10 Things I Learnt At Strategic Industry Engagement

1.       Marketing & Branding

STB destination brand YourSingapore launched in 2010 was designed to be customised to each individual and market segments e.g. Australia: Get Lost and Find the Real Singapore; China: New Discoveries; India: The Holiday You Take Home with You; Indonesia and Malaysia: Only in Singapore, Right Now!; Philippines: Singapore - See where the World is Heading; Thailand: Experience Many Worlds in One Place; Vietnam: New Fun is Singapore Made. However, industry feedback was that the branding was not personal and the message was diluted across the various markets. STB is aware of this and is in the midst of a re-branding exercise. 

A new marketing strategy was shared at the Tourism Industry Conference 2016, of Stories, Fans and Channels with the three Strategic Thrusts: Telling a Great Singapore Story; Targetting the Right Fans; Enhancing Our Delivery. Yee (2010) gave a history of the tourism destination branding over the years in his dissertation paper ‘Nation branding: A case study of Singapore’ from ‘Instant Asia’ in the 1960s-70s, ‘Surprising Singapore’ in 1985, ‘New Asia - Singapore’ in 1996, ‘Uniquely Singapore’ in 2004 to ‘Your Singapore’ in 2010. He suggested that the word ‘unique’ does not capture the essence of Singapore because every country is unique in their own ways.  Henderson (2006) in her paper ‘Uniquely Singapore? A case study in destination branding’ discussed the Uniquely Singapore branding including its limitations. She discussed that the campaign was well-planned with active efforts to engage and involve the trade partners and local community.  However, the single destination brand may paint a uniform, bland, and over-general image. More recently, STB shared its Destination Brand Story with Skift CMO Interviews on 3 May 2016 where Lynette Pang shared how data and real-time marketing are very relevant for engaging consumers.

2.       Airlines  Business

The reason for the rise in the Middle East air hubs could be attributed to the vision and political will of its rulers.  According to industry sources, the rulers adopt a non-intervention approach which allowed the airline executives freedom to take risks and leverage on its strategic location. The government may not subsidize the airline but through an investment arm they are the biggest shareholder, and because the airline is not public-listed there is no pressure of return on investment.  The airline’s strategy is to grow code sharing arrangements where it takes up equity in other airlines to break into new markets. ‘They are like the precocious and audacious boy who has rich and forgiving parents.’

The rulers understand that oil is not limitless and they want to diversify away from oil revenues, and will do whatever it takes to build their airlines and airports into global transport hubs. SQ is still a very good product with excellent customer service, food, in-flight entertainment and overall great experience. They are a hub to South-East Asia but now they are focusing on more direct flights to beat the Middle-East airlines’ stopover programmes. SQ has proven its astuteness but it needs to respond to the market more quickly. ‘SQ cannot be run by scholarly technocrats focusing on cost management rather than revenue growth.’  The Middle East airlines hire people from all around the world to do its bidding, take risks to beat the odds. ‘This is full throttle globalization.’

3.       Hospitality Business

Web In Travel (WIT) Europe was held for the first time in Europe in London on 30 June 2016 in Tate Modern, with STB as the presenting partner. A cocktail session was held in the evening at Town Hall Hotel (by Loh Lik Peng/ Unlisted Collection) hosted by Momondo Group. Town Hall Hotel is located in Bethnal Green and was a former council hall, bought by Mr Loh.  Its grand architectural styles include stately sweeping staircases, marble flooring, high ceilings, generously proportioned apartment-style rooms, and a decadent brass, marble-clad swimming pool, inside an Edwardian façade.

4.       Tour Business

Some of the big tour operators in UK include Cox & Kings, Flight Centre, Premier Holidays, Thomas Cook, Trailfinders etc. The Telegraph Travel Awards 2015-16 lists Britain’s best tour operators, namely Audley, Trailfinders and Scott Dunn, as well as for escorted tour operators i.e. Trafalgar, APT and Wendy Wu. Some of the UK tour operators that specialize in Asia tours include Asia Inspirations (tailormade arm of Wendy Wu), Selective Asia, Visit Asia and Wendy Wu.  Unfortunately, research showed that some of these do not even include Singapore in the Asia itinerary e.g. Audley, Selective Asia, Trafalgar and Wendy Wu. 

Volume and capacity is also determined by airlines’ seat numbers and their top operators.  There are 45 flights a week from London to Singapore and the most popular airline flying from London to Singapore in May 2016 was Singapore Airlines.  The six non-stop daily flights are by Singapore Airlines (4 flights) and British Airways (2 flights). There are also connecting flights via Amsterdam, Bangkok, Colombo, Copenhagen, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Muscat, Paris, Rome and Zurich.

