Tailored to a tee

Tourism Authority of Thailand

From health-conscious wanderers to those travelling with little tots, tours are being created to meet needs of all kinds

Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tourism Authority of Thailand

Eat your way through Asia
Having found success in offering foodie experiences to visitors to Malaysia, Discovery Travel & Cuisine is now in the midst of developing outbound culinary tours to Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and China.

“The strategy to tweak our inbound travel business with food and culinary experiences has worked profitably for us, recording an increase in demand and sales from year to year,” said director Lee Choon Loong, who claims the tour and travel company is the first and only licensed one in Malaysia to have ‘Travel & Cuisine’ as part of the company name.

“We are applying for an outbound licence to market outbound culinary tours targeted at the youths in the 18-35 age group, who are more adventurous and Internet savvy. This provides us with the opportunity to tap social media,” he said.

“We are currently developing our website with enticing images of food and compelling stories about food culture, culinary styles and gourmet destinations with the help of national tourism offices in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines.”

On why the above countries were chosen, Lee explained: “We prefer to develop culinary tours around destinations which are rich in culture and food resources but somehow lacking in built attractions. Food culture then becomes the unique selling point of the destination.”

Clients will get to discover local produce and learn how to savour exotic food like raw prawns with pepper-calamansi sauce on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos or enjoy stir-fried flower crabs with Kampot pepper, which originated from a local fishing village in Cambodia.

He added: “Food is not fun without the right company, and we only develop customised tour programmes for like-minded travellers with the same interest and passion for food culture. S Puvaneswary

Chan Brothers Travel
Chan Brothers Travel

Kids can have fun, too
Introduced last year, the Little Tots Can Fly programme by Chan Brothers Travel Singapore incorporates child-friendly itineraries for families with children as young as two years old.

Currently available for itineraries in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, these programmes are designed around fulfilling the requirements of toddlers from two to six years old. Arrangements include more conducive daytime flights, later morning calls, extended meal duration at kid-friendly restaurants, a more relaxed pace of travel and family photography sessions by professionals.

Jane Chang, marketing and communications manager, said: “This series helps to plug the market gap for parents of young toddlers who wish to travel but have their own set of unique travel requirements. Response for this series is encouraging and we are expecting significant growth this year.” Paige Lee Pei Qi

7march-p2-12809753_mlIn tip-top shape
Panorama Tours Indonesia launched medical tourism packages in 2013, with Malaysia as its initial destination.

Hellen Xu, managing director of travel management, said: “Medical Check Up is a new product we launched last year and the result so far is so-so. This year we are planning to promote it well as we believe the market is there; we just need to tap it. Our target market is A- and B-class clients above 35 years old.”

Starting with basic check-up programmes, Panorama works with hotels and hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

A three-day package in Kuala Lumpur starts at US$289 and US$285 for Penang. This excludes airfare but includes two-night accommodation, a medical check-up at Gleneagles Hospital and airport transfers.

The medical check-up in Kuala Lumpur includes a physical examination, ECG, lung function test, chest X-ray, blood and urine test, as well as review of reports. In Penang the package includes physical examination, visual acuity test, chest X-ray, ECG, body fat measurement and a laboratory test.

Asked if more extensive medical packages would be offered, Xu said that these are available on request, but could be developed into ready-made products should the market grows.

“Indonesians usually look for references from friends when it comes to treatments – which doctor, which hospital – and they go to travel agencies for hotel and transport arrangements, and sometimes optional tours,” she said. Mimi Hudoyo

Make the most of weekends
Long weekend holidays are usually planned late and the runway within which all bookings need to be firmed up are excruciatingly short. Most of such requests come from clients who are well travelled and usually decide on the spur of the moment, or are unaware if they will be available on a specific date and so cannot plan ahead.

In response, Thomas Cook India launched 48H holiday packages a year ago, where the entire trip from ticketing and hotel bookings to ground transportation and excursions can be booked and delivered to the client within 48 hours of receiving the request.

“Many clients used to ask for domestic destinations as they thought that we had too little time to offer outbound holidays within such a short time frame,” said Madhav Pai, COO of leisure travel (outbound).

A range of destinations are offered, including Ireland, Jordan, Ecuador, Cyprus, Mexico, Seychelles, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Hong Kong and Macau.

Ankur Khanna, managing director, India-based Tristar Holidays, said: “It is easy to create and confirm these packages if the destination offers visa on arrival to Indians.” He added that the price of these holidays could be 10-20 per cent more than usual as the bookings are last minute, but this did not faze any of his clients. – Shekhar Niyogi

 


Connecting agencies to customers

Attempts have been made to bridge the divide between one-on-one travel consultation and the lack of customisation available on online portals.

Hello Travel in India, for example, analyses the requirements of online travellers and finds travel agencies whose expertise will match their requests. Clients then get multiple itineraries and personalised suggestions from travel consultants.

Such websites allow companies to enrol with them, then purchase leads and execute itineraries. These leads are paid for on a unitary basis and the contract may be for a set duration.

However, according to trade players, any such model leaves gaps in credibility and durability of such contacts.

Anil Guptaa, managing director, Anjali Tours & Travels India, said: “This sort of market intelligence does not give me the connections I need. Moreover, it is possible that the same leads may go to my competitors too, diluting my sales effort.”

Other companies like Internet Moguls are trying to close this chasm in a more holistic manner by offering turnkey solutions. It has created a website that will enable B2B as well as B2C interface, management of social media to get more responses, execution of the marketing plan and realistic projections of outcomes.

If the travel consultant signs up for a three-year contract, Internet Moguls works for zero retainer and charges a 15 per cent commission on incremental business beyond US$1 million based on a performance guarantee of its marketing plan.

Avijit Arya of Internet Moguls said: “Long-lasting connection with consumers is not a simple task. We advise, plan and guide our clients to end solutions that result in a much larger client base for them, helping their clients perform and stay with them if they are satisfied with the service.” – Shekhar Niyogi

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