The United States and Canada have set their eyes on Asian travellers by putting in place policies and strategies that will make both destinations attractive for leisure and business travel.
In January this year, US President Barack Obama launched a plan to boost the travel and tourism industry in order to “spur economic growth in the United States,” with a keen focus on affluent Asian travellers, particularly from China.
According to a press statement from the White House, an executive order has been issued to “increase non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent over the coming year,” as well as ensure that a majority of non-immigrant visa applicants are “interviewed within three weeks of receipt of application.” This sentiment echoes those of Gary Locke, the US Ambassador to China, who stated during his visit to Hong Kong in December last year that the US plans to offer five-year visas for Chinese travellers (see story here).
The executive order also established a Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness that will “develop a national travel and tourism strategy to promote domestic and international travel,” as well as obtain a “greater share of long-haul travel from Brazil, China and India.”
These changes are quite timely not only because of the growing number of outbound travellers originating from Asia-Pacific, but also because of the fact that many from the region aspire to travel to the US. According to the Visa Global Travel Intentions Survey 2011, the country is one of the top three destinations that travellers would like to visit in the next two years, after Japan and just ahead of the United Kingdom, so the new policies would help turning those aspirations into reality.
Hot on the heels of this announcement comes another similar one from the Vancouver Airport Authority that outlines the airport’s 10-year strategy to drive more traffic from Asia to the Canadian city and transform the facility into a transit hub.
The focus of the strategy is to shorten connection times between international and domestic flights “to ensure that Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is the gateway of choice,” said Tony Gugliotta, senior vice president of marketing and business development for the Vancouver Airport Authority. “The overarching goal is to shorten the connection time for international passengers from 90 minutes to less than 60 minutes.”
This involves “building new secure corridors and moving walkways, and constructing high-speed baggage systems.” Also as part of the strategy, the airport has agreed to freeze fees for carriers at the 2010 levels for five years “in exchange for a commitment to add new services,” said Gugliotta. So far, “22 airlines have signed up to participate in this incentive programme.”
Another element of the multi-faceted strategy involves working with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to streamline immigration. The airport authority and the CBSA are looking at “a dedicated separate border inspection facility for connecting passengers,” said Gugliotta. Though the plan has yet been finalised, the two parties are aiming to establish a post-security corridor by 2015 so that “a passenger would not have to pick up and re-check bags and go through pre-board security.”
In addition to logistic strategies, the authority is deploying greater marketing efforts in target countries. In 2009, China granted Canada Approved Destination Status, which made it easier for Chinese travel agents to organise tours into the country. The airport authority has therefore launched marketing plans that specifically target Chinese travellers in order to “maximise advantages” of the status, said Gugliotta. “India is also a focus,” he adds. “It is the eighth largest market overall and currently not served by YVR.”
According to Gugliotta, traffic from Asia-Pacific increased by 12.9 percent over the last three years, signalling a growing interest to travel to the country.
These announcements from North America come not too far behind similar initiatives from Britain. As previously reported by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific, Britain is trying to remove hindrances and simplify visa procedures for Chinese travellers in order to receive a larger share of travellers from Mainland China (see story here).
Alisha Haridasani
