Regeneration rising
Move over, sustainable travel. The pandemic has birthed a call for a model of tourism that builds back better by going one step further than the motto of reaching net-zero. Regenerative tourism, the latest buzzword to enter the green scene, calls for a paradigm shift long overdue. Seen as a leap forward from simply developing tourism sustainably, regenerative tourism encourages travellers to leave a place better than they found it.
“Regenerative tourism gives back more than it takes. It should create measurable beneficial impacts for local community and ecosystems,” explained Jeffery Smith, vice president of sustainability for Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa.
“The goal of sustainability is to minimise negative impacts in these areas to the point where that business is able to survive. Regenerative tourism seeks to maximise the positive impacts; it should thrive.”
As tourism slowly emerges from the shackles of Covid-19, more stakeholders are sounding the call for the industry to build back better. Last June, six NGOs including the Centre for Responsible Travel and Sustainable Travel International united as the Future of Tourism Coalition with the goal of placing destination needs at the centre of tourism’s new future.
Twenty-two industry stakeholders, including tour operators like G Adventures and The Travel Corporation, NTOs such as the Jordan Tourism Board, and NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund, have committed to the coalition’s 13 guiding principles. These include choosing quality over quantity, demanding fair income distribution, mitigating climate impacts, closing the loop on resources, and operating business responsibly.
Booking agency Regenerative Travel released a white paper in December 2020 exploring how travel and hospitality stakeholders can employ regenerative principles to benefit both their surrounding areas and the local communities, without causing further damage. Included are case studies from hotels like Six Senses and Gal Oya Lodge in Sri Lanka which may have been practicing regeneration, without explicitly using that terminology.
Five regenerative principles are detailed in the paper, including whole systems thinking which considers all stakeholders in every decision, as well as the ripple effect those choices have on both animate and inanimate systems; honouring sense of place which entails adopting a holistic understanding of places; as well as community inclusion and partnership.
Ramping up the regeneration focus
Some Asia-Pacific tourism stakeholders, long focused on a regenerative model, are making strides in progressing such efforts.
One such player is Asian Trails, which has always held regeneration close to its heart, but had tagged such actions as “responsible tourism” and “sustainable tourism”, shared its group sustainability coordinator, Ameer Virani.
“The move towards talking about regeneration came as a result of the launch of the regenerative travel movement in mid-2020 and growing awareness of the term and what it means. This helps us communicate more accurately what we are trying to do,” he added.
With a greater focus on regeneration, in July 2020, Asian Trails embarked on a rigorous evaluation process of all its day excursions, multi-day tours and animal experiences to identify its most responsible products, shared Virani.
Among other criteria, its evaluation guidelines consider direct support to small and social businesses, eco-friendly accommodation and transport, supporting community-based tourism, and financial or in-kind contributions to social or environmental causes.
Virani said these guidelines will also help its staff develop more regenerative products in future. “Our process is, of course, not an exact science but we really want to highlight those products that we believe have net positive outcomes on local people and places,” he added.
As well, the company launched a refillable water bottle initiative in early 2020, which has yet to be fully implemented due to the pandemic.
Virani explained that with the initiative, beyond the aim of reducing the use of single-use plastic bottles – an instance of sustainability – the company intends to also regenerate by donating US$1 from the sale of each refillable water bottle to a local drinking water or plastic reduction project to ensure wider community and environmental benefits.
Another DMC that also leveraged the pandemic pause to rethink its priorities is Discova. “We needed to reflect on the impact tourism has on our communities and the environment. This has allowed us to take things one step further than a mere sustainable tourism model, focusing instead on a regenerative model,” said Eileen Yee, regional general manager – Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar, Singapore and Education Travel, Discova.
In line with that new vision, Discova has undertaken a reforestation programme in Siem Reap to help regenerate the local environment, and started working with communities in Bali to grow organic vegetables, diversifying their crops in a mutually beneficial way.
Going down the regenerative route too is Six Senses, which has committed funding outside hotel operations designed to give back at the local level, on projects with clear objectives for local communities and ecosystems, shared Smith.
For instance, the group has installed free filters for local communities at Six Senses Yao Noi in Thailand, providing more than 105,000 people with access to clean drinking water.
Six Senses involves guests in its regenerative programming, said Smith. Since 2019, guests at Six Senses Con Dao in Vietnam has helped release endangered sea turtle hatchlings out to sea on the resort’s very own beach, via partnership with the national park.
As well, all Six Senses have an Earth Lab dedicated to schooling guests on its sustainability efforts through free workshops to learn tips like plastic reduction at home, crafty upcycling, and gardening. Guests also enjoy complimentary visits with community partner organisations and scientists to learn about regeneration projects outside the hotel.
