Six Travel Trends that will shape our marketing

SIX TRAVEL TRENDS TO shape our marketing for 2014 and beyond

Six travel trends that are going to shape our marketing in 2014 beyond...

The influence of the ‘millenials’

The Millennials are those born since 2000.  These 18- to 30-year-olds of growing importance to the travel industry and have some key characteristics and will shape the future of travel propositions for the industry. Specifically, the millenials are more ethnically diverse, more interested in urban than resort destinations, more likely to travel to follow interests or activities and more likely to travel with friends in organized groups.

The continuing growth of the Silver market

The Silver market is estimated to comprise 1.3 billion to 1.6 billion people worldwide by 2015. Of crucial importance to this group is customer service. The senior group travels primarily for rest and relaxation on either short or longer stay trips and prefer quieter and less congested destinations. Not only is the senior market the world’s wealthiest group – it is also the most demanding and show very little tolerance to poor or average levels of customer service.


An increase in conspicuous leisure

The ubiquitous use of social media and with it the widespread sharing of photos with friends, families and colleagues – has fostered a trend in conspicuous leisure.  Experiences  will become a ‘social currency’ signalling social status through unique experiences rather than through consumer goods.  These experiences will most likely include owning a holiday home, having the freedom to work from home, taking holidays to exotic destinations and enjoying active experiences

The rise of ‘creative tourism’

Creative tourism is travel that provides an engaged and authentic experience and that can make a connection with those who live and work in the tourism destination.  The ‘creative’ tourist differs from a ‘cultural’ tourist in that he or she is active and interacts with the locals.


The strength of luxury travel

Luxury travel continues to be a robust segment of the travel industry and has remained recession-proof over the last five years as other sectors have struggled.  There are now literally millions of millionaires and the number of affluent households are projected to double between 2012 and 2020. Despite the growth of the Asian (and particularly the Chinese) market, it is still projected that U.S., Japanese and European travellers will dominate the luxury travel market until 2020

The emergence of  multi-generational travel

The older the original baby-boomers get, the more family travel they are doing with a lot of that travel planned around milestone events. The multi-generational market is about trading memories, with convenience and value.

Most destinations have struggled when it comes to providing services and amenities that appeal to six and 60 year-olds alike, but some cruise lines have already taken a leadership position in catering to the multigenerational travel market.

Laker's Skytrain - The first No Frills Airline

Skytrain to America

Sir Freddie Laker pioneered the idea of cheap air travel and introduced the first ‘no-frills’ concept to aviation with his ‘Skytrain to America’ in 1977.  

This entrepreneurial venture was so ahead of its time that rival airlines conspired successfully to crush his business.

Before Skytrain, international flights were for the rich. After the Second World War it was thought that competition between airlines might lead to a dereliction of passenger safety, and so the market was strictly regulated by the International Air Transport Association.

IATA allowed state airlines to maintain a monopoly offering identical services at high prices. (By 1971 the only exception was charter airlines catering for the growing package holiday trade. Under an IATA rule intended to preserve the monopoly, charter passengers needed six months' membership of an "affinity group" whose main purpose was not travel, groups such as the Dahlia Society or the Left Hand Club – see previous post)

Laker, whose airline was being regularly fined for carrying large numbers of bogus Rose Growers to America, came up with an easier system. Passengers who wanted a cheap flight could queue for a ticket at the airport, just as they would at a railway station before taking a train. It took six years of campaigning and lobbying to persuade the British and American governments to agree to the idea.

Queuing for  Skytain tickets at Victoria

The first Skytrain took off for New York in September 1977. Laker offered no frills but at £59 it cost a third of any other ticket. He made £1 million profit in the first year, and by 1980 was carrying one in seven transatlantic passengers.

The other major airlines soon took action, offering cheap fares for the first time and when Pan Am cut the price of its regular service by two-thirds in October 1981, Laker's passengers deserted him.

And then, in February 1982, Laker Airways went into receivership with debts of £264 million. The collapse was so sudden that its flights were turned round in mid-air!  At first it seemed that Laker had overstretched, borrowing heavily to finance 15 new planes just as the pound fell against the dollar.

But in 1983 the liquidators Touche Ross began an anti-trust action in America, claiming a billion dollars from 10 major airline and the allegations went beyond predatory pricing. British Airways, Pan Am, TWA and Lufthansa were all said to have colluded to plot Laker's downfall.

In particular, several airlines had threatened the manufacturer McDonnell Douglas that they would buy elsewhere if it rescheduled Laker's debt. (The Justice Department found the evidence in a school project by the daughter of a McDonnell Douglas director!)

The action threatened BA's privatisation, and in 1985 the defendants settled out of court the £35 million owed to Laker's creditors, staff and passengers. Laker himself reluctantly accepted £6 million in compensation and retreated to the Bahamas.

Frederick Alfred Laker was born in Canterbury on August 6 1922. His father, a merchant seaman, deserted the family when Freddie was five, and his mother then worked as a cleaner. At the local Simon Langton School Freddie did not shine academically but told friends he was going to be a millionaire. His first job was delivering coal for an uncle.

At 16 he joined the flying-boat builders Short Brothers of Rochester as a teaboy and apprentice engineer, and studied maths and economics at night school. In the Second World War he worked for the Air Transport Auxiliary where he excelled at improvising repairs. He became flight engineer and then qualifyed as a ferry pilot himself.

By 1946, with a loan from a friend he set up Aviation Traders, dealing in war-surplus and then carrying passengers and freight in converted Halifax bombers. Laker made his first fortune from the Berlin airlift of 1948. The government chartered every available aeroplane from the many small independent airlines at generous rates. His profit, however, came from selling spare parts to the other airlines.

When the airlift ended, Laker judged the market to be overcrowded, and, as others went under, had his team at work smelting 6,000 engines for a saucepan manufacturer. In 1951 he returned to charter, carrying troops for the Army in aircraft rebuilt from crashed ones

In 1953 his Channel Air Bridge began flying passengers, and then cars, from Southend to Calais. In 1958 he sold his business, which was merged with others to form British United Airways. He became managing director of BUA, and it grew into the largest independent airline.  

British United Airways

In 1965 he resigned, forming Laker Airways to capitalise on the booming package holiday trade. Three innovations made the airline successful:

1) Laker chartered his aircraft to tour companies at a rate that cost them less the more they flew.

2) He saved money on fuel by telling his crews to fly at higher altitudes than usual and by pioneering the reduced thrust technique on take-off.

3) He also kept his fleet busy off-season, flying winter tours to the Mediterranean and Muslims to Mecca for the Haj.

Laker enjoyed the good life. At his peak he bought a Rolls-Royce each year and racehorses for his Epsom stud. He was once photographed zooming around the Gatwick runway pretending to be a Spitfire and he was voted "Man of the Year" and in 1978 knighted by the Callaghan government.

Yet he never lost his Kentish accent and had a reputation for frugality.  Laker's management style was to dominate. He knew each aspect of his business as well as any employee, and, while inspiring great loyalty, knew his own mind and got his own way. 

Thomas Cook - The First Tour Operator!

Thomas Cook, was was born  in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, on 22nd November, 1808 leaving school at the age of ten to work as a gardener's boy on Lord Melbourne's estate.

The First Signs of a Travel Career

Cook attended the local Methodist Sunday School and was described as "an earnest, active, devoted, young Christian". He soon became a teacher at the Sunday School and eventually was appointed as its superintendent. At seventeen Thomas joined the local Temperance Society and over the next few years spent his spare-time campaigning against the consumption of alcohol.

In 1827 Cook abandoned his apprenticeship to become an itinerant village missionary, on a salary of £36 a year.  His job was to spread the Word by preaching, distributing tracts, and setting up Sunday schools throughout the south midland counties.  Thus began his career in travel.

Cook married in 1833 and became an active member of the local Temperance Society making speeches and publishing pamphlets pointing out the dangers of alcohol consumption. He also arranged large group picnics where participants were, according to the Temperance Messenger, sustained with "biscuits, buns and ginger beer". In 1840 Cook decided to make a career out of his temperance beliefs and founded the Children's Temperance Magazine.

