Low advertising investments

Tourism will lag behind again this year when it comes to running advertising campaigns in the media, given that the managers in this industry are rather concerned with how to reinvest profits to develop their business. “The advertising expenses of the travel agencies do not usually vary, while the most expensive campaigns are run for beverages, detergents, cars and perfumes, not tourism. The advertising budget of the agencies accounts for 2% to 5% of their turnover on the average,” Cornel Gaina, chairman of the National Association of Travel Agencies (ANAT) said. An Alfacont Mediawatch survey shows the travel agencies to have invested some $1.8 million in advertising in 2002, that is less than 1% of the total gross market. As a comparison, the most important products in terms of gross investments in advertising on TV, radio and the printed press are beer – $84 million and 7% market share, mobile telephony – $74 million (6%), detergents – $46 million (4%) and spirits – $40.5 million (4%). Simpaturism agency, owned by Cornel Gaina, has 2.5% of turnover scheduled for advertising spending. This accounts for 50,000 euros, an amount also set as maximal advertising spending by many companies. ZF