BY
D’ANDREA WILLIS
As locations like Africa and Asia-Pacific (APAC) continue to emerge as important world markets, this is having an effect on the travel footprint in these areas. The
World Economic Forum recently highlighted the importance of “emerging affluent” travelers, or individuals originating from households with an annual income of $100,000 to $249,000, in Africa and APAC.
For travel providers, this new group of travelers offers an opportunity to evaluate a new business model as applied to these travel markets. In order to join the travel revolution that’s taking place in these locales, the focus should be on offering favorable destinations and location-specific activities in that area, catering to mobile bookings and using data to offer customers what they need in order to have a quality experience from booking to checkout.
Plan for specific destinations and activities
TripAdvisor reports that emerging affluent travelers tend to have high “outbound travel volume” to certain destinations, per
Marketing China. By understanding the most popular destinations among emerging affluent travel markets, you can develop tailored offerings.
Outdoor destinations and attractions that appeal to adventure are popular in the China market, while
How We Made It In Africa recommends offering family-oriented events, like child-friendly safaris. For emerging affluent travelers, purchase decisions can be shaped by the location, cleanliness and price offerings, among other factors. When doing so you can capture a high volume of business in Asia, APAC and other markets.
Capture mobile bookings
Per
EyeForTravel, “on-the-go” bookings are a notable trend among smartphone-obsessed buyers in emerging markets, with 70 percent of smartphone users in Asia not leaving the house without it. Making sure customers can book on their mobile device is now a requirement.
Programmatic marketing is an emerging trend, which
Tech.co believes is poised to overtake marketing in 2016. You can gain speed in offer-creation and advertising by leveraging
analytics toolsand technologies that automate this process. Effective programmatic advertising requires real-time analytics applications to engage buyers based on location, multichannel browsing history and preferences. By implementing geotargeted, programmatically generated booking recommendations, you can capture mobile, even impulse bookings, in Africa and APAC.
Use data insights
Media Post reports that the typical emerging affluent consumer has 20 to 25 hours per week of multichannel media usage, which leaves travel suppliers with rich insights on preferences and behaviors.
Tnooz reports that the volume of travel originating from emerging affluent markets will experience strong growth over the next decade.
With sufficient knowledge of emerging affluent consumer behavior and market trends, organizations can offer sophisticated recommendations and rewards that align with traveler priorities. Comfort and luxury-based offerings, such as room upgrades or complimentary services, could prove to be important components of mobile-based loyalty programs and customer offerings. If you’re hoping to capture the business in Africa, APAC and other emerging travel markets, be prepared to offer a rich, analytics-based customer experiences.