Tour operators in Thailand, Singapore turn to customisation for a sharper differentiation in a competitive market

An upcountry herbal museum provides a new twist to Exotissimo Travel’s programmes (left); a rising interest in Thailand’s sak yant traditions gives Khiri Travel the idea of developing tattoo tours

From bizarre Bangkok to tattoo tours
By Greg Lowe

While key reasons for customising travel range from supporting the bottomline to brand building and developing stronger customer loyalty, the real driving force is greater demand from travellers for newer, more immersive experiences, according to Thailand-based travel specialists.

“Travellers are curious and travel to broaden their mind and learn more about other cultures and natural environments,” said Willem Niemeijer, CEO and co-founder of Khiri Travel. “People have an image of themselves which they try to fulfil when they travel. Each person has unique aspirations when he packs his passport and hits the road. Customisation is therefore key.”

Michael Lynden-Bell, general manager Thailand, Exotissimo Travel, said customisation was also a key dynamic for growing business. He said: “We want to be leaders in the field. Whether or not we sell more Bizarre Bangkok tours (which visits the capital’s more offbeat sites mentioned in Jim Algie’s book Bizarre Thailand) is another question, but the overall innovations are good for our brand.”

Specialists agree that developing tailor-made products is both time- and labour-intensive, and that financial benefits can take time to trickle through, but the long-term gain is developing a niche which enables a business to move up the value chain and charge a higher premium for its services.

“Product creation draws on a huge range of influences and ideas,” said Lynden-Bell. “It really comes down to how much time you’ve got to get out and develop ideas. You can list 100 great ideas on paper, but then you have to prioritise them, work through them and make them executable.”

While ideas can come from agencies and customers, it is important for a tour operator to continually generate new ideas for clients so they stay on the front foot and earn their reputation as specialists, he added.

Tim Russell, director of sales and marketing – Asia-Pacific, Remote Lands (Thailand), a luxury specialist, said: “It does pay off. Obviously it is a lot more work than simply selling a package tour, but then you can charge a higher price if you are spending a lot of time putting a tour together for someone.

“Most experienced travellers understand that and see value in using a one-stop shop,” he said, adding this was also true outside of the luxury segment.

“Most people coming to Asia now (including more budget-conscious travellers) realise it’s often just as cheap to have a bespoke tour as it is to join a package tour, especially if you go direct to an agency who is based in Asia.”

Niemeijer said in the long-term, although customisation was something smaller, more dynamic companies could use it to outpace larger travel firms and differentiate themselves in the market.

“Specialisation is becoming a liability for the large players,” he said. “For them travel needs to be executed as a scalable business: costs reduced, margins lowered and volume increased.

“In the wake of mergers and buyouts of established specialists in the travel industry, there is a huge opportunity for new and small players to take their specialisation to even smaller niches.”

Traditional rituals offer great customisation opportunities (left); Sailing Singapore waters shows a lesser-known part of the city

Your Singapore, my expert tips
By Lee Pei Qi

Small, organised with well-connected transport options, Singapore’s compactness has always been one of its strongest suits that enables tourists to plan and organise their own trips.

Despite the ease of travel in the country and Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) drive to encourage DIY tourism – the NTO rolled out the YourSingapore branding in 2010, alongside an online interactive platform for travellers to conceptualise and plan their individual Singapore itinerary – a number of inbound agencies revealed that travellers would still approach them for their expert knowledge.

East West Planners’ managing director, Janet Tan-Collis, said: “Travel consultants are still highly invaluable because we are still the experts on Singapore and know all the ‘weird’ things that the Internet may not (dish out).

“For example, with regards to history and culture, we may be able to introduce (travellers) to hidden gems in the country like our traditional lion dance ceremony which can be very appealing, especially to the Western visitors,” she said.

Javiny Lim, managing director and co-founder of Quotient TravelPlanner, agreed that travel experts still played a vital role. She said: “Where we can continue to provide value is in linking up travellers with expert individuals on their preferred subjects.”

According to Lim, Quotient TravelPlanner would tailor programmes according to clients’ profile and requests, while the “deeper and more meaningful” aspects usually made an itinerary stand out.

