EXTRA >> INTERNATIONAL tourist arrivals reached 1,138 million in 2014 – a 4.7 percent increase over the previous year, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

For 2015, UNWTO forecasts international tourism to grow by 3-4 percent, further contributing to the global economic recovery.

The number of international tourists was 51 million more than in 2013, realising the fifth consecutive year of above average growth since the 2009 economic crisis.

“Over the past years, tourism has proven to be a surprisingly strong and resilient economic activity and a fundamental contributor to the economic recovery by generating billions of dollars in exports and creating millions of jobs,” UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, said when opening the recent Spain Global Tourism Forum in Madrid.

“This has been true for destinations all around the world, but particularly for Europe, as the region struggles to consolidate its way out of one of the worst economic periods in its history.”

By region, the Americas (+7%) and Asia-Pacific (+5%) registered the strongest growth, while Europe (+4%), the Middle East (+4%) and Africa (+2%) grew at a slightly more modest pace.

By subregion, North America (+8%) saw the best results, followed by North-East Asia, South Asia, Southern and Mediterranean Europe, Northern Europe and the Caribbean, all increasing by 7%.

As in recent years, the growth in international tourism receipts in 2014 is expected to have followed that of arrivals fairly closely, but the UN’s 2014 results for international tourism receipts will not be released until April. In 2013, international tourism receipts reached US$1,187 billion, which was $230 billion more than in the pre-crisis year of 2008.

POSITIVE OUTLOOK

For 2015, UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to grow between 3-4 percent.

By region, growth is expected to be stronger in Asia and the Pacific (+4% to +5%) and the Americas (+4% to +5%), followed by  Europe (+3% to +4%). Arrivals are expected to increase by +3% to +5% in Africa and by +2% to +5% in the Middle East.

“We expect demand to continue growing in 2015 as the global economic situation improves even though there are still plenty of challenges ahead,” Mr Rifai said.

“On the positive side, oil prices have declined to a level not seen since 2009. This will lower transport costs and boost economic growth by lifting purchasing power and private demand in oil importing economies.

“Yet, it could also negatively impact some of the oil exporting countries which have emerged as strong tourism source markets,” Mr Rifai said.

The positive outlook for 2015 is confirmed by the UNWTO Confidence Index. According to the 300 tourism experts consulted worldwide for the Index, tourism performance is expected to improve in 2015, though expectations are less upbeat than a year ago.

MOST VISITED

Europe (+4%), the most visited region with over half of the world’s international tourists, saw an increase of 22 million arrivals in 2014, reaching a total of 588 million. Thanks to these results, tourism has been a major contributor to the European economic recovery. Northern Europe and Southern and Mediterranean Europe led growth (both +7%), while results were more modest in Western Europe (+2%). Arrivals in Central and Eastern Europe (0%) stagnated after three years of strong growth.

International tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific (+5%) increased by 13 million to 263 million. The best performance was recorded in North-East Asia and South Asia (both +7%). Arrivals in Oceania grew by 6 percent, while growth slowed down in South-East Asia (+2%) as compared to previous years.

The Americas was the best performing region in relative terms with growth of 7 percent, welcoming an additional 13 million international tourists and raising the total to 181 million. Growth was driven by North America (+8%), where Mexico posted a double-digit increase, and the Caribbean (+7%). Arrivals to Central America and South America (both +6%) grew at double the rate recorded in 2013 and well above the world average.

International tourism in the Middle East (+4%) shows signs of rebound with good results in most destinations. The region attracted an additional 2 million arrivals, bringing the total to 50 million. 

Africa’s international tourist numbers grew by an estimated 2 percent, equivalent to an increase of one million arrivals. The region reached 56 million tourists.

While arrivals to North Africa were weak (+1%), Sub-Saharan Africa saw international tourist numbers rise by 3 percent despite the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in a few West African countries. UNWTO warned that data for Africa and the Middle East should be read with caution as it was based on limited and volatile data.

