乌斯托亚的埃塞俄比亚之旅从悲剧中取得了胜利
经过David Cogswell/
When Terry Dale, president and CEO of the U.S. Tour Operators Association, went to Ethiopia last February to finalize the itinerary for the association’s annual out-of-country board meeting, he had no way of knowing what extraordinary circumstances would intervene and almost derail the whole effort.
这次旅行定于2019年3月24日至30日。然后在3月10日,埃塞俄比亚航空公司302航班坠毁,杀害了157名乘客,并将埃塞俄比亚旅游业和全球航空业扔到了动荡状态。
埃塞俄比亚的国家航空公司及其旅游业从悲剧,恐慌蔓延和质疑中引发。航空公司安全吗?这个国家安全吗?波音737 MAX 8飞机安全吗?对于旅行者而言,问题出现了,就像在这种情况下总是这样:我们是否应该取消旅行直到事情安定下来,我们可以更好地评估风险?
The tour operator association was on the spot. Do they cancel in the face of an incident of this magnitude? This was not an isolated incident. A similar crash with a 737 MAX 8 had taken place only a few months before with an airplane operated by Lion Air out of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing everyone onboard.
In the early days after the crash, there were many questions about the reliability of the 737 MAX 8s and few answers. It took the FAA several days to take action to ground the 737s until the questions could be resolved. During that time, fears and rumors multiplied in regard to the safety of air travel. The USTOA had to make a commitment in the presence of a great deal of uncertainty.
全速前进
“I thought it was critical for us to continue,” said Dale. “It would have been the wrong message had we not gone.”
埃塞俄比亚旅游组织(ETO)在旅途中接待了旅游经营者,询问旅游经营者是否想将旅行推迟一个月,直到情况下来,对坠机事故及其对安全的影响更加清晰航空旅行。
Dale considered the proposal, then rejected it and left the decision to the ETO whether to proceed as planned.
“With my members’ schedules, it doesn’t make sense to delay,” Dale told the Ethiopians. “We’re going to lose half the people.”
The association decided to go forward with the trip. “It was the right thing to do,” said Dale. “And they were so grateful. It was amazing.”
如果埃塞俄比亚旅游组织表示由于意外情况而需要推迟这次旅行,那么USTOA将尊重他们的决定并推迟。
“Ultimately, we felt it was up to them to make the decision,” said Dale. “We knew that for us to come a week later, with everything the members were juggling in their individual schedules, it wouldn’t have made sense. We said, ‘We are ready to come, and happy and proud to come, but you have to feel comfortable that it’s in your best interest based on what you’re going through.’”
The Ethiopian Tourism Organization asked for 48 hours to work through the situation, then came back with their decision: To go ahead with the trip.
Stunning growth
The trip had been three years in the works. During that time, Ethiopia’s tourism industry had made tremendous strides, moving from a place that was virtually off the tourism map, to being the brightest shooting star on the global tourism horizon.
2018年,世界旅游与旅游委员会宣布,埃塞俄比亚的旅游经济增长了48.6%,比世界上任何国家的旅游经济增长。
At the opening of Indaba, Africa’s travel trade show in Durban, South Africa, in early May, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom heaped generous praise on Ethiopia for its stunning success and the example it set for other African countries.
Hanekom说:“埃塞俄比亚是非洲增长最快的旅行经济,也是世界上最快的。”“这种非凡的增长主要归因于埃塞俄比亚在建立自己成为区域运输中心的成功方面的成功,在促进其经济增长方面发挥了重要作用,这是我们许多国家可以从中学到的,尤其是南非。埃塞俄比亚必须因将大量游客带入整个非洲大陆而受到赞誉。”
Ethiopia’s national carrier was instrumental in creating the country’s tourism success story. For a moment it looked like an airplane crash could stall or even reverse the trend.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. If the contingency of 40 tour operators from America’s elite tour operator association had not gone through with the trip, the amount of loss for the country’s tourism industry would have been incalculable. As it turned out, it was a boon to Ethiopia.
“All in all, I’m very proud,” said Dale. “I’m proud we went. The trip far exceeded what I hoped for. It doesn’t mean we didn’t have some hiccups, but we have hiccups in all these experiences. There’s a protest in the middle of the capital city that no one knew about, so we’re sitting in traffic. But that happens.”
