Tourism recovery on growth trajectory

Pent-up demand affecting travel hubs

New research on APAC’s four biggest travel markets: Australia, India, Indonesia, and Japan, reveals that there is a 3X increase in intent to travel internationally. What’s surprising is that this new breed will spend up to 56 days planning before making a booking. Across all four markets, there has been a 17% increase in booking time.

What does this mean for agencies, tourism bureau and destination management companies keen on luring travelers to their destinations? The preferences of this new breed of traveler reflects that it’s even more critical for brands to engage them throughout the path to purchase, from research and discovery to bookings and activities.

For travel and tourism companies, OOH can help capture an audience before purchase by immersing consumers in the countries they might visit, the culture they could experience, or even the flight they could take.

Due to the accessibility of reviews, and research that consumers can do online before traveling, it’s essential that brands optimize the first part of the consumer journey (awareness, familiarity and consideration) to influence purchasing decisions in their favor.

Recently Moving Walls worked through The Trade Desk SSP to launch a multi-market automated campaign for Abu Dhabi Tourism. The UAE government intended to promote summer vacations in Abu Dhabi as a refreshing tourism hub and orchestrated a very specific campaign. This campaign looked at India, which ranked high as one of Abu Dhabi’s key tourism arrival markets. Moving Walls executed a campaign that generated multiple dynamic creatives throughout Indian airports, metro and bustling shopping districts. 

Why are airlines so keen on landing in Jakarta?

JET STAR – final barriers are broken

For Jetstar, which resumed up to 27 services from Singapore to Jakarta, the final barrier for travel between Singapore and Indonesia is removed. This barrier was the pre-flight and on arrival testing requirements which came to an end. Jetstar Asia increased flights from Singapore to key Indonesian destinations to meet pent-up travel demand. Jetstar Asia currently operates up to 27  services from Singapore to Jakarta, Denpasar and Surabaya. Before the pandemic and travel restrictions, Singaporeans rated as one of the top three nationalities visiting Indonesia every year. With 92% of Singaporeans now fully vaccinated, the announcement was seen as the metaphorical removal of the final barriers to cross-border travel between Singapore and Indonesia.

Also, read: Out-of-Home Advertising Singapore

China Southern Airlines – resumes operations

Word is out that China Southern Airlines plans to resume its links between Guangzhou and Jakarta, Indonesia; Dubai, UAE; Manila; Bangkok, Thailand; and Phnom Penh from next month. That airline shall also once again be flying between Dalian and Tokyo. The aviation industry has welcomed this news as a positive sign that Chinese airlines are now intending on operating more than one flight per week on international routes. Indonesia is a key route and the Chinese airlines have their sights set on it. 

EU inks first deal bloc-to-bloc air transport

The European Union finalized a deal with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to expand flights between the two trading blocs following negotiations that began six years ago. The deal, signed in Bali, Indonesia, will add passenger and cargo services between and beyond both regions, boosting connectivity as Asia reopens following Covid-19 restrictions. It will open up services for carriers including Deutsche Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International and Malaysia Airlines

New route between Indonesia and India

Indonesia’s North Sumatra Kualanamu Worldwide Airport is ready to introduce a direct route to India at the end of 2022, as an attempt to increase worldwide passengers. The route shared between India and ASEAN is fairly giant and there are currently no direct routine flights connecting Indonesia and India. Data shows that 12% of vacationers from India typically enter Indonesia via different ASEAN nations. The rate is quite high and Kualanamu Airport will open direct flights to and from India so that 12% of those vacationers can travel to Indonesia without transiting through any other ASEAN nations. National airline and IndiGo Airways are discussing opening extra routes to Indian cities, for example Delhi, Hyderabad, and Calcutta, from Indonesia’s Medan. 

Garuda restarts direct flights between Jakarta and Melbourne

Last week Indonesia’s flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia,  announced it was restarting direct services between Jakarta and Melbourne, Australia. Garuda said recommencing the service is based on market demand for international corporate and leisure travel now that Australia’s strict border restrictions are a thing of the past. While the Indonesian island of Bali is the biggest magnet for Australians, there is significant business, education and visiting family and relations traffic between Melbourne and Jakarta. For Indonesia, reopening the Melbourne service is part of helping Indonesia’s national economic recovery, particularly in the tourism sector. With Outbound tourism.

To fully capture Indonesia’s traveler, relevant, contextualized messaging will need to be catered to this new breed of travelers who are intent on exploring new experiences, local cuisines, activities, outdoors and culture. This breed of traveler is someone who craves new experiences, has a fairly high degree of disposable income and a lover of the outdoors. LMX with its rich and diverse assets across Indonesia including all of its airports, can execute campaigns that are made to measure. Adding to this is touch-points at offices and middle to high-end restaurants, airports, recreational centers and shopping hubs.