TRADITIONAL DEMAND RETURNS

A pick-up in expenditure on international tourism from traditional source markets compensated for the slowdown of the large emerging markets, which had been driving tourism growth in previous years, UNWTO reported.

The total number of trips abroad from China is estimated to have increased by 11 million to 109 million in 2014. Expenditure was up by 17% in the first three quarters of 2014, a strong result but slower than in previous years (40% in 2012 and 26% in 2013, respectively).

China has been the world’s largest outbound market since 2012, with a total expenditure of US$ 129 billion in 2013.

Among the other two main emerging markets, the Russian Federation (-6%) clearly lost strength in 2014, while Brazil still grew by 2%, despite the appreciation of the US dollar against the Brazilian real and slower economic growth.

Beyond the top 10, some smaller emerging markets saw expenditure grow substantially, with Saudi Arabia, India, the Philippines and Qatar all reporting increases of 30 percent or over.
A pickup in demand from traditional source markets compensated for the slowdown of the large emerging markets.

Expenditure from the US, the second largest outbound market in the world, grew by 6 percent. Noteworthy is also the rebound of France (+11%), Italy (+6%) and the UK (+4%).

www.unwto.org

Useful links:

UNWTO World Tourism Barometer

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EXTRA >> CORPORATE Travel Management (CTM) is well known in the travel industry for being “ahead of the game” when it comes to information and communication technology (ICT) services for customers.

The technological tools CTM has developed – which is referred to as the SMART Suite, including the Smart Portal, Smart Taxi, Smart Approve, Smart Alerts and Smart Data – have become an integral part of the positive customer experience in two distinct ways: the way customers use these intelligent tools while travelling, and also in the data that is provided to both the client company and the CTM travel consultant. 

According to CTM managing director Jamie Pherous, the CTM business case for developing its own technology was simple: the online tools help with both customer retention and customer attraction – and the data generated in real time helps both the traveller and the travel consultant to manage the right outcomes.

A challenge CTM’s developers had to overcome was that different air travel and accommodation booking systems – the industry calls them Global Distribution Systems – dominate in different regions. The CTM SMART Suite and other tools had to seamlessly deliver information to the customer no matter what region they were travelling in, so they had to integrate with whatever systems are best of breed in any region.

“We made a conscious decision that we think it is unlikely that one provider is likely to have the best booking tool in every single market,” Mr Pherous said.

“They might in one region but it is probably unlikely it is going to be in the other. The same goes for expense management tools, security tools and the like.

“So we’ve made a conscious choice to build our own platform – a smart platform – that gives the client the same look and feel and the same tools, but behind the scenes it can then link to the best booking engine. But to the customer, it looks and feels the same, whether it is in North America, Europe, Asia or Australia,” he said.

“That’s the way we’ve gone and by having great data and controlling the data we have our own tools that fulfil the need.”

CTM’s travel consultants and technology development teams constantly look at the data and use it to refine the technologies it can offer to clients.

“So the idea is not just to have been tools in market, but also best innovations within our SMART Suite that is going to be relevant to that market,” Mr Pherous said.

“That’s where we believe we can get it right, because we believe within any region we have local ownership and local supply knowledge and, by using the best local tools, we can pull that together.

“So, by definition, we should have not just the best value proposition locally, but also regionally and globally at any time. And that is our opportunity.”

This approach has often taken CTM out of the strict travel realm as customer surveys bring through new ideas for better service.

“In terms of technology we are also building things that aren’t even to do with travel,” he said.

“An example is our taxi-share service. This came from a client who said to us they were sick and tired of going to head office and seeing 50 people who have come from other cities and they probably used 50 different taxis to get there. So we built a solution that identifies when people travel together, or close to, from other cities. Then through e-mails and text they are able to contact each other to share transport into the office and back.

“That came from client feedback. So that’s a good example. Nothing to do directly with travel, but it’s more logistics.

