Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Ellen Ingersoll: Yes. On the show rotation we had IMTS last third quarter. We won’t have that this third quarter and International Woodworking we had last third quarter as well. The ones rotating in, I mean, they’re fairly small, are rotation in, in Q1 and Q2 and Q4 ranges from $5 million to $10 million.Bryan, just one more thing, sorry. We do have air shows that switch quarters. So we have in ’23, the Paris Air Show, and that is in the second quarter. And in ’22, we had the Farmborough Air Show, that was in Q3.

Bryan Maher: Okay. And maybe remind us what big ones come back in 2024?

Ellen Ingersoll: Yes. Sure. So in 2024, we have IMTS rotating back in again, and we have MINExpo rotating back in as well as Woodworking. MINExpo is only every 4 years or so, so we didn’t have that in ’22.

Bryan Maher: And then on the Pursuit side, listening to the commentary and kind of seeing what you’ve been developing over the past couple of years. Is it safe to say that there’s no real new attractions currently expected for 2023 or that at least have been announced publicly?

David Barry: Yes, you’re quite correct. But what’s exciting is that we’re, I think, going to be performing at higher levels with the increase in international visitation. And obviously, it’s a more normal year. I mean one of the challenges in ’22 was that we expected border restrictions to lift early in the first quarter of ’22 and they didn’t lift until October 1st. And so our visitation from the U.S. was a bit throttled. And we’re just excited that this is the first year in 3 years that, Bryan, we’re operating with no restrictions. Nobody’s going to get — have to go into quarantine when they arrive, and that’s, I think, going to drive visitation throughout the whole summer.

Bryan Maher: Right. I made some notes here. Refined grow enhance kind of seems like the theme at Pursuit this year 2023. Kind of thinking about the percentage of long-haul international travel, I guess, mainly from Asia. What do you think you’ll end up seeing in 2023? I think you said maybe two years to come back to seasons to come back. Relative to 2019 levels, where do you think you could shake out for this year?

David Barry: It’s a bit tricky to say, but think about it on a global level. So China exports annually and its hay-day with no restrictions about 155 million tourists leave China and go out into the world and experience that. This season is going to be late for tour and travel partners because they really didn’t get the news until December. And so what we expect we’ll see will be an increase, obviously, in visiting friends and relatives and also FIT travelers leaving China. It’s constrained with a couple of other things, which is the aircraft lift is not back to traditional levels. So that’s going to, again, have an impact. But we’ll definitely see an increase. And what’s most exciting is the contracting demand for ’24 and for ’25 is moving at real pace. So I think we’ll see more of a return to normality in the ’24 year, but we definitely will get it on for ’23. It’s just hard to predict what that’s going to be given how late the announcement was.