Stiff competition and poor cargo market hit region's carriers
Airlines based in the Asia Pacific region recorded combined net profits of US$2.5 billion in 2013, 55% less than in 2012. According
to the latest data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines
(AAPA), intense competition and lacklustre demand for air cargo had a
major impact on the result.
Asia’s airline profits fell 55% in 2013Operating
revenues totalled US$171.2bn, 2.1% lower than 2012. This included a
2.2% decline in passenger revenues, to US$131.4bn, which occurred
despite a 6.3% rise in passenger traffic (measured in revenue passenger
kilometres). Operating expenses edged 0.4% higher to US$167.4bn,
with the region’s fuel bill falling 3.2% to US$59.9bn. Non-fuel
expenditure however, increased by 2.5% to US$107.5bn, due to higher
depreciation and staff costs. “Overall, Asia Pacific airlines
faced challenging conditions in 2013, and registered a net profit margin
of just 1.5%, compared with the 3.2% margin achieved in 2012,” said
AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman. “Intense competition in
both the passenger and air cargo business segments led to pressure on
fares, and weaker Asian currencies adversely affected costs, even more
so for airlines with significant exposure to foreign denominated debt.” Looking
ahead, Herdman added; “Asian carriers are still facing a difficult
operating environment marked by continued market competition and
volatile currency markets. The focus for airlines remains firmly on
strict cost controls and further productivity improvements. “Overall,
however, prospects for a further pick-up in the global economy and
expectations of a cyclical upswing in international trade should give
some grounds for optimism,” Herdman concluded.
Singapore Airlines partners STB for tourism promotion
Two companies to spend US$3.2bn driving more visitors from key source markets
Singapore is aiming to attract more visitors from key source markets (photo by Stanislav Komogorov)Singapore
Airlines (SIA) has penned a new international, multi-million-dollar
tourism partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Under
the terms of the new deal, SIA and STB will embark on a global
marketing campaign focused on attracting both leisure and business
travellers to Singapore, plus the lucrative cruise market. The two
companies will invest a total of SG$4 million (US$3.2m) in joint
campaigns focused on key visitor source markets across the world,
including Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and USA. SIA
and STB said they will also work on the development of new “exclusive
and customised experiences” for travelers. “Through this
complementary partnership, SIA and STB will leverage each other’s
consumer and trade insights to ensure that travellers have a more
in-depth Singapore experience that meets their needs and wants,” said
Lynette Pang, assistant chief executive of STB’s marketing group. “Consumers
already have a strong brand affinity to SIA, and would be able to
easily relate to new marketing initiatives and products. Together, we
can amplify the Singapore story, and attract more quality visitors,” she
added. SIA, along with its regional subsidiary SilkAir, operates
over 490 flights per week from the seven target markets to Singapore,
including 226 from China and India alone. The city is often viewed
as a transit destination however, and STB has been keen to increase the
average length-of-stay among visitors to the city. This focus saw the
SIA and STB join forces in 2013 to launch the Singapore Stopover Holiday
(SSH), which was intended to encourage transit travellers to spend more
time exploring Singapore.
Vietnam arrivals surge in Q1
China and Russia continue to drive international tourism
Tourists relax on a beach in Danang (photo by Peter Stuckings)
International visitor arrivals to Vietnam experienced strong double-digit growth in the first quarter of the year.
Figures released by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) show that the country achieved 2.33 million international arrivals in the January-March 2014 period, up 29.3% year-on-year.
The growth continues to be driven by China and Russia, which both experienced growth in the region of 50% in the first quarter, although all major source markets contributed more visitors during the period.
China (+48.3% to 587,475 visitors) remains by far Vietnam’s largest source market, accounting for more than one in four international arrivals to the country. South Korea (+6.3% to 238,496), Japan (+9.2% to 170,772), USA (+9.7% to 140,051) and Russia (+55.2% to 131,469) completed the top five.
Vietnam welcomed 7.57m international visitors in 2013, a 10.6% increase compared to 2012. And if it continues its strong start to this year, the country is well on track to meet its full-year 2014 target of eight million visitors.
World Travel Market is the leading global event for the travel industry. It is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. This year marks its 35th year and generate more than £2.2 billion of travel and industry contracts. It it held at the Excel London every November. The event attracts 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government and international press. The event is the best place to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends. This is a Business to Business (B2B) event where as the TNT travel market is Business to Customer (B2C).
Educational benefits: Travel shows offer educational opportunities for student that are interested in the Tourism industry. Students can attend these events and learn from experienced professionals. Students already studying a degree in Tourism can apply and also get the chance to extend their knowledge from these programmes. At WTM they offer student programmes where they offer the ITT Future You conference which features career advice into the industry, ITT Tutor Networking, The Travel Tech session where students can learn about the impacts of social media, mobile, blogging and technology and on how it benefits to destinations and business in the industry. WTM offer a programme on World Responsible Tourism Day, this stimulates, educates and inspires the industry to embrace a year- round responsible tourism. I think it is a great opportunity for students to attend and learn first hand. See more at: http://www.wtmlondon.com/#sthash.opLjHlsN.dpuf
The two biggest travel trade shows in
London are the World Travel market and TNT Travel Show.
