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Reinventing passenger experiences through data-sharing

By Industry Expert
0

Airports and airlines hold enormous amounts of passenger data. By sharing it, they’ll be able to create and deliver the personalised experiences that customers demand.

Jewel Changi Airport’s spectacular opening has been headline news around the world. After four years of construction and S$1.7 billion (US$1.2 billion) in investment, Jewel is designed to make the airport a destination in its own right.

Tansey: airlines and airports need to work together to create a seamless passenger experience

Jewel raises the bar for future passenger experiences. However, to provide truly transformational, hyper-relevant and seamless travel experiences, the biggest challenge (and opportunity) centres on collaboration between airlines and airports.

Moving to the next level
The objective is to connect passengers to relevant experiences, services and information at each step of their journey. However, for this to happen, there needs to be a rethink. Relationships between airlines and airports have been fraught because of their complexity: the airport supplies services to each of the airlines that take off and land there but, at the same time, it’s also competing with them for a share of the customer wallet.

Friction over who “owns” passenger relationships is a key issue. Whether or not passengers consider themselves to be airport customers (and most don’t), that’s what they are from the moment they leave their car, through pre-boarding and on to the departure gate.

All this boils down to a central tension: who owns the data? Up to now, the argument has been that because airports own the Wi-Fi networks, they also own – by association – the data that flows through these channels.

Sharing data: the benefits
As with most complex and contentious relationships, communication is key. If airlines and airports want to create the seamless customer experiences that translate into passenger loyalty, collaborative data-sharing has to be the logical next step. Passengers, airports and airlines will all benefit.

Here are three examples:

• Single-token biometric-enabled self service
By partnering to implement biometric-enabled self service, airport, airlines and border control collaboration could make seamless travel through airports a reality. Whether from kerb to gate (with passengers enrolling at self-check-in kiosks in the terminal), or from couch to gate (enrolment at home through a mobile app), average passenger journey times through participating airport terminals could be cut by up to a third.

Heathrow Airport has launched one of the world’s largest self-service deployments which, when complete, will offer 275 bag drops and 370 boarding gates powered by biometrics. This could potentially mean smoother, faster journeys for 80 million passengers a year.

Meanwhile, Canada is testing the use of blockchain technology under the Known Traveller Digital Identity agreement to improve security and support the seamless flow of people across borders. This uses biometrics, cryptography and distributed ledger technology to enable travellers to share their information with authorities and travel providers ahead of travel to get hyper-personalised services.

• Turnaround management automation
Think about the wealth of operational data held by airlines, airports, ground handlers and the air traffic controller. If this could be integrated and accessed in real time, it would be possible to accurately predict an event’s on-time performance. This would translate to more efficient use of infrastructure and resources, fuel savings for airlines, reduced carbon footprints and an enhanced travel experience for passengers.

Gatwick Airport has launched AirTurn to manage aircraft turnaround times. This enables parties including handling and ramp agents, air traffic controllers and airlines to share information seamlessly during a turn. With intelligent technologies, including voice-activation and collaborative chat, deployed across smart devices, AirTurn works in real-time to coordinate activities and minimise any delays.

• Integrated baggage status tracking
Baggage problems can ruin the best travel experiences. Data sharing could make them a thing of the past. With a common platform integrating baggage data between airlines, the airport operator and its ground handling agents, real-time information would be available on the status of every item of luggage. This would optimise baggage operations and reduce the mishandling of baggage.

Helsinki Airport is pioneering developments in this space through a collaboration between the airport airlines and ground-handling companies. This looks ahead to providing seamless customer experiences and reducing the costs involved in tracing, retrieving and delivering missing or delayed baggage.

It’s all possible today
These examples illustrate that the technologies needed to deliver truly connected customer experiences are already available, together with the governance frameworks that are essential to support secure data-sharing between airlines and airports.

And this is just the beginning, with other initiatives pointing the way to future possibilities. Dubai International now operates a system for supervising operations and visualising aircraft flows in real time. By collecting data from Dubai Airports and its service partners, this will help to enable Airport Collaborative Decision Making and Total Airport Management, supporting smooth operations and improving the customer experience.

Meanwhile, Dublin Airport in Ireland now uses integrated data and advanced analytics to improve forecast accuracy, enable predictive security screening, reduce the risk of delays and help transferring passengers to connect with their flights on time. It also allows partners to plan for demand for their services, adding value for organisations including airlines, Irish Border Control and US Customs and Border Protection.

