European Travel Industry Withers Amid Coronavirus
7 May 2020
Major Topics
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In the hospitality industry, catering to the diverse needs of demographic and special-interest groups has created a fractionalized playing field. Properties lure consumers through niche marketing strategies. Exploiting trends, such as leveraging a sustainability footprint or providing guest-experience options, may now be more important than a loyalty-points program.
The largest industry in the Caribbean is tourism, providing a vibrant ecosystem for hotel and resort development. Sharp demographic segmentation by the industry provides fuel for new arrivals. Development projects are traditionally led by American interests, given the dominant role of US-based travelers to the region.
The idea of a pleasure trip in which the voyage itself is the hospitality experience is a modern-day concept. Vessels are floating resorts, subject to the whims of economic cycles and consumers preferences. Investors are drawn to these companies by their ability to generate cash, akin to the traditional lodging industry.
The coronavirus era has upended spending patterns among consumers and businesses. Travel restrictions, at times unpredictable, suggest that any pickup in discretionary spending will be local or regional in scope. Some consumers may be willing to respond to price incentives, but tourism as an economic growth engine is sputtering.
Traveling to other countries for medical procedures is now routine. Common reasons include lower cost and better quality. Some opt for dental procedures; others schedule eye surgeries or heart operations. Especially across the developing world, countries compete aggressively for this hard-currency income stream.
Financial metrics are subject to wide interpretation. Revenue officers focus on at-hand data, financiers are likely to be forward looking, and executive management may tolerate lackluster results because of the role of an asset in a brand portfolio. A common fallacy is that five-star destinations offer better return-on-investment than standardized properties.
Major investors traditionally look to hotel properties as a diversification play within real-estate portfolios. They may favor predictable cash-flow metrics or they may look to exposure as a way to leverage economic growth. An unspoken reason for these asset commitments is that hotels are a visceral investment, gliding through due-diligence concerns.
The travel sector has been reinvented by the internet. Booking sites are the core example, empowering consumers to think beyond traditional brick-and-mortar travel agencies. Seemingly-dominant players are vulnerable to niche competition. The shift to do-it-yourself reservations has simultaneously spawned a burgeoning travel-knowledge industry.
Among the most prominent firms in the hotel industry are the public companies, including Hilton, Accor, and Huazhu. These enterprises set industry standards because of their ability to deploy development capital and leverage their distribution networks. Their dominant position, however, is challenged by privately-held companies, operating successfully in niche markets.
Government officials advocate tourism development because of the outsized impact on local economies. At least that is the classic view. Increasingly, tourism is viewed as a two-edged sword, given the stress on public services and infrastructure. Economic gains can be fleeting as cash outlays are siphoned away by unprincipled companies.
While the history of fairs and carnivals can be traced back to the Middle Ages, the notion of a fixed setting for amusement is largely an innovation of the twentieth century. Skyrocketing growth in the theme-park industry was propelled by income gains in the US and Europe. Operators now look to emerging markets for aggressive expansion opportunities.
Technology has heavily influenced the evolution of the hospitality industry because of the positive impact on operating efficiency and customer service. Many startups are subject to a high degree of economic cyclicality because their revenue—either directly or indirectly—depends on consumers’ flow of discretionary income.
Read the fine print. Cranganore operates worldwide. However, the company cannot offer all services in every jurisdiction or to all businesses. We may act in concert with locally-regulated entities in some cases.
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