The First ‘Package’ Holiday

In 1841 Cook had the idea of arranging an eleven-mile rail excursion from Leicester to a Temperance Society meeting in Loughborough on the newly extended Midland Railway. Cook charged his customers one shilling and this included the cost of the rail ticket and the food on the journey. The venture was a great success and Cook decided to start his own business running rail excursions.

He described this as ‘the starting point of a career of labour and pleasure which has expanded into … a mission of goodwill and benevolence on a grand scale’

The First ‘Brochure’

Cook set up as a bookseller and printer in Leicester. He specialized in temperance literature and opened up temperance hotels in Derby and Leicester and continued to organize excursions.  In 1845, having won a reputation as an entrepreneur who could obtain cheap rates from the railway companies for large parties, he undertook his first profit-making excursion - to Liverpool, Caernarfon, and Mount Snowdon. Cook wrote a handbook which resembled in essential respects the modern tour operator's brochure.

In 1846 Cook took 500 people from Leicester on a tour of Scotland that involved visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh. One of his greatest achievements was to arrange for over 165,000 people to attend the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. 

The First Ticketing Problems!

Cook's travel business was badly damaged in 1862 when the Scottish railway companies refused to issue any more group tickets for Cook's popular tours north of the border. Cook instead decided to take advantage of new rail links to take large numbers of tourists to the continent. In his first year he arranged for 2000 visitors to travel France and 500 to Switzerland. In 1864 Cook began taking tourists to Italy.

The First Mass-Market Backlash

Cook was charged with swamping Europe with "everything that is low-bred, vulgar and ridiculous". And others complained about the bad taste of taking tourists to the battlefields of the American Civil War.

Cook moved his business to London. His son John managed the London office of the company that was now known as Thomas Cook & Son and helped to expand the company by opening offices in Manchester, Brussels, and Cologne. In 1869 the company arranged tours of Egypt and the Holy Land, something he described as "the greatest event of my tourist life".

The First Boardroom Revolt

Thomas Cook had a difficult relationship with his son and only made him a partner in 1871. His reluctance was probably due to disputes between the two men, mainly over financial matters. Unlike Thomas, John believed that business should be kept separate from religion and philanthropy. He also upset his father by being more adventurous in investing money. He opened a hotel at Luxor and refurbished the Nile steamers of the khedive, from whom he obtained the passenger agency, thus helping to make Egypt a safer and more attractive destination.

The First Round The World Tour

By 1872 Thomas Cook & Son was able to offer a 212 day Round the World Tour for 200 guineas. The journey included a steamship across the Atlantic, a stage coach from the east to the west coast of America, a paddle steamer to Japan, and an overland journey across China and India.

Thomas continued to disagree with his son about the way the company should be run. After a serious dispute in 1878, Thomas decided to retire to Thorncroft, the large house which he had built on the outskirts of Leicester, and allow John Cook to run the business on his own.

And A Sad Ending

Cook led a lonely life after the deaths of his unmarried daughter Annie in 1880 and his wife four years later. He continued to travel, however, making his final pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1888. Much of his time and money were spent, as they had been throughout his career, in work for the Baptist church, the temperance movement, and other charities. He did not attend the firm's silver jubilee celebrations in 1891; whether this was because of blindness and physical incapacity or because  his son John did not want him there is not clear

Thomas Cook died at Knighton, Leicester, on 18th July 1892.

India - Powerhouse Economy for Growth

This is one of the World Travel Market breakout sessions on powerhouse economies, in this case, India.

The session was run by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and this panel  discusses outbound tourism, more specifically the huge potential for outbound tourism and the problems facing Europe in trying to attract some of that business.   

And, of course, it's that old nutshell again...visas.

New Exhibitors for WTM 2012

The World Travel Market is welcoming 157 new exhibitors at the event for WTM 2012 with some new interesting names (but sadly not Molvania just yet....)

Europe leads the way in new exhibitors with 41 exhibitors appearing for the first time as Main Stand Holders. They include tourism boards and offices as far apart as San Marino, Lille and Belarus as well as the Republic of Komi, in North Western Russia.

