Malaysia agents bemoan new e-visa process

January 11, 2016

MALAYSIA has introduced e-visa facilities for travellers from China since January 2, 2016, but the process has proven troublesome as applicants risk losing their passports, opined some Malaysian agents.

Applications must be made online, then after five working days and upon confirmation, the applicant will have to send their passport to a visa centre in China and pay RMB$50 for it to be couriered back to them. The visa fee remains at RMB$80 and processing costs RMB$120.

Mint Leong, secretary-general of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, said that the old system was safer as travellers could get travel agents to handle their visas for them.

“Now there is the danger of the passport getting lost in the post. We are not seen as being tourist-friendly at all. If the system is not improved soon, we will lose market share to neighbouring countries,” she said.

John Chan, business consultant, Kris International Traveltours, opined: “The introduction of e-visa is a step in the right direction. However, the application process needs to be improved. A shorter approval process is needed, and safety and security procedures must be factored in.

“The Australian visa application procedure is a good benchmark. It is an efficient system where application procedures are hassle free, response is fast and applicants can print out the approved online visa themselves.”

Kuoni India brand to be abandoned

By Rohit Kaul

January 11, 2016

FAIRFAX Financial Holdings, which owns Thomas Cook India, will discontinue the Kuoni brand name in India in the coming months.

Fairfax had earlier acquired Kuoni Group’s travel businesses in India and Hong Kong last year and under the agreement, Fairfax has access to the Kuoni name for one year in India and five years in Hong Kong. Kuoni Hong Kong will remain in use.

Madhavan Menon, chairman and managing director, Thomas Cook India, said: “If I look at other names that we have acquired like SOTC and SITA, they are better known brands here. We will drop the Kuoni name as we go forward.”

As for Kuoni Hong Kong, Menon said that it is an established brand and “apart from the fact that it is an extremely well run business, we also clearly see that it will give us a footprint in Asia.”

Menon is also keen to leverage on its newly acquired entities to help replace the Thomas Cook brand – a name it will be losing in 2025 as part of the agreement with Thomas Cook Group UK in 2012. Menon further dispelled rumours of any change in management in both India and Hong Kong.

Additionally, Kuoni India’s inbound business, known as Kuoni Destination Management and which operates under the SITA brand, will be merged with Fairfax’s Travel Corporation of India. Meanwhile, its outbound businesses, Thomas Cook India and SOTC India, will continue to operate as two different companies, but share backend services.

Newsmaker: Urhammer preps Contiki for the future

By Paige Lee Pei Qi

January 11, 2016

WITH no prior experience in the travel industry, Casper Urhammer took on the top job at Contiki Holidays over a year ago and now plots a course for the millennials-focused tour operator to be better at what it already does best – entice 18 to 35 year-olds to go on group holidays with them.

Despite the inexperience, the 40-year-old CEO, who was most recently managing director of Groupon Australia and New Zealand, and co-founder of Groupon Denmark before that, has the advantage of international exposure and years of technological chops behind him.

Those talents are coming in handy now with Contiki launching a new website in early-2016, which he describes as being “content driven”, using “groundbreaking technology” and “100 times better” than Contiki’s present web portal. The new website will also be focused on generating leads for Contiki’s travel agents, added Urhammer.

While the mindsets of millennials remain a puzzle for many, the fledgling CEO seems to have a good handle on it. Afterall, he has just spent the last one year embarking on more than 10 Contiki trips around the world, interacting with a generation of travellers accustomed to digital formats, mobile technology and novel experiences.

Urhammer speaks to Paige Lee Pei Qi on how best to win the hearts and minds of millennials in this Newsmaker interview:

It’s been just over a year since you took over the role as CEO. How has it been settling into the industry?
It’s been really good. It doesn’t feel like a year. It feels like a lot shorter. There are so many things to learn coming to a business this size, and for me to come from somewhere out of the industry. I have been travelling 250 days over the past year to meet the various regions and sales offices to fully understand every corner of the business.

Apart from the travelling, what else has been keeping you busy at Contiki?
Two things that have taken a lot of my time is setting the vision for marketing and technology. These are critical given that our customers are the true digital natives – 18 to 35 year-olds – and it is incredibly important that we stay relevant to them and we have a bit of catching up to do.

What needs catching up?
Our current website is nearly nine years old now, so we are building a new website which will be fully mobile-optimised because we see more than half our local traffic coming from mobile. The new website will also be more engaging, innovative and more personalised. We want to create an emotional connection between young travellers and our brands. The way millennials consume media today is changing. The way you connect with them is through content. Apart from connecting with them you must ensure they are able to relate to it as well. The website will also be strongly focused on generating leads so that we can then hand over to our travel agents.

Looks like your background in technology is coming in handy?
I am a bit of a geek. I like and understand that space very well. I want to develop our digital assets here and that’s indeed my key strength that I can bring to Contiki.

So when can we see this new website launch?
Wait for it in early 2016. The website is our biggest priority. We are going to launch groundbreaking technology there in terms of how you will explore and navigate. It will be very content driven and I have no qualms about saying it will be 100 times better than our current website.

You are 40 now. How do you go about getting into the mindset of a millennial?(Laughs) I join Contiki tours quite often. This year I joined more than 10 trips. I connect with travellers even though I cannot pretend that I am a millennial. I will chat with them and I am honest about who I am and what I am here for. I will listen to the clients and get their feedback to make sure our strategies are sound.

So for example, how we are building our website now is based on three months of comprehensive research from our clients and what are their habits and challenges they face in exploring our product in a digital format.

Any memorable incidents from meeting your customers?
When I started in Contiki London, I joined a tour there on my first day and I met a lovely young girl called Mary from Arizona, USA. I asked her what her motivation for taking the trip was. She said to me: “Casper, I’m the first one in my family ever to leave America, and the first one in the family to have a passport. I have been working at a Subway for the last four years. I even ate too much Subway and gained a couple of kilos. But I did that to save as much as possible for this trip.”

Imagine the pride radiating from her to be there. To me that was so humbling. It reminded me that my most important role is to make sure that each and every traveller that goes on tour gets the time of his or her life.

How does Contiki stay appealing to millennials?
Friendships. Everyone wants to be independent but what we can provide them is the joy of being part of a group. While they want to be independent, what we do differently is that we also offer them free time. We don’t dictate what they do every minute of the day.

Contiki has a good justification in many ways. It is safe, you can trust us, we know what we are doing and you are in a good environment that guarantees fun and friendships.

Tell us more about the Travel Styles concept launched in 2014.

We don’t believe that there’s a right way to travel. Travelling is intended for everyone. There should be a product for everyone. We acknowledge that no two travellers are the same. The way we differentiate our product is based on the ways they travel. We have eight ways – Discovery Plus, High Energy, In-Depth Explorer, Easy Pace, Freestyle Camping, Sailing & Cruise, Winter & Ski, Festivals & Short Stays.

