Earlier we wrote about how they survive a pandemic with all its limitations.restaurant sireal estate. But, perhaps, the quarantine measures in Ukraine had the greatest impact on the tourism business.
How the sphere adapted to the new reality and what the editors of the Web promo blog now offer their clients learned from the director Cora Travel Tatyana Prokopenko.
Quarantine, as it was from March to mid-May, and the tourism business is absolutely incompatible concepts. How has your company responded to the changes?
– We had a clear and balanced algorithm of actions in a crisis situation. When there were tens of thousands of our tourists abroad who needed to be urgently returned to Ukraine, we developed a flight schedule to return everyone in 5-7 days. The whole team worked around the clock, acting solely in accordance with official orders in the country.
We offered some of the best conditions on the market for rescheduling and rebooking tours while maintaining the exchange rate, which was especially important when currency fluctuations almost daily affected the final cost of tours in hryvnia.
We also promptly opened the booking of tours for 2021 so that tourists have the choice of rescheduling a booked tour during the current year or scheduling a tour on favorable terms at convenient dates for the next summer season.
All employees were promptly transferred to remote work. The staff was not reduced or increased. Promotion budgets were halted due to the suspension of operations.
And what was the return from online to offline after the removal of strict quarantine restrictions?
“Employees partially returned to the offices at the beginning of the summer. The opening took place technically, quickly, and in an organized manner. All retail agencies of Coral Travel Network of Travel Agencies and Coral Elite Service Travel Agency Network (300 agencies in 80 cities of Ukraine) then received and continue to receive support, training, and skills to work in modern realities, taking into account anti-epidemic requirements.
The psychological moment is no less important: how to start work after quarantine, how to restore demand, how to build communication with the client? Online webinars were organized for network agencies by independent professional trainers and Coral Travel experts.
Are you now more prepared for various options for the development of quarantine events? Are there strategies for the next tightening of anti-epidemic measures? Or do you prefer to solve problems as they come? Why do you think the chosen way of doing business is right?
― Our company is a part of the international OTI Holding. Within the holding, clear actions have been developed in case of crisis situations of various levels of complexity. Such a systematic approach to doing business allows you to quickly adapt to new conditions and, if necessary, quickly choose the most effective algorithm of action.
Quarantine is an invaluable experience for any enterprise in Ukraine. He showed what you can save on, where are the weak points, and what advertising platforms are not mastered. What conclusions did Coral Travel come out of the strict quarantine? Did you manage to find the positives in the current situation?
― Quarantine coincided with our plans to introduce new technical and digital solutions. By digitalizing the business, we increase the share of new customers.
- We have launched a mobile application for our tourists, which stores all the information and documents on the purchased tour, as well as with which you can choose a tour.
- Launched the sale of tours online on our website.
- We introduced a new retail tool to the market – a gift card. We plan to sell 5000 cards per year.
- We also launched a modern platform for online training of agencies.
As far as I know, Turkey was the first to open its borders with Ukraine. Then they were joined by Montenegro, Croatia, and some other resorts. Most of them have always been considered fairly budget destinations. Has the price tag for hotels and entertainment for vacationers changed? How has the demand for economy and premium class hotels changed compared to previous years?
– We can only comment on the direction of Turkey and Egypt since these are the main directions of our company in 2020 and both directions have been available to our tourists since July.
Hotels in both Turkey and Egypt have carried out thorough preparations to work in a global pandemic. These changes touched every corner of the hotel, from restaurants to mini clubs, from animation programs to more personalized service. And as shown by the reviews of our employees who went to inspect hotels in Turkey, on the first flight on 01.07, and the reviews of our tourists, all the preparations only improved the conditions of rest.
Special meals in restaurants, restrictions on crowds, keeping distances, more thorough cleaning of rooms and territories are only positive aspects for a quality holiday.
It is difficult, to sum up, the results of 2020 in terms of demand and its changes, and we do not officially sum them up. The year was non-standard for all parties – us as tour operators, travel agencies, and tourists, and the same demand and price tag for hotels changed in one direction and the other, guided by factors known to all.
How has the customer needs to be changed? Have there been new priorities in choosing a place and format of recreation (for example, do people want secluded houses instead of a hotel or require a place near a wedge)? Or is everything still the same?
― Demand for Turkey increased by 60% in August. Demand for Egypt remained at the level of last year. Before the trip, tourists clarify the restrictions that exist in a particular country on leaving and returning to Ukraine. Now we are seeing that the demand for ski resorts in Turkey has also increased compared to the previous year.
Coral Travel offers this winter 4 Turkish ski resorts – Erciyes, Palandoken, Uludag, and Kartalkaya, which can become an alternative to closed Europe. In favor of these resorts are a developed infrastructure, a high level of service, and attractive prices for tours.
Spending holidays in the hotels of the Turkish ski resort of Erciyes, tourists can be sure of the high quality and safety of their vacation. Most recently, Erciyes received the Safe Ski Resort certification from Bureau Veritas International Bureau and became the first winter resort in the world to have such a certificate.
Bureau Veritas is the largest international company, founded in 1828, with subsidiaries operating in many countries of the world, it is a world leader in providing testing, inspection, and certification services. Obtaining the Safe Ski Resort certification from Bureau Veritas is evidence that Erciyes Resort adheres to high sanitary and hygienic requirements and standards, so guests can be sure of their absolute safety.