The Technology and Online Travel region has 36 technology companies taking their own stands from a wide range of disciplines including names such as Travel Republic and Online Travel Training. 

Software firms are represented by Hotelogix and Intuitive, while the rise of social media and mobile is reflected in the appearance of specialists in this area such as Revinate and Voiamo Group. Other suppliers exhibiting for the first time include Worldpay and technology services company Wizie.

The Global Village region sees 18 new exhibitors from all parts of the industry including the K+K hotels chain, wholesaler Adonis, Autorent Car Rental and Chic Outlet Shopping in Europe.

Asia has 13 first-time exhibitors (reflecting the growth in China’s travel industry) including China Southern Airlines and newer destinations such as Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, represented by Victoria Vietnam Group, Saigontourist, Uzbektourism and the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators.

India has its own dedicated stand-alone region with 12 new exhibitors including Brys Hotels, Inbound Tour Operator Council (ITOC), West Bengal, hotel company ITC Limited and Odisha Tourism.

The UK has 12 new exhibitors including English Heritage (for the first time??) and the National Trust, plus London attractions The View From the Shard and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

A further ten new exhibitors will attend the show in the Africa region highlighting a continued development  in African tourism, as Africa emerges from last year’s Arab Spring. Notably these include the Libyan Export Promotion Center and Airkenya Express.

The BRICs or should that be the SKOCTs?

Over the past few years, the most talked-about trend in the global economy has been the so-called rise of the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The world was witnessing a paradigm shift  in which the major players in the developing world were catching up to or even surpassing  the developed world.  But is this really the case?

These were ‘straight-line’ projections that took the developing world's high growth rates from the middle of the last decade and extended them straight into the future, setting them against sluggish growth in the US and other advanced industrial countries. These projections showed, for example, that China was on the verge of overtaking the United States as the world's largest economy (even though the U.S. economy is still more than twice as large and with a per capita income seven times as high)

However, with the world economy heading for its worst year since 2009, Chinese growth is slowing sharply, from double digits down to seven percent (even less) and the rest of the BRICs are tumbling, too - Since 2008, Brazil's annual growth has dropped from 4.5 percent to two percent; Russia's, from seven percent to 3.5 percent; and India's, from nine percent to six percent.

None of this is really surprising, because it is hard to sustain rapid growth for more than a decade but the circumstances of the last decade made it look easy - coming out of the  crisis-ridden 1990s and supported by an abundant supply of credit, the emerging markets took off and by 2007, when only three countries in the world suffered negative growth, recessions had all but disappeared from the international scene.  But now, there is a lot less foreign money flowing into emerging markets and the global economy is returning to its normal state.

EMERGING MARKETS

The notion of a convergence between the developing and the developed world is a myth - of the roughly 180 countries in the world tracked by the International Monetary Fund, only 35 are developed. The markets of the rest are emerging-and most of them have been emerging for many decades and will continue to do so for many more. As of 2011, the difference in per capita incomes between the rich and the developing nations is the same as it was in the 1950s.

BRICs (or should that be BICS or VIPs)

Other than being the largest economies in their respective regions, the big four emerging markets have little in common. They generate growth in different and often competing ways-Brazil and Russia, for example, are major energy producers that benefit from high energy prices, whereas India, as a major energy consumer, suffers from them. Except in highly unusual circumstances (such as those of the last decade) they are unlikely to grow in unison. They have limited trade ties with one another, and they have few political or foreign policy interests in common.

Russia remains a member of the BRICs only because the term sounds better with an R. In recent years, Russia's economy and stock market have been among the weakest of the emerging markets, dominated by an oil-rich class of billionaires whose assets equal 20 percent of GDP

In fact, the longest period over which one can find clear patterns in the global economic cycle is around a decade. The typical business cycle lasts about five years, from the bottom of one downturn to the bottom of the next, and most practical investors limit their perspectives to one or two business cycles. Beyond that, forecasts are often rendered obsolete by the unanticipated appearance of new competitors, new political environments, or new technologies.

