This article explores a key element of post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies: how to address the fears of traveling in a post-pandemic world (wait, is it over just yet?) and how the hospitality and tourism industry can address them to win back trust in travel. Priorities have dramatically changed for travelers. Longer travel periods are favored over short and frequent trips. This flags 4 main areas that are shaping the new way people prioritize their travel choices:

1. Health concerns have been on top of the listof reasons why travelers would not travel again.

Observing the pandemic unfolding in front of their eyes, creeping into their closest communities, and affecting loved ones, has triggered a protective mechanism in which today’s travelers’ choices are dictated by how much they can maintain their health and avoid falling ill. More specifically, falling ill in foreign countries where the medical facilities might not reflect the comfort levels of the same back home as well as the uncertainty to be treated in a hospital while away and even more so if in a foreign language.

 How to address travel health concerns?

 Nearly 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic, travelers are well versed in reading and interpreting travel protocols based on health passes, testing results, and so on. Yet, many of them – 88% to be precise – are still pondering whether to travel or not. In order to break through the ice, addressing travel health concerns must take a step further in discussing the subject and cover the ‘health topic’ as a whole, not just the hygiene factor. Here are some of the angles that hospitality businesses and tourism operators can elaborate across their post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies when addressing travel health concerns:

• Establish Mental Health Care as a cornerstone of wellbeing strategies. Make travelers know that you care about how they feel, establish a direct hotline with the ‘Director of Listening’ let them know they can talk to you, not just book with you.
• Be Wellness Solutions Oriented. Envision a guest experience that pays attention to the small wellness details that make a difference. Tech detox, No wi-fi areas, nature sounds instead of Dj-ed soundtracks, the list goes on.
• Empower Personal Health Choices. Encourage a travel diet that reflects a healthy lifestyle instead of promoting excesses. Get your guests involved in selecting their preferred hygiene routines when traveling.

2. Relationships have gone to a whole different meaning.

Lockdowns and isolations have strengthened many relationships and broken just as much. While Australia is just approaching the end of its longest lockdown on records  (262 days), prolonged periods of distance have divided families, friendships, and work. Assuming that people want to spend time with family and friends after these restrictions, could actually trigger the opposite reaction.

How to address the ‘relationships subject’ across the marketing message?

Families want to reunite, spend time together to make up for the time spent apart. Enable them to travel together with a ‘bubble solution’ that encompasses transportation, accommodation, meals, experiences. Enhancing those elements that enrich the experience of a ‘family holiday’ and makes the travelers say ‘ohh, we haven’t don’t that in ages!’ is the best way to win their trust and entice them to travel again.

Independent travelers want to connect, but not to the wi-fi. After months spent in front of a screen, with no events to go and no people to meet, independent travelers are hungry for human connection. Elaborate on the human factor, not on the dating side of things! Make sure you cover these beneficial experiences just as much as you describe the comfort of your rooms when developing your post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies.

Not everybody wants to make friends. The quest for personal growth is bigger than ever with more and more people traveling to find their true self, to rediscover a different life, and reconnect with themselves. Identifying who is it you are talking to will make your message stand out, addressing the needs of those looking for a deeper me-time.

3. Finances are under scrutiny when it comes to travel budgets.

If this might apply to a vast portion of travelers, it somehow does not totally depict the post-pandemic travel scenario. Space and Time are now the two most expensive elements of a holiday with 63% of travelers willing to pay more to secure longer holidays and the space they want to enjoy according to Flywire’s annual consumer travel report 2021.

How to promote & sell space and time?

Longer holidays = more travel time = better impact on the local economies. With the increasing demand for longer holidays, hospitality operators are gearing up their in-house activity program but also collaborating with a revived number of local operators to provide a diverse range of experiences. Ensure that the variety of experiences available is mentioned across your post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies and the perception of ‘time well spent’ shines through.

After the past 18 months, time is certainly not given for granted anymore. That is why we are seeing pent-up demand for longer travels, people are aware of the hassles of traveling these days and want to make sure that – if they do travel – they get the most of it and not just a ‘touch & go’ experience. Make it matter.

Fear of crowds when traveling is real, despite the sanitary protocols in place. If you are selling bespoke experiences, you will want to have them available in ‘private tours’ mode as well as ‘group tour’ mode. Anything that secures space around the travel experience should be observed carefully. Private transportation options, secluded locations for accommodations, private exclusive dining… the list is endless.

