As travel demand starts to pick up, and hotels and resorts worldwide begin to reopen, Accor is preparing to launch a global campaign, Reignite the Love of Travel, in key markets worldwide this summer.
Introduced by its lifestyle loyalty programme, ALL – Accor Live Limitless, the campaign kicks off with a short film designed to reassure travellers, while creating desire to travel.
Accor’s Reignite the Love of Travel campaign will launch in key markets worldwide this summer
The initiative will launch with a social media campaign, inviting travellers to share their travel dreams and inspiration, which will be combined to create a montage-style travel film.
Steven Taylor, CMO, Accor said: “During the lockdown periods everywhere, we have been surprised to see so many people on social media sharing their cravings for travel with such uplifting humour and creativity. It was heart-warming for us to see that they were missing us as much as we were missing them.
“The message of our campaign then came naturally as we invested to prepare for the immediate holiday season as well as for longer-term bookings. Seeing the quick business recovery in China, we wanted to do our part to reassure our guests and to reignite the travel desire.”
Before unforeseen circumstances altered life as we knew it, travel in Asia-Pacific was booming. Valued at US$446 billion in 2019, Asia-Pacific’s travel market led North America and Europe and was projected to grow further in 2020. But the coronavirus pandemic changed all that – halting non-essential travel around the world.
This grinding halt touched every element of the market. In the airline industry alone, the fall in passenger numbers has resulted in global revenue loss in excess of US$63 billion. However, with travel restarting in regions like China, consumer confidence isbeginning to grow.
Covid-19 has changed the way people in Asia-Pacific travel, with a greater focus on safety and cleanliness, and demand for more booking flexibility
To better understand consumer sentiment around travel during the Covid-19 crisis, we’ve been conducting travel intent surveys across the world. While the majority of Asia-Pacific respondents said they don’t expect to travel in the next nine months, we identified pockets of shifting sentiment where respondents showed a higher willingness to travel sooner.
Paired with insightful data from a recent Global Web Index (GWI) study, our findings highlight emerging trends that travel companies should consider as we all navigate the road ahead.
Consumer sentiment around travel is shifting
According to our research, some markets in Asia-Pacific are expressing interest in future domestic travel. In Indonesia, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, more than 25 per cent of respondents expressed plans to travel domestically in the next three months, compared with countries like Australia and Japan, where less than 14 per cent of them plan to do so.
Survey question: When are you next planning to travel domestically for a holiday?
This differing sentiment is also reflected in future international travel plans: Respondents in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam have indicated they are 1.5 times more likely than those in Australia, Singapore, and Japan to travel internationally in the next six months.
Travel is a priority for most consumers post-lockdown
According to the GWI study, booking a vacation is the top priority for nearly all surveyed markets with the exception of India, where buying consumer goods such as clothes and personal electronics has greater appeal. This sentiment is reflected around the world, with 45 per cent of people who delayed a vacation due to Covid-19 planning to prioritise booking a vacation or trip after the pandemic ends.
Search data indicates some early signs of recovery as well. In some Asia-Pacific markets, we’ve seen a gradual rise in searches around holiday planning. In Taiwan, searches for “hotels” are gaining momentum, while searches for “resorts” or “all-inclusive travel deals” are starting to pick up in Vietnam and the Philippines.
Consumer research has also highlighted some interesting age patterns: The older the consumer, the more likely they are to prioritise booking a vacation. While 29 per cent of baby boomers prioritise booking a vacation, Gen Zers are more inclined to focus on clothing (25 per cent) and smartphones (20 per cent).
People in Asia-Pacific expect to change the way they travel
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the way people will approach travel-related decision-making: a whopping 87 per cent of Asia-Pacific consumers expect to make changes to the way they travel, compared with 67 per cent and 70 per cent in North America and Europe, respectively.
With consumer behaviours and expectations changing rapidly, travel companies need to adjust their strategies to meet consumers’ needs in meaningful ways. In addition to revealing how people currently feel about travelling, our research also uncovered three key ways for travel companies to approach their marketing efforts based on consumer insights.
1. Prioritise safety and cleanliness
Safety is top of mind for consumers around the world, especially as they get older: 65 per cent of baby boomers say a personal feeling of safety is by far the top confidence booster for resuming travel. But only 28 per cent of consumers say reopening borders will make them feel confident enough to travel again, so travel companies have to do more to make them feel safe.
Survey question: Which of the following would make you most likely to book a hotel in the next three months?
One important contributor to this feeling of safety is assurance of higher cleaning standards. On average, 25 per cent of all people looking to travel in the next three months mentioned “hospital-grade cleaning” as a key driver for making a hotel booking.
