Visitor Sentiment, Operator offerings: suggestions for the planning journey
As interstate & international borders open up concurrently, the visitor sentiment is different to pre-Covid times. I’ve published an article with Australian Regional Tourism Ltd (ART) outlining key areas in the planning journey, and how operators can assist whilst visitors navigate ever-changing health advice, border rules, and their own mental & physical wellbeing, as they decide upon destinations.
Firstly a story on my own recent travel sentiment: this is the depths I’ve been having to go to in planning my first travel since lockdown. I’ve just driven my dog from Sydney to the Queensland border, so she can bound across it – and so I can board an international flight to France, as I can’t fly into Brisbane, or cross the border.
My parents drove down from Brisbane and parked near the Beirut-style bollards lining the invisible border, in a safe, socially-distanced way, waiting for their fur-grandchild to bound across. Dad frisbee’d over birthday cards for my twin children who are about to turn 13, who they can’t see. Though at least they can hug our dog instead in Queensland. Why did I to go to all this trouble? Because there’s no boarding kennels available locally for the 3 weeks we are away in France, due to the Covid pet popularity. All sounds a bit desperate, I know. But this is the type of visitor sentiment that we as tourism operators need to come to understand, and provide opportunities for, alongside other travel & wellbeing sentiments.
I’m a seasoned traveller, though I’m not going to lie … this regional trip has been hard. The situation as it stands: the Queensland border is still shut to NSW, Victoria & international travellers. I live in NSW, and would have loved to have travelled across the border to see my family in Queensland for Christmas. Though with state borders still closed until at least mid-December, we decided to instead book flights to get back to France after 2 1/2 years, to my husband’s family for Christmas, and to restart my tourism venue business there. We have a window of certainty where we can travel – and it’s easier to get into France compared to Queensland, at the time of writing this.
For regional operators, it’s important to get into the mind of the visitor – and everything they have to take into consideration when planning a holiday. It really has exhausted me, constantly assessing the situation prior to leaving my own region, and what lies ahead in the destination we’re going to. And there were a couple of Covid close encounters on the way.
Regional tourism operators should keep in mind that as we learn to live with Covid in our communities – visitors have changed their planning & travelling habits, to feel safe & relaxed, whilst away.
On the eve of South Australia re-opening their border, this article gives insights into the current domestic visitor sentiment. And how operators nationally can optimise their offerings…
What type of visitor will Australian regions be welcoming in the coming months? I thought I’d highlight a couple ..
The School Leavers & Millennials
This sector is looking for experiences. The fact that Millennials LOVE experiences – this is good news for tour operators. As the current Schoolies cohort on the Gold Coast show, they’re looking to travel for an experience, though are still cautious, having lived by rules for the past couple of years, and harbouring some residual vulnerability. Most are not quite ready to take a gap year overseas.
Recent data from Hostelworld showed close to half of Aussie backpackers weren’t interested in fleeing overseas next year, with 43 per cent of bookings on the hostel site for Australian accommodation. Eleven of the 20 destinations booked by Australians for hostel trips in 2022 were domestic. This is a surprise, as usually it’s less than 5 per cent of Aussies usually booking trips within Australia each year. In 2019, before the pandemic, not a single Australian city or town ranked in Hostelworld’s top 20 list.
The Family and High Value Traveller (HVT) sector
This sector require peace of mind; low-maintenance logistics in the planning stage, and relaxation during their stay. This visitor group has most probably booked over a year ago, though have had to keep changing dates due to continued restrictions. 2022 will be the year they can finally take these delayed domestic holidays. In the HVT demographic, the June–July 2022 school holidays are seeing a big jump in Australians booking overseas trips, being summer in the northern hemisphere for international families to finally reunite. And to use up frequent flyer points at risk of expiring.
Key Areas for Operators to offer
- Self-catering is high on the visitor sentiment: promote as many self-catering & private living spaces as possible.
- Flexibility: in date changes & a clear, reasonable cancellation policy. Personal Covid close-contact circumstances, & border changes continue to hamper travel planning as we learn to live with Covid in our communities.
- Pet-friendly: domestic lockdowns have created close bonds with the fur-babies, with a lack of boarding options due to the increase in pet-ownership
- Transportation: what semi-private local transport can you offer for visitors, to help get them to and from their drop-off point? Local transport with large numbers of passengers are still being avoided.
- Accessibility: an absolute need for this in the tourism sector. In my own accommodation business, we’ve spent time creating connections in our local community & the NDIS, to help source and hired local mobility scooters and wellbeing aids, so guests of all mobilities can enjoy local experiences to the fullest.
- Experience economy: the escapism, education, entertainment, esthetics realms are being sought by emerging visitor sectors.
Booking Flexibility with continued Covid close-calls
Many travellers will be coming from high density origins, where they are more at risk of unknowingly being a close contact, and only finding out just before travelling. In the past week alone, I’ve had two close calls on being caught up in a potential close-contact Covid case, meaning we’d have to isolate for 7 days, even though we’re all fully-vaccinated & returning negative Covid tests. One was with my children – the local primary & high school being shut down due to a positive case, and the other – a case on the Byron-Ballina airport transfer bus, transporting me on my flight back down – luckily it wasn’t the same transfer time as me. My next flight will be to France in 10 day’s time – there’s so much that can potentially hamper travel plans.
Operator offering: be mindful that even though borders are opening up, restrictions and health advice change constantly for individuals. Keep your cancellation / date changes policy as flexible as possible, to maintain customer satisfaction, & return custom for your business.
