The long haul traveller’s wish list

Having recently returned from a trip to Australia, I feel I’ve greatly improved my understanding of actions that businesses can take to improve the service they provide to long distance travellers; and what sort of offerings attract these sorts of customers in the first place.

Having found myself on the client side of the fence for a change, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of the lessons I learned during the course of my recent solo travelling. It was quite an eye opener. With London 2012 only one year away, I believe it’s definitely something all businesses ought to start thinking about. After all websites, and online communications generally, know no boundaries, and global travel and trade is easier than ever before !

Seven simple steps to a friendlier world

1. Smile, it makes everything easier, and people always appreciate a few simple words of greeting. Show yourself or other people on your website
2. Encourage everyone to use their language skills with the aid of national flag lapel badges and symbols on websites.
3. Make good use of multi lingual or pictorial information  or symbols and/or menus. Sales benefit because people can order and purchase with confidence. You get your message across more effectively.
4. Everyone travelling alone should receive a special welcome.  In restaurants singles should automatically be offered a seat at a table they can share with others if they wish
5. Offering FREE wifi is a major attraction to people
6. Listening is a skill that should not be underestimated, or taken for granted
7. A tip can be appropriate for particularly good service, or a job well done. Otherwise take the time to write a glowing online testimonial about it.

A helping hand for the long haul traveller

Long haul air travel is defined as involving a non stop flight of six and a half hours or more.  If, like me, you’re travelling to a destination that involves flying for over 20 hours to get there; you simply can’t make an unplanned trip back home without great inconvenience and expense, so there’s a huge up front investment of time and money on the part of the traveller to get all the important details of the trip sorted out in advance. There’s more at stake; so I’d urge everyone serving travellers to play their part in helping to ensure that everyone takes home the happiest of memories.

Here are my 25 top tips for maximum enjoyment of long haul travel. If you’re marketing something likely to be of interest to long haul travellers, you might find something of interest here too!

1. Get a personal recommondation  for a really expert travel agent to help you sort out the logistics. Get details of the local representative in each destination. They can be your real friend in time of crisis.
2. Do as much pre research as you can to determine your preferred route, destination and acceptable standard of accommodation
3. Work at getting any upgrade you can qualify for
4. Join the loyalty programme of all airlines and hotel chains you patronise
5. Take out a comprehensive travel insurance policy, just in case the worst happens
6. Find out the procedure to follow in case you have to change or cancel a flight or hotel reservation
7. Look up all possible friends in the places you’re travelling to, and listen to their advice
8. Reconfirm every tour booking 48 hours or 2 working days in advance
9. Find out exactly what the weather will be like everywhere you’re visiting, so you take the right clothes
10. If you’re travelling to or from Australia or New Zealand, avoid jet lag after arrival by making a 2 night stopover in Asia or USA en route both ways.
11. Upgrade to premium economy (or higher) on the long haul flights if you can possibly afford it.
12. Avoid all one night stays as far as possible (except on escorted tours, where other people can worry and help with lost luggage)
13. Get a tough but colourful luggage tag, so your case stands out from the crowd
14. Avoid hotel restaurants except for breakfast; but get recommendations about places where you can enjoy the local vibe
15. Only accumulate or buy stuff you can take home; or pay extra to ship special large items you can’t live without. Find out about unaccompanied excess baggage shipping and how overseas visitors get a tax refund on large items. Here’s information about how overseas visitors can obtain tax refunds for items purchased in the UK. Here’s information about reclaiming tax on items purchased in Australia.
    
16. Try to buy souvenirs that are made locally. Read my posts about souvenirs and postcards.
17. Ask for recommendations about local experiences or interesting places to visit
18. Follow interesting sounding directional signs
19. Invest in some digital luggage scales to minimise the headache of keeping within the airline free baggage allowance. Try Balanzza.
20. Don’t take more than 3 pairs of shoes
21. Look out for restaurant special offers on chalk boards outside the premises
22. Sign up for alerts on restaurant offers with Facebook deals and Living Social
23. Get an international subscription to ‘Global Gossip’ or set up Skype on your smart phone
24. Dont buy preserves, food or drink to take home that falls foul of airline liquid restrictions.
25. Delete the  out of focus digital photos you’ve taken as you go along

Looking for more inside information about marketing?

