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India: Jet Airways’ demise leads to spike in airfares, massive hotel cancellations

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The abrupt shutdown of Jet Airways operations has left Indian tourism industry a worried lot as it has led to an average 25 percent spike in airfares across the sectors leading to massive hotel cancellations, says industry experts.

Some key sectors like Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Mumbai have seen the fares flying by 62 percent, 52 percent and 49 percent, while the Bengaluru-Delhi sector has had the lowest impact with a 10 percent surge shortly before and soon after the grounding of Jet.

Financially struggling for months, Jet Airways decided to call it quits from Wednesday night, leaving 22,000 jobs at stake and inconveniencing lakhs of passengers both domestic as well as international as Jet was the single largest airline out of and into the country.

“The impact of grounding of Jet Airways is not only restricted to the airlines sector as tourism has taken a severe beating due to the massive surge in airfares during the peak demand season. The impact is unlikely to fade away anytime soon and may continue into the rest of the year,” Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) president Sunil Kumar said Friday.

He said, both the domestic as well as international travel and related sectors are affected as travelers are cancelling their hotel bookings as airfares have surged by over 25 percent on average.

Leading tour operator Cox & Kings’ Karan Anand said the shuttering of Jet has upset the travel plans of many who have booked on Jet.

“This is the peak travel season and the airfares for the next 10-12 days are up by at least 25 percent as the capacity has fallen massively dissuading last minute travelers,” he added.

However, online travel aggregator Easemyyrip.com co- founder Nishant Pitti tried to downplay the impact saying airfares normally fluctuate as the aviation industry is always unpredictable.

“It is true that passengers are in panic now but going forward there will not be much impact as other airlines like Spicejet and Indigo are adding more planes into their fleet which will help balance demand-supply gap,” he said.

Train booking and discovery platform Confirmtkt cofounder Sripad Vaidya said due to the flight charges going up, there is a huge surge in people opting for trains and buses.

Travel News | eTurboNews

California-based Surf Air eyes profitability in 2019

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A turbulent year for Surf Air has finally come to an end. Exciting recent updates have already resulted in massive improvements to its scheduled service and membership growth.

A recent lawsuit against Encompass Aviation, its former flight operating partner, has been settled. Under the terms of the settlement, Surf Air has regained full access to its entire fleet of branded Pilatus PC-12s, an unfortunate consequence of negotiations that caused severe disruptions to the company.

“By doubling down on our most popular routes and eliminating non-core flying we have proven route profitability and that the fundamental business model works. Our plan for 2019 is to continue to invest further into these core markets and expand access to Surf Air through new, more flexible membership product offerings,” says Surf Air Chairman & CEO Sudhin Shahani.

Recent Club Updates:

A Robust Core Schedule

Surf Air has rebuilt a core schedule and added more flights across its most important routes: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Lake Tahoe. The company will continue to add flights as it continues to acquire more members.

The company will also add back leisure weekend destinations as it makes sense (Las Vegas, Napa, Monterey, and Palm Springs).

Best-in-Class Reliability

With the help of Advanced Air, the company’s current third-party flight operator and long-time partner, they’ve restored operational reliability to its former best-in-industry levels of over 90% completion factor.

“Advanced Air has been a critical partner during this transitional period. With their proven professional and safety record, they’re the perfect, value-aligned partner to continue to scale our business,” says Sudhin Shahani.

Flexible, Per-Seat Membership

Perhaps Surf Air’s most promising opportunities for scaling membership growth is the new Express membership, allowing flyers to buy and fly on a per-seat basis. Meaning, for the first time, less frequent flyers can enjoy the time-savings benefits of zero hassle air travel.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Islands & climate change: Storm surges & coral bleaching affecting tourism

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Since Greta Thunberg, a Swedish schoolgirl and climate activist, brought the topic of climate protection onto the political and social agenda with her strikes, the negative effects of climate change have been discussed more and more. While climate change affects all areas of life, rising sea levels combined with storms that are steadily increasing in severity pose a direct threat to islands. Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that the average sea level in 2018 was 3.7 millimeters above that of the year before and has reached the highest level since satellite measurements.

In recent years, rainfall, storms, floods, and coastal erosion have increased in intensity and frequency due to climate change. While not all islands are affected to the same extent by the shifting weather patterns, most are aware of significant changes – including the Green Pearls® Island Partners. Instead of sitting idly by and waiting for the land to literally be washed away from under their feet, they are actively working to protect their homelands and their fragile ecosystems from the effects of climate change.

Climate Neutral in the North Sea

The North Sea island of Juist has set itself an ambitious yet necessary goal: to be completely climate-neutral by 2030. Even today, the consequences of climate change are already being felt on Juist. The increasing number of dikes intended to protect the land from storm surges is a tangible measure, and the island is also actively avoiding greenhouse gases by switching to car-free transport. For some time now, the city has been offering projects and activities that bring the concept of climate protection closer to visitors, both young and old, such as the “Juistus Climate Saver” program and the “University for Children.”

