Varsha Arora

The pandemic has been both a blessing and a curse for destination marketing with restricted budgets, a broadened scope of work, and a breather to rethink and restructure. This year will be pivotal for laying the groundwork to evolve nimbly in line with travel trends and to enhance organizational efficiencies.

Destination marketers have put up a positive outlook for 2022 aiming for diversified funding and revenue sources along with some crucial internal changes focusing on stakeholder engagement, targeted marketing, and sustainability initiatives. It is to be seen if the changes contribute to continual recovery and growth.

People in the West traditionally have used mobile phones as a research tool and a desktop for transactions whereas in the East, since people mostly skipped the offline era, users began directly in the digital age through mobile. Companies looking to boost mobile commerce need to create unique touchpoints and tailor their product offerings to achieve a greater sales mix.

Mobile is already the primary device for travel planning in the majority of the world. Still, mobile bookings are yet to surpass desktop bookings in volume or value. Undoubtedly, travel companies need to increase mobile investments while also deploying an overarching multi-device strategy to engage customers throughout.

The online travel market in Southeast Asia is a promising market, a rapidly growing region with a digitally engaged and highly aspirational middle class that is currently underserved. The industry dynamics are ever-evolving with OTAs endeavoring to do things differently in order to maintain and grow their slice of the market.

The Southeast Asian online travel market is a crowded space. The industry players strive to strike a fine balance between creating the appropriate inventory mix, appealing prices and an easy-to-use interface with plenty of local offerings to distinguish themselves.

The emission rate for tourism-related activities will not slow down by default. The implications of carbon emissions are apparent and concerted action is required from all stakeholders to reduce the carbon footprint of tourism at a faster pace.

Airlines, cruise lines and even hotels have all been measured for their impacts on the environment. But destinations themselves are hurting the environment as well. Find out which ones, and how extensive the problem, in our first-of-its-kind report.

India's devastating second wave of the pandemic is arresting the pace of the travel recovery, at least for the short-term. It's too early to tell if the shrinking industry will be able to cater to the vast pent-up demand once Covid is under control.