Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition Ebrahim Patel announced the business categories which are allowed to reopen their businesses from 1 May this morning. The most exciting announcement, contrary to the timing projections circulating prior to today, is the permission to allow food delivery from restaurants. Buying local was encouraged by Minister Patel. A curfew will be introduced, from 20h00 to 5h00 daily.
The latest Euromonitor International report on the global tourism industry predicts that international arrivals will ‘slow down 5,8%’, according to Cape Town Tourism, yet will see arrivals exceed 1 billion persons by 2012. The forecast is that this figure will increase to 1,8 billion by 2030.
The report is based on a prediction of a ‘double dip recession’, in Europe in particular. GDP is expected to grow by 4% globally this year, down by 1,1 percentage points from 2010, caused by higher fuel prices and taxes, and political and social unrest. ‘Across all markets, online marketing is considered to be the most significant growth area in the long term, with applications on social media and mobile devices very lucrative in the medium-term’, writes Cape Town Tourism.
The report also contains a number of global travel trends, highlighting how different countries and regions are adapting to the international downturn:
* Mystery trips: In America the need for affordable yet exciting travel has led to the development of mystery trips, whereby tourists bid on packages with an unknown destination. A Smartphone reveals a daily itinerary, based on a pre-determined budget. Prices are 50 % lower, as the travel products offered are excess stock, heavily discounted.
* Rent a garden: In the UK the outlook for travel ‘remains bleak with a stagnant economy’, as we reported yesterday. This market is seeking greater value, and alternate affordable accommodation, including campsites and hostels. Campsinmygarden.com lists sites renting out their gardens for camping. Overcharging by London hotels for the 2012 Olympic Games is noticeable, and travellers are avoiding these. UK hotel growth fell by 5% last year, is expected to remain stable this year, and grow by 2 % next year, showing the small effect that the Olympics is likely to have on the UK hotel accommodation industry, an experience similar to that during the World Cup in South Africa.
* Luxury without guilt: European travellers are focusing on ‘responsible and sustainable travel’, and travelers are expecting own produce to be grown by hotels and involvement in community produce growing initiatives. Europe’s collective GDP is estimated to fall slightly from 1,8% in 2010 to 1,4% in 2012.
* Branding and Rebranding: Given the political turmoil, the Middle East is looking to rebranding, to change perceptions about the region, which has seen a 6% drop in arrivals this year, compared to 12 % growth last year.
* Mobile commerce: Kenya is focusing on booking travel via mobile phones, its M-PESA system enabling Kenyans without bank accounts to pay for travel and other purchases via their phones. GDP growth in Africa is estimated at 5% for this year.
* Growing influence of Asia: China will become increasingly dominant as a source market, with a 20 % growth in travel anticipated in the next five years. International hotel brands are partnering with Chinese companies, and customising their brands to suit the market, both in China, and also in other regions, to make them attractive to Chinese travellers. Inter-Asia travel is growing too.
* ‘Gamification’: Started in the USA, consumers are encouraged to enter competitions, sharing their travel experiences, photographs and videos, in exchange for points, badges and gifts. The ‘Ireland Town’ game on Facebook, by Tourism Ireland, is expected to attract 60 million potential travellers.
* Global village: Increasingly hotels are using Social Media to gain followers and friends, to create awareness, build loyalty, and generate bookings.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Social Media marketing is one of the most important means of communication with potential tourists, in planning their trips, and these media are also used by them to share their holiday information experiences during and after their holidays. This is one of the trends that Cape Town Tourism reported on its return from the “Future Day” Convention held in Berlin last week, running in conjunction with ITB (Internationale Tourismusbörse), the world’s largest travel trade fair.
The internet in general is the most important source of travel information, with 95 % of travellers searching for information on-line, and more than half booking on-line, up by 10 percentage points from 45 % in just two years. In the USA just more than half of travellers use social media to research travel destinations and to make online bookings. Travel tips from friends, interactive bookings and mobile travel guides are some of the social media travel applications that influence travel by travellers.
Mobile phones play a vital part in this travel communication, because they are easily portable and accessible, unlike laptops, which are dependent on wifi access. While on holiday or on a business trip, travellers can use their iPhones, Blackberries and other phones to find and share information about the destination. With large increases in tourists coming from Asian countries, and China in particular (46 million travellers in 2010, and 155 million mobile Internet subscribers), and another 127 million in India, it is vital that tourism destinations such as Cape Town reach tourists via mobile phones, and smart phones in particular. The World Travel Monitor has found that 40 % of international travellers travel with a smart phone with internet, e-mail and other functions, with the balance holding a conventional mobile phone. Of the smart phone users, 40 % use them to obtain destination information, and 26 % of leisure travellers and 34% of business travellers use them to change bookings while travelling. Just more than a third of international travellers use their smart phones to access mobile social networks. This leads to tourists posting content to their Facebook pages or Blogs, or photographs on Twitter or Flickr, whilst they are still at the destination. In future it is likely to see that photographs and information posted will have GPS information, with screens providing travel information.
The travel and tourism trends which Cape Town Tourism brought back from ITB are the following:
* Globalisation, demographic change and climate change are the three most important trends affecting tourism. Climate change has created a moral debate amongst travellers about the effect of a long haul flight to a city like Cape Town on the carbon footprint, a potential threat to tourism to our country, if the local tourism industry cannot find ways to communicate to these travellers how they can offset their long-haul travel whilst in the country. The Convention predicted that “individual carbon budgets could be in the pipeline”.
* The largest tourism growth has come from Asia and South America. This year international travel is expected to grow by 3 – 4 %. Cape Town Tourism is confident about the benefit of the massive Asian travel market, and our suitable weather in the low season to accommodate these travellers.
* Tourism marketing is no longer about the destination, but about the customer. The traveller can be segmented as follows:
* the “too busy to care” traveller, who can not be bothered to give destination or product feedback
* Travellers leading complex lives and whose finances are under pressure, working harder and their leisure time reducing.
* Travellers looking for simplicity and a return to basics. Their mantra is : “Slow living, slow food and slow travel”
* Wealthy travellers are harder to please, and set higher demands from the destinations they visit.
* Sustainability is now vital, and no longer a ‘nice to have’. All elements in the tourism cycle need to be environmentally sustainable.
* Despite an improvement in the economic well-being of the world since the recession struck three years ago, tourists are still being careful with their money. Tourism spend is expected to increase by 7 % this year.
* The tourism businesses that can understand what makes their “customers tick” will be the ones that will “lead the way to prosperity”.
* Neuromarketing is the new ‘science’ of communication, and is a recognition that up to 95 % of all decisions are made subconsciously. Marketing communication is moving toward imagery and language that can influence the subconscious decision-making of travellers. Four types of customers are identified:
* The Economical Customer relates to data, facts and efficiency
* The Relationship Customer relates to harmony, partnership, trust and a personal approach
* The Trendsetter Customer relates to opportunities, gut feeling and creativity
* The Exclusive Customer relates to aesthetics, quality and vision.
* Finally, the ability to communicate in an instant is the “most interesting innovation in tourism marketing”, writes Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold. Social Media is the communication tool which allows information to be personalised to travellers, and shared with them instantly.
To market a city brand such a Cape Town effectively, it must be authentic, it must appeal to locals first, it must have emotional pull, and must have real stories to tell, said Mrs Helmbold. She also said that travellers spend the most time of their holiday experience in the “planning and memory phase of their holidays and sharing their experiences now takes place on Facebook and Twitter”, the holiday album becoming something of the past.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage