IF there is one thing entrepreneurs have to be, it’s to be resourceful and nimble and Blanca Menchaca, CEO & co-founder of tours and activities platform BeMyGuest, had to find a way not only to save her business but also to grow and diversify, and that meant cementing old partnerships and well as building new ones at home and abroad.
So despite closed borders in Singapore, she planned a trip in July combining business and family and covered four countries in over two to three months. “I felt it was important to visit some of our partners outside Singapore,” she said.
While there are Business Travel Passes that can be applied for, they are few and far between and come with restrictive conditions such as a controlled itinerary which Menchaca felt would not be conducive for her trips and desire to meet as many people as possible and seize new opportunities as they arose.
Here’s how she had to navigate the different rules and restrictions, the contrasts between the situation in Singapore and Asia versus the rest of the world, which seems to have gotten on with living with Covid, and how operating in a city with closed borders remains a challenge especially if you are running a global travel business.
Q: How many trips have you made in this period – since March 2020 to now?
I have only been able to take one trip since March 2020 and due to all the new Covid quarantine restrictions, I decided to make the trip much longer than usual. It lasted weeks in each destination rather than days and it was packed with stops to multiple countries and cities when in the past it would have included only one or two.
Q: Where, when and why?
During the same trip I travelled to several cities in Mexico, Colombia, US and Germany, leaving Singapore at the beginning of July this year. I combined the trip to include business and family. After almost two years not seeing my family, I decided to undertake the trip and, from a business perspective, it was important to visit some of our partners outside of Singapore.
Q: How difficult were they to make happen?
The hardest part was to make the decision to travel under so much uncertainty and constant regulation changes across borders. I had to leave accepting that I would not be able to plan a set itinerary, knowing that quarantine requirements could change at any moment, and preparing myself to be ready to work online at any time (day or night) due to the vast time zone differences with Singapore.
Planning the trip wasn’t that difficult. It did take some extra effort as flight availability was more limited than usual and I had to keep in mind quarantine rules throughout the journey and not just for the immediate next destination. For example, at the time when I was travelling to Mexico, a transit in Europe prevented me from entering the US for 14 days versus if I flew directly from Singapore to the US or transited via Japan. On the other hand, there was no pre-departure Covid test required if transiting through Europe.
An interesting observation was that each country I visited was very open. Mexico and Colombia had hardly any border restrictions, Germany is open to almost all countries without quarantine provided one is vaccinated with a vaccine approved by EU. US in general is open but one might have to spend 14 days in a transiting country such as Mexico to be eligible to enter. This is in stark contrast to, for example Australia, where I am also a citizen, but cannot freely return.
It was fairly simple to travel between Mexico and US, the only requirement was to present a negative rapid antigen Covid test. Each had its own online health declaration and only took a small amount of additional work.
In Germany, as long as I could prove I was fully vaccinated, I could also arrange for a quarantine waiver, the process to achieve it was fast, straightforward and seamless. I just had to submit my request with a vaccination certificate attached through an online form, it took less than five minutes.
What was great throughout my entire trip though, was that I never had to be quarantined since all countries I visited accepted negative Covid test results, vaccination certificates or proof that one had recently recovered from Covid instead.
Returning to Singapore was probably the trickiest part of the trip. The government announced the opening of the new Vaccinated Travel Lane with Germany whilst I was away, and after 21 days I was able to return under this programme.
Q: A lot of people are saying corporate travel will take the longest to recover but perhaps they are referring to multinationals which have stricter rules while startups have no choice. Why did you make these trips? Wasn’t Zoom enough? What do physical business trips achieve that online can’t?
We’re human, we’re social beings. Meeting people in person for either personal or business reasons builds our relationships with them. We communicate better in person, and yes, maybe Zoom reduces the requirements overall of corporate travel, but we love human interaction and that doesn’t just go away because there’s a pandemic.
In the US and Latin America I was pleasantly surprised with how much corporate travel still occurs, and met with a lot of partners and industry friends who were also travelling. It was very similar in Europe.
Zoom has helped reduce a great deal of spend on corporate trips which is particularly important as our industry has suffered so much financially. But as soon as things recover, we’ll be travelling again.
Q: Does it give advantage to executives who travel during this period vs executives who don’t? Will you gain market share as a result? Are customers really happy and appreciative of seeing you?
