Major attractions are open, the US is open to tourism. But are Asian outbound tour operators raring to go, even as Brand USA steps up training and marketing?

Source: Raini Hamdi

The US had its biggest presence ever at ITB Asia last month. For many of the players, including Brand USA, it was a first appearance, an indication of a new keenness to tap Asian outbound markets.

After a hiatus, where every other major destination in the world stepped up tourism marketing as competition for tourist dollars rises, the US is back in the game. And how. It is aiming for a 50 per cent leap in international arrivals to 100 million in 2021, from the 67 million foreign visitors recorded last year. Long-standing visa issues and long immigration queues aside, Brand USA – the first public-private sector umbrella to promote visitorship to the US – has its job cut out for it.

Brand USA vice president for global partnership and development, Jay Gray, admitted: “Between 2000 and 2010, international outbound travel across the world increased immensely but US market share of that actually decreased five percentage points in what we called the ‘lost decade’”.

Gray attributed this to the destination’s lack of marketing efforts, while other countries were out there marketing themselves as tourism destinations.

International visitors account for a disproportionate amount of spend in US cities. While they make up 20 per cent of travellers to New York, they contribute 50 per cent of receipts. In the state of Florida, foreigners comprise 14 per cent of visitorship yet create 36 per cent of spend.

Asia is key. Said Gray: “Japan will surpass the UK as top source market by the end of this year, and by 2018, China will be.

“We expect between five and 10 per cent growth from markets out of South-east Asia.”
But he noted: “Travellers and consultants here are not as informed about the product as they could be,” he said.

To tackle that, Brand USA will launch an online education and certification programme for South-east Asia’s trade in 1Q2014.

Developed in the UK, it has been localised for the Indian and Australian markets, and there are plans to further translate and launch the programme in other languages.

“This is about creating a community of operators with a social element, so when somebody logs into this, completes a module, his rankings increase. Then when he goes on one of our fam trips, upload his experiences online, his rankings increase more,” he said.

The trade can also expect co-op programmes that could extend to campaign funding.

Said Gray: “For (tour operators) buying advertisements or promotions around US products, we want to help them, may be in terms of bringing partners to the table that they may not have already talked to, unique itineraries or just putting additional funds into campaigns.”

Partners are keen. Brand USA, which rounded up destinations and sellers from the US to exhibit at ITB Asia, sold out the pavilion space quickly. “We could have had twice the footprint on the show floor,” said Gray.

Exhibiting under the Brand USA pavilion were ITB Asia veterans such as Las Vegas, but also first-time sellers such as Grand Canyon West, which privately owns part of the Grand Canyon, VisitFlorida and NYC & Company.

Makiko Matsuda Healy, vice president, tourism development of NYC & Co, said Asian travel consultants could make use of the city’s online education programme for the trade, which comprises seven modules in various verticals.

Upon completion, the consultants becomes a certified NYC Specialist and will receive discounts at attractions, hotels, etc, when visiting the city.

Rubern Bala, managing director of SR Holidays Singapore, which handles mostly corporate travel, said he is looking to get back into the leisure game and sell customised packages.
Bala said there will be demand for the US because of airlinks such as Singapore Airlines’ non-stop flight to Los Angeles, although he added that the exchange rate will play a big part.

Han Songnan from the outbound tourism American department of CTS Travel Beijing, said his company sends between one and two groups a month to iconic US cities such as New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

He said there is interest in the US. “Those who have been there want to go again, but those who have not may take a while to adjust to (the idea of) prices there, as things are more expensive.”

Han added that it is hard to predict what will be the up-and-coming destinations in the
US, as prices of air tickets and hotels weigh a lot in the decision.

Visas meanwhile remain a key concern. Srauy Virith, managing director of Senses Journeys Travel in Phnom Penh, said:  “I’m planning to sell US tour packages but it’s hard to get visas. A lot of people want to visit, but even if you have the money, you can’t get the visa.”

Reene Ho-Phang, Brand USA’s managing director-Taiwan & Hong Kong, said: “After coming (to ITB Asia), we realise we have to add two more destinations (on the South-east Asia focus list) – Vietnam and Myanmar. They want to talk to our suppliers and are trying to reach out to us.”

