InPhocus - Archived Episodes

Nezasa CEO Manuel Hilty, like many CEOs of travel technology providers, had to react quickly on the onset of the coronavirus.

The company's personalization engine, used by intermediaries to help build itineraries for travelers in the discovery and booking phase of a trip, was fairly redundant with the imposing of lockdowns in countless countries worldwide.

But as domestic travel appeared to have become one of the early indicators of how people will tentatively start to travel again, Nezasa had to work with its customers to re-engineer their approach to selling travel products in a different.

In the 22nd episode of InPhocus, we talk to Hilty about these tactics and then move to other areas of the recovery, including the need for state support in helping the industry get back on its feet and the fate of the ski sector (pertinent for one of his home country's (Switzerland) main tourist sectors.   

PhocusWire's Kevin May presents this week's episode of InPhocus.

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Imagine that you run a successful and respected online travel guide that focuses on Southeast Asia's myriad of fascinating backwaters and diverse cultures.

Over 15 years, travelers have used your site for tips on where to go and unusual things to see and do, including finding accommodation and places to eat that ordinarily the more high-profile guides fail to showcase.

But then, coronavirus hits and travelers stop coming to the region - not only is your reason for producing content put on the backburner but the business model is under pressure.

This is the story of Travelfish, run by Indonesia-based Stuart McDonald.

In this week's episode of InPhocus we find out how McDonald had to quickly rethink his world of travel publishing for a readership that couldn't travel any time soon.

He created Couchfish and, six months on, things aren't exactly back to pre-COVID levels but there is an interesting purpose to his endeavor that has since spawned a successful crowd-funding campaign to keep the family-run business alive.

Presenting this episode of InPhocus is PhocusWire's Kevin May.

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Russia is never far away from the headlines - whether it's politics, science or culture.

The country's travel sector is no less interesting, too - so add a global pandemic into the mix of 2020 and some interesting results emerge.

We spoke to Max Kraynov, CEO of AviaSales, this week for the latest episode of InPhocus.

In the discussion, he touches on the different approach (both physically and in the psyche of many of its citizens) that the country has taken to tackling the coronavirus.

And, of course, how it relates back to travel and the recovery of the tourism sector in Russia. 

PhocusWire's Kevin May is on solo hosting duties this week for this episode of InPhocus.

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After months of lockdown, many people are keen to get back on the road as their respective countries ease on travel restrictions.

The so-called sentiment reports have been suggesting this for a while but now we have the data to indicate exactly where they are thinking of going.

In this episode of InPhocus we examine a new report from Phocuswright and 3Victors that goes into a lot of detail about where travelers are considering going to.  

It examines search queries by travelers in a number of countries and regions around the globe, giving some early indication as to what destinations are on their minds.

Phocuswright's Charuta Fadnis and Kevin May of PhocusWire are back in their respective hosting chairs for this episode of InPhocus.

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Travel brands, as we all know, are trying to figure out how to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in one piece.

Or, conversely, are plotting new paths for their customers and partnerships.

This reset that everyone is going through gives startups (already born or just ideas) and new technology an opportunity to make their case.

Despite the focus on recovery, there is a sense that the industry is listening and waiting to see what emerges.

To discuss these areas of opportunity and how brands can take advantage, InPhocus talks to U.K.-based Charlotte Lamp Davies, a well-known consultant and advisor to a number of startups and established brands.

Phocuswright's Charuta Fadnis and Mike Coletta are your hosts for this episode of InPhocus.

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We spoke to destination management expert Doug Lansky in the first few weeks of the pandemic.

Himself recovering from the virus at the time, he told us in the third episode of InPhocus about how destinations could use the period of an almost-total industry shutdown to reflect and tackle some of tourism's ingrained problems.

This conversation inspired both Lanksy and PhocusWire to create Destination X, a series of articles where he would look at a particular element of the destination landscape and the brands within it and offer solutions to how problems could be solved.

With the Destination X series now paused as the industry attempts to get back on its feet (AKA "recovery mode"), we wanted to reflect with Lansky on how the series had been received and his hopes, three months on, for the future. 

PhocusWire's Kevin May hosts this episode of InPhocus.

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The stories that are emerging from every corner of travel in recent months show an industry with huge levels of resilience and a determination to see things through.

It's perhaps an overly optimistic way to look at things, given that this is a crisis that has no precedence in history and still has a worrying lack of an end in sight.

But if there is one outcome that is particularly noteworthy it is desire for brands or individuals to publicly share those stories of teamwork, strategy and optimism with their peers and, of course, their competitors.

Klaus Kohlmeyer of hotel tech vendor IDEAS set out to capture many of tales from hoteliers over the last few months.

In the latest episode of InPhocus, we speak to him about that collection of interviews for his podcast, Unconstrained Conversations.

In the hot seats as your hosts this week are PhocusWire's Mitra Sorrells and Kevin May.

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The travel, tourism and hospitality industry should know by now that it has a lot of work to do around diversity.

Some advances have been made in recent years on gender equality (but it's nowhere near enough), as our coverage has shown, but recent protests in the U.S. and those that followed in other countries have once again shone a light on how race and the Black community in particular still needs to be part of the same conversation.

The reemergence of the issue is obviously welcome and but extremely awkward - travel brands (and the media that cover it) should feel very uneasy about the poor job made so far, over many years, to push the agenda and affect real change in this area.

There is another opportunity now to do so, but in a way that is long-lasting rather than piecemeal in nature and temporary in terms of focus.

For the latest episode of InPhocus, we spoke to Jamie-Lee Abtar, executive director of U.K.-based BAME Women In Travel, to learn more about the organization and what new steps brands should be considering.

Co-hosting this week's episode are PhocusWire's Jill Menze and Kevin May.

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Airline e-commerce projects are reasonably straightforward: a deal is signed; a carrier and its software partner spend months scoping out the product; it's built, integrated and testing takes place; and then it goes live.

This is a fairly simplified version, of course, but hundreds of such projects take place each year.

But as we know, 2020 has not been a typical year for any part of the industry.

OpenJaw Technologies had been working with Japan-based carrier ANA since early-2019 to get a retailing platform integrated into the airline's system.

As our guest on InPhocus this week says, coronavirus hit "at the business end of things", meaning teams were scattered in various locations, more often than not in their homes, with deadlines to hit and a launch day approaching.

Bryan Porter, OpenJaw's chief commercial officer, tells us about how a project can come together in the midst of the most trying of circumstances.

This isn't a test of the product (although that had to take place, as part of the final process), but a test of how teams have to adapt to a new business and social environment.

Flying solo on hosting duties this week is PhocusWire's Kevin May.

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Tours, activities and attractions are at the sharp end of figuring out how to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

They are, at least in the leisure segment of the travel industry, often the reason why people travel in the first place.

But for many of those that are located in countries that are able to start reopening, they are realizing that it's hard having to grapple with issues around hygiene, social distancing and, of course, attracting visitors.

Luuc Elzinga, president of Netherlands-based Tiqets, which takes bookings for big-ticket attractions around the world, joins us on the latest episode of InPhocus to talk about the issues that many suppliers are facing.

We also get into the tactics that attractions are using to market to new audiences (essentially, domestic and local customers) and the on-site challenges that need to be addressed.

Hosting this week's episode are Alice Jong of Phocuswright and PhocusWire's Kevin May.

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