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Amer Al Halabi Regional Manager OctopusTravel

Amer Al Halabi Regional Manager OctopusTravel.com. Emirates continues to be the leading airline in the region

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Amer Al Halabi Regional Manager OctopusTravel

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  1. Amer Al Halabi Regional Manager OctopusTravel.com

  2. Emirates continues to be the leading airline in the region • In an independent report, UBS Bank highlights the fact that Emirates has ordered 45 A380 super jumbos, almost three times as many as the next largest Airbus customer for this double-decker • Qatar is where the action is • Figures to the end of November 2004 show that Qatar’s hotels enjoyed average occupancy of 76 per cent throughout the year – a substantial year-on-year increase and witness to its rapidly-developing MICE market • Bahrain International Airport enjoys a record One Million passengers for 2004. • Preliminary statistics released by His Excellency Shk. Ali Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Transportation, show that 2004 was the busiest year in the history of the airport • Dubailand cited as one of the top regional attractions • Mega resorts come under discussion at Arabian Hotel Investment Conference

  3. Middle East Strategy Advisors (MESA) predict challenges for GCC hotel owners searching for operators and brands. • The rapid growth in the number of up-market hotels in the GCC countries is exciting for the tourism industry and business world alike.  • Focus on Saudi pilgrim tourism • A recent study shows that revenues from Umrah during the last season totalled around SR12 billion, an increase of 550,000 over the previous season. Of this, SR9 billion was netted from overseas pilgrims • Air Arabia expands network with new A320 • Air Arabia received its new Airbus A320 aircraft recently – bringing the fleet to five aircraft. • Bahrain on line • Microsoft and Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce introduce B-OnLine

  4. Middle East Internet Usage

  5. Internet browsers travel abroad nearly 2-3 times a year on an average • Travel frequency is the least among people staying in Egypt & Lebanon Frequency of Travel Abroad All Egypt Saudi UAE Leba Kuwait Jordan Oman Bahrain Arabia -non All Accessing Internet 29756 9163 8797 4543 706 2837 2297 529 884 % % % % % % % % % Once a month or more 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 4 Once every 2-3 months 4 1 6 6 3 6 4 6 7 Once every 4-5 months 5 2 6 7 4 8 6 7 7 Once every 6 months 9 4 12 13 6 14 10 11 10 Once every 7-11 months 6 2 8 7 5 9 5 5 8 Once a year 29 15 34 42 23 38 23 35 30 Less often than once a year 45 74 32 22 57 22 49 33 33 Mean (times per year) 2.1 1.3 2.5 2.6 1.9 2.7 2.1 2.7 3.0

  6. The National carrier in the respective country seems to be the preferred airline Preferred Airlines Egypt Saudi UAE Leba Kuwait Jordan Oman Bahrain Arabia -non Base: All Accessing Internet 9163 8797 4543 706 2837 2297 529 884 % % % % % % % % Saudi Arabian Airlines 5 73 1 1 1 4 0 1 Egypt Air 65 5 4 2 8 1 3 1 Emirates Airlines 3 4 49 6 9 6 15 5 Gulf Air 2 5 13 2 3 3 37 71 Kuwait Airways 1 0 0 1 62 1 0 1 Royal Jordanian Airlines 0 1 3 1 1 53 1 1 Middle East Airlines (AirLiban) 0 0 1 3 53 4 1 0 0

  7. E-Travel Market in GCC • 45% of the GCC travelers are using the internet as their main source of information for their Travel arrangement. • 15% of them are using their credit card or make make direct booking online. • Travel agents remain the most widely used method of booking holidays. • Reservation can be done online but 20% of those who make Online booking pay offline.

  8. Reluctance to e-commerce • For those who do not use their credit cards; • 68% fear of misuse. • 11% No need. • 2.9% prefer cash. • 2.4% Do not like credit card • 4.4% Prefer face to face deal. • Major banks do still advise their customers not to make any big transaction online.

  9. What is the internet used for • Get Information 42,3% • Study 9,1% • Learning/research 1,1% • Entertainment 34,5% • Or sentimental needs 0,9% • Making friends 5,5% • Get free resources (e-mail account, personal homepage, download resources) 2,7% • Communication (receive/send e-mail, SMS, fax) 1,8% • Stock trading 1,0% • On-line purchasing 0,3% • Business activities 0,2% • Jumping on the bandwagon – for curiosity 0,4% • Other 0,2%

  10. Success of the Online travel Intermediary • Travel is an ideal product to sell over the Internet – you don’t have to taste, touch or see it to purchase • People are now more comfortable buying online – especially accommodation and point-to-point, short haul flights • The internet is quick, easy and convenient to use – at a time that suits your customer • Online travel offers customers a wide choice of flights, hotels, package holidays or car hire – Octopus complements your web sites and fulfils your customers needs - no need to check multiple sites – a one stop shop!