5.       Attractions

The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, a quaint little urban village, comprises the historic town centre, Royal Park and related institutional buildings, and was inscribed by the World Heritage Convention in 1997. Visit Greenwich is the Royal Borough of Greenwich Destination Management Company, a partnership based, not for profit, Community Interest Company. It is a public/private partnership, led by a board of tourism professionals, representing different sectors of the industry, with an independent chair. They work with partners e.g. visitor attractions, accommodation providers, transport operators, meetings and events venues, the hospitality and retail sectors and the travel trade and media. There is also a Business Plan, Business Plan Launch, Annual Report, Destination Management Plan; read them here.   

The Cotswold Way is a 100 miles route through the small villages in Cotswold (e.g. Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Lower & Upper Slaughter, Stanway, Stanton, Broadway, Snowshill, Chipping Campden etc.) which have recently become very popular as tourists look for novel authentic experiences. These villages have a long history in the way their stone houses are built and maintained, and now protected.

Attractions such as Singapore’s Botanic Gardens (a UNESCO site) and Gardens by The Bay (inspired by the Eden Project in UK) appeal to the European visitors because while they have beautiful plant species in their own countries, it is different from Singapore’s tropical gardens. 

6.       Activities

Local markets are the best way to explore a city. They create a buzz, liven the street scene, engage visitors with the local community. When the markets develop their own unique character, they will start to have their own fans. Markets in London include: Borough Market (for food), Brick Lane Market (for arts), Camden Lock Market (for arts, clothes, food), Columbia Road Flower Market (for flowers), Covent Garden Market (for tourists), Greenwich Market (smaller version of Covent Garden Market), Old Spitalfields Market (for arts, clothes), Portobello Road Market (in Nottinghill). Busking is allowed in the city and around the markets, but they usually have to abide by a set of rules, sign up on a schedule, and they are great crowd pullers and entertainment.

7.       Planning & Policies

Brexit has led to a fall in the pound (at one stage 10% to its lowest since 1985), which means that buying goods or services (including holidays) from other countries will become more expensive for Britons (“How will Brexit affect your finances?”, BBC).  So a summer holiday will cost more (“What does Brexit mean for you? Holidays, homes, jobs”, The Guardian).  But if you are booking a trip to the UK, then the drop of the pound may make a trip to London more cost effective than normal (“What Brexit means for you, and your financial plan”, Huffington Post).  Generally, the economy is going into recession, prices will go up, people are cautious, and the market is pessimistic. Singapore’s tourism arrivals from UK will be affected, for sure.

8.       Special Interest Tourism – Action Plan #1

You can walk the streets of London with London Walks - £10 each, no need to book, just meet your guide outside the designated tube station, rain or shine, each tour lasts two hours, a hundred (or more!) different walks to choose from, in and around London (Bath, Cambridge, Cotswolds, Oxford, Stonehenge etc.), from themes on history (Westminster, Kensington), literary (Shakespeare, Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes), music (The Beatles), film (Harry Potter), street art, pubs, ghost (Jack the Ripper), the legal & illegal, the darkest, secret, hidden.

Old Westminster – 1000 years of history, where kings and queens are crowned, where they lived and were buried. ‘And to see it with a great guide is to have that past suddenly rise to the surface’; The Lure Of The Underground – 150 years of engineering and artistry from the inside; Along The Thames Pub Walk – London’s last remaining galleried coaching inn, its best riverside walkway, its oldest market, the most sensational art gallery in the world, lots of pub lore and its most stunning skyline panorama; The Street Art Walk – ‘People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish … but that’s only if it’s done properly’ – Banksy.  This outdoor gallery (Shoreditch and Spitafields) gets ‘rehung’ every few months. ‘Six months is the average life span of street art in east London, so the walk – true to the scene – changes all the time.’; A Soho Saunter – Everything humming with life: ‘shutters going up, flower boxes being watered, freshly baked bread carried into restaurants, waiters in white aprons serving Turkish coffee at pavement cafes, Chinatown bestirring itself, the colour and clamour  of Berwick Street market’; Old Kensington – ‘Royal Kensington is London at its best – picturesque, stimulating, and full of character.’; Old Hampstead Village – London’s most picturesque neighbourhood with its perfectly preserved Georgian village crowning the top of a handsome hill; Foodies London Walks – Epicurean, Gourmet’s, Foodies’ London; Pie Crust to Upper Crust Culinary Destinations; Foodies’ London The West End; Biscuits & Banquets.