So for example if you like to wake up early in the morning, and go to bed late at night and see and do everything – you are a high energy traveller which is very popular. On the other extreme, there is an easy pace category where you get up later and spend more time in the destination.

Where are the millennials traveling to these days?
We see a lot of young travellers wanting to get to Iceland to see the Northern Lights, the Mediterranean, and also Eastern Europe with the rise in popularity of Game of Thrones.

What about the business, how has it grown?
For 2015, we are up by eight per cent which is an incredible number given how big our base is. This is in line with our targets and forecasts. For 2016, our sales figures wise, I can’t even give you a good indication. We are up so much we have to pinch our arms to make sure we are not dreaming. We are doing very well now.

Travel business outlook for 2016

By TTG Asia

January 6, 2016

Travel companies in Asia-Pacific are generally optimistic about their business prospects in 2016, with the outbound market expected to remain a bright spot

SINGAPORE
By Paige Lee Pei Qi

Inbound
Jaclyn Yeoh
Managing director, Siam Express
I have recently engaged a new Europe and China representative, hence I am looking forward to having more sales from these two regions. I will be happy if we can maintain the sales revenue as in 2015. We also need to bundle Singapore with our regional countries to sell them as one package in order to improve market share and hopefully this new marketing strategy will improve the sales performance in 2016.

Outbound
Anthony Chan
Managing director, Chan Brothers Group
We are projecting five to 10 per cent year-on-year increase in travel demand for 2016. While (evergreen) destinations such as China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and regional cruises will remain popular, we also see a growing appetite for more exotic vacations to the Arctic Circle and South America.

We are implementing strategies to leverage technology to improve service, increase efficiency, broaden market reach and change our business model. Besides mainstream offerings, we are positioning the company as one reputed for alternative and exotic travels, a growing segment in the travel market. On the web, we are moving towards increasing our online presence to see growth regionally and worldwide.

INDONESIA
By Mimi Hudoyo

Inbound
Umberto Cadamuro
COO inbound, PACTO
Having successfully weathered the multiple challenges in 2015 and posted another excellent year in terms of profit, 2016 presents exciting and rich opportunities. With the strong demand for groups that not only cover 2016 but extends all the way to 2017, we feel we stand on solid ground.

Various challenges are afflicting our industry, yet we are able to keep expanding in new markets to maintain both profitability and a balanced market share. Our next stop is South America!

Outbound
Willy Sihombing
Managing director, Sedona Holidays Tour and Travel Medan
My outbound business prospect for 2016 is positive. While the early part of 2015 saw slower business than in 2014, demand for incentives and FITs started to pick up towards the end of 2015. I am expecting this to continue into 2016.

The aggressive promotions by NTOs like Japan, Thailand and Malaysia have helped enticed (Indonesians) to travel. Overseas tour operators have come up with new ideas and programmes to attract travellers by allowing agents like us to send two or three pax to join a sit-in-coach tour together with guests from other travel companies, etc. (The diverse tour options) make it easier for us to sell packages.

THAILAND
By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

Inbound
Pornthip Hirunkate
Deputy CEO and managing director, Thailand, Destination Asia
2016 will be a challenging year for Destination Asia due to various factors including economics and political matters that compound on our business.

We still continue to see positive signs from our clients from the UK, Northern Europe, the US and Latin America markets. To stay on top we have to be more creative with our products and activities.

A positive sign is that there are also more cruise lines calling at Phuket, Laem Chabang and Koh Samui in 2016, and we have seen positive growth within MICE groups from the US since last year which shows confidence is returning to the destination.

Outbound
Vorapong Muchaothai
Director of sales and marketing, Standard Tour
We are seeing growth for the outbound market due to more direct flights coming in and out of Chiang Mai, where we are based. According to Thai immigration figures, the number of Thai outbound travellers from Chiang Mai is around 80,000 in 2015, and is likely to exceed 100,000 in 2016, and we are also recording a stronger interest from northern Thais to travel overseas as Chiang Mai grows in flight connectivity.

We are promoting destinations farther afield such as Japan as well as Bali, Australia and New Zealand by partnering SilkAir on chartered services via Singapore.

MALAYSIA
By S Puvaneswary

Inbound
Francis Cheong
Managing director, Apxara Travel & Events
2016 is an extremely promising year for us. As of end-November 2015, our forward quotations are already up to December 2016. With Malaysia being the most affordable ASEAN destination due to a weak ringgit, Malaysian destinations are of great value for many incoming markets.

Outbound
Adam Kamal
CEO, Olympik Holidays
Outbound business will be slow unless the ringgit strengthens. We are placing emphasis on outbound packages to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines as there are many LCCs flying to these destinations with affordable airfares, which is good for us.

PHILIPPINES
By Rosa Ocampo

Inbound
Bernadette De Leon
General manager, Amiable Intertours
I used to have lots of inbound groups and families but they are hurt by (the bullet-planting scam at Ninoy Aquino International Airport) and peace and order concerns. And with a lot of ASEAN destinations offering cheaper fares, accommodations and tours, plus guaranteed security, (travellers) would rather visit Vietnam, Bali, Thailand and Malaysia and fly direct to those (destinations).

Outbound
Rowena Baltazar
Sales manager, Adam’s Express Travel Group
Outbound business will continue to boom in 2016 as travel becomes even more affordable, with good rates for airfares, accommodations and tours abroad.

Japan will be the top draw as it has eased its visa requirements and its government is more active in promoting the destination.
Filipinos will troop around Asia especially to the emerging destinations of Bali, Borobudur and Vietnam, apart from old favourites of Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore.

(Demand for) France will ease a bit due to recent terrorist attack but Italy will pull religious trips as the Pope opened the Holy Door of the Vatican for the Year of the Poor.

HONG KONG
By Prudence Lui

Inbound
Hazen Tang
Executive director, HS Travel
Given the current global economy and falling arrivals, I am worried about business (this year). Provided that there are no major disasters or accidents this year, the city may experience around 10 per cent drop of arrivals. It’s vital for Hong Kong to develop more new products for tourism.

Outbound
Simon Wo
General manager, Premium Holidays
Foreseeable economic downturn may dampen the middle class’s appetite to travel but not high-spending professionals who will continue to seek novel destinations. Indeed, we remain cautiously optimistic because travel has become a lifestyle for Hong Kongers and airlines may come up with discounts to drive traffic.

We will channel more resources to high-end products with emphasis on South America, the North Pole and South Pole in 2016.

MACAU
By Prudence Lui

Inbound
Cooper Zhang
Manager, international department, CITS Macau
I hope it will be better than 2015 with the opening of new hotels and integrated resorts in 2016. These new offers may attract more tourists to Macau, especially from China. If the Chinese Central Government relaxes the travel permits for Chinese passport holders visiting Macau, it would definitely help.

