And with so many sectors clamoring for support, we need to get travel the backing it deserves.

Travel and Tourism contribute massively to the global economy. These industries generated US$8.9 trillion in 2019, which accounted for听10% of global GDP听and 1 in 10 jobs. There鈥檚 too much at stake to allow our leaders to forget that.听 We must have representation present where decisions are being made, be it about fiscal aid, travel restrictions, quarantines, or other areas that impact travel businesses.

But ours is a complex and segmented industry. There are hundreds of different lobby groups and associations representing businesses across our ecosystem 鈥� with each asking policymakers to consider their specific needs. Many assume the voice that shouts loudest gets heard, but that鈥檚 rarely the case.

The past year has shown that the more powerful approach is to come together to present a unified front. 乐播传媒 has taken a leading role in shaping our path to recovery and ensuring nobody gets left behind. We鈥檙e joining forces with others in the industry to support job growth, the global economy and a safe return to travel. Here鈥檚 how we鈥檙e effectively advocating across the board:

Securing industry support and job safety

My role at 乐播传媒 is to inform policymakers on our industry鈥檚 needs, strengths, and capabilities, as well as pushing for further beneficial legislative and regulatory actions. In doing so I work closely with airlines, hotels, agencies, travel technology companies, travel management companies (TMCs), and many other industry players to develop proposals for better, more effective resolutions to government leaders.

One of the most critical functions 乐播传媒 has undertaken since the pandemic began is to represent a collaborative voice, so government leaders can make better decisions in the interest of all industry stakeholders. In this way, we鈥檙e using our seat at the table to champion the value that ticket agents, technology companies and everyone in our industry contributes to economies around the world. Together, we must demand the support we need to safely and effectively restore travel.

“We鈥檙e using our seat at the table to champion the value that ticket agents, technology companies and everyone in our industry contributes to economies around the world.”

Here鈥檚 some of the initiatives we鈥檝e prioritized:

1. Looking out for US travel agents and travel technology companies

The technology companies that facilitate travel commerce and the connections between suppliers, agents, and travelers are a vital part our ecosystem. 乐播传媒 is an active member of the Travel Technology Association (TTA) 鈥斕齱hich represents the sector that powers the industry, from startups to legacy technologies and everything in between.

Last May, I shared a听behind-the-scenes glimpse听of how we ensured the CARES Act would also cover travel agents, ticket agents, and travel technology companies severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a proud moment when US lawmakers agreed with our proposal and granted these businesses eligibility to participate in the various programs that protected many jobs and offered financial relief.

Simon Gros and I reflected on听乐播传媒鈥檚 role in lobbying for these intermediaries. After months of discussions within the Treasury Department, our efforts came to fruition when听听under the lending program established by the CARES Act. But this is just one example.

2. Strengthening job security for the US hospitality and travel sector

Alongside our allies in the TTA, 乐播传媒 joined forces with the U.S. Travel Association (and numerous other travel and tourism organizations) in October, to urge Congress to support听.

This legislation provides various tax incentives to help return millions of people to their jobs, including enhancements to the Employee Retention Tax Credit, and a modest tax credit for many Americans who choose to travel again.

3. Driving a centralized plan for recovery in Europe

Outside the US, 乐播传媒 is a member of the听, an alliance of more than 60 European public and private organizations. It actively calls on EU policy makers to support the travel sector with a centralized approach 鈥� rather than each country making and adapting its own rules, restrictions, and plans.

We鈥檙e urging European governments to agree on a harmonized approach to travel restrictions within the region. This makes it simpler for everyone, especially travelers, to understand 鈥� which will help to restore confidence and get them moving again.

We鈥檙e also helping to ensure that travel gets the government support it needs to continue driving economic growth and job creation in Europe. Specifically, we鈥檙e advocating that travel and tourism is a part of national recovery and resilience plans. We鈥檙e also well as raising awareness on how new online payment rules impact travel recovery.

Global recovery needs us all

Earlier I said that it鈥檚 better for the travel industry to act together and seek support collectively. Rather than risk one voice being drowned out, we can be so much stronger, and more persuasive by presenting a unified front. 乐播传媒 has been using its seat at the table to speak up and support the industry associations that serve as a collective voice for the many, making sure nobody gets left behind.

By working together as an industry, we can deliver a more holistic approach that eliminates the need for varying travel restrictions at country level. We can also advocate for standards that allow for a safe, unambiguous return to travel.

For example, last year 乐播传媒 worked with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), to develop听. These 18 measures helped to formalize what we needed to deliver a safe, secure and seamless return to flying, with contributions from industry organizations around the world. Destinations and companies that comply with these protocols can use a WTTC 鈥楽afe Travels鈥� stamp 鈥� which has now been earned by more than 100 destinations worldwide 鈥� helping to further restore consumer confidence.

All of this is helping to reinforce the value of travel and tourism, and to gain further attention and support from governments and decision-makers around the world.

What next?

This is just a snapshot of some ways we鈥檝e been supporting recovery so far. 乐播传媒 is committed to staying at the forefront of this process 鈥� and recently our CEO Greg Webb was听appointed to the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. This will further enable us to share our knowledge and insights, and ensure the new travel experience is safe, secure and exciting. It will also allow us to shape current and emerging issues, and to advocate for our partners in proposing solutions to industry-related problems.

This pandemic has shown itself to be unpredictable, and it will remain so. But something we can control is working more closely together to promote the value and viability of our industry. We must work together to implement unified safety measures, and to use quality research to prove they do in fact reduce risk. We must also share insights on how measures like COVID-19 testing at airports impacts traveler confidence.

