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Swiss-Belhotel brings special offers to Arabian Travel Market

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Swiss-Belhotel International has created exciting packages for wholesalers and tour operators that will be launched at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) taking place in Dubai from April 28 to May 1, 2019. Targeted at Middle East travelers, the group has put together a fabulous range of offers that will be available across its spectacular properties in New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Laurent A. Voivenel, Senior Vice President, Operations and Development for the Middle East, Africa and India, Swiss-Belhotel International, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of these exclusive packages that have been designed to provide unique experiences along with greater benefits and value to our Middle East partners as well as customers. We have superb properties located in some of the most sought-after destinations that attract large number of travelers from our region. With the summer holiday season around the corner, ATM presents us the ideal opportunity to launch these. Moreover, this year we are very excited about the ATM Holiday Shopper that we believe is a great addition to the show.”

The Special Packages offer a diverse choice of experiences at unbeatable rates: These include the following:

  • Special Golf Packages in Indonesia at various destinations – Jakarta, Batam, Bandung, Bali, Tarakan, Belitung, Surabaya, Jayapura, and in Vietnam in Da Lat.
  • Discounted wholesale rates for hotels in New Zealand and for hotels in Australia.
  • Early Bird discounts in the busiest destination in Australia, the hotel in Sydney offers 15% discounts for booking within April with stays valid till August and 10% for bookings until August with stays valid all throughout the year.
  • In Philippines, book at Makati and get a free room upgrade; and when you book at Manila get to enjoy the amazing introductory offer including breakfast for two.

Visitors to ATM can find Swiss-Belhotel International on stand HC0825 located in Sheikh Saeed Arena in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

eTN is a media partner for ATM.

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Wynn Resorts named highest-scoring hotel company in the world

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Wynn Resorts announces that it has earned the distinction of being the highest-scoring hotel company in the world as rated by Forbes Travel Guide, outranking all other luxury hotel brands the company rates, representing a total of 1,105 hotels in 58 countries. Wynn Resorts exceeded each and every other luxury hotel brand including The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, The Peninsula Hotels, and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, among others.

“Wynn Resorts is the highest-scoring brand out of all prestigious hotel companies featured in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2019 Star Ratings,” said Amanda Frasier, Forbes Travel Guide’s Executive Vice President of Standards and Ratings. “This accomplishment represents an unwavering commitment to excellence, as Forbes Travel Guide rates the most exceptional hotels in the world.”

Each resort in Wynn Resorts’ global portfolio was rated individually and their combined scores contributed to the top distinction. Resorts include Wynn Las Vegas, Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Tower Suites, Encore Tower Suites, Wynn Macau, Encore Macau, and Wynn Palace.

“Wynn Resorts is the highest-scoring hotel company in the world for one reason and one reason only – we have the most dedicated and talented employees,” said Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts. “Our teams in Cotai, Macau, Las Vegas and Boston are second to none, and I am grateful to work alongside them. Remarkable people yield remarkable results.”

Forbes Travel Guide’s stringent and anonymous rating evaluations are based on more than 500 objective standards, with an emphasis on exceptional service.

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How does India travel? Let us count the 94 billion ways

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Bain & Company and Google India are together launching a report on “How Does India Travel.” According to the report, the Indian traveler has come of age, spending approximately $94 billion in 2018 on around 2 billion domestic and international trips. This has helped the Indian travel and tourism industry achieve unprecedented scale, and the momentum is expected to continue with the industry growing at a 13 percent CAGR to $136 billion by 2021, according to a report.

Fueled by digital, Indian travelers are expected to spend an additional $24 billion on online travel bookings over the next 3 years. The report outlines how India spends on travel, the influence of online channels in their purchase journey, and potential growth opportunities for travel businesses until 2021.

Deep diving into the $136 billion spends, the report cites a 12 percent growth in transportation ($50 billion), 13 percent growth in lodging ($21 billion) and consumption, which includes spends on shopping, recreation and food, to grow at 13 percent ($65 billion) over the next three years. Additionally, as more people come online, smartphone penetration improves and use of digital payments goes up, the report estimates that Indian travelers will spend an additional $24 billion on online travel bookings over the next three years, a growth from 25 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2021.

Online is a significant source of research

Elucidating the planning journey of Indian travelers, both for business and leisure, the report calls out five phases of a customer journey – Interest, Research, Booking, Experience and Sharing.  The report states that during key research-heavy phase of interest, research and experience, digital plays a pivotal role with over 86 percent of consumers being influenced by online channels. During this phase, travelers spend their maximum time on search, travel tour provider websites, price comparison websites, and travel articles. Online video too plays a significant role with 21 percent of travelers being influenced by this platform. In the booking and sharing phase, the report states that nearly 60 percent of customers book transport and lodging online, and over 50 percent share feedback online with social media being the dominant platform.

Talking about the market opportunities for online travel players, Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director – Sales, Google India said, “New users perceive that online channels are geared towards the more frequent flyers and experience-oriented travelers; and existing travelers research online but the lack of trust in payments and booking experience make them end up booking offline. If travel players tap these online users through personalized marketing, messaging and travel plans, they can further augment online travel bookings. This can be done by adopting digital technologies to influence customers early in the journey and moving from one-time engagement to ongoing relationships to have a positive impact.”

“There is a perception amongst consumers that online channels are geared towards premium customers, along with a marked distrust around payment and pricing terms. It is imperative for businesses to address these concerns in order to effectively tap into the growing base of users.” Arpan Sheth, partner Bain & Company said.

Decoding the Indian travelers

The report further identified the five cohorts of travelers in India, across business and leisure travel, and categorized each against their online research behavior:

  • Frequent flyers: Nearly 70 percent of them booked online, cumulatively spent $17 billion in 2018. They make their choices based on convenience, availability, brand preference and past experiences.
  • Budget business traveler: 86 percent of them researched online whereas only 60 percent book online, cumulatively spent $20 billion in 2018. This cohort makes their decisions based on cost of travel, availability and consultation amongst their personal business network.
  • Experience-oriented traveler: Around 70 percent of their bookings were done online. and cumulatively spent $22 billion in 2018. They extensively research both online and offline for ‘authentic’ experiences and convenience of options; display high loyalty towards preferred brand of airlines or hotels and actively share experiences.
  • Budget group traveler: 90 percent researched online and 55 percent booked online, cumulatively spent $29 billion in 2018. They make multiple decision-makers in the process and take the final decisions based on minimal cost.
  • Occasional travel visiting friends/relatives: 92 percent researched online but only 60 percent booked online, spent $6 billion in 2018. They maximize family convenience within a budget and believe online terms and conditions are restrictive.

However, challenges remain in meeting the expectations of these travelers. Customers perceive online channels geared towards premium cohorts (frequent flyer and experience-oriented traveler), while mass cohorts, with $55 billion in spending, remain underpenetrated. There are about 160 million non-transacting active Internet users in India with only 5 percent of online travelers from Tier-2 or Tier-3 cities. There is a significant (20 percent) difference between the booking rates of premium cohorts and mass cohorts, the latter being also dissatisfied with online channels (~33 percent satisfied) vs. premium cohorts (~42 percent). The second challenge is in penetrating existing users who exhibit a marked distrust in use of online channels to make bookings, especially around payment and pricing terms and booking experience compared with offline channels. Consequently, their online usage drops between the research (>86 percent online influence) and booking phases (~40 percent offline bookings).

How travel businesses need to adapt to the needs of online consumers

The report cites five major shifts that marketers need to make to market to the online travelers – First, alleviate consumer concerns by improving the booking and payment experience to build a trusted brand and increase adoption. Second, they need to address the negative customer perception issues by mass customization to drive higher share in the segment. They also need to utilize consumer technology to penetrate mass segments (standardize, enable sharing), reach non-transactors (build offline presence), and create new user access.  Moreover, they need to find innovative and frugal ways to package the experience to increase both adoption and retention.  Finally, they need to create a robust digital backend to adapt to customer needs across the purchase journey.

