The report aims to better aid destinations and travel stakeholders prepare for future travel in all possible scenarios. According to Mastercard and CrescentRating, the frameworks and concepts in the report can drive strategic solutions to resuscitate travel and can also be applied to destinations outside of ASEAN.
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| Source: The Travel Readiness Report:COVID-19 in ASEAN 2020. Cover for the report. |
"Over the last few years, April/May has been the time that we have released the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI). However, this year, given the current crisis, we have prioritised the release of this new Travel Readiness Report to help all stakeholders better frame the impact of COVID-19 on our industry and help build scenarios for future travel. We still do plan to release GMTI 2020 in the 4th quarter of this year," explained Fazal Bahardeen, Founder & CEO, CrescentRating.com and HalalTrip.com, in the foreword for the report.
"Our previous reports have focused on how the general industry can better cater to the Muslim travel market, and we continue to focus on this area closely. However COVID-19 has impacted everyone and created new gaps. These demanded more robust frameworks and new ways of thinking to manage the complexity and drive strategic solutions to help resuscitate travel," he added.
"According to recently-conducted Mastercard Impact Studies, confidence in travel has started rising across the world, especially in Southeast Asia. While most people have had to cancel or delay trips, these studies have shown that more than half the people across Asia Pacific are going to plan for future trips when travel restrictions have lifted. While countries have started slowly easing restrictions on movement and travel, this comes with heightened safety measures and protocols in place that were never there before. While the travel sector is gearing up for these measures, they need to ensure that they are prepared to meet the new needs of customers," observed Safdar Khan, Division President Southeast Asia Emerging Markets, Mastercard, in the same foreword.
"As we all prepare for a new normal, there is a need for reliable data insights that can help sectors plan and future-proof their businesses. 2020 is our sixth year partnering with CrescentRating to develop in-depth reports that serve as a beacon for businesses and governments who are looking to bolster their travel offerings and bring memorable experiences to their end-customers. We trust this report can help the tourism industry craft strategies that will make them more digital, resilient, agile, and flexible to changing consumer needs, and successfully navigate the difficult—but not insurmountable—challenges of the future," he said.
The two companies note that tourism has been a key economic and GDP contributor in ASEAN, and a source of revenue for many small businesses, but this has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They believe that even after restrictions on movement and travel are lifted, heightened safety measures and protocols will be implemented by all nations.
The need to better understand the trends and how the tourism industry can prepare for the new world and the inevitable change in consumer needs was the impetus for the research.
Based on expert analysis and data from leading organisations, The Travel Readiness Report by Mastercard and CrescentRating offers players and stakeholders in the travel and tourism sector in-depth insights into various areas - from how COVID-19 has affected household finances in the region, to mapping out different recovery trajectories, to providing concrete courses of action for businesses in the tourism industry to move forward with greater confidence.
The report also provides insights for destinations to plan their COVID-19 recovery roadmap along four key phases: Containment, Recovery, Normalization and Growth.
In a segment on Muslim travellers in ASEAN, the report profiled three Muslim traveller categories and how they have been impacted by COVID-19: Muslim Millennials, Muslim Gen Zers, and Muslim women travellers.
Defined as those born between 1981 to 1994, Muslim Millennial travellers (MMTs) are are dealing with career progression and starting a family while their employees adjust work arrangements and cut salaries in order to retain jobs. "Travel is no longer accessible, and the availability of authentic experiences is questionable in the near future. Thus, MMTs are forced to prioritise economic stability over trip planning," the report said.
Defined as those born between 1995 to 2009, Gen Zers are also affected badly when it comes to travel, the report added.
Women travellers are hard-hit when the ailing travel and tourism industry is woman-dominated. The COVID-19 fallout has meant that more women are either being displaced or are facing wage-cuts during the pandemic, and their wages are usually lower than men's in the first place.
"Additionally, gender roles and expectations render women to be responsible of household affairs. Thus, the potential of Muslim women travellers to explore and energise communities is severed during the pandemic," the report said.
The report further noted that such travellers represent 21% of the domestic tourist and 43% of the intra-ASEAN travellers, due to the large Muslim travel outbound markets from Indonesia and Malaysia travelling to neighbouring destinations. Outbound travellers leave their home country to travel to other countries.
"With its strength as one of most Muslim travel-friendly regions in the world, ASEAN could benefit from this segment of travellers as intra-regional travel opens up," the report said.
Report authors further noted that Malaysia and Indonesia are ranked a joint first in last year's Mastercard-Crescentrating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2019. ASEAN countries Brunei and Singapore along with Malaysia and Indonesia occupy four of the top 10 ranked destinations in the GMTI.
"This strength allows ASEAN destinations to position strongly to attract the Muslim market as travel opens," the report concluded.
Details:
Read the report (PDF).
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