Gary Bowerman's Blog

By Gary Bowerman

One morning in July, I stood sweating on a platform at Osaka rail station in the oppressive humidity of a Japanese summer. Around me be-suited commuters waited patiently for the shinkansen ‘bullet’ train bound for Tokyo. It arrived with impeccable timing, and the platform emptied with polite, orderly efficiency. Several boarding passengers smiled at me. Nobody else seemed bothered by the heat.

The ordinariness of that experience was striking, because four months previously Japan had suffered one of the strongest earthquakes in living memory. The resulting tsunami wiped out small villages on the northeast coast and caused such damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant that total meltdown was feared. March 11 – known locally as the Great Eastern Earthquake – deeply impacted Japan psychologically and forced a rethink of the energy policy of the world’s third largest economy.

World impact

As I sped towards the Japanese capital, I reflected that news coverage through the first half of 2011 reflected an impacted planet. The violent street protests and uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya had convulsed the Arab World. The Japanese earthquake in March followed shortly after a destructive seismic shake in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Eurozone was confronting real crisis, North American growth remained weak and the pillar economies of Asia were dealing with price inflation and growth slowdowns.

By definition, business travelers thrive on positivity and opportunity, however, so I resolved to enjoy Japan and return to base feeling energized and upbeat. OK, so maybe American Airlines would later file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Qantas would ground its global fleet, but let’s try to be optimistic about the future. After all, travel and tourism data for the first half of 2011 had been largely positive.

Internationally, the second half of 2011 was dominated by the protracted toppling of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, ongoing unrest in Syria and other Arab nations and increasing governmental saber rattling in Iran. The worsening economic climate in Greece, Spain and Italy severely destabilized the Eurozone and threated to destabilize the banking structure and choke consumer demand across the continent. In August, one year ahead of the 2012 Olympics, London would be rocked by street riots, and cities across the globe would be ‘occupied’ by anti-capitalism protests in November. Hurricane Irene in August – described as “a major wake-up call for the business travel community,” by Joe Bates, GBTA Foundation senior director of research, with interrupted business trips resulting in a total GDP loss of “about $675 million” – and monsoon flooding in Thailand extending through late summer and fall, would later wreak natural destruction.

On a lighter note, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma, which is showing signs of political and economic reform and is considered to be Asia’s “next big thing” business and leisure tourism destination.

More visible technology

In 2011, business travelers witnessed even greater ubiquity of advanced technology across the trip experience – especially at airports. The rollout of personal check-in kiosks continued across the globe, while innovations like virtual concierges, self-boarding solutions, interactive InfoGates, facial recognition security and real-time baggage tracking moved onto the radar worldwide. The proliferation of Smartphone travel apps, meanwhile, seems limitless.

Ultimately, this technological upscaling results in a de-personalization of travel – globetrotters will experience more ‘wireless interface’ and less face-to-face contact en route around the planet. The greater reliance on multifaceted technologies rather than human labor is largely branded as ‘enhancing’ the customer experience, though the longer-term cost savings from these ‘passenger processing’ technologies are equally critical. Technological advance has yet to find a more effective means of transaction settlement than currency, and some relatively good news for US business travelers has been the sustained value of the Dollar compared to other major currencies. According to XE.com, during the first 11 months of 2011, the Dollar remained relatively stable against the British Pound, Euro and Singapore Dollar. The Dollar rose 7.22% against the Brazilian Real, but fell 3.77% against the Chinese Yuan and dropped 4.81% against the Japanese Yen. The obvious effect is that traveling in China and Japan became more expensive, while Brazil was a cheaper place to visit.

Eurozone vs emerging economies

The airline industry experienced a mixed year. In December, IATA predicted that the global industry would earn total profits of $6.9 billion in 2011. Regional differences widened in 2011, IATA noted, reflecting “the very different economic environments facing airlines in different parts of the world.”

In North America, yield and load factor improvements were a result of ‘tight capacity management.’ In, Asia Pacific ‘stronger though varied trading conditions’ prevailed and Japan’s domestic market ‘still has not fully recovered from the March earthquake.’ European carriers are “by far in the most challenging position,” IATA notes, due to “higher passenger taxes and weak home market economies.” Low profitability has been despite European airlines being one of the fastest growing regions in terms of traffic in 2011.

For 2012, IATA downgraded its profits forecast from $4.9 billion to $3.5 billion – and added a runway-sized caveat. The Eurozone crisis “puts severe downside risk on the outlook,” IATA says. “In a worst-case scenario, should the Eurozone crisis evolve into a full-blown banking crises and European recession, the global aviation industry could suffer losses exceeding $8 billion in 2012 – the largest since the 2008 financial crisis.”

Setting aside the ongoing economic uncertainty, let’s finish on a positive note. The GBTA has called 2011 “a year of resurgence, with business travel spend expected to grow 6.9% compared to 2010.” If traveler sentiment counts for anything, the legacy of 2011 may be that business travel continues on an upward trajectory in 2012. Indeed, Deloitte’s 2011 Business Traveler Survey reported that 22.1% of respondents expect to take more trips in 2012 when compared to 2011, 62.8% expect to take the same number of trips – and only 15.1% expect to travel less.

While Europe’s economic troubles may be a drag on travel growth, strong travel demand is predicted domestically in the United States (although expect further capacity reductions, and the likelihood of higher ticket prices) and to the emerging economies of China, India, South East Asia, Brazil and Russia.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler, CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure,  and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

By Gary Bowerman

Most business travelers understand their company’s technology policy. But on the road, you have so much to think about – basic processes do get neglected.

It began as a casual conversation. Two business travelers in a hotel lounge exchanging words over coffee and laptop screens. But the impeccably dressed man next to me was no ordinary traveler. A former military computer engineer, he had joined a multinational company to fix tech-security issues for business travelers.

During a fascinating two-hour conversation, he recounted sobering stories of travelers losing laptops, misplacing flash drives, encountering malicious viruses from insecure Wi-fi networks and failing to encrypt data that no one else should ever read. He scared me with sinister phrases like identity theft, spear phishing, session hijacking, and packet sniffing.

But the most important thing he told me was this: “Ensuring data security wherever you are is not difficult, but neglecting it is easy. It’s all about mindset.” I grabbed my laptop in my arms and promised never to let go."

Like most business travelers, I try to be ‘connected’ whenever possible – mostly to check and send email, but also to make Skype calls, upload/download files and, yup, I admit it, read newspapers and other (mostly sports!) websites. A strange impulse forces me to instinctively search for internet signals in cabs, boarding flights and while eating in restaurants.

I understand the technological vulnerabilities that this behavior creates, but also face a daily business reality: I need to process a lot of information, no matter where in the world I find myself.

Because of the volume of electronic traffic that passes through our devices daily, data security is a critical issue for anyone on the road. While traveler tracking is increasingly integrated into global travel programs, data security still relies heavily on personal responsibility. And, as humans, we are prone to concentration lapses. Our hearts always sink when airport security forces us to remove a laptop from our carry-on luggage. What if someone else picks it up during the body search?

Even in our modern, tech-enabled world of virtual private networks, MiFi, multi-level passwords, remote back-ups and cloud drives, voice biometrics, and device printing, our precious data is always potentially exposed to theft, distortion and corruption. It seems there is an app for everything these days, but not one that can protect the neglectful traveler.

