Special Theme Q2 2022 – Fully Restarting Tourism 

Why such a theme “Fully Restarting Tourism”? This was a follow up from my June 2021 article on “When Can We Restart Tourism”, at that particular period in time, the world was still caught in between opening up and managing the global pandemic situation.

Fast forward three quarters into Q2 2022, the global pandemic situation is under better control and getting more stable, although the world is not of the woods yet. We can start to see more countries opening up their borders and restrictions, the activities have started to kick in, with tourism organisations ramping up their publicity, awareness and marketing campaigns, along with many other industry players from the travel, tourism aviation and hospitality industries. 

That’s how I personally view it, “Fully Restarting Tourism”, finally! However, my personal analysis are that while we are absolutely delighted in fully restarting tourism, this is not an immediate change/recovery. Things and changes are going to take a bit of time to get up to speed, from both demand and supply side of things, my personal estimation is that it would start to peak in Q3 (June school holidays) or Q4 2022 (year end school holidays, year end Christmas festive season). 

Call for media pitches from travel, tourism, aviation and hospitality industries 

For my special theme Q2 2022 – Fully restarting tourism. I am inviting a call for media pitches from travel, tourism, aviation and hospitality industries around the world, not just from Singapore or from regional countries.

Whether you are travel industry players with forecasts and insights, destination travel and tourism marketing companies/agencies, travel stories for your community tourism. For the Singapore market, I am open to discussions/collaborations with inbound tourism or outbound tourism industry players too.

The deadline for my pitches is 30th June 2022. This special theme “Fully Restarting Tourism” would be my key topics for Q2 and Q3 2022, with a possible extension into Q4 2022, depending on how the world travel and tourism industries move during the next few months. 

Wanderlust Dreams, Hopes, and Plans

During this period, I hope there would be opportunities opening up again either for travel photography/writing assignments/commissioned work. However, I won’t mind familiarisation media trips too if that opportunity arises. 

I have a number of countries that I would like to visit again soon. For short haul travel trips, I might start off with regional countries Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. As for long haul travel trips, I would visit Japan first before planning other countries with Europe likely my next destination. 

For all fellow travel writers, photographers and wanderlusts, I think it is safe to say that we are fully restarting tourism. 

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Why is travel insurance important and why do you need to get your own travel insurance?

Suffice to say that the travel industry has been facing steep obstacles trying to adapt to the current state of the world making traveling during this year quite a challenge for all of us. With that in mind, it is important now more than ever to have the necessary coverage for your trip in the event that any delays or cancellations occur.

The best travel insurance policy for you is going to be the one that offers the specific coverage you need at a price you can readily afford. Here’s a rundown of the most common types of travel insurance, as well as some of the optional benefits you may want to look into.

• Cancellation coverage: as its name implies, covers you for pre-paid, non-refundable expenses under a fixed set of circumstances outlined in your policy. You can make a claim when you have to cancel a trip due to a health emergency or illness, for example. Depending on the policy you choose, you may also be able to make a claim if you’re laid off from work or you’re called for jury duty. 

         Some credit cards will even cover your expenses sometimes if you were to cancel last minute.

• Interruption coverage: This protects you in the event you have to return home due to an emergency once you’ve already started your trip. It will pay for the cost of getting you home and getting you back to your destination once you’re able to travel again. 

If the list of covered cancellation reasons under basic cancellation coverage seems too limited to you, you might want to opt for CFAR or “Cancel For Any Reason”. It offers the fullest coverage but may only make sense for you if your calendar is subject to change at a moment’s notice. 

• Lost, stolen, damaged, and delayed luggage: This is one of the most common, and annoying, travel-related mishaps. Pay attention to coverage limits and increase yours as necessary. Even mundane items like laptops and cell phones have replacement costs beyond the limits set by basic policies, so be careful to read your policy closely to be sure your most expensive possessions are fully protected. 

Whether you choose travel insurance for your international or domestic trip, make sure you understand exactly what’s covered. There are different categories for basic and special coverage. Be sure to check out this article from Money.com who provided the information for this article and make sure you understand the fine print before booking your next trip. 

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I have been on Twitter platform since June 2009 (and still counting!), my blogging/social media journey began in April 2006 (and still counting!) with the launch of my humble photography blog, that has since grown, transformed and evolved into the photography and travel portal/blog of today whereby I post and share my travel adventure stories and photos. My commercial photography portfolio of works are on this website, my photographs can be viewed on Flickr and 500px, as well as on my Instagram. 