THE NEW ECONOMIC ORDER

In the next ten years, the United States, Europe, and Japan are likely to grow slowly as will China as the economy matures. As growth slows in China and in the advanced industrial world, these countries will buy less from their export-driven counterparts, such as Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, and Taiwan.

The economic role models of recent times will give way to new models as growth occurs elsewhere. In the past, Asian states tended to look to Japan as a model, nations from the Balkans looked to the European Union, and nearly all countries to some extent looked to the United States. But the crisis of 2008 has undermined the credibility of all these role models. Tokyo's recent mistakes have made South Korea, which is still rising as a manufacturing powerhouse, a much more appealing Asian model than Japan. Countries that once were eager to enter the eurozone, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Turkey, now wonder if they want to join a club with so many members on the verge of bankruptcy. And the US call for poor countries to restrain their spending and liberalize their economies is difficult to accept when  Washington can't agree to cut its own huge deficit.

Among countries with per capita incomes in the $20,000 to $25,000 range, only two have a good chance of matching or exceeding 3% growth over the next decade: the Czech Republic and South Korea. Among the large group with average incomes in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, only one country -- Turkey -- has a good shot at matching or exceeding four to five percent growth and  in the $5,000 to $10,000 income class, Thailand seems to be the only country with a real shot at outperforming significantly.

To the extent that there will be a new crop of emerging-market stars in the coming years, therefore, it is likely to feature countries whose per capita incomes are under $5,000, such as Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and various contenders in East Africa.

Although the world can expect more breakout nations to emerge from the bottom income tier, at the top and the middle, the new global economic order will probably look pretty much like the old one . 

The Saviour of the British Pub - A Frenchman?

Ever heard of Jacques Borel?  No, neither have I, but this 85 year old Frenchman is on a mission – to breathe life back into British pubs by slashing the rate of VAT levied on food and drink.

He has a good track record so far - In Belgium, the Czech Republic, France and Germany, VAT on restaurant food has been cut to around 5%. Before the French parliament slashed VAT, Borel had four meetings with Nicolas Sarkozy.

Borel claims that his campaign has already created 650,000 new jobs and it is his ambition to have launched one and a half million new jobs in bars and restaurants throughout Britain and Europe before he finally calls it a day and retires

 “Before you meet a minister, you must convince junior ministers and their aides that you have a convincing argument,” he says. “If they agree to set up a meeting, they prepare a two-page briefing for the minister, with the key points highlighted, so he will have a summary of the case before he meets you.”

In Britain he is backed by 32 supporters from the food and drink industries (and me) including the Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB), the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), and the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR).  The aim is to create 140,000 new jobs in Britain as a result of cutting VAT from 20% to 5%.

The facts are as follows - In Britain there is a 42% rate of tax on beer and Ireland and the UK are the only EU countries where supermarket food is zero rated for VAT. As a result, the supermarkets can subsidise alcohol by selling it at a loss while people who eat in pubs have to pay 20% VAT. 

“Cheap supermarket booze,” adds Jacques “is the cause of binge drinking. The medical profession says that 95% of people they treat for liver disease bought their alcohol from supermarkets. The best way to tackle binge drinking is to get people back into pubs.”

The brewing industry accounts for 1,300,000 jobs if you include pub and brewery workers, farmers that grow the raw materials needed to make beer, and transport companies that deliver the raw materials and the finished beer. Cutting VAT would not only create new jobs in pubs but there would be a knock-on effect in the supply chain. For every 100 new jobs in the pub trade, a further 70 would be added in brewing, farming and transport.

Jacques Borel has had success in in mainland Europe, where the Belgian, Czech, French and German governments have responded to his campaign by slashing VAT from 19% to 5 or 7%. In Finland, where VAT is an astonishing 23%, the rate has been cut to 13% for the restaurant industry. In France alone 21,700 jobs have been created since tax was reduced. 

Now the European Commission has adopted a unanimous decision by the 27 Ministers of Finance to allow each member state to apply a reduced rate of VAT to the restaurant industry instead of the standard rate.

