March news
The UK vaccine roll-out continues to impress and is now past 25 million people. Latest predictions are that everyone over 50 (and those younger but at risk) will have the jab by mid-April. That will take the UK vaccinated well past 50% of the population. Infection numbers in the UK are now at extremely low levels and with so many people vaccinated they should remain low after the restrictions are lifted. Overall, confidence is remarkably high and holiday bookings are starting to come in for summer and later in 2021.
There are some countries stopping the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine with Italy stopping the vaccine going to Australia and then not using it which seems ridiculous. These delays are due to possible blood clotting, but all stats show that the clotting is in line with normal numbers so this could all be political. It is a shame as the vaccine has been shown to work in the UK and reducing infections, death and allowing hospitals to operate better for people with non-Covid problems. See here for more details/stats. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
Speaking to the travel trade It is no surprise to hear that demand for holidays is high and customers are moving towards holidays involving wellness and are very conscious of environmental impact/status of the companies that they are booking with. Safe destinations and private accommodation are popular as customers want to travel to less busy destinations and stay away from crowds.
Stats from ‘The new rules for travel marketing’ show that over 30% of UK/Scandi surveyed are planning international travel in 2021 with government restrictions being a bigger barrier than health considerations. Please contact me for a copy of the PDF as it has a lot of interesting points.
I also have a UK marketing study of the new segments of consumers which shows that the average household has saves £7,100 in 2020, that is £197 billion in total, again email me for a copy of this.
1. Revenge Spenders - Back with a bang, looking to make up for lost experiences
2. Rationers - Surplus money to spend but fearful of future austerity
3. Resetters - Looking beyond Covid to make life changes regarding the bigger issue of climate and sustainability
4. Rewarders - Not much money but looking to make life enjoyable again
5. Recovering - Struggling before Covid and now hit by unemployment and reduced opportunities.
Tourism Australia report a huge desire for agents to learn with their Aussie specialist program booming https://www.aussiespecialist.com (in a normal year Tourism Australia trains 32,000 but this has jumped to 80,000). TA have also appointed a new Head of Sustainability as this is a major, and growing, focus for customers.
There was talk of a Singapore/Australia travel bubble in the Aussie media recently, basically using Singapore as a quarantine stop off for international arrivals. I am not convinced that this is feasible.
I hope you are all well and keeping safe out there. I get my vaccine jab on 20th March, happy days!
keith@tailormaderepresentation.com or phone +44 77699 71217
Keith Marsh
Tailor Made Representation – Helping you connect.