Collaboration of this nature will help to discourage travel restrictions and will strengthen our case in pitching for more government relief. This is the most effective way that we can restore trust and consumer confidence, because continued testing and a widescale vaccine rollout will likely become a standard in the 鈥渘ew normal鈥� for travel. And it is up to us, as an industry, to help travelers adjust and become accustomed to the necessary changes that will get people moving again.

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Safety is of paramount importance to travelers right now, and hoteliers should be mindful that this brings a new challenge for travel agents. During the search and booking process, they now need to be able to find your safety information and communicate it back to the traveler. Unfortunately, this often means using multiple sources outside their workflow, which is inefficient and frustrating 鈥� especially for those working with reduced resources.

At the same time,听hotels are equally looking for ways to communicate what they are doing to the agents that are booking these trips. To make matters more complicated, restrictions, policies, and safety measures can vary significantly by property location, type, and more.

乐播传媒 has been looking for ways to make communication between hotels and agents听easier, and more efficient for everyone. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e rolling out a new feature on our platform: our new Stay Safe searchable amenity.

What is Stay Safe?

Since the pandemic hit earlier this year, several trade and government bodies, including the听听and the听听have issued guidelines to support recovery in the hotel sector. These are designed to define what the necessary health and safety attributes are, and听to enable hoteliers to communicate them in a consistent way. These initiatives focus on enhanced hotel cleaning practices, social interactions, and workplace protocols to meet the new听challenges and expectations for听health and safety.

乐播传媒 has added our Stay Safe amenity onto our platform to allow agents to quickly and easily filter results based on hotels or chains who have signed up to the initiative.

For agents

The filter is designed to give travelers and agencies alike confidence that appropriate safety measures have been taken at a hotel property. This will be available to Desktop & API points of sale. Smartpoint Desktop Agencies will be able to search/filter hotel results for Stay Safe hotels using entry听/F-SAF

This will benefit agencies greatly by reducing the need to consult multiple sources for advice on safety measures at the point of sale. For agencies that have reduced headcount, or are operating with limited resources听in particular, being able to stay within their primary workflow is a huge advantage.

For Hotels

Hotels will welcome this development as it provides them with a consistent and widely recognized industry standard to adhere to. It’s also another opportunity to communicate with agents at the point of booking. You can further enhance your message via听banner ads and sign-on messages within the booking platform to help you to reach agents and keep them up to date on your latest safety news, offers, and changes.

Find out more

This concludes the last of our blog miniseries 鈥斕齀 hope you have found it useful.

The key takeaway for听hoteliers is that you have a range of measures, tools, and options available that can help give travelers the confidence to book. From safety measures to flexible policies, different rates, and promotions 鈥� all of this can help accelerate your recovery journey.听听Communication is key, and there are so many ways that you can use our platform to improve your reach and get your messages out there.

As always, we’re on hand to help you as you get back to business, so please reach out to us for more information on anything covered in this miniseries that you’d like to know more about.

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The typical trip itinerary is not what it was this time last year. With the COVID-19 situation varying across regions, many people are still avoiding international travel 鈥� or due to restrictions, simply cannot right now. And though IATA has听found the risk associated with air travel听to be very low, domestic drive destinations听听for now. This is causing travel agencies to rethink their marketing and offers, changing the focus from air ticket sales to retailing hotel stays instead.

This is good news for the hotel industry, which was听. But with all of this change taking place, and in this competitive climate, it鈥檚 vital to know how to catch an agent鈥檚 eye. This first blog in our miniseries focuses on听what you can do to help them secure bookings for you.

Overview: what has changed?

The hotel sector is showing the strongest signs of early recovery. This is largely thanks to the staycation trend 鈥� driven by uncertainty, the reintroduction of restrictions, government advice, and campaigns by destination marketing organizations.听From our听recent research, we know of two significant shifts that hoteliers should be aware of:

Travelers want additional safety measures in place before they will travel

It鈥檚 only natural that in the middle of a pandemic travelers want as many safety measures in place as possible. Until we have a definitive solution to COVID-19, this will remain top of mind for them when making a booking. Here are the measures they say听are most important:

More people are using travel agencies than before

The second key area of change is that more people are turning to travel agencies to make a booking than before COVID-19. This is because they听have confidence in agencies to provide assurance on safety measures听(65%), plus their ability to change or cancel a trip if required (23%). Interestingly for hotels, 39% of young travelers (18-38yrs) are now more likely to use a travel agency to book their trip than before.

Remember: for travel agencies, a hotel stay is听no longer just an attachment听to an air booking, but something that people traveling domestically will seek their advice about. This is an important consideration for hoteliers, as it demonstrates the renewed focus agents will have in retailing your offers from now on.

5 ways to drive agency bookings

You now need to understand how these changes have impacted agents, and how to present new content to them. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Thoroughly document and communicate on your safety/hygiene measures听

To be able to inform and advise travelers, agents need to know the latest updates on your safety measures, such as social distancing requirements, regulations, amenity restrictions, as well as information on government restrictions on travel. Since these are constantly changing, agents often need to look at many different sources for the most up-to-date information before making a booking. Some platforms like 乐播传媒 have consolidated this information 鈥斕€� making it as easy as possible for them to sell your offers.

