{"id":56735,"date":"2014-05-03T12:30:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-03T10:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=56735"},"modified":"2014-05-04T15:43:54","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T13:43:54","slug":"world-travel-market-africa-huge-vote-of-confidence-in-cape-towns-tourism-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/world-travel-market-africa-huge-vote-of-confidence-in-cape-towns-tourism-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"World Travel Market Africa 2014: Day 1 huge vote of confidence in Cape Town’s tourism industry!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WTM<\/a>I returned to my guest house all charged up after a full day spent at the Cape Town International Convention Centre yesterday, to attend World Travel Market (WTM) Africa, the first time ever that a travel and tourism exhibition of such a stature has been held in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

World Travel Market has been held in London for years, and is the second largest travel and tourism exhibition in the world, after ITB in Berlin, and larger than Indaba, which is held in Durban. \u00a0At the press conference yesterday afternoon it was said that Reed Exhibitions must have had tremendous confidence in Africa generally and in Cape Town specifically, \u00a0to have brought the exhibition to our city, partnering with Thebe in hosting it. \u00a0One was surprised at the many stands that had been sold, not only to Cape Town and Western Cape tourism players, but also to national brands (including Durban Tourism, which was interesting, especially as it was not manned on Saturday!) as well as a host of international brands such as Lufthansa, Singapore, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH, Dubai, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Turkey, Reunion Island, Seychelles, Zambia\"WTM<\/a> Tourism Board, Namibia \"WTM<\/a>Tourism Board and Airports Company, Mozambique, and many more brands, there being about 150 stands in total. \u00a0Even the Whale Crier from Hermanus paid a visit!<\/p>\n

The communication with WTM Africa had been efficient, attendees being invited to register in advance, so that one could attend for free, which must have led to the good attendance yesterday. \u00a0While the service at the registration desk could have been friendlier, it was efficient in general. \u00a0Other than visiting many of the exhibitors, and bumping into numerous tourism players on the floor, an important benefit was the interesting programme \u00a0of talks over the two days of the exhibition. \u00a0 By the time I could get to the exhibition, at about 11h15, the talk on Mobile Apps was fully ‘occupied<\/em>‘ with 100 attendees, \u00a0as one of the WTM Africa staff said, which meant that we were not let inside initially, for ‘health and safety reasons<\/em>‘! \u00a0After calling for a senior manager, we were allowed to sit on the floor just to get to hear the talk. \u00a0Subsequent talks had enough seating (on chairs) for all those that wanted to listen, also at no charge.<\/p>\n

The event programme included a talk by Dr Rod Ross, who spoke about the ‘A – Z of Global Business Trends<\/em>‘. \"WTM<\/a>Dr Ross runs a travel and tourism consultancy called TravelLinck, which offers a number of services which he highlighted as trending. \u00a0For example Ancillary fees are the trend of charging for services the customer would like to use, as do Low Cost airlines. \u00a0This trend could spread to accommodation establishments. Carbon Emissions are a talking point when one travels, but air travel only makes up 2% of these. \u00a0The South African contribution to carbon emissions is minimal, compared to the USA and Asia. \u00a0Food costs could be higher than those of car rental, but corporate accountants focus more on the latter and almost never on food. \u00a0Apps like Open Table, Munch, and Foodspotting allow the convenience of reservations by mobile, as well as cost control. Generation Y travelers are immersed in their phones and spend more on their phones than on clothes. This is how they communicate, compared to older travelers who talk to each other. \u00a0Social sharing needs policies \u00a0in the workplace, Dr Ross said, but change is so fast that the policies do not keep up. \u00a0 India, Brazil, and China are experiencing economic growth rates that are twice as fast as other countries, making them future travel growth markets. \u00a0Loyalty programs and benefit bundles lead corporates to sign joint agreements to benefit their traveling staff. Low Cost Carriers will grow, although South Africa has been missing the competitive price pressure of such airlines, with only two operating currently. On-Demand mobile apps are growing, and Uber was mentioned as a less expensive taxi service, introduced in a number of cities in the world (already banned in Belgium, and about to be in Germany as they are not licensed taxi drivers, we heard on German ZDF<\/strong> TV last night). \u00a0 Travel policies of corporates drive down costs as travel increases. \u00a0 QR codes provide instant links to websites, and we were shown a photograph of one on a pavement, near a hotel! \u00a0Ultra high-speed travel will \"WTM<\/a>come, South African Elon Musk working on a 1000 km per hour Hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco, reducing the journey to 35 minutes. \u00a0Wearable technology such as Google Glass and watches will develop. \u00a0In answering a question from the floor, Dr Ross said that Africa excels at mobile payments, handling the highest volumes in the world. He would like to see more of the Food apps developed, and better MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) cost control.<\/p>\n