Meritage seeks more Asian guests

SAN DIEGO-based Pacific Hospitality Group has debuted its Meritage Collection at ITB Asia to garner more international guests for its properties. Launched early this year, the collection comprises Trinitas Cellars winery and four AAA Four Diamond properties (equivalent to four- and four-and-a-half stars) – Balboa Bay Resort on Newport Beach, Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa Valley and Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. David Gerdes, Pacific Hospitality Group’s vice president sales and marketing, said there are no other hotel operators that offer Four Diamond facilities in those destinations. “There’s more to California. Let’s move away from the big cities and provide customers not only in the US but around the world a chance to enjoy the activities and amenities at these four locations,” said Gerdes. With all four properties populated mostly by domestic travellers, a market that has only just begun to recover, the group engaged Miami-based Unique Hotel Solutions to help tap the global market and unveiled the Meritage Collection for the first time at International Pow Wow in Las Vegas in June. Asked if hotels in the Meritage Collection featured amenities specifically catering to the Asian market, Gerdes said such services will be gradually introduced as Asian visitors start coming. “It’s a catch-22 right now because we’ve got to see those travellers coming and we will. We’re confident that after ITB Asia we will have those amenities available for the different countries and their travellers.” The Meritage team sees ITB Asia as a springboard for learning more about Asian consumers, then doing further promotions in the region. Said Gerdes: “Asia is our key market. We want to learn exactly what the Asian consumer is looking for so we can operationally work it out and serve them.”

This article was first published in TTG Asia, November 15 – 28, 2013 issue, on page 8. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Cruise lines are rolling out training programmes to keep travel experts abreast of a fast-growing market

Royal Caribbean Cruises
Chin Ying Duan, spokesperson

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
Royal Caribbean Cruises’ (RCC) Cruising for Excellence e-learning programme is for travel consultants worldwide, encompassing its three brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. Highlights include interactive, 3D environments that allow users to explore and learn the ships’ key selling points at their own convenience and pace.

Other training methods include in-house seminars for consultants, group product updates and seminars, seminars-at-sea for product exposure and incentives, and ship tours.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
Cruising for Excellence has rolled out the e-learning tool in 10 languages, including English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

Some local offices have also developed their own training systems, focusing on customised cruise products and additional curriculum such as sales, booking process, operations and market trends.

Wherever possible, RCC arranges for consultants to visit its ships. Otherwise, additional avenues for product familiarisation include seminars-at-sea, familiarisation cruises and Cruising for Excellence’s 3D virtual ship environment.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
In Asia, RCC has trained over 3,000 travel consultants, focusing on those who show an interest in and the potential to sell cruises. Some markets tend to emphasise training for front-liners as they have the most direct contact with customers.

What incentives are there for travel consultants to get trained?
Cruising for Excellence displays a leaderboard of top scorers, thus driving a sense of competition between agencies. The Captain status will be awarded to those who complete modules for one brand and the Admiral status for those who finish all modules.

Trained consultants receive priority access to promotional offers and RCC’s online reservation tool, where they can view the complete inventory at the best available price, create guest bookings and view the support offered for collateral production and advertising.

In some markets, free familiarisation cruises are given to consultants with the top training scores.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
Each year, more and more travel consultants become aware of RCC’s brands, sell the brands and produce greater volume in bookings (which is an indication of effectiveness).

Cruising for Excellence also measures proficiency in individual staff at completion of training, judged by the total points earned from the online quiz and by the number of completed modules in each brand, culminating with the Brand Captain Certificate award. – Hannah Koh

Star Cruises
Michael Goh, senior vice president (sales)

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
We organise periodic trainings every three to six months to share product updates, market trends and new cruise itineraries. We showcase Star Cruises’ ships in their respective homeports, cruise itineraries, exotic destinations sailed to, and facilities and services onboard, etc.

Apart from sharing in-depth product knowledge, we will impart know-how relating to the promotion of cruise packages, usage of booking reservation system, policies and procedures as well as cruise passage terms and conditions.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
During our trainings with respective Asian travel consultants, we reinforce the importance of addressing guests’ needs based on their travel preferences.