Jacques Borel stresses the impact of a tax cut on trade by pointing to the effect on one French restaurant group. Flo runs steak houses and brasseries and is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. The reduction in VAT in France enabled the chain to cut prices by 5.2%. As a result, the number of customers rose by 8.5% in just three weeks and the company’s share price rose from two euros before the cut to 4.16 today.

He fully expects a similar increase in trade for British pubs. The money created by a tax cut and increased trade would be used, Borel says, to not only cut prices but also create employment, raise wages, improve training, refurbish pubs and increase profits.

Of course it would! Listen to Jacques and read  Keynesian Pub Economics

Libya - What Next?

After an overnight push into Tripoli, the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) is poised to take control of the capital and the country.

But whether this group of former exiles, military officers, tribal leaders, human-rights lawyers, and ordinary Libyan citizens can actually govern the country effectively is another question?

Unlike the situations on Egypt and Tunisia, there has never been a history of democracy or government institutions in Libya and therefore any path to a 'normal democracy' will be all the more difficult - since they will have to start from scratch.

It will be up to Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chairman of the NTC, to get the country back on track. He is a former minister of justice under Gaddafi's government but he has little experience in the kind of national politics he will be faced with if Libya is to emerge successfully from this.

International powers have recognised the NTC as the legitimate Government of Libya but it will have to act quickly reconcile the nations differences and begin reconstruction!

Security

The first and most important task, following the overthrow of Gaddaffi will be to restore security. Tens of thousands of people have armed themselves with rifles, handguns, artillery and mechanised vehicles looted from arms depots. Borders are not properly monitored and there is a risk that some militant groups or tribal factions will try to wrest control during this unstable period.

Inflation

Economic stability is also a concern - the price of a bag of flour, which used to cost 5 dinars (US$4.16), is now selling for more than 70 dinars. A five-litre tank of petrol, normally 4 dinars, is now about 60 dinars.

Oil

Libya of course, has oil. Until the recent fighting, it produced 2 per cent of the world's oil and had amassed billions of dollars that were invested around the world. With a population of just two million, Libya could be one of the richest countries in the world. But fighting has reduced exports to just a fraction and much of the country's savings abroad has been frozen by countries trying to put pressure on the Gaddafi regime. International oil companies have sent in technical teams to assess how quickly refineries can be restarted and how badly facilities have been damaged during the fighting.

But the presence of oil (lots of it) doesn't guarantee prosperity for all. There is a pretty good chance that oil money is going to be badly distributed or misspent, that will benefit the few, rather than the many.

The Future

In the coming days, Mr Jalil, the head of the NTC, will for the first time have to deal with a country that was largely unified against a dictator, but could become equally divided over the what happens next and who takes control. The first dispute could be over who deserves the credit for actually ousting Gaddafi - the assault on Tripoli was led by rebels from western Libya - a relatively new group in the six-month uprising and there is no guarantee this group will accept the leadership of the NTC from Benghazi.

Difficult times indeed.

I understand a team of high-profile executives from the 'Welcome to Yorkshire' tourist board have been in secret talks to try and bring the 2016 Tour de France to HULL!

According to the Hull Daily Mail, a team led by the tourist board visited the Paris offices of the Tour's organising committee to present the region's bid to see Hull as one of the locations for the Grand Depart – the opening two days of the race.

I'm not sure that any economic impact would be quite as significant as that claimed by a 'spokesman' for the Tourist Board, who states that for Hull to be part of the tour would be a major boost for the region and that "tens of millions of pounds" would be spent by visitors snapping up hundreds of hotel rooms and visiting pubs and restaurants, but it would certainly be a major coup for the region if they can pull it off.

The route submitted for consideration proposes Leeds city centre as the starting destination from which the 22 teams would weave their way to the Yorkshire Dales, head east to Scarborough and the coast, via York and the North York Moors, before dropping south to Hull and finally to Sheffield.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome To Yorkshire, also says "The economic impact for Yorkshire will be tremendous and we will do everything we can to make sure the event comes here".

"Yorkshire is a world-class destination experienced at successfully hosting world- class events and we believe it will provide the perfect backdrop to the world's greatest cycle race."

Apparently Yorkshire's bid seems to have been positively received by the organising committee at this stage .More talks are due to take place next month and the Tour organisers will visit the region to see the proposed route.

