Rob Varley was appointed chief executive of the Met Office in 2014.[1] He stepped down in 2018.[2] Rob was First Vice President of the World Meteorological Organization until 24 April 2018.[3] (wikipedia)
We're going after the incentives market, and we're going to be going after the smaller, upscale groups business.
I have never met anybody who went out and saw a launch and didn't come away awestruck.
This is a big issue because we do almost 180,000 room nights a year here from government workers, and they're a supportive bunch. If they force the issue, a lot of the hotels that normally take that business will refuse it.
The Canadian market is strong, but the U.K. market is the No. 1 overseas market. We do around 40,000 British visitors a year. The Dutch market is a growing market, along with the German market. Right now, it's a real bargain to come over here.
It's a new market mix we haven't been able to chase before. We've had good response.
We normally don't advertise for March through April, because it's a heavy time. Right now, the numbers are off, and we're rethinking that. We're also getting ready to kick off a campaign . . . to let people know we're open and better than ever.
The hotels in the south are opening, and that's a good thing.
We've had a vast amount of devastation to our hotels, particularly in the southern part of the county, and the hotel industry has had a rough time. Many hoteliers simply won't be able to rent their rooms out at $83 a night.
Another aspect of this is there are plenty of films and commercials that production companies are filming in zero gravity, so there's even more opportunity there. We want this to happen.
I don't know how strong it's going to be. First of all, I haven't seen the promotions going on, so we're not exactly sure when it's opening, and that's unusual. I'm sure, once they get a head of steam rolling, they'll promote it. I don't think their promotion has been real heavy.
