Rafat Ali

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80 Percent of All Hotel Booking in Sri Lanka Cancelled Amongst Turmoil

That's according to M Shanthikumar, president of the Tourists Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, quoted in TTG Asia last week. He said these 80 percent booking cancellations have happened even though members “have tried to persuade visitors that it is safe to holiday in Sri Lanka”. This has happened even as turmoil has continued and…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Inflation Concerns Likely To Push People to Domestic Trips: New Data from Tripadvisor

One of the biggest concerns for the global travel industry's recovery coming out of the pandemic lows has been inflation and how it would affect people's intent to travel. While summer looks like it will be a big one for the travel industry, here is some early survey data from Tripadvisor that people are willing…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

U.S. Hotel Rates Are Now Highest Ever

We all know this having paid nose-bleed rates for anything in travel these days: U.S. hotel rates in April were the highest ever in recorded rate history, according to latest data from STR. That was on a nominal basis, but adjusted to inflation, was up 0.7 percent from 2019 comparables. April 2022 (percentage change from…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Best Cities For Digital Nomads

Neat new research from Savills, those global property folks, on the best places for long term remote workers -- also called digital nomads by the cooler peeps -- to live. And work, of course. The "Savills Executive Nomad Index" ranks 15 destinations, all of these cities below have either have a digital nomad visa program,…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Iceland Does It Again, This Time With Cute Horse Emails

It is *always* the small countries that punch above their weight in creative output, this is certainly true in travel marketing, and it has been true of Iceland in its creative marketing output since..well...the unpronounceable volcano put it on the map. By the same people who brought you Icelandverse, this time it is with its…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Hotel Workers Want Guests to Demand Daily Room Cleaning in New Ad Campaign

The daily hotel room cleaning is now an innocent relic of our pre-covid days, that much is certain. Among the many ramifications beyond the lower expenses for hotels is that the cleaning staff is now getting paid less, for less work. And when they do clean the rooms after a guest's stay, because they haven't…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Hopper Fintech Products Now Being Bought by 70 Percent of Its Ticket Bookers

A fascinating interview with Hopper founder and CEO Frederic Lalonde on A16Z's Future, with a deep dive on his thinking about superapps in travel and Hopper's potential path into becoming one. In it, a nugget that now 70 percent Hopper's revenues are coming from their add-on fintech produces, AND 70 percent of ticket bookers through…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Airbnb Creative Ad Team Now Numbers In Hundreds

Airbnb shelved its huge $800 millions marketing budget when the pandemic hit. Now as a company not just recovered but thriving, it has brought all its marketing, advertising and creative in-house, and the team is now numbering in hundreds, according to Airbnb’s global head of marketing Hiroki Asai, in an interview with Digiday. Airbnb ad…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

The Definitive Chart of What Happened to U.S. Travel in 2020

This new chart from U.S.'s National Travel and Tourism Office captures what all of the U.S. travel industry went through in its worst year in modern history. Interestingly, there was still some demand in U.S., unlike other stricter-restriction countries, which kept many parts of the industry at subsistence-enough level that it survived. As expected looking…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago

News Blog

Colombia and Peru Only Two Countries Increasing Share of U.S. Inbound Travelers in 2021

This chart below from the United States National Travel and Tourism Office came out this week, and two countries are standout in an otherwise dismal-but-improving 2021 inbound travel market. Colombia is emerging as a force to be reckoned with, as we wrote in detail last month. CountryArrivalsShareChange from 2020Change from 2019Change in 2021 RankTotal22,100,453100.00%15.00%-72.20%From 20191Mexico10,396,72447.00%52.70%-43.30%↑+12Canada2,529,02211.40%-47.40%-87.80%↓…

Rafat Ali | 2 years ago