Being a travel wanderlust myself, my passion for travel, the rich, amazing and wonderful stories that I experienced, from history, heritage, culture, city, food, photographing and documenting them became an integral part of my travel photography portfolio. Discovering #TTOT was a great and fun way to connect with fellow travelers around the world on a common topic, our love for travel. It has been enriching and a source of knowing travel info, news or views from the locals themselves, for travelers by travelers, away from the usual tourist trails. 

Most recently, I became a co-host for #TTOT! It’s definitely an honour for me to be appointed co-host and I hope that I am able to contribute more to the #TTOT community, growing and expanding the #TTOT community. Therefore, I would like to invite fellow travelers, wanderlusts, photographers and filmmakers to join this travel community’s biggest Twitter chat. 

Here’s a quick summary of #TTOT – Travel Talk On Twitter

Day: Tuesday 

Time: 9:30am GMT and 9:30pm GMT 

Twitter List: https://twitter.com/i/lists/34415531 

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TravelTalkOnTwitter 

Find the 5 travel questions for discussion here on TravelDudes website: https://www.traveldudes.org/travelblog/travel-talk-twitter-questions 

Get to know your #TTOT hosts & organisers here: https://twitter.com/i/lists/34415531 

To all fellow travelers, photographers, filmmakers and wanderlusts, come join #TTOT – Travel Talk on Twitter every Tuesday at 9:30am GMT or 9:30pm GMT! Join in the travel community’s biggest Twitter chat, have a fun and interesting discussion on various travel topics every Tuesday!

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RTT is a travel platform from SATS, Asia’s leading provider of food solutions and gateway services. RTT recently unveiled new features and services of RTT 2.0 at a recent event in Singapore. I had a hands on experience with the RTT app, installed it on my Apple iPhone XR during the event, tried it out and I really liked it! For a solo traveler like me that likes to do my own travel photography adventures, I also do small group travel holidays with friends too sometimes. I reckon this app would be great for both solo and small group travel planning.

RTT allows travelers to purchase travel essentials such as travel insurance, pocket WiFi rental (free device delivery and pickup service) and airport concierge. They have incorporated new features to the RTT app that include:

• Access to over 400 airport lounges in close to 100 countries to expand RTT’s airport lounge selection, including Changi Airport’s four SATS Premier Lounges.
• A new global bag-locate service – from as little as S$6, travellers can insure two bags with a pay-out of up to S$2,200 per delayed bag. Through RTT, travellers get email updates on the location of missing baggage. This service comes with a 96-hour guarantee, from the time the flight lands to baggage return, after which travellers will receive the pay-out.
• A collaborative platform for users to plan a travel itinerary collectively in real-time. It also allows travellers to stay organised by securely saving and accessing travel documents.

“Ready To Travel’s goal is to empower a seamless and hassle-free travel experience for travellers today who appreciate an intuitive platform. We benefit from our parent company, SATS’ extensive network of ground handling operations and partnerships to bring essential global travel services onto a one-stop platform,” said Eileen Tan, Vice President of Consumer Services, SATS Ltd. (Ready To Travel).

After installing the RTT app on my iPhone, I explored the app, discovering travel locations, ideas, interesting things to do, food and drinks. They have an essentials section, which is really useful, such as whether we would need a tourist visa, wether, exchange rate. There is also a folder to save your images and pdf files that you compiled during your travel planning, for your reference if you are doing solo travel or you can share them with your fellow travel mates that are going together with you.

If you are a solo traveler or planning your group travel holidays with your family, relatives or friends, the RTT is an excellent app for you to do almost all your travel planning, needs and essentials purchases all under one app. While the RTT app caters for the younger millennial travelers, I reckon it’s just as suitable for those who love traveling, wanting to customise/plan your own travel adventures with your like-minded travel companions.

I might have found the travel app that I always want to have/use, the Ready to Travel (RTT) app. This app suits what I am doing, planning my solo travel photography adventures. As you can see in my screenshot capture, I do hope that my Kansai travel photography adventure in November 2019 comes true! I named my travel adventure plan as “Solo ‘cos #Yolo”, suits me perfectly!

Fellow travelers and wanderlust out there, do check out Ready to Travel (RTT) app! Download them, happy planning and sharing! Have many great travel adventures with the RTT app!

YOLO! Let’s go travel and have fun!

Ready to Travel information and website links

Website: https://www.readytotravel.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ReadyToTravelbySATS/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readytotravelbysats/

App Download

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/SG/app/id1255438245?mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sats.readytotravel

SATS: https://www.sats.com.sg/Pages/Home.aspx

** Information and pictures courtesy of SATS and Gloo PR **

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