World Travel Awards for Europe - 2013

This weekend, World Travel Awards presented the 2013 prizes for Europe.
You can find below the winners of the most important prizes of this year:

Best European destination of the year - Yorkshire, England
Best European airline - Lufthansa
Best European low-cost airline - Easy Jet
Best European luxury train - Orient Express
Best European cruise operator - Norwegian
Best European hotel - Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, Turkey
Best European boutique resort– Vila Joya, Portugal
Best European luxury resort – Conrad, Portugal
Best European design hotel – The Vine, Portugal
Best European golf destination – Portugal
Best European beach destination – Algarve, Portugal
Best European rent-a-car operator - Europcar

Check out all prizes in: www.worldtravelawards.com

Pricing Strategies - Skimming

The purpose of this strategy is to optimize profits in the long run, by segmenting the market in three types of consumers:
- “Pioneer” customers who are willing to pay a premium price to be the first to access your offer.
- “Common” customers who are only willing to pay a “value for money” price.
- “Opportunistic” customers who only buy when facing and outstanding price/discount.

Then the market is sliced in three timeframes to take the best of those three consumer segments:
- On the launch the price is set high to maximize profits on the “Pioneers”
- After the “Pioneers” segment is exhausted, the strategy is to decrease the price to take now a broader segment – the “Common” customers.
- And in the end, usually when a new other product is already replacing this one, they decrease even more the price to tackle the last segment – the “Opportunistic” consumer.

However, this pricing approach is not appropriate or available to all markets due to:
- Legal reasons – Some markets/product have their prices regulated.
- Some markets/products have extreme elastic demand which means that any price variation can collapse the demand.
- This strategy invites other competitors to enter the market, so or you have a very unique product, or the exclusivity of the market (e.g. patent) or the entry cost on that line of business is very high avoiding the entry of more competitors.
Example of a market that usually follows successfully the "Price Skimming" strategy:
- On the video games market, you can observe that usually those brands launch their new products with a premium price and usually those prices decrease over time until it reaches only 10% of the original price aiming to the “Opportunistic” segment in the end.

What Nagasaki and Portugal have in common?

Nagasaki is still an important port in Japan and a major shipyard facility in the world, with a huge economic impact in the region.

After being devastated in the World War II, by the second and last atomic bomb dropped in the war, mainly because this city also hosted a major naval base of Japan, Nagasaki became prosper again and also became a strong example of perseverance and peace in the world.

So, what Nagasaki and Portugal have in common?

Nagasaki was founded by Portuguese sailors in the second half of the 16th century and Portuguese influence was strong until the 19th century.


Examples of Portuguese influence in Japanese culture:

Japanese Rōmaji	Japanese Script	Portuguese	Meaning in English
bīdoro	ビードロ	vidro	glass
bōro	ボーロ / ぼうろ	bolo	cake
botan	ボタン / 釦 / 鈕	botão	button
furasuko	フラスコ	frasco	flask
iesu or iezusu	イエス, イエズス	Jesus	Jesus
jōro	じょうろ / 如雨露	jarro	watering can
kandeya	カンデヤ	candeia	oil lamp
kapitan	甲比丹 / 甲必丹	capitão	captain
kappa	合羽	capa	raincoat
kirishitan	キリシタン / 切支丹 / 吉利支丹	cristão	Christian people
kirisuto	キリスト / 基督	Cristo	Christ
koppu	コップ	copo	cup
kurusu	クルス	cruz	cross
kyarameru	キャラメル / カラメル	caramelo	caramel
manto	マント	manto	cloak
pan	パン	pão	bread
rozario	ロザリオ	rosário	rosary
sabato	サバト	sábado	Saturday
shabon	シャボン	sabão	soap
tabako	タバコ / 煙草	tabaco	tobacco, cigarette
tempura	天麩羅 / 天婦羅	têmporas	deep-fried seafood/vegetables. "Têmporas"meant fasting in religious days which catholic portuguese didn't eat meat and instead, ate fried vegetables and fish.

More info regarding Portuguese words vs. Japanese pronunciation origin in this link

44 years of Internet...

Many people think that the Internet was launched in the 1990s and this worldwide phenomenon had a boost in the beginning of the new millennium.

However, Internet was really created 44 years ago, specifically in 1969 in the U.S., as an information technology for the military offering a network with scale and redundancy, in order to offer military internet users the same performance regardless of their size, and be able to recover from damages in one or more of its componentes.

These characteristics were considered critical in the cold war when the nuclear threat was still on.

The Internet was only open to commercial use in 1991, therefore many people think that the Internet was created only at that time.

Portugal +1,1% vs. Eurozone +0,3%

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Portugal expanded 1,1% in the second quarter of 2013 over the previous quarter.

This value was much higher than the Eurozone average (0,3%) and impressive when compared with another countries of the Eurozone:

Germany: +0,7%
Greece: -4,6%
Netherlands: -0,2%
Ireland: -0,6%
Spain: -0,1%
France: +0,5%
Italy: -0,2%

So, although it's too soon to claim that Portugal GDP is back on track, it's great news for Portugal.
 

Japan Debt reached 200% of their annual GDP

On June 30th of 2013, Japan Debt reached Yen 1.000 trillion (around USD $ 10,46 trillion).

This impressive value is now larger than the economies of Germany, France and the U.K. combined.

Analysts are apprehensive with current Japan trend and are expected new taxes from Japan government to balance Japan deficit.

To understand how serious is this 200% value (public debt as % of GDP of Japan) compare it with south of Europe countries and Ireland which are under great pressure from IMF and rating agencies:

. Greece – 158% (2012)
. Italy – 126% (2012)
. Ireland – 118% (2012)
. Portugal – 115% (2012)
. Spain – 85% (2012)

Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World

For all of you that are considering to relocate in another city or another country, this information is extremely valuable.
Mercer released recently their "Cost of Living City Rankings" and according to Mercer research, the Top 10 most expensive cities to live in are:

1st - Luanda, Angola
2nd - Moscow, Russia
3rd -  Tokyo, Japan
4th - N'Djamena, Chad
5th - Singapore, Singapore
6th - Hong Kong, Hong Kong
7th - Geneva, Switzerland
8th - Zurich, Switzerland
9th - Bern, Switzerland
Also in 9th - Sydney, Austrália

Simply Sintra - The Guardian article

"Sintra is often described as a Disneyland for grown-ups, but spend time exploring the surrounding beaches, seafood restaurants and woodlands, and you'll find there's much more to this historic town."

Click here to read The Guardian full article about Sintra (Portugal)