I want to note that for the third year in a row we have been offering tours to the modern ski resort of Erciyes with a direct flight to Kayseri. This season we have increased the number of flights and now direct flights with UIA to Kayseri will fly three times a week from Kyiv and once a week from Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Odesa. Active holidays on the slopes of Erciyes can be combined with excursions, shopping, or combined tours to Cappadocia. The ski resort of Erciyes is located in central Turkey, on the peak of the same name, which was once a volcano. Kayseri city center is 20 km away and historic Cappadocia with hot air balloon rides is 60 km away.
The new ski resort this season will be the Turkish Palandoken with a direct flight once a week from Kyiv to Erzurum, as well as the resorts of Uludag and Kartalkaya with a flight to Istanbul from 6 cities in Ukraine.
For Ukrainians who appreciate domestic tourism, Coral Travel offers the fifth ski resort – “Bukovel” in the Carpathians.
For those who like to relax by the sea, the flight program to the Antalya coast of the Mediterranean Sea has been extended for the winter period. This is an opportunity to relax according to the All-Inclusive concept in comfortable hotels with SPA complexes, indoor pools, and restaurants. Also available for booking sightseeing tours to Istanbul for 3, 4, and 7 nights.
People, first of all, want to relax. And this is very good! We observed an increase in demand every day from July to September. And this trend continues.
Our company always focuses on the sale of certain priority hotels, of which we are confident. All advertising support and the work of employees are aimed at recommendations and sales, first of all, them. Among the selected hotels there are options for every taste and budget, from bungalows to large resort hotels. But the main thing is that the hotels meet all the standards of a safe holiday.
Can the requirement in the form of a PCR test be called a decisive factor in choosing a country to fly to for vacationers? Will this be a standard requirement now, like a fever shot to travel to Africa, or will the restriction be lifted eventually?
– Any innovation that forces an agency or a tourist to take additional actions, without which the vacation may not take place, is always perceived with caution. Previously, to obtain visas, tourists also prepared a number of documents from income statements to the availability of property, and for this, they visited not a single state. institution, but this did not affect the demand or popularity of holidays in the Schengen countries.
The requirement for a PCR test was also perceived with caution at first, but our company did not leave travel agencies and tourists alone with their fears. We offered a number of options for the delivery and compensation of payments for the PCR test, which our tourists willingly used. At the same time, there are countries that do not require tests for the entry of tourists from Ukraine, so there is always a choice.
How, in turn, has the foreign resort infrastructure adapted to tourism under quarantine? What has changed in their offerings? Have there been more profitable offers for vacationers, or, on the contrary, do hotels and carriers want to compensate for losses?
– Tourism is a business like any other, which is currently suffering huge losses. This applies to transport companies, accommodation facilities, catering facilities, etc. The list can belong. Moreover, the tourism business has its own existing budget, and any change in the cost of any of the objects will lead to one thing – loss of quality, then demand, then cessation of existence. But also on purpose, somehow for the sake of compensating for losses, the costs are not set higher. In fact, each company mobilized its forces, reviewed key business processes, and already planned work for the next season in several vectors of the situation development.
We hope only for the best, professionally evaluating ourselves, our strengths and capabilities, as well as the actions of other players and the situation on the market.
Another important topic is domestic tourism, the surge of which occurred just after the removal of severe restrictions. Where and why do Ukrainians most often travel within the country? With what budget and for what period? What are their requests as vacationers?
― We have been working in the domestic tourist market of Ukraine for more than five years. This year, demand has more than doubled during the summer months.
Traditionally, the most popular summer regions were the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, in the autumn-winter period – these are the balneological resorts of the Carpathian and Transcarpathian regions, wellness and SPA centers, weekend tours.
During the New Year and Christmas holidays, ski resorts, and recreation in Odesa and Kyiv will be inactive demand.
Since we are an Internet marketing agency, we would also like to pay attention to the promotion of the tourism business online. Has your online presence increased due to quarantine? What did they do with advertising budgets during the crackdown and how are things now?
― During the quarantine, all advertising campaigns were reduced due to the suspension of operations. After the opening of the borders, advertising budgets increased dramatically due to the lightning demand of tourists. Now we are actively promoting winter destinations and early bookings in 2021.
What are your main sources of customers online as a network of agencies (B2C segment) and as a major tour operator (B2B)? And which ones have just begun to be mastered and do you see potential in them?
― Offline – franchised offices “Network Travel Agency Coral Travel” and “Network Travel Agencies Coral Elite Service” and other travel agencies in Ukraine, call center, corporate partners.
Online – website, mobile application, social networks, advertising campaigns, landing pages (more than 20 actives).
What percentage of the budget goes to the SEO of the site? How do you track the effectiveness of this type of promotion? Does it justify the investment?
― The share of SEO from the main budget is 10-15%. We track performance using monthly reports prepared by our partner, the Web promo marketing agency, and independently through Google Analytics.
And yes, the results of SEO promotion fully justify the investment.
And at the end of our conversation, tell us about the new and bold marketing solutions that you have implemented for the first time during quarantine or immediately after. How did you come to them? How was the idea implemented? Is there already a visible result, do the expectations correspond to reality, and what are the prospects for this move in the future?
― During the quarantine, Coral Travel did not stand still, but strengthened its position as much as possible, both in digital and offline products.
Update of the platform of the main site – now you can make online purchases in the system. The internal CRM system is being updated, the Coral Bonus loyalty program is being prepared for launch.
A mobile application for tourists was launched – the most technologically advanced on the market at the moment. Almost 18,000 tourists have already connected and are using the app. We also launched the gift card project and the online training platform for agencies that I mentioned earlier.