4. Safety has never been more imperative.

With uncertainty come danger and a higher risk level during traveling. Over 100 million jobs in travel, tourism, and hospitality have been lost as a result of the pandemic. This has generated unprecedented unemployment levels for the industry. Nearly 60 million of these jobs were lost in Asia and a staggering 13 million has been counted for Europe alone. High unemployment levels are not the most reassuring factors when it comes to destination safety.

How to address destination safety concerns?

Tropical holiday destinations are often affected by fragile institutional systems that – in many cases – unfortunately, get the headlines when the news is negative rather than positive. Contributing to the positive narrative around the perception of the destination with cohesive and constant post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies as well as supporting much-needed long-term goals that reflect trust in travel but most importantly rebuild trust in people.

L'articolo Post-pandemic tourism marketing strategies: the power of acknowledging fears of travel proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

• a vaccination certificate could be required
• a PCR test prior departure, upon arrival, midway through your holiday and before leaving may be mandatory
• a number of days in quarantine/self-isolation upon return would be involved

would you still go?

Prolonged lockdowns and travel restrictions have saturated the patience of post-Covid travelers around the world. And it shows. According to the latest data gathered by Expedia 72% of travelers are planning to take a trip over the next 12 months, although the majority still prefer domestic travels over international long hauls.

Revenge Travel starts with the increasing desire to travel again and to re-embrace a sense of normality. Revenging the freedom of movement, discovery and connection. This, together with the ease of travel restrictions during the past few months and many airlines returning to the sky, has triggered a positive ripple effect on several travel destinations.

These are the aspects hospitality and travel operators should consider when calling upon revenge travel across their marketing message:

The cost of revenge travel

As demand for travel is on the rise, so is the price of airfares and transportation. As a result, revenge travel might prove to actually be more expensive for travelers planning a move in 2021. In the US, airfares in 2021 were 24% higher than in 2020 and the increasing cost of fuel does not look too promising for the aviation industry.

As airlines are slowly lifting the social distancing policies and allowing booking to full capacity, travelers are still required to wear a mask at all times while on the plane.

Some travelers, however, are not being discouraged by travel safety protocols and are turning to private aviation solutions. In a recent report, Forbes noted that the number of private flights in July 2021 reached an all-time high since 2008 with August closing 30% above the same period in 2019.

The sustainability X Factor

The Q2 2021 Trend Report by Expedia shares that 3 out of 5 travelers are willing to pay a little more if they know that their holiday money offsets carbon emissions or partakes in sustainable initiatives.

According to Agoda, hotel operators who want to welcome revenge travelers on a sustainable note must be able to:

• provide a plastic-free experience when possible
• offer locally-sourced shopping opportunities for boutiques and souvenirs
• adapt to no-toiletries requests as travelers bring their own
• enable self-managed energy consumption during the stay

Rewilding hospitality

For the hospitality industry, it refers to the renewed travel interest and desire to get away from the beaten tracks. Whilst we might have heard this sentence once or twice, revenge travelers are taking it to the next level. Rewilding hospitality flags a post-covid travel demand for travelers to get away from the crowds offers authentic local experiences and nature immersion. Could this be the industry answer to an announced fear of crowds when traveling again?

Travelers’ Mental Health

Traveling again after a prolonged period of time might trigger a series of unwanted side effects that could alter the holiday vibe of revenge travelers.

Taking into consideration travelers’ mental health across the global narrative to entice them to travel again wins their hearts as well as their attention. The true long-term gain in restoring travel confidence lies in fear acknowledgment rather than neglecting the undeniable change in travel habits brought by the pandemic.

On this Truth Behind Travel Podcast Episode the following four ‘side-effects’ occurred to me after traveling to Europe:

1. Overpacking
2. Obsessive cross-checking information
3. Self-doubting
4. Lesser patience when traveling

If Revenge Travel signifies that travel confidence is increasing and tourism is actually restarting, the marketing race to win consumers’ attention is definitively back on.

With plenty of time to master multiple social platforms during everlasting lockdowns, consumers finally have taken charge and irreversibly changed the way the industry envisions the customer journey experience.

Successful hospitality content marketing has changed its approach to meet this new and significant change, shifting from a solid product-oriented narrative to a consumer-oriented narrative.