Outbound
Sabrina Iong
General manager, EGL Tour (Macau)
The outbound traffic will be more or less the same as 2015 but this depends on the business environment and local gaming performance which affect the desire of travel. Moreover, Macanese are concerned about security when choosing a destination, so areas with terrorist attacks would be avoided. Overall speaking, we would be happy if we can maintain the same level of business achieved in 2015.

CHINA
By Caroline Boey

Inbound
Sarah Keenlyside
Founder and CEO of The Bespoke Travel Company
China is poised to become the world’s largest business travel destination in 2016, an increase we already saw last year. Many of our business travel clients are either adding sightseeing or integrating some form of cultural immersion/partner programme into their trip. We hope this uptick will continue, especially given the drop in inbound leisure and FIT travellers in 2015.
Continued improvement in the number and quality of hotels on offer in China’s less-visited cities such as Kunming and Chengdu is also likely to encourage travellers to be a little braver with their trip planning.

Outbound
Lu Hao Shuo
Deputy general manager, inbound travel division, Kunming CITS
According to my outbound colleagues, demand from Yunnan will continue to increase in 2016. Travellers are still confident of China’s economy and there is interest in visiting other parts of the world after having enjoyed domestic tours. Compared to the rising cost of domestic travel, outbound tour prices are also more stable.

South-east Asia, the Middle East and Europe are popular destinations during the peak holiday periods, and beach holidays are very attractive. But unrest and terrorist attacks are raising security concerns and have resulted in cancellations to the Middle East and Europe. Meanwhile, South Asia started picking up in 2014 at a rapid pace.

JAPAN
By Julian Ryall

Inbound
Megumi Ueda
General manager, Ayabex
We have seen a tremendous increase in foreign tourists visiting Japan in 2015 and we expect that trend to continue into 2016 as well. We are anticipating more repeat customers – including FITs, groups and MICE clients – returning to Japan. That means that we need to identify new sightseeing spots and activities for them; it is up to us to provide them with interesting and exciting new destinations that meet their needs.

Outbound
Daisuke Watanabe
Senior manager, Micronesia division, JTB World Vacations
We think (business) this year will be about the same level as 2015 for outbound tourists from Japan to our destinations. That is in part because the number of flights to Guam from Japan, except for Tokyo, will be reduced from April 2. Like other agents focused on the islands of the Pacific, we plan to draw up package tours that utilise charter flights to boost our numbers.

AUSTRALIA
By Rebecca Elliott

Inbound
Sujata Raman
Managing director, Abercrombie & Kent
In a word, excellent. The low Australian dollar undoubtedly had an impact, but so has the perceived safety of the destination as well as its clean and green image. Forward bookings are double the value that we had at the same time last year. All markets are strong into Australia including Asia, and in particular China.

Outbound
Tom Walley
Head of leisure travel, Flight Centre
Asia continues to be a big focus for us in 2016. We are gearing up for the return of our big Asia campaign that spotlights the diversity of experiences on offer with some of the hottest market deals, while travel packages to popular destinations will feature throughout the year. River cruising in Asia has emerged as a trend in 2015 and we expect this to continue, alongside the rise of youth specific tours, small group journeys and family-friendly packages.

INDIA
By Rohit Kaul

Inbound
Arun Anand
Managing director, Midtown Travels
I expect 2016 will be a positive year for the Indian inbound industry. The e-visa scheme has now been extended to 113 countries, simplifying travel to India for majority of markets. The new year will see the e-visa facility gaining momentum and playing an instrumental role in the growth of inbound markets like the UK and the US.

The Indian prime minister travelled to many countries in 2015 and created a positive image of the country globally. This, coupled with the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and private players, will help the inbound industry to make inroads in many traditional and new markets.

Outbound
Anil Kalsi
Joint managing director, Ambe World Travels
2016 looks very promising for the travel industry. I feel that many more countries will reciprocate the visa-on-arrival facility for Indian nationals, making impulsive outbound travel a reality.

We are a nation on the move and with today’s work pressure, everyone needs more breaks to unwind. I see a huge upsurge in the honeymoon segment for which we now have a dedicated website. The luxury segment has also matured and Indians now want to experience the exclusivities of the world, so this segment too will see good demand.

Changing fortunes

By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

January 6, 2016

The days of inflated room rates in Yangon are over, as new hotels have opened up to ease the severe room crunch. Xinyi Liang-Pholsena sizes up the new situation

It was barely three years ago when soaring demand and a paucity of rooms in Yangon sent the hotel industry booming and rates skyrocketing. The doors to the country had just opened after decades of military rule, drawing a massive influx of foreign direct investment and dramatic upswell of interest from the global travel community.

The situation is now changing, as a large increase in hotel supply has applied downward pressure on highly-inflated room rates and turned the tables for players in Yangon’s tourism field.

Supply up, rates down
Yangon’s upper-scale room supply grew in 1H2015 with an addition of 489 rooms following the opening of Novotel Yangon Max and the soft launch of Rose Garden Hotel, according to Colliers International. This led to a 23 per cent HoH expansion of the citywide stock to 2,582 rooms – a record high. The supply is expected to dramatically increase in 2016 and potentially triple by 2018, the report added.

In October 2015, Sedona Hotel Yangon soft-opened its Inya Wing, adding 431 guestrooms and suites to its existing 366-room Garden Wing to bring its total inventory to 797 keys – the biggest in town.

More international-standard hotels are debuting in the next two years. In 2016 alone, hotels poised to open their doors include the 429-room Meliá Yangon, the 300-room Pullman Yangon Myat Min, the 238-room Jasmine Palace, the 300-room Grand Centre Point Hotel and the 155-room Grand Golden View Hotel. Global hospitality brands like Kempinski and Sheraton will also emerge on Yangon’s hotel scene by 2017.

Despite the rise in visitor arrivals, the average occupancy rate has dwindled in the past three consecutive years. Based on figures from Colliers, the city-wide occupancy for upper-scale hotels dropped four and 10 per cent in 1Q2015 from the same periods in 2014 and 2013 respectively.

Meanwhile, room prices in Yangon have dipped with boost in supply. RevPAR citywide in 1Q2015 also recorded a 11.6 per cent decline after rising 3.5 per cent year-on-year between 2013 and 2014.

“In the olden days, which were just three years ago, people were throwing money and couldn’t get a room. Those were the really good days,” said Mok Kok Meng, general manager at Sedona Hotel Yangon, who shared that average rates at the property have dipped from US$250 to US$165.

“It’s much more balanced now, with three-star and economy hotels popping up across the board and providing some breathing space for the industry. We welcomed this because they helped in the overall sense by making it easier to get a room at a more affordable and logical rate.”

New opportunities, new challenges
While it may be a bane for hoteliers, lower room rates in Yangon now tilt the situation in favour for inbound players and visitors alike.

