Three little letters – WTM
There are three letters of the alphabet that seem to dominate the thinking of everyone in tourism here in the autumn: W, T and M.
What is WTM? – it’s an acronym for “World Travel Market”, a tourism trade fair and exhibition which is staged annually in London. The organizers claim that it is “the premier global event for the travel industry … a vibrant must attend four-day business-to-business event presenting a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and International travel professionals”, providing “a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business under one roof.”
Although that’s a “sales pitch” brimming with hyperbole, it has to admitted that WTM is a major event in the tourism calendar. There are other exhibitions, but this is one of the largest and most prestigious in the diary. Kyrgyzstan has had a stand there every year for about fifteen years – and Celestial Mountains have attended twice.
Only twice? – yes. Although it is a major event, (and sales pitches notwithstanding), I am not convinced that attendance at exhibitions actually generate a lot of business for us as a company in terms of actual concrete orders. Despite that, we have attended a number of such trade fairs, exhibitions, conferences, “days of Kyrgyzstan” and so forth, but as I see it, the value of such events lies in creating a presence and in making and maintaining contacts – rather than in generating actual business.
The important part of that sales blurb for WTM was the phrase “business-to-business”, It’s an occasion for professionals in the tourist industry to meet and discuss potential partnerships. A tour company like ours has the opportunity to meet tour operators and agents from abroad who will present our “product” to people in their home countries, and in that way we get the chance to reach a wider audience through them and their outlets. Great.
In our experience, however, participation in exhibitions and trade fairs does not result in the conclusion of actual contracts. Although “contacts” are made in the exhibition, most of the detailed work on “contracts” is then done in correspondence in the period following the exhibition. Sometimes this work yields results – but not always as the other side has the whole world to choose from and Kyrgyzstan often looses out top some other destination which can offer a cheaper alternative. The missing letter, (“r” – as in “contacts” rather than “contracts”), makes a lot of difference and I’d rather spend our limited marketing budget on ways of contacting potential clients – with the hope that it will be more effective way of “spreading the good news about Kyrgyzstan” and so generate business.
The economics is not encouraging. Participating in such an exhibition is not cheap and to cover the cost incurred, (the rental of the stand, publicity materials, travel and living expenses), we have to raise something like at least ten times that amount in business. For every thousand dollars spent, then we have to raise something like ten thousand dollars of business – that’s the equivalent of a group of about 16 tourists on an, all-inclusive, week’s tour. However, it costs several thousand dollars to attend and so we will need to generate several such groups – just to cover the cost of attending.
On the other hand, tours along the Silk Road, (a major part of the tourism business in Kyrgyzstan), typically spend just three days in Kyrgyzstan.
As a result, a lot of our marketing efforts concentrate on reaching the individual traveler. Trying to inform them about Kyrgyzstan and arousing their interest. There are several ways of doing this – for example, through the internet and through press. Unfortunately, this involves a number of drawbacks. For example, it’s a lot harder to do this as we don’t have the same direct access to our potential customers and so we have to rely upon outlets such as the internet. It would be much easier to work through agents in the other country who are closer to their customers. It also means that a lot of our time and effort is spent advertising the country as a whole rather than concentrating on our company and our services, which is what we should be concentrating on. Who, then, should be involved in marketing the country as a whole? That is a good question and a moot point. It is quite clear that we have to inform potential clients about the country, it’s history, people and culture, facilities and activities as a component of what we have to offer, but, in my opinion, this is also a task in which the state should be involved. For one thing, it involves the image of the country. For another, although the state may not be directly delivering services to the consumer, it is a beneficiary of tourism: through the tax revenues that are generated, through the economic and social benefits arising from the receipt of foreign currency, the employment that is generated and so on. This is, after all, the reason that Tourism has been declared a “priority” area for state policy for several years now.
Whichever method way we choose, however, (the direct approach or indirectly through a foreign tour operator or agent agent), it assumes that there is already an awareness of Kyrgyzstan and what the country has to offer amongst the potential clientele that we are trying to reach. That, unfortunately, is not always the case and this year in particular, the awareness that people have can present a hurdle that needs to be overcome. This year, for example, people may well be aware of Kyrgyzstan, but for rather unfortunate connotations.
It’s not the first time this has happened. The last time we participated in WTM was in 2005, following the Tulip Revolution in March of that year. I felt that it was important to attend and show that Kyrgyzstan was open for business and both ready and willing to welcome visitors. This year, following the Easter Revolution and the other tragic events of the summer, it seems to me even more important to do so … and I was planning to do so.
The timing of the WTM exhibition is one reason why I think it is particularly important for Kyrgyzstan to be represented in the exhibition. It comes at the end of this year’s season, at a time when people are beginning to turn their minds to possible holiday destinations for next year. Indeed, many professions within the industry have been thinking about their catalogues of itineraries for next year for some time already. This year, it also comes a few weeks after our all important election.
However, events have conspired against us and I have, reluctantly, come to the conclusion that WTM is not for us this year – and that there will probably not be a Kyrgyzstan presence at all at the exhibition.
That “all important” election appears to be one of the reasons. Everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what will happen … what changes the new government appointed by the newly elected prime minister will bring in. Few people want to be seen making a decision, either one way or another … just in case. There ‘s a huge sense of uncertainty in the air which just adds to the tension.
Understanding the importance of the exhibition, particularly this year, and being aware of the basic principle of marketing, that “you have to spend money to make money”, one tour company took the initiative and provisionally booked space for a stand and has offered companies the chance to participate along with them. However, most companies have had a poor year and are reeling under the sharp downturn in business they have experienced, and so they are having to looking carefully at what funds they have available for marketing for the coming year and how they use them. They have been to one of the major “players”, one the major beneficiaries from the tourism industry for support – the government.
The government have, after all, declared tourism as one of their “priority areas” of the economy.
Now, it seems to me that we’ve been talking about this question all summer … and yet no official decision has been taken. We’ve been told that the government will contribute towards the cost of the stand but it’s not clear how much they would be prepared to pay. First of all there was talk about firms having to tender, then talk about contributing USD4500, then USD3000. The rest of the bill would have to be picked up by those firms who decide to send somebody to man the stand as a company representative. I am not sure how much money the government have in the budget, or the pressures that exist on how they utilize that money, but, judging from discussions earlier in the summer, there should be sufficient funds available to pay for the stand. That would be a great help to the industry.
As it is, most companies have decided that the cost is too great a burden to place on their depleted marketing budgets and the result is that there almost certainly won’t be a Kyrgyzstan stand at the exhibition.
There has been some comment in reply that the state should not be subsidizing individual companies – and I agree with that – but I see it more as a case of some tour companies subsidizing the development of Kyrgyz Tourism.
Yes, it is true that they would be involved in trying to preserve their existing business and cultivating contacts in order to develop new business, but they would also be representing the country as a whole and showing that Kyrgyzstan is open for business: ready, willing and able to welcome visitors. Those firms from Europe who are thinking about adding Kyrgyzstan as a destination in their catalogue would be looking for potential partners – but would not commit themselves as the exhibition – as our experience shows. Both they and firms who already offer to the public tours to Kyrgyzstan would be glad, however, to see representative of Kyrgyzstan for news and views about the situation in the country.
As far as I can see, this hesitation and controversy sends all the wrong signals. It suggests, for example, that the government are not committed to the exhibition, or that they don’t understand the importance of participating in the exhibition, or that they are not sure what will happen in the election and think it would be better not to be exposed to the risk of bad publicity, or that tourism is not the priority that they claim it to be, or … well … my mind is running wild with possible scenarios.
It damages the image of the country, the goodwill both between parties within the country and our partners abroad and it endangers possible participation in this and other exhibitions in the future.
It is great pity.
But, anyway, that’s the reason I won’t be going to London for WTM this year.
Bishkek