COVID-aptability examples

Covid-aptability examples

Finnair, Finland's national airline, sold ready-to-eat business class airplane food in supermarkets in order to keep kitchen staff employed during the pandemic and to cater to people's travel nostalgia.

Thai Airways was very creative as it looked to raise cash during the travel downturn. They launched special flights that flew over 99 holy sites in Thailand, building on the "flights to nowhere" craze. The airline also found new sources of income in an airline-themed cafe, dough fritters and handbags made from life vests.

Algarve Tourism launched a “Golf clubs are on us” program that offered free golf clubs to tempt European golfers to travel to southern Portugal during the pandemic.

The Hotel Trio in Healdsburg, California (a Marriott hotel), employed Rosé, a "social distancing robot ambassador" to bring guests pillows, towels and groceries.

A restaurant in Amsterdam - Mediamatic ETEN - came up with the idea to allow people to enjoy their favorite meal along with effective implementation of social distancing. The restaurant, by built small quarantine greenhouses where people could sit and enjoy dinner by the canal. 

Jonathan Worsley, chairman of Bench Events, pivoted immediately during lockdown, launching Hospitality Tomorrow, a virtual conference platform to support the hard-hit international hospitality community during COVID-19. The first episode took place on April 7 2020 and attracted 5,323 virtual attendees from 128 countries. The immersive conference experience featured industry insights by global speakers on the main ‘live’ stage and in break-out sessions and roundtables, as well as live face-to-face networking and a virtual Expo hosted by the event sponsors.

Beyond Cinema found a creative way to keep movie lovers entertained. They launched mini boats on to water — each of which can hold upwards of eight people — in several US cities. Movies were projected on a large screen outdoors near the water, and patrons could pay to watch the film in comfort from one of the floating vessels.

Marriott offered day passes for remote workers seeking a break from working at home. The pass allowed guests to check-in to a Marriott property at 6AM and stay in their guest room until 6PM. While there, they could make use of all on-site business facilities including printing, faxing and scanning.

Safari company andBeyond, posted twice-daily game drives via Instagram Live and saw a 50% increase in engagement, a 100% increase in its daily new followers, and a 130% increase in organic reach to its Instagram page.

A Fado club in Lisbon Portugal adapted by launching Brunch Fado mornings to show that passion for the melancholic Portuguese folk music tradition was “still alive.” The Fado brunch started at 6.30am at the Clube de Fado, and ended at 12.30 pm, just in time for the lockdown at 1pm. Money from the tickets went to União Audiovisual, an informal collective helping workers from the audiovisual industry affected by the pandemic.

Montage Hotels in the US transformed meeting spaces at each of their properties and launched the Montage Academy, a back-to-school package that came with access to a “study hall” and round-the-clock virtual tutoring on more than 180 subjects through Tutor.com, a service owned by The Princeton Review. The program was created to attract families during the pandemic.

Ferry operator Paul Derham in the UK began sightseeing tours of cruise ships anchored during the pandemic off England's south coast.  The "ghost ships" fascinated locals and tourists alike and became a tourist attraction in their own right, with people paying to see them up close.

In Denmark, singer-songwriter Mads Langer was one of the first to play to an audience social-distancing inside their cars at a drive-in stage erected in the coastal town of Aarhus. Interacting with the audience using a huge Zoom conference via a jumbo on-stage display, fans showed their appreciation by blowing their horns and using their windscreen wipers, while staff in hazmat suits served up movie snacks and drinks.

EmiControls, a division of TechnoAlpin, a world leader in snowmaking technology pivoted to satisfy a new demand – the need for disinfection. Using similar technology to snowmaking, EmiControls provided machines – either to rent or for sale – that could distribute disinfectants both indoors and over large open surface areas.

During the lockdown, the Faroe Islands launched a new remote tourism initiative whereby curious tourists could take a hike, go kayaking, or jump in a helicopter in the Faroes from their sofa. Through a web interface, people from anywhere in the world could take control of a Faroese person equipped with a live camera and microphone in minute-long blocks, telling them where to go and what to look at.

VisitBritain completely refocused its international marketing activity. Unable to promote travel to Britain during lockdown, the DMO maintained a dialogue with consumers to ensure Britain remained top of mind when international travel started back up. The plan was to bring a little bit of Britain to international visitors facing coronavirus travel bans. The campaign, Showing Love for Great Britain, promoted popular British culture from literature, film and music to heritage, gardens and food and drink across social channels, with the sharing of inspirational content such as recipes, playlists and even pub quizzes for visitors to enjoy from home.

The tourism authority in Zermatt, Switzerland, took a creative but relevant approach to keep their destination top of mind during lockdown by projecting, one by one, the flags of different countries onto the iconic Matterhorn mountain every night during lockdown as a display of solidarity with others. The campaign generated a considerable amount of media worldwide, reaching over 700 million people.

Two tourism entrepreneurs in Spain - Ian Rutter and Andrew Watson - owners of B&B Casa Higueras in Andalucia Spain, created #MyTravelPledge, an online platform that offered free vacations to healthcare workers once the pandemic had subsided. Accommodation providers around the world were invited to join the movement and give back to frontline workers.

Micato Safaris partnered with Huru International in Kenya to distribute over 50,000 masks to those in need. Huru, which produces menstrual pads for women in Africa, repurposed some of its production lines and fabric to making face masks for the vulnerable residents of Mukru, one of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements with over 300,000 residents.

The Hotel Revival, a boutique hotel in Baltimore, opened its doors as a community resource and anchor during the COVID-19 outbreak, offering free rooms, rent-free spaces for local food suppliers, and bagged lunches for medical staff. Police officers, fire fighters and military personnel could check in for free stays at the hotels, while rooms were offered to doctors and nurses at a discounted rate. 

Before opening international borders, Vietnam had to stimulate domestic tourism and launched the “Vietnamese people travel to Vietnam destinations” program, aimed at developing specific tourism products and tours catered to the needs of local travelers during the pandemic.

Maria Friedman and her husband, fellow actor Adrian Der Gregorian, set up Doorstep Productions in a bid to bring theatre to streets across the country whilst helping out-of-work actors whose jobs had dried up as numerous theatres were forced to close. With the support of the likes of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Cameron Mackintosh, professional actors could be booked to perform on doorsteps across the UK.

In North America, one of the first travel advertisers to pivot away from its usual message strategy was Hotels.com. Rather than focus on vacations or travel rewards, the company quickly launched its ‘COVID-19 Social Distancing’ ad as soon as the pandemic broke out. It depicted Captain Obvious (the company’s mascot) washing his hands and telling viewers ‘Just Stay Home’.

Seeking to replace lost tourism income, Barbados launched a new year-long work visa in order to attract digital nomads. The visa, or “12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp,” was established on June 30, and by September more than 1,350 applications had been submitted. Many other destinations have followed suit and adopted similar programs.