For example, instead of just recommending shopping centres for those who wanted to shop, Lim would go a step further to arrange a personal shopper to accompany them – be it for jewellery, antiques, art or fashion.

And for culture buffs, she said: “We are able to arrange private visits to learn or experience fortune telling, traditional rituals and ethnic culinary cuisines.”

To encourage Singapore travel agencies to roll out more customised tours and to motivate the industry to create innovative products in pursuit of quality tourism, STB has launched a Kickstart Fund to support experimental lifestyle concepts with tourism potential, which could range from art tours to live events. Running until March 2016, grants of up to 50 per cent of qualifying costs per project are available, capped at a maximum of S$75,000 (US$59,100).

Customisation is key to attracting well-heeled travellers. Above, luxury travel experts (from left) Tan-Collis, Logas, Mayle and Swain

By Raini Hamdi

In the luxury travel sector, where customisation is a given, closer partnership between suppliers and buyers has become more critical today to satisfy the sophisticated well-heeled clientele, observed players in the segment.

It is increasingly difficult to create unique experiences and maintain distinction in the market, despite there being no shortage of products and destinations that target luxury travellers, according to Simon Mayle, head of marketing, International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM).

This is because elite travellers know what they want and, not only do they expect to get it, they demand more of their planners and of the experience, while the lead time to produce the ‘wow’ effect is becoming shorter, according to luxury travel buyers, including  Janet Tan-Collis, managing director of East West Planners in Singapore, and Ian Swain, founder of Swain Tours, US.

Suppliers and buyers therefore must work closer together to meet the demand for tailored, seamless service.

Said Helen Logas, CEO, Luxperience: “The main challenge is for planners to intimately know the products – the villas, lodges, balloon trips, the places and people they are promoting. A river view maybe unexceptional by day, but at sunset the whole setting may be transformed.

“Planners must have a sure-footed feel for what’s doable, and the degree of flexibility of the villa managers, chefs and guides whom the high-end clients will engage with along the way. It comes down to product knowledge and first-hand experience.”

Swain agreed: “Knowing the real luxury products, the right rooms, the right time to stay and experience. Planners need knowledge.

“There are some unique products, but it is really the unique experience that is needed. Having a great hotel in an average location is just so-so. Making it special, worthwhile to travel to get to, memorable and educational – that is what is needed (to customise travel successfully).”

Both Mayle and Logas said the thirst for deeper product knowledge and closer relationship between suppliers and buyers was a reason why luxury travel trade shows were thriving.

“As anyone who has ever attended an ILTM will tell you, nothing is more powerful in building these relationships than the valuable networking opportunity of meeting and networking with your peers:  ILTM offers face-to-face solutions and inspiration to conquer markets,” said Mayle.

ILTM has launched two additional events this year – ILTM Japan and ILTM Africa – joining the umbrella show ILTM in Cannes (now in its 12th year), ILTM Asia (launched in 2007), ILTM Americas and ILTM Spa (both launched last year).

Mayle said there was no overlap. “Seventy-four per cent of buyers and planners attending ILTM Americas 2012 had never been to an ILTM before and 90 per cent of those would not go to another ILTM event that year. In addition, 37 per cent of those attending ILTM Africa had never attended an ILTM event before,” he said.

Luxperience, taking place in September in Sydney, aims to double its size this year to 200 exhibitors and 500 buyers. There will be three buyer types – luxury travel specialist agencies, private travel designers, concierge services, private travel clubs and high-end wholesale specialists from worldwide; Australian-based luxury and high-end experiential travel specialists; and Australian corporate travel planners, performance and reward managers.

“Travel designers are able to create bespoke itineraries for their high net worth clients if they are aware of what is available in all destinations. Luxperience helps them to experience, understand and sell new, high-end products,” said Logas.

Added Mayle: “We are continually amazed by the list of those participating in all ILTM events – who knew that a back of house service for children to explore the George V in Paris would see such demand from wealthy families from across the world? Or that environmentally-committed destinations and resorts such as Peru’s carbon-neutral Inkaterra or the Galapagos Islands’ Pikaia Lodge, would create such worldwide interest?”