On our platform, you can communicate your latest safety measures, restrictions, and changes to agents through banner and sign-on message, plus digital advertisements. You can also use our听best practice guides听for advice on how to update your room and rate descriptions to communicate the safety measures that travelers can expect to see in place. This is key to restoring traveler confidence and encouraging them to book again.

This will compliment your听owned direct channels (like website, social media, and email) that you are likely already using to distribute your safety messages in text, images, and video formats.

2. Standardize where possible

Numerous trade and government bodies, including the听听and the听听have issued guidelines to support recovery in the hotel sector. These are designed to define what the necessary health and safety attributes are, and communicate them in a consistent way.

乐播传媒 is aggregating hotel safety information into a new amenity called Stay Safe, which enables agents and travelers to quickly and easily filter results, based on hotels or chains who have signed up.

3. Stay flexible, honest, and transparent on policies and pricing听

Given the fluid nature of the situation, travelers are finding it impossible to plan ahead. This is reflected in the changes in booking lead times that we鈥檙e seeing across the board. Those who are traveling want reassurance that if their plans change then they can get their money back, or change their bookings if needs be. So, be sure to update your cancellation policies, and have all rate plans loaded.

Your hotel should therefore have the appropriate cancellation policies in place to reassure them. Again, travelers are seeking agency advice on this front right now, so you need to be sure your听content on booking platforms is set up听to enable agents to quickly and easily find this information.

4. Rekindle the desire to travel听

Agencies want to know what special offers you have that may entice travelers. Although consumers are no longer as heavily influenced by price and are now more concerned with safety measures, they are still听.

For this reason, it鈥檚 also important that your hotel loads the same prices as OTAs and .com sites. All of this may encourage travelers听鈥� who are eagerly anticipating a full return to travel in 2021 鈥� to book ahead. Like safety messages, this can also be done using headline banner advertisements and advertising within the booking platform.

5. Deliver reliable and accountable customer service and follow-up

For travel agencies representing hundreds of hotel brands, it takes heavy-duty support to ensure customers have all the information they need to buy with confidence. Once they do, it鈥檚 important that your hotel matches this standard of customer service 鈥� particularly when you consider听how important customer reviews are听to agencies and travelers alike.

Find out more

I hope you’ve found these first steps useful.听 In the rest of this miniseries, I’ll be exploring how you can optimize your GDS content to communicate your safety messages to agents, sharing tips to restore traveler confidence and boost your hotel’s appeal, plus giving details about our new Stay Safe platform filter.

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Understanding the traveler journey

Regardless of the climate for travel, there are typically six听stages to any traveler journey: inspiration, shopping, booking, pre-trip, in-trip, and post-trip. At every step, travelers will engage with travel brands for a range of services, and experience hundreds of touchpoints, on a variety of devices. For example, a听typical (pre-pandemic)听accommodation-purchase journey has 45 touchpoints alone 鈥斕齛nd that鈥檚 just looking for somewhere to stay!

Read more about 乐播传媒鈥檚 Hotel Stay Safe Feature here.

Online travel agencies (OTAs) can听influence travelers鈥� experiences and become invaluable travel partners to customers at every step of the journey. This goes far beyond simply converting lookers to bookers 鈥斕齮his is a chance to open up new revenue streams at multiple touchpoints.

By taking a full view of the traveler journey and creating your own journey map, you will see immense potential to grow conversions at every step. And the term 鈥榗onversions鈥� doesn鈥檛 just mean bookings; there are specific goals your OTA can achieve at each stage of the journey, for example: converting page views to trip searches, searches to bookings, bookings to ancillary attachments, and so on.

What’s changed?

First, let’s take a look at this sample leisure traveler journey pre-COVID-19.

Now, let’s compare that to the customer journey in the era of COVID-19.

By comparing these two charts,听 we can see听a number of changes taking place across each stage:

Inspiration听Travelers are now naturally much more concerned with knowing what safety measures will be in place across all touchpoints of their journey. This means that while Inspiration is听still an important stage of their journey, in the near- to mid-term we can expect assurance to be a deciding emotional factor听as well.

Shopping听Key traveler concerns, such as getting the best deal and making the most of their break, haven鈥檛 gone away. But there are new ones on the list; from ‘how safe will I be?’, to ‘can I get my money back if I have to cancel?鈥�. We know from our听recent research听that this is an extremely influential factor in decision-making.

Booking听The听travel environment听remains highly volatile, with lockdowns, quarantines and cancellations happening at a moment鈥檚 notice.听As a result, customers are more concerned now about how insulated they are from financial loss, putting a听renewed focus on booking flexibility and insurance validity.

Pre-trip听As COVID-19 lockdowns fluctuate, travelers are closely monitoring the situation in destinations. This is creating more听demand for pre-trip guidance and information on insurance. Customers will feel reassured听at this stage by flexibility and generous cancellation/refund policies, while听agencies are likely to experience a significant听increase in itinerary adjustments than in the past.

In-trip听There is still a wealth of decisions to make in-trip, including taking tours, booking restaurants or experiences, shopping, onward travel, and more. What has changed is that there is more听demand from travelers for information while at their destination, i.e. on local regulations and restrictions.

Post-trip听With the pool of potential travelers smaller than it usually is, OTAs will need to use every tool at their disposal to develop a loyal brand following and increase purchase frequency. Valuable sources of information are customer feedback and reviews, so they can better understand their preferences and tailor future deals accordingly.

Helping your business recover

You can find a range of support and information on COVID-19 and recovery on our听resource hub.