How can tourism industry operators develop a consumer-oriented content strategy? The discussion is open in travel forums and hospitality roundtables and the key findings highlighted across successful hospitality marketing discussions revolve around:

• why does it matter rather than what it is
• how does it help instead of what does it do

In one of the recent roundtable discussions that I host on a monthly basis, a tourism business owner posed a question about revenge travel.  How will this travel trend impact sustainable travel?

Several solutions and perspectives were shared on the Hospitality Roundtable but the question remains open to those who wish to offer a solution and continue this discussion on this Forum.

L'articolo Revenge Travel: What we are asking?        proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

On Truth Behind Travel Podcast Episode 28 – back in April 2021 – we talked about The Digital Green Certificate and the IATA Travel Pass. Today, the digital green certificate comes back approved and re-branded as EU Digital Covid Certificate. Mind you – not passport – Certificate.

In Episode 34, we pick up where we left the conversation on vaccine passports and explored in-depth all we need to know about the EU Digital Covid Certificate

What does that mean?

EU Digital COVID Certificate is digital proof that a person has either:

• been vaccinated against COVID-19
• received a negative test result
• recovered from COVID-19

What is digital proof? The Certificate comes as a QR code in digital or paper format, The digital version can be stored on a mobile device but you can also request a paper format if you want it, it is free of charge and available in your own national language and English. It’s valid across the EU countries.

Tons of questions have started to pour in since the announcement this week:

• Do I need one?
• How can I get one?
• I am not vaccinated, what happens?

The EU Digital COVID Certificate is not a pre-condition to free movement, but rather the end product of a regulatory system that coordinates travel restrictions across Europe. This means that European Member States may or may not impose further travel restrictions on individuals entering their countries – even if they have an EU Digital COVID Certificate.

What are the technicalities involved in having an EU Digital COVID Certificate?

An authorized or shall I say better – recognized – facility such as a hospital, testing center or health authorities are able to issue the EU Digital COVID Certificate based on one of these three conditions:

• the person is vaccinated
• A person has tested negative for Covid-19
• the person has recovered from Covid-19

Sounds easy, but there’s more to know:

• for vaccinated individuals, all traveling restrictions are lifted only if a person has received one of the EU-wide Marketed and Approved Vaccines (namely Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford University, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.) other vaccine certificates are at the discretion of the state members for them to allow them in or not.

Also – the Certificate is issued to any person who received a COVID-19 vaccination in an EU Member State, irrespective of the number of doses.

• for tested individuals, the results are only valid 72 hours for PCR tests and, where accepted by a Member State, 48 hours for rapid antigen tests. Self-tests are not recognized by the EU Digital COVID Certificate
• for recovered individuals, the maximum validity period of the certificate of recovery at 180 days after you’ve had Covid-19

Download the certificate factsheet here

So, let’s say you are one of these three individuals and you want to travel, how does it work?

Pending you fall into one of these three conditions, the EU Digital COVID Certificate is issued. It contains a QR code with a digital signature that identifies the institution/lab/hospital that has produced the Certificate and guarantees its authenticity. So it’s not your digital signature. It is the digital signature of the institution/lab/hospital where you are getting the Certificate from.

The QR code on the certificate is checked or scanned and the signature is verified when you travel. This would ideally mean that you can then enter your EU country of choice without being affected by further travel restrictions. For example quarantine, self-isolation, or further testing. I say ideally because while this is the recommended procedure. In the end, each country member of the European Union has the final call on the entry procedures. Basically on who comes from where and does what.

So technically, your data is not cross-stored but the digital signatures yes, and the gateway that allows verifying the digital signatures contained in the QR codes of all certificates have been built and set up by T-Systems T-Systems (a German global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Frankfurt) and SAP (System Analysis Program Development) and is hosted at the Commission’s data center in Luxembourg.

So what data is stored then?

The EU Digital COVID Certificate contains your name, date of birth, the certificate issuer, and the digital signature of the certificate. In addition:

• For a vaccination certificate: vaccine type and manufacturer, number of doses received, date of vaccination;
• A test certificate: type of test, date and time of test, place, and result;
• For a recovery certificate: date of the positive test result, the validity period.

Let’s talk about which countries have already adopted and implemented the EU Digital COVID Certificate. Austria. Belgium. Bulgaria. Croatia. The Czech Republic. Denmark. Estonia. Germany. Greece. Latvia. Lithuania. Luxembourg. Poland. Portugal. Spain and Iceland (non-EU Schengen country). France and Italy will follow by the end of June 2021. The Regulation of the EU Digital COVID Certificat will remain in effect until 31 July 2022.