  11. Enormous impact to the travel industry • Consumers have access to near perfect information • They will find what they want, via the channel they want to use • They will shop around – there is little to no loyalty to brand • Agency will provide each partner with information relevant to him, • We are surveying our customers – and the marketplace, we segment them, and we tailor offers to our business partners needs • Increased, not decreased, demand for cross-channel sales • It’s of course a must to have lower prices online, but we are also available and equipped to assist/advise online customers on bookings via other (of-line) channels through Customer Service Centers across the world

  12. We Service our Partners…. Through: • Co- Brand and Partner Branded websites • First Class Customer support in Local Language via Call Centres • First Class Account Management to Drive the Business Conversion • FREE Reservation systems allowing Travel Agents to place bookings on behalf of customers • Facilities to search for, maintain and amend bookings on-line • Facilities to take on-line and off-line payments

  13. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail

  14. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail • Financial Institutions

  15. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail • Financial Institutions • On-Line Tour Operators and Travel Agencies

  16. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail • Financial Institutions • On-Line Tour Operators and Travel Agencies • Search engine optimisation • Word search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

  17. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail • Financial Institutions • On-Line Tour Operators and Travel Agencies • Search engine optimisation • Word search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. • Portal Alliance Marketing • MSN, • Priceline • Ask Jeeves, Kelkoo, etc. • Banner advertising

  18. OctopusTravel.com distributes through • Affiliate Partners • Low Cost Airlines and Scheduled Carriers • as click through and white-label through XML • Rail • Financial Institutions • On-Line Tour Operators and Travel Agencies • Search engine optimisation • Word search on Google, Yahoo, Wanadoo, etc. • Portal Alliance Marketing • MSN, Priceline • Ask Jeeves, Kelkoo, etc. • Banner advertising • Retail booking systems • RBS, Flightscanner etc. • as click through or via XML Links

  19. Current Regional Partners • Air Arabia • Air Sahara • Al Jazeera Channel • American Express Middle East • Jazeera Airways • Middle East Airlines • MSN Arabia • Qatar Airways • Royal Air Maroc • Royal Jordanian • Saudi Airlines

  20. Awareness Traffic Retention Conversion Octopus Strategic Approach

  21. Create Awareness Drive Traffic Create Retention Drive Conversion Building Awareness • Brand Advertisements • Public Relations

  22. Off Line Advertising • Through co-branded Off line advertising in Newspapers • Special Hotel Deals • Free Hotel Vouchers

  23. Flight Magazineadvertising

  24. Traffic Awareness Retention Conversion On-line Distribution Strategy Awareness Driven Traffic + • Online distribution Partnerships • Search engine traffic • Repeat Customers

  25. Providing Multilingual One Stop Shopping Solutions to the Airline Industry

  26. Providing Multilingual One Stop Shopping Solutions to the Airline Industry

  27. Powering Vacation Solutions for the regions Carriers

  28. Special Customer Channel SegmentAirline Student Sites

  29. Destination Affiliate - Dubai

  30. Destination Affiliate - Oman

  31. Co-Branding with On-Line Travel Agents

  32. Co-Branding with On-Line Travel Agents

  33. MSN Portal Partnership Multiple placements driving traffic

  34. Loyalty programs for Finance Companies

  35. Web Visibility • We Promote OctopusTravel.com across the web • We operate many different sites • We Increase sales through presence on affiliate sites • We have an effective Search Engine Strategy • We use targeted Pay-for-Click campaigns • We continually Evaluate Results and Revise Action

  36. Effective Web Presence • High visibility • Target “lookers” as well as “bookers” • We see 100 “shoppers” for every “buyer” • Attractive and informative site(s) • Multi images, Travel Guides, Currency Converters • Virtual tours, photo galleries, Interactive maps, etc. • Helpful and friendly Local Customer Service Support • Never say no!

  37. Search Market Growth Statistics • Global spend on search is predicted to exceed $11 Billion by 2008 (excluding local search)

  38. Search Engine Marketing • Tailor ads to appear when users enter their search terms • Pay per ClickGuarantees exposure (can optimise ads and price for ranking) • Can be compared to advertising on the web

  39. Awareness Traffic Conversion Retention Marketing Strategy • Qualified Traffic (Shoppers) • Know your customers need and deep link into the relevant product

  40. Elements which convert look to book • Innovative Search • Let the consumer see a hotel search result – not just a LINK • Let the LINK include real-time pricing based on availability www.octopustravel.com.hk/hotels.reservations/Hong Kong.htn –30k – 29 Nov 2004

  41. Airline Hotel Dynamic Packaging for On-line Tour Operators Dynamicreal time pricing for packages including customer’s choice of airline and hotel and travel dates

  42. Traffic Awareness Retention Conversion Marketing Strategy • CRM • Know Your Customer • Create special offers targeted at the individual and use this in e-mail campaigns

  43. Affiliate e-mailmarketing

  44. Seasonal e-mailcampaigns

  45. Winners in the Tourist Industry will be those Organisations, Airlines, as well as Intermediaries, Tour Operators and Agents, who understand and anticipate the needs of the Customer, On-line as well as Off-line,and who distribute and deliver at the lowest cost level Conclusion • For efficient distribution, create flexible distribution channels • Enable B2B2C One-stop shop Web sites • Engage Co-Branding with market leaders to reduce investment • Create First Class Customer Service Support • Let Customer Choice drive your product strategy

  46. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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