International
Asia is the driving force in global tourism
Maldives Promotion House – Asia continues to be the driving force in global tourism. According to the latest ITB World Travel Trends Report, this year the number of outbound trips from Asia rose by seven percent, due in part to rising wages. Yet again, the most frequent travelers came from China and Japan, both countries reporting double-digit growth in outbound travel.
During the first six months of this year, the number of outbound trips from China grew by 20 percent. Japan has recovered from the market collapse following last year’s tsunami and during the first 9 months of 2012 registered 13.7 percent growth. Outbound trips from South Korea increased by 6.7 percent, while most markets in South and Southeast Asia lost momentum. Accordingly, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore reported less than 5 percent growth. This year, only Indonesia and the Philippines will exceed 10 percent growth. These are the findings of the ITB World Travel Trends Report, which is compiled by IPK International and commissioned by ITB Berlin.
Five years ago, Messe Berlin launched ITB Asia in Singapore, which since then has established itself as one of the largest trade shows for the Asian travel industry. This is where, every year in October, industry buyers, suppliers, service providers, and sellers gather to make use of networking and business opportunities and to find out about new trends at the convention’s supporting events.
People remain keen to travel
The outlook for most Asian markets is positive, so there is good reason to be optimistic about tourism next year. Only one-third of Asians said the global financial crisis would affect their travel plans, while two-thirds said it had no impact at all. Year-on-year data shows that Asia has recovered slightly. Last year, 36 percent said the recession would influence their travel plans. This year, that figure is down by 4 percent. Next year, 29 percent of Asians intend to travel more than in 2013, while only 16 percent aim to travel less. A little over 50 percent said they would undertake the same amount of trips. Accordingly, the ITB World Travel Trends Report forecasts outbound travel from Asia to grow by 6 percent.
Better outlook for Japan
In terms of tourism, Japan has largely recovered from the effects of last year’s tsunami and reported strong growth during the first half of this year. However, since news emerged of its island dispute with China, the momentum has been lost somewhat. Nonetheless, the Japanese are still optimistic about their travel plans for 2013. Only 28 percent said the financial crisis would affect their travel decisions next year, compared with 33 percent in 2012. Twenty-one percent expect to travel more in 2013, while 54 percent aim to undertake the same amount of trips. Overall, in 2013 outbound travel from Japan is forecast to grow by around 3 percent.
China’s influence remain high
China has also shown itself to be one of Asia’s strongest markets and its citizens’ travel intentions bear this out. Thirty-eight percent (4 percent more than in 2012) plan to travel more next year. Forty-nine percent said they would undertake the same amount of trips. As a result, outbound travel from China is forecast to grow by 12 percent.
By contrast, South Korean travel demand appeared to tail off slightly, due in part to declining confidence in purchasing power. Thus, many South Koreans prefer cheaper holidays in Southeast Asia. A similar trend has emerged in Taiwan. By contrast, the economic situation in Hong Kong remains stable, with travelers increasingly discovering new destinations or repeatedly visiting the same ones in their region.
Dr. Martin Buck, Director of the Competence Center Travel&Logistics at Messe Berlin: “Over the coming years Asia will continue to be one of the main forces driving international tourism. Despite the economic uncertainty threatening major markets such as China and other countries in Northeast Asia, travelers from those countries will play an important role in global tourism.”
Launched by the consultancy IPK International and sponsored by ITB Berlin, every year at the World Travel Monitor Forum in Pisa, tourism experts and scientists from around the world present current statistics and the latest trends in international tourism.
Details of the studies will be presented by the ITB World Travel Trends Report, which will be published in early December at www.itb-berlin.com . The report is based on the assessments of around 50 tourism experts from 30 countries, on a special IPK International trend analysis undertaken in major source markets, and on core data supplied by the World Travel Monitor®, recognized as the largest continuous survey of global travel trends in some 60 source countries. The findings reflect trends which emerged during the first 8 months of 2012. At the ITB Berlin Convention Rolf Freitag, CEO of IPK International, will present the findings for the entire year, as well as the latest forecasts for 2013.
Emirates has kick-started its plans to upgrade the entire interior cabins of 120 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft – two of the largest commercial aircraft types in service today.
This ambitious project, representing a multi-billion dollar investment to ensure Emirates’ customers “fly better” for the coming years, officially commences in November and is managed entirely by Emirates’ Engineering team.
The target is to completely retrofit four Emirates aircraft from start to finish every month, continuously for over 2 years. Once the 67 earmarked A380s are refreshed and back in service, 53 777s will undergo their facelift. This will see nearly 4,000 brand new Premium Economy seats installed, 728 First Class suites refurbished and over 5,000 Business Class seats upgraded to a new style and design when the project is complete in April 2025.
In addition, carpets and stairs will be upgraded, and cabin interior panels refreshed with new tones and design motifs including the iconic ghaf trees which are native to the UAE.
No other airline has handled a retrofit of this magnitude in-house, and there’s no blueprint for such an undertaking. Therefore Emirates Engineering teams have been planning and testing extensively, to establish and streamline processes, and identify and address any possible snags.