L'articolo EU Digital Covid Certificate. All We Need to Know. proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

Be Present across Multiple Digital Platforms

Hospitality and Tourism Operators can no longer afford to choose which digital platform to navigate today. The absence or poor presence from different social media platforms prevents your brand message to be seen and heard by a wider travel audience. In fact, to customize storytelling according to the type of audience that navigates that specific platform is an opportunity for today’s hospitality and tourism operators to build relationships. That is not only with their ideal customers but also with those who are directly influencing the choices of their customers (aka their children, spouse, parents…)

In one of my recent articles, I highlighted the 6 reasons why hospitality and tourism companies fail to create a brand message that resonates when creating compelling content across multiple digital platforms.

Be Available To Your Customers

Today’s hyper-connectivity requires hospitality operators to have a full-time online multi-platform presence. Travelers are active on a variety of digital channels – at the same time – interacting with hospitality brands, planning their next travel route on OTAs (On-Line Tour Operators) and checking reviews on peer-to-peer websites. With the increasing amount of digital resources on hand, a digitally well-versed travel audience wastes no time in trying to find your customer service email address. They prefer to get in touch directly through their platform of choice.

Long gone are the days when a Direct Message on a Hotel Instagram Account wasn’t even considered a potential booking inquiry.

Review your online customer support strategy across the following platforms:

• Social media chats
• Customer Service chats
• Emails
• Hotlines
• FAQ

Answering real-time travelers’ inquiries become a necessity for those hotel and travel operators wanting to keep a direct communication line with their customers. In many cases, asking any of these hospitality and customer-centric questions can prevent travelers’ loyalty to drift away.

Be Authentic to Build Advocacy

The more time our travel audience spends online, the faster they get at spotting fakes. Ultra-polished imagery and edited videos do not have the same influence as before. Travellers are constantly scouting the digital world for real and authentic proof before making their travel plans. The proof is often found in customers’ reviews. Then, how can you best leverage this type of content and build authenticity around your message?

Here are 3 simple tips for you to take action:

1. Repurpose your best customers’ reviews from the most traditional review sites onto your social media, website, direct mails. Show others – and those who follow you already – what their peers are saying about you, building trust by default.
2. Encourage video referrals made by your loyal followers and existing customers. Video consumption online is soaring. It’s one of the best ways you can share a message quickly and effectively.
3. Join them if you can’t beat them by showing the human side of your hospitality brand, its people, their routine, and their dreams. As a result, have your team co-host a live broadcast or a video on your hotel or business social media platforms. Then, repost it on your website. People buy from People.

Clear communication and a customer-centric strategy are two key steps hospitality and tourism operators are taking to restore travel confidence.  Travel Recovery is high on everyone’s agenda. And by envisioning a future of travel where hospitality and tourism operators are open to listen and take action is where confidence in travel will truly be rebuilt.

Written by Dolores Semeraro

L'articolo Hospitality & Tourism customer-centric approaches proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

This short article will give you a comprehensive overview of how each one of these reasons plays a key role in travel recovery and why failing to understand each one of them could cost us our travel customers’ loyalty.

Let’s take a look at the first reason why a hospitality brand message fails to resonate with the travel audience:

1. It’s Not Simple Enough

Time. Stress. Options. Influence. For today’s travelers, these are all elements that interact with their ability to understand a travel concept, a product, or even just an idea. Imagine them being constantly time-bound to what they are doing next, reducing the time they dedicate to what they are doing now. Not only this, but the amount of options displayed right in front of their eyes across the tourism and hospitality brands makes it harder than ever to pin their attention to what we are trying to say. Influence, on top of this, plays a key role in diverting attention and willingness to understand.

The one element that cuts through each one of these factors is Simplicity.

The one element that cuts through each one of these factors is Simplicity and Authenticity when Communicating. Complexity in an uncertain climate affects the ability of your travel audience to be receptive to what you want to communicate with them. A simple message instead, is easy to be understood and therefore easy to be remembered.

2. It lacks an element of surprise

The huge amount of options now available to our travel audience affects their ability to genuinely relate to our hospitality brand message, turning them into a distracted audience. Imagine the very same product being sold by a multitude of hotels and resorts, all describing the same ‘WHAT’ instead of the ‘WHY’ a customer would benefit from it. These layers, all selling the same holiday, generate a sense of familiarity which affects directly the purchasing choices of our customers. The more familiar the travel product is, the less receptive the traveler becomes.

