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Who owns 2Go Group, Inc.?

Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy was at the receiving end of negative comments in social media after Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade revealed that the government was renting 2GO Group Inc.’s vessels for P35 million.

Late Wednesday, Uy said that 2GO Group will not accept the payment from the Department of Transportation for using its ships as floating quarantine facilities for returning overseas Filipino workers and seafarers required to undergo 14-day quarantine.

Media reports identify the logistics firm as led by Uy since he sits as the chairman of the board of directors of 2GO Group.

The Department of Transportation even said it was “unfortunate” and “deplorable” that Uy “was unfairly dragged by media” in the issue.

To set the record straight, Uy clarified that he was not the sole owner nor a majority shareholder of 2GO Group.

Based on the Public Ownership Report filed by 2GO Group to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the top three principal shareholders of the logistics firm are KGLI-NM Holdings Inc., SM Investments Corp., and China-ASEAN Marine B.V.

KGLI-NM Holdings holds 867,239,109 or 35.22% direct shares of 2GO Group.

SM Investments, on the other hand, has 750,754,812 or 30.49% of direct shares.

Meanwhile, China-ASEAN Marine B.V. holds 550,558,388 or 22.36% direct shares.

How is Dennis Uy related to 2GO?

Logistics firm 2GO Group’s largest shareholder KGLI-NM Holdings is a Filipino company established from the partnership between Negros Holdings and Management Corp. and KGL Investments BV (KGLI-BV) —a private liability company incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands.

Based on Udenna Corp. affiliate Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp.’s company information, it has 28.15% indirect economic interest in 2GO Group after it acquired all of Udenna Investments B.V.'s (UIBV) outstanding capital stock through a share swap agreement with Udenna Corp in March 2017.

Economic interest in a company is not the same as ownership percentage. It only means a person or an entity’s right for a share in a firm’s profits and losses.

Meanwhile, UIBV is 70% owned by Udenna Corp. —a holding company founded and chaired by Uy.

It had 80% economic interest and 39.97% of the voting rights in KGLI-NM Holdings, which holds 39.85% economic interest in Negros Navigation Co. Inc. (Nenaco).

Nenaco, owned 88.31% of 2GO Group.

In 2018, however, 2GO merged its operations with its parent Nenaco via share swap transaction, with 2GO as the surviving entity.

2GO is engaged in the movement of people operating under brand names "2GO Travel" for passage business and "2GO Freight" for cargo business, according to the company’s information on the PSE.

2GO and its subsidiaries provide shipping, logistics and distribution services to small and medium enterprises, large corporations, and government agencies throughout the Philippines.

Share price of 2GO surged by P3.08 or 50.00% to P9.24 apiece on Thursday from its P6.16 closing price on Wednesday. -NB, GMA News

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What will it take to go from ‘travel shock’ to surge?

The COVID-19 pandemic has indelibly affected the travel industry. Until recently, it suffered severely. Spending on tourism isn’t likely to return to precrisis levels until 2024 . But though the long-term effects may appear overwhelming, industry leaders are finding that many lessons from the COVID-19 crisis could help travel companies come back stronger than they were before the pandemic.

As COVID-19 concerns begin to subside, a silver lining emerges: according to a 2021 McKinsey survey , travel is the second-most-desired activity among respondents, behind dining out. Hotel reservations and rental-car bookings are on a major rebound.

Axel Hefer, CEO of Trivago, a global accommodation search platform focused on comparing hotels and alternative accommodations, has some insights to share. Since the pandemic started, Hefer has seen travel philosophies and plans shift to local and weekend travel and to broader needs, including safety, value, and the travel experience—not just the lowest available price. “We’ve seen a big shift toward travel domestically and to neighboring countries,” says Hefer, “and a shift away from continental and intercontinental travel. This shift was predominantly driven by the restrictions in place and the uncertainty of travel. Travelers want to know that if they can get to a location, they will be able to return home and not get stuck due to rapidly changing travel restrictions.”

