In the news: Antarctica’s new playground for Chinese tourists, Troovo and Serko team up, Vistara’s renewed distribution deal
Travel: Antarctica – the hottest new destination for Chinese travellers
Cruising in Antarctica is becoming very popular with Chinese tourists. (Image credit: Selphiek/Getty Images)
The breath-taking scenery of a frozen land, travelling to the southernmost continent and site of the South Pole and getting off the beaten track are what’s drawing Chinese tourists to Antarctica.
Having been there and done that in their usual playgrounds of Asia, South-east Asia, Europe, UK and US the icy white continent, one of the few regions in the world still relatively unexplored, is a refreshing change, coupled with the novelty of cruising all the way to the South Pole. The rising number of Chinese to Antarctica every year, from less than 100 in 2008 to tens of thousands today, attests to its growing popularity.
According to data from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), 51,707 tourists from all over the world visited the continent during the 2017-2018 Antarctica tourism season. Of this 8,273 were Chinese, accounting for 16% of total arrivals, second only to US and making China the second largest tourist source market source for the continent.
Revealing these data in its latest Antarctica report, China’s largest online travel services provider Ctrip forecasts one in five tourists for the 2018-2019 tourism season will be Chinese. It expects a 100% growth in visitor number judging from current bookings.
While many Chinese now prefer to travel free and easy, this is not the case for Antarctica where group tours are preferred.
What is interesting is the mode of transport, says Ctrip. Nearly 90% of Chinese tourists choose to take cruises to Antarctica, while only 1% of Chinese tourists fly directly to the South Pole.
The price of the cruises varies, depending on length of stay, the type of cruises, the number of countries in the itinerary, mode of transport and range from 50,000 yuan (US$7,292) to 200,000 yuan (US$29,000). The programmes combine two or more countries such as Argentina and Antarctica; Brazil, Argentina and Antarctica; or Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Antarctica. The Argentina/Antarctica cruise is the most popular (44% of bookings). Average length of a cruise is 23 days.
Bookings are made well in advance, about 119 days before departure, with 40% of the travel orders made online and 60% from the 7,000 offline Ctrip stores.
Most travellers are from first tier cities, but the numbers from second and third tier cities are growing. The top 10 departure cities for Antarctica are Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chongqing, Xi’an and Wuhan.
“The growth rate is 60% in Shanghai, 80% in Beijing, 120% in Shenzhen and, on average, more than 200% in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Taizhou and other cities,” states the report.
On the traveller profile Ctrips lists them as:
- 58% male
- 23% born after 1990s, increasing interest from this group for Antarctica and a segment with great potential for growth
- 47% aged 50-70, silver market that has the time and money for such trips.
- 31% travel as couples, 24% with friends and/or colleagues, 25% solo, 14% with kids, 6% with parents.
“More and more independent single travellers are opting for trips to Antarctica,” it added.
Corporate Travel: Troovo, Serko partner to provide virtualised travel booking and payment processing
Travel companies are now able to streamline corporate booking and payment processing virtually. (Image credit: junce/Getty Images)
Australian company Troovo Technologies has teamed up with New Zealand-based Serko to deliver what they described as “the world’s only fully virtualised travel transaction process.”
Troovo makes travel and payment transaction processing entirely virtual for the corporate travel industry with Robotic Process Automation (RPA), while Serko is a leading travel and expense technology provider for corporate travel in Australasia.
The partnership, inked in Sydney during the CAPA-ACTE Global Summit (December 3-4), helps travel companies and corporations streamline booking and payment processing, said Troovo and Serko in a joint statement.
This is made possible by the combined capabilities of the two companies that requires no human intervention to process or finalise booking and changing travel arrangements by a travel management company using Zeno. The latter is Serko’s next generation travel management application that uses intelligent technology, predictive workflows and a global travel marketplace to transform business travel across the entire journey.
The deal enables travel and payment transactions generated through Zeno to be virtually processed by Troovo’s RPA. Operational staff and travel consultants of Zeno’s travel management partners can then focus on service and support for travellers, leaving the processing of bookings and related data inputs to be done through Troovo’s robotics.
Zeno partners are also able to virtually and robotically fulfil bookings made in the application without having to change existing systems, workflows or platforms.
“Troovo’s modular approach to delivering RPA solutions to the post-booking process will give Zeno-powered travel management companies complete flexibility to utilise robotics across any type of Zeno booking, change, update or re-ticketing scenarios,” the statement added.
Kurt Knackstedt, Troovo CEO, commented: “This exciting partnership enables travel management companies across all markets to scale up their use of new technologies without having to rely on manual mid-office systems or clunky, script-based automation routines to try and support their bookings.
“It’s a win-win for all partners and will quickly become the de facto benchmark for how the next evolution of travel and payment booking and processing should be measured.”
Troovo was the winner of WiT 2017 Startup Pitch held in conjunction with the annual WiT Conference in Singapore.
Distribution: Indian domestic carrier Vistara offers full range of content to travel agencies
Vistara renews distribuiton agreement with Amadeus. (Image credit: Vistara)
Travel agency partners of Indian domestic airline Vistara will enjoy continued access to its full range of content, including fare families, and prices through Amadeus with the renewal of the distribution agreement between the two companies.
Vistara is the first full service carrier in India to launch branded fares called Vistara Freedom Fares available on Amadeus Airline Fare Families, which are packaged combinations of fares and services to boost agency bookings and drive increased revenues.
Sanjiv Kapoor, Vistara’s chief strategy & commercial officer, said the partnership would give the airline access to travel sellers and buyers globally through Amadeus travel agency network, helping in its growth. “Travel agencies are a key part of our strategy to serve our customers through the channel of their choice, both in India and internationally.”
The carrier will be looking at integrating ancillary services in the future as part of its product offerings.
Vistara, based in Gurgaon with its hub at Indira Gandhi International airport, was founded in 2013 as a joint venture between India’s conglomerate Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.
• Featured image credit: reisegra/iStock-Getty Images
