Leaders of Travel

Hello and welcome to Leaders of Travel. In this podcast series, I try to get you the answers to why things are the way they are in the travel industry – by going direct to the people who make those decisions.

My name is Michael Turtle and I run the travel blog, Time Travel Turtle. If you’re interested, you can find all the old episodes on the site or on itunes.

This week I’m going to be talking about a company quite close to my heart – Qantas. As an Australian, I’ve used the airline a lot and I can say, without prejudice, it’s one of the best in the world. There’s been quite a lot of innovation recently to try to make the experience better for passengers.

And that’s really important when you think about the fact that Qantas has one of the busiest short haul routes in the world – between Melbourne and Sydney – and also some of the longest routes that exist. Because of Australia’s location, there are a lot of long flights – like the 17 hours direct between Sydney and Dallas, or the Melbourne to London trip, which is about 23 hours… although there’s obviously a stop in Dubai.

So there are all sorts of little things to consider when you’re an airline – the check in process, the lounges, the seats, the meals, the differences between the classes, the differences between aircraft, and lots more.

To find out some of the details about the thinking behind the scenes at Qantas, I’ll be talking today to Phil Capps, who is the Head of Customer Product and Service Development.

Let’s see what he’s got in store for passengers like us:

Phil Capps there – the Head of Customer Product and Service Development at Qantas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode. If you’ve got any questions or comments, you can drop me a line on social media or on the blog.

Also, I would love it if you would jump into itunes and leave a review there or subscribe.

For now, though, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #16 – Qantas Head of Customer Product Phil Capps appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

Hello and welcome to Leaders of Travel. This is the podcast series where we meet people working at the highest levels of the travel industry to find out how the big decisions are made.

My name is Michael Turtle and I run the travel blog, Time Travel Turtle. If you’re interested, you can find all the old episodes on there or on itunes.

This week I’m going to be talking about Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India, with a population of about 200 million people. If it was a country, it would be the fifth most populous in the world!

Now, that means lots of challenges for the people running the state, including in tourism. Because you’ve got to make sure there’s enough infrastructure to support the visitors, something that’s hard to do when you’re also dealing with issues like poverty and safety.

Uttar Pradesh certainly has something pretty good going for it, though. It’s home to the Taj Mahal, probably the most famous and popular site in all of India. But how do you get the tourists who are visiting it to stay around a bit longer?

Well, the Director General of Tourism, Amrit Abhijat, has come up with an idea called the Heritage Arc. It’s a tourism trail that links the Taj Mahal with the city of Lucknow and the ancient city of Varanasi – three of the gems of Uttar Pradesh.

To hear more about that and find out what it’s like to visit Uttar Pradesh, let’s chat with Amrit Abhijat.

Amrit Abhijat there – the Director General of Tourism for Uttar Pradesh, giving a pretty balanced assessment of his state.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog – time travel turtle dot com.

And please, if you get a chance, do jump into itunes and leave a review there or subscribe so you get updates when there’s a new episode available.

Next episode I’ll be chatting with one of my favourite airlines, Qantas, to hear what it’s doing to manage the experiences of its passengers.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #15 – Uttar Pradesh Tourism DG Amrit Abhijat appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This week I am going to take you to my home country, Australia. But not to my home city, Sydney. Instead, I’m in Melbourne, the second largest city in the country. There’s a bit of a rivalry between the two places but I’m going to put that aside for the next 20 minutes or so.

Melbourne is the capital of the state Victoria and it’s been a bit of a surprise hit on the Australian travel circuit, with a 14 per cent increase in tourism in the past year, compared to a 7 per cent national average.

It’s partly the city itself that has been popular but also the natural offerings around it like the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island.

But when you’re talking about a country as large as Australia there are a lot of things to do and it’s impossible to fit everything in. Why would travellers give up time on the Great Barrier Reef, at Uluru or in Sydney to spend days driving around Victoria?

That’s the topic for today and to talk it through with me is Tourism Victoria’s Director of Marketing, Melanie de Souza.

So, let’s get straight to it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog.

And please, if you get a chance, do jump in itunes and leave a review there – I would love to hear your thoughts.

Next episode, I’ll be talking about India and a state that has more people living in it than most countries. That creates a lot of challenges!

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #14 – Tourism Victoria’s Melanie de Souza appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This episode I’m going to be talking about destinations that have gone through a period of conflict but have then tried to attract tourists. If you look at history, there are some good examples – Vietnam or Cambodia, for instance. Or Rwanda or Uganda. And I’m sure we’ll see some in the Middle East in the decades to come.