McKinsey’s Nina Wittkamp talks with Hefer about the biggest travel trends affecting the industry, what the future may hold for leisure and business travel, and the bold moves his company has taken to diversify beyond its traditional offerings. The following is an edited excerpt from their conversation.

Travel trends for 2022

McKinsey: What’s your outlook on tourism in the short and long term?

Axel Hefer: Travel patterns changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with customers shifting toward domestic travel or trips to neighboring countries, more beach and nature destinations over cities, and shying away from continental and intercontinental travel. More recently, as we see many restrictions lift, we can see the return of travel to cities, such as London, Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, and Chicago, to a name a few.

I’m less optimistic about long-haul, intercontinental travel, even in the long term. The opening up of the transatlantic routes can lead to significant demand for international tourism, but travel across geographies is more complicated because of the need to implement safety measures that are in sync between the departing country and the country of destination. For instance, if one region is investing heavily in hygiene and safety measures but there is still a quarantine restriction on a return from another region, that becomes prohibitive.

The farther away from home you travel, the more uncertain it might feel. Barring any new variants, my hope is that by the middle of 2022, travel measures will normalize between countries as COVID-19-vaccination levels rise in most key markets and travelers become used to some level of restrictions and deem them acceptable. But regaining the trust we had before the pandemic—when overall travel was deemed less risky—may take years to rebuild.

McKinsey: What are some of the business-travel trends that might continue into 2022?

Axel Hefer: The rise in COVID-19 cases in the summer of 2021 caused many businesses to rethink opening up their offices this fall, with some now looking to reopen in 2022. The lack of open offices has affected the expected business-travel recovery and put things on hold.

Plus, the ongoing use of remote videoconferencing, especially for transactional updates, contributes to business travel stagnating in the short term. As soon as offices open up again, we expect to see a jump in bookings for business trips that are more focused on maintaining or building relationships, as more leaders realize the value of face-to-face interactions. For travel providers, it’s important to note that the business-travel implications are hitting certain travel destinations more severely than others. For instance, New York and London have seen some uptick. But Singapore and other Asia–Pacific cities, including Sydney, have responded to more recent COVID-19-infection spikes with additional lockdowns and restrictions. Travel and hospitality companies operating in these destinations will have to adapt their capacity and offerings accordingly, which could include altering their products or messaging to meet the area’s changing situation. This could become an opportunity for some companies to capture a greater share of spending over the long term as the business-travel market slowly returns.

McKinsey: What are the business implications for travel companies amid ongoing uncertainty and changing consumer behavior?

Axel Hefer: The pandemic has opened our eyes to a few things. Most notably, it has shown us that the travel market can undergo abrupt change, going from major growth to no activity in a matter of days. In 2019, we experienced a record year in travel; then in 2020, it was the worst it had been in a very long time. We also saw an immediate market response to an easing of travel restrictions. For instance, in Germany, when the lifting of restrictions was announced, there was a massive increase in bookings on the very same day.

The first implication for travel companies’ operations is that variable costs come at a huge premium. The more fixed your company’s cost structure is and the more assets you have, the more difficult it is for you to deal with this kind of volatility. If we’re looking at a future when we may see frequent waves of pandemics similar in scale to the COVID-19 crisis, then most companies will need to look at adjusting their cost structure.

The other big challenge was the refunding of prepayments. Many merchants that had collected prepayments found themselves having to pay out—in some cases billions of dollars—very quickly. That type of hit on the cash flow of a company can be a struggle.

Lastly, a majority of the partners we help are asset heavy. For many of them, moving everybody into a completely new work setup while being hit by a wall of refunds that had to be processed operationally and then funded—this was the perfect storm.

Trivago’s response to the pandemic

McKinsey: In what ways has Trivago been innovating out of the COVID-19 crisis?

