different than it did last year? 

Amir Eylon [8:15]: Not a lot, surprisingly. 

Mark Lapidus [8:17]: Dollar still strong? 

Amir Eylon [8:18]: Dollar still strong. I mean, you know, I'm not an economist, so I can't speak to the overall economy. You know, last year at this time, we saw inflation, we saw gas prices up, we saw airfares skyrocketing. We saw all these things. And last year when we were asking American travelers questions about concerns about their financial situation, concerns about inflation, concerns about those airfares, gas prices, etcetera, what impact would they have on their decision to travel, very consistently about a quarter of American travelers said that they would greatly impact their decision to travel. When we dug in deeper and said, "Okay, how is it going to change your decision to travel?" The most part we saw was only 3 or 4% on average were canceling trips. Everybody else was still making that trip happen, they just reallocated their spend. You know, they bought less souvenirs; instead of the family of four getting all those same t-shirts from Disney World for the family Christmas card, maybe only the kids got into t-shirts this year. They packed sandwiches for the road. They were maybe road trips instead of flying because it was cheaper, you know, than the airfare and things like that. So they made the trips happen. Fast forward a year later, what's changed in the economy? Well, inflation has gone down, but there's still a lot of headwinds. And of course, the stock market last week had a hell of a roller coaster ride. But Americans also, over the past year, have gotten more and more into debt. They've emptied their bank accounts. You know, coming out of the pandemic, they all had money because they didn't take vacations for a couple of years. They had their relief checks. They had all these things in there. Well, now they're swiping their credit cards like crazy again. And despite that, again, we're still seeing only a quarter are telling us it's going to greatly impact. And we ask them again how, and again, just less than 5% are canceling. Now, Mark. At any given time, 2-3% of trips are canceled anyway. Somebody gets sick, family emergency, a work thing happens, whatever. Here's the fundamental shift, Mark. In the past, if we would have seen sustained concerns about the economy in that you see travel starting to slow, but it's not. The growth rate is starting to soften, but it's not slowing. Travel's not slowing down. We're still seeing record volumes of visitation and spend and so forth. What this shows us, Mark, is that in the first time in modern history, travel in the minds of American travelers has shifted from a want to a need. That is significant. What that means is we as travelers are willing to prioritize travel over other lifestyle needs. I can't think of any other time that's ever happened. That's a game changer. 

Mark Lapidus [10:41]: So that's a consequence of the pandemic, isn't it? 

Amir Eylon [10:43]: The pandemic definitely pushed it forward. But I think it's also the consequence of living in economic flux for the last four years, too. How long have you been hearing we're gonna be in a recession in six months? 

Mark Lapidus [10:55]: Oh, forever. 

Amir Eylon [10:56]: Right? It's the uncertainty. It's that fear, the uncertainty saying, you know what? I'm just gonna go ahead and do it. 

Mark Lapidus [11:03]: I gotta say that I also think media is driving attention to travel unlike ever before. It's everywhere. And that creates desire, enormous desire. 

Amir Eylon [11:12]: It creates desire, but also the way we market to travelers. I mean, think about it. Three years ago, who was marketing to travel on TikTok? Right? Travel is seeping into our lives in every angle. And even generationally, you know, obviously, younger generations consume media different than older generations and so forth, but travel is a common thread that gets communicated through all those forms of media. And like you said, it's becoming more and more prevalent. 

Mark Lapidus [11:37]: So we talked about politics, we talked about economics. What else are you researching these days that have brought new things to light for you? 

Amir Eylon [11:44]: We look at electric vehicle research. Later this month, in partnership with our good friends at Miles Partnership, we're going to be releasing the first ever significant national EV study and looking at travelers and their sentiment on EV. We've asked a question a few times in our sentiment tracker, and generally speaking, what we've seen the last few times we've asked a question over and the past year, about a third of travelers tell us that they would do it on their next trip. There's kind of a big problem in this country, Mark. I can rent the EV; I can go on that road trip in my EV; where the heck am I going to charge? That's the problem. We don't have the charging infrastructure, and that is part of the reason why EV sales have actually slowed in recent months. Right? I mean, no doubt in my mind, let's not delude ourselves - EVs will become a dominant form of transportation, your personal transportation here in the future. The question is, how quickly can we get the infrastructure in place to make it mass adaptation? Just like the internal combustion engine automobile, right? You bought a car in 1905, there was no federal highway system. You weren't going down the road. And, you know, oh, I'm getting low on gas. You know, I'll pull into my corner gas station. You know, they were few and far between. And you'd carry Jerry cans strapped to the back of your car, right? So there you go. 

Mark Lapidus [12:50]: Before we go, Amir, I know you want to plug ESTO Cares, so please do. 

Amir Eylon [12:53]: I do want to plug ESTO Cares. Listen, ESTO Cares is now in it's 9th year. We had a great event here yesterday with over 125 volunteers coming out early on a Sunday morning. The whole purpose of ESTO Cares is to give back to our host community at ESTO. Obviously, we make a difference with our tourism dollars; there's 1,100 delegates here, and they're all spending money in the community this week, all on expense accounts, and that's going to local restaurants and attractions and so forth. And that's one in the hotels and so forth. But what about the people who are indirectly impacted by tourism or not directly connected to the travel industry? There's those in need in the community. So every year we work with a local nonprofit. We identify a worthy cause. If it can tie it into travel, even better. And we do some type of activity. And while doing so, we're also raising money for that. This year, we partnered with an organization called Festa. Festa is a local nonprofit that, whose mission is to assist with the needs of immigrant families in need here in the greater Columbus area. They currently serve over 2,000 families, and they have a big event coming up in a few weeks, their biggest fundraising event of the year, it's called the Festa-val. So they bring the families in, they bring the donors in, and they engage in all kinds of activities with international culture and so forth. So we stuffed a bunch of activity kits. We also stuffed back to school kits for these families. We also created these meal bags that they then do meal delivery service with, with messages of encouragement. And as of this morning, we'd raised $3,500 already. Our goal is $5,000, so the next two days, we got to come up with another $1,500. So I'm going to guilt the heck out of everybody, so watch out. 

Mark Lapidus [14:20]: Hey, you can beg on the podcast right now, if you want to. I'm sure there are listeners that might want to help get your donations. 

Amir Eylon [14:26]: Now if you go to the ESTO website and on the app, there is a link to the Ticketleap site where you can be a friend of ESTO Cares. Even though if you didn't participate, you can still be a friend of ESTO Cares. Make a donation. If you just give $25, you'll go a long way towards helping some great local families. 

Mark Lapidus [14:41]: Amir, it's always great spending time with you. It was a pleasure meeting your wife Karen yesterday. Look forward to seeing you on the road. 

Amir Eylon [14:47]: Mark, it's always a pleasure, my friend. 

Mark Lapidus [14:49]: And that's Brand USA Talks Travel live from Columbus, Ohio at ESTO. More episodes to follow. I'm Mark Lapidus, thanks for listening. 

Outro [14:57]: If you enjoyed this Live From ESTO episode, please share it with your friends in the travel industry. Production and music by Asher Meerovich. Media producer, Nthanze Kariuki, with assistance from Casey D'Ambra. Engineering, Brian Watkins, Kat Pommer, and Antonio Tyler. Art by Mimi Jung. Special thanks to Alexis Adelson, Phil Dickieson, Peter Dodge, and Colleen Mangone. More Live From ESTO episodes coming soon. Safe travels!

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