Todd Arthur is himself an avid traveller. He’s been to 117 countries and you can imagine how antsy he is to make it to 118. But for now, like all of us, he’s had to get used to a new routine at home and picking up a new life skill (and it’s not cooking or baking).
And even though he says Sabre is seeing some positive signs of recovery in certain domestic markets, the truth is cross-border travel is not going to be happening anytime soon which begs the question, how do travel agents survive this period?
Plus, guess which is his 118th destination? Have a listen.
Here are the key takeaways:
• On the travel corridors between Singapore and China and now, Singapore and Malaysia
“We have seen some travel between the two markets. It’s been very, very limited (with the restrictions). The hope is that if those restrictions get relaxed, then we’ll see the numbers increase. But we have seen some positive bookings between Singapore and China and we hope to see the same between Malaysia – it’s a much more important travel corridor for folks living here in Singapore.”
• Will you do it yourself with all those current restrictions?
“I am anxious to travel. I’m anxious to see the world – so I wouldn’t hesitate at all to travel.”
• Leisure travel will lead the way however
“We definitely see leisure leading the way. In spite of the travel corridors, companies will be apprehensive about sending their employees on planes. And as a result, we believe that leisure travel will ultimately lead the way in significant numbers.”
• Significant opportunity for travel agencies to add more value – here’s why and how
“70% of the respondents (in a Sabre survey) said that they would plan on using a travel agency to help them plan their next travel or their next trip so there is an opportunity but they will need to bring value in order to survive.”
“Those first trips are going to be really unique – and that’s what our survey showed, that people are looking for something different. There will be a lot of restrictions, and people will need some help guiding through those and we believe that travel agencies can provide a key part in that ecosystem of helping guide people where to go, what kind of unique experiences can they book.”
• Agents have to invest in themselves to survive
“Agencies will need to invest in themselves in order to survive, but I expect that the business that will come out will be a bit smaller, maybe quite a bit smaller, but the agencies who do survive will be much stronger and better positioned to service their customers.”
• What Sabre is doing to support its partners
“We have been very specific that we need to be in business post-Covid as well as the rest of our partners, so the need to be able to survive and to protect cash has been very important for us. Our focus has been continuing to develop solutions and tools in efficiencies, products that will be important to our customers, post-Covid and continuing to invest in the value chain that will bring value to our customers once we get out of the crisis.”
• What’s the one thing travel agents need to do better?
“The amount of service and the value that they bring really needs to improve. Differentiating yourself by great service, bringing additional value that you’ve never brought before to the consumer will allow you to survive and do really well out of this crisis.”
• Stay focused on the big picture, invest in yourself
“We can get consumed by the day to day news. This is an event so big that it’s not going to change tomorrow. So I think we have to look at the big picture and look at your business to re-tool and re-engineer, just as we have done in our personal lives.”
“Companies should be making investment into their operations when they’re slow right now; they can do things that they would have never been able to do in the past, just because there’s very limited business coming in.”
• Featured image: WiT’s Yeoh Siew Hoon with Todd Arthur at the podcast studio