Customisation tips/ideas

“The future opportunity lies in arranging a meeting of minds as much as a meeting of traveller with place. There are real opportunities to get closer to communities and community leaders, guides, teachers and innovators – the unheralded ‘local heroes’. If you are a self-made successful business person on a luxury trip, wouldn’t it inspire you to meet a community business pioneer who was creating opportunities out in the bush in Western Australia or in the mountains of Indochina?

Innovative combinations are also on a rise. For example, visit Melbourne for the Grand Prix, then fly to Tasmania and stay in a luxury lodge that specialises in fishing, fine wines and cuisine.”  – Helen Logas, CEO, Luxperience

A expert-led calligraphy workshop immerses travellers in Singapore’s cultural heritage

“What seems to be rising in popularity in the Asia-Pacific region are yacht experiences with the ability to entertain a private party. After the party, the experience continues by sailing away with selected guests for a cruise. For example, an engagement/wedding party or a private C-level dinner that progresses into a board meeting over the horizon.

One of the most important and critical factors to successful customisation is to provide any discerning visitor with a well-informed guide and/or driver who has the attitude and aptitude to be able to provide on-the-spot solutions for whatever that pops up. Nothing beats providing clients a good time, even if it is by satisfying a simple need such as taking them to a great place for local food.” – Janet Tan-Collis, managing director, East West Planners, Singapore

Additional reporting from Raini Hamdi and Lee Pei Qi

Kai Speth, general manager, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, opines that while Vietnam’s tourism development has come a long way, its nightlife scene still has some catching up to do

Remember Robin Williams, and that fantastic movie he starred in, Good Morning, Vietnam? What a tour de force of improvisational comedy. And what a great headline. I remember, as a much younger man in the early 1990s, that the media put the title of that movie to great effect as Vietnam opened up to international travellers.

Back then, it was apropos. Today, not so much, unless, of course, you’re writing headlines about Dunkin’ Donuts coming into Vietnam. (In that case, it’s irresistible!) In recent years, we’ve witnessed an incredible maturation of the country’s hospitality scene. Some of the best resorts in the world are perched upon Vietnamese shores. You can shop here for Louis Vuitton. The country’s flagship airline flies a modern fleet; gone are the days when Tupolevs and Yaks limped between cities. As for hotels, well, you can stay in hotels from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and enjoy as fine an experience as you would anywhere else in the world.

Indeed, Condé Nast Traveller in February hailed the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi as one of the top 25 hotels in the world in the new Gold Standard Hotels 2013 list.

We’ve come a long way, and I’m always tempted – whenever I see that Good Morning, Vietnam headline – to note that it’s no longer morning here. But sadly, I can’t quite muster the protest. Because in many ways, it’s still morning when it comes to the evening in Hanoi.

“Where we, as a destination, are falling down on the job is with regard to the sophistication of our night-time opportunities.”

Where we, as a destination, are falling down on the job is with regard to the sophistication of our night-time opportunities. Go to Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore, and there are scads of opportunities to buy into a high-end evening experience. There are scads of opportunities to spend money here at the budget-end and for a middle-income experience, but I’m talking about what we need at the high-end, because a destination like Vietnam wants a healthy mix of travellers across all demographics. And we won’t get them unless we start providing nightlife experiences that travel (experts) and tourists talk about.

Sure, they can come to Angelina and Le Beaulieu and enjoy a superior dining experience. (Pardon me while I toot our own horn again: Le Beaulieu was recently hailed as one of the 101 Best Hotel Restaurants in the World by US-based food website The Daily Mail.)

But hotel guests need options beyond the doors of their accommodation, and our concierge is hard-pressed to make any meaningful recommendations. Some guests want karaoke, discos and bars that do regular promotions for this or that brand. But if you’re 50 years old, 60 or 70, you’re looking for something else.

That’s part of the work we have to do to enhance the desirability of the destination for those who would fly first class or on private jets. In The Sheltering Sky, Bernardo Bertolucci’s film about a couple who travel to Northern Africa in an attempt to get something going again in their marriage, the character played by John Malkovich makes that great line about the differences between travellers and tourists: Travellers may never go home; and tourists always go home.

Hanoi’s got plenty of travellers. What we need are more tourists.

By Kai Speth, general manager, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi