New Kid-Free Zones In the Air, Booming Brazil Travel Market
by Fred Gebhart /Asian Airlines Expand Kid-Free Zones
Scoot, a low-cost carrier owned by Singapore Airlines, has created an adults-only ScootinSilence section directly behind its business class section. Seats in the no-kids section carry a $12 surcharge on each sector. A British survey this summer found that passengers would be willing to pay nearly $80 extra for a roundtrip flight if they could sit in a child-free zone. Malaysian Airlines and AirAsia X already offer child-free zones. Malaysian banned children from the upper deck of its A380 flights and AirAsia X has child-free zones on its short haul routes.
Business Travel Booms in Brazil
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Business Travel Index projects a 6.3% increase in Brazil’s travel spend this year to $31.8 billion. Spending on business travel alone will double in 2014, up by 12.7% to $35.8 billion. International outbound business travel, which declined the first two quarters of 2013, should bounce back to a 12.7% hike in 2014. Brazil’s travel market is set to surpass South Korea, France and Italy over the next few years, GBTA said. Airport infrastructure in Brazil is already well ahead of China, India and most of Latin America.
Big Jump Seen for China’s Meetings Industry
If trade shows are a good indicator of future business, China is set for major growth in the meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) market. Reed Exhibitions reported a 10% jump in 2013 over 2012 in pre-scheduled appointments between Chinese MICE buyers and sellers for the 2013 China Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings Expo (CIBTM) in Beijing. The number of exhibitors at CIBTM 2013 is up 17% over last years. Buyers are primarily corporate and association event planners; sellers are major hotel chains, airlines, convention bureaus, DMCs, and other industry suppliers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.
TMCs Play Major Role, Says GBTA
A new survey by the Global Business Travel Association Foundation found that TMCs are using their more direct access at the management level to play a growing role in operating global travel programs. The 1,429 global travel managers in the survey said global travel programs help strengthen relations with preferred vendors (75%), improve adherence to approved booking channels (68%) and communicate travel policy to employees. Most of the travel managers (76%) said they would look to TMCs to help with cost containment strategies (74%), integrate data (73%) and integrate new mobile technology (68%). Most travel managers (70%) said mobile is crucial to the success of their programs.
Predictable Air Travel
“We can do better every day. We’re trying to make [air] travel predictable again, giving people back the currency of time so they can be in control of their experience.” – Glenn Johnson, executive vice president, Alaska Air Group, and president, Horizon Air
Companies Increasingly Recognize Duty of Care
Business travelers are increasingly demanding duty of care provisions, according to a survey of business travel agents. The finding is a cautionary tale for companies that might not bother keeping track of where their travelers are, said Steve Loucks, chief communications officer for Travel Leaders Group.
“Corporate clients are requiring duty of care provisions,” he said. “If duty of care is not top of mind, it should be. Even the franchises are seeing an increase. You never know when the unexpected is going to happen. You’ve got to contemplate how you are going to get your travelers from Point A to Point B.”