Destinations have been the protagonists of the first day of Condé Nast Traveler Conversations
Our life has changed and, with it, one of our passions, that of traveling. We want to take planes again, see the landscapes go by from the window of a train and travel roads and paths again. But before doing so, there are many questions that have been going through our heads for weeks. To try to answer them, Conde Nast Traveler Spain, Condé Nast's travel and lifestyle magazine, hosts virtually this week the Condé Nast Traveler Conversations.
will be four virtual days, until June 18, in which professionals from the sector will reflect on the immediate future of the tourism industry in a new context, addressing the economic, technological and cultural derivatives of the phenomenon of traveling as an expression of our identity and lifestyle.
During the first of them, held this Monday, the experts gathered in these virtual meetings have talked about the reinvention of travel, of when, how and where we will travel again; and the role of technology, data and efforts in innovation and sustainability as levers of change after Covid-19.
**FROM SOCIAL DISTANCE TO VIRTUAL EXPERIENCES: AN OVERVIEW OF THE WORLD OF TRAVEL FROM NOW AND FROM TECHNOLOGY**
Frank Romero, Head of Open Innovation Programs at Amadeus IT Group, has been in charge of opening the first day of the Condé Nast Traveler Conversations with a message of optimism, confidence and ambition when responding to the question of how we will leave behind the quarantine situation in which we have lived in recent months to travel again in a context in which the existence of Covid-19 will mark our reality.
This is where it comes into play the technology , the one that already exists and the one that is being developed to respond to specific needs and that, as Romero explained, it could come to stay permanently and make the travel industry come out of this crisis stronger and better.
There are three key questions that he establishes as a starting point and to which they are trying to answer from the Rethink Travel initiative: how we can boost traveler confidence, how we can emerge stronger than before and how we can design the new normal.
To respond to them, as a starting point, he is beginning to work in eight areas: social distancing, automated health checks, enhanced digital identity, tracking, additional information, virtual experiences, robotic services, and sanitation. Romero is aware that they are not the only ones and that it is not yet known what route they will take, but they are the ones that are beginning to set the trend; and he insists that the interesting thing at this point would be that the solutions applied in the different areas could serve not only to deal with issues related to Covid-19, but could also be applied to solve other problems in the industry in order to improve its efficiency.
Regarding social distance in the world of travel and how to apply it in a sustainable way, the sector is heading towards crowd management, being able to make general use of technologies that, in some cases, were already in operation. For example, some airports already use cameras to detect, even before they occur, crowds thanks to the fact that they calculate the number of people and the distance between them; o In some destinations, initiatives related to, for example, the advance purchase of tickets to know the flow of people that will have to be handled or synergies such as Get your ride and the Van Gogh Museum through which Get your ride leads groups of travelers who purchase its services to the museum during off-peak hours in the center in terms of influx of people.
The essential technology for all this to work will be the mobile, for its widespread use by the population and because it will allow us to maintain social distance when carrying out transactions; biometric technologies, that airlines like Delta or hotels like Yanolia are already using to streamline certain processes; and the computer vision that, through cameras that use artificial intelligence, they can extract a lot of information from people without the need for face-to-face interaction, simply by analyzing our way of walking, our features and the way we dress.
The security and confidence that it is intended to provide to travelers can be achieved, among other things, through health checks, another of the areas that for Romero are beginning to set a trend. Here they would come into play the thermal chambers that allow us to analyze many people in a short space of time thanks to the capacity that a single image gives us. They already existed and are already being applied by some airlines, airports and hotels . Initiatives such as the health check-up kiosks and robotic check-ups.
Although it is something that generates controversy, we could also be heading towards an enhanced digital identity that would also include digital health records. Here Romero has it clear: the key is going to be in the regulation that each country makes of it and how to bring them into agreement, but especially in properly handle privacy, encryption, and security. Prevent the spread of the virus by providing data, yes; but treating that data ethically.
