Miki Travel lays building blocks for Asian FITs in Europe with SIC programmes

Amid the growing FIT wave in the travel industry, Miki Travel (Hong Kong), a DMC specialising in Europe, last week launched its new Seat-In-Coach (SIC) tours to help meet the growing Asian demand for greater flexibility and “off-the-beaten-path” destinations.

Unlike package tours currently on the market, Joibus offers minimum purchasing sector of one-day, an average of three departures per week, and guaranteed departure regardless of the group size – allowing FITs to more easily incorporate the tours into their itinerary.

Each sector is a one-day tour comprising coach transportation, hotel accommodation, and entrance ticket to attractions. Prices range from €98 (US$113) to €128 per person, and are commissionable for travel agents.

The hop-on, hop-off concept is not new. Olivier Moeschler, Miki’s CEO – Asia division, stressed that what further sets Joibus apart is access to “hard-to-reach” locations. Joibus connects classic European cities, such as Paris and Madrid, to areas considered to be off-the-beaten-path for Asian travellers, including Strasbourg in France and Carmona in Spain.

“There are many options on the market. But the majority are (either) inflexible, requiring (customers to commit to seven to 10 days) or flexible but only visiting the main cities. For example, GoEUgo is probably the most flexible hop-on, hop-off option in Asia. But (to stay) competitive, they go from one big European city to another, and do not include sightseeing.”

While sticking to the main cities is most viable in the short term, Moescheler said that it pays to take the path less trodden to stay ahead of the curve.

“It’s more difficult to get volume when offering (lesser-known destinations). Plus, as SIC departures are guaranteed – they will run (even if there’s just one person on board), it’s much more difficult for us to turn a profit. There is definitely a risk selling (such a product) in Asia,” he admitted.

But given the direction that Asian travel preferences are going, he agreed that short-term risks are worth taking to gain an early mover advantage.

“Interestingly, South Korea is the topmost market for European rail passes, above even the US. The number of FITs travelling from South Korea to Europe is huge (and growing),” he shared.

“When introducing Joibus to the different markets, we got more traction from (agency) customers who service large numbers of FIT like those in South Korea. There was also good response in markets like Taiwan where travellers are looking for places that are difficult to reach.”

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