One key piece of advice I’ve picked up is if you don’t need it, don’t take it with you. It’s easy to carry too much data on a trip, but sensible precautions take just a few moments. Before every trip, I make checklists of the content I will and won’t need while I am away. I then back up all portable devices to separate hard drives and replicate less sensitive items into a cloud drive. Anything business related that I don’t need on my laptop or phone is removed and kept safe from harm.   While traveling, most of us regularly use unsecured Wi-Fi at airports and in hotel rooms and cafés. You can restrict the online operations performed on those networks, and set your browser to ‘HTTPS’ as a more secure default option. This still leaves Gmail (though this, too, can be set to HTTPS default mode), Twitter and Facebook accounts vulnerable to hijacking, but more susceptible online operations such as making banking transactions or sensitive data transfers can be avoided.

These, of course, are common-sense precautions that any technology compliance offer will advise. They are not foolproof and do rely on personal discipline. Beyond these measures, each company will have integrated policies and procedures that aim to protect your data while you traverse time zones.

But as I learned from the man in a hotel lounge: practicing the basic steps can at least keep you alert to the dangers of data or device theft.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler, CNBC Europe Business, New York

Times, Travel & Leisure,  and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Building a blog to engage your target audience

By Gary Bowerman

"Blogging is not writing. It's just graffiti without punctuation." Elliott Gould's scathing put-down to Jude Law in the movie Contagion has set the blogosphere ablaze. The debate about blogging’s true purpose in an expansively proliferating world of online content continues with vigor.

A great movie line creates plentiful reactionary online theorizing. Check. But what does this have to do with the travel industry? Well, every travel business has a blog now, doesn't it? But, are we just creating online graffiti for people who stare and move on, or can blogging be an effective, measurable tool that adds value to your marketing mix? And if you don't have a blog, should you be concerned?

The answers to these questions are to be found in your own approach to marketing, because blogging is a very flexible communications platform. Successful blogging is really about creating a piece of online architecture – build it robustly, utilize its full range of functions, and watch its value to your business rise.

If you have a blog or are planning to launch one, the critical issues to consider are: what are the objectives (always think plural) for my business of creating a blog? Who am I targeting with my blog content? And how do I ascertain whether the objectives I have set are being achieved? For now, put aside bewildering phrases like blog software and templates, plug-ins, hosting and SEO – that can come later.

Okay, Question One is easily answered. Business blogging is a promotional tool, and should be integrated into your overall marketing strategy. It is not a fun thing to have or a place to put stuff we don't use elsewhere. Make it more tactical. Posting photos from family trips with amusing captions may raise smiles, but what value does that add to your business? Leave that stuff to a personal Facebook site.

Instead, think of a blog as a multi-layered, professional publication, which you can use to build an exclusive connection with a captive audience (ie, your readers). Blogging is not an instant route to riches, however, so plan carefully how to leverage that connection – in tandem with your existing promotional channels – to deliver your marketing goals.

That process will lead you to Question 2. Once you have positioned blogging within your marketing mix, you need to allocate sufficient time, energy and resources to conceptualize and manage (never 'maintain', that makes it sound like a chore) the blog that your business requires.

Who are you targeting with your blog? Existing clients? Potential leads? Previous customers? Suppliers and industry contacts? Your competitors? Determining this will help define the types of content you post (never be too restrictive or narrowly focused – a blog, after all, works most efficiently when used creatively). How about casual online visitors in countries who do business while you are sleeping? And the media?

The latter is an important point. Several high-profile travel industry consultants are prolific bloggers, who carefully target their content to engage media researchers. This helps raise the visibility and profile of their business endeavors through online profiles and articles being written about them (always reference and link to these in your own blog postings), invitations to speak at conferences and seminars (ditto) and enhanced traffic to their own website.

Understanding the audience you wish to engage will influence your own thoughts about the blog's content mix. A successful blog is not simply another surface to publish press releases and marketing texts distributed via other channels. Be more imaginative. Establish an impression among readers that this is an exclusive location for exclusive content.

Readers will be engaged if you demonstrate your expertise, comment on key issues, objectively review products and services and showcase your own research and market intelligence. How about using guest bloggers whose knowledge and expertise complements your marketing objectives? Consider creating regular themed posts on niche issues. Publish reader feedback in a constructive manner within blog posts to build participation – and further augment that all-important connection with your audience.

Think about this aspect from a user's point of view. Visit business websites that interest you, and see how they use blog content. And learn the tricks they are missing in informing and engaging you. What frequency of postings do they use? How do they combine comment, images and statistics? How much of the content is simply brand building, and what practical 'takeaways' are there for visitors? Do you feel as if the blog is talking to you, or aimlessly flushing unpunctuated graffiti into the ether?

By now, you might start thinking about the positioning of the blog on your website. Is it just a clickable menu bar item, or should you insert a visible 'blog window' with your latest postings onto the website front page? Or both? [My own website –www.scribesoftheorient.com – was built to incorporate both options, but the blog window is by some distance the most clicked.]

So that's the simple stuff. Approaching Question 3 means getting technical – because we are now talking 'optimization' and 'deliverability'. Both are big words ubiquitously proffered during brainstorming meetings – but behind the verbal largesse is the core to making the blog work for your business.

There are some simple basic steps. Directly connect the blog to your company Facebook and Twitter accounts and post immediate links to new posts to generate traffic. Insert key words and URL links into your blog text. Learn about Permalinks, Pingbacks and Meta Tags and the frequently overlooked discipline of Search Engine Optimization (this is a very useful quick guide for WordPress bloggers: www.viperchill.com/wordpress-seo/. To learn about optimizing your content headlines for search engines, Huffington Post offers a daily masterclass).

You will also want to measure your traffic. Google Analytics is a popular tool. Your serving company may also have a bespoke measuring system that can subdivide blog traffic from your general website visitors. GetClicky.com is another useful measuring tool that offers some useful real-time features.

Perhaps the most important thing to take away from this particular blog post is that it is – necessarily – incomplete. Integrating a successful blog into your marketing strategy requires considerable research time and planning. But, hopefully, we all now agree that blogging isn't just graffiti when it is well produced – and perfectly punctuated. If not, click away now.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Japan Looks Ahead, Six Months After the Earthquake and Tsunami

By Gary Bowerman

Nobody in Japan will ever forget the 2011 Tohuku Great East Japan Earthquake. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, whose Pacific epicenter was located off the north-east coast, precipitated a devastating tsunami. Even worse followed, as significant damage was caused to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, creating the possibility of a nuclear meltdown.

As Japan came to terms with the death and destruction on the north-east coast, plus nuclear radiation alerts and frequent aftershocks, it also had to confront the economic fallout. Industrial output in the world’s third-largest economy slumped after 3/11, and exports were hit by the high value of the yen. Reconstruction costs will remain a financial burden for the foreseeable future. GDP growth for 2011 is projected to be just 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, political instability resulted in the August appointment of Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years.

The earthquake’s impact on the tourism industry has been dramatic. In March, inbound arrivals dropped 50.3 percent from the previous year, followed by falls of 62.5 percent and 50.4 percent in April and May. Overall, Japan received 2.83 million inbound arrivals from January to June, down 32.6 percent on the same 2010 period.
Major source markets showed deep declines, including the US, down 23.4 percent.

Japanese outbound also suffered, decreasing 9.1 percent year on year in March, followed by falls of 8.1 percent and 8.7 percent in April and May. June saw a slower 2.9 percent decline, while July witnessed a 4.53 percent upswing – the first monthly increase since the March earthquake and the second highest July outbound total figure ever posted.

Japan’s National Tourism Organization (JNTO) responded to the inbound slump by increasing tourism promotion activities worldwide, and hosting numerous media and travel agent trips. Simultaneously, it sought to allay fears about nuclear radiation and safety.

Video messages by famous visitors to Japan since March, including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Michelin-starred chefs Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Ducasse, and pop-opera stars Il Divo, were broadcast on YouTube. The JNTO also created dedicated sections on its official website (www.jnto.org) and the Visit Japan website (www.visitjapan.jp) for post-3/11 travel and radiation updates from across the country.

