“We have to be optimistic that the future is bright,” says Casandra Matej, president and chief executive of Visit Orlando. “We’ve learnt to be fluid and to develop new ways to communicate so agents have the tools and resources they need. We want them to know Visit Orlando wants to be a good partner.”
Matej is bullish about Orlando’s prospects, with a domestic recovery already well under way in the US. “We’ve been hitting some of our pre-pandemic numbers,” she reveals. “The last piece is the international traveller – we’re excited and ready to welcome back UK visitors.”
Pre-pandemic, the UK was second only to Canada for visitor numbers to Orlando at around one million a year. “We certainly hope to get back to that number from UK,” says Matej. “In fact, we hope to outpace it.”
Earlier this year, Visit Orlando launched Love and Learn Orlando – a new educational platform for the trade. The team is hopeful of getting back to the UK to catch up in person during Brand USA Travel Week in October.
Efforts during the pandemic have included virtual travel shows and webinars, and Matej reveals the organisation is exploring fam opportunities for June 2022, when the city hosts trade show IPW, so agents can experience the destination first-hand – perhaps earlier in the year.
“We’re planning for second quarter 2022,” she says. “But if there are realistic opportunities to do this in the first quarter, we’ll definitely pivot.”
Despite the turmoil, she is unfazed. “We are anticipating a very strong 2022,” she says. “From our contacts in the UK, we see it [the demand] in the numbers. We really hope we are that number one choice when people make their plans.”
Matej is hopeful the swift resumption of US domestic flight capacity will be mirrored internationally once the US fully reopens its borders. “We see routes reforming, and I think that will be the same for the UK,” she explains. “Pre-Covid, it was easy to get here from anywhere in the UK, and part of what Visit Orlando does is to work with our airlines and airport to maximise load factor on existing routes – and develop new routes.”
Matej says she has “high hopes” for Aer Lingus’s new Manchester-Orlando route, which had initially been due to launch in the summer before being fixed for September and now December owing to the ever-changing Covid situation in the US.
‘Crystal ball’
In October, Walt Disney World Resort will embark on an 18-month celebration of its 50th anniversary, which Matej is certain will be a huge draw. Other new experiences include zip-lining over an alligator farm, kayaking central Florida’s waterways, or taking an airboat wildlife tour.
Brits traditionally tend to visit during the summer months of June, July and August, and while Matej won’t be drawn on a potential resumption of UK-US travel, she is confident demand will be there when borders reopen fully.
“We don’t have a crystal ball, but we think it’s right around the corner,” she smiles. “Our team is on the ground and ready to get to work.”