Airlines and airports can come together to share the data they hold, turning the dial on personalisation by delivering the hyper-relevant travel experiences their customers crave.

The time to collaborate is now.

Tink Labs ceases Handy smartphone service in most markets

By TTG Asia
0

Hong Kong-based company Tink Labs, which equips hotels globally with in-room handsets for guests, is terminating its services in multiple markets following the cessation of operations, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report.

The report said that the company recently informed hotels in certain countries, such as Morocco and Thailand, that it will no longer be supplying its Handy smartphone services and that cellular service to their devices will cease within hours.

Tink Labs is terminating its in-hotel smartphone services in most markets after it ended operations. Tink Labs has since rebranded under the name hi Inc. (Photo Credit: hi Inc.)

The company had also previously announced to employees internally in July that certain markets, such as China, Denmark, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa, will cease to have Handy services, said the report.

Handy, however, will continue to operate in its home market of Hong Kong, Singapore, as well as some hotels in the UK, according to emails and internal documents reviewed by the SCMP.

Hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore were informed that their contracts with Tink Labs were being reassigned to a separate entity, Blockone, said the report, adding that Blockone will also cease to provide its Handy devices for free to certain hotels in Hong Kong.

At one stage, Tink Labs had its Handy devices in 600,000 hotel rooms across more than 82 countries.

The company, which was set up in 2012 by Terence Kwok, became one of Hong Kong’s few start-ups to have commanded a valuation of more than US$1 billion.

Since its inception, Tink Labs has raised US$160 million in funding from investors, which included Lee Kai-fu’s Sinovation Ventures, Meitu founder and chairman Cai Wensheng and Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile.

Sentosa Sandsation strikes back with Star Wars characters

By TTG Asia
0

Be inspired by sand sculptures from a galaxy far, far away as this year’s Sentosa Sandsation will see iconic Star Wars characters take over South-east Asia’s largest sand sculpture festival.

The inaugural Sentosa Sandsation: Star Wars Edition kick-starts a three-year collaboration between Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia.

This year’s Sentosa Sandsation will feature Star Wars-themed sand sculptures

The sand fest, which spans almost 3,000m2, will run from 31 August to 15 September 2019, between 10.00 and 20.30 daily. Entry into the event is free for all.

All Singapore residents will also enjoy free entry into Sentosa from August 31 to September 15, 2019, via the Sentosa Express or when driving through the Sentosa Gateway vehicular gantry in Singapore-registered cars.

Sentosa Sandsation: Star Wars Edition will feature 20 Star Wars-themed sand sculptures by renowned sand artists, including Singapore’s very own JOOheng Tan, sand sculpting workshops and “live” demonstrations, as well as the Sentosa International Sand Sculpting Competition. There will also be free movie screenings and exclusive Star Wars-themed merchandise for sale on-site.

As part of the collaboration between SDC and The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia, guests can look forward to unique and creative experiences at Sentosa which are inspired by Disney’s beloved characters and stories over the next three years.

Sentosa FUN Shops and Singapore Cable Car Gift Shops, operated by One Faber Group (1FG), will also offer merchandises exclusively produced by Disney and 1FG from August 31, in conjunction with this collaboration.

Lynette Ang, chief marketing officer, SDC, said: “The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia is no stranger to us at Sentosa, having collaborated (with us) on past projects such as Sentosa Sandsation: Marvel Edition in 2018. Our three-year collaboration with Disney builds on this synergy to bring even more unique and fun leisure experiences to our guests.”

More information about the event can be found at www.sentosa.com.sg/sandsation.

Sage Hotel West Perth welcomes new GM

By TTG Asia
0

Graeme Rutherford has joined Sage Hotel West Perth (under Next Hotels & Resorts) in Australia as general manager.

The industry veteran began his hospitality career with Rydges Hotels, working his way up to his first general manager position in Melbourne. Since then, Rutherford has managed a number of hotels in Australia and New Zealand, including Rydges Perth and Frasers Suites Perth.

Frank Teruel joins Adara as COO to lead global expansion

By TTG Asia
0

Adara, a travel data co-op and provider of traveler intelligence for travel brands, has appointed Frank Teruel to the newly-created position of COO as the company expands its business and operations around the globe.

Teruel has more than 25 years of experience in venture-backed start-ups and tenured technology businesses. With his dual financial and operational background, he is expected to bring to Adara deep expertise in sales, operations, and finance.