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I said we would run a three-part blog series on digital advertising, but I lied. It鈥檚 really a white lie though so please forgive me. Not all travel brands have a marketing budget left for the year so I thought it was best to also offer advice on what you can do for free. So, in this third part of the series, we will talk about improving your 鈥榦wned channels鈥�. Owned channels are those that your company controls and owns, like your website, your blog, your social media channels. Unlike paid channels, they don鈥檛 need to cost any money to improve.

So to start with, we wanted to do a bit of research on your behalf. 乐播传媒 recently ran a听听what would encourage people to travel again.

One of the key findings was that to boost consumer confidence, agents need to be both flexible and transparent in their communications. With 64% of consumers saying flexible or refundable air tickets are very important. 33% are more likely to consider booking through an agent now, and 65% of those will do so because they value the enhanced safety information that agents can provide.

More than ever, travelers want agents to provide information and reassurance 鈥� creating a picture of what their trip will look like. Let鈥檚 take a look at how you can do that using three major owned channels 鈥� your website, your emails, and your organic (or non-paid) social media.

Use your website to create assurance

The obvious first stop is your travel brand鈥檚 website homepage. This will often be the first place a potential customer lands, and so is your opportunity to clearly signpost why they should book with you. Our research highlighted that what鈥檚 most important to bookers right now 鈥� at this point of the buying process 鈥� is feeling reassured that flexibility change/cancellation policies are in place. Here are a few examples of who is doing a good job in this space right now.

First up is an OTA,听. I love what they鈥檙e doing to reassure their customers 鈥� notice how the message reassuring their customers really stands out on the homepage. It includes an overview of their flexible booking options, refund and cancellation policies, and has a link to further information on travel during COVID-19.

Boutique, offline agents like听听are also doing this on their website. Their first call to action below the 鈥楽earch for a trip鈥� function links to their specific COVID-19 web page, with the title 鈥楤ook with confidence鈥�.

They鈥檝e used clear and simple language around their changes and refund policies and even have an integrated live chat function. All of this gives potential bookers peace of mind and positions their brand as a flexible one.

Update your booking page

Next stop: the booking page. Agents (and perhaps OTAs in particular) can also personalize that message for the end-traveler. Remember from our research鈥� travelers are now more likely to use an agent to book their trips. So, here鈥檚 a great opportunity to position your site as a trusted tool that can be used to find destination information and compare airlines across a range of new important criteria, including change fees.

Look at what听听has done here. They鈥檝e personalized a warning message for travelers booking trips to New York. Next, they鈥檝e now started to promote airlines that offer no change fees. And they have a simple UX flow that makes it easy for end-travelers to see which airlines have no change fees.

And finally, the most topical and perhaps most influential consideration for travelers: safety measures. We know from our research that two-thirds of end-travelers are opting to book through travel agencies because they are best placed to advise on safety features. Well, at 乐播传媒, we鈥檝e simplified this process, by giving agents the ability to view and compare the safety features that each airline has implemented within听our platform.

We鈥檝e added these user-friendly icons on the right-hand side so the traveler or agent can quickly compare policies such as mandatory face masks, temperature checks, if the middle seat will be free for social distancing, or if there are more stringent cleaning programs in place. On the left-hand side, you can see how this could be displayed on an OTA site.

We developed this upgrade to our Branded Fares & Ancillaries data for our agency customers to support them throughout recovery. This is so important because, for many travelers, the decision to book is now more influenced by these safety measures than by factors like price.

Get your email communications right

A lot of travel websites are guilty of underutilizing a core feature of marketing automation which is on-site tracking to trigger events based on user behaviors.

• Inspiration stage

You can send an email with inspiration content to a site revisitor.

• Shopping stage

A search on your booking site could trigger an automated email based on their recent search criteria.

• Booking stage

You can trigger an automated email offering ancillaries and upsells. Or conversely, if the traveler didn鈥檛 complete the booking you could trigger a cart abandonment email to remind them of what they are missing out on.

Inspiration

When we were investigating which sites are utilizing the full power of email automation, we came across this great example of an email triggered by a website visit from听听in the Inspiration stage.

By connecting their CRM data to their marketing automation platform and website tracking, Booking.com have been able to deliver a personalized email to the traveler after they visited Booking.com鈥檚 website鈥� that does three things well:

1.听The message at the top of the email provides reassurance
2.听They send relevant trip promotions based on content the traveler had engaged with on their site.
3.听And finally, they clearly promote their flexible cancellation policy.

Shopping and booking

Upon our research, we also found a cool example of a cart abandonment email from听. This email was triggered by shopping but not completing a booking on their site. Ebookers then sent an email to nudge the traveler back to the final stage of the booking flow.

By connecting their CRM data to their marketing automation platform and website tracking, eBookers have been able to deliver a personalized email to the traveler after they abandoned their cart. The message includes the details of flights the traveler had in their shopping cart and encourages them to go on to book.

This type of email marketing helps agents to maximize the value of each customer that they spent time and money acquiring, to begin with.

That鈥檚 it for email. Let鈥檚 explore another free channel, social media鈥�

Use social media to promote safe travel

If you鈥檝e read听our latest blogs, you鈥檒l know all the data and trends surrounding the growth of domestic travel globally. Here are some examples of how to use social media to capitalize on this trend.

Expedia is using its UK Facebook channel to inspire travelers to take road trips or visit secret coastlines. Now, I don鈥檛 know how secret those coastlines will be after Expedia promotes them, but these are just short video montages of still images, with some text overlaid. Even if you鈥檙e not a super-confident content creator, you can do this easily and inexpensively by getting free stock images and making a similar video with your phone.