“Except for the proximate areas near the nuclear power plants, there is no dangerous level of radiation detected in Japan,” said a JNTO travel advisory issued at the end of August. “Tokyo is not within the radiation contamination concern area, located over 124 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The radiation level in Tokyo is similar to that of New York City.”

I travelled around southern Japan – from Osaka to Hiroshima, Kagoshima, Tokyo and Kyoto – for 10 days in August. Having purchased a seven-day Japan Rail Pass, I was able to jump on and off the shinkansen high-speed train network. Most trains were busy with domestic passengers, but only a small number – even though it was peak summer season – of international travelers. Of the cities I visited, Kyoto and Tokyo had by far the most foreign visitors.

A subdued national mood was palpable – even though Japan is accustomed to seismic activity, it remains deeply shocked by the force and destruction of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, and the damage to a nuclear power reactor. That said, in southern Japan, the physical effects were minimal and there is a daily sense of ‘business as usual’. Staying in mid-range hotels, I did notice that rates were lower than on previous trips, and I was able to book most rooms the day before arriving in a new city.

One unavoidable fact for international travelers in recent months has been the sustained high value of the Japanese yen, which makes it a more expensive destination to visit. The yen has risen 46 per cent against the US dollar since the beginning of 2008, gaining 9.7 per cent since the start of April. The yen’s value during my August trip was around 76.6 to the dollar.

Japan did receive some good tourism news in June, however. The Ogasawara Islands – a chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo – and the Historic Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites of Hiraizumi were both inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Hiraizumi – which represents the Buddhist Pure Land of five sites – is situated in pristine forest 40km inland from the Pacific Coast that was struck by the March 11 tsunami.   These new inscriptions boosted Japan’s total of UNESCO attractions to 16. In July 2011, the Japan Culture Bureau also approved Mount Fuji to apply for inscription by UNESCO in 2013. The ancient capital of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture, will also seek World Heritage status.

For international visitors, there will be plenty more to look forward to in the coming years. In August, Qantas, Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi announced plans to jointly launch a domestic low-cost airline, called Jetstar Japan. Slated to begin operations in late 2012, it will fly between major Japanese cities and some short-haul Asian destinations. The move came one month after Air Asia and ANA announced a joint LCC venture for the domestic Japanese market and northeast Asia, including South Korea, Taiwan and China.

The capital, Tokyo, has announced it will bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. “We have to rebuild Japan and make it an even better country, and I think the Olympics can play a role in it," said Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo’s governor. The international Olympic Committee will choose the 2020 host city at a meeting in September 2013.

Good news, too, for rail travelers, as further expansion of the shinkansen high-speed rail network is under development. In western Japan, the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano via Toyama to Kanazawa is scheduled for 2014. In the south, a branch line to Nagasaki is being constructed. In the north, the Hokkaido Shinkansen route from Aomori through the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate is scheduled for 2015.

Japan’s next-generation trains will provide even faster travel. Trains on the USD64 billion Chuo Shinkansen, using highly advanced super-conducting magnetic levitation (SCMaglev) technology, will travel at up to 500kph. This new super high-speed service is scheduled to connect Sagamihara with Kofu by 2020, Tokyo and Nagoya by 2027, and Osaka by 2040 – reducing journey times by more than 50 percent.

In early September, Typhoon Talas killed at least 20 people, and caused destruction and flooding in parts of the Kinki and Shikoku regions of western Japan.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

By Gary Bowerman

"The future of business travel will be defined by technology: Discuss."

That may sound like a college examination question, but it is also the underpinning theme of several travel industry conferences this fall.

So far, 2011 has been an intriguing year, with corporate travel budgets and travel demand expanding despite pricing and distribution challenges and ongoing economic uncertainty. But riding high on the industry's agenda is a potent combination of evolving technology, user preference trending and new media marketing.

Judging by the programs for the upcoming season's business travel conferences, online, smartphone, tablet and app marketing and optmizing social media will be central issues in the months ahead – along with targeting business travel demand to and from emerging global markets.

"The web is splintering into grooves, some of it is disappearing into the cloud, most of it is ending up in the hand of the individual," says a release for the Web in Travel (WIT) conference at the ITB Asia show (Singapore, October 17-19, www.webintravel.com). "By 2014, there will be more smartphones than PCs in the world... and a radical shift in the way travellers plan, shop and buy travel and experience travel," WiT adds. Among the conference's forefront events will be the WiT Bootcamp: Entrepreneurship & Innovation, focused on travel industry web innovators, start-ups and new technologies.

Slightly earlier, the GBTA Convention (Denver, August 21-24, www.gbta.org/convention) will showcase a strong travel technology program, including sessions on Mobile Travel Apps: What Works Now, What's Coming Next; and Mobile Technology in a Managed Travel Program. Other high-priority agenda items include Ancillary Fees: Where Are We, and What Can We Do?; and Travel Risk Management: Preparedness Defeats the Unexpected. The emerging market theme looks at Managing Travel in India: Challenges and Opportunities.

The diversifying influences of technology on the travel industry make their mark at the Travel Distribution Summit North America (Las Vegas, September 19-20). Eye-catching session highlights include Social Buying and Flash Sales: The Pros and Cons; Utilize Social Media to Enhance Incremental Revenue & Pricing Decisions; and How To Make An Advertising Campaign Virally Viable.

ASTA’s Travel Retailing & Destination Expo (Las Vegas, September 11-13, www.thetradeshow.org/?navItemNumber=595) embraces the emerging market agenda, with India chosen as the destination seminar, and Thailand and Peru also featuring. How to Profit from Gen Y and Millennials – Meeting the Demands of the New Youth Market; and Maximizing Marketing Partnerships to Build Your Bottom Line are among the educational seminar topics.

The Consumerisation of Business Technology is the keynote speech title at this year's ACTE Global Education Conference (Paris, October 2-4). A varied seminar program ranges from Top 10 Travel Apps: Leveraging Existing Tools to Influence Traveler Behavior; and Defining the Business Impact of Travel & Meetings to Redefining Business Travel in Asia,   This year's World Travel Market (London, November 7-10, www.wtmlondon.com) will feature the show’s first-ever headline session on the travel and tourism potential of the BRIC nations: Brazil, Russia, India and China. A broad-based events program includes an intriguing Technology & Online Travel section, with discussion topics like Making the Most of Social Media; All Change in Travel Distribution; and Developments in Mobile/Smartphone Marketing. The Travel Agents program features forums on trends in Group Travel and the challenges ahead for independent agents and tour operators.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler, CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

By Gary Bowerman

Marketing orthodoxy decrees the customer is king, but the internet is moving this dynamic into a different sphere. Online customers don’t just want to be communicated to – they need to participate; to be active, not reactive. This is determining new paths for travel marketers to follow.

"Travel websites are beginning to adapt and improve their offering to customers with dynamic and interactive features that can be tailored to an individual's needs," says Derek Eccelston, Research Director for eDigitalResearch. "We are witnessing the MEcommerce revolution, where the consumer is now dictating to brands where, when and how they want to shop and communicate, and it is essential that travel brands develop their websites in line with what consumers are demanding."

Mobile accessibility and instant interactivity, plus a global audience, make the Internet a perfect platform for user-generated content (UGC). From YouTube videos to Facebook photo albums and tweets, netizens have become accustomed to creating and sharing their own information and voice opinions.

SpotWorld, for example, has created a travel guide app enabling users to locate a destination’s places of interest, share itineraries and post tips, photos and comments. TripAdvisor’s Trip Friends uses app data so users can see where their friends have traveled and solicit tips and advice. Facebook acquired NextStep, which facilitates the creation and sharing of travel guides.

