About India Outbound Magazine
India Outbound, a brand of Media India Group, is India’s only B2B travel media platform, that encompasses a print magazine, a website, an online TV channel and dynamic social media platforms, entirely dedicated to the promotion of foreign destinations and products in India. India Outbound is a niche platform not just for tourism destinations and products to promote themselves to the Indian travel industry, but also for decision makers to build/change their strategy in a context where the Indian outbound market is not only growing but changing with new dynamics. India Outbound brings to you the latest trends of the market with in depth analysis.
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International visitor arrival recovery rates uncertain till 2023, says PATA report
By the end of 2023, international visitor arrivals (IVAs) into and across the Asia Pacific region could return to 96 pc of the volume of foreign arrivals received in 2019, at least under a mild scenario. The less fortuitous medium and severe scenarios, however, could see those proportions reach just 74 pc and 49 pc respectively, at that time.
This is according to a report on Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2021-2023 released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), where three future scenarios for international visitors in the region have been projected, covering mild, medium and severe scenarios.
There is quite a disparity for each of the destination regions of the Asia Pacific as well, with the Pacific, for example, projected to exceed the 2019 volume of foreign arrivals into that region by a little over two per cent in 2023. Under the medium scenario, that proportion is expected to reach around 78 pc while under the severe scenario it is likely to remain at just 52 pc of the 2019 volume.
Of immediate concern, for all of the Asia Pacific destination sub-regions under each of the scenarios, 2021 is likely to be another difficult year for international travel movements. Any growth is likely to be extremely uneven, and for some sub-regions may be further below the levels of 2019 and even those of 2020.
South Asia in particular, under this mild scenario, is expected to lose even more IVAs with its relative proportion to 2019, falling to around 14 pc in 2021, before rebounding strongly in 2022 and 2023.
Under the medium scenario, more destination sub-regions are expected to fall into further decline in 2021 relative to 2019, before turning to some tentative recovery in 2022 and 2023.
At the destination level, the top five Asia Pacific markets by volume of IVAs received do not change much in order of importance and hold relatively steady positions under each of the scenarios. While there are some rank order changes, these are minimal. In addition, under each scenario, the top five destinations routinely account for more than half of the total IVAs into the region.
Of interest is the finding that China fell from its position of dominance in 2020 but is expected to regain this position from 2021 onwards. Under the severe scenario, this takes a little longer with China returning to the first position in 2022. Similarly, Hong Kong SAR, after falling to the 12th position in the rankings in 2020, is nevertheless expected to return to third place by 2023, irrespective of the scenario.
In addition, this group of the top five destinations becomes more significant in relative terms, in 2021 at least, as the scenarios change from mild to medium and then to severe.
Over the years to 2023 however, this group tends to return to almost pre-COVID-19 relative shares. “Clearly, a further round of belt-tightening will be needed in the international sector, with more innovation being required in developing what is available in the domestic sector. Vaccines are becoming more freely available and inoculations are proceeding rapidly, but even so, and while first results are very encouraging, their effectiveness over a wider proportion of the population has yet to be fully demonstrated. It is very likely that travellers in the future will have to carry proof of inoculation and being Covid-19 free, something that various agencies and airlines have been developing and is already trialling,” Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA stated.
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Germany prioritises digitisation in its recovery strategy
The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is focusing its evidence-based recovery strategy in incoming tourism on digital tools for intensive customer communication.
Along with all the tourism marketing organisations of the federal states and some of the leading project partners, the GNTB plans to push innovative and responsible data use and the expansion of efficient data infrastructure, thereby increasing the data competence of German tourism.
"The task now is to strengthen brand awareness for Germany as a travel destination and to use anti-cyclical marketing to direct demand to our offerings. Digital formats and technologies open up additional digital formats and technologies open up additional opportunities for us to expand our customer dialogue with pinpoint accuracy, intensify our contacts in the international tourism industry, and share new insights with our partners in the German tourism industry," Petra Hedorfer, chairperson of the executive board of GNTB said.
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United Kingdom tightens entry norms
The United Kingdom (UK) government has announced a series of new measures meant to curb the spread of the new variants of Covid-19. Health secretary Matt Hancock has announced tougher border measures and said that the new rules have been undertaken to secure the nation against mutations.
