Flexibility and deals to attract travellers

Declaring that the travel and hospitality industry was still on a rollercoaster ride as countries now battle the spread of the Delta variant of the COVID- 19 virus, some industry experts are urging tourism operators to offer flexible booking policies and more enticing offers to woo travellers.

Emma Weber, Senior Sales Manager of Travelzoo, a global publisher and influencer of travel content and deals, said while people were already travelling, having flexible bookings made for even more people to feel comfortable to take a trip.

“The good news is that our members globally are either already travelling or they are ready to travel with little or no reservation,” she said.

“We did recently ask our members which requirements for international travel or domestic travel would make you feel most comfortable, and for our US members, it was flexible booking and vaccines being required to travel. About 70 per cent of our US members selected those two options,” she said.

“Our members are eager to get out there, they are eager to travel again, but they are more inclined to do so if it’s ‘prison free’, meaning flexibility in terms of cancellation, refund and cheaper policies.

They also need that reassurance that they can book now and travel later. So it is important for them to have a wide window to choose from. The overall member experience is a key factor as well,” said Weber.

She reported that based on Travelzoo’s research among its members, people were making up for a lost time by staying longer in destinations and spending more.

“So now is a great time to crack an offer that gets them excited to travel to the Caribbean, but more specifically to our particular resorts because they are certainly willing to pay for the right experience,” she said.

Head of Publishing at Travelzoo Susan Catto pointed out that while travel intent had been rising up to June of this year, by the beginning of August there were signs of decline among US members.

“So 87 per cent of US members were already travelling or ready to travel in an earlier survey but in August there was a slight decline to 78 per cent,” she said.

“Media coverage around the Delta variant, as well as just the residual effects of the pandemic such as labour shortage, long lines at the airport, [and] concerns about the safety of flying with the virus around, could all be contributing factors to that.

But I don’t think it is necessarily going to deter all these people that are really eager to have a long holiday,” said Catto.

They were both panellists in a recent Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Live: The Resilience Series, which was held under the theme: Road to Recovery: Adapting to the Ever-Changing Landscape of Today’s Travel.

Catto reported that 67 per cent of Travelzoo’s Canadian members are already travelling or ready to travel, up from 61 per cent in June.

“So I think that speaks to a lot of what we have heard in this webinar. It is a real rollercoaster that the travel industry is in across the different regions,” she said.

She suggested that travel companies find unique ways to communicate with travellers in different source markets while taking travel changes in those markets into account.

She also cautioned that Caribbean destinations should continue to let their potential travellers know about the travel protocols that they have in place as well as the vaccination rates.

“Those are things that will help reassure people even as this new way of life is upon us with the Delta variant,” said Catto.

Disclosing more findings from recent surveys among some of its millions of members about travel, Catto said one key Travelzoo insight was that 94 per cent of its US members were vaccinated as of August 9, compared to the just over 51 per cent of the entire US population up to that point.

She said 91 per cent of its Canadian members were vaccinated, compared to just over 60 per cent of the population then.

Additionally, when asked which destinations they were likely to visit within the next 12 months, she said both American and Canadian members said they were keen on travelling within their own countries as well as the Caribbean.

“But when we do prompt our members with great offers to new destinations like the Maldives, they respond immediately with great interest and great intent to travel,” she said.

Declaring that international travel was slowly rebounding, Catto said the prospects were especially looking good for the last quarter of the year.
“Forty-six per cent of our Canadian members plan to take at least one international leisure trip between June and December 2021 and 43 per cent of our American members plan to take an international vacation before the end of 2021.

So we are talking about the very near future.

The numbers are more optimistic for 2022, with 77 per cent of American members planning an international vacation,” she said.
(MM)