Tourism power in action

We all know that tourism drives job creation and increases prosperity in local economies. Tourism also has a direct affect on poverty reduction and an indirect affect on increasing health and human services; i.e people prosper they can afford a better diet and health care.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization ranks tourism in the top three categories for economic development, “demonstrating that travel can play a vital role in helping developing economies mature.”

Indeed, already more people are traveling to developing countries. Last year, the 48 least-developed countries saw the number of tourists rise from 6 million to 17 million, and tourism revenue rise from $3 billion to $10 billion.

That’s a massive increase while still a small percentage of international travel as a whole. (124 million people travelled internationally in just the first two months of this year).

The UNWTO predicts the total number of international travellers this year will rise 5%, with Chinese travellers spending more than ever. The American, French, and now the Chinese spend the most while travelling, according to the UNWTO. Nearly $1 trillion per year is spent by international travellers, the UNWTO says.

Imagine if more of that money went to developing countries.

Travelling to developing countries is the same as investing in the developing world. The returns instead come in the forms of local products, services, and lifetime experience.

Egypt is seeking tourism dollars again and sees visitors as key to its economic recovery. “As the leading foreign exchange earner and representing one in every seven jobs, tourism is a crucial factor in Egypt’s economic recovery,” Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said at a recent U.N. meeting on tourism.

Tourism power is an untapped resource in the world economy. Choosing where to travel and how to spend money when we are there is often considered fun. But looked at another way, from a business and economic perspective, those choices can have major consequences.

In the developing world, tourism accounts for almost half of total service exports. Increase those dollars and place them in sustainable development programs, which the U.N. is encouraging, and soon improvements can be seen in education, the environment and disease reduction.

“Responsible and sustainable tourism allows destinations and companies to minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and on cultural heritage while maximizing its economic and social benefits,” the UNWTO says.

Moreover, it creates empathy. When people travel and see conditions in disrepair or people living in poverty, there is a desire to help and lend assistance. Of course there are charitable institution throughout the developing world and there are financial investments to be made in companies that operate or trade with developing world partners, thereby increasing economic recovery. But there is something special about taking money out of your own wallet and handing them to a person in need while getting a local product or service in return.

The New Great Game: The Battle for Africa

The 'Great Game' was a term used to describe the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia (mostly Afghanistan!) between 1813 and 1907. It was first commonly used by Rudyard Kipling in his novel 'Kim'.

There now seems there is a new Great Game; the battle for African Energy Resources.

India took a leap in Africa on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Singh pledging $5 billion for the Africa's development over the next three years. Spreading out the Indian presence from agriculture to information technology, and medicine to a virtual university, India now rivals China for top honours in the new Great Game in Africa!

India will offer $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achievesome of its development goals. (To put the figure in perspective, India's healthcare budget is around $ 5.9 billion). This credit would be apart from the $700 million pledged for new institutions in Africa.

India also announced a railway line between Ethiopia and Djibouti at a cost of $300 million. The initial plan by the Africa Union was for a line running across the breadth of Africa, but the task of coordinating land acquisition through so many sovereign states was a challenge they weren't willing to take on (just yet).

China has the biggest presence in Africa, constructing airport terminals and football stadiums at a breathtaking pace, in return for access to resources and minerals. Its bilateral trade with Africa in 2010 was $126.9 billion, as compared to just over $40 billion India-Africa trade. Earlier this week, India declared a target of $70 billion by 2015.

India has had a long-standing relationship with African countries, particularly on the eastern seaboard, but it took a backseat when China went into Africa with deep pockets and insatiable demand for energy and resources.

Since then, India has been playing catch-up, although India prides itself on doing things differently from China. It's 'Sort Power' approach sees itself as less extractive in its engagements and more inclined towards helping African countries improve their capacity. As a senior African diplomat observed, "China invests in our today, India in our tomorrow."

African nations are not unhappy at being the centre of attention and largesse by India and China. Although China is more efficient in the way it processes aid in Africa, India has been actively invited by African leaders themselves as they seek to balance the Chinese presence.