Axel Hefer: For consumers, we’ve spotted a trend that I think will stay—learning to really like your surroundings and do shorter trips that are closer to home. In response, we’ve launched a product that addresses the need for inspiration for local travel. Almost everybody knows the top three or four destinations around them that are within driving distance. But what about the lesser-known places? This new product addresses those spots that are a bit more niche and that you may have heard of but maybe never been to. Through the platform, there will be new ways to book different local activities and not just trips.

On the business side, the biggest opportunity for a company like Trivago is to offer more services that help our business partners to reduce costs from their existing offering, improve their offering, and realize economies of scale while keeping their strategic focus. To do that, we’ve started to invest more in reevaluating our understanding of the global hotel and accommodations market, particularly the process of availabilities.

We’ve spotted a trend that I think will stay—learning to really like your surroundings and do shorter trips that are closer to home. In response, we’ve launched a product that addresses the need for inspiration for local travel.

During the pandemic, we soft launched one offering that gives our partners access to our core connectivity—our metasearch at scale—which constantly assesses the specific hotel-related needs of both travelers and hoteliers, providing data that’s fresh and in depth. This offering is particularly attractive to our smaller partners that would otherwise not have access to this level of information at scale. In times of uncertainty, partner collaborations are becoming increasingly valuable to leverage.

McKinsey: How are you managing the organizational challenges around employee burnout and attrition?

Axel Hefer: At the start of the pandemic, it felt like the world was falling apart, and there was a lot of panic, which unsurprisingly led to paralysis, especially if you are losing 90 percent of a given market within one week and then, the week after, another 90 percent. And like many other companies, we moved to a completely different working environment almost overnight, with a fully remote setup. Many colleagues struggled with all the change and the pressure of working from home in full isolation and full lockdown. These circumstances pushed us to introduce our “trivacation” concept: we instituted a mandatory vacation, on top of the normal vacation days, to make sure that everybody’s getting some rest in a coordinated way.

To counter the fear and paralysis, we also adopted an extremely transparent communication program. Every week, anybody could ask any question. We’d say, “This is our view of what we think is currently going on. We could be wrong. We could be right.” Over the past year, continuing this type of communication has helped us weather other tough times. Being very transparent about our view of the situation and the reasoning behind our decisions has helped to build trust and unite everyone to get behind a common view on how we could prepare for a return of travel.

Like many tech companies, we’ve still seen an increase in attrition while everybody was working from home and an overall increased liquidity in the labor market. But we’ve now started our hybrid work style, with colleagues coming back to the office a few days a week, and that is very exciting to see.

Going forward, we plan to be very open with staff about our challenges and to share the trade-offs. It can sometimes be very difficult for others to understand the direction you are taking if you are not giving enough background. The more you communicate your assumptions and trade-offs and the eventual decision, the easier it is to get everybody behind it.

Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.

Axel Hefer is managing director and CEO of Trivago. This interview was conducted by Nina Wittkamp , a partner in McKinsey’s Munich office.

This piece was edited by Astrid Sandoval, an executive editor in McKinsey’s London office.

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A travel agency can help its clients make the most of their budgets by doing all the groundwork. From researching destinations to finding the best deals, agencies handle it all. Sometimes, a travel business owner will even look at forecasts throughout the year to find the best times to travel to certain destinations and the best prices.

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• Independent Trave...

Independent Travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg

My wife and I have traveled independently to many European countries and, after reading many of the comments in this forum, feel like we may be able to do so in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well, although we feel somewhat less comfortable than the other countries where we have traveled in Europe.

My biggest question is how much we will miss by visiting the main sites without a tour guide. In the other European countries we have visited on our own we have been comfortable and satisfied with the level of knowledge we have gained by studying and visiting on our own, although we believe a tour guide or tour company in any country would normally be able to provide greater insight than visiting a site on our own, but about in Moscow and St. Petersburg?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Unless you speak at least some Russian and read the alphabet it would be difficult without a guide. Very few signs in English especially in Moscow. Also not too many people speak English there.