Booking.com is promoting the staycation, using their hashtag #ExploreNextDoor. This campaign asks travelers to submit their own funny takes on 2020 Expectations vs Reality. Simple, inexpensive, and engaging. You don鈥檛 have to start your own hashtag; you can also take advantage of existing ones.

Think about your use of photography too. It鈥檚 important that your image choices reflect the new normal and travelers鈥� desire to travel to less-crowded places.

Here鈥檚 Kiwi.com. They have used social media imagery to include shots of destinations with few people in them. Once you鈥檝e started inspiring people 鈥� the more they see real people using your travel agency 鈥攖he more likely it is that they鈥檒l feel comfortable traveling too.

Booking.com has started doing this. This kind of message helps to create a sense of safety and to inspire confidence in travel. And using traveler-generated stories makes it even more authentic.

I think this is one area, where smaller agencies may have an advantage over the bigger ones. You may have closer relationships with local travelers, and perhaps you can offer real-life, relevant customer stories, versus the less personal ones offered by global agencies.

If that all seems fairly standard, you could also get a little creative with your posts. Expedia has been running a 鈥楽ounds of Travel鈥�.

In the middle you can Expedia asked influencers, the AstroTwins, to see how if your star sign can help you choose the perfect trip.

And Booking.com has partnered with Land Rover Germany to offer a road trip with their newest Land Rover model鈥� a great example of a co-branded campaign that is a great fit for Domestic travel. Creating a campaign with a car manufacturer might not be that easy for you, but what about teaming up with a local car rental business to create a price of a weekend getaway in a sports car to a fancy hotel?

And finally, don鈥檛 forget the basics. Why not pin your COVID-19 message to the top of your Facebook page as Booking.com have done. Or remind people through social media of all that work that you鈥檝e now done to your homepage, just like Kiwi has done.

Get your brand and marketing working towards your recovery

We鈥檝e covered a lot in this miniseries, and hopefully have provided you with some clarity on听why you should advertise, how to approach branding or recovery campaign activation, how to build audiences using the data available to you, and how to use Facebook and Google鈥檚 new tools, as well as your own channels.

Remember, whether you鈥檝e still got a budget or it鈥檚 been slashed, it鈥檚 crucial to keep up your marketing efforts. It will provide some short-term impact on bookings right now, and set your brand up for long-term success when we come out of recovery.

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The use of the word 鈥楿nprecedented鈥� is probably unprecedented. It鈥檚 everywhere. So perhaps it鈥檚 a bit na茂ve to start offering marketing tips to travel brands right now if a situation like this has never happened before. Businesses are cutting costs, they鈥檙e stopping their ad spend, and they鈥檙e cutting their teams to survive, with the plan to rebound in the future. In a lot of cases the business literally can鈥檛 survive without doing this.

However, in this series, I wanted to first explore what the implications are for travel businesses that reduce advertising, and see what the data shows us. In听part 2, we鈥檒l look at tips to use your spend more wisely, and in the last section, we鈥檒l talk about听marketing channels听that are free, and what you can do there.

The Forgotten Depression

So to start with, is this situation that we find ourselves in 鈥榰nprecedented鈥�? Has nothing like this ever happened before? Well, arguably something similar happened almost exactly 100 years ago. Back in 1920, there was a global recession called the 鈥楾he Forgotten Depression鈥欌€� named as such because within a decade we had the infamous 鈥楪reat Depression鈥�. Historians gave several reasons why it occurred. The top two were: the end of World War I and the Spanish Flu. A global recession triggered by war and global pandemic; two out of three isn鈥檛 bad in terms of precedence.

So what鈥檚 that got to do with advertising? Well amazingly enough, during the Forgotten Depression, an interesting study was carried out by听, a young Harvard Masters student. The 18-month recession provided rich empirical territory to explore, and Vaile spent a year following the fortunes of 250 firms through the recession and into the growth period that ensued.

Tracking both advertising investment and annual revenues, Vaile was able to divide the firms into three groups:

• Those that did not believe in advertising
• Those that cut back advertising during the Depression
• Those that increased it

Source: Mark Ritson Marketing Week

Vaile鈥檚 results demonstrated that companies that increased their ad budgets during the recession grew sales much faster than their rivals 鈥攂oth during the downturn and beyond it. Companies that cut their advertising spend saw their sales decline both during the recession 鈥� and then for the following three years. In relative terms, these companies that reduced spend actually underperformed even compared to their counterparts that did no advertising at all.

This was the first proper analysis to demonstrate a key advertising theory: the power of advertising more during a recession. It was certainly not the last. In fact, over the subsequent century, dozens of empirical studies re-confirmed Vaile鈥檚 findings. Despite studying different firms across very different recessions, each study revealed that maintaining or even increasing ad spend during a downturn is invariably the right thing to do because it sets a company up to survive the downturn (a little) and then prosper (a lot) in the period that follows.

2020 travel demand

Given the current climate, you might be a bit skeptical and think 鈥� surely that doesn鈥檛 apply for a travel agency with significantly lower demand right now. Even if I was going to advertise, how would I approach it?

For simplicity, we often split the approaches into two camps: Brand Vs Activation.

Brand campaigns tend to be more emotive 鈥攁nd they help you position your company with viewers by associating with those feelings with a product or service. Whereas activation tends to focus on performance marketing, like pay-per-click, and the messaging often leads with pricing.

