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. 

Special Interest Tourism/ New Tour Business Products

The 10 best special interest holidays for 2016 according to The Telegraph:

· Steam dreams – participate in the Festival of Steam in the Somme with trains, tractors, buses, steamrollers and steam-powered saw-mills.

· Ballroom and Latin American dancing in the Tenerife - daily dance tuition with experts who are on hand to teach the steps, hold, posture, footwork and professional techniques.

· Choral singing in Andalusia – with artistic director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales as the singing tutor.

· Cranes and Champagne – bird-watching with some extra fizz.

· Holland in bloom river cruise – a visit to Keukenhof Gardens and a gardening expert to talk about the best new varieties and the garden’s history in Hortus Bulborum.

· Kumbh Mela in India – the festival rotates around four different holy sites in Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik and Ujjain.

· Painting in Croatia – painting tuition with excursions by boat to several islands.

· Morocco Sketchbook – takes in Marrakesh, mountains and the coastlines, and help you develop your drawing skills.

· Blossoms in Japan – a botanical journey from the capital Tokyo to the imperial city of Kyoto during either the Spring Peony Festival or the Autumn Chrysanthemum Festival, and also includes an Ikebana class to learn the Japanese art of flower-arranging.

· Fishing in Northern Argentina – a fishing and conservation tour, and opportunities for horse-riding and bird-watching with expert insights from scientists.

Shakespeare Aloud at Stratford-upon-Avon:

Profile Of UK Tour Operators

Who are the tour operators in UK who have the largest volume of people travelling to Singapore / Asia?

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, 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.

Project LON #1: So, who should we work with in our trade campaigns?