Colorful Coral Gardens for the Maldives

Climate change has also left its mark on the Indian Ocean. According to marine biologist Smrutica Jithendranath, responsible for the underwater world around the Reethi Faru eco-resort, rising sea levels have so far had little impact on the Maldives. However, the consequences of climate change can be clearly seen in the corals. In particular, rising water temperatures and increasingly fierce storms are causing severe damage to these tiny, sensitive animals, leading to coral bleaching and even coral death.

Based on these observations, the Reethi Faru Resort has launched a coral conservation project on Filaidhoo. In specially created underwater gardens, the resort propagates corals and plants them back into the house reef after about a year. The underwater gardens and house reefs also provide protection for the beaches and prevent them from being washed away. Within another of the many atolls of the Maldives, the North Malé Atoll, guests from the eco-resort Gili Lankanfushi can plant young corals under water in the gardens themselves and actively participate in the resort’s Coral Lines Project. After the guest’s departure, they also have the opportunity to follow the development of their corals on the resort’s blog.

Koh Samui Against Climate Change

The sustainable resort The Tongsai Bay on Koh Samui focuses on strategies to avoid greenhouse gases including non-motorized water sports, bicycle rental for island tours, carpooling, and avoiding cars on the hotel grounds. The resort has also supported the Green Island Foundation since its inception ten years ago. The organization’s main objectives are to protect the island’s climate and valuable ecosystems. For example, the Green Island Foundation has already organized car-free weeks on Koh Samui with the help of partners, such as The Tongsai Bay, to raise awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Developing safety and security for children during travel

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Safety and security are always a concern of the travel industry, no matter who the traveler might be. A major issue when dealing with children is their safety and security. In the case of young travelers, the situation becomes even more difficult and emotional. There are many reasons for this heightened need for safety and security.  Among these are:

1)   Children are perceived to be more vulnerable

2)    Most people tend to be highly protective of children

3)    The legal ramifications of injury to a child may be even more severe

4)    Children evoke emotional reactions, and these emotions may crowd out rational thinking

Child safety and security tends to become the responsibility of three groupings:

1)   The child or young adult

2)   The parent of guardian of the child

3)   The host institution

The following is a partial list of precautions that all of us need to take when dealing with the child segment of the travel market. To help provide a safer ambiance for family vacations, consider some of the following.

Just as in the case of marketing efforts, tourism security efforts need to segment the market into at least four age brackets. Some suggested brackets might be: (1) new borns-2 years, (2) 3-7 years, (3) 7-12 years, and (4) teenagers until the legal age of 18. The essential issue is to realize that while both a 17 year old and a 2 year old are legally both minors, from a safety, security, and sociological standard, they operate in a very different ways and require very different guidelines. To help maintain these various groups safe and sound Tourism Tidbits offers the following suggestions. It should be noted that these are only a few suggestions of the many that are needed, and final decisions should be made by an onsite professional.

– Keep video cameras going. In case a child is lost (or Heaven forbid kidnapped), a video camera may be an excellent tool in locating the child.

– In places where adults and children mix, consider the use of ID bracelets being offered at the time of ticket purchase. You can use the ID bracelet either as a check-in/check-out device or give them away as a souvenir. In either case, should the child be lost, the security agent will have a name and phone number to call.  It is a good idea to place both the local and home number on the bracelet.

– In areas that have special young people’s sections, make sure that it is only children who enter. Adults should not be allowed into a children’s section. If an adult is needed there in case of an emergency, he/she should only be allowed to enter accompanied by a trained security agent.

– Develop policies on older children or unaccompanied minors. Younger children may be less of a problem than older children (12-17 years of age). These are guests who are legally still minors but can often do a great deal of damage or may demand that they be treated as adults even though such treatment is against the law. Make sure that all personnel are familiar with your business regarding minors’ safety and behavior of and with minors. Employees need to know:

–      policies and laws that specifically deal with people under the legal age of maturity

–      how to handle an angry or non-compliant minor

–      how to handle someone who may be making a scene

–      -when to actively intervene or call for additional help

–      how to check IDs without offense – a person’s ID is checked and questioned as to the whereabouts of his/her parents

In the hour before closing, it is very important to make sure that unsupervised young people are accounted for. In cases where the young person falsely believes that he/she is grown-up, ask for both a driver’s license and a social security number.

– Be aware of child abandonment/abuse. A form of child abuse is abandonment of a child. Train personnel to be on the lookout for all forms of child abuse. For example, if an adult is hanging around other people’s children asking for that person’s ID, turn security cameras on the person and attempt to get the license number of the vehicle being driven. The more information you have, the easier it will be for the police to act should there be a problem. Do not assume that a child abuser will return the next day. It may be weeks or months, or never, until that person returns.

– Develop cooperative information centers. Work with local police departments, hotel associations, and other attractions so that information can be passed between security departments rapidly and easily.  Remember people judge a locale on just one negative incident. When something goes wrong in one place, it can affect the entire local tourism community.

– Be careful of safety concerns.  Do a safety analysis; look for and correct such things as: glass doors against which inadvertently a child may run into, issues of food safety, or balconies over which a child may climb and jump.

Dr. Peter Tarlow is part of the Safer Travel Program by eTN. More information
www.safertravel.com 

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What is the discussion at the UNWTO / ICAO Ministerial Conference on Tourism and Air Transport?

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A Panel discussion is ongoing and a packed program are planned today for delegates in Sai Island, Cabo Verde attending the First UNWTO/ ICAO Ministerial Conference Tourism and Air Transport.

Air Transport and Tourism Policies: Regulatory convergence to maximize and balance their benefits

Air Transport and tourism depend heavily on each other and are essential engines of trade and economic growth for both developed and developing countries.

Despite the synergies, there can be conflicts between aviation and tourism policies due to the difficulties of States in balancing the interests of their airlines and the optimum development of their tourism industries. Separate sectorial policies result in a fundamental disconnect, which constitutes a severe deterrent towards the development of both sectors. How do we enhance policy coherence between the two sectors, harmonize the regulatory frameworks, and prevent separate sectoral policies? How can we strike a balance to maximize the overall benefits of tourism and air transport in the national economy?

What is the current status of Africa’s regulatory framework and what is its impact on tourism and air transport (the Lomé Declaration and the related Action plans both for Air Transport and for Tourism?

How can Africa benefit from and implement the joint UNWTO and ICAO Medellín Statement on Tourism and Air Transport for Development? How can the African Governments promote cooperation and compatible decision-making among transport and tourism authorities and other ministries in charge of related portfolios, including finance, economic planning, energy, environment and trade?

What are the challenges encountered by tourism stakeholders in reflecting tourism business interests in national and regional air transport policies?

Connectivity and Seamless Travel: Best practices to serve tourists and passengers

Aviation and tourism are a customer-focused economic sector.

While there is no single definition of air connectivity, it can be viewed as the ability of a network to move passengers involving the minimum of transit points, which makes the trip as short as possible with optimal passenger satisfaction at the minimum price possible. The realization of seamless travel can improve overall travel experience, which in turn fuels tourism demand.

With the recent launching of the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM), open skies over Africa may soon be a reality, building the necessary regulatory framework to increase international intra-Africa travel.

How do we optimize the flow of passenger traffic through the air transport system? How can we generate sufficient demand for direct air services between African sub-regions, especially between the East-West coasts?

How well do current air service agreements (ASAs) contribute to connectivity and what are the prospects of air transport liberalization? What constitute the bottlenecks and slowdowns of seamless travel in the air transport system? What regulatory schemes can be used or developed to assure essential air services to Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)?

What are the existing best practices and how could they be extended and adapted to other regions? What are the factors influencing airline choices for different market segments (the intercultural dimension)?

Funding and Financing for Development: Pragmatic measures to build a transparent, stable and predictable investment climate

Infrastructure deficiencies in the aviation and tourism sectors have long been an issue in Africa. While plans are in place to develop and modernize aviation infrastructure, relief is years away at best.

In the meantime, there will be lost opportunities for creating jobs and spurring economic growth. Another issue is the proliferation of taxes on tourism and air transport despite the fact that the industry recovers a vast majority of its own infrastructure costs through payments of user charges, rather than being financed through taxation.

Revenue raised by taxes can often be outweighed by the relinquished economic benefits as a result of dampened demand for air travel.

This Session will focus on

a) the creation of good governance and enabling the environment to build business confidence and encourage investments, and

b) the consolidation of planning and development efforts for aviation and tourism infrastructure in multi-modal and urban planning initiatives. What are the challenges of financing development projects related to the tourism and air transport sectors, particularly in LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS?

What are the success stories in financing tourism and air transport projects? How do consumers perceive taxes, charges, and others levies and how to ensure transparency of taxes and charges to passengers and tourists?

Why is the limited volume of international public finance and assistance for development currently available for aviation and tourism infrastructure projects?

Travel Facilitation: Advancing visa facilitation in supporting economic growth 

Travel facilitation aims at maximizing the efficiency of border clearance formalities while achieving and maintaining high-quality security and effective law enforcement. Allowing passengers/tourists to cross international borders safely and efficiently contributes significantly to stimulating demand, enhancing the competitiveness of States, creating jobs and fostering international understanding.

In spite of the great strides made in recent decades in facilitating tourist travel in Africa, there is still room for considerable progress. For example, electronic visa processes and delivery could make travel more accessible, convenient, and more efficient without a diminution of national security.

States should also look into increasing cooperation on bilateral, regional and international travel facilitation regimes. How can new technologies be used to make travel more accessible, convenient and efficient? How to define and implement policies which facilitate international travel and tourism while ensuring the security and integrity of traveler identification and border controls?

How well do e-passports, e-visas and other documentation deal with emergent threats to security? How could the African States learn from other effective best practices?

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