The vast opportunities offered by Asian travellers, particularly the Chinese, to the global tourism industry and the latest technological innovations shaping the industry took centre stage at the recent ITB Asia in Singapore.
Conferences at the event also focused on the need for the travel industry to understand the requirements of online travel consumers who are increasingly embracing new devices such as smartphones and tablets and who demand more personalised real-time services and enjoy sharing travel reviews and services with their peers.With that, competition between intermediaries and direct suppliers has heated up, while a new generation of companies is sprouting, all determined to become future giants of the travel industry.THE ANSWER IS CHINA China was the talk of the town at the trade show and the country’s booming tourism sector is forecast to provide major impetus to global tourism.The eighth ITB Asia came to a close on October 23, with 760 exhibitors from 73 countries, close to 880 buyers and more than 10,300 attendees taking part over the three days.The event, held at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, saw a strong presence from the Philippines, which increased its booth space by nearly 70 per cent, as well as Finland, Egypt, Argentina and India. It also welcomed newcomers including Iceland, Laos, Azerbaijan, Lithuania and Portugal.During the opening conference of the event, industry heavyweights including the World Tourism & Travel Council (WTTC), Expedia and Airbnb all echoed the view that Asia, particularly China, is set to drive the global tourism growth in the next few years and industry players are better advised to use the mobile technology to tap the opportunities.The outbound Chinese tourist numbers topped 100 million last year and the trend has accelerated in the first half of 2015, experts said.This means big bucks for the host cities, as Chinese travellers are known to be big spenders, reporting an estimated $165 billion in travel spend in 2014 alone.'WTTC expects the strongest growth in international tourist arrivals in 2015 to come from Asia and the Pacific regions and companies looking to penetrate these markets even further should focus on individualisation and innovation,' said Dr Michael Frenzel, chairman, WTTC.
MOBILE FOCUSThe growing tech-savvy Asian middle class, with its varied travel requirements, provides great opportunities for the sector. The industry needs to stay innovative, making use of the latest travel technology and the opportunities provided by digitization, he said.'Products and services need to be available online, even bookable via mobile devices and the tourism industry has to actively engage in social media and stay in touch with travellers throughout the customer journey,' said Dr Frenzel.Further, it is of outmost importance to be able to collect information and to utilise the data to tailor products to customer needs, he added.While 200 million Chinese travellers made bookings through their PCs last year, jumping from more than 100 million in 2013, mobile bookings reached a massive 134 million in 2014 compared to just 45 million in 2013, said Zhengrong Tang, chief technology officer, Tuniu Corporation.According to Donald Yu, CEO and founder of Tuniu.com, online travel and tourism is a business with huge returns on investment (ROI). 'By focusing on what Chinese tourists consider the most when using an online service, businesses can capitalise on the ROIs and develop their operations in the region,' he said.
PARTNER COUNTRYThe show organisers announced that Finland will be its partner country for 2016.At the show next year, VisitFinland, the Finnish Tourism Board will launch a new Stopover Finland programme, in collaboration with Finnair, which will aim at developing the European country as a stopover destination for passengers travelling via Helsinki airport. The Stopover Finland product menu will include 50 easily reachable packages and services, ranging from five hours to five days in different parts of Finland and will also include accommodation services and various other activities.The Stopover Finland menu will be released in spring 2016 and will be first launched for tourists from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.Like all other regions, the Middle East also vied for a share of the Asian market with companies from Qatar and Jordan, among others, actively participating in the event.Over the last two years, ITB Asia has worked closely with Marina Bay Sands, which was the host venue and hotel for the event. In an announcement at the show, ITB Asia has further extended its collaboration with Marina Bay Sands for another three years, from 2017 to 2019.ITB Asia organisers expect to expand the event in 2016 and will continue successful elements such as the on-floor Travel & Technology Showcase. ITB Asia will also be introducing new features such as a Destination Showcase where destinations can highlight their unique offerings to attendees.
By Nikita Philip
***********************************************************************************************************************************Chinese traveller bookings
100m Online bookings in 2013
200m Online bookings in 2014
45m Mobile bookings in 2013
134m Mobile bookings in 2014