But for travel brand marketers, UGC is a tricky experiment. The central concern is ensuring authenticity and reader value. This issue is emphasized by TripAdvisor, which has long faced criticism that some reviews may not be impartial. In an attempt to evaluate the legitimacy of those concerns, Market Metrix compared TripAdvisor reviews for 67 hotels across 12 months with its own Market Metrix Hospitality Index hotel customer satisfaction panel.

The survey found that 'the mean scores of hotels track very consistently and closely. This indicates that, when taken as a whole, the reviews for a particular hotel are a reliable measure of average customer satisfaction of that hotel, given adequate sample size.' That may be good news for TripAdvisor, but it flags up a vulnerability for brands seeking to integrate UGC into a website. Full-time monitoring and filtering out negative and potentially actionable content are essential.

So why consider using UGC? Being relevant to the interactive mobile generation is, of course, a primary objective, but UGC can also improve a website’s search engine optimization. Visitor contributions help elevate your page rank by sating the search engines’ insatiable hunger for fresh content. In addition, UGC can provide personalized information, feedback and recommendations.

In 2010, Disney Parks took the UGC leap by launching Let the Memories Begin, a website on which park visitors can upload photos and videos, Used in this way, UGC becomes a creative marketing tool that builds an online buzz by engaging visually and emotionally with its customer base. Converting customers into brand advocates also provides content, imagery and ideas for promotions across multiple platforms.

Another benefit is that companies can discern the places and experiences visitors most frequently cherish, and those which are less popular. Going one step further, UGC analysis can determine the types and volume of content generated from different geographic locations – and this data can be used in the creation of unique location-based offers and promotions.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Social Media & Travel: Still An Unfulfilled Journey?

By Gary Bowerman

"Travel & Tourism needs to continue to be at the front of technological innovation and brand awareness in the online and mobile space, and adapt to be prepared for the next generation of global travelers and tourists."

That call to action by David Scowsill, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council at the conclusion of the 11th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas in May, underpins the travel industry’s current approach to the evolution of new media marketing. Being at the forefront is essential, of course. It’s just not clear where that technological cutting edge is right now, or where it is headed. Nor is it quite clear what global travelers expect from social media marketing.

Most travel industry analysts agree that marketing via social media channels and applications is increasingly important, some say essential. But there is concern about how these platforms can actually drum up new business or retain, and even upsell, existing business.

A June survey by TravelClick, for instance, revealed almost a quarter of hotels are not utilizing social media to increase occupancy and revenue per available room. "Hoteliers should be incorporating a mix of online marketing, GDS media, as well as social media, in order to touch their key audiences," said Jonathan Cherins, chief marketing officer of TravelClick.

Touching key audiences only succeeds, however, if the content is both engaging and enlightening. Using social media is not going to be a marketing panacea if the content distributed replicates that used for traditional channels. New thinking is needed, and new content ideas are crucial. Throwing out repurposed offline material via Twitter and Facebook is unlikely to connect with a web-savvy generation that prefers its content in interactive and participative formats. In short, like any marketing activity, social media engagement needs a policy outline and an implementation plan and guidelines.

My own Twitter account now receives an increasing volume of 'daily' webzines. These are mostly created and distributed by companies through platforms such as paper.li, which repackages Twitter and Facebook content into a newspaper-style format headed by your own company/personal logo. The webzines feature a mix of up-to-date content, with each article or collection of links referenced to the original creator, and layout templates can be optimized for laptop, smartphone and tablet screens.

The issue, it seems to me, is that these webzines can work well in niche areas – such as destination marketing. But, generally, the ones I have read aim to cram in too much content across too many subject areas and themes. Much of it, especially when delivered on a daily basis, appears irrelevant to any relationship I might have, or choose to develop, with the company sending it to me. Consequently I often scan, but rarely read the webzines properly – and a marketing trick is missed, because I am not being engaged.

Perhaps that is the real crux of social media marketing. The enabling of any individual or company to become its own publisher is fine in principle. But the central issue is no longer distribution. Content, frequency and targeting are the critical components. What is the overall campaign objective of creating a webzine? How do you package relevant content for your target audience, and do they wish to receive this daily? Researching the market you intend to serve is vital because unless there is engagement in your content, there will be no activation. And, in the social media world, where there is no buzz, there will be no bottom line benefit.

Content segmentation is especially important for companies whose clientele transcends geographical borders. Savvy travel marketers reaching out to Asian markets, for example, will be interested to note some new consumer research published in early July.

The 2011 Campaign Top 1,000 Asia-Pacific Brands survey highlighted the growing importance of online engagement with Asia-Pacific consumers. The survey conducted in 10 key Asia-Pacific markets – Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand – revealed that internet search and social media sites, such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, performed strongly in brand recall terms across the region, but locally based brands, such as Baidu (China) and Naver (Korea), are rising fast through the ranks.

China, for example, has around 420 million netizens, or 21 per cent of global online users. While Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, social media is catching fire – and the hottest site is Weibo.com. Basically a Twitter/Facebook hybrid, Weibo is the platform used by China’s web-savvy generation to post news, comments and images, and to follow media and marketing trends.

Company marketers are flocking to Weibo with exclusive discount campaigns and prize giveaways hoping to generate new business, and a handful of non-Chinese celebrities (all Chinese celebrities are avid users) like NBA star Kevin Durrant post content in English. The most productive Weibo posts are in Chinese characters, however.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Tourism Authority of Thailand recently launched five social-media ‘Smile Land’ game applications "targeted at the millions of young people using Facebook and smartphones" to promote popular images of Thailand. These new games follow the success of the Amazing Thailand Mobile Application, for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, iPad and Nokia platforms, which the TAT says generated over 20 million hits and 200,000 downloads.

"In 2010, we enjoyed considerable success in promoting Thai tourism through online marketing," said Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. "Digital is the new media to reach the internet and smartphone users, all of whom are well-educated with high income levels."

The TAT’s application of social media will not work for all travel marketers, of course. Different target markets and demographics will invariably respond to different triggers. But the underpinning model is inarguable – determine the segment, create social media-based content that meets its evolving needs and distribute it across the platforms that the audience most frequently engages with.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Maybe its time to write that social media plan.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler, CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Luxury Travel Journeys to the Next Level

By Gary Bowerman

OK, here is today’s travel trivia question; what is the connection between St. Petersburg, Kuala Lumpur, Beirut, and Buenos Aires?

The answer is these cities are all cited in a new report  – along with Moscow, Prague, Budapest, Abu Dhabi, Marrakesh, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Taipei and Seoul – as emerging city destinations that attract luxury travelers with a mix of cultural activities and shopping.

Having largely beaten the economic blues affecting the rest of the travel industry over the past three years, luxury travel demand continues to grow and diversify. The ultra-rich travel set represents an exclusive, demand inelastic segment, and – like any growing demographic – it is searching for new experiences and destinations.

The perception of luxury is also continuously evolving. Published in June by the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) and Horwath HTL, The Future of Luxury Travel global trends report notes that in recent years, luxury travel has been “aligning more closely with traditional luxury, like fashion and jewelry, and following the same trends.” In addition, there has been a noticeable “move away from ostentation toward authenticity in the travel experience, and a call for sustainability and environmental conservation as an integral part of the offerings for affluent travellers.”

Five key trends are noted in the report that are likely to impact the future development of the luxury travel sector: 1) Emerging destinations will gain in importance; 2) The need for personalisation will continue to impact the luxury travel industry; 3) Simplicity and seamless service rank highly among the main expectations of travelers; 4) The luxury travel industry will continue to recover from the financial crisis; and 5) Awareness of value will impact travel decisions.

