THE South African trade
will soon have to compete
with international OTAs
that serve millions of travellers
a year, using technology
to provide a personalised
customer service that rivals
that of small businesses, says
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of XL
Travel Head Office.
“Travel websites are
‘learning’ to deliver more
personalised results for travel
planners. Artificial intelligence
(AI) is the power behind many
emerging technology platforms
– from building smarter virtual
assistants to techniques
for making use of Big Data.
We are also seeing AI Chat
platforms help suppliers to
provide an improved service.”
Stephan Ekbergh, Travelstart
ceo, also highlighted AI as
a potential threat. He said
AI-powered voice search
devices, Amazon Echo and
Google Assistant, were both
becoming prominent in
American homes and that
this trend would soon spread
globally. “This will present
a major challenge to travel
brands and could completely
change how travel is sold and
serviced.”
According to Tammy Hunt,
md of eTravel, the biggest
threat to ITCs for 2019 will
be a lack of openness to
technological adoption. “It
is important to constantly
communicate with clients in
order to stay abreast of their
changing needs. ITCs that
make smart use of technology
will be able to increase their
value proposition by improving
their ability to personalise their
service.”
But the threat of AI presents
an opportunity to agents who
adopt technology to streamline
their processes and offer
better and more personalised
service. “It has never been
easier to automate, streamline
processes and improve
knowledge,” said Otto de
Vries, ceo of Asata.
According to Marco, in 2019,
delivering a personalised
service will matter more
than ever before. “Travel
businesses will need to
make use of technological
advances to demonstrate
their willingness to go ‘above
and beyond’ for their clients.
For example, sending a push
notification about a jazz show
downtown to a client with a
passion for live music – and
including a link for discounted
tickets.”
Stephan said the trade
could no longer afford to delay
investing in AI. “AI offers a
huge opportunity. Migration
to app is a major trend
that the local trade need to
adopt in order to improve
their ability to personalise
the travel experience and
build relationships with their
customers.” He added that an
app could use AI and Big Data
to personalise travel in a way
that wasn’t possible before: “It
is also a fantastic tool to keep
in contact with your customer
throughout their trip.”
Marco added that while
robotics and process
automation had several
front- and back-of-house uses
across the travel sectors,
workforce automation was a
rising concern in the travel
industry. “However, there is
opportunity for travel brands
to approach automation
from a reinvestment of talent
perspective, rather than one of
replacement.”
He added that these
investments in innovation did
not need to detract from the
person-to-person experience
widely associated with the
travel industry. “For today’s
travel brands, and tomorrow’s,
technology must be leveraged
to produce elevated authentic
experiences without losing
sight of the human connection.
Not to be ignored is a
brand’s commitment to the
employee experience. It can
have considerable reach and
strategic value, both as a
driver of workplace satisfaction
and as a profit-enabling
initiative,” said Marco
Upcoming election, depressed economy cloud 2019
THE unpredictable economic
climate was cited as a key
concern by many members
of the trade, with the election
adding further uncertainty.
“I think the impact of the
upcoming 2019 election on
the exchange rate would
be the top of my list of
concerns,” said Wally Gaynor,
md of Club Travel.
Asata’s Otto de Vries
predicted that bookings
during the run-up to the
election could stagnate as
concerns around SA’s geopolitical stability impacted
the exchange rate. “This will
come on top of the pressure
the depressed economy is
already placing on the retail
sector and the limiting effects
of government red tape on
the growth of SMEs and job
creation.”
Air Mauritius regional
manager, Southern Africa
and Latin America, Carla da
Silva, said the cost of doing
business in South Africa,
from an airline perspective,
was a threat. “Costs have
to be monitored as the fee
escalation could very well
drive airlines away.” She
added that the unabridged
birth certificate and visa
regulations also remained a
challenge, a view shared by
Barsa ceo, June Crawford,
and Chris Zweigenthal, ce
of Aasa.
Chris added that the slow
GDP growth rate had reflected
in the aviation industry
in 2018. “Our passenger
numbers are only up 1%
year-to-date. We would need
to see this rise to 5% to
know that the economy is
in recovery. I am concerned
about whether or not SA will
be able to break out of the
current GDP trend.”
He contextualised this in
light of increasing global
unpredictability, particularly
with regard to US markets,
and the impact this could
have on growth and
development in SA. Further
to this, Carla said the price of
fuel and the rate of exchange
would likely remain volatile
and challenging, adding that
more consolidation was likely
to transpire in both the travel
and aviation arenas.
Kirby Gordon, head of sales
and distribution at FlySafair,
said the last two years had
seen domestic passenger
numbers in South Africa
basically stay the same (less
than 1% growth). “This is
fine for now given the market
capacity dynamics, but the
threat is that those numbers
start to shrink with a
struggling economy. Similarly,
the price of oil has not been
in our favour. As that goes
up, so too will our costs and,
given our thin margins, so
too will fares. So now we’re
looking at a scenario with
fewer passengers and higher
fares, which will mean even
fewer who can afford to fly.”Ongoing fraud and
corruption continued to be
major threats to the travel
and aviation industry, said
Carla. “This is why sound
corporate governance
is critical.” Marelize Le
Roux, operations and
reservations manager
at Travel Vision, added
that fraud was a concern
for agencies at a grass
roots level as well: “The
industry needs to be
vigilant when it comes
to fraud. Agents need
to make sure they are
dealing with reputable
operators and suppliers.”