“Another one is what we call the Travel Tracker. It was used just to find out where people are … but what we found was it could be used by people, say, who might have to go to a meeting in Perth but they could look on this site and in one simple view see where other key managers might be.

“So if someone was already in Perth, they could hook that meeting up for them to see them. Again, feedback from clients and how we use this information. Nothing to do with travel, but more logistics – within an organisation.

“So you can go onto a screen, whether it is on an Apple (phone or tablet) or your (PC) desktop and see where all your people are. We found that clients are using that in very innovative ways.”

Mr Pherous gave the example of a CEO travelling to London for a meeting, who found one of his international managers was also to be in London at the same time and he was included in the meeting to great effect.

“We are really selling on value,” Mr Pherous said. “I really believe those two examples of logistics really save our clients money – and not just money but time. We can help them to be more efficient and effective.

“It fits right in with our commitment that the savings that we make (for clients) must outweigh the fees that we charge.”

CTM uses a range of developers for its products, with an internal team leading the projects but accessing the best talent available externally. Typically, an app might take two years of development and proving before it would be released.

“We’ve got a bit investment in IT development. That whole group is a very important part of our business,” Mr Pherous said.

“If we look now at our global objectives, how we win and retain business is pretty critical and so is the technology solutions in both reporting suites – for clients and internally – as well as the client tools and apps that we want to roll out globally.”

Technology was moving to use data in real time, Mr Pherous said, and CTM was at the cutting edge of that trend.

“I think reporting has had a big move in the past 24 months,” he said. “Getting reports historically doesn’t really help. The idea of our reports, and indeed our whole SMART Suite of apps, is there to identify things before travel is taken.

“We have acknowledge that saving along is somewhere like 7-8 percent, just by being able to see things up front. So the reports are more interactive, to show what-if scenarios.

“As well as the apps, another example is one of our tools for clients that allows them to look forward 14-21 days for booking discretionary travel,” Mr Pherous said.

“Often what people don’t realise is that they can get the cheap airfare (weeks out) but they don’t realise there may be a conference, say, in Melbourne at the same time which means the rooms rates are $500 a night. Our clients are able to, in a one screen view, look forward and say, you know what, if I go on Thursday or Friday it is going to be $200 a night, on average, versus $500 a night if I go Monday-Tuesday.

“These are tools that are doing two things: they are helping clients make better decisions and more effective travel, and as well it is freeing up our staff to get down into the stuff that really matters.

“We are finding now that if you look at client service, technologies now are a key part of that service. But we want to use technology to leave our people free for the really difficult itineraries.

“We believe the industry has dropped the ball on that. We know that having an expert travel adviser can make the difference between having a $10,000 and a $20,000 ticket, when it comes to complex itineraries.

“Free the travel organiser up though technology … but also make the travel more interactive between the traveller and the travel organiser.”

Mr Pherous said CTM’s teams realised that data makes a difference to the travel adviser and the client company.

“Data is the key in any business,” he said. “We use that data both internally and for clients.

“The more aware you are of data in real time, the greater ability you have to look at what-if scenarios, forwards as opposed to backwards. Clearly that can change options and opportunities – and that’s what we are seeing in our client base.

“So people who don’t have access to that are foregoing savings, generally.”

Mr Pherous said there was a pipeline of new technology products and tools being developed by CTM teams.

“We’ve got roughly a two-year build cycle and a pipeline of the things that we want to build,” Mr Pherous ssaid.

“But the key for us at the moment is making these tools accessible everywhere that CTM operates. For clients that want a regional solution, this is really relevant technology.”

Mr Pherous said CTM was  rolling these out progressively through all its global regions.

“The philosophy is that once we’ve got them rolled out, we want the same innovation structure across each region,” Mr Pherous said.

www.travelctm.com

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EXTRA >>

MEETINGS are expected to play a crucial part of a return to business fundamentals in 2015, helping to drive industry longevity, according to the American Express Meetings & Events 2015 Global Meetings and Events Forecast.