3. It’s too abstract

• When a travel message is too abstract, it fails to resonate. Purchasing power starts with the ability to enable our customers to ‘relate’ to something or someone. In other words, it’s all about being concrete instead of abstract. As travelers, we relate on
• Personal level
• Cultural level

We relate on a personal level when the message speaks directly to our needs and desires. We relate to:

• Causes that are close to us
• People that are similar to us
• Ideas that can have an impact on our direct life

In other words, we relate to anything that answers to the question: ‘what’s in it for me’

On the other hand, we also relate on a Cultural level when a message resonates on a ‘shared opinion’ that is culturally accepted and embraced across our community.

4. It’s not aligned with ‘trusted’ sources

When we craft the core ‘content’ of our brand message, in tourism and hospitality we often touch upon some of the following deep desires of our audience:

• To be healthier
• Prettier
• To be fitter
• Happier
• To be stronger

So when we design the core content that supports our brand message, we craft a promise around our travel product that would fulfill that desire. But a promise is not enough anymore. Distrust and Disengagement over the last few months have affected the ability of our customers to have confidence in that promise and therefore to trust our brand. Aligning your message to a ‘source trusted by consumers’ gives a strong based to be considered as reliable and authentic content – in other words, to acquire credibility.

5. It’s neutral instead of emotional

The base of our hospitality communication strategy sits in being informative and ensuring that our message delivers on its brand promise. However is that enough to ensure that our customers are constantly engaging? If distance – physical, mental, and virtual – has proved to have noticeable effects on that trust in travel (that we seek to restore), what can we do to structure a message that constantly invites our customers to ‘feel’?

Inspiration plays a huge role in adding an emotional element to our hospitality brand message. It triggers a reaction; it stimulates a personal aspiration to travel again and encourages a deep sense of ‘CARE’. When a message wisely blends in a strong emotional element into its content it doesn’t just get remembered, it’s gets cared for by its audience. Because it becomes more relatable.

6. It lacks Storytelling

It’s no marketing mystery that a good story is worth gold when it comes to retaining our customers’ attention, particularly in hospitality and travel. These three different angles to the storyline trigger a deeper brand connection for our travel audience:

• Informative Storytelling
• Inspiring Storytelling
• Challenging Storytelling

Written by Dolores Semeraro

L'articolo 6 reasons why your hospitality brand message fails to resonate with your travel audience proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

A Travel product is something you consume in relation to the act of traveling. These are a range of hospitality questions to get to know your customers today.

We could identify travel products as:

• Hotel Stays
• Organized Tours
• Excursions
• Flights or any transportation used to travel
• Curated experiences
• Consultancy Services
• Sightseeing

Then on a more material note:

• Souvenirs
• Accessories
• Wellness Services
• Cultural Services
• Medical Services

In relation to the consumption of travel products, these are a range of 20 questions that each tourism and hospitality operator should know the answers of and what actions could be taken to address them:

1. How are you?
2. How is your family?
3. Have you been working from home?
4. How has your job been affected?
5. How is this affecting your personal life?
6. How is this affecting your financial life?
7. How do you feel about it?
8. Why does it feel like that?
9. How does an ideal sense of wellbeing feel for you?
10. How do you prioritize your wellbeing today?
11. How do you prefer spending your free time today?
12. Who do you prefer to spend it with?
13. How do you feel about yourself today?
14. What do you miss the most?
15. What do you miss the least?
16. What’s the first you would want to do if you could?
17. What is stopping you from doing it?
18. What’s the last thing you want to do right now?
19. Why do you do it?
20. What annoys you the most right now?

Understanding your ideal customers’ current challenges and circumstances is key to be able to provide them with a solution or a pain reliever. Not all 20 Questions for your Customers in Hospitality generate the answers you need.

INTEREST   

KNOWLEDGE

CARE  

INTEREST – when you ask questions that provide you with answers serving your direct interests in regards to the product you offer to your customers

KNOWLEDGE – when you ask questions that provide you with answers giving you data, more information, a better understanding of who your customers are today

CARE – when you ask questions that provide you with a deeper understanding of what will motivate the choices of your customersWhat are the typical questions Serving your INTEREST, Growing your KNOWLEDGE and Showing you CARE?