Virtual Viv is part of the team at Manifold Associates, working in the UK and travelling the world independently to inform you with incisive commentary about things that matter in marketing.   Freelance assignments welcomed. We’re flexible and versatile. If you’d like to discuss how we might be able to help you, do get in touch. Until next time, resolve to get more adventurous.

Coping with disaster: perception vs reality

The recent inland flash floods that have hit the Australian state of Queensland during the 2010/11 cyclone seasonhave emphasised the scale of the inundation to have affected ‘an area larger than France and Germany combined’.

Even the first floods immediately after Christmas (pictured above) were bad enough to be described by Queensland state Treasurer Andrew Fraser as a “disaster of biblical proportions”.

Last week, first Toowoomba,  the state capital of Brisbane, and many other communities in the centre and south east of the state have been hit by further major flooding events almost surpassing landmark 1974 floods.

The death toll has already reached 20; but many more are still missing, so the final toll is expected to rise futher.

Queensland Flood Disaster appeal

The Queensland Government has launched an appeal to help people affected by the central and south east Queensland floods. With many communities devastated and some families losing everything, everyone can help make a difference by donating to the official  Flood Relief Appeal

SCAMwatch is warning consumers to thoroughly check the legitimacy of charities when donating to help flood victims in  Queensland. I was impressed to find information about the SCAMwatch service in Australia, and its work to help prevent unscrupulous fraudsters from cashing in when they see an opportunity to rip people off, especially in such unfortunate circumstances. Other countries take note!

Bringing reality home

There are several aspects to the story of disaster that I want to explore; but firstly I have to declare a personal interest, because we have family in the area, so I’ve obtained permission to use some of their photos, and can quote from personal testimony. I’ll be travelling to Queensland myself later in the year, so although I’ll be able to see the reality for myself in due course, I’m talking now about my perceptions of the situation, as seen from afar.

Reading about the unfolding situation, first in increasingly worrying emails from relations, and then seeing the reality in their photos and watching newsreel videos in the media, has helped bring the full horror of natural disaster into our living rooms and onto computer screens far way, my own included.

As I worked on the draft of this post, I’ve found myself re- writing it almost daily over several  weeks as the story unfolded. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

As a family we’ve watched ghastly footage of people stranded on car and house roofs; and seen live action of cars, boats, furniture  and trees being tossed about and crushed in raging flood water like mere toys. We’ve  watched desperate and dramatic rescues, and heart rending interviews with people who’ve lost everything, and seen horrific sights; but at least are alive.

Not everyone has been so lucky. One can only imagine the reality and horror of actually being there and experiencing it in person. Only this morning we heard from some relations that ‘it’s been horrible’, that they were ‘intact’; but that ‘that is a lot more than can be said for lots of other poor people, and lots and lots of animals of all kinds, wild, commercial and domestic.’

Suffering in such circumstances extends far beyond human beings, something that this disaster has really brought home to me personally. What’s really impressed me and everyone I know is the amazing resiliance and stoicism shown by the people of Queensland in coping with their exceptional recent circumstances.

How news editors interpret disaster

While it’s the job of news editors to make sure the news stories they cover provide accurate and reliable information to accompany arresting images that make people sit up and take notice, it’s quite another matter when you consider what individuals and business people think about being the focus of high profile international media coverage that has an immediate impact on their life or livelihood.

It’s a commonly used device by the media to explain the scale of a disaster with the aid of an analogy,  illustrating the size by comparing it to an equivalent more familiar to the audience. In the case of Queensland flooding the BBC in the UK talked about  ‘an area the size of France and Germany combined’ being affected.

