Excerpt from ALTO Connect Sept 09: Optimistic Futures: Building more value for customers in tough times
Undoubtedly, it continues to be a challenging time for the Language Travel sector. As well as the economic impacts of decreased demand, fierce competition, and currency fluctuations, the sector has had to address mobility issues around visa regulations against the backdrop of pandemic and shaky consumer confidence. Customers are forced into a dynamic process of reappraising what is important to them and what constitutes ‘value’.
The greatest negative influence reported in Stephen Cutler’s feature “The Economy and Language Travel”—ongoing uncertainty and its impact on consumer confidence, cited in both ALTO’s Global Directions and WYSE Travel Confederation’s Youth Travel Industry Monitor—is being addressed by many in the sector with a pragmatic, strategic due diligence, resulting in cost control, but also diversification, innovation and increased marketing efforts.