Under the latest rules, from February 15 all arrivals at English ports will be required to undertake two mandatory Covid-19 tests on day two and day eight of their 10-day quarantine. Those who have visited a ‘red list’ country will be required to purchase ‘quarantine package’. Travellers will be charged fee equivalent to GBP 1,750 for an individual travelling alone which will include 10-day accommodation, testing and transport. Hancock confirmed that 16 hotels with 4,600 rooms have been secured around ports and airports in England to accommodate travellers.
On the other hand, travellers arriving from destinations not on the red list would be required to book two PCR tests ahead of travel to take during their quarantine at home. Visitors arriving without a British or Irish passport will be barred from entry. The health secretary also unveiled a new regime of penalties designed to toughen enforcement. Travellers could face a fine of up to GBP 2,000 for failing to take a booked test, up to GBP 10,000 for avoiding hotel quarantine; and up to 10 years in prison for lying on passenger locator forms. Hancock said the measures applied to England, but the devolved administrations were looking at similar measures.
The new measures have been added to those already in place, which include refusing entry to non-U.K. residents from ‘red list’ countries as well as proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken no more than three days before departure alongside isolation on arrival for all passengers, irrespective of the country they are arriving from. Passenger locator forms will now not only detail the travel journey of a passenger but also their quarantine and testing package. The passenger locator form has to be completed with fines for those who fail to comply.
Any passengers travelling back to England from countries not on the travel ban list will be required to quarantine at home for the same period (10 days) and abide by the same stringent testing regime. In both cases, tests must be booked from a list of government-approved test providers.
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Scotland mandates 10-day hotel quarantine for all incoming travellers
In a similar move, Scotland has decided to quarantine all visitors to the country in a designated hotel for 10 days on arrival starting February 15. The latest decision was announced by the Scottish transport secretary Michael Matheson. Six hotels with a combined capacity of 1,300 rooms near to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports will be used to accommodate the travellers for quarantine.
The cost of the stay, set at GBP 1,750 per person, will have to be paid in advance by the travellers. Secretary Matheson mentioned that final costs for visitors travelling with others have not been decided yet and are currently being worked on. The details for a managed isolation welfare fund which will be launched for those who cannot afford the charge will also be given out soon.
Matheson also said that further limits on international travel are being placed to manage the risk of importing new variants.
He also stated that the U.K. government has only committed to adopting the method for travellers returning from ‘red list’ countries, but Scotland has decided to go further as clinical advice maintains that a comprehensive system of managed quarantine is essential to minimise the impact of new Covid-19 variants.
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San Francisco airport gets Voice of the Customer recognition from ACI World
The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has been recognised by the Airports Council International (ACI) World for their “Voice of the Customer” initiative, which honours airports that continued to prioritise customers and ensure their voice was heard during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the significant challenges posed by this pandemic, SFO has continued to gather feedback from passengers using ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme.
“SFO has evolved to meet the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, but our commitment remains the same: to deliver an exceptional experience to our customers,” said Airport Director of SFO, Ivar C Satero.
“As our industry works towards recovery, airports that listen to and prioritise the needs and expectations of customers will be better-placed to respond. ACI’s ASQ programme gives airports the tools, objective measurement and benchmarking, for airports to gather information on the needs and expectations of customers and help drive their performance in response,” ACI World's director-general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said.
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Uzakrota declares Skål International winner of world's leading tourism association award
The Uzakrota Travel Awards, a global initiative to recognise and reward excellence in travel and tourism unveiled the 2020 winners of its world leading categories. It has been announced that Skål International has won the World's Leading Tourism Association among eight other associations that were nominated for this category.
After the registration, 182,475 votes were registered globally and awards were distributed in 45 categories. The awards will be presented to the winners at Uzakrota Global Summit in Istanbul at a gala event on December 2, 2021.
“I am humbled and honoured by the news that Skål International was voted the World's Leading Tourism Association by industry partners of the travel summit,” said Skål International World President Bill Rheaume.
“In these challenging times, Skål International has been committed to supporting the entire tourism sector, with a special focus on our thousands of members, tourism professionals in almost 100 countries around the world,” said Skål International CEO Daniela Otero.
Uzakrota Travel Summit is one of the biggest conference and foyer area for online travel agencies, airline companies, hotels, travel agencies, travel tech start-ups, hospitality investors, venture capitalists, tech companies, and distribution tech companies connecting some of the most prominent companies with the brightest minds and professionals of the travel industry around the world.
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