The Covid -19 pandemic is transforming our economies and societies. It has certainly created huge havoc in the travel industry but as we slowly blossom from the chaos, travel business is not the same; Brands have to listen to target customer needs and adapt to new trends to emerge stronger and ultimately succeed in the post pandemic era.
The travel business recovery is underway and expected to gradually continue to quicken over the next 12-18 months. Due to some leniency in travel restrictions, there is high demand for travel with adherence to safety and hygiene protocols, digital proof of health (Negative tests or vaccination), continuation of social distancing.
Digital trends have increased across various businesses; travel brands now see themselves ahead to become more effective and efficient at multiple levels by creating hyper-targeted, personalized experiences.
The pandemic has changed many people perspectives on travel and their priorities. While many brands are making this shift, we have compiled few key imperatives for travel brands as they aim to collect, parse and apply data to capture customers where they are today.
Despite the many challenges still present, history has shown that travel is one of the world’s most resilient industries and will be back with force with the same shattering records before the pandemic was hit.
Key Imperative how travel business can emerge stronger
Connect with Customers directly:
· Travel Companies are cross-cutting to preserve funds but they tend to forget that marketing is important than ever, connecting with customers directly is essential to know their preferences
· Researchers have found that brands can speed up their post- recession by building brand awareness and brand value during the recession.
· Any negative review or bad experience tends to get viral on the internet, leading customers to look for alternatives.
Revaluate, Reimagine Travel Brand Strategies:
· Covid-19 impact on the economy is inevitable, many businesses and industries have faced financial difficulty, and recovery will not be homogeneous all over the world. Domestic travel is recuperating faster than international travel.
· Travel brands must revaluate their commercial approach just as years ago brands made “mobile-first shift”, travel brands must make “data-first shift” now to consider external customer data as part of their planning and forecasting activities.
· Brands must become data collectors with not only customer data but also critical inputs which gives insights to traveller’s demand of how they want things in these post-pandemic times.
· Travel brands must use every source of insight they can to await demand and revise pricing.
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