A flexible approach has never been more important
Flexibility, along with goodwill, cleanliness and pivot, has quickly become one of the tourism sector’s buzzwords of 2020. You don’t need me to tell you that attractions, like the rest of the industry, need to be as flexible as possible to ride out the coronavirus storm.
Along with the provision of safer, cleaner environments, a high degree of flexibility around cancellations, cash refunds and date amendments is crucial to restoring visitor confidence in booking. It’s also vital to shoring up the future of travel.
“The measures put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow.” - OECD
But how long will this need for flex stay with us? Travel trend forecasters declare it’s here for the long run.
The OECD Tourism Policy Responses to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) states that structural transformation is needed to build “a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy”. With that in mind, it’s safe to assume that even beyond the here and now of COVID-19-caused cancellations, greater flexibility will play a critical part in the rethinking of the tourism sector.
How to make a more flexible approach work for your Visitor Attraction
So how can visitor attractions make sure they’re not left behind? Let’s look at how your Visitor Attraction might reasonably expect to benefit from adopting a more flexible approach.
1. In the short term
Attractions, like other tourism businesses, need to do whatever they can to preserve existing bookings and encourage new bookings if they’re going to recoup the losses and restore a predictable revenue stream.
One practical way to do this is to make vouchers more attractive than reimbursements in the event of cancelled visits. You could start to do this by making sure vouchers:
- are freely transferable to another visitor
- are protected against insolvency of the issuer
- have a minimum validity period of 1 year
- are fully refundable after that period
- guarantee the same standard (or equivalent) of visit on re-booking
Visitor attractions should also be prepared to flex in the event of further local and national lockdowns, the publication of new government guidelines, and any last-minute cancellations. Those with an adaptable plan in place can smoothly modify everything from programmed events and individual visitor schedules to service rates and cleaning rotas.
2. In the mid term
Travel industry officials have long been working to extend the UK tourism season, but the loss of Easter, the May half-term, two bank holidays and June in 2020 means that sense of urgency has been amplified many times over.
An extended season would bring a double whammy of protecting prices into the winter season and spreading peak crowds across more months. The latter is always desirable but even more so in a world with coronavirus.
The national tourist board is pushing hard for an extra bank holiday this October to help do exactly that. If successful, visitor attractions, like the wider industry, will have to act quickly, i.e. flexibly, to make the most of the opportunity.
3. In the long term
Technology has come on in leaps and bounds during the global pandemic. It’s had to, of course – necessity is the mother of invention etc etc.
You can expect digital travel tech to come to the rescue by helping to seamlessly integrate flexibility throughout the entire visitor attraction experience. What that might look like on the ground is anybody’s guess – perhaps improved digital platforms that better monitor and control crowd flow and prices over hours, days, weeks or even months, or a wider roll-out of automated bookings systems with built-in flex for easy cancellations and re-bookings – but one thing’s for sure; a digitally aided flexible approach plays a key role in the new vision for a more robust and sustainable industry.
If you can, it’s worth investing now to ensure your part in the new, flexible, future of travel.