TNT Travel Show
The show
is London's largest free travel exhibition and is regarded by travellers as the
place to plan and book their annual travel. The TNT Travel Show is held in a convenient Central London
location, providing easy access for visitors and exhibitors, and has a proven
track record of delivering high volumes of passengers. TNT offered 5,000
FREE tickets to the TNT Travel Show on March 1, 2014, these were snapped up and
so we released another 1,000 as well as offering unlimited FAST TRACK places
for £2.50. If people weren't able pre-register in time, tickets were just
£2.50 on the door on the day!
People
attend the travel show to gather information on destinations and even
book trips on the day of the show! The travel show has benefits for both
visitors and exhibitions, Advantages for a visitor would be that they gather
new information on new destinations that they've never heard about,
there are travel seminars, Lucky dip where people can get lucky and win
holidays, Deals & discounts and travel auctions. What more could you ask
for and the travel show is free of charge!
For
exhibitors the benefits are to take booking on the day and a great opportunity
to network with multiple tour operators and people. Companies have the opportunity to increase
their brand awareness with an active group who are serious about and
consistently travelling throughout Europe and beyond. The Travel Show also
offers an interactive platform to enable direct contact with consumers,
assisting with relationship building and data capture.
Who exhibits Exhibitors are mostly travel related companies. they include:
Tourist Boards and Regional Areas, Travel Tour Operators, Travel
Insurance Companies, Travel & Booking Agents, Flight Booking Agents, Travel
Equipment Providers, Travel Transport Providers, Gap year Travel, Educational
Travel and Independent Travel. There are also a wide range of exhibitors are
who are not travel-based companies that are allowed to exhibit at the
show. These exhibitors are closely linked to the travel industry, previous
exhibitors included: Shippers, Recruitment companies, Mobile Phone, Banks
and pre-paid credit providers, Travel Guide Publishers, Educational and
Training Providers, Volunteering Work Abroad and many, many more.
Stats and Figures for Travel Show Visitor Profile March
2014
» Age
»» 26% aged 18-24
»» 65% aged 25-34
»» 6% aged 31-35
»» 3% aged 36 +
» Nationality
»» 45% Australian
»» 28% New Zealander
»» 14% British
»» 13% Other (including South African, Canadian, American,
Irish, Polish and French)
» Reasons for attending the TNT Travel Show
»» 90% Take advantage of show deals & plan/book a trip
» When TNT Travel Show visitors are planning to Travel?
»» In the next 3 months 79%
»» In 4-6 Months 14%
»» In 7-12 Months 4%
» What destinations do visitors intend to visit in the next
year?
»» On average 47% want to go to Europe
»» 19% want to travel in the UK
»» More than 33% want to travel to long-haul destinations
» How much do visitors spend on their annual travel?
»» 96% of visitors will spend £500+
»» 79% of visitors will spend £1,000+
»» 57% of visitors will spend £2,000+
» Serious about travel
»» over 1/3 spend more than £3,000 on travel per annum
A tourist is someone who travels outside of their home for leisure, business or other purposes for more than a 24 hour period.
Different types of tourists
Tourists are classified according to their needs and reasons for travelling into four broad categories
business and professional tourists
leisure and holiday tourists
tourists travelling to visit friends and relatives (VFR)
Youth travellers, backpackers and gap year travellers
Trade fairs attract many different types of tourists seeking different types of holidays and for different purposes. Travel and tourism trade fairs provide exhibitors to cater traveller's needs. Visitors have a chance to find the holiday they most like depending on what type of tourist they are. Travel and tourism trade fairs offer different varieties to choose from.
A lot of travel and tourism organisations use
demographic segmentation such as socio- economics groupings, age, and gender.
It is a very popular way of market segmentation as it is relatively easy to
identify specific groups and target them specifically:
Socio- economic grouping are characterised into
classes from A to E.
·Class A- Senior managers and professionals, such
as managing directors of large firms, doctors and lawyers.
·Class B- Intermediate or middle- level managers
and professionals, such as managers of leisure centres, teachers and
accountants.
·Class C1- supervisory or junior management,
administrative or clerical positions, including office managers, receptionists,
computer operators and qualified fitness advisers.
·Class C2- skilled manual workers, such as
electricians and carpenters.
·Class D- semi- skilled and unskilled manual
workers, such as cleaners and construction workers.
·Class E- others in low incomes, including casual
workers and those who depend on state benefits and pensions.