As with the luxury goods sector, the demand for luxury travel is expected to grow, especially in relation to emerging BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) economies. Increased demand from these nations could mean that emerging luxury destinations grow at a faster pace than established hotspots.

In 2011, the ILTM report rated Europe, particularly France and Italy, as the top luxury destination, cited by 41% of survey interviewees. Asia/Pacific followed in second place, cited by 27%, with top destinations being the Maldives, Japan, and India. Destinations in the Middle East and Africa garnered 18%. In the Americas, the United States, especially California and Hawaii, dominated at 8%, followed by the Caribbean (Caribbean cruises, Bermuda) and Latin America (Argentina) at 6%.

While cruising and resort vacations remain ever popular, luxury travelers who prefer off-the-beaten-path experiences are increasingly seeking destinations offering large natural spaces and/or new regional cultural experiences.

“South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, and Zambia stand out as most popular for adventure tourism in the luxury market. Uganda and Rwanda (gorilla sanctuary) are reportedly gaining in popularity,” the report says. Worldwide, emerging adventure destinations include Iceland, Ethiopia, Utah, Bhutan, Easter Island, Myanmar, Peru, Greenland and Antarctica.

The complete The Future of Luxury Travel report is available at www.iltm.net/asia/files/the_future_of_luxury_travel_report.pdf

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Global Travel 2011: First Half-Year Report

By Gary Bowerman

“Assessing future travel influences is almost impossible without reference to that trickiest of trends category – global unpredictability.”

Back in January, I attempted some predictions for the 2011 business travel year. The most obvious was: “Every year brings its own combination of challenges, both natural and man-made, that impact people’s lives, work and travel patterns around the world.”

Expecting the unexpected could not have foreseen the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster; the deep-rooted upheavals in the Middle East; the scale of flooding in the United States and Australia; or the devastating mudslides in Brazil. We have witnessed another Icelandic volcano eruption, ongoing aftershocks following the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, and other natural disasters around the globe.

Rolling 24-hour news means we are better briefed about natural and man-made events and their global impact. To some degree, this helps prepare us for the journeys ahead. Corporate travelers also keep their eyes glued to the business pages of the newspapers – and we are still trying to fathom whether the global recovery is strengthening, sustaining or slowing.

“As the world economy recovers from global recession, bookings indicate that companies are still cautious to restore travel budgets,” says the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Travel sentiment appears to be strengthening, however, according to the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) 2011 Industry Pulse: Business Travel Buyers’ Sentiment report. Sixty percent of surveyed travel buyers feel the economy is doing better than one year ago, and 57% feel it will continue to improve over the year. International travel is gaining momentum, too. Buyers project international spend to comprise 34% of 2011 total travel spend, up from 31% in 2010, and 28% in 2009.

Released in May, the World Travel & Tourism Council/Oxford Economics report: Business Travel: A Catalyst for Economic Performance Council Business interviewed 500 global business travelers in the US, UK, Germany, Brazil and China. It found strong support for more business travel: “74% of executives believe that business travel is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important in increasing profits, increasing sales (75%), developing supplier partnerships (70%), and in spurring innovation (70%).”

This optimism is supported by travel statistics. In May, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced that international tourist arrivals grew by “close to 5%” during the first months of 2011, consolidating the 7% rebound registered in 2010”.

According to an early 2011 UNWTO forecast, international tourist arrivals are projected to increase by 4% to 5% this year. That prediction still stands. “The impact of recent developments in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the tragic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March, are not expected to substantially affect this projected growth,” the UNWTO says.

The US Travel Association reported in June that US travelers were making their mark on the nation’s still sluggish economic recovery. While overall exports remained largely stagnant in April, travel exports were “a bright spot”.

"Compared to April of last year, travel and passenger fare exports were up a solid 18.6% in April, surpassing the fastest 12-month change of 18.4% achieved last year in June,” said David Huether, US Travel Association Senior Vice President of Economics and Research. Travel accounted for two-thirds of overall US service export growth in April. International visitation to the United States increased also, up 2% in the first three months of 2011, compared to the same 2010 period.

That’s the positive news. But there is one critical issue concerning the travel industry as it looks ahead to the second half of 2011: price rises. The main catalyst – though not the only one – is the ongoing high price of fuel, with oil hovering around US$100 per barrel.

The GBTA 2011 Industry Pulse survey revealed that although travel buyers said that more trips (59%) and more travelers (37%) will continue to increase travel spend, “they most often cited increased airline fees (71%) and higher rates/fares (69%) as contributors to larger travel budgets”.

Evidence that higher rates and fees are impacting travel budgets is found in the average rates/fees that travel buyers expect to pay in 2011. “With the exception of domestic car rentals, buyers expect average rates/fares to rise between 3% and 5.5% in 2011,” says the GBTA.

In June, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that fuel price hikes, in addition to other global shocks during the first half of 2011, are impacting airline profitability. IATA reduced its 2011 airline industry profit forecast to US$4 billion, significantly down on its $8.6 billion profit forecast in March. In 2010, IATA airline members recorded an $18 billion net profit.

“Natural disasters in Japan, unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, plus the sharp rise in oil prices have slashed industry profit expectations,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Bisignani added that the industry is encountering “a very fragile balance… with a dismal 0.7% margin, there is little buffer left against further shocks.” IATA predicts airline capacity will expand 5.8% this year, but the gap between capacity and demand growth widened to 1.1 percentage points, from 0.3% in the previous forecast. Fixed costs and capacity adjustments are expected to continue lagging behind the fall in demand, driving load factors down. Aircraft utilization is also dropping. “This decline in asset utilization, represented by lower load factors and average hours flown per aircraft, is the most significant downward pressure on airline profitability,” IATA says.

Another reason for rising travel costs, of course, is the expansion of ancillary fees. The US Department of Transportation announced in June that US airlines earned almost US$5.7 billion in fees in 2010 – comprised US$3.4 billion in baggage fees and US$2.3 billion in reservation change fees. “These are the only fees paid by passengers that the Bureau of Transportation Statistics can identify separately,” said an official statement. The Department website, www.dot.gov/affairs/2011/bts3011.html, features full lists of the earning per quarter in each fee category by US-based airlines.   So, in the spirit of walking once more the perilous travel predictions plank, here are three rather obvious suggestions. Global unpredictability is not going to become more predictable; travel budgets will need a degree of elasticity to deal with rising prices; and – perhaps the most inarguable of all – rising ancillary fees are now a fact of travel economics.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

‘Performing’ Presentations: Trends in AV Technology

By Gary Bowerman

Interactive, Interactive, Interactive. If smartphones and iPads have taught us anything, it is that interacting with computer screens has changed forever. Touch-based interaction is overhauling the mouse-and-keyboard model, and we are now hurtling at high-speed towards a world of ‘multi-touch’ and ‘intuitive’ interfaces.

The evolution of information technology is now influencing conference, meeting and sales presentations. Audiences are entering an age where boring, bullet-pointed presentations will be consigned to history, as presenters increasingly use multi-touch screens to ‘perform’ rather than drearily ‘recite’ content.

Effective presentations are focused on clear communication, sparkling content and seamlessly delivering the right information to captivate an audience. New technologies enable presenters to visually manipulate content in a manner more attuned to the ‘active image’ world in which we live.

The trend for interactive presenting is often traced back to the 2006 TED conference, where Jeff Han – then a research scientist at NYU's Department of Computer Science – showcased intuitive ‘interface-free’ displays controlled by the speed and dexterity of his fingertips. During the speech (see it at www.ted.com) Han uses a prototype multi-point touch screen with a photo lightbox application to tilt, zoom and pan a Google Earth map. It turned him into an Internet celebrity, and sparked his business career.