Travelling during this period provides perspective. Seeing how other markets are operating and evolving, understanding the changes in mindset and approaches to business has been very valuable. The world has changed, but it hasn’t stopped, and this has only inspired and encouraged me to plan more trips.
At BeMyGuest we partner with a large number of international companies. As an executive, it is my job and responsibility to form and nurture relationships and partnerships for the long run, it is not just easier but way more fun to meet in person to have honest and open conversations with industry peers and friends.
I am very positively encouraged to see the world opening up again, and I am sure soon we should be also able to welcome back all types of visitors to this region too.
Q: How do you manage personal risks while travelling?
The best approach for me was to simply follow the rules in each country and they were all very different.
In Germany, restrictions depend on which state one visits. In one city you have to wear the heavier N95 mask, and in another only a surgical mask. One city checked our vaccination certificates religiously, but in another it wasn’t required.
In some cafes with takeaway counters facing the street, it was interesting to see that some staff didn’t wear masks whilst handling your food or drinks. In some retail shops, staff were only required to wear the surgical type of mask but customers would be turned down if they were not wearing the N95 mask.
The rules are so incredibly different, but everywhere I visited there were no requirements to wear masks outdoors. In contrast, again in the US, you have a “wear it if you want to” approach.
I have been fully vaccinated since May this year, so my risk is much lower, and that makes me more comfortable.
I also noticed in both Mexico and Germany, testing is so readily available everywhere you go. Small trucks in Mexico are spread out and accessible to everyone with very affordable antigen and PCR tests, and in Germany they do the same using ambulances or buses, visible everywhere in the cities offering antigen tests for free.
This makes testing more available, and gives you more confidence that people are taking responsibility for their health. It’s great to see how other countries are living with Covid now, versus fighting or hiding from it.
Q: Are you reconsidering Singapore as a base given its slowness in opening and allowing executives to travel more freely while other markets such as Dubai have opened? Does it put BMG at a disadvantage because you are based here?
Singapore is and will continue to be a strong gateway to Asia. No one expected that recovery and reopening would take this long, but the country is taking steps towards preparing its population to transition to an endemic living.
Throughout the pandemic the Singapore government has been supporting local businesses through wage support schemes, government backed loans, grants and investment programmes, and most of these initiatives were deployed early on. Unfortunately, not all programmes benefited every business the same, but it is difficult to argue that the Singapore government and many other governments around the world have not done the best they can under an extremely dire and fluid situation.
With countries looking inward first, domestic travel has seen a resurgence and the competitive landscape has changed. In Singapore, opportunities opened for some new companies to grab market share from those that were more significant pre-covid. However, Singapore competes at a global level with other nations. Only a few months ago the country seemed to be a leader in Asia towards reopening. Now, other Asian countries, who were tracking far behind, have also announced plans to reopen later this year.
If we have learned something through Covid, it is that for a business like ours operating in such an uncertain environment adaptability and flexibility are key. Whilst we can’t control exogenous factors we can change our operations accordingly. One of the most interesting developments is the ability for our team to perform beyond our expectations when working remotely, be it at home in Singapore, in the home country, or even relocating temporarily or permanently to other countries.
Q: What are your expansion plans for BeMyGuest? Expansion plans into new markets? What traction are you seeing?
In spite of some recent encouraging news, it may take time for travellers to feel confident exploring destinations in developing countries where the healthcare system is limited. There is also a lack of clarity around when China will open its borders, which does not seem anytime soon. Lastly, there are plenty of outcomes that one did not anticipate to happen, such as the current heightened alert situation in Singapore or Australia lockdown. As a business there will always be a trade off between expanding too early and incurring unnecessary costs versus “missing out” by waiting too long. We are therefore monitoring the situation closely to ensure we can act fast by adding the required resources, as we come out of the current challenging environment.
In contrast, destinations such as Dubai have kept their borders open and loosened or tightened restrictions instead of completely disallowing visitors. As a result of its approach, the destination has reached a ‘super immunity’ through a combination of natural and vaccine-generated immunity, and is likely to operate at 100% capacity throughout the winter high season.
For the next six months, Dubai is also the host of Expo, and has definitely positioned itself as an attractive choice for your first post-Covid holiday. From a business perspective, Dubai is also actively attracting foreign companies and talents, by introducing innovative working visas that welcome and allow foreign workers more flexibility is also attracting expat talent that had to relocate or is planning to do so.
• Images credit: Blanca Menchaca