I visited St Petersburg last Autumn for a protracted period , and did not find it anymore daunting than any other European city . As Ilja says , learning the Cyrillic alphabet is a big plus . I also found that it was fairly easy to grasp . It will , among other things , enable you to read signs with relative ease . I would answer the main part or your question ( about tour guides ) thus - I am not enamored of tour guides or tours. While I only use a tour under duress ( A sites rules prohibiting an independent visit - ie Glasgow School of Art , Municipal House in Prague , etc ) . Doing your own preparation and homework is the best way , in my opinion . My wife and I ventured through St Petersburg with nary a concern ,and made two day trips outside of the central district ( one was twenty five miles away , and no English speakers in sight ) Figuring out the logistical details , did not present any difficulties . While I never use tours , I am an inveterate eavesdropper , have done so many times , and find , that on balance , the information that they impart is fairly elementary . If you want greater detail , they are unlikely to supply it . I also prefer to go at my own pace , not being rushed and being able to dwell on things that most other visitors barely give a passing glance . If you are interested , let me know . I would be happy to provide you with information that will enable you to travel independently

Thank you, Steven. I am encouraged by your comments and feel the same way you do about tour groups. We are very much willing to prepare in advance and learn the basics of the Cyrillic alphabet to help us have a better experience.

I would be very interested in learning more about your experience in Russia and receiving any additional information you can provide on independent travel there, starting perhaps with obtaining the visa.

I am not opposed to hiring a private or small group guide for a specific site or for a day trip outside St Petersburg and Moscow, but, like you said, I much prefer the freedom of staying at places as long or short as I want and seeing the sites that interest me most. For example, neither my wife nor I are big into shopping, yet most tour itineraries leave afternoon time for just that. Not interested!

Please provide whatever you may feel would be helpful for us.

Russ , I see you are quite near San Francisco - you can start by looking at the VISA procedure , it's fairly straightforward . Since there is a consulate in San Francisco - look here http://www.consulrussia.org/eng/visa-sub1.html

And here - http://ils-usa.com/main.php

Having always traveled independently, we thought we could do a better job than any tour. How misguided (pun intended) we were. Now that we have had the experience of having someone native to the area walk us around and explain things through a personal perspective we realize how much we missed. For St. Petersburg I highly recommend http://www.peterswalk.com/tours.html . This is not a traditional guided tour, but an opportunity to receive some orientation to the area as well as insight into the "Russian soul". I think if you did this upon arrival the rest of your time would be much more meaningful. We really liked the http://www.pushka-inn.com . The location is superb (just around the corner from the Hermitage square), the rooms lovely, the included breakfast at the restaurant next door ample and overall an excellent value. We used this company to get our visa: https://www.passportvisasexpress.com/site/san_francisco_customer_service Note that it costs about the same for a 3-year visa as a one-year, and you never know if you might want to return within that more extended window of time. It is not cheap, so factor that into your planning.

If you like traveling without a guide in other countries and find this satisfying, the same will be true in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Of course it's not either/or - you can certainly take a guided walk or boat tour, for instance.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of learning Cyrillic if you're going on your own. The book I used was Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script, which was great. It breaks down the alphabet into letters that are the same as English, letters that look the same but are pronounced differently, etc. It's out of print, but you can get used copies on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Beginners-Russian-Script/dp/0071419861/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459701143&sr=8-2&keywords=teach+yourself+russian+script

Russia is indeed a bit more "foreign" than say, Italy. However, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, I found enough English to be able to get by. Many restaurants had English menus and/or English speaking staff, for instance. This was most emphatically not true in Vladimir and Suzdal (two cities in the Golden Ring outside Moscow). I went with my sister, a Russian speaker, and if she hadn't been there, I would have been in big trouble. So, if you want to see places outside these two big cities, use a guided tour (even if just for that part). Also, Moscow and St. Petersburg are huge cities. Coming from New York, I wasn't intimidated, but those not used to a megacity may not be so cavalier (even I found them overwhelming at times, especially Moscow).