Nick Hall from Digital Tourism Think Tank said that mobile technology will impact on all aspects of travel. For example, automated Check-Ins will allow guests to open their room doors, order from room service, and receive concierge services via their mobile phones. \u00a0 He emphasised that mobile websites are different to desktop sites that are sized down for mobile phones, and contain only the information which the travel needs whilst traveling. He spoke about a bar ordering app, which allows one to place the order, and then to receive a message when the drink is ready, to avoid crowding at the bar counter. \u00a0Similarly Disney has an app that allows one to queue without standing in a line. \u00a0One receives a message when it is one’s turn to go on the ride. The HotelTonight app sells last minutes same-day rooms. \u00a0The ViaTor app has easy bookability, good images, and simplicity in navigation. \u00a0Augmented visitor experiences allow visitors to ‘bring things to life’<\/em> on the phone, e.g. in a museum, or Europe’s highest building The Shard in London, and at Holiday Inns during the recent Olympics.<\/p>\n

Rory Kenny from TripAdvisor spoke about its mobile app, and how they had set up City Guides for mobile separately initially, but now they have been merged with TripAdvisor data. \u00a0He said that the company has been hotel-focused in the past, but now they are growing their Restaurant and Attraction reviews, and are a new priority, he said. \u00a0He described their desktop site for being of use to \u00a0‘planophobics’,\u00a0<\/em>who book everything in advance, while the mobile app caters for those travelers who haven’t booked, and then use their mobile apps to find out information about their destination and make \u00a0bookings on arrival. \u00a0The Restaurant focus is particularly important for their Asian market, which demands perfect quality and large photographs. TripAdvisor’s mobile app allows a free listing of restaurants, as well as same-day specials. \u00a0Facebook strongly drives the downloading of apps, Kenny said. \u00a0He also announced that they have just facilitated an Instant Booking service on mobile. They are working on Personalisation, allowing one to see the reviews by one’s Facebook friends, giving their reviews greater credibility.<\/p>\n

This morning an e-mail arrived from Reed Exhibitions, summarising the events for today, and highlighting those of yesterday, being an excellent communication service. \u00a0All tourism and travel players are urged to pay a visit to World Travel Market Africa \u00a0at the Convention Centre today. \u00a0 Reed Exhibitions announced at their media conference yesterday that World Travel Market Africa 2015 will be held over three days, from 15 – 17 April 2015. \u00a0The company has signed a three year contract with the City of Cape Town, which means that World Travel Market Africa 2016 will take place in Cape Town too. \u00a0Reed Exhibitions runs similar travel and tourism exhibitions for Latin America (in S\u00e3o Paulo last month) and later this month in Dubai for the Arabian market.<\/p>\n

World Travel Market Africa<\/strong>. \u00a0Cape Town International Convention Centre. \u00a0 2-3 May 2014. www.wtmafrica.com<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0Twitter: @WTMAfrica<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio \u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong> <\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I returned to my guest house all charged up after a full day spent at the Cape Town International Convention Centre yesterday, to attend World Travel Market (WTM) Africa, the first time ever that a travel and tourism exhibition of such a stature has been held in Cape Town. World Travel Market has been held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,1253,1918,20,1590,22,21],"tags":[25085,15097,854,2145,32366,25081,3099,25095,2152,32378,25100,257,25094,82,25083,506,13756,25091,25088,11596,20197,6052,25097,25092,4031,8613,25101,1075,18683,669,1639,23139,25089,16211,14057,205,20733,1028,25087,3923,25093,905,25086,19054,25082,13,19799,25099,543,3922,8641,25098,25084,1086,32410,25096,32387,32373,22583,25080,21368,748],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t