“The contribution of travel and tourism’s spend in India has reached developed market levels, from 6.7percent of GDP in 2013 to 9.4 percent in 2018. This growth, combined with a rapidly growing internet user base and adoption of online bookings will lead to $24 billion in incremental revenues through online channels by 2021. In order to benefit from this trend, businesses need to actively increase new user adoption and increase penetration in the existing user base across the purchase journey.” Joydeep Bhattacharya, partner Bain & Company said.

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Brexit has not deterred business travelers in the UK

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UK’s 2018 Hotels Market Report shows that the UK regional capitals are performing strongly with overall room nights booked growing by 8% across the top 250 UK cities.

London continues to be business travelers’ favorite capital for work trips with 663,000 room nights booked in 2018, an increase of 5% when compared to 2017. But Edinburgh experienced the highest level of growth in 2018 with room nights booked increasing by 16%, Belfast was up 13% and Cardiff up 5%.

The 2018 Hotels Market Report analyses data from corporate hotel bookings made between January and December 2018 by Advantage’s TMC members, who represent around 40% of the UK business travel sector, highlighting business travel trends and booking behaviour.

The report also shows significant growth for cities in the Midlands and North East, with Derby seeing the highest growth with 31% more booked room nights compared to 2017, while York, Nottingham and Gateshead also saw double-digit percentage increases.

Top Ten UK Cities – Booked Room Night Percentage Increase (year-on-year), January – December 2018

1. Derby – 31%
2. York – 22%
3. Plymouth – 21%
4. Inverness – 20%
5. Nottingham – 18%
6. Edinburgh – 16%
7. Reading – 15%
8. Belfast – 13%
9. Norwich – 11%
10. Gateshead – 10%

Global Results

The business world continues to travel widely, with the 2018 Hotels Report recording that hotel demand remains strong in many international cities with New York, Auckland, Wellington, Houston, Paris and Sydney topping the Advantage Top Cities list. In total, worldwide volume grew by over 393,000 room nights, a total increase of 8.74% compared to 2017, indicating that SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) corporate accounts, in which Advantage TMCs specialise, continue to perform strongly.

The total number of bookings made by Advantage business travel members in 2018 saw similar growth – up 8.76% – while the average length of stay remained constant, at 1.87 nights. Increased demand and higher occupancy globally meant hotel rates have increased by US$2 to an average daily rate (ADR) of US$169.41.

The report also looks at trends on bookings and ADR for cities and locations around the world, with New York once again topping the list as the highest volume worldwide city outside the UK, with 90,799 room nights booked at an average rate of US$395.97 per night. Increases were also seen in Bangalore (up 54%), Kuala Lumpur (up 36%) and Boston (up 27%).

The corporate hotel sector continues to grow, with another significant increase in bookings year-on-year, made by independent TMCs. Despite continued uncertainty in both the global and UK economies including Brexit, hotel room night demand is at record levels in many destinations. Although not all destinations in Britain saw an increase in room nights booked, ADR remained strong.

The report is representative of hotel bookings made across most of the major international and independent hotel groups including: Accor, Apex Hotels, Choice Hotels, Citadines, Clayton Hotels, Design Hotels, The Doyle Collection, Edwardian Hotels, glh Hotels, Hallmark Hotels, Hilton, HotelREZ, Hyatt, House of Daniel Thwaites, IHG, Jurys Inn & Leonardo Hotels, Loews Hotels, Macdonald Hotels, Maldron Hotels, Melia Hotels International, Millennium Hotels & Resorts, The Montcalm Hotels, NH Hotels, O’Callaghan Collection, Omni, Park Plaza, Pegasus, QHotels, Quest, Rotana, Radisson Hotel Group, Sabre Hospitality, Small Luxury Hotels, TravelClick, Travelodge, Village Hotels Club, WorldHotels Collection and Wyndham Hotel Group.

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St. Kitts shines in US Roadshow 2019

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A signature activity in US, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority conducted its 2nd annual Destination St. Kitts & Nevis US Roadshow 2019 from Monday, March 25 to Friday, March 29. The week-long series of 6 events were held in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Houston, Farmer’s Branch (Texas) and Dallas in order to grow visitor arrivals from these gateway markets and supporting flow markets. These events were designed to educate travel agents, tour operators, MICE buyers, wedding and honeymoon planners, media and experiential lifestyle consumers about everything the destination has to offer both business and leisure travelers.