Significant research has been done already in this area by听. From their analysis across hundreds of companies, they say that in general brands should spend around 60% of their marketing budget on brand-building activity, and 40% on activation for maximum effectiveness. This is also known as the 鈥�60:40 rule鈥�.

Source: Les Binet and Peter Field

Too little brand activity means that the brand equity needed to drive future sales will not accumulate. Too little activation risks not exploiting the sales potential of brand equity as it accumulates.

Now there are no hard and fast rules for that split in a global pandemic 鈥� I鈥檓 sure we鈥檒l that research emerge in a couple of years 鈥� but by looking around you can see what some of the biggest spenders are doing in travel鈥�

For example,听听in May this year to signal what they called a 鈥榩ivot鈥� to move towards 鈥淎 strong focus on branded marketing communication, our major strength and a key differentiator of our brand.鈥�

So expect lots more brand spend and ads like this听听from Trivago. Notice the well-known presenter is not featured, as they look to establish an emotional connection. And conversely, we can expect to see a little less investment in their performance marketing like this PPC ad you see running on Google on the right-hand side.

What can your travel agency do?

We understand that many of you reading this don鈥檛 work for agencies the size of Trivago and that your travel brand may have already cut your marketing budgets or reduced headcount in this department.

Recent research on听听showed that 90% of travel brands had reduced their marketing budget somewhat, and 7% had shut down their marketing teams. That鈥檚 terrifying news if you work in marketing in travel (as I do). But it will be music to the ears of a small bunch of travel brands who see things differently. These companies know that:

1.听Advertising has both short and long-term effects.听These longer-term effects can take several years to fully manifest and they are largely invisible in the immediate, short-term metric we often call Return on Investment.

2. Less marketing focused businesses will now cut their ad budgets because they think that the savings from听killing a campaign听will be superior to any impact that advertising would have generated.

3. By maintaining ad budgets at current levels this year and next, the same investment will have a much greater impact because competitors have either gone bust and stopped advertising or reduced their ad spend significantly. Most firms tend to cut back on advertising during a recession. This behavior reduces noise and increases the effectiveness of advertising of any single firm that advertises.

4. When the economy expands, all firms tend to increase advertising. At that point, no single firm gains much by that increase. The gains of the firms that maintained or increased advertising during a recession, however, persist.

It may sound counter-intuitive during a period of such uncertainty and limited resources, but travel brands can be taking this opportunity to gain market share and grow their consumer base. Research shows that consumers still expect brands to advertise during pandemics and that by not advertising their audience base is less engaged and ultimately, trust your brand less over time. Remaining top of mind is key to success in future buying situations, and advertising does just that.

Brands can find themselves in an unusual situation where they can build a competitive advantage against other brands, especially by planning smartly for recovery, and advertising when not many other brands are.

Helping your business recover

You can find a range of support and information on COVID-19 and recovery on our resource hub.

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To find out, 乐播传媒 carried out research focused on travelers鈥� changing needs in the era of COVID-19. We cross-checked these findings against what our supply partners (air, hotel, car) are actually doing and published all of this in our听Guide to Travel Recovery. What emerged from our research is that people want to travel, and are willing to 鈥� but only if stringent safety measures are implemented across all touchpoints of their journey. In addition, people also want the flexibility to cancel or amend their booking if their situation changes.

We have identified 10 categories that we found to be key to restoring consumer confidence 鈥� nine safety measures plus the added driver of keeping travelers’ money safe through flexible change/cancellation policies. The importance of each factor varies by supplier-type, but 鈥� overall 鈥� this shows that travelers want as many precautions in place as possible, plus the freedom to change their plans, if necessary, without losing out financially.

1. Enhanced cleaning and/or disinfection

Travelers want to be sure that rigorous cleaning procedures are being followed, across all touchpoints of their journey. This includes:

• during and between flights (71%)
• aircraft disinfection before departure (70%)
• enhanced hotel cleaning (73%)
• enhanced cleaning between car rental bookings (72%)

2. Access to sanitizing gel/disinfectant wipes

Suppliers can meet or exceed traveler expectations and give them extra peace of mind by supplying them with sanitizing products:

• at baggage collection (69%)
• readily available disinfectant wipes on flights (61%)
• access to sanitizing gel, face masks and gloves at hotels (70%) and car rental locations (66%)

3. Social distancing

Social distancing can be one of the trickier safety measures to implement, and for airlines it is not commercially viable to block the middle seat in the long run. Travelers say that effective social distancing will encourage them to book a flight, and they want to see this implemented:

• throughout air travel journey (68%)
• socially distant seating on aircraft (66%)
• in hotels (66%)
• at car rental locations (64%)

4. Temperature checks

The merits of widespread temperature checks, and who should conduct them, is听听by travel stakeholders, medical experts, and governments. From our research though, we can see that until a vaccine or effective treatment is available, air travelers, in particular, would like to see temperature checks being carried out both:

• at the entrance to airports (66%)
• before boarding (66%)

5.听Mandatory mask wearing

Mask wearing is becoming standard practice in many public settings, beyond just travel. This is acknowledged as an effective way of reducing community transmission of COVID-19 and is a simple solution for situations where social distancing is more difficult. Travelers seem to be embracing this trend too, with the results showing that they want this required:

• in airports (64%)
• in the air (64%)
• in hotels, by staff (64%)
• in car rental location, by staff (61%)

6. Plexiglass at check-in

Like mask-wearing, plexiglass is also becoming more common in retail and customer-service environments. Where contactless or entirely automated processes are not possible, this is the next-best alternative, with travelers wanting to see this, in particular, at airport check-in desks (56%).