Thomas Barrows, product manager, Myanmar, Exo Travel, said: “One of the main drawbacks to travelling in Myanmar in the past was the high cost of the hotels compared to neighbouring countries. As the supply of rooms starts to greatly increase, we are seeing hotel costs going down, making Myanmar a much more affordable destination.”

With the expansion in Yangon’s upmarket hotel inventory, Tour Mandalay managing director and owner Khin Zaw sees strong potential in pursuing the high-end FIT markets from the UK, the US, Germany and France. Changes in car import regulations have also made transfers a more comfortable and plush affair with the availability of new luxury cars.

While room crunch is no longer an issue, inbound agents stress that the bigger challenge lies in overcoming the perception that Yangon – or Myanmar as a whole – remains a pricey destination.

Highlighting the need to update and educate overseas agents on the price situation in Yangon, Edwin Briels, general manager of Khiri Travel Myanmar, commented: “When I compare how much a three- or four-star tourist spends for a trip to Myanmar with other ASEAN countries, I think that Myanmar is not that expensive…prices spent in a day in other ASEAN countries are pretty much on par.”

Compounding the pricey perception is the traditional slump in tourism during the monsoon season in Myanmar, another issue inbound players are keen to overcome too. Said Khin Zaw: “Our tourist season is only six months, unlike Thailand which sees tourists year-round. We need to tell visitors that Myanmar can be visited the whole year round, so we need to target new markets like Russia, Canada, Latin America and Australia (to spread footfalls during the low season).”

At the same time that Yangon’s room crunch is being alleviated, the city’s streets, on the other hand, are now facing congestion as the vehicular growth has vastly outstripped the road infrastructure.

Barrows commented: “The number of cars flooding into the country over the last three years has overwhelmed the infrastructure, particularly in downtown Yangon. With no real viable public transport, the gridlock downtown is becoming quite a problem. A new vision to handle this growing traffic is needed to keep downtown a popular tourist attraction.”

Briels agreed: “A traffic-free zone in the downtown area or better public transportation would be good for tourism as we see that the average number of days tourists are staying in Yangon is decreasing.”

Myanmar Welcome Travels & Tours saw booming demand – an 80 per cent growth – from Thailand in 2015, in part driven by visa-free regulation between Thailand and Myanmar introduced last August.

Said its director Nwe Nwe Khaing: “Back when we had room shortage, the Thai market used to buy three-star properties but with more reasonable prices in Yangon, they have become less budget-conscious and are increasingly turning into a high-end market,” she added.

No longer a frontier destination?
Thailand is not the only market visiting Yangon in droves. The Ministry of Tourism has predicted 4.5 million tourist arrivals in 2015, up from 3.8 million in 2014 and 2.1 million in 2013. Nearly three-quarters of the international arrivals were from Asian countries, led by Thailand, followed by China, Japan and South Korea.

With rising confidence for Myanmar following the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi in last November elections, the trade expects visitor interest and business prospects for Yangon to stay rosy.

Briels remarked: “We can see that Myanmar has developed itself from a niche destination only for early innovators to a more mature destination. A few years ago, tourists visited Myanmar because it was ‘new’, nowadays tourists visit the country because it simply has a lot to offer them.”

But as Myanmar heads towards its target of 7.5 million tourists by 2020, will mass tourism develop too quickly in Myanmar along the lines of neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam?

Laurent Kuenzle, CEO of Asian Trails, contends that Yangon is still a “far way from being a modern city and a mass tourism destination” as the city retains its traditional ways and charismatic allure.

It’s for the kids

By Raini Hamdi

January 6, 2016

You’re the man who took Outrigger out of Hawaii into Asia.
Well, it wasn’t just me, but yes it was under my watch. Hawaii is a great place and we’ve done extremely well there for years, but it’s only one place. Sometimes as an owner of assets, you worry about the concentration in one place. If there is a big cyclone or some kind of (disaster), the company would be finished and that’s not a good thing for a family business. So the idea of buying assets in different destinations makes good investment sense.

The other piece about it is it enables us to hedge the currency exposure. If we do this right, we will have multiple destinations around the world that have different source markets and different currencies so we’re not exposed if one of them is down. In Fiji, for example, our customer base is mainly Australia/New Zealand, so part of our effort is to diversify the source and get more Chinese, Koreans and Japanese to come in bigger numbers.

Are you an asset player or hotel player?
Our strategy is to buy on a generational basis. The family (Carey is married to Kathy Kelley, the granddaughter of Outrigger founder Roy Kelley) has indicated they want to hold these (resorts) for generations, so we’re really different from a lot of other players. We want to be owner-operator for a long time.

We are not in the business of buying and selling assets, although we have bought and sold. For example, we sold 18 properties in Australia and New Zealand, then bought four back and recently sold them again. In the first instance it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. The second one was because the four hotels are not on the beach and we are refocusing on beachfront properties only.

So you’re like, say, Patek Philippe – you never actually own it, you merely look after it for the next generation?
(Laughs) Yah, that’s the idea. My kids are in their late 20s and early 30s, they are among 14 fourth-generation family members. My brother-in-law is in charge of the business of the family, I’m in charge of the family business, i.e. I run and operate it.

But what we’ve done as a family business is we’ve begun to expose and train the up-and-coming generation members on what it means to own a business and to be in the business. We have quarterly meetings, we train them on everything from why you need prenuptial agreements to how to buy insurance and basic tax rules. Hopefully they will be good citizens of the world but also understand the long-term strategy of the company. We help them be good owners.

Now that doesn’t always work, as sometimes there are things that cause the need to prune the family tree, so to speak. But that’s why we’re unique; we spend a lot of time working on the family relationship. We have an annual event where family members try and build a relationship outside the business so that conflicts among people in the family are not detrimental to the operation of the business.

It’s easy to say, hard to do. We’re working hard and doing it as a focus, a non-trivial exercise.

So where else are you looking at to buy?
We’d like to be in Bali, Hainan, Okinawa, the Seychelles, beachfronts in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Australia. We’ve opened in Phuket, Mauritius, the Maldives – ideally we want to be in all the iconic beachfront destinations people want to go to.

But the biggest challenge in the last 18-24 months was finding reasonably-priced assets. We’re not the only company that is interested in buying properties. All the equity funds and REITs have so much money, so we’ll have to be patient to find the right property at the right place and right time. We’ve also been looking at beachfront resorts in Mexico and the West Coast of US but the asset pricing has been prohibitive.

So what are you going to do, given deals are few and far between and competition for them is stiff?
A lot of our focus right now is to look at the properties in our system today and see what investments we can make to further improve those properties.

For example, in Fiji, some of them could support additional units on property, and we could add may be a spa, do pool improvements and other internal investments.

In Phuket, we’re going to be putting in a beachfront restaurant, upgrade the pool bar and we’ll probably do the usual rooms renovation as appropriate.

(The resort in) Maldives is brand new, but (the one) in Mauritius, which has just been taken over by us, is an older building, so there will be investments to upgrade F&B quality, the little things in the room, spa, etc – it’s a fair amount of work while we continue to look for new acquisitions.

Does it pay off to be only beachfront?
It is a small niche and we’re a small company. If you look at the big global brands – they add 100 properties a year. We’re not going to add 100 properties a year so how can we compete but through owning a niche and executing it exceptionally well from the operational standpoint. The idea is once a guest comes to us, he will go to another Outrigger resort.

Our brand promise is to deliver authentic, world-class hospitality and celebrate the culture of the places we do business. We’re small enough we can be genuinely authentic to a particular culture…My website is not going to be as robust as Marriott’s – they have billions to spend – but I can assure you that anyone who has ever stayed with us and has had that cultural experience will look again at our website.

It’s hard to find a real niche today, isn’ t it, and when you do it gets copied?
Yes, it’s hard to find a niche but I think a values-based management is hard to copy. The genuineness of the hospitality delivery from an employee who believes he is there for a purpose – now that’s hard to copy. It’s also hard to replicate in a multi-thousand units chain.

But doesn’t this niche cut you out of city hotels or urban resorts?
We did talk a lot about that. We say we can’t do both well, we’re not big enough.

Our marketing system is also designed around the resort product.

May be one day when we have lots of different resorts.

Are travel agents still a huge business for resorts?
In the US, we’re very well-known in the agency community. When I first started in the business, 90 per cent of the business was through retail travel agents, either directly or through wholesale tour operators. We were able to reach 50,000 travel agents just through a good selling strategy.

Now, the agency business is declining a bit and is going direct to consumer. So now we’ve had to improve our Internet access. While we’re known among consumers in the US and Japan, we’re working hard to expose our brand in China, because we have several resort locations, for example, the Maldives, which is idyllic for the Chinese. The idea is once they stay with us, they’d go to another Outrigger resort.

It’s tough because we’re competing with the billion-dollar players. So we have to execute exceptionally well from the operational standpoint.

Are agents still important for you then?
They are still a part of our business, particularly out of Europe, Japan, (South) Korea, which are still an agency business. We’ve set up GSAs in the UK, France, Germany, Russia and will probably have one in Dubai to help us penetrate the agency market there.

In destinations such as Hawaii, consumers just go straight to the Internet instead of the retail agent. It is interesting to watch what’s going to happen to the retail travel agent, how they are going to morph over the years. Some are more technology-savvy and have learnt how to connect.

But I think there is room for agents in remote locations. My daughter is getting married in Costa Rica. We go online and find ideas that look interesting – but what is it really like? So the role the retail agent can play is to tell customers ‘I’ve been on a fam trip there, here’s what it’s like’.

You can search all you like but there is nothing like a human explanation.

Seeking authenticity in travel

By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

January 5, 2016

Experiencing all the different facets of a country, not shunning one for the other, will make for a fuller appreciation of a destination. The opportunity to visit a place as it is, and not how we imagine it to be, should be the aim of travel.

My first trip to Myanmar in 2009 left a very deep impression on me. The former pariah state was then under an oppressive military junta which had ruled it for decades, and without the massive development projects and mass tourism that characterised so many other cities in Asia, the country seemed like a land frozen in time.

After a hiatus of six years, I made a trip to Yangon last month and discovered vast changes that have taken place in the country since its gradual liberalisation process in 2010. From a quaint city where just vintage cars and rickety buses ply the roads, Yangon has metamorphosed into a city hungry for changes. There is no shortage of chic bars and restaurants and streets are clogged with SUVs, while high-rises are popping up and Shwedagon Pagoda is no longer the dominating icon on the skyline.

There are positive factors arising from all these changes too. Money changers are more readily available, as is the acceptance of credit cards at major establishments in the city. As new hotels mushroom amid a construction boom, the once highly inflated room rates have given way to more down-to-earth pricing, making Myanmar a more affordable and visitor-friendly destination (see page 6). And with growing air connections, the destination is fast shedding its off-the-beaten-track label, if surging visitor arrival numbers are a good indicator.

As Yangon joins the ranks of other Asian cities in in its pursuit of economic development and modernisation, it would be tempting to dismiss the destination as losing its ‘authenticity’.

In fact, the authentic Myanmar remains to be seen and discovered at every corner, as authenticity, after all, exists in the day-to-day rhythms of a place. A family of four chomping on fried chicken served up in the air-conditioned comfort of KFC is no less real than the longyi-clad man sipping a cup of tea at a dilapidated roadside stall, as is the spanking-new Myanmar Plaza which lures shoppers with international brands like L’Occitane and Skechers as well as the crumbling colonial-era buildings in the downtown – each of them offers a facet of the diversity, hybridity and history that make up Yangon.

By conflating traditions with authenticity and modernisation with Westernisation, we often project our own romanticised notions on how other countries and nationalities should be; economic advancement and tourism are often viewed in disdain, as contaminating and commoditising the ‘culture’ of a hitherto ‘pure’ place.

In reality, no culture is immune to changes and free from interaction with the outside world. Experiencing all the different facets of a country, not shunning one for the other, will make for a fuller appreciation of a destination. For me, the opportunity to visit a place as it is, and not how we imagine it to be, should be the aim of travel.

TTG people

By TTG Asia

December 23, 2015

25-dec-raini RAINI HAMDI
SENIOR EDITOR

• Who’s in your family? Kurt, Hatta, Tamara, Chanel, Vanessa (and their spouses), Luis and Luna

• What do you do for fun? Zumba

• Your ideal vacation? Hiking with Kurt in the Alps

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Kurt does it mostly – he’s retired

• What are you reading right now? A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

• How do you stay healthy? Exercise every day, eat lots of salad, fruits and nuts

• Favourite food? Singapore hawker food

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Drinking more than I should at social functions

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? People who stroll in a crowded walkway; people who read their mobile while walking – especially in crowded walkways

• Most people don’t know that you…have a 28-year-old son

25-dec-karen KAREN YUE
GROUP EDITOR

• Who’s in your family? Two adorable boys – one my age and another who has just turned one in early December

• What do you do for fun? I tell my husband bad jokes and watch him cringe

• Your ideal vacation? A month with my family in a cool and quiet countryside that has been painted in the rich colours of autumn

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I rely on one trusted travel consultant for the easy job of recommending, planning and booking my luxury resort sojourns, but personally take on the time-consuming process of fixing my annual two-week vacations in Japan

• What are you reading right now? A lengthy online article explaining the meaning behind the colours and textures of baby’s poop

• How do you stay healthy? I drink beer; it is made from healthy grains

• Favourite food? Tutu kueh

• A bad habit you cannot kick? I chew my fingernails when I’m thinking

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? People who keep sighing in frustration – they are instant mood busters

• Most people don’t know that you…sold chicken rice in a small neighbourhood shop throughout 2005, just for the experience. It was exhausting work, but so satisfying when you work for yourself

25-dec-xinyi XINYI LIANG-PHOLSENA
DEPUTY EDITOR, TTG ASIA & TTG INDIA

• Who’s in your family? My husband and our baby girl

• What do you do for fun? I like to cook and blog about my culinary learning journey, although having a baby means having less time to try out new recipes

• Your ideal vacation? A road trip with my family, filled with good conversation in the car, numerous food stops and gorgeous scenery along the way

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I usually look to Google and friends for recommendations and tips, before making the bookings directly online

• What are you reading right now? Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick

• How do you stay healthy? Doing housework and lifting my chubby baby whenever I think my arms need some toning

• Favourite food? My current obsession is naam phrik kapi (Thai shrimp paste dip)

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Reading my iPad in the dark

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Supermarket or convenience store staff bagging a single small item into a plastic bag and the customer doesn’t say no

• Most people don’t know that you…were the interpreter for Thai action star Tony Jaa during his Tom Yum Goong movie promotion in Singapore

25-dec-puvanes S PUVANESWARY
EDITOR, MALAYSIA

• Who’s in your family? I’d say my dog is more ‘family’ than the humans I live with

• What do you do for fun? I love spending money on foot reflexology

• Your ideal vacation? A quiet beach vacation

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I compare prices online and book with the cheapest provider

• What are you reading right now? Mende Nazer’s autobiography called Slave

• How do you stay healthy? I avoid people who are negative and caustic

• Favourite food? Pineapple pizza

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Drinking more than I should at social functions

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Smokers who ask: “Do you mind if I smoke?” It annoys me that I always say “No” when I do mind so much

• Most people don’t know that you…would love to be an entrepreneur

25-dec-mimi MIMI HUDOYO
EDITOR, INDONESIA

• Who’s in your family? My two sisters, one in-law, and five wonderful nieces and nephews

• What do you do for fun? Spending time with my family – going out for lunch and watching movies together, or gathering around food, drinks and jokes at home

• Your ideal vacation? I travel so much for work that my ideal “vacation” is to stay at home where I can try out new recipes in my kitchen, do some gardening, have a traditional massage (yes, I can call a masseuse home) or just to laze around watching movies

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I book online when I travel to a familiar destination and through a travel consultant when it is a new one

• What are you reading right now? The Rise of Majapahit by young Indonesian novelist Setyo Wardoyo

• How do you stay healthy? I walk for miles and miles…in the shopping malls, and have my weight training with shopping bags in both hands

• Favourite food? Most things savoury

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Snacking under stress (this usually comes when I’m on deadlines)

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Spam mails, spam calls

• Most people don’t know that you…like talking to the plants in my garden

25-dec-paige PAIGE LEE PEI QI
ASSISTANT EDITOR, SINGAPORE

• Who’s in your family? Many ladies (three sisters, my mum) and the only male exception – my dad

• What do you do for fun? Feeble attempts at calligraphy in my journal

• Your ideal vacation? A spa retreat far away from the frenetic city’s hustle and bustle

• How do you book your own leisure trips? My favourite travel consultants are TripAdvisor users who provide me with realistic feedback and expectations before I click book

• What are you reading right now? On top of the Bible, I am in the midst of a psychological thriller by Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train

• How do you stay healthy? Opting for yogurt ice cream instead of the real ice cream

• Favourite food? Green tea chocolate

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Social media. The longest I’ve steered clear of it was one month, when I challenged myself personally to a social media fast

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Skinny people who tell me they are too fat

• Most people don’t know that you…used to wait for Santa Claus when the clock struck 12, and still wishes that he exists

25-dec-rosa ROSA OCAMPO
CORRESPONDENT, THE PHILIPPINES

• Who’s in your family? My siblings, nephews and nieces, a few grandchildren, friends, and friends of friends who camp at home perennially

• What do you do for fun? Sleep

• Your ideal vacation? Catching up with friends anywhere in the world

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Through travel websites

• What are you reading right now? Where God was Born by Bruce Feiler

• How do you stay healthy? Work, work, work, then sleep, sleep, sleep

• Favourite food? Anything and everything edible

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Caffeine addiction and sleeping too much

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Being taken advantage of

• Most people don’t know that you…I can catch a falling star

25-dec-prudence PRUDENCE LUI
CORRESPONDENT, HONG KONG

• Who’s in your family? My hubby and a 13-year old daughter

• What do you do for fun? Outdoor activities to appreciate nature like hiking and canoe

• Your ideal vacation? Enjoying food and wine in the Pacific Alliance (Mexico, Peru, Brazil and Colombia) of South America

• How do you book your own leisure trips? If it’s for family trip, I’ll leave all the hassle to my reliable agent

• What are you reading right now? The First Aid Manualpublished by Hong Kong St John Ambulance for renewing my first aider qualification

• How do you stay healthy? Staying away from desserts and sleeping for at least seven to eight hours per night

• Favourite food?I can’t live without rice, especially congee, rice noodle and rice rolls

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Turning my radio on before going to bed

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Driving too slow in the fast lane during peak hours

• Most people don’t know that you…love Chinese musical instruments and play erhu in my leisure time

25-dec-caroline CAROLINE BOEY
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, CHINA & SPECIAL PROJECTS

• Who’s in your family? My 81-year-old mum, older brother, sister-in-law, two nieces, a nephew and their respective spouses and boyfriend

• What do you do for fun? I enjoy working up a good sweat, spending time with my family and friends, watching my favourite TV series, cooking and baking

• Your ideal vacation? To discover a new place or revisit a favourite where I can still work up a good sweat, spend time with family and friends, watch my favourite TV series, cook and bake

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I book online

• What are you reading right now? A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

• How do you stay healthy? I exercise regularly, drink lots of water, eat healthy and have cheat days, enjoy the occasional drink, get enough sleep and always see the glass half full

• Favourite food? I love anything spicy

• A bad habit you cannot kick? I used to complete people’s sentences but I think I may have been cured

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Rude people

• Most people don’t know that you…practise holding my breath for more than 40 seconds. My yoga instructor says it is good for living longer. He can do so many things I cannot, so I guess he must be right

25-dec-rohit ROHIT KAUL
CORRESPONDENT, NEW DELHI

• Who’s in your family? Parents, wife, a daughter and a son

• What do you do for fun? I play a game of cricket with my friends and try to win even if cheating is needed

• Your ideal vacation? A quiet beach destination with my family

• How do you book your own leisure trips? I book directly with suppliers

• What are you reading right now? How to Keep Your Woman Happy: A Manual for Men

• How do you stay healthy? I play sports and walk

• Favourite food? Monji Haak, a vegetarian Kashmiri cuisine of collard greens that is eaten with steamed rice

• A bad habit you cannot kick? I don’t have any bad habit. I am a saint

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? People who don’t value people who have been helpful to them

• Most people don’t know that you…I never spoke to any girl in my school. I was too shy

25-dec-feizal FEIZAL SAMATH
CORRESPONDENT, SRI LANKA/MALDIVES

• Who’s in your family? My wife, son, daughter, fish and a dog who gives me hell but is adorable to the rest of the family

• What do you do for fun? Travel across Sri Lanka whenever I can find the time

• Your ideal vacation? Three days in a beach resort, tea country or British colonial bungalow with the phone off the hook and to hell with writing!

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Usually on my own through the web

• What are you reading right now? Climate change series on National Geographic magazine

• How do you stay healthy? Don’t ask. Trying to stay on track (I mean using the treadmill itself is a challenge)

• Favourite food? All the bad ones – burgers, sausages and alcohol! Unfortunately due to a strict diet owing to health issues, I’m off these at the moment. Waiting for the green light…hmm!

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Nothing. If there is a will, there is a way

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Injustice and bad road manners

• Most people don’t know that you…have raised millions of rupees for children’s charities over the past 30 years

25-dec-red REDMOND SIA
CREATIVE DESIGNER

• Who’s in your family? Mum, dad, brother, sister-in-law and my fur kid (a Jack Russell Terrier)

• What do you do for fun? Travelling

• Your ideal vacation? Sunny places

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Mostly online

• What are you reading right now? Comics

• How do you stay healthy? Eat and walk

• Favourite food? Mutton curry

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Eating too much

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Nothing

• Most people don’t know that you…love snacks with garlic chilli

25-dec-my GOH MENG YONG
CREATIVE DESIGNER

• Who’s in your family? My wife, my three-year-old daughter, my one-year-old son, my mother, brother and sister

• What do you do for fun? Building lego, playing with my kids, cooking and gaming

• Your ideal vacation? Any part of Japan for two weeks

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Mostly online

• What are you reading right now? The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom, which I got during a stopover in Thailand

• How do you stay healthy? Eating moderately and healthily (smirk), cycling

• Favourite food? Sashimi, my wife’s cooking

• A bad habit you cannot kick? Binge watching on Netflix

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? Injustice and bad road manners

• Most people don’t know that you…write with my right hand and draw with my left hand

25-dec-lina LINA TAN
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

• Who’s in your family? Steven (husband), Victoria (daughter), Gabriel (son) and Buddy (family dog)

• What do you do for fun? Laze around and watch movies/drama

• Your ideal vacation? Travel to any part of the world for shopping and pigging out with my family

• How do you book your own leisure trips? Go on the website to search for cheap air tickets and hotel stays

• What are you reading right now? The Bible, reading the stories and trying to figure the meaning behind each story

• How do you stay healthy? Walk Buddy and do housework as exercise

• Favourite food? I like savoury food but nothing in particular is my favourite

• A bad habit you cannot kick? None that I can think of

• Your pet peeve, something that never fails to annoy you? My outburst at anything that upsets me! I cannot keep calm

• Most people don’t know that you…like to be left alone at times! Hahaha

Meet the newcomers

When did you join TTG and what do you find most fascinating about your job and the industry?

25-dec-dannon DANNON HAR
ASSISTANT EDITOR, ONLINE

Since hopping aboard the TTG Asia supersonic jet plane on July 13 this year, there has been little time to reflect until now, when I got tasked to jot this personal piece. The ride is best described as being aboard a luxury cruise ship going full speed against river rapids, where every sightseeing opportunity is an excuse to Tweet and Instagram for #TTGAsia. Social media shenanigans aside, my first love and mind remains fixated on increasing the inbound traffic of TTG Asia’s online properties to achieve maximum occupancy. Speaking of which, time to check in on how the new website is developing…

25-dec-rachel RACHEL AJ LEE
SUB EDITOR

I joined the TTG family on July 13, 2015 and it has been a rollercoaster ride. Coming from a lifestyle background, adjusting to “harder” trade news is kind of like walking into a chiller after a dip in a hot onsen. But I get to discover the world through overseas trade shows and have a hand in producing show dailies, and expand my editing and writing portfolio, all of which makes the switch pretty eye-opening.

25-dec-julian JULIAN RYALL
CORRESPONDENT, JAPAN

My first contribution to TTG Asia was in January – and I confess it has been a steep learning curve since day one. I’d previously written travel stories, but never covered travel as an industry. My second confession is that it’s addictive and I consider myself fortunate to be writing about a sector that is dedicated to helping people have a good time in some of the most exotic and beautiful places in the world. What can possibly be bad about that?

25-dec-rebecca REBECCA ELLIOT
CORRESPONDENT, AUSTRALIA

I filed my first story for TTG in April and was over the moon when I became the official Australia correspondent in July. I love exploring and uncovering the latest news, innovations and opinions from the industry in Australia and then sharing them with TTG readers. The industry is thriving Down Under, which means there’s always a good story to be told.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, December 11, 2015 issue, on page 33. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Dream vacations for women leaders

By Raini Hamdi

December 22, 2015

Women leaders in the travel industry divulge their dream vacations – if given a break from all work and family obligations

Top, from left Amanda Hyndman; Marnie Whipple-Tarsinos; Mint Leong; May Myat Mon Win
Above, from left Lisa Fitzell; Monette Iturralde-Hamlin; Sonja Vodusek; Ernie Kusmastuti Wasiat

“If given three days to spend by yourself, how would you spend it?”

Amanda Hyndman
General manager, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
Goodness me, I cannot remember when I last had 24 hours alone since I first became a general manager 23 years ago, let alone three days! I am very fortunate though to have found my piece of heaven on earth whenever I need a change of scenery – our holiday home on the island of Menorca.

I usually walk 15km to 25km a day around the port, along the coastline and beaches. I also love to cook and after browsing through my cookbooks for hours, I head to the market with Nigella as my inspiration, stopping for far too many coffees while trawling through the British tabloids. My blissful solitude continues with even racier reading, Wild Mary: The Life of Mary Wesley, for the umpteenth time in the bath. But by early evening I would long for the company of my husband for champagne or friends who can always be persuaded to come over for big meals. I find it very cathartic to make big meals and at least three homemade desserts for them.

By day two, let alone day three, my mind would be drifting back to the other love of my life – my hotel.

Marnie Whipple-Tarsinos
Regional sales manager, Asia-Pacific, Crystal Cruises
With this gift of time I would be on a sailboat in a warm water destination like Greece, the Seychelles or Tonga and start each day with a swim right off the boat followed by meditation. I would nibble on in-season local fruits and soak up the rest of each day, enjoy the sea view, observe the sounds and dance of birds and fish, savour the smell of the salty air, and feel the sun and sand between my toes. With a pen in hand I would write, and when the sea calls I would jump back in for another swim before unfurling the main sail to connect with our awe-inspiring planet.