While this may be useful for the authorities to help people understand the scale, it can potentially be misleading because, certainly in the case of flooding,  the worst damage is rarely evenly spread over a landscape. In Queensland this was the case. So in disaster situations, authorities might take more care over selecting apparently convenient soundbites about broadscale damage. With hindsight exaggeration can prove to  be particularly unwise,  especially when effects are  localised, and many areas escape unscathed.

From aerial views I’ve seen, although the worst of the Queensland flooding in the south east of the state was confined to river valleys, an additional problem was that the flow resulting from extremely heavy rainfall brought additional hazards by carrying many objects not secured in advance down intervening slopes from higher ground in uncontrollable torrents, that took the quickest route downhill irrespective of what was in their path, and areas previously thought safe suffered significant damage. See aerial views of Brisbane at the height of the flooding contrasted with the same view before the floods struck.

I fear that the general impression that the majority of television viewers took away from recent news coverage in the UK though, is that the entire state of Queensland was similarly affected to the places shown on screen.  This is because the majority of people haven’t made a study of hydrology, and don’t have a detailed knowledge of the geography of places on the other side of the world from the UK, such Queensland, Australia.

The effects of natural disaster on tourism
There’s no denying that tourism in Queensland has taken a severe battering this year, and I’m sure that it will take a very long time indeed for the worst affected places, and people, to recover, especially in places like Rockhampton, Ipswich, and Grantham, as well as in Toowoomba and Brisbane.

However it’s pleasing to see the upbeat approach on the home page of the official Queensland tourism website, which acknowledges the flooding with links to up to date factual information , but doesn’t make a huge issue of it.

There’s a lot at stake for the Queensland tourism industry which is an important contributor to the state economy. Read more about the effects of 2010/11 flooding events on tourism in Queensland.

With many people planning holidays in Queensland looking at dates a long time in advance, it’s important to present a positive face to the outside world. I like the idea that, in a new initiative, there are now live webcams on the official Cairns tourism website, in the almost unaffected tropical north of the state. Just bear in mind the time difference when tuning in, as they don’t all work when it’s dark!

Even in adversity, it’s important to try and look on the brighter side of things. Now lots more people in the world have heard about Queensland, perhaps for the first time(even if for the wrong reasons), or at least have been reminded about it: their curiosity may have been piqued. There really is a window of opportunity available for proactive PRs, to start beavering away to change back any negative perceptions, and remind people about the usually more favourable weather that can be expected in ‘the sunshine state’ of Australia at other times of year.

One of my favourite media relations tips is to never be afraid to tell the truth; but also to keep in mind this quote from Oscar Wilde, about the importance being selective:
‘the pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple’

Disaster recovery for accommodation providers

I have no wish to re-invent the wheel. In a recent article on the Hospitality Trends website about recovery from floods, fire and earthquake, Ken Burgin provides a range of practical tips about disaster recovery and contingency planning.. I dont want to sound trite in the context of Queensland floods,  but it provides food for thought, perhaps!

Can we help you?
Are you a business or organisation involved in the visitor economy that needs PR ideas to raise your profile, or improve perceptions, and secure media coverage to reach new prospective visitors or guests?

Manifold Associates could help you come up with compelling ideas, words and images that will encourage the world to beat a path to your door (as soon as it’s practicable) , or search for your business on the world wide web. If you run a small business we can also teach you the skills you need to manage your own PR and media relations campaigns in a professional manner.

Visit our website for more information about what we have to offer, including what customers think about our services as a UK based marketing consultancy.

Tales of the unexpected: carpe diem!

Many more of us than usual have been forced out of our usual ‘comfort zone’ by events over the past week. Following the ejection of vast quantities of fine volcanic ash from Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull, most of the UK and much of northern European airspace was closed to aviation for safety reasons for almost a week. An event without precedent in aviation terms.