7.听Managed aircraft boarding by row

听鈥� perhaps one small positive from the pandemic. Travelers are likely to exercise much more caution at this stage of their journey now and want airlines to prevent crowding by managing boarding by row. This is important to 56% of travelers.

8. Air filtration

Travelers know that on many flights, full social distancing will not be possible. Like mask-wearing, HEPA air filtration provides them with some reassurance that they are safe in the cabin. This is important to 62% of travelers.

9. Contactless services

Before COVID-19, having a human face at a check-in desk or front of house was important to many people, and symbolic of quality customer service. But now, as people seek to reduce their in-person interactions and close contacts, technology will enable many travel businesses to creatively adapt their processes, increasingly support self-check-in. Travelers prefer contactless:

• air check-in (58%)
• hotel check-in (58%)
• car collection and drop-off (55%)

Like contactless services, mobile guest services will also allow travelers to rely less on in-person interactions in hotels. This may include room service, making reservations in a restaurant, booking leisure facilities, transfers, and more. This was important to 51% of travelers.

10. Flexible change/cancellation policies

In addition to feeling physically safe throughout their travels, consumers also want to know that their money will be safe if they book. The COVID-19 situation is changing by the day, creating uncertainty and making some travelers hesitant to book. Travel suppliers now need flexible policies to make it possible for people to change their trip without incurring charges, or cancel and get a full refund if they become unwell, or if travel restrictions are reintroduced in either their departure point or destination.

At the same time, suppliers need to make agencies aware of this information so they can confidently guide people during booking. A notable 64% of people said that having fully flexible or refundable tickets was a 鈥榲ery important鈥� consideration that would influence them to book a flight. During our research, our airline, hotel, and car partners mirrored this view that flexibility around change/cancellations would play a key role in restoring traveler confidence.

Let鈥檚 talk safety: communication is key

Speaking about safety measures, Derek Sadubin, Managing Director, CAPA 鈥� Centre for Aviation, noted 鈥�Health and safety is understandably front of mind for travelers right now. The travel industry recognizes and respects this and, what鈥檚 encouraging, is that many suppliers, such as airlines, have already implemented the safety measures travelers say they need to book a domestic or international trip 鈥� but we still have a long way to go. Collaboration and communication are now key to restoring traveler confidence and securing a strong and responsible industry recovery.鈥�

The research in our听Guide to Travel Recovery听showed that airlines, hotels, and car providers are 鈥� by and large 鈥� implementing the right measures that travelers want and need. So, the next step towards recovery is to thoroughly document and communicate all of this to people, something not as straightforward as it may sound.

Right now, people are inundated with information, news, and updates about COVID-19, across personal, professional, and public channels. The World Health Organization听听this type of 鈥榠nfodemic鈥� makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it 鈥� even when they have access to high-quality information.

For travel businesses, this information overload makes it particularly difficult to cut through the noise and ensure safety messages are seen and heard. Plus, the situation on the ground in destinations 鈥� and the associated entry and exit requirements 鈥� are changing regularly, creating an additional challenge for agencies and destination marketing organizations.

But opportunity exists 鈥� even in a crisis of this magnitude.

Travel agencies have more potential than ever to add value in the booking process, and indeed our research is showing that people are now 33% more likely to use an agent than before COVID-19, with 82% more or as likely. Of this, 65% said that the reason they feel more confident booking through an agency is because they can provide the latest travel safety information. This highlights how important it is for agencies to be able to find this information quickly and conveniently.

In March, 乐播传媒 noticed agencies were facing a similar challenge when it came to staying on top of cancellation/change policies, and so we developed our听policy tracker tool听to support our agency customers. Based on the positive feedback we received about it, we developed something similar to aid industry recovery:听 our new听Airline Health and Safety tracker.

We created the Airline Health & Safety tracker to help inform agents and consumers听what to expect when travelling with 80+ airlines globally, and have expanded this for hotel and car providers.

To make life easier for our agency customers, we also developed a Smartpoint plugin, which gives travel agencies access to information on government restrictions, lockdowns, and safety measures across the globe 鈥� all within the agent鈥檚 workflow.

And on the supply side, we鈥檙e also helping our partners to communicate their safety messages directly to agencies via our platform. They鈥檙e doing this using our digital media solutions, which delivers safety messages to agencies at the point of booking.

All of this combined is helping to deliver safety information to travelers, giving them confidence that their well-being is of paramount importance across the travel ecosystem.

Read on: Guide to Recovery in Travel

It鈥檚 more important than ever that we as an industry are aware of 鈥� and in tune with 鈥� what travelers want. We must continue to work ever more closely together to build our understanding of our customers鈥� needs and deliver it in such a way that they feel protected, both physically and financially. This is how, together, we can reconnect the world and drive real recovery.

You can read more about this in our听Guide to Travel Recovery. I鈥檓 sure you鈥檒l find it as insightful, interesting, and instructive as we did.

Safe travels, everyone.

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Our findings helped us to identify nine safety measures plus the added driver of flexibility in change/cancellation policy. We鈥檝e captured this information in a handy snapshot for you here.

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The newly published paper听听outlines guidelines that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) recommends to airlines and governments. 乐播传媒 appreciated the opportunity to participate in the development of these protocols along with our travel and tourism partners.