For travellers & tourism businesses, NSW has resources to help plan for the upcoming summer holiday season. Since 1 November, there’s been travel between Greater Sydney and regional NSW for fully-vaccinated people. NSW Government though suggests to travellers – before making or accepting a booking, go over the Terms and Conditions so travellers know what is possible if holiday plans change.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/look-before-you-book
Their advice also includes information on how to “be a savvy traveller”.
eg. Consider limiting the number of destinations, or travel services you use, per holiday – it may be easier to make cancelations if you need to. If it is a larger booking – to use a travel agent, who will help navigate any date changes or cancellations refunds if need be.
This is how I’ve planned my trip to France (which pre-Covid, I would travel to twice a year). For the first time ever I’m:
- Using a travel agent. This is to help with any unplanned changes & cancellations.
- I have booked minimal flights/stopovers so we can travel as direct as possible (normally I’d be adding on neighbouring countries as mini-breaks on the way there and back).
- I am only putting rural destinations on the itinerary, avoiding high density regions that may incur a lockdown, or a positive covid result, meaning none of us would be able to get back on the plane home, as we would all be close contacts.
- I have booked self-catering accommodation all the way, with self-check-in/out where possible.
- I have hired a car for the whole trip, negating the need for any form of private-shared, or local transport.
Pets
Why did I drive my dog halfway across the state? Because there were no boarding kennels or pet-sitters who were available for the month we are away , due the the popularity of now owning a pet. Pre-Covid, I used to just throw her on a flight to Brisbane to be babysat by the grandparents whilst I was travelling internationally for work– though the price to do this now is astronomical (up approx 300% on pre-Covid prices, and now having to use a pet transport service). Domestic flights at the moment are often rescheduled / cancelled too, and with limited availability – this all causes stress prior to travel.
Operator offering:
Offer for pets to be able to stay, if possible. Or partner & co-promote with a local pet-boarding place or private pet-minders. Travellers can then roadtrip with their pet, and then visit it whilst on holidays, to relieve the separation anxiety – the human-pet bonds have become strong during lockdown!
Add-on Opportunities for Tourism Providers
The Gift of Gourmet Food
There will be a shortage of international gourmet foods imported into Australia this festive season due to ongoing tariffs, Brexit issues, & world-wide shipping delays – so start promoting your own local produce in a gift hamper & / or voucher, with some clever story-telling around a festive theme.
The Gift of an Experience
The Experience Economy is going from strength to strength, with its four realms of Escapism, Education, Esthetics, & Entertainment. If your tourism offering encompasses more than one of these, you’re onto a good thing, as travellers are looking for these in great demand.
How do operators monetise Experiences? By providing gift vouchers for them, and with memorabilia offered for further profit from a retail product. Nostalgia has grown strong during lockdowns.
Tourism Australia’s “The Gift of Travel” campaign is about encouraging Australians to give more meaningful gifts this holiday season and in doing so give back to tourism operators and communities who have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Whilst the uncertainty around state borders can make booking challenging, the wonderful thing about giving a travel or experience voucher is that they will be there ready for use when restrictions allow and people are ready to go. The latest travel sentiment data shows the majority of Australians are either thinking or dreaming about their next holiday and now is the time to convert that into gift vouchers and actual holiday bookings,” Tourism Australia Chief Marketing Officer Susan Coghill explains.
Tourism Australia’s most recent Travel Sentiment Tracking report
The below infographic shows optimism amongst Australian travellers rising as lockdowns and travel restrictions ease, though hesitation is still there on restrictions potentially coming into play again.
As this article has highlighted, alongside the sentiment of returning to travel – there’s other, more cautious, factors at play, which regional tourism operators can easily turn into opportunities, in understanding how the visitor thinks, and what they want during their well-earned escape.
News Corp Australia released their Consumer Travel Trend Forecast – January to June 2022, & their findings below show similar sentiments to what’s been described in this article…
- Travel may be opening but complexity means expertise is a currency to be traded on –due to the complexity in travel now, travellers are seeking expert help more than ever. Tourism operators can be those experts, and this will drive business to their doors.
- Travel motivators and what Australians are seeking in a travel brand are still anchored in the impacts of Covid and lowest price is not a deciding factor –Top travel motivators are about safety, connection or getting away from stress. How can your business encompass these values?
Key consumer trends identified:
- Return to planning – yes, visitors are planning to travel again, finally! Both domestically, and internationally.
- Experience-stacking – The return to planning has also seen travellers ‘experience-stacking’, cramming as many experiences as possible into one trip to make the most of their holiday.
- Meaningful moments – Australians who are travel planning will have destinations secondary to the purpose or occasion. Consumers have missed or delayed celebrating big life moments and have spent limited quality time with family and friends. Travel provides the opportunity to re-engage and truly appreciate loved ones. Almost one in three consumers intend to take more multi-generational family holidays, this is being driven by millennials – 46 per cent amongst 25-39 year-olds
- Outside the comfort zone – A year where people have experienced emotional upheaval and a sense of ‘feeling stuck’, some travellers will be looking to expand their boundaries and step outside their comfort zone. From thrill seeking adventures, to physically or mentally challenging activities and integrating into new cultures and communities.
Katrina Denoux is one of the Ambassadors for Australian Regional Tourism. A tourism practitioner with her own business based both in Europe and Australia, she is also a registered health practitioner with postgraduate qualifications. She specialises in wellness tourism, gastronomy & sustainability; and is a lecturer and speaker on the international academic insights circuit. She feels lucky to be able to combine her two loves: travel & education.
References
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/look-before-you-book