The general consensus from speakers, sponsors and attendees at last week’s Travolution European Summit is that the summer season for outbound leisure travel is looking good – there is pent up demand and travellers want to put the pandemic behind them.
Despite the terrible war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, it seems as if this year’s holiday fund is safe, for many.
The summit felt like a return to the pre-pandemic days. I became a Zoom convert during the pandemic like most of us (Google Hangouts to be precise), and virtual/remote interactions are now a bigger part of how I run my business and how my clients run theirs.
There is no going back. But at the same time the benefits of face-to-face conferences have been reinforced – one thing virtual events can’t replicate is the instant response of guests to a run of sessions, what is said queuing for croissants in the coffee break, what is still front of mind at the post-show drinks.
Often that unfiltered and immediate reaction is the most revealing. It’s altogether easier to read people and their body language when you are physically with them.
Take the panel session themed on The Sound of Travel and how companies can use a shared interest in music to engage more with their customers, for example.
Most people I talked to mentioned this as a highlight of the day, if only because it was a wide-ranging topic that not many of us have given much thought to.
Does my Apple playlist offer a digital signal as to what type of holiday I might be interested in? Can a sonic logo drive brand awareness? Can I use music to engage with the customer in-destination? Is radio a better advertising vehicle than paid search?
The priority for the past few years has been on dealing with the pandemic on a day-by-day basis doubling down on survival mode. I take it as a good sign that the industry is thinking outside the box again and that event organisers are encouraging these forward-looking conversations.
One-day conferences are…