Written by Dolores Semeraro

L'articolo 20 Questions you should Ask your Customers Today in Hospitality proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

In this article, we take a closer look at two of the main vaccine passports/travel passes currently being discussed around the world.

• IATA Travel Pass
• Digital Green Certificate (EU Only)

A vaccine passport or travel pass is not to be confused with an obligation to get a Covid-19 vaccine but more as an authentication tool that would enable the authorities to validate the authenticity of a PCR test or a Covid-19 vaccine. In order to do so, each laboratory or medical facility providing either a PCR test or a Covid-19 vaccine would have to be registered as part of the ‘network’ of authorized facilities. Several international institutions and technology companies are developing a digital vaccine passport to support and boost the travel recovery and restart of tourism.

THE IATA TRAVEL PASS

The IATA Travel Pass is a mobile application that helps travelers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or COVID-19 vaccines. According to IATA, it is based on four modules:

Registry of Health Requirements. Enables passengers to find information on travel, testing, and vaccine requirements for their journey

Registry of testing/vaccination centers. Enables passengers to find testing centers and labs at their departure and/or arrival location that can conduct COVID-19 tests in accordance with the type of test required for their journey

Lab App. Enables authorized labs and test centers to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers

IATA Travel Pass App. Enables passengers to create a ‘digital passport’, verify their test/vaccination meets the regulations & share tests or vaccination certificates with authorities to facilitate travel.

Singapore Airline completed the first trial of the IATA Travel Pass on the 17^th of March 2021 on the route Singapore – London. In this video, the IATA Travel Pass is explained as:

• A digital version of your passport (encrypted)
• A tool to check travel requirements for your destination once you enter your flight details
• A secure way to receive Covid19 test results when ready

And only when governments would ever issue a so-called ‘vaccine certificate’ and the person happen to have one because he/she chooses to get vaccinated, it can then be scanned and add it to the app, if – and that’s a big if – it is required for your travels.

However, this sits on the condition that governments should be first able to provide digital COVID-19 test/vaccination certificates to enable the system to verify directly through the app on their mobiles. The main challenges are detected among those countries that are distributing paper certificates or credits, which are often being false or replicated as fakes.

As such, the IATA Travel Pass is not to be confused with a must-have vaccine passport or travel pass for travelers in order to travel, but rather as a tool that would enable travelers to:

• Increase contactless custom checks with their digital passport
• Carry authenticated Covid-19 test results on their phone and not on paper
• Check travel conditions/restrictions in real-time

DIGITAL GREEN CERTIFICATE (EU)

The EU Digital Green Certificate will be valid in all EU Member States as digital proof that a person has either:

• Been vaccinated against COVID-19
• Received a negative test result or
• Recovered from COVID-19

The Digital Green Certificate under discussion to be accepted in all EU Member States. When traveling, every EU citizen and EU resident holding a Digital Green Certificate should be exempted from free movement restrictions. The EU Digital Green Certificate aims at facilitating free movement inside the EU and it is not envisioned as a precondition to free movement.

The approved vaccine range would refer only to EU-approved COVID-19 vaccines, this means that Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm vaccines won’t be recognized by the Digital Green Certificate.

After the initial discussion which took place last March 2021, the EU Digital Green Certificate is envisioned to be up and running by the end of June 2021. There are, however, concerns on how this could cause discrimination among those who:

• are willing to get vaccinated but are not eligible (health reasons, pregnancy, age)
• are not willing to get vaccinated

Moreover, several European countries have already started to develop their own national vaccine/test passes or apps. They are discussing whether the EU Digital Green Certificate would overrule those or not. More Vaccine Passports are included in the Travel Recovery Strategies Ebook, which offers a range of tools, and proven strategies to restart tourism.

Conclusions

A general confusion seems to pervade the travel sentiment around the topic of the travel passes/vaccine passports.

It is worth reiterating that these travel ‘credentials’ are not to be confused with an obligation to get a Covid-19 Vaccine. It’s more an authentication tool that would enable the authorities to validate the authenticity of a PCR test or a Covid-19 vaccine.

In order to do so, each laboratory or medical facility providing either a PCR test or a Covid-19 vaccine would have to be registered as part of the ‘network’ of authorized facilities.

As of now, the task of grouping test centers and medical facilities under one network appears to be rather challenging. In the EU, for example, the questions around privacy and the concerns on data usage are stalling the scrutiny process. It is important to mention that regardless of where, a vaccine passport, app, or pass is being considered also as a preventive measure to avoid the increasing numbers of false PCS tests circulating across countries.