As soon as to tracking, will be essential standardization between different countries to be able to synchronize the information collected by each one, as well as These applications are used by at least 60% of the population so that they can be trusted. For now, Switzerland has already announced that it is working on an application with Appel and Google; Japan is also betting on the tech giants; The United States is doing it with data provided by the airlines and France has created its own App (StopCovid) that works through Bluetooth, without geolocation and is for voluntary and anonymous use.
Travelers will also want additional information from the destination about security, what can and cannot be done. To do this, there are already large organizations publishing guides on how to provide that information and how to share it, as well as private companies focused on specific segments of the world of travel, like business ones. There is also no lack of collaborations to share information in real time, as is the case of Wanda Maps, which during the coronavirus was providing data on open stores.
A) Yes, a combination of tracking, Big data and digital identity added to good sources, regularization, being scalable and with standardization protocols could lead us to talk about safe and reliable travel conditions for all, with which we would respond to that initial question of better understanding the traveler, contributing to the improvement of society and with technology and innovation as pillars. And yes, there will be virtual experiences, but not as a way to replace trips, but as a tool that allows them to be brought closer to those who cannot experience them or, for example, to provide more information when making decisions.
WHEN, HOW AND WHERE WILL WE TRAVEL AGAIN? HOW DATA WILL HELP US GET THE QUINIELA RIGHT
Immaculate Galician, Head of the Area of Statistics and Market Research for Andalusian Tourism and associate professor at the University of Malaga; Sarah Pastor, Director General of Destinations of ADARA; Y Natalie Bayonne, Senior Expert on Innovation and Digital transformation of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as moderator, have been in charge of putting on the table how Big Data can help understand the behavior of travelers, but also how important it is to know how to work with that Big Data, how technology becomes a complement and not a replacement in the tourism sector, how it can help create qualified jobs and how tourism cannot lose sight of the sustainability that it was so much in mind before the Covid-19 crisis.
And it is that as Sara Pastor began by saying, it is essential to put the traveler at the center and, for this strategy to be successful, Big Data is needed to get to know him and to be relevant to him. However, “having a large amount of data is not the key, but it is how we collect them, how we combine them and how we extract intelligence from them to turn them into Smart Data”.
He defines this as create a tourism intelligence process which goes through three phases: "to learn, collect data, see trends, what are they looking for, what are they not looking for, what are they scared of; act and talk with them; Y the measurement to see if what we have done has worked or not, and what has worked why has it been provoked; to restart that virtuous circle that puts the traveler at the center”.
In this sense, Inmaculada Gallego has highlighted the importance that data has taken on during this crisis. “They have become more relevant than ever because they can give us guidance in a situation of uncertainty” and she has underlined the importance of "investing in data, in analysis and in alliances that allow us to do that monitoring that tourism requires".
He talks about Big Data because at this specific moment traditional statistics have not been able to answer some questions, but he does not reject them, but advocates a combination of both and to value the data that comes from official bodies, both national and international. "Make the most of all sources and meet the information needs of destinations."
Because yes, companies and destinations need to use data, but not in any way. For this reason, Pastor wanted to underline that “technology does not have to be applied for the sake of it” and he has highlighted the importance of not forgetting what the objective is: “what kind of destination do I want to be, what tourist do I want to attract and how do I want to relate to the residents”. This is when you can decide what kind of technology to use and what internal staff to hire.
He also claims the importance that this break has had to think about it and rethink the essence of destiny because “What comes from now on is much fiercer competition than there was: the demand is not the same as before and the entire sector is going to be competing to attract a traveler who now has fewer possibilities”.
However, despite the importance of Big Data to define and carry out future strategies, its use and application generates a series of concerns ranging from the cost to the lack of methodological standards, through the absence of methodological transparency which becomes crucial if we consider that analysts need to know all the sources. Therefore, Gallego considers that "official bodies must take a relevant role and must harmonize" and puts another question on the table: the lack of profiles of data analysts in tourist destinations. “The effort has focused on having data, but if you don't know what to do with it, if you don't know how to analyze it and if you don't do continuous monitoring, it doesn't make sense. It is not only necessary to invest in data, but also in people, in analysts who know how to take advantage of them”.