Most recently, Teruel led ThreatMetrix through rapid global growth and expansion to new industries culminating in an US$830 million sale to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Previously, Teruel held executive management positions at Vormetric and other software companies.

He is also a frequent speaker and thought leader on contributory data, digital identities, cybersecurity and internet fraud prevention topics.

Emergency decree lifting brings relief to Sri Lankan trade

By Feizal Samath
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Sri Lanka has lifted its state of emergency – imposed after the Easter Sunday bombings in April – bringing hopes to the travel trade that the move will lead to a much-needed boost to tourist arrivals.

Trevor Rajaratnam, president of the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, said the move would send a positive message to the rest of the world that Sri Lanka is open for travel. “It’s a huge positive move and will also help airlines which depend on more inbound travellers,” he noted.

Sri Lanka has lifted a four-month state of emergency which hopefully will boost tourist arrivals

Arrivals have dipped monthly since the attacks, and tourists have stayed away. Officials also believe winter arrivals will drop by 30 to 40 per cent, but hope that since the month-on-month emergency lapsed last Thursday, the situation could improve. Emergency rule permits the government to mobilise the armed forces on the streets among other security-related measures.

Mahen Kariyawasam, former president of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Operators, said that the removal of emergency rule was a very positive move and would help in the recovery of tourism efforts.

As well, tourism industry officials said that even though several countries have relaxed travel advisories, these advisories were still at the category 2 and 3 levels, which denote ‘be cautious’ when travelling to Sri Lanka. Some countries like Russia have not relaxed its travel advisory.

“Even though many countries have relaxed travel advisories, they were at a category where government officials are not advised to travel (to Sri Lanka). A forthcoming major business conference was unable to invite government officials from other countries for this reason, which would now help in their participation,” Kariyawasam said.

Meanwhile, Achini Dandunnage, senior manager at the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, said: “With the lifting of the emergency, hopefully, travel advisories will be further relaxed.”

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as authorities are in the midst of preparing for 21,000 to 25,000 followers of the minority Bohra Muslim community from 40 regions and countries that will descend into Sri Lanka for a mega international convention. The event, to be held from September 1-10 in Colombo, is a positive boost to business tourism.

Malaysia records robust tourism growth with 13.4 million arrivals in first half

By S Puvaneswary
0

Malaysia has recorded RM41.7 billion (US$13.7 billion) in tourist receipts in 1H2019, a growth of 6.8 per cent from the corresponding period in 2018.

Speaking at a press conference on the performance of Malaysia’s tourism sector, minister of tourism, arts and culture Malaysia Mohamaddin Ketapi said that the number of foreign visitors to the country rose 4.9 per cent to 13.4 million in the first six months this year, up from 12.7 million in the corresponding period last year.

Malaysia welcomed 13.4 million tourists in the 1H2019, up 4.9 per cent from the same period last year

Asia-Pacific continues to dominate Malaysia’s foreign arrivals at 70 per cent, he revealed, accounting for six of the top 10 international tourist source markets in 1H2019. Arrivals from Singapore topped the list with 5.4 million tourists, followed by Indonesia (1.9 million), China (1.6 million), Thailand (990,565), Brunei (627,112), India (354,486), South Korea (323,952), the Philippines (210,974), Vietnam (200,314) and Japan (196,561).

Overall, the short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul markets registered positive growth at 4.7 per cent, 7.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively, compared with the first half of 2018.

The top five countries with the highest expenditure per capita were Saudi Arabia at RM11,376 (US$2,715), the UK at RM5,241, Canada at RM4,593, China at RM4,546 and the US at RM4,537.

With steady growth recorded for the tourism sector in the first half, Mohamaddin is confident that Malaysia would meet its target of 28.1 million tourist arrivals for 2019 as the third quarter is also the peak summer travel season for the Indian, Middle East and European markets.

“We recorded over 13 million tourists in the first half of 2019. It is not the peak travel time for tourists from some countries yet. We have several more months (to) achieve our target,” he said.

Tourism Malaysia’s director general, Musa Yusof, who was also present at the press conference, said that he was optimistic that arrivals from China will continue to grow positively in 2H2019, despite China’s economic slowdown.

“Tourism Malaysia will be participating at the upcoming China (Guangdong) International Tourism Industry Expo from August 30. It will be great if we can capture 10 per cent of the Chinese population of Guangdong, which is around 111 million,” he said.