It’s partly about improving the infrastructure after a war has finished – but also about trying to convince people that it’s safe to come back again. That’s probably the hardest bit.

To find out more about that, I’m going to be speaking this week with Suzanne Wylie, the CEO of Belfast City Council.

As I’m sure you know, Belfast suffered a lot during the conflict in Northern Ireland that stretched for about 30 years until a peace agreement in 1998. Officially, about 3,500 people were killed during that time… but, aside from the numbers, one of the worst things was this constant fear of an attack in the city.

When you then want to turn around after peace has been declared and tell the world it’s safe to visit, you might have a big job on your hands.

To find out how Belfast handled it so well, let’s ask Suzanne Wylie from the city council.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog.

I’ll be back next time to find out what’s going on Downunder, and whether you should visit Melbourne on a trip to Australia.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #13 – Belfast City Council CEO Suzanne Wylie appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This week we’re looking at the cruise industry. You may remember a couple of months ago I spoke to a Cruise Director on an enormous Royal Caribbean ship about how to keep all those passengers entertained.

Well, this week the focus is not on the ship but on the destinations because I’m talking with the Jos Dewing, the CEO of a company called Voyages to Antiquity.

They’ve got just one ship, for just a few hundred passengers, and the whole idea is that the cruise goes to interesting places around the world and you might spend a day or two on the land.

It started with the antiquities route around the Mediterranean – hence the name – but now the ship constantly goes all over the place.

In an industry where there seems to be a constant battle to have the biggest, the newest, the flashiest – it’s an interesting business model.

Does it work? Well, let’s ask Jos Dewing!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog – time travel turtle dot com.

And please, if you get a chance, do jump into itunes and leave a review there or subscribe so you get updates when there’s a new episode available.

I’ll be back next week talking about destinations that have tried to bring in tourists after a period of conflict. In particular, I’ll be talking with the CEO of Belfast City Council to hear about the challenges it faced.

The post #12 – Voyages to Antiquity CEO Jos Dewing appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This week on the podcast, we are going to Bhutan! Well, sadly I’m not physically in Bhutan, but talking about it is the next best thing, right?

So, Bhutan is a bit of a mysterious country. That’s partly because not many people go there – there are only about 60,000 visitors a year, compared to millions in its neighbours like Nepal and India.

And part of the reason for the low numbers is because a visa can cost up to US$250 a day. Don’t think I’m not going to ask about that.

But the stories you do hear from people who visit are amazing – temples at the top of cliff faces, walking for days across deserted mountains, meeting nomadic tribes, and stunning Himalayan scenery.

The spokesman for the tourism sector in Bhutan is Damcho Rinzin. He is from there but has also spent time in Canada and Australia and now he gets to travel around the world, telling people about his country.

I know I’ve got a lot of things I would like to know about Bhutan, so let’s get straight into it.

Hopefully you enjoyed the chat – I did. All the previous episodes are on itunes, so you can jump on there and download them if you’d like to hear about some other things that are going on in the tourism sector. Why not leave a quick review while you’re there too!

Next episode – I’m going to be talking about cruising again but this time with a difference. Don’t think big boats with pools and cinemas. This one is a small boutique boat that gets you deep into a country.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #11 – Bhutan’s Damcho Rinzin appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This week we’re talking about young travellers – or ‘millennials’, as some people like to call them. Myself, I am probably not so young these days but I definitely spent many years travelling the backpacker trails and even now I probably do more youth-y things than other travellers my age.

And, of course, the backbone of the backpacker industry are youth hostels. They make travel affordable because you can get a bed for a few dollars a night in some countries, like in Asia, or even in European capitals, the price is something that is accessible.

Hostels are changing a lot and I’ve seen it myself over the years. From large dirty dormitories, to trendy boutique houses – backpacking and hostelling has never been cooler.

Hostelling International is the global organisation that brings together a lot of these hostels from all over the world. You’ve probably heard of HI if you’ve ever done any backpacking yourself. It doesn’t own any hostels but it’s the overarching membership company.

It’s new CEO is Darren Barker, an Englishman who is looking to the future and dealing with the changes in the youth market.

He’s my guest this week, to have a chat about what young people want.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode and, as always, you can let me know what you think on social media or on the blog – time travel turtle dot com.