2. Promote discounts and flexibility
When Asia-Pacific consumers begin to consider travelling again, a key motivator for booking will be both the flexibility to make changes to bookings and the promotional discounts available to them. The chart below shows Asia-Pacific consumers listed discounted fares and waived cancellation fees as key factors for booking a flight within the next three months.
Survey question: Which of the following would make you most likely to book a flight in the next three months?
But just because Asia-Pacific consumers want discounts doesn’t necessarily mean they’re looking for cheap places to travel. While 25 per cent of respondents indicated plans to make more use of promotions, only 15 per cent claimed they were looking for cheaper vacations in the future. This indicates people are looking for more premium travel experiences that are still within their budgets.
3. Consider consumers’ short-term preferences
Both research studies indicate that 25–35 per cent of consumers’ first trips will be to nearby destinations such as staycations or places within driving distance. According to the GWI study, 42 per cent of Chinese consumers are planning to take more trips in their local area than they did before the coronavirus pandemic.
Survey question: If you were to travel in the next three months, where would you most likely travel to?
In addition to short-haul domestic travel, outdoor destinations are more appealing to people around the world: More than 50 per cent of all survey respondents said they would travel to a beach or other natural destinations if they were to book travel in the next three months.
Planning a path to recovery
As sentiment around travel begins to change, travel marketers need to stay agile to meet consumers’ needs in meaningful ways. By listening to people and reaching them with relevant information during this difficult time, travel companies can earn their trust and put themselves on the road to recovery. Below are three cost-neutral actions travel marketers can take to set themselves up for success in a post-Covid world:
1. Monitor trends
While complete global recovery is a long way off, travel “bubbles” offer a potential way forward in the meantime. Tools like Google Trends can help marketers navigate these bubbles and track consumer sentiment with real-time search data. For example, there has been a gradual rise of searches for “international flights to India” in Singapore. Marketers can also keep their fingers on the pulse of wider industry trends by attending virtual events like Google’s SME Leadership Academy travel webinars.
2. Rethink your messaging and targeting strategies
As seen in the data above, consumer behaviours and expectations can vary from market to market (and user to user). To succeed, marketers need to highlight what matters most to different people at each stage of recovery and adjust their messaging accordingly. With Director Mix, marketers can create customised videos at scale and swap out different elements to tailor content to specific audiences.
3. Improve your digital hygiene
Use this as an opportunity to restructure your marketing to be best in class. Clean your technical feeds and underlying account and campaign structures. Boost your coverage with auto-bidding and use tools to proactively communicate with travellers. To help our clients and users during the Covid-19 crisis, we are focusing on initiatives like updating ads to show when hotel rates are refundable and indicating whether hotels are temporarily closed on their Google My Business profiles.
Rohan Dhanuka, industry analytical head, travel and finance; and Christopher Siantar, analytical consultant, travel contributed to this piece.
As the aviation sector readies for take-off again, some experts assert that certain measures currently in place will significantly stifle the rate of recovery.
Speaking at a CAPA Centre for Aviation masterclass, Alexandre de Juniac, director general & CEO, IATA, opined that the 14-day quarantine measure for foreign arrivals – currently instituted in as many as 150 countries – poses a “complete destruction of air travel”.
Aviation experts say that Covid-19 quarantine measures will choke air travel demand
He expressed: “With published guidelines for health control and sanitisation for passengers, it is absolutely useless to have any quarantine measures. We are now strongly against them.”
de Juniac’s assertion references ICAO’s recently-released “Takeoff: Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis”, an authoritative and comprehensive framework detailing a series of risk-based measures for air transport operations during the Covid-19 crisis.
Tourism bigwigs have rallied behind the Takeoff guidelines. IATA has joined hands with Airports Council International to develop a manual that can help airports and airlines integrate ICAO’s guidelines into their own operational manuals. As well, IATA will develop a certification to ensure that aviation players are properly implementing the guidelines.
In addition, WTTC is pushing its member states to implement and work with the ICAO guidelines. Gloria Guevara, CEO & president of WTTC, pressed that standardising such procedures is critical in rebuilding tourist confidence.
She said that transparent and consistent protocols across the entire travel journey is key to reviving trust in travel, much more than cheap airfares.
Standardised guidelines for air travel worldwide key to driving sector’s recovery, says WTTC’s Gloria Guevara during a CAPA Centre for Aviation masterclass
“Consumers want to know exactly what experience to expect, and (discrepancies) can create uncertainty. Looking to the past, after 9/11, travel took four-and-a-half years to fully recover because the governments didn’t work in a coordinated approach. (Customs clearance) standards were different around the world. That created uncertainty, which was one of the factors that impacted recovery,” Guevara added.