Last August, Six Senses Yao Noi launched the Junior Eco Warrior programme for young guests to contribute in the preservation and regeneration of the island’s flora and fauna. Ways they can do so include sowing seeds, picking trash on the beach and DIY-ing them into treasure, as well as building nests from recycled timber for the resort’s resident hornbills.
A regenerative recovery
A post-vaccine return to travel has been predicted to be one that is greener and less crowded, driven by a new breed of more socially conscious travellers. Tourism stakeholders who invest in regenerative principles, therefore, are projected to gain favour with travellers who will be searching for more meaningful and purpose-driven experiences.
“The pandemic has led many to rethink, reflect on life, and contemplate the impact that we have on the things around us. This may mean that travellers will want to derive more from a holiday than just lazing on the beach and having fun,” said Yee.
“Thus, we believe purpose-driven experiences will gain a broader audience and become a bigger market for us – and regenerative tourism will be a way to satisfy this market.”
Having always placed sustainability at its core agenda, Discova intends to build on that firm foundation to further its green credentials. “Post-Covid, we will make available tour products that offer travellers more than just sightseeing, with rewarding experiences that give back to the communities, help the communities to grow, and hopefully, serve to regenerate their homes,” said Yee.
As tourism players ready for the rebound, Smith warned that those who lag behind the regenerative curve may ultimately find themselves on the losing end.
“Those (businesses) which do not responsibly mitigate negative impacts risk falling behind, and especially if – or when – the shift comes from inbound operators and OTAs. Similar to the abrupt shift we saw with elephant tourism in Thailand, some businesses may suddenly be left in the cold,” he said.
“The benefits for tourism players that shift to a regenerative model include reduced risk in the marketplace as well as increased support from local stakeholders and more reliable supply chains.”
Regenerative travel is a long-term endeavour, and once established, should reduce strategic risks, added Smith. “It is much easier to open a business that ignores externalities like public health or wildlife habitat, however, once those are eroded, that business will struggle to survive,” he said. “Going beyond risks, regenerative travel adds value to any tourism product through the fantastic authentic experiences it creates.”
As to how more tourism businesses can be encouraged to adopt regenerative practices, Virani said: “Consumers will be able to drive the regenerative travel trend, along with local governments who will hopefully play a more active and effective role in destination management in the future. A limited number of businesses will set the trend, but others will only follow if consumers and those managing destinations drive them in the right direction.”
He concluded: “Regenerative tourism is a no-brainer. It is in the best interests of our destinations and, as a result, our bottomline. Simply being sustainable is no longer good enough and never should have been considered that way.”
TTG Conversations: Five Questions kicks off April season with resident sentiments focus
TTG Conversations: Five Questions video series returns for an April season with yet another strong line-up of travel and tourism industry thought leaders, with TCI Research’s Olivier-Henry Biabaud kicking off the first episode.
Biabaud will be joined by other opinion leaders such as Safe Travel Barometer’s Chetan Kapoor, Singapore Hotel Association’s Kwee Wei-Lin, and renowned architect, interior designer, hotelier and conservationist Bill Bensley.
In this season debut, out today, Biabaud reviews how residents are taking to the concept of tourism pre- and post-pandemic. While resident sentiments have remained largely the same and positive overall, Biabaud’s research team has picked up a recent “slight erosion” in tourism sentiments among residents in cities with a history of overtourism.
Biabaud, who specialises in measuring host community sentiments and their impact on tourism development and management, also discusses with series host Karen Yue the likelihood of host community sentiments impacting destination vaccine requirements for tourists and if destination managers and marketers should also track racial issues which could hurt the destination’s image.
Past and upcoming episodes of TTG Conversations: Five Questions video series can be accessed on the TTG Asia Media YouTube channel.
Hate matters: Anti-Asian Hate is influencing travel intentions
Shall we take a moment to talk about the Anti-Asian Hate movement that is raging in the US? On the surface, it seems to have a distant relation to travel and tourism since these hate crimes are mostly aimed at the resident Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
However, look just a little deeper and you will realise it has a significant effect on travel and tourism.
When I did a profile interview late last year with Olivier-Henry Biabaud, CEO of TCI Research, who founded the Resident Sentiment Index model to help destinations gauge and benchmark the level of tourism support they have in their community, he told me that residents are the face of a destination, and it only takes a minority of angry residents who lash out against tourists and tourism to establish a bad reputation for the destination, which will be long and pricey to repair.
