Rami Mashini
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Performance of GTA in 2015
The year has performed significantly well for GTA and the company is trading above its targets compared to the past year. GTA has raised the bar in many destinations for example the Asia Pacific. The room nights in this region along with turnover has grown extremely well. This pertains to both the inbound as well as the source markets.
Europe has been grown organically. There were some challenges faced in the Americas but this was sorted in the second half of this year. The Middle East interestingly brings a lot of challenges which has in turn affected volumes in general.
Just understanding the current situation, the on-going political unrest has continued to put some burden on the industry. However, despite these challenges, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region has grown in terms of room nights by double digits. Earning on the other hand have dipped and not been up to the mark.
We are optimistic about the second half. However, we have to consider changes in our travellers behaviour. They are becoming more and more value conscious instead of opting for five-star properties, they prefer a lower category.
Dubai has been a great destination to sell but with its own challenges. The decline in business from Eastern block in Europe has made the market more competitive. In order to keep up with changing market trends, we have had to add a lot of new initiatives. Our key strengths are understanding market needs and the local language which in turn ensures we service our customers well.
As a company, we are growing and hiring. We started having a global functions within the MEA region. One of which is our call centre based in Dubai, which caters for customer enquiries 24×7. This and many new initiatives have given us a strong market presence.
New Initiatives
The fragile market conditions have given rise to the need to launch new and innovative initiatives. One of them is the Strategic Partnership Programme. This programme was piloted in Singapore. The destination was witnessing a decline in tourist numbers and this programme has helped revive its tourism industry.
The Strategic Partnership Programme with Singapore increases awareness of the appeals of the destination, highlight value for money travel and drive visits from key markets in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. The partnership focuses on markets within seven hours flying distance from Singapore with particular emphasis on those where awareness of the destination is lower.
The results of this programme have been amazing. In light of its success, we are working to bring on other destinations. One of the next to come on board is Dubai. However, the decisions are still in the planning process.
The next launch was the Premium Room Collection which puts the best hotel stays within the reach of any traveller’s budget. GTA has secured additional availability between 1 July and 30 September 2015 and competitive rates for premium room categories. The campaign runs until end of November.
The objective of launching new initiatives is to move away from the ‘Me Too’ concept. We would like to define our value proposition to suppliers and clients but this requires some planning.
The next initiative is the loyalty programme – g shop. The launch of g shop in the region means that once enrolled, every booking a client makes earns them points to be redeemed for rewards. The rewards include smartphones, tablets, shopping vouchers, theme park tickets and much more.
This initiative has been very successful in Asia and has also been well–received in the Middle East. Since our launch in May, we have more than 1500 registered agents. This programme was launched across the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. The next step of the programme is to tap the employees of every organisation who have been working on our systems. In order to increase the awareness of this programme, GTA conducted workshops in KSA and Lebanon. The future target for this programme is to reach 3000-3,500 agents.
New Markets
We all know that Africa is the new future. We have started planting the seeds all over the region. We are present in Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius and South Africa. As per our records, South Africa has been a strong and mature market and we have started spreading out.
India has been very successful for us, we have raised the bar for India to Dubai. We are strong there as source market, have seen overwhelming results and continue to invest.
Mid-market segment
The destination needs to have mix of hotel categories that cater to all segments. However, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We need to take the destination to be multi-segmented. In this regard, GTA can cater for all segments ranging from the super luxury to a shared transfer in a bus.
Technology making a difference
The world is changing and so are customer behaviour. The key factor is strong know how of the travel industry, but there also needs to be strong distribution channels. It is all about the power of distribution. Technology does play a major part in putting you at the top. If you get your distribution right, know where to target and how to target, you will always be ahead of the game. We are working hard to make sure that we distribute our product to all source markets and cater to needs of our suppliers.
China market
The Chinese market has been doing extremely well. The inbound segment is doing well but there are some challenges. When planning to target this market, the industry needs to understand the culture of the Chinese and their travelling patterns.
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