Travel News Selection – June 2017

Horus Development & Consulting brings you a selection of industry news for the month of June.

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According to chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report Rupert Hoogewerf, in 2016, Chinese luxury spend increased 20 per cent and returned to pre-2013 levels. The purchasing power of respondents rose 57 per cent, from RMB14 million (US$2.1 million) per capita in 2015 to RMB22 million. For Chinese luxury travellers, they prioritise their budgets differently depending on what part of the world they are visiting. Read More
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Alipay, the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”, “Ant”), today announced that it has signed a MoU with the Government of Monaco, which will enable merchants in Monaco to accept payment via Alipay, giving Chinese tourists the same convenient payment experience that they enjoy at home. Read More
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Following a decline in bookings for the UK in the wake of recent terror attacks, some Thai agencies are hoping to cushion the impact by promoting other destinations in Europe and Russia. Nitikorn Taothong, assistant chief tour planning of H.I.S. Thailand, revealed that the terror attacks in London and Manchester have had an impact as customers have postponed their bookings, leading to a significant fall in interest for the UK since March 2017.
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A new service initiative named “Xiang Ju” will be rolled out for Chinese guests to all Shangri-La branded hotels and resorts outside mainland China by year-end. It will be first launched at Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong on August 1 before expanding to the group’s 41 properties across 35 destinations. Service enhancements such as WeChat Assistant will be introduced, where guests will be given a QR code to scan and connect with the hotel’s China Guest Action Team on WeChat upon confirmation of booking. Read More
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According to Expedia, 86% of Millennials will travel in order to experience a new culture. Also, Millennials not only want to go somewhere special, they want to do something special when they get there. This means the quirkiness and specialness of any destination should be accentuated to Millennials, even when promoting familiar destinations. For advertising to engage with Millennials, it needs to be authentic – so brands and destination should use authentic user genuine content. Read More
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Millennials are redefining the use of ‘Bleisure’ and how it could be the next most important factor in attracting talents for a job position – travelling is ‘A Must’ for millennials. According to research by Booking.com for Business, 30% of business travellers would accept a lower paying job if it meant they could travel more for work. However, many companies have yet to allocate budget for extracurricular personal entertainment. Read More
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