Tourism and innovation: students of International Tourism Management have to prove their skills on this topic during a 5-day boot camp organised as part of the project week. In five days, the students have to think up a creative solution for the following case: Come up with a new ancillary product for Corendon.
Corendon, one of the largest tour operators in the Netherlands, is this year’s client. Corendon wants the students to explore the possibilities for new ancillary products. Ancillary products are the extras you can book with a trip, such as additional luggage or booking a parking space at the airport in advance.
A better customer experience
Mike Booijen, Customer Experience & Ancillaries Manager, suggests looking at these extras with an innovative eye. What else is possible? “Today’s students have an active attitude to life and look at these issues in a completely different way. I look forward to seeing what new and inspiring services or products they come up with”.
After a week of researching, discussing and asking questions, the students come up with a presentation for the jury. The jury is made up of Mike Booijen, Debora de Roos, Marketing Director at Corendon, and Frank Radstake, working at ANVR (the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators).
Debora is mainly looking for “a viable product, a product that is easy to implement and also ensures a better customer experience”. Frank stood at the cradle of the TBI Boot Camp a few years ago and is delighted with the enormous talent of the students: “It makes me very hopeful for the future of the tourism industry.”
Looking to the future
The students have plenty of new ideas. Original products and services are discussed during the presentations. For example, the idea of being able to book parking, an overnight stay for an early flight and the flight itself all in one go. The students are not only looking at today’s customers, but also the future, because sustainability and corporate social responsibility are becoming increasingly important in the tourism industry.
The winners
The winning idea came from team 2. The student came up with a ‘baby bag’: a bag with goodies and gadgets for people travelling with children, especially young ones, which would make travelling a lot easier and more fun.
On behalf of team 2, Jolien said: “We are so happy and surprised to have won this assignment! It is great to see our idea come to life. Knowing that one day this can be booked as a service on Corendon’s website is a great feeling! We are very happy and proud of the result, and we would like to thank the jury and our supervising lecturers very much!”