埃塞俄比亚的旅游业有机会向一组40个旅游运营商展示其产品,每个旅游运营商都可能代表了未来的大量经常性业务。
During the three years since the trip was originally set, Ethiopia’s tourism industry has evolved strikingly.
戴尔说:“当我们决定三年前去埃塞俄比亚时,第一个反应是,‘哇!乌斯托亚为什么要去埃塞俄比亚?”第二个反应是,‘您知道没有五星级酒店之类的东西吗?它们充其量只是中间的。’”
但是从那时起,许多新酒店已经建成,埃塞俄比亚拥有比以前更强大的旅游业。戴尔(Dale)推动了每个地点最好的酒店产品,这导致该团体住在尚未完全准备入住的酒店中。
戴尔说:“在三个地点,我们住在90%的新物业中。”“他们担心的是,当物业首次开放时,该服务并不总是符合标准。但是我坚信他们,我们的成员需要了解即将在线的新产品。他们也希望预订这些新物业,即使他们只完成了90%。他们需要了解他们。”
最后,USTOA成员很高兴他们,and it turned out to be a strong boost for Ethiopia’s tourism industry.
戴尔说:“这次旅行这么多事情是非凡的。”“我不知道其中有多少归因于该国航空公司的悲剧,或者是否可以归因于人们的精神。
“We had three small flights in-country and everywhere we went, whether we got off a plane or pulled in on a motorcoach, there would be a gathering of the mayor, the regional president, dancers and musicians. It was a celebration every single step of the way. They were so excited to have us there. In the rural communities, they would all come out to greet us. It was unbelievable.”
The itinerary started in the capital city of Addis Ababa, went on to Bahir Dar, Gondar, Lalibela, and back to the capital city. The group got to meet with President Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopia’s first female president.
As for future business that may be generated from the visit, prospects look good. In a post-tour survey of the 40 tour operators on the trip, 45% said that they will be offering new tours of Ethiopia, and 33% said they may be.
USTOA operators are responsible for hosting 9.8 million travelers annually, generating $19 billion in revenue. They can bring a significant boost in business to any country they set their sights on. Dale said he thinks Ethiopia may surge to the top of the heap of hot new destinations in the near future.
戴尔说:“该行业一直在寻找'下一个地方在哪里?’”“我觉得埃塞俄比亚有望进入该空间。在我们最近的Price Waterhouse研究中,埃塞俄比亚首次从我们的成员的角度进入了新兴目的地的前十名。beplay银行卡我认为他们有望成为那些“哇!这是从哪里来的?’但是他们已经准备好了。”
人民的仁慈
Dana Santucci, USTOA’s chairman, told Travel Market Report that the operators are now sizing up what they learned from their trip, trying to figure out how to sell Ethiopia, how to fit it into their product lines, how to present it to customers.
桑图奇说:“它仍在出现。”“这不是首次旅行者的地方。但是凭借令人难以置信的空运埃塞俄比亚,它产生了组合的潜力。与肯尼亚或坦桑尼亚结合使用会很有趣。如果您要到达非洲,那么您希望尽可能多地看到。”
For Santucci, it was a series of moments of amazement to realize how much Ethiopia has to offer and how little she previously knew about it.
拉利贝拉的运营商参观了岩洞churches, which were built by hollowing out the rock of a mountainside. “I didn’t even know about them,” said Santucci. “Then being there, taking the rugged climb, trying to get your head around how these were even built – it was unreal! We were greeted by 200 priests all wearing turbans and robes and chanting. I am not a highly religious person, but the spirituality was overwhelming. “
At Gondar, the group toured 17Thcentury castles where a royal empire thrived during the days when America was barely even a thought.
“The Ethiopians are proud of the fact that they were never colonized, the only country Africa,” said Santucci, “It’s so interesting to think of how that has affected them and how the country has continued to develop. I came home wanting to learn so much more about it. For me, it just opened the door to how much potential there is.”
On top of the list of her favorite experiences of Ethiopia, said Santucci, was simply “the kindness of the people. I found the Ethiopian people to be so warm and welcoming everywhere we went. We were able to stop and have conversations in every town. I really loved that, not only to see the place, but to immerse yourself in another culture. Our mission is to open the world.”