“[Multi-touch] removes the restrictions of the laptop. There is no reason that we should be conforming to a visible device,” Han says. Instead, he uses phrases such as “intelligent anticipation”, “pressure sensitive” graphics and “multi-touch interaction”. Han later launched Perceptive Pixel, which produces the ‘interactive wall’ used by CNN presenters, and is now selling the Storyboard multi-touch presentation product.

New Zealand-based ICE AV is also bringing interactive presentation to the mainstream. Its technology was adopted by DJ Tom Trautsch who uses two transparent, edgeless HoloDesk touch screens for arranging and mixing on stage – enabling the audience to watch him working from all angles.

“This helps an audience really engage with a performer or presenter,” says Kevin Andreassend, Founder of ICE AV. The HoloDesk interactive screen was also incorporated into Britney Spears’s Till the World Ends video.   “We are moving this technology towards presentations for the corporate environment,” says Andreassend. “So you’ll no longer need a laptop with a clicker for the screen, or be restricted by using a slide presentation. You will be able to manipulate content with multi touch and gesture technology.”

Silicon Valley-based PQ Labs is another leading provider of multi-touch technology. Its Multi-Touch G³ screen enables users to interact with 32 touch points using fingers and gestures. “This helps us to bring multi-user interactivity to presentations and events, and push ‘gesture-driven’ content to replace the mechanical click of a mouse,” says Charles Becker, Sales and Marketing Associate at PQ Labs.

The interactive Multi-Touch G³ interface means speakers can zoom, pan and spin information on the screen, and present it in either portrait or landscape, or a combination of both. “You can incorporate video and animation into the package and upload any content from your desktop,” says Becker.

“By using your imagination, you immerse your audience into your entire presentation.”

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Legacy vs Low Cost: Are Majors and LCCs Meeting in the Middle?

By Gary Bowerman

“We must adapt to the new realities. I am increasingly convinced that a low-cost carrier should be a key driver in our tool kit… an important means to achieving our ultimate goal of long-term, sustained profitability."

Those words of Calin Rovinescu, Chief Executive of Air Canada – a decade after a failed previous low-cost carrier (LCC) project – underscored the market conundrum facing major carriers.

Air Canada’s renewed low-cost ambitions coincide with a similar announcement by Japan Airlines, which is planning an LCC in collaboration with Australian budget airline Jetstar. The JAL-Jetstar team-up is responding to a “new reality” in the Japanese market; All Nippon Airways will operate a Kansai-based budget airline from the second half of 2011. Like Air Canada, JAL has a mixed history in the market, having operated JAL Express since the late 1990s. So why are major carriers revisiting the low-cost model?

Firstly, it’s necessary to remember how LCCs developed. From the outset, LCCs represented more than cheap flight tickets. Fast-growth LCCs built new routes and frequencies, often to/from short-haul destinations that made little economic sense for legacy carriers. They did this by developing a cost structure based on driving down labor and operational costs, and were helmed by an executive with proven experience in the sector.

Today, LCCs rely heavily on online booking and frequent promotional pricing, often use secondary airports and terminals, and operate high seat densities and rapid “at-the-gate” flight turnaround. Ancillary pricing delivers significant revenues from services such as baggage check-in, seat selection, flight insurance and ground transportation.

In short, LCCs brought point-to-point travel back into vogue. By shaking up long-held perceptions about journey purpose, booking methods, fare structures and destination networks, they ushered in a new era of consumer price sensitivity.

Clearly, the success of LCCs in Europe and North America, and more latterly in Asia and Latin America, where they compete directly with major carriers, has altered the airline landscape irrevocably. Or has it?

A report by Deloitte Touche, called Flight Path to Success, suggests aviation business models are blurring and network and low-cost carriers are converging on a “middle ground” model. “As low-cost carriers pursue ambitious expansion plans and move toward a full-service model, they risk losing their competitive advantages. At the same time, restructuring plans are taking network carriers toward a lower-cost model,” the report said.

Evidence for this low-cost ‘move to the middle ground’ is provided by the scale and vast route network of LCCs like Europe’s Ryanair and Air Asia, the latter of which completed a high-profile tie-up with Expedia, sponsors the Oakland Raiders football team and has launched a long-haul subsidiary, Air Asia X.

On the major side, the success of Australia’s Qantas merits consideration. It reported a 4.8 percent increase in passenger numbers in March, thanks largely to its Jetstar LCC brand (which encompasses a short-haul Asian operation and a longer route international LCC). Jetstar now handles 37 percent of Qantas’ total passenger load, and experienced a 14 percent year-on-year passenger increase in March.

"We will only proceed if we are satisfied it has the scale and scope to truly remain low cost," Air Canada’s Rovinescu has said.

With direct competition between full service airlines and no-frills carriers intensifying worldwide, he may not be the last airline CEO to seek scale in the new realities.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

High-Speed Rail: A 21^st Century Business Travel Revolution?

By Gary Bowerman

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s proposed USD43 billion Los Angeles-San Francisco link has proved a tough sell to investors and lawmakers. This process wasn’t helped by the US budget deal wiping USD1.5 billion of high-speed rail funding. For business travelers, however, it may represent too good an opportunity to pass up.

President Obama is a proponent of the high-speed reinvigoration of the US transport system – at a time when infrastructure investment is lagging behind emerging nations like China. The China connection is inevitable. After all, a company owned by China State Construction Engineering Corp., is bidding for a stake to design and build the California high-speed railway. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recently visited Beijing to ride a bullet train to the city of Tianjin. Chicago plans to build a similar line between O’Hare Airport and downtown areas.

The UK has also dragged its feet on developing a 250mph rail link between London, Birmingham and Leeds. This long-running saga may yet see construction of the London-Birmingham section begin in 2017, with the Leeds-Manchester line slated for 2032.

Meanwhile, China is speeding ahead with its high-speed rail rollout. The Ministry of Railways is investing RMB700 billion (USD107 billion) into railway construction in 2011 alone. At the end of 2010, China had 8,358 km of high-speed track in operation, which will nearly double to 16,000 by 2015. California’s new rail link will not open until at least 2020.

China’s fastest trains travel at 243 mph, cutting the journey between giant cities like Wuhan and Guangzhou from 11 hours to around three. From June, the new Beijing-Shanghai railway will connect China’s two largest cities in less than five hours.

The knock-on impact of advanced rail travel is being felt. Li Jiaxiang, Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, recently said more than 50 percent of domestic flight routes of less than 500km, and 20 percent of 800-1000km routes, will become unprofitable due to advance rail competition.

High-speed railways are not new, of course. Since October 1964, travelers have sped around Japan on the 168mph shinkansen network. Today, 341 snub-nosed ‘bullet’ trains carry almost 400,000 people per day. Korea boasts sleek, super-fast trains, and is working with Japan to create a cross-border network. Earlier this year, France celebrated 30 years of the 200mph TGV rail system that connects 200 European towns, and whose history includes a train interior revamp by Christian Lacroix. Spain’s AVE network opened in 1992, and has grabbed 50 percent market share on the Madrid-Barcelona route.

The experiences of these countries have delivered four primary high-speed rail benefits for business travelers:

Direct city-to-city transportation. Rail stations are usually located in central areas of a city, so the protracted journey time to and from an airport located on the urban fringe is significantly reduced.

Comfort and speed. Overland travel can be fast, efficient and comfortable. Plus there are no takeoff and landing restrictions on laptops and cellphone usage. Sit down, switch on and start working until arrival at your destination.

Price competition. High-speed rail provides direct competition to airlines on key inter-city routes. As China is now discovering, this causes fierce pricing competition, plus marketing challenges for rail operators and airlines to attract and retain passengers.

