Let’s fly together
Nine travel industry top guns form an alliance to help tourism not only get back on its feet but also sail away and soar
AT A GLANCE
‘Passengers are booking multiple trips even until next year, whether domestic or international destinations.’
“Wanderlust is real,” said International Journey’s Kem Aldrich Lim to me when I asked him how the travel industry was recovering from the disruption caused by the pandemic.
He and eight other travel agents, including Skynet Travel Corporation’s Dorothy Aytona, Travel Specialist Ventures Group’s Rowena Coloma, Skywin Travel and Tours’ Shirley Go, Travel Plus International’s Emily Lo, Golden Sky Travel and Tours’ Dolly Santos, Globetrotters’ Helena Ty, Travel Warehouse’s Jaison Yang, and Fiesta Tours and Travel Corporation’s Robbie Young, banded together to form TravellingBFFsPH when business ground to a halt in 2020 as a result of the global lockdowns. Each member, needless to say, is at the helm of his or her travel agency as president, general manager, vice president, or business development head.
“TravelingBFFsPH is a non-formal alliance of travel industry professionals, who support each other, though there are times we also compete with each other, which is normal for a small industry like ours,” explained Jaison. “But we are also real friends.”
I had the privilege of taking a Philippine Airlines trip with all nine of them to Fukouka, Nagasaki, and Nagoya in Japan just as the world was opening up in earnest after closing up borders to international tourists for over two years to keep Covid-19 at bay.
In those times that everything was at a standstill and operation at travel agencies was indefinitely suspended, this group sought each other’s help, doing other things, including several advocacies and community engagements. “It was to help each other out not necessarily financially, but more emotionally, mentally by keeping ourselves busy,” added Jaison.
“In the pandemic, TravelingBFFs was the most visible group in the industry. Though most of our businesses were closed, we collaborated with the Tourism Promotions Board, the Department of Tourism, and some airlines to help domestic tourism by slowly organizing familiarization trips to help local destinations recover. Eventually, we started working with international carriers to promote newly opened destinations like Vietnam, Thailand, and now Japan.”
Now that it’s almost business as usual, TravelingBFFs is an alliance beneficial not only to its members, but also to its clients, the industry, and allied industries like airlines, hotels, and F&B. “At the very least,” said Jaison, “we learn from each other. We share each other’s trade secrets. We celebrate each other’s successes, and we sympathize with each other’s failures.”
But is it really business as usual for travel in the Philippines?
“Yes,” said Rowena. She has observed that preferences have changed dramatically after the pandemic. “Before the pandemic, they were more budget-conscious. They would want the most economical way of traveling—economy class tickets, three-star accommodations…They would join group tours or bus tours, which are more affordable,” she explained. “But now, we receive a lot of requests for private tours, small groups, and premium travel. They want to experience luxury travel with their families.
They are conscious about social distancing, so they prefer to take business class. It’s more convenient and less crowded.”
To Emily, in a way, it’s the same as before the pandemic. “But families and friends want to spend time together now more than before,” she said. “More and more people want private tours and DIY tours rather than joining bigger groups to lower the cost. They really do want to spend quality time and build on core memories.”
The traveling behavior of Filipinos, according to Dolly, has indeed changed post pandemic. “Majority tend to splurge and buy a minimum of two packages of tours for the family—one long haul (Europe, the US, Canada, or the Middle East) and the other, short haul (Asia),” she said. “They prefer relaxing and meaningful experiences, rather than fast-paced and the usual itineraries. Most of them, especially the well-traveled, go for new destinations with different cultures, specifically destinations like Morocco, East and West Africa, and for the religious, Israel.”
“Among the main changes with the pandemic is that Filipinos want to experience more unique itineraries, as compared to more generic itineraries prior to the pandemic,” added Kem.
Revenge travel? I asked and Helena exclaimed, “Yes, there is such a thing! Filipinos now are eager to travel all over the world, no matter what it takes. Even then, they are still very practical about their itinerary, choosing the best, most affordable options for their trips.”
Dorothy agrees. “When Filipinos travel, they’re looking for a good time. They want to take advantage of things like low prices and more vacation days,” she says, adding, however, that for her, it’s business more than usual. “Passengers are booking multiple trips even until next year, whether domestic or international destinations,” she explains. “Most of our clients’ popular types of trips are leisure, business, or education.”
Truth be faced, travel is more expensive now. Let’s not even talk about the fluctuating oil prices. “Filipinos have been including travel insurance in their travels more,” Shirley pointed out. “Due to the pandemic, they are more health conscious than before. They also ask about charges regarding how we’ll take care of them in case they get Covid during their trip. Other factors such as inflation also changed their perception in travel. Travel has again become a luxury unlike before the pandemic, when it was budget friendly.”
People want more from travel now, that’s the essence of revenge travel, and therefore so much more is expected of the travel agent. In TravelingBFFsPH, each of the nine members can now draw from the pool of experiences that they have individually and collectively gathered in the line of duty as well as from their own personal travels.
To Robbie, there are three key things that a travel agent must be able to manage for a client on any given trip—Expectations, perceptions, and memories. “These three factors connect the entire processes of the trip, which then create the tourist experience and may even influence other tourists’ expectations for the same or different types of trips,” he said.
But what are a travel agent’s expectations from a trip he or she designed for others? “It’s my pet peeve that Filipinos visit and leave a place without any insight as to the history of the country. Most of our tours, tour members just love taking nice photos,” said Kem. “We should read up on history and interact with the locals. It’s the best way to understand nations and cultures. You also learn about yourself more as you learn more about other places.”
Kem also shared something unique about the Filipinos as travelers. “It is often marveled at that Filipinos always travel with three generations—kids, parents, and grandparents,” he said. “The idea is unimaginable in other countries, where lesser weight is put on family ties.”
There’s a reason Filipinos are at home anywhere in the world. Travel runs in our genes, and passed on through the gene pool, plus ours is an archipelago of such diversity on its 7,641 islands that even travel within the national borders can be extensive enough to make travelers of each of us.
In order to hone such great potential, the travel industry and the government must really get their act together, just as these nine travel professionals got together, nine better than one, as TravelingBFFsPH.
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