There’s some encouraging news from destination marketing groups on the effects of COVID-19. But also some disturbing trends surrounding business travel and sports. I’ve got some thoughts and links to published stories on all three of those topics today on my FUTURE OF TRAVEL blog.
First, I’ll offer the encouraging news. A report by my friends at TravelPulse in the U.S. finds that destination marketing folks are feeling more optimistic these days.
Reporter Claudette Covey wrote that the fourth wave of a survey conducted by MMGY Travel Intelligence and Destinations International Foundation “found that increasing numbers of destination organizations are expressing optimism for economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.”
“The survey, which assesses how destination organizations are affected and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, noted the percentage of destination professionals who predicted their local economics would worsen fell from 72% in the third wave of the study to 41% in the fourth wave.
“Fourteen per cent of respondents said they expected their local economies to improve within the next two months, up from two per cent increases from third-wave responses.
“Many organizations are now starting to proactively plan their shift from informational communications campaigns to promotional ones in the next 60 days,” said MMGY Global’s Chris Davidson, executive vice president, insights & strategies. “But, there won’t be one moment where it all turns back on for everyone. Cities, even within the same state, may be on totally different timetables and with differing restrictions and protocols.”
While 76% of respondents said they would continue to invest in crisis communications, the survey found that percentage is expected to drop to 46% in the next 60 days.
Seventy-three per cent of respondents said their promotional efforts will likely be email-based, up from 62% in the third wave of the survey.”
The full story can be found here: https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/survey-uncovers-optimism-for-covid-19-destination-recovery.html
It’s going to be a while before we see packed stands at a sporting event again.
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT: NOT LOOKING GOOD
It’s becoming pretty clear that we’re not going to have live sports to watch in person this summer, or concerts or live theatre. The world-renowned Stratford Festival here in Ontario put its season on hold the other day, although they said they MIGHT be able to do some shows in the fall or around the holidays.
A report from Reuters finds that less than half of Americans plan to attend sports events, concerts, movies and amusement parks when they reopen to the public unless there’s a COVID-19 vaccine. Since doctors say that could be 18 months away, this spells a lot of trouble for pro sports and lovers of sport like me. Let alone movie and theme park fans.
Here’s a link to the Reuters story: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-events/most-americans-to-avoid-sports-other-live-events-before-coronavirus-vaccine-reuters-ipsos-idUSKCN22A2AK
THE END OF BIZ TRAVEL?
Writing on the website businesstravelnews.com, Travel Technology writer Johnny Thorsen recently said COVID-19 represents “the end of corporate travel as we have come to know and love it for more than 20 years.”
That sounds extreme, but I think he’s right. It’s not the end of corporate travel, but it’s definitely the end of corporate travel as it has been.
Executives for high-flying (pardon the pun) Fortune 500 companies will still be asked to zoom off to Paris, San Francisco and Shanghai for business meetings, but they won’t go in the numbers they used to. Zoom and other technological advances have shown us that we can communicate reasonably well over the Internet. Yes, some deals require face-to-face interaction, and those kinds of meetings are often quite important in some cultures. But it’s not like any of us are shaking hands much in the next year, anyway.
As well as saving money on flights, hotels and out-of-town meals with virtual meetings, companies will also save significant amounts of time that their management team might lose flying halfway across the world. And they’ll have a better chance of keeping their executives healthy if they stay closer to home.
Anyhow, here’s more of Thorsen wrote recently in Business Travel News.
“Despite an extended period of sustained growth and profit, the reality is that most airlines will run out of cash within three months. They will get various levels of funding from governments to survive for another three to six months, but once they start operating independently with a much smaller business volume, they will be forced to reduce schedules and capacity and also reduce their investments in technology and service innovation. This typically leads to … (another) problem, which is higher airfares.
Imagine if the average cost of flying one hour goes up by 50 percent and remains at that level for the next three years. That will have an immediate negative impact on global travel, as half or more of all flights in 2019 represented a low-cost service, delivering an endless stream of business and leisure passengers to almost any destination in the world. Despite the current fall in oil prices and subsequent lower cost of aviation fuel, the lack of actual flight capacity (perhaps also empty middle seats) will probably lead to higher prices” (a point I’ve been making for a while now).
“If you are a global travel manager, you should start preparing for how your position will evolve inside the company you work for,” Thorsen said. “The travel program is no longer about getting the best price, but rather about enabling the right people to travel under a ‘safe-way protocol’ when a trip cannot be avoided—quite a change from the old world.”
You can read more of Thorsen’s story here: https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Management/And-Just-Like-That-Travel-Is-Gone
In related news, the Toronto Star says Tourism Toronto is reporting a drop in business visitors of 120,000 from April to June due to the COVID-19 situation. Executives with the tourism board say visitor spending “is effectively shut down.”
This isn’t just a problem for city coffers and rich hotel owners, but also means lost jobs for thousands of low-income workers in the hospitality industry.
Here’s a link to the Star story: https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/04/28/plummeting-business-tourism-costing-cities-hundreds-of-millions-in-lost-revenues.html
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