Punctuality. If efficiently operated, high-speed networks avoid the delays often associated with air travel. Japan’s shinkansen ‘bullet’ trains have an average delay of just 30 seconds.

History shows that railways emerged to challenge river and canal transportation, but the future will see air travel and high-speed rail going head to head. For business travelers, a new golden age of rail travel may be – albeit rather slowing – emerging into view.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman:

Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Creating the Hotel Brand of the Future

by Gary Bowerman

Space is the final frontier – even for hoteliers. Robert Bigelow, owner of Budget Suites of America, has invested US$180m with the “express purpose of revolutionizing space commerce via the development of affordable, reliable, and robust expandable space habitats”. His company aims to launch a private space station using specially designed inflatable space modules later this decade.

Back on planet Earth, hotel innovation is largely focused on new brands, and sometimes this can feel rather like reaching for the stars. InterContinental is the latest hotelier to announce it is working on brand launches to confront a changing global travel paradigm. Interestingly, its under-wraps new concept for China seeks to satisfy “both owner and customer demand”.

This is interesting because in China – as in many emerging markets – wealthy hotel developers don’t just call the shots, they frequently alter the shot terms. Several chains have had to rip up detailed plans for new hotels and either hire a new design team, upgrade the property at short notice to a higher line brand or, in some cases, create a unique hotel concept for a specific owner.

Some analysts argue that the relative strength of regional hotel markets may render the ‘global hotel’ brand obsolete. As traveler preferences in emerging economies diverge, more hotel sub-brands will be created that meet their requirements. These domestic and regionally focused brands are unlikely to supplant their paterfamilias properties in the Champs-Élysées, Knightsbridge or Times Square, however.

Time will tell, particularly as hotel companies in countries like India and China are similarly working to globalize their reach with city center and airport hotel concepts in overseas destinations that meet the needs of their own outbound travelers. It is intriguing that as the travel industry experiences more consolidation, the hotel sector could witness greater brand diversification.

Certainly, the old divisions between luxury, business, mid-range and economy have blurred beyond recognition. The bridging of the perceived gaps is now targeting the “budget-plus” and “beyond-mid-tier” sectors. But what will these new brands deliver to travelers, beyond swirly logos, non-neutral color schemes, fusion restaurants and a larger plasma TV?

Our universal demand, of course, is free and faster Wifi, for which we may have to trade a smaller room, less on-demand hotel staff, and no bathrobe.  But hotel designers are increasingly tasked with improving operating value, not just customer comfort – so ‘what we want’ and ‘what we get’ are different concepts.

Recently, I’ve seen in-room sensor technology that gauges not only when a guest leaves a room – so that air conditioning and lighting can switch to a lower cost mode – but also when the customer is sleeping and may need subtle alterations to room lighting and heating.

Mixed-use office, retail and hotel skytowers are also using intelligent technologies that retain and reuse heat from the sun for cheaper energy, and simultaneously protect rooms from glare during the hottest parts of the day.

Airline-style online and wireless in-hotel check-in are developing concepts, though whether these improve the customer experience – or just reduce hotel costs – is open to question.

In-room Internet phones and VOIP technologies are increasingly being offered – though, again, free and faster Wifi and a laptop would suffice. Hotel limo Wifi and VOIP are impressive concepts that could be extended further.

Smartphone key cards have been trialed, too.

Espresso bars rather than meeting breakout rooms, and virtual meeting software are some of the many conferencing innovations being deployed in competitive marketplaces.

New technology will improve the functionality of our stay, but that has always been an upward curve since the lodging industry itself was created. The next step is ‘thought development’; or how hotel brands and sub-brands engage travelers – from wherever they hail or are headed – with more inclusive technology, more targeted services and, at the same time, improved energy efficiency and operating cost ratios.

On second thoughts, it might be easier to design a hotel in space.

This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman:

Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: The Impact on the Tourism Economy – Part II

by Gary Bowerman

“The devastating disaster has had an enormous impact on Japan’s inbound tourism. While many areas in Japan remained unaffected by the disaster, they are also suffering from the sudden decrease in international visitors,” writes Tadatoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan National Tourism Organization on its official website.

“We are deeply concerned that this will not only affect Japan’s tourism industry directly, but also will have a very negative impact on our industry partners around the world,” the JNTO President adds. “Once the situation in Japan stabilizes, we will strive to resume all promotional activities as soon as possible.”

The ramifications for the travel industry of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation leaks at Fukushima could not be more clearly stated. Demand-based airline service postponements and re-routings are not just affecting inbound travel to Japan, but also outbound travel across Asia and worldwide.

Events in Japan have had a “major impact on regional travel and tourism flows”, said Andrew Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. Demand is expected to be “significantly lower” than normal both to/from Japan in the next couple of months before consumer confidence is restored. Travel patterns are expected to return to normal “hopefully by the second half of the year,” Herdman says.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) reports that the number of foreigners arriving at Tokyo Narita between March 11, the day the earthquake and tsunami struck, and March 22 “declined by around 60 percent year-on-year to around 67,000 arrivals.” Departures and arrivals by Japanese nationals during the same period “declined by around 100,000 to around 200,000 in each direction.”

CAPA adds that a total of 71 airlines serve Japan and “many have made schedule changes – including cancellations and re-routings – in response to the situation in Japan.” The “most heavily exposed” at Tokyo Narita, where more than 90 percent of traffic is international, are “JAL and ANA, followed by Delta, United, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, Continental Airlines, Air China and China Airlines”.

Qantas has admitted that the Japan earthquake and tsunami have impacted its revenues by AUD45 million. In late March, the Australian carrier announced the suspension of up to four return weekly Jetstar services from Australia to Japan (from April 1 to end of August); plus Qantas services between Perth and Narita (from May 8); and the downsizing of Qantas aircraft between Sydney and Narita from a Boeing 747 to an Airbus 330.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is suspending five daily services between Hong Kong and Narita from April 1-15, plus some services to/from Osaka and Nagoya. “It is too early to say however how long this situation will last and how quickly business will return to normal,” said Tom Owen, Cathay Pacific’s General Manager of Revenue Management. “At the moment we expect several months of weakness with a recovery towards the summer but there are still a lot of variables out there that might alter this view going forward.”

Meanwhile, American Airlines is temporarily suspending services from New York to Tokyo's Haneda Airport and from Dallas to Tokyo's Narita Airport, while Delta announced a 20% reduction in capacity on routes to Japan through May, and the postponement until July of a new route between Narita and Guangzhou, in southern China.

The knock-on effects for global travel markets are clear. Japan represents 6.5% of worldwide scheduled air traffic and accounts for one-fifth of traffic within the Asia Pacific region, according to CAPA. It says the top international travel markets connected to Japan are the United States (which received 4.33 million Japanese arrivals in 2010, including 1.2 million to Hawaii), China (3.73 million), South Korea (3.02 million), France (2.48 million) and Hong Kong (1.31 million).

Financially, the “most exposed market is China, where Japan accounts for 23 percent of its international revenues,” says CAPA. Taiwan and South Korea collect 20 percent of tourism revenues from Japanese operations, followed by Thailand (15%), the US (12%), Hong Kong (11%) and Singapore (9%). France is the most exposed European market at seven percent, followed by Germany (6%) and the UK (3%).

“Japan is an important link in global air transport. A major slowdown in Japan is expected in the short-term,” said Giovanni Bisignani, outgoing Director General and CEO of IATA. “The fortunes of the industry will likely not improve until the effect of a reconstruction rebound is felt in the second half of the year.”