Several serious near disasters involving passenger jets previously flying through clouds of volcanic ash around the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ near the Indonesian volcanoes of Mount Galunggung (1982), Mount Pinatubo (1991) and Mounts Redoubt and Spur in Alaska (in 1989 and 1992 respectively), lay behind the reaction of the authorities this time. Aviation and meteorological authorities, and air traffic control organisations all united to take a conservative approach, unilaterally closing large swathes of airspace as a precautionary measure with almost immediate effect, declaring the safety of passengers paramount, over-riding all commercial considerations.

The event also happened at a time when large volumes of people were travelling following the Easter holiday, traditionally a time of peak traffic flows in Europe.

What was different this time

Air travel was disrupted to an unprecentedented extent; but what was noticeably different this time (and from the cessation of aviation following 9/11) was the unexpected duration and the consequential huge and unanticipated knock on effect on other transport networks within Europe and further afield, as people have become unexpectedly stranded, and given the duration of the problem,  started (with admirable and increasing amounts of ingenuity as days of disruption continued), to seek alternative ways to complete their journeys, in spite of the additional cost, causing huge short term spikes in demand for alternative transport services with limited capacity.

If the disruption had gone on much longer I belive that more people would have started looking at long distance travel by ship, although it’s generally much slower and has limited capacity. During the disruption Royal Navy ships were deployed to bring troops home from Afghanistan with some civilians, via ports in Spain.

Unlikely beneficiaries of disruption

In the UK, ferry companies and Eurotunnel have seen traffic volumes increase significantly over what they would normally expect at this time of year as people made their way to the Channel Ports to return to the UK.  Eurostar, inter-European rail travel and coach operators such as Eurolines also benefited as people switched their attention to long distance overland alternatives to air travel. 

Other beneficiaries were less popular air routes that conveniently happened to avoid the restricted airspace. Ben Fogle, for example, flew part of his epic journey home from Ethiopia from Beirut to Rome.

In all millions of peoples’ lives and plans were thrown into unexpected chaos.  With no immediate end to the eruption in sight, further uncertainty and inconvenience seemed inevitable, until Nature calmed down a bit. Fortunately the aviation industry has united in declaring it safe for the travelling public to return to the skies today; although further disruption is not out of the question.

The case for personal contingency planning

It set me thinking about what steps people can take to prepare for, and subsequently deal with, the unexpected when they’re travelling, so they don’t get too badly caught out when some sort of disaster or unexpected event strikes.

As this week’s events have demonstrated only too well, the unexpected can strike tourism at any time. All too often we get surprised by something coming ‘out of the blue’. Can anything be done?

The first thing to say is that any unexpected event throws up a number of choices and opportunities, the most obvious of which is to do nothing and hunker down wherever you are, and hope that the problem will either go away or be swiftly resolved by people acting on your behalf and in your best interest. That can be a good strategy if time is on your side and the consequences are limited, and an end to disruption is in sight, or can be accurately predicted. This time, with the possibility of the ash cloud causing a continuing problem, it seemed to be  an unwise strategy. Taking action has the benefit of preventing you from feeling a victim of changed circumstances, putting you back in control of your own destiny.

A few years ago I was involved in the meetings and incentives side of the travel business, and during that time I got used coping with the unexpected. I learned to welcome the choices and challenges that unexpected events threw up. In my experience it was usually hotel strikes, lost documents or passports, illness or crime that caused the most  problems. I continue to believe that resourcefulness, ingenuity, persistence and patience are the most important attributes to  see you through a crisis, or indeed life in general!

It’s never my intention to offer anything other than constructive advice; but for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts on dealing with unexpected travel events. I’d also like to make it clear that I’m not referring to anything involving medical emergencies or life threatening situations, not only because I have no experience of them; but also because they involve a different set of considerations.

