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Marketing Opportunity
 Each year, billions of dollars are spent attracting value minded vacation travelers. Even so, as adventurous professionals sort through their travel options in various brochures, books and web sites, they rarely acquire all the information necessary
to fulfill their destination's true potential.
Somewhere along the technology tsunami, the travel industry missed the boat…
AquaOdysseas™ combines the information features of the yellow pages and the compelling interactivity of the Internet in a new DVD format. It features unprecedented current data and live action video views of the most popular destinations for divers around the world. For the first time, travelers can plan their activities by seeing video of actual locations
and all the nearby attractions and accommodations, precisely located by GPS coordinates.
Selecting lodging becomes easy when activities and adventures can be planned in close proximity, and not by pre-packaged generic deals … allowing travelers to spend their precious time seeing the sites instead of shuttling to and from the hotel.
With extreme vacations and action packed getaways becoming the norm, AquaOdysseas will pave the way for great experiences … not great bus rides.
Marketing Plan
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Prolific Publishing and international partners Navarre Corporation will publish the AquaOdysseas DVD programs upon completion. Prolific Publishing's international partners in England, Germany, Japan and Australia will provide worldwide distribution.
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Distributors will provide localization and marketing materials in addition to product fulfillment and distribution.
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AquaOdysseas will provide direct distribution for guide programs and ancillary products through the www.AquaOdysseas.com website.
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A television series featuring aquatic adventures and all other attractions at each location will be sold to hotel, cable and broadcast networks.
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Standard travel guides, video travelogues and coffee table books. Book & VHS prices for travel guides range from $20-$30.
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AquaOdysseas will expand quickly with many more destinations in North America, starting with over 30 major beach resort and dive destinations. With multiple production teams many volumes will be produced simultaneously. century. By creating an encyclopedia of DVDs as well as a Web-based itinerary builder so vacationers can customize their own
trips. We will capture the technology wave and set a standard that competitors will have to surmount before producing a product equal to our quality.
- AquaOdysseas' goal is to set the new standard of travel guides for the 21st century. By creating an encyclopedia of DVDs with a Web-based itinerary builder, vacationers can customize their trips with much greater confidence -- and satisfaction.
World WideTravel Distribution
Market Research & Analysis
According to a recent World Bank paper, and the World Travel and Tourism Council:
- New York, NY: U.S. book sales totaled $26,874,100,000 in 2002, a 5.5 percent increase over 2001, according to figures just released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP).
- Overall, trade sales rose 8.8 percent, with sales of $6.93 billion. Adult trade hardbound sales rose 11.8 percent ($2.94 billion), while paperbound sales rose 12.1 percent ($2.16 billion).
- Travel is a 1.3 Trillion dollar a year industry.
- AARP - 35 million members strong and growing
- In 1999, South Asia recorded travel and tourism industry growth of 9.1%, Latin America 6.1%, North Africa 6% with the Caribbean at 5.5%. * Travel and tourism accounted for 11.7% of world GDP in 1999.
- In 1999, 71% of Caribbean GDP was derived from services, compared to 22% for industry and 8% for agriculture.
- During 1999, travel and tourism accounted for 43% of regional GDP. The industry's contribution to national economies ranged from a high of 69% in St. Lucia to a low of 13% for Trinidad and Tobago.
- On average, Caribbean travel and tourism related GDP grew by 3.6% in 1999, with Jamaica reaching a regional high of 6.9%. The only Caribbean destination that experienced negative growth rates was the Dominican Republic, where the travel and tourism industry contracted by 0.3%.
- Investment-wise - tourism attracted 41% of all capital invested in the Caribbean in 1999. The smaller the island, the larger the share of investment that goes to the tourism, industry. 77% of all capital investment in Barbados in 1999 was directed at tourism, compared to only 18.2% in Trinidad and Tobago.
- In terms of employment - tourism provides between 20-60% of jobs in the Caribbean - with Antigua and Barbuda 48%, Barbados 40%, Bahamas 56%, St Lucia 51%. Even in the Dominican Republic, where dependence on tourism employment is the lowest in the Caribbean at 20%, in 1999, travel and tourism still employed well over 1 million people. The WTTC estimates that 3.6 million people
are employed by the Caribbean travel and tourism industry.
- Travel and tourism accounted for 35% of all jobs in the wider Caribbean.