Greg Webb, 乐播传媒鈥檚 Chief Executive Officer, recently noted that听鈥淭he global travel industry is united in its desire to support a safe, healthy and responsible return for travel. However, for this to be achieved, the industry and governments across the world must now unite around a consistent set of clear, practical and meaningful protocols, which are backed up by medical evidence and give travelers the confidence they need to once again take to the skies. We applaud the World Travel and Tourism Council for taking the lead on developing the Aviation Global Protocols and are proud to have contributed to their formation.鈥�

The protocols center on four key areas:

1. Operational and staff preparedness

Operational excellence will underpin the potential to travel in the 鈥榥ew normal鈥�. For airlines, this means having a COVID-19 action plan that sets out their approach to cleaning, staff safety and health, physical distancing, the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), food safety and more. These policies should be aligned with partner airports and other key stakeholders such as catering and transport partners.

Achieving the operational excellence needed for safe travel will mean training for staff on how to execute these action plans. This includes providing them with relevant guidelines, tools, and support for managing stress.

2. Ensuring a safe and secure experience

To make travel safe for both crew and travelers, airlines should implement processes focused on enhanced sanitation, disinfection and deep cleaning practices, as well as increasing their cleaning/disinfection frequency.

This applies to the plane and to check-in and boarding areas, plus other high-frequency touch points. Cleaning products must be approved by health authorities, and disinfecting products such as alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be made widely available.

Health screening (if mandated and backed by medical evidence) should also be undertaken in conjunction with government entities. Where possible this should take place electronically to minimize risk and prevent operational delays at airports.

In-person entry/exit checks should be as non-intrusive as possible for travelers, facilitated through full-body infrared scanners, handheld infrared thermometers, and ear-gun thermometers. The paper also recommends that flight crew should be exempt from screening or quarantine measures on arrival.

Physical distancing, limited face-to-face interaction, and minimal human contact should be prioritized at all touchpoints where possible using guidance, electronic, and online methods. This may require airport redesign in the longer term.

On board, measures to ensure health and safety include boarding from back to front, window to aisle and limiting movement in the cabin. Enhanced food safety can be achieved by offering packaged food and providing covered cutlery.

3. Rebuilding trust and confidence

Communication and transparency are key to rebuilding traveler trust and confidence. Before their trip, travelers should know the airline鈥檚 new health and hygiene safety protocols, as well as government requirements. This should cover guidance on face masks, hand hygiene, the provision of approved sanitation products, and physical distancing.

Traveler facing/front office staff will also need training to answer questions and to support safety during interactions. This should be supported by signage to communicate safety messages throughout their journey.

Finally, the industry must also cooperate with national authorities on contact tracing apps, and with third-party providers to offer traveler insurance covering COVID-19.

4. Implementing enabling policies

Enabling policies need to be implemented at a governmental level, and a coordinated approach between governments will be needed to restart international travel. Policy changes should then be communicated in a clear and timely way.

The aviation industry is calling on governments to provide financial relief to the sector through the alleviation of payroll taxes, corporate taxes, concession fees and other government incomes from the industry. Low-interest or interest-free loans, loan guarantees or direct support will also help to maintain financial liquidity.

Incentives like waiving taxes or fees, cheaper and simpler visa procedures, and providing direct support to destination marketing organizations both domestically and internationally will help boost demand for travel.

Readying for travel

For airlines to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, travelers will need to feel assured that their safety is being prioritized first and foremost. The development of a COVID-19 action plan is the first step for airlines to address the practicalities at hand. Once this is in place, clear, consistent, and enhanced communication on these new health and hygiene safety protocols is the best way to alleviate some of the fear that may initially deter travelers from booking trips.

You can read all global protocol documents for the travel and tourism industry, including hospitality, airports and tour operators听.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 乐播传媒 has been communicating with our agency customers and travel partners through our regularly updated听resource hub听of information. This has helped to provide clarity and insight onto the impact COVID-19 is having on travel, and guidance for navigating through rapidly changing circumstances.

As travel begins to restart, we鈥檒l continue to update the hub with useful information and resources on recovery.

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The emergency flexibility framework allows for restrictions on previously-issued tickets to be relaxed and provides an automated way to amend the rules on ticket changes. Before this, only rule conditions that were in effect when the ticket was issued could be used on existing tickets.

This means tickets bought before COVID-19 can be updated to comply with new airline policies on fee waivers and validity periods. The automation also means that both agents and travelers can understand the rules being put in place by airlines, without needing to go through individual airlines鈥� policies, which may change regularly.

Who can take advantage of Emergency Flexibility?

All 乐播传媒 customers that work on ticket exchanges with an airline that has adopted emergency flexibility have access to this solution through our agency or API channel.

Have all airlines adopted Emergency Flexibility?

More than 60 airlines have adopted this solution so far. Participating airlines include Air France-KLM, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Singapore Airlines.

Supporting industry recovery

乐播传媒 has been undertaking a number of other initiatives to help our customers and the wider industry through recovery.

Initiatives include:

• Extending validity of tickets to two years: As the COVID-19 situation continues to change quickly, many airlines have now听. As a result, 乐播传媒 has now extended the validity of tickets from one year to two years for automated voluntary exchanges through our agent desktop and API channels. This means that agents can now perform automated and manual reissues or exchanges for tickets up to two years鈥� old.
• COVID-19 Smartpoint plugin: This gives travel agencies access to information on government restrictions, lockdowns, and safety measures across the globe 鈥� all within the agent鈥檚 Smartpoint workflow.
• Recovery hub: This resource hub contains details on supplier safety measures and policies and links to other useful information.

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