The economic effects of the coronavirus present short term challenges to the travel industry, but at the same time, we see opportunities created by the forces of change. I want to tell you about 5 perspectives:
In order for normal business and trade to pick up, travel has to resume! Meaning travel will never die. This is an opportunity for tour operators to accelerate, because when people travel, then they can identify business opportunities around the country as they appreciate different culture and exchange ideas with the locals.
Reduction to almost no foreign tourists is pushing the local tour operators to innovate and create new business and fair price models for activities/ trips to attract the local traveler. This is a potential of over 25 million customers (Ugandans between of 10years and 65years)
The future is about efficiency! Normal tour business operations have been disrupted, It’s time to go online and embrace the digital business. This means companies will reduce on the size of the team to focus limited resources on more urgent needs of the business. Some of the ways to do this is to create packages and list trips/ experiences on a travel marketplace like tubayo.com or trip advisor to access travelers and tap into their marketing, brand and business tools.
The unemployed and the many that were laid off because of COVID-19 have an opportunity to earn money as local travel hosts. Creatives can design exciting activities that people want to try such as food tours, baking classes, yoga, photography, biking experiences among others and list them on tubayo.com for free to access travelers. This can be the beginning of building a great business from a simple passion.
Parte after Parte has been disrupted. Ugandans are generally known for being very adventurous. With the current lockdown, many can’t wait to be free and travel again. But how does one find what to do?! Tubayo is a great platform for users to find good selection of experiences and adventures listed by different hosts and tour operators.
As the COVID -19 situation evolves, Tubayo has developed relief measures to support hosts and tour operators overcome this challenging time. These include;
- Free online training to new travel hosts to prepare them for the digital transformation.
- Introduced virtual tours/ flexible online hosting opportunities to generate income.
- We’ve reduced our commission fees & business operation fees such as advertising costs.
- Subsidies for tour guides, photography personnel and reduced cost of hiring of our tour vans.
- Additional tools for businesses to accelerate digitization with remote working management.
Travelers have been using the Tubayo App from Playstore to discover and book great trips & experiences.
By working with Tubayo, travel hosts & tour operators can be better prepared for digital transformations and start to streamline their businesses from payment to tapping into smart marketing tools and customer insights gained from the platform to acquire, retain and engage with consumers online.
Since the very beginning, Tubayo’s success has always depended on the success of our partners.
We are confident in the ongoing digitization of society, and are ready to seize the opportunity to build the foundation to accelerate the long-term growth of Uganda’s economy.
Brian Namanya is the CEO – Tubayo
Tubayo.com