Luxury Travel & Lifestyle Trends

Since roughly 2005, publishers have been looking to social media for new talent and new material to buoy book production, bridging the gap between computer screen and coffee table. There’s a world of difference between being a blogger and a book author, but more writers are wearing both hats these days. It’s not surprising that pro writers are becoming bloggers, but “amateur” bloggers getting book deals. According to statistics by R.R. Bowker, A staggering 764,448 titles were produced in 2009 by self-publishers and micro-niche publishers. The number of “nontraditional” titles dwarfed that of traditional books whose output slipped to 288,355 last year from 289,729 in 2008. Taken together, total book output in 2009 rose 87% to over 1 million books.

Prescient fashion soothsayer Tom Ford is betting on the return of glamour, and I’m with him. Makes sense in this time when the world seems full of gloom and doom, from the economy and politics to environmental disasters. And that’s spoken by an optimist. People are ready for glamorous fantasies.

After a gloomy 2009, floral prints are THE trend for spring/summer 2010. Designers adorned their spring collections with garden varieties of rosettes and sweet floral patterns on just about everything from accessories to dresses and jackets. British brand Liberty kicked off thes season earlier this year by bringing its iconic florals to America in the form of a Target collaboration. This bright, happy trend has also influenced the beauty world, causing an explosion of pretty pinks and cotton candy hues for lips, cheeks and nails in shops.

Comfort is an antidote for a stressful world, and there is no more stressful time than the present. As a result, we’re seeing comfort emerge in other lifestyle categories as well.

In other times, a luxury product offering discounts risked tarnishing its image and cachet, traditionally a big no-no. But as the economies around the world continue to deteriorate, luxury retail and travel industries (cruise ships, tour operators, hotels, attractions, etc.) have resorted to slashing prices to merely stay afloat while continuing to market aggressively to build market share so that when the economy turns around, they’ll be in a stronger position than ever before.

Tourist destinations could take a lesson from Australia’s Tourism Queensland, which recently kicked off an impressively clever promotion, which instantly gained global attention: an international recruiting contest to fill what it calls The Best Job in the World, a highly paid, 6-month position living the high life, all the while spotlighting the Great Barrier Reef Islands.

What’s it going to take to sell high end vacation real estate in 2009? A lot, but it’s doable. Think of what it takes to get into a top college…

We love to write. Good writing is good public relations – a skill always listed as one of the top requirements for a solid PR recruit. There is nothing more satisfying to read (or receive) than a well-written release, which can dramatically increase sales, generate greater awareness, and enhance the image of a business or product.

Mobile technology, social communities and guerilla marketing is where recent attention has turned. As smart minds always advise, to stand out from the pack is to do something different, which can include a tactical throwback from the past: an effectively written letter on the finest engraved stationery, complete with a full-sized product sample – no miniature samples or plastic packets in sight.