Arival, an information and insights provider for the in-destination experiences industry, is currently hosting Arival 360 in Berlin, a three-day conference by and for the experiences industry. Following day one, which included insights from the CEO of TUI, the team shared some key findings.
Peter Ulwahn, CEO of TUI Musement (pictured, top), spoke about recent research findings, emphasising that most tourists anticipate spending the same amount or more on experiences this year but are prioritising high-value experiences. The study also showed a rise in demand for travel experiences that promote responsibility and allow for interaction with the people in the area.
The CEO of TUI’s tours & activities division also provided an overview of the company’s ambitious growth strategies. TUI is already a market leader in sun and beach experiences, but with the launch of additional TUI Collection experiences in cities all over the world, there will be a larger focus on cities. Ulwahn also mentioned the current rollout of the new TUI tours platform, a technology that enables clients and travel agents to digitally produce and customise multi-day excursions.
AI in the tourism industry
When asked about how AI is affecting the travel industry, Ulwahn responded that TUI Musement already uses it for automated transfer route planning and experience recommendation and that ChatGPT has a lot of exciting potential for the sector in general. This is especially true when it is integrated with major companies and has access to their data.
“We are already the leader in experiences for Sun & Beach holidays, and now we will bring this expertise to cities through the launch of new TUI Collection experiences and through working with the leading venues, such as our upcoming partnership with the Sagrada Familia,” said Ulwahn. “We want people to associate experiences with TUI – people say they are going on a TUI holiday or TUI flight, or staying at a TUI hotel, why not say they are going on a TUI experience.
“Another key area is multi-day tours, a sizeable market showing strong growth. With the ongoing rollout of the TUI tours digital platform, we are enabling the digital production and customisation of tours and bringing something new to the industry – the scalable customisation of tours.”
Don’t be scared of AI
Also on day one of the event, technology consultant Marc Mekki talked about the opportunities presented by Generative AI and explained why attendees need to act now to tap into these.
“The first generation to pounce on chatbots for mass content for the first time will be the last to read it,” said Mekki. “Tour operators shouldn’t be scared of AI – it can make things that exist even better. The worst thing the travel industry can do is ignore AI – it won’t go away. Tour companies are sitting on a wealth of content that can be leveraged through AI in a positive way – act on it now or risk disappearing into the online abyss.”
He also shared his four top tips for those just getting started:
- Don’t give up on traditional SEO just yet, this will be a gradual change before there is a tipping point
- Be prepared for when that tipping point comes – it will happen suddenly
- You shouldn’t just focus your marketing efforts on text-only content like blogs. Instead, concentrate on leveraging AI to create compelling multi-media derivatives of your original content, such as audio, video, pictures, and more
- Experiment. Incredibly powerful generative AI tools to create videos, audio, images and text are proliferating fast and most are cheap or even free to try. Get ahead of this revolution.
Spotlight on Asia
During a panel looking at the outlook for Asia, and what this means for Europe, Wilfred Fan, COO of Klook, said:
“Most destinations in Asia have already achieved full recovery from 2019, and Europe is seeing strong recovery at 2.5 times more now compared to pre-covid, based on Klook’s internal data. With this rebound of travel, we’ve seen bookings steadily grow and is looking beyond recovery, towards growth. This is proven by strong business performance in 2022, heading into 2023 – where Klook achieved record-high revenue for Q4 2022 since the pandemic.
“With the lifting of the zero-covid policy, Europe can expect to see a rebound of travel, driven by Chinese travelers, in the later half of 2023. Currently, destinations in Asia are the top choices for Chinese travelers (Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore), but Europe will be the next big target with the upcoming summer season.”
On travel trends and behaviours, he added:
“The biggest shift is travelers seeking out experiences when they travel. This intent was only at starting out pre-pandemic, but now in 2023, it’s more amplified than before. Travelers in Asia want more personalised experiences, and 58% of travelers are open to booking and trying a new experience when they travel (based on a survey conducted by Klook). They want to explore destinations in-depth, and we’ve seen high demand for our mobility services which includes the entire rail and car rental network.”
Arival also recently published its latest study, The Global Attractions Traveler, in a collaboration with Phocuswright.