Trials began on an A380 in July, where experienced engineers literally took each cabin apart piece-by-piece and logged every step. From removing seats and panelling to bolts and screws, every action was tested, timed and mapped out. Potential impediments to completing the installation of Emirates’ new Premium Economy Class or the retrofit of the remaining three cabins in just 16 days were flagged and documented for expert teams to review and address.
As part of the programme, new purpose-built workshops will be set up at Emirates Engineering to repaint, re-trim and re-upholster Business and Economy Class seats with new covers and cushioning. First Class suites will be carefully disassembled and sent to a specialised company to replace the leather, arm rests and other materials.
From the trials, Engineers discovered several unexpected solutions for instance: that existing food catering trucks could be easily repurposed to move parts destined for refurbishment from the aircraft to the workshop for their refresh, as these vehicles had doors of the right width and offer sufficient space.
Until the retrofit programme starts in earnest in November, a cross-disciplinary team has been assembled to regularly review the planning process, address any issues, and track updates on various aspects of the project such as procurement, staffing, and training.
Emirates’ new Premium Economy cabin class, which offers luxurious seats, more legroom, and a service to rival many airlines’ business offering, is currently available to Emirates customers travelling on popular A380 routes to London, Paris, Sydney. More customers will be able to experience the airline’s new Premium Economy cabins starting from year end, as the retrofit programme picks up momentum.
Eleanor has been named as one of the top 10 concierge software providers globally.
Based on accurate, timely reviews from real users, the HotelTechAwards rank the world’s best hotel software firms and products and it also provides hoteliers direct access to a growing network of hotel technology professionals and decision-makers.
“The guest experience is the cornerstone of our platform. Our unified resort wide solution, Eleanor, has been built for resorts off the back of many years working in the industry and addresses the needs of both Sales and Marketing departments and perhaps just as importantly, the operational requirements of the team on the ground at the property. The days of resorts working with disjointed systems are now behind us,” says Darren Caple, co-founder and CEO.
“We are on a mission to make the guest’s resort experience as easy and as frictionless as possible. Whereas traditional providers in the market have come at this purely from a guest communication perspective, our background in resorts has allowed us to combine this basic requirement with the streamlining of operational processes. The result is truly a resort wide solution that removes the need for countless different systems to be deployed.
Eleanor allows resorts to deliver consistent, superior service levels to guests across all stages of their journey with contactless features helping to alleviate sensitive touch-points in the post pandemic period. More than 30 properties in the Maldives use our Eleanor platform to help butlers and guest services elevate the guest experience. These properties are seeing an increase in incremental revenue by over 30% and operational efficiencies of 600+ man hours per month. We are also beginning to roll out the platform in some Caribbean properties!”
Eleanor is making waves in the hospitality industry by pushing the conventional limits of what a resort guest app can achieve through its unique ability to facilitate direct bookings for services and activities. The traditional ‘request to book’ feature that is common amongst almost all other hotel apps is removed by a power booking and operational platform sitting at the heart of the solution that covers all the resorts’ departments. It’s this module which realises enormous operational benefits and insights for the resort.
“We, at Eleanor, are humbled and honoured that our clients have provided such positive reviews. Feedback from our clients, partners and hoteliers are incredibly valuable for us and we will continue to improve our offering and services”, said Caple.
To celebrate this success, Eleanor is currently offering resorts a free one month trial, together with free setup and training and discounted monthly fees.
Eleanor, founded in 2018 and has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Created from over 15 years of hands-on expertise, Eleanor allows resorts to deliver consistent, superior service levels to its guests across all stages of their journey with contactless features helping to alleviate sensitive touch-points in the post pandemic period. Eleanor also helps to unlock operational efficiencies and boost incremental revenue and guest loyalty.
Hotel Tech Report’s Best Concierge Software 2022 Runner Up, reviewed as a preferred and reliable hotel software product by the global hotelier community.
For more information, visit www.eleanorapp.com.
Emirates, the world’s most global airline, is seeking talented people with a passion for service to join its award-winning cabin crew team.
As air travel returns with a vengeance, the airline’s recruiters are busy meeting and hiring candidates in 30 cities from now until the end of June. In this latest drive, Emirates’ teams will travel from Australia to the UK, and dozens of European cities in between, as well as Cairo, Algiers, Tunis and Bahrain.
Abdulaziz Al Ali, Emirates Group’s Executive Vice President for Human Resources said: “There’s no more exciting airline than Emirates for anyone interested in a flying career, and we’ve received tremendous interest since we began our recruitment drive for cabin crew in November.”
“While parts of the application process are done online, we always make the effort to meet our candidates in person whenever we can, and that is why our Talent Acquisition team is doing a whirlwind 30-city tour over the next 6 weeks to assess prospective candidates.”
Emirates’ truly global cabin crew team represent 160 nationalities, reflecting its customer mix and international operations in over 130 cities on six continents.
All Emirates crew are based in the exciting cosmopolitan city of Dubai, with company-provided accommodation, tax-free salary and more benefits.
Interested candidates can read more about the Emirates cabin crew role, and apply online at: https://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/cabin-crew/
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