Apart from incentives such as the Joint International Tourism Development Program, Tourism Malaysia is also in discussion with China-based airlines and top Chinese outbound operators to attract more charter and scheduled flights from China to fly to Malaysia.

Next year also marks the Malaysia-China Cultural Tourism Year, which Musa believes will attract more Chinese tourists to Malaysia.

Thailand further trims 2019 arrivals forecast while tourism confidence index holds steady

By TTG Asia
0

Thailand’s quarterly tourism confidence index in 2Q2019 held steady at 100 from its 1Q prediction, and is expected to remain at 100 in the third quarter of this year, a recent study found.

The survey, which is a collaboration between the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Tourism Council of Thailand and Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Economics, is based on responses from over 600 tourism operators and government officials from related agencies. It also interviewed 350 international and 350 domestic tourists, respectively.

Thailand’s quarterly tourism confidence index in 2Q2019 held steady at 100 from its 1Q prediction, and is expected to remain at 100 in 3Q2019

The findings in the second quarter of this year highlighted both the micro and macro factors affecting Thailand’s tourism industry: The slowdown of the world economy as well as Thailand’s economic stagnation; the Thai government’s stimulus and tax reduction scheme; extension on the visa-arrival fee waiver for citizens of 20 nations for another six months until October 2019, and the strength of the Thai baht to a weakening US dollar combined with rising inflation.

The index forecasts that the number of foreign arrivals in Q3 will increase 7.1 per cent year-on-year to 9.7 million visitors. It also projects that total arrivals will rise 4.7 per cent to reach 40.1 million international tourists for all of 2019, compared to 2018.

These findings, however, reflected a more positive sentiment than the latest projections from Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, which had cut its foreign arrivals forecast further to 39-39.8 million this year, down from 40.2 million.

Thai tourism in the first half of this year saw only a 1.4 per cent growth in foreign arrivals to 19.7 million, prompting the Thai ministry to slash its target in July from 41.3 million to 40.2 million, according to a Bangkok Post report.

The report also quoted Thai tourism and sports minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn as saying that he is confident the new projection is attainable as the government has been doling out incentives to foreign visitors.

Phiphat added that the Thai cabinet will continue to promote tourism in the upcoming months by extending the waiver of visa-on-arrival fees to 19 nations, which already covers China and India, from October 31 this year until April 30, 2020.

TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn was also quoted as saying that the Thai cabinet believes the incentive will help draw some 20 million foreign tourists in the second half, maintaining tourism momentum to support the country’s three per cent GDP growth this year.

Despite a dip in foreign arrivals, especially from China, Yuthasak is positive that the goal of 3.4 trillion baht (US$111.9 billion) in tourism revenue this year is achievable, a 9.5 per cent increase from last year.

Meanwhile, the latest statistics of the Thailand Tourism Intelligence Centre report 23.1 million foreign tourists visited Thailand in the first seven months this year, up by 1.94 per cent year-on-year.

China still accounts for the biggest portion with 6.63 million visitors, a contraction of 3.3 per cent, followed by Malaysia with 2.24 million, up 6.2 per cent, and India at 1.14 million, up 24 per cent.

Hospitality consulting firm Hotelivate opens new office in Indonesia

By Mimi Hudoyo
0
Satria

Hotelivate, an India-based hospitality consulting firm, has opened its fourth office in Jakarta, after Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore, with Satria Wei, a veteran hotelier with over 30 years of experience, taking the reins as managing partner and managing director of Hotelivate Indonesia.

Satria was formerly the COO at MNC Land Bali, providing asset management and operational assistance in integrated resort projects such as Trump Resort Lido, Trump Resort Bali and Park Hyatt Jakarta. Prior to that, he was with PHM Hospitality.

Satria: took the position as he wants to help improve hotel room rates throughout Indonesia

Manav Thadani, founder and chairman of Hotelivate, said in a statement: “Our teams have been monitoring and working in various Indonesian markets for over six years. While the hospitality market cycle was on a decline during much of this time, Hotelivate ran five editions of THINC (Tourism, Hotel Investment & Networking Conference) in Bali and Jakarta. We now observe a clear upswing in performance, and more importantly, in market sentiments.”

He added: “With the recent reelection of the government, we see a continuation of strong sentiments and feel this is an appropriate time for Hotelivate to set up an office in Jakarta.”

Satria told TTG Asia that his decision to helm Hotelivate started with his concern over the low room rates in Indonesia, particularly among individual-owned properties, as compared to other countries.

“I have been working with hotel management companies and trying to increase our prices has been difficult when the hotels around us were not trying to scale up but instead undercut our prices. (Improving hotel room rates) needs a concerted effort by a group of hotels in the area,” he said, adding that he will work with those hotels to improve their bottom line.

He said that Hotelivate Indonesia, which offers end-to-end hospitality business solutions, could play a role in improving hotel room rates and the first service the firm will offer is revenue and asset management, primarily to individual-owned hotels, and possibly for branded ones too.

Satria stressed on the importance of these services, citing the example of room rates in Bali’s Kuta area. “There are two- and three-star hotels selling their rooms for as low as Rp100,000 (US$9) to Rp200,000. Branded properties have their own revenue management, something that individual-owned properties are lagging behind,” he said.

He also observed that the rate of a room in an economy-branded hotel in Mumbai was double that of the same brand in Bali.

But with proper revenue management, Satria said, many hotels in Indonesia can potentially increase their average room rates by 15 to 20 per cent.

“I have met hotel owners who wanted to see their properties increase in value so that when they release their hotels into the market after five to 10 years of operations, their properties will not only be valued by the land – like many of them today – but also the assets,” he said.

Many hotels across Indonesia are engaged in price wars due to an oversupply situation and thus, may be resistant to spending their thin margins on consultancy fees. “We realise that imposing fees up front will not work, so we are formulating a different scheme whereby hotels pay only after they see the results,” said Satria.

Expounding the feasibility of the scheme, which is still in the planning phase, he said: “If the current average room rate is Rp500,000 and after working with us it increases to Rp600,000, I think hotels will not mind paying 15 per cent of Rp100,000 to us.”

ATF, TRAVEX return to Brunei in 2020; strong applications from trade buyers

By TTG Asia
0

Some 300 travel trade buyers from around the world have applied to attend TRAVEX next year, the B2B trade show that is part of the annual ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF).

Running from January 14-16, 2020, at the BRIDEX International Conference Centre in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, TRAVEX will offer buyers from around the world the opportunity to shop for some of the best and latest travel and tourism products from across South-east Asia.

TRAVEX, the B2B trade show that is part of the annual ATF, will return next year in Brunei

At press time, Europeans make up the majority of approved buyers at 41 per cent, followed by Asians at 32 per cent and Americans at 15 per cent. The rest of the approved buyers hail from markets including Australia, New Zealand, Azerbaijan and Estonia.

Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media – whose business unit TTG Events is organising TRAVEX 2020 on behalf of Brunei Tourism – said interest from travel trade buyers has been strong.

“Travel trade buyers from Asia and other regions of the world have come to recognise the value TRAVEX brings to their programme research, as well as the acquisition of business contacts, products and services. In addition to many buyers keen on returning to the event in 2020 to source for South-east Asian travel and tourism products and services, we are also seeing a good number of new applications even though we are still five months away from the event,” said Ng.

He shared that TTG Events applies a strict qualifying process for hosted buyer applications to ensure exhibitors get quality business interactions. As such, the final count of approved buyers will grow in coming weeks after careful consideration.

One of the early-stage approved buyers is Jaime Monfort, operations manager with Bidtravel, Spain, who is looking “to develop group tours with tailored packages particularly from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam” from his attendance at TRAVEX 2020.

Also eyeing connections with new suppliers is Guillaume Vaudey de Vaudrey, general manager of Cosmopolis, France. He is keen on partners from Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Attractive social events and post-show tours are also magnets for buyers, according to Ng.

ATF 2020 and TRAVEX 2020 will also feature three self-paying tours from January 17, 2020. The Proboscis Monkey Tour is the shortest option, running for 2.5 hours to give participants an interesting snapshot of Brunei’s natural landscape, and the habitat and ecology of the elusive creature. The other two tours are bound for Ulu Temburong National Park, with one being a seven-hour-long day trip, and the other lasting for two days and one night.

Exhibition spaces are selling out fast, Ng noted, with confirmed sellers from both the corporate sector and regional NTOs.

Interested travel and tourism suppliers can contact TTG Events at atfsellers@ttgasia.com.

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Sister Publications
TTG Asia TTGmice TTG India TTGssociations TTG Asia Luxury
TTG Asia | Colbert Collection to debut in Italy as Minor Hotels targets soft brand growth
TTG Asia | TTG Asia takes Good Friday break
TTG Asia | Thailand rolls out targeted fuel subsidies ahead of Songkran travel