Interview: Travel market research insights revealed as Horizon hits milestone

US. Market researcher Horizon Consumer Science, producer of the biennial Travel Retail Catalyst Study, is celebrating its 25thanniversary. As it reaches that milestone, The Moodie Davitt Report spoke to Founder Dr Ian Cesa.

Set up as a one-man business by Dr Ian Cesa in downtown Los Angeles in 1994, Horizon has grown into a globally renowned consumer research firm with offices around the world.

Horizon specialises in luxury consumer markets, global travel and transportation, and travel retail market trends. It has forged client relationships across these sectors dating back more than 20 years.

The firm conducted a biennial survey, the Travel Retail Catalyst Study (TRaCS), for the latest report in the TFWA Insight series of consumer studies. Horizon offers a comprehensive view of traveller perceptions and behaviour based on interviews with 31,000 travelling consumers from 38 countries, and offers insights into spending levels, motivations and preferences in all key product categories.

Dr Ian Cesa: “The lack of institutional memory is one thing that most companies don’t think about.’’

Dr Cesa says: “With some clients, there is not one person in their company who has the same length of tenure thinking about their business as we do. Our institutional memory is longer than theirs – we know more about what they’ve done and what’s going on in that industry than anybody in any of these companies.’’

He adds: “The lack of institutional memory is one thing that most companies don’t think about, but that depth of knowledge can be a powerful source of sensible business decisions.’’

Much has changed in the industry but Horizon’s philosophy has stayed the same.

“In many ways, market research is a widget industry,” adds Dr Cesa. “It is a production line that operates on efficiencies, it doesn’t necessarily operate on talent. One of the things that was always curious to me about the research business was that you had this complete disconnection between the people who did the thinking and the people who did the data collection.

“The more you divorce the data collection and analysis from the thinking, the more likely you are going to get dumb results. The right answers don’t just jump out at you because you collected some data. The right answers are based on understanding that the data is simply a guide to what is going on inside people’s heads.

“It is one thing to do good statistics. It is quite another to understand the story that the statistics are telling you. If analysts can’t figure out what the story is from the data, they probably shouldn’t be doing it.’’

He explains that the data science was originally called data analysis, then became modelling as the statistical software became more powerful.

“It is one thing to do good statistics. It is quite another to understand the story that the statistics are telling you.’’

“The term is used very loosely to cover a multitude of sins that mostly have to do with the manipulation of data rather than the analysis of it,” says Dr Cesa.

He added: “I have a team of people who have been working with me for a long time and have been driving the business. With the introduction of internet survey tools, companies believe they can get the data they need from a quick survey.

“They then apply their questions to what they believe is the right data set and then use the outputs to drive their business strategy.

“While this sounds logical, speedy, cost-effective and can be managed in-house, CEOs are quickly learning that this isn’t an area where companies should cut corners. My colleague Jim Bischoff says ‘Good, fast, cheap – pick any two’, with the implication being that you will not be able to get all three at the same time.

“I can tell you this from experience because Horizon Consumer Science has been helping clients get the right answers for over 25 years.”

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