TravelTank @1: First-Year Anniversary Webinar

Revitalising the Post-covid Online Travel Experience

On September 16, 2022, TravelTank started a year-long anniversary celebration with us by facilitating thought-provoking discussions about “Revitalising the Post-covid Online Travel Experience.”  

During the webinar session, the TravelTank team and esteemed travel industry speakers led attendees through the impact of pandemic tourism by analysing its transformative potential and implications for the long-term recovery of the Nigerian travel industry.

Our honourable speakers were Charles C. Chukwujekwe, CEO, of Travel Quest Limited, Annabel Bonney, Founder, Travevo travel & migration and Travevo properties, Oluwabunmi Abe, Founder, EasyTravelsConnect, Tochi Margaret Umezinwa, Director of Fly up Travel and Tours Limited and Henry Tugbiyele Founder and CEO, Expatico. 

The main takeaways from the webinar are as follows:

• The post-COVID-19 implications and policy initiatives for resetting the tourism industry’s sustainability.

• Tourism and Technology: How tech is revolutionising travel.

• Risk management and perception amongst post-covid travellers.

Through a series of interactive questions, the webinar also gave us an opportunity to gain insight into the perspectives of our distinguished speakers. Here are the questions we put to them and their responses:

Early in 2019, the GDP growth forecast was 2.5%. The pandemic only highlighted our vulnerability and severely hurt the tourism sector. Where do you think we went wrong before, and how can we get back on track?

Due to the travel ban imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many jobs and financial gains were lost. There was no structured system in the tourism industry in Nigeria at the time of the pandemic. There were no travel destinations to promote to Nigerian customers.

Everyone should benefit from travel; it is not just a select group of people. Thus, we must make efforts to ensure that the inflation rate is lowered. As a result, investors need to understand that the travel industry plays an important role as an economic multiplier. Thus, they need to invest more in the sector.

All things considered, the travel industry has a bright future. Although it might take some time to get fully back on track, we’ll certainly get there. 

How can we make sure that transparency is respected and practised among Nigerian travel stakeholders given the importance of trust?

The trust factor can be strengthened among stakeholders when people can come together and feel more like partners. 

If the stakeholders don’t have complete transparency, others might believe they can’t trust them enough for partnerships. People working in the travel industry should learn to trust each other. Everyone must take personal responsibility for building trust from the ground up. 

The key is for all parties involved in travel to work together in partnership, which can help businesses grow and expand. Partnerships also allow travel agents, hotels, airlines, and other service providers to focus resources and capabilities on initiatives that will increase revenue and further their expansion goals.

When compared to individual efforts, a marketing strategy based on partnerships delivers better strength, cohesion, and leveraged outcomes, which can help sell travel successfully.

There is no denying that technology has had a significant impact on the travel and tourism sector. Do you believe there are still unresolved issues? How do you see technology influencing the future of travel?

The travel industry has undergone significant change as a result of the development of travel technology, including the revolutionization of tourism businesses, business ecosystems, goods, experiences, and destinations. The travel industry is doomed without technology. We, as travel agencies, understand the value of technology, which has aided us in managing routine tasks in the sector. 

Adopting digitalization across the travel sector helps businesses build resilience. There are still, however, flaws in the system, such as internet connectivity, which can slightly slow down how we work. Therefore, we require deep technological sustainability in order to prevent businesses from running us rather than the other way around. 

As a travel business, we must increase our IT literacy so that we can help our customers find solutions to their issues. It takes tech know-how to recognize your customer’s existing knowledge and continue to build on it while resolving their travel-related problems in order to effectively serve them. Any travel agent must adapt to the shifting markets due to technology if they want to stay in business.

We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface in Nigeria when it comes to travel technology. Thus, decentralising travel technology is essential because it has the potential to significantly change the industry’s approaches to marketing, distribution, online payment, and other areas.

Keep in mind that the most successful travel agencies will be those that evolve alongside technology rather than feeling forced to leave as it advances. 

How do we encourage travel enthusiasts to look back home? What can be done to improve the perception of local tourism?

The pandemic was an eye-opener for the travel industry. Nigerians need to wake up and realise the potential of domestic tourism, and there’s no way we can do this without government support. Imagine having at least 20% of the outbound travellers that go out of Nigeria every year stay back in the country to explore what it has to offer. Domestic travel will be massive. 

Boosting domestic tourism and changing people’s perceptions of it also requires government support. They must realise that, particularly in these unprecedented times, domestic tourism is one way to strengthen the country’s economy. 

You can download the “Revitalising the Post-covid Online Travel Experience” video here. 

Keep up-to-date with our webinars, travel inspiration, events, and other company news on our blog. Every now and then, we’ll continue to host a webinar series. So, don’t forget to check out our platforms for more updates and news.