Of course, Olivier was then commenting specifically about destination residents who are opposed to the concept of tourism in their backyard, and not racism-fuelled hate crimes. But for Asian consumers across the globe watching news about the US’s Anti-Asian Hate movement and taking in social media posts by AAPI citizens who are coming out with their own stories of abuse, there is little difference. Many would wonder if their skin would attract the same treatment should they go to the destination as tourists.
This consideration will resurface when they make their travel plans for the future.
That’s not just my imagination – a recent survey by Dragon Trail International on Chinese traveller sentiments found that friendliness towards Chinese travellers ranked first as a travel decision influencer by 65 per cent of respondents. That consideration outranks other critical factors such as zero confirmed Covid-19 cases, the absence of mandatory quarantines, flight resumption and personal access to a Covid-19 vaccine.
The same study, conducted from February 22 to March 3 this year, also found that more than 80 per cent of respondents rated the US as unsafe.
Unfriendliness to travellers can come in a wide spectrum, from a lack of understanding about their unique needs, such as dominant language and diet, to petty and deliberate negligence by service staff, and to severe and possibly fatal attacks.
Many people who have visited, studied or lived in the US as well as AAPI citizens have come forth with their own positive experiences of hospitality and friendship, in hopes of highlighting the presence of a welcoming majority.
Unfortunately, these messages are drowned out by bad news, which gather the most social media momentum.
With travel in a pandemic era, and even in the post-vaccination era, so much more tedious to arrange, how many consumers would risk ruining their rare leisure trip with a possible unfriendly experience? Unlike the AAPI community who has to live with and battle the problem at home, the Asian travelling community has a choice of where they want to holiday.
And they will likely pick somewhere safe, welcoming, and worth their time and money.
Willie Walsh takes helm at IATA
The IATA has appointed Willie Walsh as director general, succeeding Alexandre de Juniac.
Walsh was confirmed as IATA’s 8th director general by the 76th IATA Annual General Meeting on November 24, 2020. He joins IATA after a 40-year career in the airline industry.
Walsh retired from the International Airlines Group in September 2020, after serving as its CEO since its inception in 2011. Prior to that, he was CEO of British Airways (2005-2011) and CEO of Aer Lingus (2001-2005). He began his career in aviation at Aer Lingus in 1979 as a cadet pilot.
Walsh is deeply familiar with IATA, having served on the IATA Board of Governors for almost 13 years between 2005 to 2018, including serving as chair (2016-2017). He will work from the association’s executive office in Geneva, Switzerland.
“My goal is to ensure that IATA is a forceful voice supporting the success of global air transport. We will work with supporters and critics alike to deliver on our commitments to an environmentally sustainable airline industry. It’s my job to make sure that governments, which rely on the economic and social benefits our industry generates, also understand the policies we need to deliver those benefits,” said Walsh.
Intra-Asia travel to lead global luxury tourism’s recovery
As Covid-19 lessens its grip on the world, the economies of the Asia-Pacific region will likely be among the first to return, according to a report by ILTM Asia Pacific.
The report, titled Asia Pacific and the Global Travel Recovery, which was produced by ILTM in partnership with Barton, provides the latest insights into the luxury travel industry in the Asia-Pacific region.
Utilising data that was collated and validated during the year of a pandemic, the report reveals a long-term view of the Asia-Pacific region that provides a high degree of cautious optimism for 2021 and beyond.
As restrictions ease, in-region travel will be at the heart of the recovery – an estimated 57.5 per cent of Asia-Pacific traveller’s outbound spend is spent within the region.
Encouraging Asia-Pacific’s luxury travellers to roam more widely will be key to making 2021 a successful one for global luxury travel as these travellers already contribute US$363 billion to the global luxury travel universe (GLTU).
A huge contribution to this total is made by Asia-Pacific’s high net worth (HNW) population, which numbers 6.4 million individuals. Despite only being 0.15 per cent of the region’s massive population, they contribute almost half of the region’s total to the GLTU (48 per cent).
Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region for wealth in terms of both population (number of HNWs) and total wealth. Given the very strong link between wealth and luxury travel spend from the region, this means very strong growth in the Asia-Pacific contribution to the total spend on the GLTU.
Over the last decade, China has been the biggest success story in terms of wealth growth in the world, not just Asia-Pacific. As a result, it makes a huge contribution to the total Asia-Pacific spend related to travel. For instance, 49 per cent of the whole region’s spend on airfares and lodging, which equates to US$114 billion, is made by travellers from China. Of this, over half (52 per cent) is made by China’s HNW population, which is around 29 per cent of the total Asia-Pacific HNW population.
However, the future of wealth in Asia-Pacific is not a solely China story. Well-established wealthy markets such as Japan, Australia and South Korea, along with fast-growing ones like Vietnam, India and the Philippines will all contribute to the creation of an ever bigger HNW population.
Asia-Pacific travellers, inbound and outbound, contribute US$251 billion to the US$1.54 trillion global luxury travel ecosystem of activities. Outbound Asia-Pacific traveller spend is 28 per cent of this, above the global average of 23 per cent. This is reflective of the fact that many Asia-Pacific HNW individuals must travel internationally to take part in some of the most favoured activities in the luxury travel ecosystem, such as large-scale sporting events.
Asia-Pacific’s HNW population contributes almost half of the region’s outbound global spend on ecosystem activities at US$34.4 billion (48 per cent), demonstrating just how important the region’s wealthy are to the global luxury travel experience economy.
Despite the effects of Covid-19 persisting globally, many of the 55 countries that make up the Asia-Pacific region have been considered excellent examples of resilience during a period that has upended the travel industry like never before.
With 2021 now underway, businesses everywhere are understandably looking for a jumpstart in the industry, and it is in this that the Asia-Pacific region continues to draw attention. Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing wealth region in the world, which was what identified it as a key location for the travel industry to expand into long before Covid-19 was known about.
Despite the challenges faced globally since the pandemic began, the wealth-growth trend seen in Asia-Pacific prior to the pandemic has only paused – and in some cases – even increased.
The reasons for this buoyancy are manifold. After being the hardest hit 17 years ago by the SARS epidemic, Asia-Pacific is much more used to pivoting in response to viral threats than the western world. Moreover, there has always been a huge market for those based in Asia-Pacific to travel within the region, which is fulfilling the still prevalent desire for travel among HNW individuals.
It is also clear, of course, that this is not a standard recession, allowing for well-prepared wealthy Asia-Pacific travellers to continue to accumulate their wealth in readiness for when the world’s borders are fully open once more.
With the financial resource, desire and inherent ability to pivot during incredible disruption, Asia-Pacific travellers should be seen as pioneers of the new luxury travel landscape, providing the much needed economic injection the industry has been waiting for.
Read the full report here.
International travel recovery hopes rise as Agoda’s search data shows signs of optimism
Digital travel platform Agoda has seen an increase in international travel searches, on the back of global vaccine rollout, discussions around Covid-19 passports and alternative state quarantine announcements.
Agoda’s search data highlights green shoots of recovery and a growing optimism by travellers across Asia that international travel will start to return, with Australia, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia witnessing an increase in the number of international destinations in their top 30 searches in March 2021 compared to December 2020.
Travellers from these markets are joining China, Taiwan and Singapore in their optimism for the resumption of international travel. Only Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand continued to see zero international destinations in their top 30 searches in both December 2020 and March 2021.
However, interestingly, Thailand and the Philippines both feature strongly as destinations, with Bangkok securing a spot in six out of 11 origin markets’ top 30 search lists.
Additionally, Agoda’s data shows booking patterns have started to normalise and return to pre-Covid trends, as behaviour indicators such as lead times and prices, which both reduced heavily in the spring and summer of 2020, dip less sharply.
Agoda CEO John Brown explained: “There are definitely reasons for the travel industry in Asia to start to feel more optimistic, and vaccines will be critical to full recovery, but initiatives like government subsidy programmes, such as TTogether in Thailand or GoTo Japan have been successful in harnessing the demand for travel and supporting domestic accommodation providers. Agoda’s search data shows that travellers are looking to resume international travel, buoyed by the implementation of the vaccine rollout, but there is more to do.
“The vaccine rollout in Asia is commencing, but the pace across the region will vary, with some markets such as Singapore being fully vaccinated this year and others like Japan, Thailand and Vietnam looking more likely at 2022, so these heavily tourism-dependent economies need to consider how to accelerate the return to normality.
“Governments will need to innovate how they approach reopening of their borders, balancing the very real need for the safety of their own citizens, and visitors alike, with the economic reality. For the foreseeable future, quarantine remains a stumbling block to international travel, so the provision of alternative state quarantine, as launched in Thailand and Hong Kong, might prove to be a sensible solution in line with a vaccine programme. Corporate technology partners able to move fast will be able to provide governments with support to manage the complex variables that markets face.”
Two seasoned hoteliers join Novotel Manila team
The Novotel Manila Araneta City has welcomed two hires, Maria Manlulu-Garcia as its general manager, and Darwin Labayandoy as resident manager.
Manlulu-Garcia is the very first female general manager for an Accor property in the Philippines. She embarked on her hospitality career in 1992, and began as a front office agent who rose to become rooms director of the Ramanda Portland in the US.
She then returned to the Philippines to take up the post of general manager at the Pico De Loro Country Club and Pico Sands Hotel, Batangas. After which, she moved to Indonesia to become Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua’s executive assistant manager, and eventually worked her up to its resident manager in 2016 and hotel manager in 2019.
She will be supported by Darwin Labayandoy, who has been promoted from director of rooms to resident manager at the Novotel Manila Araneta City.
Labayandoy has 25 years of hospitality experience under his belt, and prior to joining Novotel Manila Araneta City, he held key positions at Dusit Hotel Nikko and Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.
Costa Cruises names new president and CCO
Costa Cruises has made two leadership appointments in preparation for the resumption of its cruises and its long-term growth.
Mario Zanetti has been promoted to president of Costa Cruises, taking a role that had been temporarily filled by Michael Thamm, group CEO, Costa Group & Carnival Asia.
In his new position, Zanetti will oversee Costa as a unique brand across the world, including Asia, with the aim of guiding Costa to strengthen its leadership in Europe, South America and Asia, and ensure profitable and sustainable growth in the long-term.
Zanetti started his journey with Costa back in 1999 in the revenue management unit. In 2017, he was named president of Costa Asia; and since July 2020, he has been back in Genoa, as chief commercial officer (CCO) of Costa Cruises Europe.
Meanwhile, Roberto Alberti has been appointed CCO of Costa Cruises, a position previously held by Zanetti. Alberti will be responsible for the overall commercial operations, including sales, revenue management and marketing worldwide, reporting to Zanetti.
With a career in Costa Cruises spanning over 15 years, Alberti worked his way up through various positions in Italy and abroad. In 2016, he joined the CEO Office, reporting to Thamm. After the position of vice president strategic development, in 2019, he was appointed senior vice president and chief strategy officer of the Costa Group, contributing to the definition of a sustainable development plan, the global source market strategy and brand positioning.
Both Zanetti and Alberti will be based in Costa Cruises headquarters in Genoa.
New marketplace aims to connect luxury travel brands with India’s affluent travellers
Travel curator Luxury Tribe will stage the world’s first virtual marketplace to connect luxury travel brands with India’s high-net-worth travellers from May 26-28, 2021.
Organised by World Travel Magazine, Luxury Tribe is a by-invitation-only, exclusive three-day event which offers selected participants a line-up of pre-scheduled meetings, networking sessions and expert-led conferences.
At Luxury Tribe, exhibitors will have the opportunity to meet with Indian luxury travel buyers, destination wedding planners, pre-qualified luxury travel agencies and senior travel designers exclusively representing high-net-worth clients.
Successfully harnessing ultra-affluent and discerning Indian travellers requires a solid understanding of their unique preferences and needs.
Luxury Tribe’s ILLUME conference, which is hosted by thought leaders in luxury travel marketing, will provide these key insights mapping out perspectives for the next 24 months and more. ILLUME’s panel discussions and speaker-led sessions are tailored to equip participants with ready strategies for successfully acquiring – and growing – their affluent Indian customer base in 2021 and beyond. Participants will be able to seamlessly navigate the virtual innovative 3D exhibition floors and facilities efficiently to engage with like-minded industry leaders.
Exhibitors at Luxury Tribe will include international luxury hotel brands, DMCs, jet and yacht charters, airlines, bespoke shopping destinations, tourism boards, and independent boutique hotels.
Each exhibitor may sign up to 30 stringently matched, 1-to-1 pre-scheduled appointments, along with unlimited access to all ILLUME conferences, networking sessions, as well as wellness lounge & café. Post-event, attendees will receive exclusive ILLUME video recaps and intel briefings, as well as invites to follow-up meetings and exclusive discounts.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to integrate a digital health verification process into its mobile app, after a recent trial of IATA’s Travel Pass for Covid-19 test results and vaccine certificates received positive feedback from its travellers.
According to a CNA report, SIA tested the IATA app – a mobile app that stores and manages a traveller’s verified certifications for Covid-19 tests or vaccines – on passengers travelling from Singapore to London between March 15 and March 28.
SIA’s passengers were the first to test IATA’s Travel Pass. The airline is now studying which other routes the IATA’s Travel Pass app may be expanded to, indicated the CNA report.
SIA also shared that it plans to make use of the IATA Travel Pass framework, and integrate the entire digital health verification process into the SingaporeAir mobile app from mid-2021.
IATA, a global body representing about 290 airlines, plans to launch the travel pass by mid-April on the Apple platform, followed by the Android platform on a later date. More than 20 airlines, including THAI, Air New Zealand, and Japan Airlines are currently testing the travel pass.