Recovery for DMCs – time to look in our own backyard ?
he UK declared ‘ Freedom Day ’ in late July and , following a series of unprecedented lockdowns , attempted to re-start life as we know it , accepting the consequences of a rampant virus mutation balanced , this time , by a successful vaccination programme . Following an initial period of rapidly escalating Covid case numbers , almost four weeks later we can see this calculated risk seems to be paying off . Exceedingly good news , indeed , writes SITE ’ s Padraic Gilligan . Daily life now has a semblance of normality to it , with commuters on the London Underground again , folks on the city streets , tourists pitching up at visitor attractions and football stadia , once again , full of pride , passion and prejudice .
Regular commuters do say , however , that numbers are still down on the London Underground and this is borne out , too , by the coffee shops and lunch spots that haven ’ t yet re-opened , as companies continue to allow their people to work from home . By comparison with this time last year , however , things are significantly improved .
The tentative , but steady , return to life as we know it in the UK and some EU countries is obviously encouraging for our industry but it belies the bigger international and transcontinental scenario which is far from ‘ business as usual ’.
Prime minister Jacinda Arden has stated that New Zealand will remain in splendid isolation until , at least , December 2022 while its appears easier to get into North Korea than Australia at the moment . The Biden administration shows no sign of re-opening the US to UK and EU travellers but , more worryingly for
DMCs , hotels and venues , EU destinations have now been added again to its travel advisory list .
And , of course , even if we could travel internationally , we ’ d find direct routes and frequencies severely curtailed so access , the first criteria for MICE destination selection , is and will be , problematic into the foreseeable future .
The DMC sector in UK and EU , so dependent on international source markets like the USA for those big budget , blow-out incentives , clearly , will need to develop a new , short-term business model because government supports , when and where they are available , won ’ t last forever .
We ’ ve already seen laudable efforts with some DMCs re-purposing the unique destination experiences they usually offer to incentive qualifiers for luxury leisure travellers , a segment that ’ s certain to recover before group incentives . This is not as easy as it sounds , particularly when it comes to distribution – intrepid high net worth individuals seeking once-in-a-lifetime bucket-list experiences are not typically to be found by attending IBTM World or IMEX . It ’ s a whole new game of marbles and involves re-purposing your channel distribution as well as your product .
Other DMCs have looked at the business model of their counterparts in the US and realised that they , too , have a source market on their doorstep – domestic corporations . US DMCs rely predominantly on their own domestic source market for revenues , so why can ’ t UK , German or French DMCs do the same ? These countries are both source markets and destinations so they have a primed market in their own backyard .
It ’ s not so easy for the likes of Spain , Italy , Portugal or , indeed , Ireland . They are predominantly destinations with relatively small source market activity . However , the EU Digital Certificate facilitates cross border travel between EU member states and Ireland and the UK have a legacy relationship that ensures open borders ( don ’ t mention the Northern Ireland protocol !).
So , for the foreseeable future , business events activity will be local , national and regional . During 18 months of lockdown here in Dublin I immersed myself in my local neighbourhood and discovered many hidden gems . The next 12 months is destined to be the same for business events organisers .
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