Looking for the positive side, international flights using Tokyo Narita Airport operated by Air Canada, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Finnair Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Etihad – for which destinations or routes were temporarily diverted due to operational reasons – resumed regular operations between 23 and 27 March, according to the Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines – which announced a total passenger drop of 25 percent on its international routes since 11 March – has raised USD3 billion in funding to emerge from bankruptcy protection. It has shed one-third of its staff, grounded over 100 aircraft and closed 49 loss-making routes but is reportedly planning to establish a domestic low-cost carrier by teaming up with Qantas’ Jetstar subsidiary. The new airline will aim to challenge All Nippon Airways’ slated launch of a Kansai-based budget airline in the second half of 2011.

From the depths of despair, Japan’s travel and tourism is preparing for a better future.

Japan Travel Updates

www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ - comprehensive information about the effects on tourism of the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leak provided by the Japanese Tourism Board.

www.mlit.go.jp/koku/flyjapan_en/ - regular updates on post-tsunami/nuclear radiation leak air and transport services provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

www.narita-airport.jp/en/ - regular updates on services and radiation readings at Narita airport.

- Currently, all airports in Japan are open and in operation, except Sendai Airport.

- No road traffic restrictions are in place, except on part of the Joban Expressway.

- All Shinkansen high-speed rail lines are in operation, except the Tohoku Shinkansen (between Nasushiobara and Morioka), and the Yamagata Shinkansen (between Fukushima and Yonezawa)

(Source: Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Information correct as on 30 March 2011)

This blog was commissioned by AmEx.

About Gary Bowerman:

Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Japan Earthquake: The Impact on the Tourism Economy

by Gary Bowerman

Could it get any worse for Japan? A magnitude 9 earthquake offshore on March 11 was followed by a devastating tsunami that savaged swathes of the northwest coast. Then came frequent and powerful after-shocks, snow and ice, and then a fight to prevent nuclear meltdown at Fukushima.

Images of the humanitarian crisis are unremittingly distressing, and now governments around the world have issued travel warnings and advised foreign nationals to leave Japan. Ten days after the quake, some airlines were rerouting Tokyo flights to Osaka and Nagoya further south, while special evacuation charters were scrambled. Long lines of both Japanese and foreign nationals seeking official exit visas were broadcast worldwide.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, most Japanese airports and hotels used by foreign travelers remained open, but infrastructure – including railways and highways – was badly damaged on routes to/from the northeast. Rectifying this will form a central part of a sustained government investment program. Japan, after all, prides itself on having one of the world’s most integrated and efficient travel and logistics networks.

Three overlapping logistical issues emerged for corporate travel managers in the aftermath of the quake: the repatriation of Japan-based foreign workers, the rerouting or canceling of upcoming travel itineraries that included Japan, and the short-term relocation of Japan-based staff to cities in the south of the country.

While Japan clearly remains open for business – the Bank of Japan initially pumped around USD440 billion into the money markets, and efforts are ongoing to stabilize the Yen, which hit a record value against the US dollar on 17 March due to speculation about insurers cashing in overseas assets to settle the cost of earthquake claims – airlines are anticipating reduced near-term demand for travel. This likelihood was confirmed by, among others, Delta, United and Singapore Airlines, which postponed its planned A380 Singapore-Tokyo-Los Angeles service.

Airline service adjustments will not just affect inbound travel to Japan – a projected shortfall of outbound Japanese corporate and leisure travel in the near term would affect tourism markets across Asia Pacific – there were 17 million Japanese arrivals across Asian Pacific in 2010 – and worldwide. Japan was the fourth ranked inbound tourism market to the US in 2010, with total arrivals up 16% on 2009.

As with most large-scale disasters, the fluidity of events following the Japanese earthquake again proved the difficulty of making travel decisions based on accurate information.  The Japanese government – as most governments would do faced with a crisis of this magnitude – was forced to balance disseminating details about the nuclear radiation threat while simultaneously preventing mass panic. One unfortunate result, however, was distrust and uncertainty – a situation that seems likely to prevail for some time. Stock markets, in particular, are extremely sensitive to such atmospheres of national crisis.

For agents and travel managers watching events unfold from afar, the inevitable reaction is safety first. Travel to Japan is off-limits for many companies for the immediate future. Predicting beyond that timeframe is almost impossible. But the scale of the disaster, and uncertainty about the stability of the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, mean Japan’s travel economy – at least in the short term – could be another casualty of this horrifying natural tragedy.

About Gary Bowerman:

Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.

Egypt, Volcanic Ash and the Fallout from Global Travel Disruption

By Gary Bowerman

“The increasing number of events hindering tourism activities, whether man-made or otherwise, call for an international regulatory instrument for operations specific to the tourism sector, pertaining to all relevant stakeholders worldwide and clarifying their responsibilities,” says the UN World Tourism Organization.

It may sound vague and legalistic, but there are many occasions when business travelers are unlikely to disagree with this basic precept. Sometimes, traveling presents challenges that go way beyond our control.

In April 2010, an Icelandic volcanic ash cloud blackened European skies and I was stranded in Hong Kong. Actually, ‘stranded’ is not quite correct, I was ‘inconvenienced’ – and for a business traveler the difference is significant.

Traveling between Shanghai and Hong Kong, the planned extra nights of the trip became suddenly impossible. The ash cloud caused many people to be seriously stranded. Hotels were full and rates soared. Business centers, lounges and lobbies were crammed with travelers frantically trying to reconfigure schedules via phones and laptops. The Eyjafjallajökull fallout in Hong Kong was a microcosm of global chaos. Travelers whose flight paths traversed Europe in any direction were missing meetings, connections and hotel bookings.

Speaking to stranded travelers, the far-reaching domino effect was clear. Phone lines to airlines and hotels were jammed, and the airport arrivals/departures screens featured voluminous ‘cancelled’ annotations. The time difference hindered connecting with agents and tour operators in Europe and North America, and corporate travel teams were working red-eye to seek solutions. Insurance companies prepared for a surfeit of claims.

The fluidity of such situations renders alternative options unclear. A transcontinental logjam of cancelled flights and planes in displaced locations causes headaches for airports, airlines and air traffic controllers. Individual carriers have their own policies regarding rebooking, deferring and cancelling flights. Consequently, stranded travelers rely on their mobile devices to get them through several days of disrupted work and personal lives – their credit cards bruised by hotel rate hikes. I jumped on my flight to Shanghai.

Those memories returned during the round-the-clock coverage of civil unrest in Egypt. While Cairo airport remained open, we watched images of the evacuation of foreign residents and travelers, and read strongly worded government travel warnings. In addition to the political and social fallout, the protests resulted in myriad charter and scheduled flight cancellations, and could cost Egypt – which received 14.7 million visitors in 2010 – an estimated USD1.5 billion.

Events in Egypt are clearly differentiated from natural travel shocks, such as ash clouds, hurricanes, floods, cyclones, typhoons, tsunamis, and earthquakes. We are, after all, watching a movement for revolutionary change, not the wrath of nature. Tunisia, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, and Yemen are also experiencing varying degrees of unrest. Analysts argue that travel in parts of North Africa and the Mid East region could remain disrupted for some time.

Despite these natural and man-made challenges, the travel sector is proudly resilient. In recent years, we’ve experienced emergency planning for potential global SARS, Avian Flu, and Swine Flu epidemics, overcome spontaneous and pre-planned airline strikes around the globe, weathered airport security breaches and battled freak spring, summer, autumn and winter weather. Connectivity at such times is critical. Most travelers I meet wonder aloud how a globalized, travel-centric world could function without broadband, Wifi and 4G.

For it is when our electronic lines are cut, as occurred in Cairo during Egypt’s political unrest, business travelers are most vulnerable. That is when we become – literally – stranded. Not just inconvenienced.

About Gary Bowerman:

Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.