Standardised protocols could expedite the upswing of international travel, which she predicted could return as early as September 2020.
de Juniac forecasted that while 3Q2020 will see an expansion of domestic travel and restarting of continental markets, 4Q2020 will possibly see the return of intercontinental travel. He anticipated that by year-end, the volume of air traffic will reach 50 to 60 per cent of 2019’s numbers.
Crystal Serenity will sail 32 itineraries in 2023, including the 140-night Wild Kingdoms & Exotic Discoveries World Cruise
Crystal Cruises is now accepting bookings for her 2023 itineraries on board the 980-guest Crystal Serenity.
In 2023, the luxury ship will sail 32 individual itineraries, ranging from seven to 23 nights, covering the South Pacific islands, Africa, Egypt, Americana, New England & Canada, Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
Crystal Serenity will sail 32 itineraries in 2023, including the 140-night Wild Kingdoms & Exotic Discoveries World Cruise
Crystal Serenity’s 2023 voyages is now available for booking, with Crystal’s new Easy Book programme offering reduced deposits and waived admin fees for all new bookings made through June 30, 2020.
Highlights of Crystal Serenity’s 2023 deployment include the 140-night Wild Kingdoms & Exotic Discoveries World Cruise, which visits 73 destinations across 40 countries, departing from Miami, with alternative disembarkation options in Venice and Athens for 128- and 119-night itineraries, respectively.
From June through August, A connoisseur’s collection of the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Western Europe sails to Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal, plus sojourns through the Black Sea, calling in Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey.
Come September through October, the Autumn beauty in New England & Canada sailings journey to the epicentres and bastions of American history like Newport and Bar Harbor, the majestic forests, trails and waterfalls that cloak the coastline, and the contrasting big city life found in Manhattan, Boston and Québec City.
Year-end, from November through December, the Caribbean island escapes sails from one sun-kissed shore to another, stopping over at boutique ports like St. John, St. Barts, Antigua, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten.
Guests seeking extended journeys throughout the year, outside the full World Cruise, can combine multiple voyages for up to 100 days of luxury exploration without repeating a port.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed its seventh voco in Australasia, partnering BEKL to open a new property in South Melbourne come 2023.
Rendering of voco South Melbourne which is slated for a 2023 opening
Situated at the northern end of St Kilda Road, the new-build voco South Melbourne will feature 171 guestrooms, restaurant and bar spaces, four meeting rooms, and a gym.
The hotel will be the brand’s second property in Melbourne, after voco Melbourne Central, which is currently under construction and slated to open later this year.
There was this joke I saw on Facebook a while ago about what pushed a company towards digital transformation. The options were: COE, CTO and Covid-19. Guess which ‘C’ was the catalyst?
Without downplaying the evil of the pandemic, we should also acknowledge how it has forced us into new ways of thinking that we may not have otherwise considered in good times.
In a short few months since the onset of Covid-19, people have acceleratated their technology adoption.
Those who had never worked from home are now remotely performing their tasks as they would in the office.
Those who had shied away from virtual calls are now familiar with Zoom, WebEx, Skype and other platforms used for official communication, and are even participating in virtual game nights with family and friends. Companies that had never seriously considered online meetings are going down that route swiftly and learning ways to make their next session better.
Those who had never participated in online shopping have now discovered a glorious new world of consumerism at their fingertips (save me!).
For Vox Group’s John Boulding, Covid-19 and the growing need for safe distancing have enhanced the appeal of self-guiding products. He has seen an about-turn in marketplace acceptance and his team has smartly sped up innovation to bring two new products to market. You can read about this on TTGAsia.com.
Covid-19 does not only have a hand in digital transformation. Between the human survival instinct of fight or flight, some travel companies have chosen to fight back in innovative ways, pivoting away from travel while retaining the flexibility to bring back its tourism arm or enhance its original forte as soon as the world is ready to wander again.
Trazy – Travel Crazy Korea, MAD Travel Philippines, and Joy Paradise Solution Japan have been exemplary in this regard.
Once tour operators, these companies are now raking in vital income through proxy shopping services offered in popular destinations people cannot visit at the moment, grocery and food delivery services that support local farmers and SMEs, and virtual educational tours that facilitate safe interactions with local communities and social entrepreneurs. Again, you can read about these on our website.
Such pivots require an open mind and courage – something we all need in times of crisis when normal ways of doing things can no longer work.