While travel passes might be as simple as a contact-tracing app, it is only now – amid the pandemic – that these tools are being considered and at an initial stage of the trial. More updates will follow in regards to each one of these vaccine passports and for a comprehensive overview follow the link to get a copy of the Travel Recovery Strategies Ebook.

Written by Dolores Semeraro

L'articolo Vaccine Passport or Travel Pass, what to expect to restart tourism proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.

One month ago the Maldives reopened the country’s borders to international travelers and since then, as part of its travel recovery strategies, the destination welcomed nearly 4500 tourists mainly from the UK, USA, UAE, Germany, Swiss, and Russia. With strict health and safety standard procedures implemented across the country, starting from the airport to the resort islands, the ‘new travelers’ have already voiced their appreciation for the level of care and hygiene on various social media and forums.

Being welcomed by the resort representatives wrapped in PPE and armed with a face shield, gloves, and masks might not feel like the most relaxing start of a much-needed holiday. However, Afeef Hussain, Regional Director at LUX* Resorts in the Maldives, reassures that guests do love the feeling of safety  “Being able to arrive at the resort and start enjoying their vacation right away not having to worry about anything, is what our guests want” 

Together with high levels of hygiene, another key element to restoring travel confidence is the value of the experience. Afeef Hussain shares that the ‘new travelers’ are not going to spend the same amount of money they used to. Therefore, the value of the vacation is under great scrutiny and determines whether your customer might decide to return to your hotel or to travel somewhere else.

“There is no such thing of ‘new normal’, but rather a ‘new mindset’” 

To ensure that each action taken to uphold the hygiene standards at the resorts is mutually beneficial, Afeef says that whatever is done for the guests, is also done for the team members. This ensures their wellbeing and wellness and translates the Company’s core message of ‘care’ into action.

Borders are closed, but our resorts are not.

Sri Lanka has recently delayed the opening of the country borders, but hotels and resorts across the island are back in business with the local market as part of their travel recovery strategies. The execution of health and safety standards at each property has been instrumental to restore domestic travel confidence, says Arjuna Perera – Sales Manager at Theme Resorts & SPA based in Colombo. To start with, Arjuna Perera and his team produced a video message to show all the procedures and reassure their customer base.

‘We immediately created a survey, to help understand what are our customers’ priorities at this critical time’ 

But, as we know, the local market demand alone does not cover it. A voucher system propelled by Arjuna’s sales team successfully generated over 1000 room nights. This shows that flexibility is another key factor to encourage travel demand. Flights can be canceled or delayed, quarantine systems are changing by the day. ‘All we need is a bit of flexibility’ says Arjuna ‘and the results are showing us that people are keen to travel, they just want to feel safe’.

But how do we ensure social distancing in Sri Lanka? For Theme Resorts & Spa, more than distancing, we talk about isolation, but in a good way. The nature experience of some of their properties is guaranteed to the point that to reach some of their glamping sites, you will have to be picked up by the hotel concierge somewhere in the jungle.

‘Sri Lanka is known for being one of the most hospitable countries in the world. Thanks to our ancient knowledge of Ayurveda and modern technology, we are able to keep the virus away and boost our immune system naturally’

A contactless experience and smart use of technology.

As Mauritius prepares to reopen borders next month, the health & safety checklist of the destination seems to grow longer.

The use of technology, however, plays a key role in the destination, currently undergoing a digital transformation with a brand new website, a travel platform in the making, and a range of digital solutions for tourists. Airline and travel industry expert Youvraj Seam, based in Mauritius, shares that to pick up on travel confidence, we first have to observe the consumers’ changing behaviors and thereafter understand the new demands.

“For this to be truly successful, we need collaboration with all the stakeholders across the industry”

Youvraj shares that tools like the Travel Recovery Insights Portal of ARC & Boston Consulting, the McKinsey Travel Pulse, or the Traveller Trends Tracker by Adara must be on top of today’s agenda for the modern marketer. This would enable industry leaders to have more visibility and start making progress along the way.

Based on his experience in the airline industry, the key message needs to revolve around hygiene standards and procedures from the moment the traveler checks-in, boards the plane, and reaches the destination. Once arrived, says Youvraj, a contactless experience needs to be in place to ensure a safe transit until the guest ultimately reaches the hotel.

L'articolo Travel recovery strategies across the Indian Ocean proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.