I found both Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to be helpful, and both to have various errors. Look at both, buy whichever one has a more recent edition, and then be prepared to have to discard some of the advice therein. Also, these places change more quickly than places in Western Europe. Be very careful of outdated advice. For instance, I was there in 2001 and 2010, so I won't give you any specifics on getting a visa - that changes constantly.

Just as a teaser, two things I saw and loved that I doubt would be included in any escorted tour are the Gorky House in Moscow (an Art Nouveau wonder) and the Sheremyetov Palace in St. Petersburg (it's now a museum of musical instruments, and the decor is amazing, particularly in the Etruscan Room).

Thanks for all the good advice. Any additional thoughts are welcomed.

One of history's seminal works pertaining to Russian history and culture and a MUST for anyone contemplating a visit or simply interested , is this fine work from 1980 - http://www.amazon.com/Land-Firebird-The-Beauty-Russia/dp/096441841X

This is about you and not about Petersburg. Do you like guided tours? We don't and didn't find that a guide added to our experience in China where we did hire private guides mostly for the logistics; it was easy to have someone drive us places. But once at a site, we didn't need the guide. I felt the same way about our 9 nights in Petersburg. We did hire a guide for the trip to the Catherine Palace again for the ease of logistics for us Olds. Here is our visit: https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/an-easy-trip-to-the-catherine-palace/ There are also snapshots of the Church on Spilled Blood in this photo journal. Having someone pick us up at the apartment and get us in without line ups and shepherd us through the palace steering clear of the tour groups was lovely. But we didn't need commentary because we can read and prepare.

You certainly don't need a guide for the Hermitage (we spent 4 days there), the Russian Museum, the Kazan Cathedral or Church on Spilled Blood or the Faberge Museum. We enjoyed a number of self guided walking tours including a couple from Rick Steves guidebooks. We took the canal cruise suggested by RS that had an English commentator. I would not take one without that as you will be totally clueless. The commentator was not all that good but at least we had some idea what we were seeing. So for people like us who like to do our own thing and can read a guidebook and don't particularly like to be led about, a tour is not needed. If you enjoy tour groups, then go for it. Petersburg is easy to negotiate. It helps if you can read the cyrillic alphabet and it is also useful to have the google translate ap on your phone. We found ourselves translating packages in grocery stores with it and the occasional museum sign or menu. I have one food I need to avoid and so it was handy to have the translator to talk with waiters (I could either show them the sentence, or play it for them or play it to myself and then repeat it to the waiter -- that all worked well)

Dear Russ, I cannot help you with Moscow, but about four years ago, my husband and I went to St Petersburg on our own. But, we did use a private guide for 4 half days. We both feel that our guide absolutely made our trip (we stayed 6 or 7 nights). We used a company owned by Tatyana Chiurikova, www.tour-stpetersburg.com I cannot say enough good things about her and our experience. I emailed her and we worked out a schedule/ sights that was tailored to our interests. She also offered some recommendations, which we took. The guide will meet you at your hotel. And frequently, at certain places, with the guide, we were able to skip the long entrance lines. We had an half day driving tour of the city (car, driver, & guide). You are taken to & go in places such as Peter & Paul Fortress, some of the cathedrals, etc. We had a half day with the guide at the Hermitage which ensured that we would see the major sights there. And, of course, you can stay after your guide leaves or return another day. Also, we had the guide for Peterhof (a must & go by boat) and Catherine's Palace. I hope that you will go to the website. As I said, our guide made our trip. I am positive that we would have missed quite a bit on our own everyday. And I'm sure we would have wasted a lot of time trying to get to various place.This was the best of both worlds, a guide where needed and plenty of time on our own. Whatever you do, I'm sure that you will love St Petersburg! Ashley

I am curious about the lines as we encountered no lines on our trip -- but it was in September. We got tickets for the Hermitage at machines and skipped those lines and our guide for the Catherine Palace which was our only guided experience (as noted before, chosen for the logistics of getting there) had arranged tickets and we didn't have a line, but then we also didn't see lines. We did not find lines at any other site.