The priority right now is the present. For this reason, as Gallego explained, from Andalusia they have taken advantage of the data to respond to many questions that were being raised, such as the economic impact that the health crisis would have on the tourism sector, the reactivation of the markets, the sentiment of demand regarding Covid-19 and Andalusia... But you can't lose sight of the future you point to a sustainable tourism, to go looking for that traveler who is interested in each destination and to be able to redistribute it as it suits you.
And the million dollar question would be here. How are we going to travel this summer based on this data? Pastor explains that At a Spanish and European level, searches skyrocketed when the opening of borders was announced, with many coming from France, Germany and some Nordic countries. "Yes, we see that international tourist who wants to come to Spain."
“We see three types of tourists: those who are not afraid and they are waiting for the green light to be able to travel; scared people and that they are going to be more conservative; and those in between looking at second homes, rural tourism or what measures are being taken on the beaches. In this group of grays, the communication of destinations and measures They are going to be key for them to decide.”
In the same line it is pronounced Gallego. “Everything is closely linked to sanitary measures: how we manage the issue of beaches and the issue of borders. People are making decisions at the last minute, he interprets that the international market is going to be launched at the end of the year and that the summer is going to be more related to the national market, but the traveling culture is integrated into our being”.
INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY, LEVERS AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR POST-COVID-19 RECOVERY
Peter Moneo, CEO of the innovation consulting firm Opinno, has taken advantage of his intervention to draw what the future will be and the trends that the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis will bring.
Moneo is clear, we will remember 2019 and 2020 as the moment in which the world gave us a very clear signal, as the moment in which the planet told us enough is enough and he believes that the most successful companies of the next decade will be those that incorporate that message into his leadership; those that, instead of ignoring them, take into account those phenomena that are known to occur and the great impact they can generate.
In an environment in which changes are accelerating more and more, he assures that what was inherited from 2008 until now has generated what he calls the perfect storm: 5G networks, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, climate change, health disruption and the new cold war between the great powers for supremacy and relevance in the digital world and in these new technologies they are going to shape a world full of threats and opportunities in which some trends are already beginning to be glimpsed.
It would be the case of social Hypochondria, “a fear that leads us to close in on ourselves and our loved ones and that will lead to change the way of relating between companies and users”. It will be vital for companies gain the trust of your customers through your values and reputation because they are going to sell more, with more margin and they are going to be able to repeat, recommend. “This social hypochondria is going to be especially important in the older individuals who will see their life expectancy greatly increased, but they will be very careful to preserve it. We have not stopped to think about what could happen if a person lives more than 100 years and what opportunities and challenges it brings."
Another aspect to take into account would be the balance to achieve between low cost, values and products programmed to last. “The consumer has less purchasing power, he is going to prioritize the service, that things last a long time. This goes against planned obsolescence”. So we will have more transparent brands in their values because they understand that the consumer will constantly evaluate them.
Moneo also speaks of the recognition economy and the progress that he hopes it will have, in the sense that consumer tastes push the media and sponsors to focus not on the most successful, but on those who have more merit or those who generate more impact.
He is also optimistic when it comes to talking about the digital economy and its power helping to create a fairer and more equal society. Based on the assumption that when a service is digitized, the cost of giving a person access to that service is practically reduced to zero, Moneo considers that “Digital services can become tremendously useful social integration tools, and if we make an effort to digitize education, health, even transportation logistics, we could use those tools to balance the social balance. He assures us that we will see that solidarity on the part of the big technology companies for good, because it generates brand image and the type of leadership we want for the coming years; or by bad, because governments can require it by regulation. I firmly believe in this because it is affordable economically and also boosts the effect or the private contribution to the solution of social problems”.
We will go even more towards digital and we will go from requesting physical presence, to betting first on digital channels and only in case it is not possible for physical ones.
Bearing in mind that the time when we worried about being connected is behind us, now what we have to deal with is the excessive noise that reaches us. “A very good time for the media is going to return because it is going to come thought leadership where you want to listen to people who know what they're talking about. There are already payment gateways in the media and we are willing to pay for it because we need credible and traceable information”.
