Action
Create a task force of no more than 12 people with specific skills and experience who can speak on behalf of your tourism and hospitality industry, with a particular emphasis on local, small businesses.
Why
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of cooperation between governments, destinations, and business.
To rebuild traveler confidence, destinations must be able to demonstrate visitor safety across the end-to-end journey, which requires all players to adopt a coordinated approach.
Moreover, as the tourism sector comprises mainly micro and small businesses, there is a clear role for governments and DMOs to use their convening power to help local businesses work together and be heard by policy makers.
Case Study
One Industry One Voice
The UK One Industry One Voice coalition is a weekly taskforce of events industry associations and businesses, led by umbrella trade organisation “The Business Visits and Events Partnership” — which represents the conference, exhibition, and outdoor events sector.
The coalition is supported by eight other industry associations including “UK Live Music Group”, which represents the UK’s live music industry, and events and entertainment technology trade association, “The Professional Lighting and Sound Association.” It is also supported by London’s DMO, London & Partners, which operates the city’s tourism and convention bureaus.
The taskforce was created following an informal meeting organised by an event management company in July 2020 to coordinate the communications being developed to support the industry.
It has 4 objectives:
- Coordination of campaign timings
- Consistency of data and statistics about the industry
- Alignment on asks and communication to government
- Amplification of key messaging and mutual support to promote campaigns activities.
The taskforce took time to build trust and find ways of working, as well as understand and agree on the key issues facing everyone who works in the events industry.
It established working groups on COVID testing and insurance issues, where the focus was on sharing of information and ideas, as well as understanding where conversations were taking place within different government departments.
It also created a website, which contains base line numbers for the industry that were used across all campaigning activity — from the economic value that the industry delivers, to the number of people employed across the event industry ecosystem. The website also contains a diary function to allow people to share key dates and activations to support the scheduling of communications and messaging. Further, the taskforce launched a quarterly survey into the state of the industry. This was used for campaigns and shared with associations, so that they could use it in their own lobbying and campaigning activity.
The taskforce’s lobbying campaigns have included # We Create Experiences, # What About Weddings, and # Save Nightlife.
How to adopt this approach
Keep the task force agile, focused, and responsive. It should consist only of people with the skills, experience, and connections needed to get the job done.
There should be a regular cadence of meetings with clear tasks beforehand and afterwards.
Focus the task force on specific, practical projects which will produce a particular result.
A government or DMO official should connect the task force to municipal, county, state, and federal decision makers.
The task force should operate transparently, providing regular updates to businesses, sharing trusted information and advice, and creating opportunities for businesses to support its goals.
Do
- Do gather compelling data on the industry’s importance to the destination, as well as the impact that the pandemic has had on local businesses and workers. For example, prior to the pandemic, New York’s Hudson Valley collected data which found that tourist activity supported multiple sectors of the economy, sustained $38bn total income, reduced the unemployment rate from 12.5 to 4.1%, and saved every household an average of $1,221 in taxes.
- Do make things easier for stretched public officials — becoming a single point of contact to understand industry wants and needs, a way to communicate to the industry, and a partner to get support to the businesses and workers who need it most.
- Do accept that different segments of the industry may have different priorities and focus the task force on common goals — but not on the lowest common denominator.
Don’t
- Don’t try to maintain the task force beyond its useful life, and don’t ask it to solve every challenge facing every segment. Remember that it is a temporary grouping for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective.
To find out more
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Rebuild Traveler Confidence in your Destination
Action
Implement a widely recognized COVID-19 safety compliance certification program for tourism and hospitality businesses, and communicate it widely.
Provide a flow of easily accessible, digestible, accurate, and timely information and facts about the state of your destination. Be open to answering questions to inform travelers’ decision-making.
Why
With visitor number levels down, many destinations cannot afford to alienate travelers, which can now demand more stringent cleaning and safety protocols. Destinations which have implemented recognized health and hygiene protocols will be better able to position themselves as safe, and increase travelers’ (particularly baby boomers) confidence.
However, the implementation of a “gold standard” certification program is not, in itself, sufficient. Destinations also need to be transparent in their communications if they are to spur demand. In particular, they need to communicate detailed, trustworthy information about cleanliness and health measures through regular updates from trusted sources.
Background
Many leading destinations have launched recognizable certification programs to strive for a consistent approach to safety. For example the Singapore Tourism Board, Visit California and Cape Town Travel.
These programs often draw on the World Travel and Tourism Council’s SafeTravels program, which sets out detailed protocols for hospitality, retail, attractions, meeting venues, and car rental companies, amongst others.