Here’s another thing we all need now – kindness. Remote working now is nothing like remote working pre-pandemic. Schools and child-minding services may be closed, jobs and income may be at stake, and people are stuck at home all day. Working from home really is taking care of the family first and foremost while trying to work. So if your colleagues or business partners have fallen short of usual standards, patience and kindness can save the day and everyone’s sanity.
What are you bringing from your time at Cathay Pacific to this new executive director role with Hong Kong Tourism Board?
I started in 1986 as a Cathay Pacific management trainee and spent half of my time overseas in postings to Mainland China, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand/Australia. During those times, one of my roles was to promote inbound traffic to Hong Kong which gave me some valuable experience in destination promotion.
After moving back to Hong Kong, the city saw a change of sovereignty in 1997 and fought against SARS in 2003. Throughout those days, I worked closely with Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), serving as a board member for three years.
You stepped into the new role in such challenging times!
When this job was posted last year, I said to myself: ‘You can do that”. Many critics told me that it was the worst time to take on such heavy responsibilities, as a year’s worth of tourist traffic has being cut in half (by the civil unrest).
There were also others who said it was the best time to join as things couldn’t get any worse. Of course, at that time, nobody knew that the world’s tourism would collapse (because of the Covid-19 pandemic).
The gloom was a blow to me at first, but I’ve learnt to treat it as a test presented by Fate. I’m thankfully to be supported by a big team.
What do you hope to do at HKTB?
We need to renew our tourism branding. It’s not because of Covid-19, but because it is time for change since Hong Kong has been so successful in the last 15, 16 years.
It is time to reset, review and reposition ourselves. This includes changing some propositions and visitor experiences. For instance, we have a splendid harbour but our water activities have been weak in attracting tourists. The upcoming water taxi concept can reinvigorate the harbour experience.
Right now we are about to appoint a project manager – an outsourced firm – to manage this massive destination rebranding for us. Some exciting ideas will emerge within the next 12 months.
HKTB has unveiled a recovery plan for Hong Kong tourism. What aspects are you most excited about?
The three-stage tourism recovery plan will focus first on domestic tourism before expanding to create travel bubbles, where limited travel is allowed between specific tourist destinations where the outbreak is under control. Finally, the plan will tackle full resumption at the international level.
The HK$40-million (US$5.2 million) Hello Hong Kong campaign is scheduled to kick off in mid-June. It will encourage locals to explore the city, not just through wining and dining but also to discover the many hidden gems Hong Kong has.
The campaign has three main components.
First, we are giving away tips on in-depth, immersive travel across six themes. Next, we will have a first-ever one-stop online platform spiced up with over 11,000 offers from dining, shopping and entertainment merchants. That is followed by a spend to redeem free local tours exercise.
These are what we can do at this point when the city is ahead of the curve in combatting the virus.
We intend to use this down-time to rekindle our interest in and love for our home city. I hope to set the right ambience and send a positive message to overseas markets that Hong Kong is doing well and life is pretty much back to normal.
Establishing the right ambience is important because if it is not positive, people may hesitate to come
Is Hong Kong ready to form travel bubbles?
There are cities and countries that are considering bilaterally- or multilaterally-accepted travel protocol.
In fact, HKTB and the Hong Kong government are closely monitoring the situation in various tourist source markets. Factors that will be considered include quarantine, travel and immigration measures between Hong Kong and selected markets that are suitable for travel bubbles. So far, possible candidates include Mainland China, Macau, South Korea and Thailand.
But for longhaul markets, it will take a longer time to rebound as the US and Europe are still in different stages of lockdowns and border closures.
Do you think the road to recovery will be hard and long for tourism?
That’s a question on many destination players’ mind. The path to recovery will, undoubtedly, be very long. We are still talking about whether Hong Kong can start easing health and safety restrictions, such as social distancing, by the end of June or early July.
HKTB spoke about a relaunch in October with such big events as the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens and Clockenflap Music and Arts Festival. While I hope such drawcard events can be a reality, we need to think if, as we move closer into June, a full recovery is possible by October.
But as long as the situation permits, we would continue to push for these events to happen. They can also be major attractions for the domestic market to enjoy.
What is HKTB doing in terms of regional marketing?
We launched the #MissYouToo online social campaign to convey hopes of better times ahead. Our initial target is the local community and their social network overseas.
Our plan is to roll out this campaign in global markets in stages, and in consideration of the market’s pandemic control and containment. As soon as people in a specific source market are able to travel again, we will deploy targeted promotions and distribute information and offers under the Hello Hong Kong campaign. The offers will include special tour packages.
Langham Hospitality Group will be opening its third luxury hotel in Australia with the signing of a new property in Gold Coast.