“This year’s US Roadshow was a resounding success with record numbers of attendees for each event,” said the Hon. Lindsay F.P. Grant, Minister of Tourism for St. Kitts & Nevis. “Having attracted the sheer number of travel agents, MICE buyers, media and more who sell or publicize business and/or leisure travel demonstrates that there is growing interest and demand in these gateway markets for the tourism product that St. Kitts & Nevis has to offer.”

The first event was a brunch held at The Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown, New York, an affluent suburb north of New York City on Monday, March 25. The second event was a dinner held at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, New Jersey, an upscale neighborhood in the northern part of the state, also on March 25. On Tuesday, March 26, the third event was a dinner held at the Westin Buckhead, located in an affluent suburb just north of Atlanta. The fourth event was a luncheon held on Wednesday, March 27, at the Hess Club in Houston. A cocktail reception held on Thursday, March 27 at the Brookhaven Country Club in Farmer’s Branch, an affluent suburb of Dallas, Texas, was the fifth event in the Roadshow, while the sixth and final event was a luncheon held at III Forks Restaurant in Dallas.

All events supported St. Kitts’ non-stop flights and attracted a total of 300 attendees combined, all of whom were travel agents, MICE buyers, tour operators, wedding and honeymoon planners, media or experiential lifestyle consumers. Attendees were top travel professionals representing some of the most respected organizations in the business, including Maritz Travel, Cox Enterprises, Pro Travel International, Meetings Plus, Valerie Wilson Travel, Houston Style Magazine, Frosch, Questex LLC, Travel Impressions, and Westchester magazine.

“Developing lasting relationships with top travel professionals in our key gateway markets is a key component of our overall marketing strategy for the destination and our Roadshow provides us with the opportunity to connect with these individuals face-to-face,” added Racquel Brown, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority. “In order to continue growing arrivals, we need to maintain and expand our base of sellers to help fill our non-stop flights as we continue to build out new and increased airlift from the US.”

In addition to being treated to a meal and lively conversation with representatives from St. Kitts, the individuals played games, listened to presentations and won a variety of prizes from hotel stays to bottles of St. Kitts’ own Brinley Gold Shipwreck rum that were provided by participating local island tourism stakeholders. In addition, attending travel agents were offered a special $150 incentive for booking clients’ air only on the non-stop flights to St. Kitts or air in combination with a hotel reservation at participating destination hotels, all offering special Summer Sunsation rates, between now and May 17, 2019 for clients’ travel through August 17, 2019 when they log their productivity on St. Kitts’ website or via the Destination Specialist program with Travel Agent University. As a result, many attendees are now adding St. Kitts & Nevis as a featured destination they will sell to their clients.

The delegation from St. Kitts inclded: the Hon. Lindsay F. P. Grant, Minister of Tourism for St. Kitts & Nevis; Racquel Brown, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Ambassador Jonel Powell, Chairman of the Artist Selection Committee for the St. Kitts Music Festival; Annie Sinzinger, US Marketing Manager for the St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Denise Zimber, Christina Mucha and Shayna White, Marketing Consultants for the St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Tom Jaronski, Golf Consultant for the St. Kitts Tourism Authority; and Candice Kimmel, CEO and Founder of Adams Unlimited, PR & Marketing Agency in North America for the St. Kitts Tourism Authority.

A number of tourism stakeholders from St. Kitts & Nevis were also part of the delegation, including: Troy Hendrickson, Carib Journey Masters; Tawanna Wigley, Sales Representative, Ocean Terrace Inn; Richard Berridge, General Manager, Kayanjet; Jaana Kuntonen, Sunlinc; Christine Marshall, Sales Manager, Park Hyatt St. Kitts; Sylvia Martinez, Director of Sales and Marketing, St. Kitts Marriott; Tim Thuell, Nisbet Plantation; Cyndi Miller-Aird, President, Miller + Aird Destination Marketing for Belle Mont Farm; Jamar Wilkins, Travel Industry Sales Manager, Four Seasons Resort Nevis; and Darren Thompson, General Manager, Royal St. Kitts.

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