Case Study
Austin’s Dine with Confidence
A volunteer-led coalition of business owners, known as Good Work Austin, created a program called Dine With Confidence in response to the state’s more lax COVID guidelines, which became a “bill of rights” for diners and restaurant workers.
The goal was to build consumer confidence, keep workers safe, and prevent restaurants from closing. The coalition set strict protocols around social distancing, sanitary measures, mask mandates, and other measures. It was their hope that the city would endorse the measures.
It then asked local businesses — fine dining restaurants, counter-service spots, coffee shops, and businesses that were only open for take-out — to sign the pledge.
The pledge requires businesses to:
- Add notes to websites and reservation sites stating that guests cannot enter if they are exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19
- Engage a medical professional to counsel employees on safe behaviors, both at work and away from work.
- Require employees to complete a health declaration to make sure they are not putting community members at risk
- Take staff temperatures daily and send home anyone with a 99.6º, or higher temperature
- Require staff who have experienced COVID-19 symptoms to remain at home until they can 1) receive a doctor’s note allowing them to return to work; 2) receive a negative result from a COVID-19 PCR test; 3) complete a 10-day self-quarantine
- Require staff, who were in close contact (within 6 ft for more than 15 mins) with an employee who tests positive for COVID-19, to quarantine for 7 days, and then obtain a negative PCR test
- Provide all staff with access to health care and paid sick leave
- Require all dine-in or other unmasked customers to provide their names and complete a Health Declaration
- Require all staff to wear masks while in the establishment. Require guests to wear masks, unless specifically excepted for active dining, or receiving other services that require them to be unmasked
- Enforce hand washing every 30 minutes for all staff
- Prevent staff from having any intentional physical contact, and make them constantly aware of the necessity of social distancing
- Dedicate certain employees to service guests and/or divide spaces and redefine roles to further separate employees and guests
- Make menus and similar information items online, display, single-use, or sanitize them after each use
- Place hand sanitation stations at the entrance and exit of the establishment and outside the restrooms
- Ensure proper ventilation of indoor spaces by cleaning and changing MERV13 filters monthly. Perform preventive maintenance quarterly for HVAC systems. Identify other measures to increase air flow
- Adopt all elements of the “Open Texas Minimum Standard Health Protocols” for facility, employees, and guests.
When creating the list, the coalition surveyed businesses to find out what they needed and what challenges they faced. It then purchased PPE in bulk and at lower cost. It also sourced architects, who offered pro-bono advice on safe dining formats. Where possible, the coalition drew on CDC guidelines. Where this was not available, it drew on local authorities and experts. The pledge was promoted to businesses and patrons through press and social media. 50 local businesses signed the charter, and numerous towns and cities from Raleigh, NC, to San Diego, and the Hudson Valley, asked for guidance to replicate it.
How to adapt this approach
Identify industry representative bodies or leaders, with local influence and reach into businesses which/who can front the program.
Work with CDC and local health officials to develop measures which both meet high standards and will satisfy anxious residents and visitors.
Develop guidance which is specific and unambiguous. Monitor and call out breaches.
Engage a wide range of businesses about the measures to understand their adoption challenges. Work with the businesses to identify solutions. Communicate the measures widely and encourage residents and visitors to share their experiences.
Do
- Do make safety measures specific, and try to secure broad adoption across a customer’s end-to-end journey.
- Do engage city officials early in the process to seek their buy-in, help coordinate and extend measures across industry segments, and communicate them to residents and visitors.
- Do encourage local businesses to raise awareness of local safety measures with residents and visitors, because first travelers can validate destinations’ communications and spread the word to family and friends that they would have the confidence to return. (92% of travelers say that they trust word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends.12)
- Do focus communications on relevant social media channels and online forums. Since the pandemic, travelers have placed greater importance on pre-trip planning, and Pinterest has emerged as a popular platform.13 Almost half of all travelers have also increased their time spent browsing social media, and many rely on online travel forums to find information about how destinations are executing on safety.14
Don’t
- Don’t activate tactical marketing too early. Multiple surveys show that travelers will not visit your destination unless they are confident that they can do so safely. Action 3 contains advice on ways to build their confidence.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Provide Access to Funds and Resources for Tourism Businesses to Adapt
Action:
Provide access to finance and technical assistance to help small, tourism and hospitality businesses pivot, adapt, and capitalize on new demands and opportunities in a postpandemic world.
Why:
Keeping local, small businesses is critical for the recovery of your tourism economy. By helping them develop new online communications and sales channels, create new lines of business, or repurpose and adapt their space, you are helping to create longterm revenue solutions.
