In full swing...

Our summer was spent driving around the Alps sampling the cultural, culinary and natural delights of France, Austria and northern Italy.

But that seems long ago now and it has a been busy start to the second half though with our batteries recharged we are ready for the run in to Christmas. Once again our research and consulting projects are taking us out on the road regularly and we are enjoying the opportunity of working with some new clients doing exciting things locally and internationally.


Speaking of travel, it was interesting the other day to see that shopping has now taken over from culture as the main motivation for visitors to Japan. This hardly surprising given that shopping now seems to be the principal leisure activity of a good part of the rich world's population ( we certainly dragged back a good haul of gourmet booty from the Alps).

However, this is a reminder for the tourism industry that shopping is a central part of the travel experience for nearly every destinations and needs to be addressed. Many destinations focus their offer primarily on their cultural or natural attractions but their visitors soon dispense with these sights and head off to shop and eat.


Eating out is another essential ingredient of travel and restaurant cleanliness ratings were something that caught our attention last time we were in Los Angeles. It's nice to know but anything less than an 'A' and I found myself wondering in which particular department they fell down - bugs? washing hands? Better not to wonder really.

Now Cleanscores also provides online ratings of local restaurants. I wonder how they would go in Spain where cleanliness and service seems to depend mostly on the attitude of the chef and whether the local football team won this weekend. And I can't imagine the chaos this sort of thing would cause in Italy where even trendy cafes in central Milan have bathrooms that would be at home in a third world bus station.

In fact, apart from Ciao, the whole field of consumer reviews doesn't seem to have taken off in Spain yet but will undoubtably. One day soon I'll be able to stop outside a bar in a Barcelona side street and pull up some recent reviews on the Blackberry before venturing in to sample their wares.

This blogging thing...February

Ah well, another tardy post...I know now that I am not cut out to be a full time blogger, we have too many other things going on.

This month has been an exciting one despite the dismal weather up here in northern Spain. We have been full steam ahead with several projects including our wine promotion program which is moving ahead despite the clients being a famously argumentative bunch. If only they'd compete with their competitors instead of themselves.

Last week we found ourselves in Alicante signing up a new client in the fashion sector. And we are in the process of establishing new offices in Santiago and Madrid with the Santiago office due to open this month.

Mid February saw us in Madrid for the Online Marketing Espana conference to see some of the presentations and workshops. It was encouraging to see most sessions packed to the rafters and that the general profile of the visitors was younger and more dynamic than is often the case in ageist Spain. Some of the better presentations came from the search marketing consultants and the big guys such as Google and Microsoft.

While benefiting from high broadband penetration, the local market lags a couple of years behind places like the UK and Australia in terms of overall development. Communication and entertainment use is advanced but ecommerce lags behind European leaders such as Germany, suffering from Spaniards' preferences for cash and face to face transactions.

Some speakers proposed that the next phase of Internet development in Spain would see increasing adoption and activity amongst older age groups, something that I see taking significantly longer here in largely conservative Spain. The development of each country reflects local cultures and habits, some of which are so strong as to overcome even the relentless advance of technology and the market.