Furthermore, Moneo maintains that we will bet on the local because in a kind of “industrial patriotism” we will try to protect what is close to us at a time when we feel threatened. And yes, the governments will support the companies that had relocated their production to return it to the local level. "Spain has a pending account with reindustrialization."
And Moneo ends talking about the economy of purpose, of the economy of slow capital in which the variables by which we measure our political leaders and our business leaders have to be different. They are sustainability variables, but understood in a broad scope (economically, environmentally, business-wise), and These variables are yet to be defined and this is “where the great opportunities of the coming years are”.
COVID-19, BREXIT, THOMAS COOK, OVERTOURISM… SPAIN'S CHALLENGES TO MAINTAIN THE LEADERSHIP
Manuel Muniz Villa, Secretary of State for Global Spain, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation; Gabriel Escarrer, President of Meliá Hotels International; Y David Moralejo, Director of Condé Nast Traveler, as moderator, have spoken of the challenges facing Spain in order to remain one of the world leaders in the tourism sector, of the work done to date, of what is yet to be done and of the important role it will play the communication in achieving the objectives to overcome a crisis that mutated from the health field to that of mobility.
Muñiz Villa began his speech by talking about the package of measures for tourism in which the government works and in which they will address health issues (resolution of the health issue in Spain and development of protocols for the hotel sector); of international mobility (advancement to June 21 of the opening of the borders in the European Union and Schengen space, which represents 80% of the tourists who come to our country; and I work so that the health criteria at the border are analogous); economic measures for the sector to be announced this Thursday; and **communication and image efforts through various campaigns. **
Escarrer has analyzed that the environment in which we were already moving before the Covid-19 crisis was somewhat complex due to issues such as Brexit, the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook or the economic slowdown in countries such as Germany. The volatility marked a context in which many business models (especially traditional tour operators) they faced the dilemma of evolving towards digitization to adapt to current demand or die. And it goes further. “Digitization is not the only lever of change. There are others such as social responsibility and sustainability”.
Because Escarrer considers that society comes out of this crisis prioritizing basic values (safety, family, encounters, hugs, caring for the elderly...) and that leading companies and brands they must be there to understand these new needs. “Consumer trends are going to change: We see that there is a calmer traveller, with a more sustainable mentality, who appreciates slow travel, who prioritizes the guarantee of a responsible brand, of a solvent brand, more than price. We want more domestic trips, more familiar. A lot of transportation by car for the whole family to our coasts, especially peninsular ones and, in a second phase, to the archipelagos”.
All this happens to recover the trust and traditional loyalty of the foreign traveler. “We have to do it through communication and image campaigns. I do not know the number of interviews, of meetings that we have had with the international press, communicating the reality of the epidemic that we now have in our country”, explained Muñiz Villa, who has assured that “The preliminary information that comes to us from tourist offices, embassies and consulates is that there is still enormous interest to come. The feeling we have is reasonably positive.”
The same importance Escarrer gives to communication. “The main problem for destinations is not Covid. What can mark the future of tourism is the best or worst that each one communicates about the pandemic and we must value our health and our management ”.
On the other hand, the President of Meliá Hotels International has been more concerned about the advantage that Spain's direct competitors already have, such as Italy, Greece or Portugal. “They have managed to keep their reputation as safe tourist destinations safe, and we would like Spain to follow that same model and it has to improve that communication in managing the pandemic.”
“Something that worries us especially is the management of de-escalation because We tourism companies believe that it is delayed and our clients from our main source markets cannot travel to Spain and until recently they had to go through a quarantine ”. He considers that the pilot experience that started this Monday in the Balearic Islands and the advancement of the opening of the borders to June 21 are positive, but not enough.
In this sense, Muñiz Villa has highlighted rigor and safety with which the decisions have been taken from the Government. “On the 21st, the situation is adequate to avoid any resurgence, which would be bad for the security image and the brand image that we project. We had to make the decision based on health criteria.”
"Now we play a lot with security and all the communication we do has to be about the attractiveness of our country and security," he has assured him.