The Indian presence is also mainly in the private sector, unlike the state-driven presence of China. This makes the Indian engagement far less threatening in Africa. Having said that, Indian companies are increasingly getting into mining for coal, copper and more industrial-use metals in different African countries. Indian farmers are engaging in commercial farming in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. In a recent agreement, Andhra Pradesh will send 500 farmers to become farming entrepreneurs in these countries.

PM Singh declared that India would invite all African airlines to Indian cities over the next three years. That's because no Indian airline now flies to Africa even as Chinese airlines are increasing their flights to the continent. Yet..

Womens Army shows the way for Red Tourists

On July 1st, on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party operators throughout China are creating a selection of cultural and commemorative "red" tours.

On the island province of Hainan, visitors can travel to rural Qionghai, to visit Pan Xianying, mother of seven, and now nearly a 100 yrs old, and one of three remaining members of a famed Communist all-women army unit in China and a living attraction on a "red" tour of the southern island province of Hainan.

Pan was about 15 when she joined the unit in 1931; the battalion was formed by a Hainanese Communist to promote gender equality. It was created to protect party leaders and fight rival Nationalist forces during China's civil war, the unit and composed of 140 women. The unit was disbanded after several years, when Nationalist forces drove local Communists underground. But its members were hailed as heroines after Mao Zedong's victorious forces took over China in 1949 and the unit has since inspired a popular ballet, The Red Detachment of Women, and several films.

Local authorities in the rural community of Qionghai decided to capitalise on the detachment's fame this year with tours of its former training grounds and meeting spots. The tours attracted 360 people in April, some coming as part of events organised by their employers, others independently. Besides old revolutionary sites -- one of them just a bare field where influential communists once met long ago -- outdoor sports such as hiking are also on offer.

The hikes are billed as instilling army-style camaraderie among tour members and follow a route that Red Army soldiers are said to have struggled through. The tour guides sport revolutionary-style green caps complete with a red star, which visitors can buy for 10 yuan. They can also choose to wear a full soldier's uniform for 100 yuan.

'Red' tourism is not new in China, where the party has deftly managed to keep alive memories of the communist revolution even as it has transformed the country into an economic powerhouse. The Hunan province city of Shaoshan where Mao was born and the longtime Communist base of Yan'an in Shaanxi province are already star attractions.

But the trend is gaining ground. In the southwestern city of Chongqing, authorities have ordered state radio and television to promote the mass study of "red songs" praising the Communist Party. Citizens are being urged to download tunes from websites, while newspapers print their lyrics, state media reported. Other cities have made similar moves.

Chen Doushu, head of the agency organising the tours, said red tourism reflects a desire by many to look fondly back at the past after more than 30 years of focus on the future during China's rapid recent modernisation.

"Chinese people cannot forget their history, and the best way to do that is to go and remember it, to study it. That's where red tourism comes from," he said.

India, China, Demographics, Distribution & Consumption Patterns.

The recent PATA 60th anniversary and conference event held at the China World Hotel, Beijing, threw up some interesting sessions on distribution challenges and changing demographics.

Attention was drawn to the huge process of urbanization taking place in both India and China.

Within the next 15 years, China would create cities equal to the size of most in Europe and India was planning to create 115 new airports.

This expansion will see massive increases in the numbers of Indians and Chinese willing, and able, to travel, leading to a major shift in global consumption patterns - even today the average Indian traveling in the U.K spends £792 a week compared to the average American spend in the U.K. of £710 a week.

With 70% of the Indian population under the age of 35, distribution trends will focus on increased marketing through social media and mobile access, while #trending enables industry players to have real-time feedback from consumers, shaping demand, supply, delivery, service, policy and direction.

With a predicted future shortage of skilled workers globally, there is also a real opportunity for India and China.

While in the past, the best hotel chains in India and China would hire expatriates, there will now be a reversal in this trend with the Ritz-Carlton’s and Four Seasons’ turning to India and China for their skilled management.

At the same time Boeing claimed that aviation was going to require training to support the growth in the sector with 126,000 new pilots and a quarter million mechanics need to be recruited and trained!