Tourist Arrivals by Main Market 2001
| |
| Destination |
Period |
United States |
Canada |
Europe |
Other |
Total |
| Tourists |
% ch |
Tourists |
% ch. |
Tourists |
% ch. |
Tourists |
% ch. |
Tourists |
% ch. |
| Anguilla |
Jan-Dec |
30,101 |
21.4 |
1,258 |
-16.8 |
7,967 |
-15.4 |
8,639 |
7.2 |
47,965 |
9.5 |
| Antigua and Barbuda |
Jan-Dec |
60,189 |
2 |
12,839 |
-8.3 |
78,146 |
-13.2 |
42,002 |
-4.1 |
193,176 |
-6.6 |
| Aruba |
Jan-Dec |
443,262 |
-2.1 |
18,926 |
-8.1 |
44,667 |
-5.5 |
184,565 |
-8 |
691,420 |
-4.1 |
| Bahamas |
Jan-Dec |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a. |
n.a |
n.a |
1,428,209 |
-10.5 |
| Barbados |
Jan-Dec |
106,631 |
-4.9 |
52,382 |
-12.6 |
247,180 |
-5.8 |
100,893 |
-8.5 |
507,086 |
-6.9 |
| Belize |
Jan-Dec |
106,293 |
1.5 |
9,493 |
3.1 |
29,741 |
7.2 |
50,429 |
-6.8 |
195,956 |
0.1 |
| Bermuda |
Jan-Dec |
210,960 |
-16.9 |
27,492 |
-10.2 |
28,264 |
-20 |
8,267 |
-4.6 |
274,983 |
-16.2 |
| Bonaire |
Jan-Dec |
26,357 |
3.6 |
1,098 |
-0.1 |
16,326 |
-9 |
6,614 |
-2.6 |
50,395 |
-1.7 |
| British Virgin Islands |
Jan-Dec |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a. |
n.a |
n.a |
295,625 |
5.2 |
| Cancun (Mexico) |
Jan-Dec |
1,619,767 |
-7.5 |
86,814 |
-5 |
335,687 |
18.8 |
136,447 |
-85.2 |
2,178,715 |
-3.4 |
| Cayman Islands |
Jan-Dec |
270,105 |
-4.1 |
13,550 |
-9.7 |
20,496 |
-9.3 |
29,920 |
-14.2 |
334,071 |
-5.7 |
| Cozumel (Mexico) |
Jan-Dec |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a. |
n.a |
n.a |
240,499 |
4.6 |
| Cuba |
Jan-Dec |
78,789 |
2.5 |
350,426 |
13.9 |
898,110 |
-5.4 |
447,216 |
1.6 |
1,774,541 |
0 |
| Curacao |
Jan-Dec |
31,962 |
9 |
2,502 |
-6.8 |
73,190 |
19.9 |
96,949 |
-1.3 |
204,603 |
7 |
| Dominica |
Jan-Dec |
14,493 |
-3.9 |
1,870 |
-14.1 |
10,825 |
-2.9 |
39,205 |
-4.8 |
66,393 |
-4.6 |
| Dominican Republic* |
Jan-Dec |
684,722 |
6.4 |
294,673 |
19.9 |
1,159,383 |
-10.9 |
730,137 |
-6.6 |
2,868,915 |
-3.5 |
| Grenada |
Jan-Dec |
32,219 |
-1 |
5,442 |
12.2 |
40,182 |
-13.3 |
45,508 |
0.9 |
123,351 |
-4.3 |
| Guyana |
Jan-Dec |
46,546 |
0 |
12,654 |
0 |
8,771 |
0 |
27,177 |
0 |
95,148 |
0 |
| Jamaica |
Jan-Dec |
915,237 |
-2.7 |
111,158 |
3.4 |
180,632 |
-9.2 |
69,489 |
-7.8 |
1,276,516 |
-3.5 |
| Montserrat |
Jan-Oct |
1,241 |
2.9 |
259 |
8.4 |
1,839 |
-4.4 |
4,175 |
-8.3 |
7,514 |
-5.1 |
| Puerto Rico** |
Jan-Dec |
1,037,499 |
6.3 |
14,818 |
17.8 |
37,355 |
26.4 |
129,040 |
-17.2 |
1,218,712 |
3.8 |
| Saba |
Jan-Dec |
3,452 |
-7.7 |
401 |
19 |
4,014 |
4.3 |
1,138 |
-4.8 |
9,005 |
-1.3 |
| St Eustatius |
Jan-Dec |
2,582 |
22.9 |
195 |
25.8 |
4,536 |
13.7 |
2,284 |
-15 |
9,597 |
7.5 |
| St Kitts and Nevis |
Jan-Dec |
26,317 |
9.7 |
| | |