Slated to open in late 2021, The Langham, Gold Coast will feature 169 rooms and suites in a beachfront property in Surfers Paradise. The group will also manage the Jewel Residences by The Langham which will consist of 170 serviced apartments.
The Langham, Gold Coast is slated to open in late 2021
Both the hotel and serviced apartments will be located in the central and tallest of the three towers of the Jewel development.
Catering to corporate and leisure travellers, The Langham, Gold Coast has a range of accommodation, from the deluxe room to the Presidential suite, offering a 180-degree vista of the Pacific Ocean.
Developed by AW Holding Group, the property will feature restaurants, a casual grab-and-go café, a lobby lounge, a pool bar, and a podium sky terrace with bar overlooking the ocean.
Headlining the culinary offerings will be T’ang Court, the signature Cantonese restaurant, which will feature a 90-seat main area, and two private dining rooms. Other F&B venues will include Palm Court, the lobby lounge and bar; an all-day dining restaurant serving international cuisine, a pool bar, and an 80-seat outdoor bar.
On the wellness front, a 500m2 spa will offer seven private treatment rooms, a health and beauty centre, a fitness centre, as well as an indoor free-form and outdoor swimming pools.
For social or corporate events, the hotel will showcase a 700m2 ballroom, a 500m2 multi-function room, and four meeting rooms spanning a combined 450m2.
The Jewel Residences by The Langham offers options for one-, two-, three- and four-bedrooms, each featuring living and dining rooms, a kitchen, and a private balcony. All guests staying at the residences also have full access to the hotel’s facilities.
Travel agencies using Amadeus’ B2B Wallet for virtual payments now benefit from advanced process automation
Amadeus has integrated Troovo’s advanced Robotic Process Automation (RPA) engine into its B2B Wallet, allowing its travel agent users to benefit from faster automated payments.
The introduction of RPA means key data relating to each payment and booking can be moved between the booking system and the airline passenger service system (PSS) or the hotel property management system (PMS) automatically by a software robot.
Travel agencies using Amadeus’ B2B Wallet for virtual payments now benefit from advanced process automation
Software robots are a light-weight tool that can quickly be configured to complete basic business processes, such as entering a 16-digit virtual card number, or travel booking details, from a travel agency system into an airline or hotel system to complete a payment.
This automation avoids error-prone human processes or traditional systems integration work, which can take longer. The data transferred includes virtual card information that is written back to the booking system as well as transaction data provided to the travel supplier and the card-issuing bank.
Combined with Amadeus’ B2B Wallet solution, it enables travel agencies to pay suppliers using the right virtual card for that specific booking scenario – be it pre-paid, credit or debit – in the most efficient way.
Troovo can be deployed easily within the travel provider’s payment processing workflow to provide a completely virtual solution for generating and processing payments.
Amadeus B2B Wallet customers can now enjoy the significant commercial, risk management and data visibility benefits of B2B Wallet, alongside the operational cost savings and simple integration capabilities of Troovo Payments.
Damian Alonso, head of payer services, payments, Amadeus, said: “Even though our industry is in challenging and uncertain times, payment innovation has remained resilient given the typically low implementation burden and incremental contribution towards both cost reduction and revenue collection. As we navigate the pandemic and begin to reimagine how travel agencies pay providers, it’s important we strive for the most automated and efficient approach possible.”
Troovo’s co-founder and CEO Kurt Knackstedt added that virtual payments “eliminate inefficiencies while providing a whole new level of security, data richness and ease of use, thanks to RPA”.
Advisory and analytics firm VIDEC has launched the Safe Travel Barometer, an interactive dashboard that charts the Covid-19 health and safety initiatives of over 100 travel companies worldwide as part of efforts to restore consumer confidence.
The free-to-use dashboard includes the latest updates of various safety measures for travellers rolled out by the companies, with more than 100 entries across airlines, hotels, cruises, airports, and amusement parks.
Travellers can now track health and safety measures rolled out by destinations with VIDEC’s safe travel barometer
Virendra Jain, co-founder and CEO, VIDEC, said: “Covid-19 has changed how we travel. Traveller health and safety measures are at the heart of our new normal, but it is also a complex maze.
“The Safe Travel Barometer is an independent dashboard of the initiatives announced and enacted by various companies and destinations, applicable to both travellers and the industry.
“It is heartening to see the industry implement traveller safety measures, even as they may vary widely by categories, and often within the same market! Having an overarching view of the implemented measures is essential for our industry to revive traveller confidence and regain trust.”
Travel companies are invited to submit their own related entries via Microsoft Forms to be included in the Safe Travel Barometer.
