Discova has formed a dedicated sales team who will focus on Asia both as a source and destination market, as it gears up to seize domestic and regional travel opportunities in the region.
The team located in various markets across Asia will be serving Discova’s partners and their travellers based in the region.
Andrew Turner, director of sales at Discova, said: “Discova is deeply rooted in Asia. We have been operating in Asia for over 25 years and have helped thousands of travellers from all around the world discover this amazing region. It is only natural that we are now expanding to serve partners and their travellers based in Asia. We believe Asia offers a great potential both from a domestic and regional tourism perspective.”
With domestic travel paving the way for tourism’s return, Discova has been expanding its product offering in key Asian markets including Thailand, Singapore, and Japan to meet growing domestic tourism demand.
For example in Singapore, Discova has launched a new graffiti tour, offering Singaporeans the opportunity to rediscover the trendy Kampong Glam neighbourhood. Visitors are taken to the street art of the area by local graffiti artists and invited to draw graffiti on designated walls.
“Even though we sometimes sell our products directly to domestic travellers like expats in Thailand, we are primarily a B2B business and as such, we are focusing on serving domestic travellers through our partners,” said Turner.
The newly appointed Asia sales team is also gearing up to seize intra-Asia tourism opportunities when borders reopen in the region.
Turner explained: “Before Covid hit, our intra-Asia travel business was growing, and we believe this trend will be amplified in a post-vaccine world. Asia-based travellers will most likely avoid long-distance trips and prioritise short-haul flights and close destinations they are already familiar with. We want to tap into this growing market working together with our Asia-based partners.”
Having organised programmes in partnership with local schools and universities in Asia for international students from Australia, Europe and the US, Discova is now expanding its educational travel offering to Asia-based international schools and universities for Asia-based students.
“Asia-based international schools and universities are looking for opportunities to participate in community development projects in the region as part of their students’ curriculum. Thanks to our long-standing relationships with our communities across Asia, we are able to respond directly to the needs of those educational organisations,” said Turner.
As well, Discova is expanding its offering for corporates, including employee incentive or employee engagement activities.
Turner explained: “With employees encouraged to work remotely, there is growing demand from corporates in the region for employee engagement initiatives or activities which will bring people back together. Each initiative is tailor-made; we often engage directly with the human resources department of the company to build the employee engagement activity based on their requirements.
“Our focus on domestic and intra-Asia travel is part of our long-term growth plan in the region. It is particularly exciting because it encourages us to create new products for customers who are particularly savvy, having first-hand knowledge of the destination and the region they live in. Our domestic and intra-Asia travel products are very inspiring and will certainly appeal to international travellers when borders reopen.”