For example, we highlight halal F&B restaurants and prayer rooms for Muslim travellers, while for Indians, we share the available Indian vegetarian restaurants and F&B selections to address their special dietary requirements. Shopping and dining are a must for Chinese tourists, so we present the best culinary experiences and retail offerings to them.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
We determine the training requirements based on evolving cruise depaoyment plans and turnover rate among Asian travel consultants. With training taking place every three to six months, each group size can range from 50 to 300 pax, depending on the country and training context.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
A good travel consultant should be able to showcase, present and articulate the essence of freestyle cruising as a rejuvenating holiday option to potential cruisers. He/she should be able to entice customers with his/her cruise experiences and convince them to make a booking. – Lee Pei Qi 

Princess Cruises
Farriek Tawfik, director of South-east Asia

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
Princess Academy was launched in Asia in April. Previously available in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the on-demand, online training programme for travel consultants has been made available in South-east Asian markets such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

There are four levels of achievement – First Officer, Staff Captain, Captain and Commodore – with five courses for each level. There are a total of 20 courses and a final exam after going through all levels. Dashboards are also available for users to track their progress.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
Princess Academy has been rolled out across different South-east Asian markets and is open to all registered travel consultants.

One of the main challenges faced is the language barrier as not all the consultants in the region are proficient in English; we are currently working on this to ensure that the course will be available to more consultants.

We have already launched the Japanese version and are in the process of offering the course in Chinese. We are also exploring offering the course in Bahasa Indonesia and Korean.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
Currently, we have a few hundred Asian travel consultants undergoing training, with 100 having passed the First Officer level. Globally, over 50,000 travel consultants are active participants in the Princess Academy and over one million have taken the course, making it one of the largest online travel universities in the world.

What incentives are there for travel consultants to get trained?
Rewards are offered to both the travel consultant and the agency for each level achieved, including a diploma and officer pin as well as special onboard benefits for the consultant and agency manager when they sail with Princess Cruises.

Travel consultants who reach the level of Commodore will be rewarded with a free Graduation Cruise Course onboard one of our ships for their graduation ceremony. The captain will personally award the pin to the consultants, who will be taken on a tour of the cruise ship, including areas that are not open to public.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
The number of consultants who successfully complete and graduate from the courses. These consultants are thoroughly equipped with the knowledge of how to sell Princess Cruises and gain greater confidence when selling Princess Cruises.

Attaining a Princess Academy qualification is also a form of accreditation, as clients who recognise the pin will feel more comfortable with consultants who have undergone training. This helps to improve the overall buying experience. – Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

Costa Cruises
Eunice Lee, marketing director, Pacific-Asia operations

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
Costa Cruises arranges training programmes for our trade partners, equipping them with basic information such as Costa products, unique selling points, product positioning, itineraries, ports of call, booking system, general information on embarkation, onboard and disembarkation as well as cruise trends and institutional updates.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
Training programmes are tailor-made for travel consultants depending on their existing knowledge and experiences.

Interestingly, the challenge does not lie in the difference in nationalities, but rather the shared limitation of cruise knowledge and experience among travel consultants in Asia. Compared with European markets, most Asian consultants are not very familiar with products offered by international cruise lines, having acquired cruising knowledge from local cruise lines in the past. Some product features of Asian cruise lines are different from cruise holiday products that Costa Cruises provides.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
Costa Cruises always coordinates with the travel agency’s management and decides who to be trained. Normally, training is provided to various departments within travel agencies, ranging from sales and marketing, operations and reservation to product planning and tour leaders.

Training is a continuous effort and we are not able to disclose the number of travel consultants trained to date.

What incentives are there for travel consultants to get trained?
We motivate travel consultants through an innovative and interactive training programme. At times, familiarisation trips are provided as an incentive and to familiarise consultants with our products. A Costa certificate is offered to all consultants who complete our training.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
Our training managers always seek feedback from travel consultants in order to continuously increase the effectiveness of training. – Prudence Lui

Crystal Cruises
Marnie Whipple, regional sales manager, Asia-Pacific 

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
Our local GSAs train travel consultants by visiting their offices and giving verbal product updates and PowerPoint presentations. Approximately once a year, the regional sales manager for Asia-Pacific also hosts a joint product update with the GSAs.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
We have an online training programme, Crystal Cruises Academy, available to all travel professionals worldwide, while local GSA offices customise training for their key agent partners. We cannot comment on the different challenges in each market as our GSAs handle the local training.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
Our local GSA partners take into consideration a number of factors, such as identifying luxury sellers, looking into new opportunities and providing ongoing updates for travel partners already selling Crystal Cruises.

What incentives are there for travel consultants to get trained?
Once educated on the six-star luxury experience offered by Crystal Cruises, travel professionals receive encouraging commissions for their sales and, based on revenue, the opportunity to cruise complimentarily.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
The most effective way is reviewing sales growth. Based on this we are confident that the training programmes are working well.

At the end of every training programme, we also ask travel professionals in person and follow up via phone calls on what we did well and what we can do to improve. – Prudence Lui

Silversea Cruises
Melvyn Yap, regional director (Asia)

What training programmes do you have for Asian travel consultants?
We have two types of training programmes: a large one where we invite many travel consultants to a function room and in-house where we visit the travel consultant’s office.

For the large one held annually, we invite about 80 travel consultants and put together a half-day programme to give product updates.

As for the in-house programme, it is arranged on an ad-hoc basis for travel consultants who request for an update or refresher.

How do you tailor your programmes across different Asian markets? What challenges do you face?
We try not to change the core programme too much as the cruises and ship products are generally similar. But depending on the company, and it is not country-specific, we may tailor the programme.

For instance, for a company that sells expeditions, we will talk more about expedition cruises and land programmes. We tailor the programme according to the company profile.

How do you decide who to train? How many travel consultants in Asia have been trained to date?
We generally involve our key travel consultants for the annual programme and train about 1,000 pax every year.

What incentives are there for travel consultants to get trained?
They will be able to better promote the product to their clients. Product knowledge is very important to effectively sell a cruise holiday.

How do you measure the effectiveness of training?
When we receive more bookings, as it would reflect greater awareness and interest from the passengers. We do not perform tests to calculate the effectiveness because it is evident from the sales made. – Lee Pei Qi 

How can cruise lines improve their training?

“Training must be reinforced periodically as changes in product offerings take place seasonally. Familiarisation trips for front-line staff are absolutely imperative in order to give them greater confidence to sell cruises. Currently, only five per cent of travel (consultants) in India sell cruises.

The market-specific needs of Indian cruise clients, such as their penchant for Indian food, Bollywood-type entertainment and casinos, are addressed by companies like Star Cruises in their training programmes. However, more attention should be paid to shore excursions. Cruise companies must also train (consultants) to address clients’ queries about onboard options that may vary according to age. DVDs with 360-degree views can be effective.”

Arvind Tandon Managing director, Faraway Places, Marketing India

“As cruise travel is still new to us, we hope to better equip our guides with more product knowledge. For instance, we hope cruise lines will share more information on their incentives and MICE offers instead of just focusing on FIT or small group traffic. As cruise ships have large capacity, there is a lot of in-depth information that they can share with us, such as the different types of pillows provided in rooms and characteristics of various fine-dining offerings onboard.”

Lanny Leung CEO, Wing On Travel Hong Kong

“The smaller and lesser-known travel agencies don’t really have big cruise lines proactively reaching out to us as they usually target the popular ones. But in fact, sometimes we can sell even more cruises than (the bigger companies). It will be helpful if the cruise lines reach out to all types of agencies, big and small.

I would really like cruise lines to include us in their on-site cruise ship tours as such visual introductions will be easier for us to sell and market (their products) to my customers.”

Irene Lim Sales representative,  i’Smart Leisure Services Singapore

This article was first published in TTG Asia, November 15 – 28, 2013 issue, on page 12. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Additional reporting from Lee Pei Qi, Xinyi Liang-Pholsena, Prudence Lui