The meetings industry has been enduring a lengthy period of economic recovery, but global meeting budgets in 2015 are likely to show positive movement, either through growth or less of a decline than was seen previously, according to American Express (Amex). 
The report showed across the Asia Pacific region meeting activity was varied and attendee levels range from stable to moderately reduced. Meeting owners are leaning toward fewer and shorter meetings overall, which are expected to take place in large cities in 2015, with Singapore the number one meeting destination in the region.
“The meeting industry overall appears to be very much back in business, in particular as a key component of sales and marketing strategies for many organisations," American Express Meetings and Events vice president and general manager, Issa Jouaneh said.

“The last few years have given focus to meetings and events in a way that has driven a more disciplined approach around approvals processes, increased scrutiny on spend and a larger focus around accountability and expected outcomes for meetings.”

This latest edition of Amex’s Global Meetings Forecast breaks down predictions by meeting type to provide more insight into the purpose of meetings and where business priorities lie. In Asia Pacific region, high-level board meetings, internal team meetings and sales and marketing meetings are expected to be the focus.

www.americanexpress.com/Australia

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Acumen subscribers can click here to read an extended report on the American Express Meetings & Events 2015 Global Meetings & Events Forecast, including 2015 forecasts for Europe, Asia Pacific and North, South and Central America.

EXTRA >>

TWO Bond University academics have devised a radical technology-augmented conference format – dubbed the ‘unconference’ – that is being picked up around the world.

After successfully adapting a radical tech-based conference format to the field of management education in 2013, assistant professor George Hrivnak and professor Amy Kenworthy from Bond’s Faculty of Business recently hosted the 2014 Research in Management Learning and Education (RMLE) Unconference at the prestigious Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. 

Professors Hrivnak and Kenworthy partnered with the editors of four international management education journals to run the event which attracted submissions from 52 academics representing 26 universities located across four continents. 

“The ‘unconference’ format originally evolved from Silicon Valley computer industry gatherings where, rather than having a keynote speaker and invited presenters, the attendees themselves would set their own agenda and contribute equally to the discussions and debates,” Dr Hrivnak said.

“The concept is based on a premise put forward by entrepreneur Dave Winer that, at traditional conferences, the sum of the expertise of the people in the audience is greater than the sum of the expertise of the people on stage.

“In 2013, we decided to adapt the idea for professionals and academics working in management education. Rather than having a fixed agenda and planned presentations, we invited people to submit documents capturing their pressing, and yet unanswered, research questions, ideas and concerns about issues relating to the business of management education.

“We then use these as catalyst ‘prompts’ for group discussions at the Unconference.” 

The 2013 unconference proved so successful that the 2014 event attracted partnerships with the editors-in-chief of the Journal of Management Education, Management Learning, the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education and the Academy of Management Learning and Education – collectively regarded as the ‘top four’ international management education journals.

“Even more overwhelming than the geographic diversity of the participants and domain diversity of the submissions we received this year was the sustained enthusiasm and passion shown by all throughout the event,” Dr Kenworthy said.

“The collaborative, engagement-based format of the 2014 RMLE Unconference created an inspirational, organic and participant-driven environment.

“We received so much positive feedback commenting on the ‘positive energy’ and ‘how new ideas benefit from being tossed around within a community of scholars’ as well as how the format encouraged ‘ideas, groupings and potential projects to spring-up seemingly spontaneously’.

“Most importantly, the event produced tangible outcomes by creating research networks, and laying the foundation for specific follow-up initiatives and academic outcomes.”

“We now have requests from institutional partners around the world to host our unconferences. Our 2015 RMLE unconference will be held in partnership with the Eastern Academy of Management International (EAM-I) in Lima, Peru, June 21-25 and the 2016 RMLE Unconference will be held in Fontainebleau, France in partnership with one of the world’s largest and leading business schools, INSEAD.”

www.bond.du.au

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