Both Moscow and St Petersburg I've done on my own, that is together with the Dear Partner. I can't remember any problem getting where we wanted to go. The Metro systems are well signed, and with a little exercise and patience you can recognize the station names. With a good map and a good guide - we had the Rough Guides - that part of the logistics is solved. The language is a major problem, but the usual tricks of pointing, looking helpless, and making a joke of it all do wonders. I would hate to be led by a guide, but for others it is a comfortable thought.

We also did both cities on our own. I found the DK Eyewitness guide for Moscow has the best map. I used the one from our library (kept the book at home). Took the smaller RS book for St. Petersburg ( his book on northern cities). His map and restaurant ideas were all good. We also downloaded the Google maps in our Android Samsung tablets/phones for both cities and then could get directions to any place we typed in. The blue ball guided us everywhere. I'm sure we missed somethings by not having a guide, but we just enjoy walking around and getting a sense of a place. If you like art, The Hermitage is great. We went 3 times and still missed alot. In St. Peterburg we stayed at the 3 Mosta which we loved (quite and not far from the Church of Spilled Blood.) We also loved the Georgian food in both cities. There's a great Georgian restaurant near the 3 Mosta hotel. We're now in Belarus- very scenic. Enjoy your trip!!

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Trans-Siberian Railway Prices

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Ticket prices for the Trans-Siberian Railway also depend on the current ruble exchange rate.

Is the Trans-Siberian Railway expensive?

Before starting on your Trans-Siberian Railway adventure you naturally want to know what the entire trip will cost. Although this sounds like a simple question, it is pretty difficult to answer. The Trans-Siberian Railway price of travel depends on the following factors:

• Which travel class do I want to use? The price for a first class ticket is about three times the price of a 3rd class ticket
• Am I willing to buy the tickets myself and assume responsibility for the organisation of the trip?
• How many stopovers do I want to make? The more breaks, the higher the total price.
• What sort of accommodation do I want? Will it be a luxury hotel or will a hostel dormitory be sufficient?
• What tours and excursions would I like to go on?
• What is the current exchange rate for rubles?

Basically, everything from a luxury to a budget holiday is available. If you buy yourself a 3rd Class nonstop ticket at the counter, a few hundred Euros will cover the price. All you will experience is a week on the Trans-Siberian train and will see nothing of the cities on the way. There is, however, any amount of room for upward expansion. Everyone makes different choices about which aspects they are willing to spend money on. I personally prefer to save money on accommodation and railcar class, visit as many cities and do as many trips as possible. To enable better classification of your travel expenses I have contrasted two typical traveler types. In the third column you can calculate the total cost of your own journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Please keep in mind that these are only rough estimations and not exact prices.

The all-in costs seem fairly high at first. However, they cover everything and it is quite a long journey taking four weeks. Many people forget to consider that when looking at the list. We should also deduct the running costs for food and leisure at home. I think most visitors to this page will classify themselves somewhere between the two categories, that is around the € 2,000 – € 2,500 range. When comparing these prices with other travel packages, you get the impression that it is hardly worthwhile travelling individually on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Please keep in mind that most packages last no more than 14 days and you are herded like cattle through the most beautiful locations.

If you spend less time on the Trans-Siberian Railway you will, of course, pay less. I chose this particular travel length because I prefer not to do things by halves. If you fulfill your dream of travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway, enjoy it and don’t rush things. But it’s up to you, of course. Try playing around with the form a bit to find the appropriate price for your trip.

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Space Travel is DMC, based in Russia, Moscow. 

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TourHQ ID: RU15404

Private Tours Operator in: Moscow

Other Guiding City: Grozny, Urus-Marten, Lake Kezenoyam

Languages spoken by our guides: Arabic, English, German, Russian, Spanish

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