The Tools You Need to Prepare for the Foreign Tourists Market

News is that owners in the USA are on the crest of a rising wave of foreign tourists. Close on 68.5 million visitors arrived there in the first 11 months of 2014 – a 7 per cent increase on the same period in 2013 – heading for an all-time high.

But Americans, along with vacation rental owners around the world, will only enjoy the full benefits if they market to different nationalities. And that means displaying their rates in foreign currencies and accepting payment in these currencies. Wherever in the world they are, Homes and Rooms subscribers are particularly well placed to benefit from any increase in foreign tourists to their countries.

Exchange rates updated automatically

Our Currency Rates Builder can be configured and set to your requirements. This allows you, for example, to personalize email responses for more guest-friendly quotes by quoting in the foreign currency choice of your guest. Exchange rates can be updated automatically at regular intervals to remove the unexpected element in foreign currency fluctuations. This helps make your rates competitive for foreign tourists without needing your constant attention. They can also be set manually at your discretion. From the point of view of the foreign tourists, what they see on your site is a realtime, updated booking calendar with prices displayed in their home currency. They are able to make instant reservations with just a few clicks. The item that sparked our interest was a report released by the US Department of Commerce. It’s very good news for our US subscribers with foreign tourists  flocking there in increasing numbers.

Foreign tourists from the ‘big 5’ nations

Top among the visitors to the US are Canadians, accounting for 31.4 per cent of total foreign tourist and Mexicans for 22.7 per cent. Visitors from the ‘rest of the world’ make up the other 45.9 per cent. This is how things shaped up in 2014 (to November):

Country of origin	Number of visitors in 2014
Canada	21.5 million
Mexico	15.6 million
United Kingdom	3.7 million
Japan	3.3 million
China	2.0 million

These were the top 5 nationalities visiting the US. Mexico (up 15 per cent) and the UK (up 12 per cent) showed the biggest percentage increases of the year. So, if your property is in the US, it is well worth focusing some of your marketing on potential foreign tourists from Canada, Mexico and the UK. Why not make a start by including their home currencies in your Homes and Rooms Currency Rates Builder? Here at Homes and Rooms, we’re convinced that the ‘foreign’ market is a great way of building your reservations and we urge our subscribers to make the most of these opportunities. For more information, see our earlier blogs on global market possibilities for vacation rental owners and on the effectiveness of the Homes and Rooms Currency Rates Builder feature.