How 'REVENGE TRAVEL'

Message from Caroline-Artemis

Welcome to Autumn and the November edition of the MICE & TOURISM around the World e-Magazine!

Our world is a different place from 3 years ago and that means change! All sectors of industry are changing including at airport terminals.

Following the huge decline in travel due to the health crisis of 2020-2022, passenger figures, although positive, are not yet back to 2019 levels. This not only affects the airlines, but airports too as terminals offer a wide variety of places to eat and shop while waiting for flights.

The market for high end luxury shops at airports has gone; the traditional airport shopping experience is changing and fast! With many retailers no longer operating at airports due to reduced passenger levels and due to the lack of high-end spender travellers, the passengers that are travelling more now are younger, less affluent and more tech savvy, meaning they want to conduct shopping online including while at the airport.

Airport retail needs to change to meet this new demographic and way of shopping. Less passengers, fewer sales, means less revenue and reduced profits, therefore no longer making it viable to have a profitable store at the airport. As a result, as we are already seeing across many major European airports, there are more vacant retail spaces in airport terminals.

The Park, Singapore Airport

Together, airport management and retailers need to quickly adapt and rethink their sales and marketing strategies. In some airports around the world, the empty shops are being filled with ingenious businesses that service passengers, like short fitness exercise classes, 30min cookery classes, wellbeing centres, airport waiting music rooms. European airports need to catch up with the new trends. The majority of major Asian airports have adapted to these new circumstances and been offering these kinds of services several years.

Sound proofs pods, Abu Dhabi, UAE

So look out for the new experiences on offer the next time you are at the airport and maybe you should have an apron or gym shorts in your hand luggage too! Enjoy this November edition! Caroline-Artemis Laspas

philoxenia.helexpo.gr

HAS SAVED THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

by Dimitri Laspas

Piraeus harbour, Greece

After two years of lockdown due to the ‘health crisis’ and with many postponements of holidays, 2022 saw a huge upsurge in travel. This is partly due to people needing to fulfil their postponed holidays that were booking back in 2020 or 2021 or risk losing them altogether, but also, this year, people felt that they could travel, people wanted to travel, they needed to spread their wings, they needed to travel simply because they could.

The Temple of Poseidon, Sounio, Greece

Venice, Italy

This is now known as ‘revenge travel’!

It’s a new phenomenon that has people who are tired of mundane everyday routines due to forced lockdowns to travel to nearby destinations for short breaks. However, this has resulted in several issues being seen this summer; namely the enormous chaos at many airports around the world especially in major European airports who were ‘famously’ claiming to be the most organised and ready to conquer any uncontrollable factors. As it turned out, they were not prepared for the influx in demand and did not have the employee infrastructure set up post-Covid to cater for such a quick return in demand. It also helped many countries who typically relied on tourism as a pillar of their economies to gradually get back on their feet, as they were seeing arrivals from nearby countries rather than their more traditional long haul source markets. However, what it saw most of all, was a huge demand for domestic tourism. Many were still too anxious to risk being stranded far from home if a quick lockdown. Having seen the scenes at airport, they decided not to risk big delays and likely cancellations, so they decided to explore locally. For many countries this upsurge in domestic tourism saved their industry and was a welcome boost to the economy. When you say ‘revenge’ it is most often associated with a negative meaning, but this new travel related revenge tourism is all about getting back to what we love… travel.

There are some who decided it was now or never to take that extra special holiday as they had saved up over the 2 years of forced lockdown. Others just wanted to go back to their home countries and catch up with friends and family, while others wanted to go back to the same holiday place they always go to, as it makes them feel good and they know what to expect when they get there, etc.

Zagreb, Croatia

Whatever the reason for the trip, I think most of us feel that after 2 years of enforced lockdown, led us to think that ‘life is too short’ and you have to make it worthwhile and special if you can. Revenge Travel resulted in a huge rise in wellness travel with many people wanting vacations that get them closer to nature, that offer spa and holistic elements to the trip, to experience places that allow them to feel the earth, wind and sea and explore the earth for all its natural beauty. It is clear that be it a domestic holiday or a once in a lifetime dream holiday, people really wanted to explore the world and seek experiences that make them feel alive.

The Aegean sea, Greece