Action Plan #1 – To include these ideas into the STB Roving Ambassadors Programme.

9.       Big Data / Personalization – Action Plan #2

MasterCard: The Priceless Engine - The Problem: To stand out and to add value to its consumers, but the information about the consumers themselves is guarded by the banks who issue the cards. MasterCard did not have the means to interpret all the data and simply pushed more and more irrelevant merchant offers and content to consumers through banner ads, social media, pop-ups etc.  The Solution: MasterCard launched ‘The Priceless Engine’, a combination of people, process and more than 20 technology platforms to crunch data, track trends and insights, and study social media conversations as they happen. It turns big data into usable data and deliver the right offers and messages to the right people at the right time. The Result: The Priceless Engine was put to work to power MasterCard’s ‘New Year’s Eve’ campaign, featuring Hugh Jackman, across the region. His involvement created an emotional spark with consumers through the local MasterCard Facebook pages, allowing MasterCard to connect to consumers’ hearts. It encouraged people to share who they would want to spend their New Year’s Eve with and why, sharing elaborate and emotional stories, and providing MasterCard with valuable data and insights to optimise the campaign further.  Those insights were then used to provide customers with Priceless Surprises and Priceless Experiences they truly cared about. Subsequently, these Priceless Moments then became a catalyst for even more engagement, allowing MasterCard to get even richer insights.

Action Plan #2 – To personalize curriculum materials for students depending on their needs and interests.

10.   Further Education / School Exchange – Action Plan #3

The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management opened in 2001, in academic association with Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL).  It is owned by the Jumeirah Group and offers a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Hospitality Management (BBA), Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Hospitality Management, Study Abroad in Dubai and Professional Training & Development programmes.  A meeting was connected with Dr Sanjay Nadkarni, Director of Research, who was a panellist at the Arabian Travel Market 2016 seminar on ‘The role of big data, predictive and immersive technologies in the future travel booking experience’.  The meeting also introduced Dr Stuart Jauncey, Dean and Dr Michael Newnham, Associate Dean of the Academy.

A visit was made to the University of Surrey, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, similar in intent to the Emirates Academy, to discuss student and staff exchanges with Professor Graham Miller, Head of School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Dr Li Gang, Director of International Relations, and Ms Rachel Enticknap Bickford-Smith, Regional Manager of International Student Recruitment Office. The University of Surrey is rated University of the Year and its School of Hospitality & Tourism Management is ranked #1 in the UK. Read more about the University of Surrey: Singapore meets Surrey blog.

The discussions explored opportunities for:

- Student programmes e.g. 2 weeks CDS on Global Citizenship;

- Student internships with the Jumeirah Group e.g. Burj Al Arab (30-40% Chinese tourists and they are looking for staff with bilingual capabilities);

- Articulation arrangements for graduates into its third final year (already in place for Surrey);

- Graduates with many years’ working experience into its MBA (Emirates Academy);

- Short educational trips with briefings or workshops.

Action Plan #3 – To develop student exchange programmes into educational trips.

The Case Study of Edinburgh The Festival City

Edinburgh plays hosts to a number of festivals the whole year round and in August alone, there are many art-related festivals, thus Edinburgh the Festival City:

·         Edinburgh Art Festival 28 July – 28 August 2016

·         Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 5 – 27 August 2016

·         Edinburgh Fringe Festival 5 – 29 August 2016

·         Edinburgh International Festival 5 – 29 August 2016

·         Edinburgh International Book Festival 13 – 29 August 2016

·         Edinburgh Mela 27 – 28 August 2016

·         Scottish International Storytelling Festival 21 -  31 October 2016

·         Edinburgh Hogmanay 30 December 2016 – 1 January 2017

·         Edinburgh International Science Festival 1 – 16 April 2017

·         Imaginate Festival 27 May – 4 June 2017

·         Edinburgh International Film Festival 21 June – 2 July 2017

·         Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 15 – 24 July 2017

Three Ideas For Singapore Branding

1.       Personalization

The rapid speed of technology has changed the way marketers must keep up with its customers, who now need to anticipate expectations with new ideas and inspirations. When previously it was to create a product or service, then sell them to the consumers, now the move is to build the product and service which the consumers want and with their help, to empower the consumers to personalize their own experiences. At the same time, it is important that the story brands tell must reflect the real brand values, otherwise markets will just be entertaining rather than engaging. To get consumers to share their personal information, they must realize the value of the benefits. A case study of Intercontinental Hotel Group shows how its “Guest Love” ROI index was able to use the personal data of their customers to measure guest satisfaction, which then translates into loyalty program and priority club rewards.

In this mass market, customers are looking at not just customization of products for them, but personalization of experiences for individuals.  Coca Cola’s initiatives in this area include its ‘Diet Coke “It’s Mine”’ where there are over ten million unique designs of Diet Coke packaging, ‘Share a Coke’ where individuals can personalize their Coke cans (and bottles) around the world, and ‘Coca Cola Freestyle’ where a next-generation dispenser lets consumers mix their own drinks from 150 flavours, save the recipe on an app and share it with friends. As Coca Cola says “We’re allowing consumers the choice to interact with our brands and also go ahead and customize those to meet their needs as well.”  On the other hand, Coca Cola is also mindful that it needs to ensure product experiences stay consistent across categories and channels.  “The more customization or more personalization [and] the more touch points you add for somebody to do their own thing, the more that can go wrong in the experience.”

However, one needs to be aware of the challenge of understanding and predicting human behaviour, as an understanding of behavioural science would tell us that.  So, for personalization to work, this means that every touch point must be specially crafted for the customer. Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker (Fast Company’s 2015 most innovative company) states that “In sort of a competitive environment, the most thoughtful person wins. And if you are thoughtful and create awesome customer experiences, when people are happy they tell people about you. We like to think that everyone at Warby Parker is an experience designer.”

2.       Community Involvement

Andy Spade once said, “The bigger a brand gets, the smaller it should act – because no one likes big.” A case study of Sweden shows that when a country sets out to boost tourism, the team of ad guys unveil a shiny new campaign saying everything great about that country but often end up saying nothing. So the Swedish Institute and Visit Sweden decided to nominate the voice of their people creating “the first democratic twitter handle” @Sweden. Each week a different nominated Swedish citizen, be it a stay-at-home mom or a pro-footballer player, took the reins of @Sweden and shared “Life in Sweden” as it happened to them. All these small viewpoints collated to form a picture of modern day Sweden, truer than could be captured in any marketing slogan or campaign. #Sweden now has 67,800 followers from 120 countries.

In Australia, the Queensland Plan, a 30-year vision for Queensland, was presented to the people of Queensland in February 2013. Its key imperative was to ensure the Queensland Plan was developed not just by the government but that it would also include the voices of Queenslanders, their experiences and their wisdom. The extensive consultation process that guided the plan and subsequent directions comprised the five community engagement principles:

· Driving awareness and keeping the conversation alive;

· Maximising community participation;

· Empowering leaders to drive conversation;

· Reinforcing integrity through transparency, and

· Consolidating without losing meaning.

Airbnb recognises that people want to connect with other people, and visitors want to connect with the host community.  So while its core business is lodging, its new branding campaigns in 2015 “Never a Stranger” focuses on the benefits of staying with local hosts. The other campaign “Is Mankind” is more value-driven and suggests “Is man kind? Are we good? Go see. Go look through their windows so you can understand their views. Sit at their tables so you can share their tastes. Sleep in their beds so you may know their dreams. Go see and find out just how kind the he’s and she’s of this mankind are.” Such experiences provide authentic opportunities in the travel destinations for visitors.

3.       Ethical Tourism

Surveys (Delpal & Hatchuel 2007) have shown that in many cases, consumers are ready to pay more in order to respect social and environmental issues, and they also have a generally better view of brands or firms that convey positive environmental messages (Borin et al. 2011). Today’s new ‘experience economy’ is based on the production and consumption of ‘engaging experiences’ and as such, the ethic of responsibility is a good platform for companies to be more competitive. It is a unique opportunity to strengthen customer relationships by getting involved in the spirit of responsibility.  Ozcaglar-Toulouse (2009) showed that “through consuming socially responsible products, caring individuals ease their feelings of discomfort with society’s values”.

So perhaps it is time to involve tourists, who say “I would like to be part of a truly important cause” when they travel.

Source: WARC

University of Surrey, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management Conference 2016

Theme: Making An Impact - Creating Constructive Conversations

Keynote: Key challenges facing the tourism sector and the role that research plays in helping us advocate the industry.

Conference papers: Sustainability and ecological development; Industry workforce and education.

- Dimensions of Sustainable Food: Ecology, Economy, Society, Health, Culture.

Workshops: Tourism in a digital world: Challenges and solutions; A new vision for sustainable tourism.

- Sustainable tourism: Measurement reporting and disclosure, Transiting to a low carbon economy, Valuing natural and social capital, Travel & tourism as a system, Resilient companies and destinations.

Watch WTTC’s “I Am Travel” video here. 

 

An Interview With Omo & Eulanda, HDYTI Founders, HDYTI

1.       How did you get started in this business?

O: I am originally from Nigeria, and I came to London ten years ago on a consulting job.

M: I came to London for graduate school five years ago, met Omo, and have been here since.

O&M: We started HDYTI (Hey! Dip Your Toes In) in February 2015.  We are very honoured to have won the 2016 UK Blog Awards for Best Food & Drink blog, and Highly Commended in the travel category.

2.       How do you differentiate your business from the many travel bloggers out there?  How do you see the business growing?

We do not follow trends blindly or intentionally try to stand out. Instead we find our own niche, we love connecting with people. We are sincere, we don’t sell false impressions, and we make it feel real with real stories. We each have our own jobs with real responsibilities but we prioritise travel in our lives.  As you can see, we both have our own unique personalities, and we bring two different perspectives of the world to every new place that we go to.

We see this blog as a travel platform with unique content. We are currently working on a Euro Food campaign where we go to 24 European restaurants and write about it. It is about food, community and football; about connections and sharing content. We are thinking of starting an e-book after this.

We see this blog business as a media platform. Eventually we want to involve other writers with their expertise areas, include video content, and become a community of resources. We have been working as a team, and we see this working with other writers as teamwork.  We also want to continue the relationship with clients, using data and technology to analyse performance and to share reports with them. The relationship does not end with just a written piece of work.

3.       How do you think we can enhance the awareness of Singapore as a tourist destination?

Definitely showcase the unique food culture, through the food sharing economy. This can be e.g. going to a local’s home or market, and connecting with the community.  

It is a combination of experiences.  You can capitalise on e.g. a sports event, but focus on food, history, and participate in the local culture.

You can also include a component to contribute to the local community. We try to include such aspects of ethical tourism in our travels.

Stopover deals are useful to encourage transit passengers to spend some time in the city, and twitter chats can be used consistently to engage people and influencers from all over the world.

Thank you, Omo & Eulanda. 

An Interview With Pat Boadu-Darko, Principal Tour Organiser, PBD Travel International

1.       How did you get started in this business?

I am originally from Ghana and I have lived in London for thirteen years now.  I have a BBA in English and also a Diploma in Education. I obtained my Masters in Tourism Marketing from the University of Surrey in 1993. 

In Ghana we have national service which is not military in nature, and I spent one year teaching English in the country.  I have worked in the Ministry of Culture & Tourism in Ghana doing PR work, and also in a Ghana development company.  I then spent four years teaching in Papua New Guinea in 1996, and about eight months in Saudi Arabia in 2014.

Now that my children are grown up, I want to be involved in a tourism business, which is my passion. So I started this business PBD Travel International in October 2011 to bring residents around the country they live in because I realise that even though we live in this city, many of us have not visited the many attractions here. I am also involved in the mentoring programme with the University of Surrey and I have mentored a student from the university, whose project was to help me revamp my business including its website and propose new marketing strategies.

2.       What is your perception of Singapore?

I have not visited Singapore yet, but I have passed through its airport during a transit from Papua New Guinea. I feel that Singapore is known for its banking and finance service sectors, but many people here do not know it as a tourist destination. My impression of Singapore is that it is a beautiful city with friendly people.   

I have seen advertisements of Malaysia in UK, but none on Singapore. There are also flights to Ghana via Dubai which makes Dubai a good stopover destination for us.

3.       How do you think we can enhance the awareness of Singapore as a tourist destination?

You can perhaps organise events such as a travel quiz to get people together, create some excitement, provide a nice reception with food and cocktail, and get word out to people about the place. You can also leverage on key days such as National Day to get people in the community together to celebrate the destination, and indirectly creating awareness of the destination.

My company runs such events regularly, about twice a year.  It also provided us with a platform to connect with our potential customers to understand their concerns why they are not coming on-board with us. These events were hugely successful for us.

Thank you, Pat. 

A Case Study Of UNESCO Maritime Greenwich

The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site comprises the historic town centre, Royal Park and related institutional buildings, and was inscribed by the World Heritage Convention in 1997.

Read the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site Management Plan 2014.

Visit Greenwich is the Royal Borough of Greenwich Destination Management Company, a partnership based, not for profit, Community Interest Company.  It is a public/private partnership, led by a board of tourism professionals, representing different sectors of the industry, with an independent chair. They work with partners e.g. visitor attractions, accommodation providers, transport operators, meetings and events venues, the hospitality and retail sectors and the travel trade and media.

There is also a Business Plan, Business Plan Launch, Annual Report, Destination Management Plan; read them here. 

The Greenwich London Food Tour by the Greenwich Royal Tours in the quaint little urban village: