A year of dips, flops and claps
As 2019 arrived kicking and screaming, I dusted off the travel tarot cards, scrolled through some promo emails, reminisced on some rather dismal tourist fails, and came up with a list of expectations for the year in travel.
Now, I know, loyal reader, you’d trust me with your life (OK, fine, but maybe my tips for the best stopover?), but now is the time to reflect and see if my travel rants and raves are worth the time of day.
More airlines going bust
Sadly, an easy win. Blame it on over-capacity, price wars, or increasing fuel prices, but 23 airlines failed this year.
The prediction was most true in Europe where long-running airlines such as Thomas Cook, as well as low-cost upstarts such as Wow Air and Germania, collapsed into administration in 2019.
Jet Airways of India and Avianca Brazil also filed for bankruptcy, while South African Airways teeters on the brink.
Tens of thousands of passengers were left in the lurch and thousands of jobs were lost. In the case of Thomas Cook, its demise led to the biggest peacetime repatriation of Brits since World War II, and cost the British government millions.
Surely, it’s another reminder to ensure you’re insured for airline failures in these volatile economic times.
➽ Crystal ball score: 9/10
Emphasis on experiences
I wrote earlier this year that experiential travel would be a phrase you’d hear more of this year but, you being a travel enthusiast, you already put a lot of emphasis on authentic experience abroad, right?
For the uninitiated with the marketing moniker, ‘‘experiential travel, or experiential tourism’’ involves travellers engaging in a meaningful activity or unique experiences for themselves, a destination, or both. In short, it’s the exact opposite of a fly-and-flop on the Gold Coast or Fiji, or Raro.
However, guess which destinations still have dependable Kiwi holidaymakers returning year-after-year?
➽ Crystal ball score: 6/10 It’s a trend yes, but not yet one to rival the beach break.
User pays (and pays)
I’m marking myself down since Air New Zealand is rolling out free wi-fi across its internet-access-enabled fleet.
It’s a rare move going against the current userpays trends in the travel industry in general, but also this airline, which arguably dragged its brand downmarket by charging for everything from seat selection to paying by debit card.
On the hyper-competitive trans-Atlantic flight path, new ticket tiers were introduced by ‘‘fullservice’’ carriers Virgin Atlantic and British Airways and United, which come cheaper but with no baggage. We all know where that leads.
You may have also seen added extras such as ‘‘special meals’’ available for purchase on longhaul carriers such as British Airways.
What makes them special? Well, for an extra £15 ($30) you can have a full English breakfast.
Extras, called ancillary revenues, represent almost half of the total revenue for certain carriers, and the most recent figures show that even fullservice airlines such as Qantas, Virgin Australia and American Airlines now make between US$34$42 a passenger in ancillary sales, according to consultancy IdeaWorks.
➽ Crystal ball score: 8/10
Off the grid moves on trend
As much as we know how digitally dependent we’ve become and we say we’d like to spend time away from our screens, they still seem to have a hold over our travel experiences.
Social media has gone from strength to strength in regards to travel inspiration (no matter how much it over-eggs expectations).
Don’t believe me? Pay a visit to That Tree in Wnaka, surely Aotearoa’s most-photographed flora (sorry, Ta¯ ne Ma¯ huta). While off-the-grid digital detoxes may be the trend du jour for highly-strung executives, most of us still want the wi-fi code at check-in, rather than a yurt in the wilderness, for those smug shots in real-time.
➽ Crystal ball score: 4/10
Nippon clip-on
Yes, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that a Rugby World Cup in Japan would boost tourists to the Land of the Rising Sun.
The StatsNZ data on residents departing for Japan and arriving home between September and October backs up the huge media spotlight placed on Japan, as well as the tournament this year, with the host country rightly praised for its excellent hospitality and infrastructure.
➽ Crystal ball score: 8/10
Skin in the game
What? Have visitors to historic and sacred sites woken up to the fact that it might be seen as disrespectful to locals for them to be clambering over ancient structures with their bottoms out? A tentative ‘‘maybe’’.
It looked like 2019 would follow the lead of 2018, a year where travellers at locations from Angkor Wat to the Pyramids of Giza were posting photos of naughty bits ‘‘for a bit of a laugh’’.
The locals often failed to see the funny side. This year, there has been a drop in stories of this kind, although for good measure, at least four tourists at Machu Picchu were arrested for getting naked at the ancient Incan citadel, while the creator of the hit TV series Chernobyl was aghast to find nude photo shoots taking place at the site of the nuclear disaster that killed at least 4000 people.
➽ Crystal ball score: 5/10