And please, if you get a chance, do jump in itunes and leave a review there – I would love to hear your thoughts.

Next episode, I’ll be talking about the happy mountain kingdom of Bhutan with the country’s spokesman. There’s lots to learn and it’s a fascinating place, so I look forward to you joining me again for that.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

For more information, you can check out the official website of Hostelling International

The post #10 – Hostelling International CEO Darren Barker appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

Now, this week we are looking at Africa. In fact, we’re looking at the smallest country in mainland Africa which is, The Gambia. Remember that fact for your next trivia night.

It’s a pretty popular tourism destination, although almost half of the visitors come from the UK. So there’s now a push to bring in more tourists overall and grow the market from other countries.

So, what does The Gambia offer? Well, it’s got beaches, it’s got a beautiful river, it’s getting more ecotourism opportunities in the rural areas, and it’s setting up some big events and festivals.

But the country also has some issues to deal with. Ebola has been one recently – although there were no infections in The Gambia, it is in that region so there were definitely people avoiding travel.

There have also been things like bumsters – which is a word that describes the people who hang around the tourist areas and hassle foreigners for money or work. You’re going to hear in a second how that’s being tackled.

Because to find out more about The Gambia, I’ve decided to chat to the Director General of the Gambia Tourism Board, Abdoulie Hydara.

There’s a lot going on in his country this year, so let’s jump straight to it…

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed the podcast this week. It would be awesome if you could jump on itunes and subscribe and leave a review. I know you’ve been meaning to do it for weeks, so why not make today the day you actually do!

Next episode, I’ll be talking about young travellers – how the youth market has changed and how the industry has changed with them. So make sure you tune in for that chat with the head of Hostelling International.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #9 – Gambia Tourism Board Director General Abdoulie Hydara appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

It’s a new year so I thought I would kick it off by looking at some of big changes that are happening in travel at the moment and what we can expect in the next 12 months.

Things are really changing quickly and there are heaps of things going on in the tourism industry. A lot of them are related to technology, there’s no denying that, but politics and globalisation are having an effect on the travel industry as well.

To find out more about some of these developments, I’ve gone to a group called Euromonitor International. It’s a market intelligence firm that does all sorts of detailed analysis of business trends.

Each year it puts out something called the Global Travel Trends Report. It’s based on research into the industry – and this year it’s focused on some places like Iran and China, looked at innovative accommodation opportunities, and even some local subculture trends.

The Head of Travel at Euromonitor International is Caroline Bremner and she is able to predict the future… sort of.

Let’s find out what Caroline knows about 2016.

So, that was Caroline Bremner, the Head of Travel at Euromonitor International. You can head to their website to find the full report with more details.

Next episode, I’ll be talking about The Gambia, the small country in West Africa. The country’s Tourism Minister will be joining me to chat through some of the issues and opportunities for travellers.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #8 – Euromonitor International’s Caroline Bremner appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.

This week, we’re going to be talking about a particular segment of the tourism market: the LGBTQ traveller.

Now, you might think that a gay traveller is just like any other traveller – they need somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat, something to do. But it’s not always that simple. In a lot of places, gay travellers still face discrimination – and even in liberal developed countries, there can be lots of times when being gay makes travelling harder.

One destination that decided years ago that it was going to make things easier for gay travellers was Greater Fort Lauderdale in the US state of Florida. Now, I think the people there genuinely wanted to make it a welcoming place… but it’s also good business to market yourself as a destination for a considerably large segment of the tourism market.

The tourism board there even has a LGBTQ director, called Richard Gray. One of his latest initiatives is to now make Greater Fort Lauderdale an attractive destination for the transgender community in particular.

To find out how you do that – and the challenges for gay travellers, I sat down for a chat with Richard Gray.

Richard Gray there, the LGBTQ Director for the Greater Fort Lauderdale tourism board.

I hope you found that an interesting chat – that’s what I try to bring you every week.

If you’ve enjoyed it, pretty please, do jump on itunes and subscribe and leave a review. It only takes a minute but makes all of this worthwhile for me.

Next episode – well, it’s a new year and as we ring in 2016, I’ll be speaking with an expert about all the latest trends in the travel industry and the big changes we’re going to see in the coming months.

Until then, my name is Michael Turtle from the travel blog Time Travel Turtle, and you’ve been listening to Leaders of Travel.

The post #7 – Greater Fort Lauderdale’s Richard Gray appeared first on Time Travel Turtle.