Background:
In 2020, U.S. travel spend declined by nearly $500 million and, while the industry improved between April and September, progress stalled in the final quarter of the year due to the continued absence of business travel and another surge in COVID-19 cases.
The travel economies of every city and state were affected. Seventy percent of U.S. metropolitan regions have at least 10% of their workforce in leisure and hospitality, and during 2020, cities in more than 18 states experienced 40+% downturn in travel spending. The impact was felt most by small businesses (with fewer than 500 employees), which make up 99.5% of the tourism sector and 60.6% of employment within the sector. Many of them face a time of extreme liquidity strain and most of them entered the pandemic with very limited cash flow.
Women and minorities have also been hard hit, with women- and minority-owned businesses comprising 63.5% of U.S. accommodation and food services businesses and 46.5% of arts and entertainment businesses.
Given that COVID-19 will probably be around for a long time, many tourism businesses will need to adapt and/or reinvent themselves for “the new normal.”
Case Study
Bellville Downtown District Marketplace
Belleville is a town located between Toronto and Ottawa in Canada. During Canada’s strict lockdown in 2020, the Downtown Belleville Improvement Area (a business improvement district) decided to embark on a project to create an online marketplace called the Downtown District Marketplace.
In just four weeks, the BID launched a website which allowed nearly two-dozen businesses to receive orders for curbside pickup. Today, the website hosts over a thousand products from local businesses, including restaurants, artisan markets, art associations, and galleries. It has attracted more than 50,000 visitors and over 1,000 orders. In fact, the marketplace has been such a success that the BID is no longer supporting it with grant funding.
The BID is currently developing the site to add shipping. Currently, customers can pick up curbside, or merchants manage deliveries themselves.
How the marketplace works
The BID created the marketplace on the Shopify platform. The platform charges the BID $299/month, plus $10/month for a multi vendor marketplace app, which means the BID does not become the merchant.
The BID was fortunate to have two young staff members with the technical skills needed to design a website. They created pages for each local business, which only they could access and edit.
Shopify collects the money from the sales, and the BID pays its merchants every 2 weeks. Each local business is responsible for paying credit card and transaction fees. The BID doesn’t take any commission. The local businesses greatest concern about the marketplace was payment terms. Early on in the project, the BID spent many hours sorting out payments to the local businesses, but it has since managed to automate this process.
Launching the marketplace
The BID launched the marketplace with a teaser campaign, which included VIP access to the first 250 people that signed up for its newsletter. In this way, it was able to gather feedback on issues that early users faced and make adjustments before opening to the general public.
Its subsequent marketing tactics have included social media (paid and organic), digital advertisements, local radio, and press releases sent to local and national media outlets. Local partners have also provided content and written features for the Marketplace.
The BID did not receive support from the city to launch the Marketplace. It did, however, receive funding from a regional marketing board to run a contest on the website — users who spent $50 could win Marketplace gift cards to use on their
next purchase.
How To Adopt This Approach:
The project’s success was based on strong relationships with local businesses
1. Assemble and train a group of 5–10 local business owners, who will become
your ambassadors to get other merchants on board
2. Regularly engage business owners and provide sufficient training about the sales platform, recognizing that different business owners have different levels of digital literacy. This will mean creating step-by-step guides, complete with screenshots on how to add products and make payments
3. Help merchants to become confident selling online. Just as a shop needs an attractive window display, a website needs beautiful photos. Merchants will also have to do their own marketing to drive traffic from their website to the Marketplace, for example, by posting and buying advertisements on social media.
Do:
- Do spend time building the trust and confidence of your member businesses.
- Do regularly engage with your business owners and provide support based on their differing levels of digital literacy.
- Do set aside considerable time at the beginning to sort out payments from Shopify to vendors.
Don’t:
- Don’t assume any knowledge. Create stepby- step guides, and share information on how businesses can take good photographs, buy ads, and market their businesses on social media.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Give Those Returning to Travel a Reason to Visit
Action:
Develop digital marketing and communications campaigns which target early returning travelers with messages and offers that address their wants and needs.
Why:
Once a destination has been able to contain COVID-19, its DMO should direct its attention back to promotion which will support economic recovery
Background:
Destinations should prioritize demographics which are likely to jumpstart the recovery, making sure their destination’s product offerings match their passions, wants and needs, and are being marketed on “the right channels”. (See Appendix 2 for guidance on creating traveler personas.)
Surveys and reports suggest “first wave” travelers are likely to be those who are most optimistic about travel — aged 25 to 34 and 65-plus.