Before you go away

1. Always take copies of all your passports and insurance documents and leave them with someone at home you trust. Try and familiarise yourself with insurance policy exclusions before you travel. This exercise can be a sobering experience. Make a note of the insurance helpline number, take it with you and keep it safe. For travel within Europe get an E11 card.
2. Subscribe to a card protection scheme that helps you get swift replacement of credit and debit cards in case they get lost or destroyed during a incident while you’re away. There’s usually a cost, but it’s a small price to pay if disaster strikes.
3. Always tell your credit card company when you plan to be travelling abroad, so you don’t encounter problems getting approval of  ‘out of pattern expenses’. Even if you’re not planning to use the card except in an emergency, it gives you peace of mind to know you’ve got something by way of financial resources to fall back on.
4. Buy or borrow a map and guidebook or two. Familiarise yourself with the geography and general background information about your destination in advance. Take them with you if possible. They can be an invaluable planning resource (with phone numbers and website addresses) and you might avoid having to negotiate directory enquiries at a time when communications networks are overloaded.
5. Take a smart phone and charger away with you. Having email, access to social networks and internet access can each be invaluable in helping you keep up to date with news and getting about in places you don’t know.

When trouble affects travel plans

1. Stay calm and establish the facts about the unexpected situation affecting  travel arrangements, and the expected duration of the problem. If you have advance notice of a problem you might consider curtailing your trip and making a dash for home, but you’ll have to act fast.
2. If you’re on an organised or package tour make contact with the operator or their local agent. Request help and give them your contact details and mobile phone number if you have one so that they can reach you easily. If you booked direct, contact the carrier concerned.
3. Examine and evaluate alternative travel options and costs. Compare this with the expense of staying put until the situation is resolved. Look at your insurance policy exclusions, as you may not be covered for ‘Acts of God’, and you may not get a refund for unused travel arrangements until long after you return home.
4. Make friends with others similarly affected. You might be able to club together to share intelligence or transport expense. In any event keep your ear to the ground and make use of the ‘bush telegraph’.
5. Make use of any local contacts you might have. The past week has shown that in a crisis, ex boyfriends, long lost relations, or even passing acquaintances in a far flung land can provide useful help and information.
6. The more urgently you desire to travel, the more likely you are to end up out of pocket. That’s where patience can be useful. If you do need to get back home urgently you’ll  need maximum ingenuity and persistance. This was demonstrated by John Cleese’s return trip to the UK from Oslo in Norway.
   
7. Take photographs and consider writing your story. The media may be interested in running your story while you’re away, and you might even get paid.
8. Contact anyone at home who needs to know what’s happening. You might be like some lucky people this week, whose relations drove over with a car by ferry to pick them up from Calais, or were one of the 25 sucessfully rescued by Dan Snow’s ingenious Sunday speedboat service, before it was shut down by French authorities, who also heard of his plan via Twitter.
   

   Seize the moment! When faced with unexpected produce in an Omani market, I took a photo to remember it by. Allow yourself to enjoy the serendipity of life

9. Allow for serendipity in your life. Sometimes you just have to relax, make the best choice you feel you can in the circumstances, keep people informed, and live with the consequences. Incidentally, I’d be grateful for any help in identifying the unusual spiky vegetables shown above!

Even in my home village in Kent, I enjoyed the glorious sunsets which were one of the ‘benefits’ of the ash cloud, along with louder and more noticeable birdsong resulting from the absence of background aircraft noise. BBC Radio Kent yesterday interviewed residents of Edenbridge, further west, that normally lies under the final approach flight path into Gatwick airport, who reported that they’d noticed this to an even greater extent.

By the way, when it came to me making a choice of route during my recent lone trip through the mountains of Oman, I thought you’d like to know that I chose the adventurous  route shown in the photograph at the beginning of this post, rather than the tarmac ‘black top’. It was well worth the experience!

If you’re involved in the UK visitor economy and your business has been affected by the ash cloud and consequent travel disruption, Visit Britain would like you to complete a survey. Read how to take part.

If you were ‘on the road during the last week and have any comments or advice to pass on to fellow travellers as a result of your experiences, do let me know.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Virtual Viv could write for your organisation. I  can help with PR and marketing or write content for tourism businesses online or offline. Comment about what I’ve written below, or contact me at Manifold Associates.

Until next time…