In preparation for the fourth edition of Tern, Travel Careers this Saturday, August 17, I’ve been spending time with Singaporean schoolkids in their mid-teens to find out what they think of travel, firstly as travellers and secondly, as future talent for our industry.
It’s been interesting learning for me.
When you read surveys like this one from Expedia saying that “in 2018, frequent short getaways remained popular among Singaporeans, with an average of 4.6 overseas trips, lasting an average of 2.3 nights” or this one from Statista.com that “in 2018, there were approximately 8.36 million outbound departures by air by Singaporean residents” on a population base of 4.5 million, you assume almost every young Singaporean has travelled abroad, just like they own a smartphone.
Well, that depends from which strata of society they come from. At a government secondary school in what is called the heartland of Singapore, when I asked who had travelled abroad, only a couple of hands went up. And when I asked where they dream of going, one girl said, “Jewel.”
If you don’t know by now, Jewel is Changi Airport’s spanking new, swanky space that’s retail, entertainment and lifestyle rolled in one. Built at S$1.7 billion, it deserves to be a destination in its own right and it definitely deserves to be known not for the queues at Shake Shack and A&W but for its entertainment and recreational facilities.
The canopy walk and waterfall is a natural draw but the Changi Experience Studio, which brings images and stories of the airport to life with an amazing blend of tech and artistry, is under-visited and under-appreciated. It fires the imagination, engages the senses and encourages active participation.
From this young girl who dreams of Jewel, you then have the kids from better-off families who travel a minimum of twice a year, on family and extended family trips, and they’ve been to places such as Australia, Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand. And for these kids, travel is a necessity, not a luxury.
Changi Experience Studio
“Singapore is so small and crowded, we need to get away. When I am in Singapore, I always think of homework so I need to go on holiday,” said a 16-year-old girl.
In speaking to this Generation – they come under Gen Z although I find their characteristics to be rather similar to Gen Alpha (those born after 2010) – you know tech is not second nature but first nature.
They do their research on travel online – “I Google everything” – their parents book online – “we don’t really use any hotel websites, we just Google and Google has all these hotel prices and we just book there” and when they travel, they want connectivity everywhere. And when they get to a destination, their behavior is pretty spontaneous, checking what’s online and doing it.
I wonder if this “I Google everything” will remain the default behavior – 2020 & Beyond.
“We want to tell the airlines, we don’t care if it’s comfortable or not, we just want wifi so we can go on Instagram,” said a 14-year-old boy.
Which makes me wonder just as consumers demanded free wifi from hotels and eventually got it, will this happen in airplanes too in 2020 & Beyond?
When I asked what else the travel industry could do better for their generation, he said, “My concern is really about the speed of aeroplanes. It’s not going to increase because it is not profitable and so we won’t be able to go to places faster.”
He believes in his lifetime, he’ll be able to travel to space – 2020 & Beyond.
One thing that won’t change in the future is the desire for good prices. “We also want good price” was a common refrain, when I asked them what else they wanted from travel companies. And as an afterthought, one said, “We also want environmental sustainability.”
So you want that, and speed and good price? “Yes”, was their resounding cry. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Aren’t you concerned that your generation won’t be able to see some animals in the wild and there’s a price to pay for environmental sustainability? “We read about it, about plastic, for example but then we look around at people in Singapore and everyone’s still doing the same thing, so we think it doesn’t really affect us,” said one.
There was some concern about safety – “we hear of mass shootings in the US” – but then, “that only spreads fear so I’ve stopped reading the news”.
As for how they see travel as a possible career, most think jobs available are tour guides, flight attendants and service staff in hotels. When I explain how digital has changed travel and how there’s such an array of jobs from programmers to engineers and lawyers and marketing, their eyes light up and they want to know more.
Even their teacher said he wasn’t aware of the spectrum of our industry that accounts for one in 10 jobs worldwide.
At WiT Japan, when a panel discussing outbound travel was asked what else could be done to grow the Japanese market, one panelist said, we have to start at schools and expose kids to travel. There’s now much talk among travel marketers about Gen Alpha – and how this first generation to be born totally in the 21st century will number two billion by 2025. Well, let’s stop thinking of them just as consumers but creators and leaders for our industry, and let’s start tilling the soil now.
• Featured image credit: Tomwang112/Getty Images