Wally added that the
change in Iata BSP billing
cycles and new rules
would also present a
challenge for agents in
the New Year.
“Google is one of the
biggest threats to the
travel industry, full stop,”
said Travelstart’s Stephan
Ekbergh. Stephan was
speaking to TNW in the
context of Google travel
specialist, Benedicte
Conway’s suggestion that
the travel trade mirror
innovators such as Netflix
by making use of AI and
Big Data technologies
to start showing more
tailored, personalised
content to consumers.
Stephan said it would
be anti-competitive if
Google were to make use
of such technology in an
unregulated environment.
“Governments will need
to regulate the use of
emerging technologies if
they are to ensure that
Google doesn’t establish
a market monopoly.”
He added that the
information Google could
collect on clients from
their search history, social
media activity and mobile
app usage over the period
of one year, would allow
the company to know the
client better than they
knew themselves .
Egypt and Turkey expected to see ‘exponential growth’
OPERATORS report that
Egypt and Turkey have
bounced back as excellent
value-for-money destinations
on South African travellers’
radars. Operators expect
further growth to these
regions in 2019.
According to Caroline
Tinsley, business
development manager
at Intrepid Travel SA,
the operator has seen
significant growth in these
regions as their political
situations stabilise.
Despite the unfortunate
bombing in Giza in January,
operators say that it is
still business as usual in
Egypt with all tours still
going ahead and growth
predictions remaining
unchanged.
Chris van Staden, director
of Azure Travel, described
the growth for Egypt and
Turkey as exponential. “In
the last six months we’ve
seen demand for Egypt
grow 80% and Turkey grow
50%.” He said, all things
being equal, the growth
was expected continue
into 2019. He added that
travellers were increasingly
drawn to the unique,
immersive experiences the
destinations offered.
Alex Gonsalves, gm of On
the Go Tours, said it had
seen demand for Egypt grow
60%-70% in the last two
years. “Demand dropped
significantly during the
Arab Spring, but Egypt is
now back in our five topselling destinations.” He
said demand for Turkey had
grown by 50% in the last
financial year. “We believe
that these destinations will
only gain more momentum
in the New Year.” He added
that travel to Turkey was
cost-effective for South
African travellers, and also
appealing as they did not
require a visa.
Celeste Muir, marketing
manager of Thompsons
Holidays, said it had
stopped selling Turkey
during 2016/2017 due to
the political instability. “We
started selling it again at
the beginning of 2018 and
have since seen substantial
growth.” She added that
travel to Greece had also
recovered after the country’s
economic crash. Chris saw
a similar trend, and said
Greece was a country to
watch: “We’ve seen 20%-
30% growth from Greece in
the last year.
Top travel trends for 2019
1 LAST-minute bookings
are on the rise, a trend that
is pertinent for agencies
promoting their own mobile
apps. The trekksoft.com 2018
tourism survey shows that the
global mobile booking window
narrowed to an average of five
days. Stephan Ekbergh
of Travelstart, said it had
seen the same trend from
SA travellers using its
booking app.
2 Teresa Richardson, The
Travel Corporation SA md, says
sustainable, responsible and
ecological travel are key travel
trends. “Sustainable travel
destinations that we expect
to see increase in popularity
in 2019 include South and
Central American countries
such as Costa Rica, Peru,
Chile, Argentina and Easter
Island, as well as Sri Lanka,
which was named the numberone country to visit in 2019 by
Lonely Planet.”
3 Luxury will be increasingly
defined by the exclusivity and
‘personality’ of the destination,
said Teresa, with travellers
looking for experiences that
focus on their interests and
that are unique and exclusive.
4 Getting away from it all will
be taken to the next level, with
burned out workers opting
for uncharted expeditions to
unknown places, and limited
digital connectivity. Marelize
Le Roux of Travel Vision
said it had seen an increase
in corporates using their
downtime for adventure travel
to bucket-list destinations.
5 The rise of solo female
travellers and female-only
tours has resulted in an
increase in women pursuing
active trips where they can
push themselves out of their
comfort zones, says Intrepid
Tours Caroline Tinsley. “We
have seen a significant spike
in interest in our womenonly, female-guided tours,
particularly to destinations
such as Iran, which are usually
more challenging to navigate
as a solo female traveller.”
6 ‘Insta-tourism’ will continue
to gain momentum in 2019.
This phenomenon has seen
the younger traveller make
entire trip plans based on
photogenic spots captured on
Instagram. Travel Counsellors
recently ran a social media
campaign where clients
were given a TC Teddy and
encouraged to tag TC in
photos of the toy. “The clients
really took to this idea,” said
marketing manager Michelle
Bullmore, adding that it
resulted in new business. “The
travel images on social media
became aspirational for the
friends, family and followers
of the client. They saw the
images, desired the trip and
then were immediately able to
connect with the agent.