The International Air Transport Association has identified the following six post COVID traveler personas:
- The impatient innovator
- The young early majority
- The untroubled 55+
- The wait-and-see X and Y generations
- The late business trip, and
- The late leisure trip
Ketchum Travel’s “Transforming Travelers study” takes a different approach, identifying 4 personas which are based on how soon individuals will feel comfortable returning to their pre-COVID lives and activities; and how much the importance of various personal values has changed in response to COVID-19.
It is evident that COVID has made many travelers rethink the types of destinations they will select.
There is clearly strong interest in smaller and less crowded destinations, but there also appears to be a renewed interest in authentic and connected experiences.
Local communities can be crucial partners in designing these experiences, e.g., cooking classes, tours by locals, and insider talks.
For example, Melbourne-based Free to Feed offers immersive cooking experiences for visitors, which are delivered by refugees, people seeking asylum and new migrants.
At the other end of the spectrum, there is also increased interest in “once-in-a lifetime trips,” with travelers thinking “Why didn’t I take that trip before, when I had the chance?” and “now that ‘can’t’ has been put in front of me, it feels more urgent to do the things I’ve dreamed of doing.”
Campaign Checklist:
It is our experience that DMOs are more likely to deliver a successful marketing campaign if they start by focusing on the following five questions:
1. Why are we doing this?
- Why is this the right objective? What are the
benefits for the city? What will success look like?
2. Who are the right audiences to focus on?
- What are the right markets and personas?
(Or, personal data sets?)
3. What messages and offers should we promote?
4. Where and how should we deliver these messages and offers?
- Which mediums and channels to raise awareness? To engage? To convert
- Should we partner with a travel specialist digital agency?
- What are our calls to action?
- What is the role of PR in a brand-driven campaign?
- Who are the right partners (e.g. car rental companies, hotels/property sharing platforms, restaurants tour operators, attractions, cultural institutions, retailers, credit card companies, social media platforms, other destinations) What is their value? What is their need? What can we offer them?
5. When should we market to these audiences?
- When is the audience dreaming? Planning? Booking? Experiencing? Reminiscing?
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
Action
Take time to develop a city-wide plan to re-open, rebuild, and re-emerge stronger.
Why
Many tourism economies have been devastated and will be in turmoil for some time. A city-wide plan can help to build a common understanding and realistic assessment of the challenges and opportunities that your destination faces.
Case Study
City Tourism Recovery Plans
Cities, such as New York City, Auckland, New Zealand and Barcelona, Spain, have successfully galvanized their stakeholders behind plans to revitalize their tourism economies. These plans typically prioritize:
- Relief interventions to help businesses — and particularly artisans and cultural institutions — to survive and adapt, such as technical assistance, finance solutions, leasing opportunities and RFPs
- Communications and social media toolkits — to provide clear information to travelers, encourage local businesses to join the campaign, and tell good news stories about the destination
- Brand marketing — to place the city front-of-mind for travelers.
In many cases, the plans identify ways to capture more value from visitors and recognize that local tourism will need to be part of the solution. In some cases, the plans make conscious decisions to move away from mass tourism and reorient towards a more cultural and/or resident friendly tourism model.
How to adopt this approach
Given the scale of the crisis, it can be difficult to know where to start. As part of Bloomberg Associates’ support for municipal governments, we have found it helpful to think about answers to the questions in Appendix 1.
Do’s
- Do try to access data, research, and modeling to understand the size and shape of the pandemic’s impact on your tourism economy — with a particular focus on strategic tourism assets and vulnerable small businesses, and low income workers.
- Do bring industry stakeholders together to support the strategy development process, speak with one voice, and play their part in implementing it. Action 2 describes ways to do this.
- Do be realistic about what you can achieve. It would be better to deliver 3–4 actions with concrete benefits, than try to solve every challenge and deliver against none of them.
- Do focus limited resources on gaps in support from other governments, support for strategic assets, and programs which are important for the long term sustainability of your tourism economy.
Don’t
- Don’t activate tactical marketing too early. Multiple surveys show that travelers will not visit your destination unless they are confident that they can do so safely. Action 3 contains advice on ways to build their confidence.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
Standing out:
Finally, the current crisis is creating opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
Communicate that you have a plan, are responding quickly, and working as one team.
Continue to communicate your city’s positive attributes and trends and your supports for local businesses. Also, explain how you are continuing to invest in the city’s underlying strengths (infrastructure, transportation, talent pipeline, workforce skills, science base, etc,) and that you hope to emerge more sustainable, equitable and resilient.
Learn more about Business Retention Strategies
