After the uncertainties of this year, business to Asia is seeing a strong return for Kuoni Switzerland, and its senior product manager for the Far East says now is the time for high value.
While Kuoni secures a new China gateway (story below), its travel trends to the region are seeing a steady return. According to Thomas Graf, the price is right for the region.
“If we look at value for money, for many, this is definitely the year to go. Most of the hotels rates are down, airlines are throwing in good rates, and the local currencies are weak against the Euro.”
Kuoni had been busy resurrecting business to Asia, he said, and its booking figures were now back to pre-crisis levels.
“We’ve been continuing promotions for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, just to bring back customers, who then return with good impressions. Our figures are pretty much back to September last year.” Assuming a calm picture, the upcoming winter season looked better, he said.
“November to April should be quite good. Thailand remains the number one seller, Vietnam should recover, and Indochina will do well overall,” said Graf.
Speaking at TIME 2003, he said while business to Bali was looking good, the outlook for Indonesia was still less clear.
“For Bali, August for us was 20 percent up over last August. But after the Jakarta bombing, demand went down again – more or less on par with last September.
“But Bali had a really strong comeback for us. Now it’s more about the rest of Indonesia.”
Graf’s message to marketers seeking a return from the high quality Swiss market is clear – those who promote will reap the benefit. As is often the case, Thailand has so far led the charge.
“Thailand has just done something quite remarkable to bring back the confidence of the Swiss retailers in their destination. They had 100 retailers go to Bangkok for one night; they had some sightseeing and held workshops to showcase the different products.
“Things like this with retailers or journalists help spread the message that it’s safe. It’s about bringing back the confidence. In that respect, there’s not much being done by the other Asian NTOs, at least to the Swiss market.”
After a trying year, it was ironically the sunny Swiss skies which had kept travellers at home in recent weeks, he said.
“There are a lot of factors during the last few months that have effected longhaul business. Of course, the war and SARS, but also the weather in Europe, which has been fantastic. And people didn’t see the need to travel.”
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