DATA can and has been
harnessed successfully
for the travel industry.
This was the message
shared at the recent
Asata Innovation Summit
by Stuart Adamson,
director of Media and
Partnerships at the
Thomas Cook Group.
When Thomas Cook
decided to overhaul its
media and marketing
strategy, they hired
Stuart, a publisher, to
do it. “My mandate was
to transform a cashstrapped business.
So I had to find a way
to generate the cash
first,” he said. Stuart
did this by doing what
the travel industry has
been discussing for many
years: harnessing big
data.
For Stuart, once he
was able to harness
the volume of data at
hand, he was then able
to develop strategy
around it that could
prompt funding from the
company’s partners. For
example, Thomas Cook
could go to its hotel
partners to suggest
ways in which the hotels
could be marketed using
the information Thomas
Cook had generated.
The hotels would fund
the development of the
marketing tools, thus
solving Stuart’s initial
problem.
Target the right
people
First, the group focused
on targeting the right
people on each platform.
Stuart saw that different
demographics choose
their holidays based
on different marketing
platforms – millennials
use social media for
inspiration, older age
groups continue to
use walk-in stores and
brochures. In order
to create crossover
and entice people into
stores, Thomas Cook
geo-fenced its store
fronts, so that anyone
within a certain proximity
of a store would begin
seeing Thomas Cook
ads in their social media
newsfeeds, prompting
them, potentially, to
enter the store.
AIR Zimbabwe’s fleet has
shrunk to one aircraft.
According to ch-aviation,
one of the carrier’s aircraft
is undergoing a C-check
and two others are in
storage, with the result
that the carrier has only
one aircraft in operation,
severely compromising
its ability to operate its
routes.
It is unclear why two
aircraft are in storage, but
the carrier says it will take
delivery of another two
aircraft “shortly”.
On condition of
anonymity, a travel agent
told TNW that the airline
had not been able to keep
to its schedule, citing the
fact that only one aircraft
is in operation as the
reason.
The agent says they sell
Air Zimbabwe only if their
clients insist.
“One aircraft is flying to
Bulawayo, Harare, Victoria
Falls and Johannesburg,”
the agent said. “It is not
reliable for our corporate
clients.
“Air Zimbabwe flies
between Bulawayo and
Johannesburg three times
a week, but cannot be
relied on if connecting to
long-haul flights or even
to Cape Town and Durban
flights, because they are
often not on time, or they
just cancel the flights.”
Last month, the
Zimbabwe press reported
that Ethiopian Airlines had
offered Air Zimbabwe a
lucrative partnership deal
that would see ET bringing
aircraft, training pilots and
assisting Air Zimbabwe
to become an aircraft
maintenance hub in the
SADC region.
At the time of publishing,
Air Zimbabwe had not
responded to questions
about its operations. Air
Zimbabwe is not an Iataregistered airline.
