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Thursday, 25 October, 2018, 15 : 08 PM [IST]
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Calculating cost vs. RoI is a Challenge
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A word that comes to mind is
“change’. I’m sure in all the years
that TravelBiz Monitor has been
rocking the trade media scene, it
has seen many changes, as have we all. And
change, as they say, is the only constant.
To start with, travel for Indians is now no
longer an option. It’s a necessity. No more of
that “one main holiday a year” trend. Now
everyone seems to be taking several shorter
ones, even weekend breaks overseas. And by
everyone, I mean even folks in smaller cities
and towns. So this tells me that as an NTO, I
need to either increase my marketing budget
(good luck with that) or re-allocate budget to
engage beyond the main metros. It used to be
once that tourism boards used to gush about
Delhi and Mumbai being their holy grails.
That horse has bolted because the so-called
20-80 rule no longer applies.
Curiosity may have killed the cat but its
having the opposite effect on the Indian
traveller. Satellite TV, movies and the internet
are creating curiosity and aspiration, resulting
in a rocket of travel fuelled by rising incomes.
Now it’s not just about “want to see” but also
“want to experience” (“I’ve stood on the spot
where Jon Snow fought the White Walkers.
What a rush!”). Business travellers and
VFR visitors are also extending their trips to
become leisure converts and experience more
of wherever they are.
Customer expectations and mindsets are
changing too. This is good or bad news for
the travel trade, depending on what one’s
viewpoint is because it involves keeping up
with customers, and today that invariably
involves technology. And technology costs.
Keeping up with technology is inescapable.
The big challenge is calculating cost v RoI.
But whatever the result of that calculation,
upgrading technology is unavoidable. Geek it
up or perish because customers are constantly
- and rapidly - taking to new tech themselves.
And hey, small travel agent - it just got worse.
Because now it’s not just your competitor
next door that’s luring your previously loyal
customer, it’s now also people who really
had no business encroaching on your space
– an online superstore, a big search engine
(yes, those two) and big Chinese companies
with fairytale names – all with unimaginably
deep pockets to make massive investments
in technology and innovation that make
them slicker, faster and – oh no! - cheaper.
So what’s the solution? Hard to say. Maybe to
break it down into small steps, one project or
innovation at a time rather than going for one
massive investment. Easier said than done,
I’m sure. Nevertheless, this is one steamroller
that’s not going away.
The good news is that in India, what’s still
relatively unchanged is the importance of the
travel trade. Indians still rely on agents and tour
operators to organise their travel, especially
in segments like packaged travel, group tours
and MICE. A travel website won’t negotiate
price, offer credit, let you pay cash, present a
backside to kick when something goes wrong
or take your call from Antarctica at 3 am when
you find your igloo can’t find your booking.
Also, we Indians look for reassurance, and
that too from a real person. On a website with
a hundred reviews for something, you can be
pretty sure there’ll be some saying it’s the best
thing since sliced bread and others telling
you it’s worse than badly cooked bitter gourd.
What do you do? You ask your travel agent.
And if they tell you not to stay in that igloo
you’ll listen to them.
Now, that word “geopolitical”. I’m not great
with political. So I’ll just write the stuff you’ve
all heard a million times before and pretend
its original. Various governments have given
the travel industry a bit of a push up the hill,
but I feel there’s still a lot of hills left to climb.
Just off the top of my head - improving airport
infrastructure, rationalising taxes on things
like air tickets and jet fuel and many more
bilateral visa agreements (we’ve all seen how
even small changes in visa regimes result
in exponential changes in visitor numbers,
irrespective of destination). And the other 250
things that any trade association can list out
much better than I can?
If you’re still reading this, thank you for
your time. And thank you TravelBiz Monitor
for yours, which I believe is 11 years. You are
truly a bellwether of travel media in India, and
that’s another thing that won’t change.
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