Mint Leong
Managing director, Sunflower Holidays
I would go to a five-star beach resort in Langkawi and spend three days pampering myself. I would wake up late, have a leisurely breakfast, laze by the beach or pool, enjoy a couple of spa treatments over the three days. I would also walk around town, sightsee and go window shopping. If I have friends who are free, I will also spend time with them.

May Myat Mon Win
General manager, Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake Yangon
If given three days, I would fly off to a different city to soak in the local culture and experience new things.

Like my previous trip last month to Hanoi, I sipped coffee in a shop that wasn’t found on TripAdvisor. I watched people strolling by and living life. I enjoyed myself tremendously, stayed offline and took it easy. Like any vacation, there will also be a sunset dinner and a daytime spa.

Lisa Fitzell
Group managing director, Diethelm Travel Group
Juggling work and a family is a challenge. I love it but time is precious. Although I travel a lot in my job, I still love exploring new places.

If I had three days, I would discover a new destination I haven’t been to before. I recently fell in love with the people of Myanmar on a visit to Yangon and I would return to visit the mountain town of Kalaw. There I would hike, cycle, take in the beautiful scenery, visit hill tribe villages and breathe in fresh mountain air. I would return refreshed ready to pick up life again!

Monette Iturralde-Hamlin
President and founder, TeamAsia
Three days just for me? That would be heaven on earth! I would travel somewhere that I have never been before and search for that elusive field of lavender flowers, bring along a book to read, my sketchbook and paints to capture what I see, my laptop to write my blog, and my iPhone plus charger/universal adapter to take photos and post on social media. It would be great to walk around, see the sights, visit museums and bookstores, sample local cuisine, drink wine or sip coffee at the plaza, and meet interesting people. And who knows, maybe fall in love again!

Sonja Vodusek
General manager, The Peninsula Manila
I love everything about Amanpulo, the Aman Resorts’ whisper-quiet island paradise in Palawan, the Philippines. This is where I go to recharge, think and create while snorkelling in the Tiffany-blue waters that’s rife with sea turtles, sitting back and enjoying the stunning sunsets, stargazing from my villa (you can also look at the moon and the constellations through a NASA-worthy telescope), reading a good book, walking along the powdery white sand beach, eating and – most importantly – sleeping. It’s my little private “happy place”, and a long weekend there is like two weeks off.

Ernie Kusmastuti Wasiat
General manager, Royal Ambarrukmo Hotel, Jogjakarta
If I have three days to myself, I would spend the time creating my own necklaces.

Necklaces for me are more than just accessories. They are a part of me. It boosts my confidence when appearing in public and meeting my VIP guests.

When I am in a bad mood, I will go into my room. When I clean my necklaces and rearrange them, it helps me to feel better.

I like necklaces with different gem stones. I have been meaning to create my own necklaces; I have all the tools but not the time.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, December 11, 2015 issue, on page 30. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Additional reporting from S Puvaneswary, Xinyi Liang-Pholsena, Rosa Ocampo and Mimi Hudoyo

Keeping high touch through high tech

By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

December 22, 2015

Technology solutions providers rate how well agencies in the region have gained the high-touch factor through the use of technology in the past year

ALBERT POZO
President,  Amadeus Asia-Pacific

The online space in Asia, particularly China, South Korea and India, is where you see the most advanced usage of mobility and mobile devices compared to anywhere else in the world.

The amount of traffic that stems from mobile devices in Asia is over 50 per cent. There is leapfrogging – many companies move from having the majority of their business in traditional (modes) to mobile directly, not necessarily going through the web phrase.

In the more traditional space, some travel agencies have learnt to stay specialised and a few companies have managed to keep the high touch with their clients and keep the knowledge pertinent for those type of customers. Through that, they are able to take a higher share of wallet than if they purely serve clients on the online mode.

Agencies should adopt new technologies and follow the way consumers want to buy. More consumers want to buy via mobile, but also mobile devices allow the delivery of services in different places in different ways.

MARTIN HERBERT
General manager – Asia,  Travelport

Consumers in Asia are very advanced and open to personalised services. However not too many agencies are meeting that demand. They are not investing in that space as sufficiently as they should.

To increase their game in offering personalised service, agencies need to first invest in building up data on their customers and to mine that data for business intelligence insights. They should also be online and mobile-ready because personalised service would most definitely require a fusion of offline, online and mobile touchpoints with the customer.

Travelport has identified these critical needs of our agency partners and have been working on developing the necessary solutions.

Andhie Saad
Vice president, marketing and sales, Galileo Indonesia

There are two kinds of travel agents, offline and online.

To compete with OTAs, offline travel agents are seeking ways to serve clients better. Many have created their own online sites but as travellers are getting smarter, they need to raise their service standards to be more personalised. (So they use technology such as) Galileo’s Travel Profile, which records a client’s profile and preferences. This way, their clients do not need to depend on a specific travel consultant in the company to get personalised service.

Agents need to continue to step up their services by maximising existing facilities.

For example, airlines today offer travellers to choose meals, seat preferences and additional baggage. Travellers usually go to the airline’s website or contact airline’s office themselves to request for these choice after the tickets have been issued by their travel agent.

Agents need to keep up with the latest airline offerings without continually having to check the airlines’ websites. They need to be able to instantly compare fares, see pictures of the cabins and seats in a single window. This will enable them to suggest options their customers might not have previously considered and offer the best deal for them.

Ambi Moorthy
Product manager for Sales IQ,  Zoho, India

On a scale of 1-5, I would rate travel agencies 2.5 on the use of technology to increase personalised service.

In the past decade, agencies have moved from printed brochures to artistically-crafted websites, containing a portfolio of pictures of exotic locations. But the website is just the beginning; the real challenge is converting travel enthusiasts to sign up for an actual trip.

For example, website visitors interested in a backpacking trip to the Himalayas should be shown nearby attractions, fun events and offers that would fuel their curiosity. Sadly, it’s not the case right now; they have to dig through multiple pages of information to make their travel plans.

Travel agencies should realise they need to collect useful data like a contact information, geolocation, website and buying behaviour while a customer is on their website.

All this data should be sliced and diced by a software, creating profiles of their customers. Profiling will also enable agencies to send targeted/personalised messaging based on a website visitors’ interests.

Visitors can also make quicker and informed trip decisions. A platform like Zoho SalesIQ can give you this edge.

Kevin O’Sullivan
CEO,  Open Destinations, Singapore

We have noticed growth in the number of enquiries from Asian travel companies over the last few years to upgrade to more advanced software. They want to replace their old legacy systems with new technology that will aid them in providing more personalised service and customise their product offering towards their customers.

The consumer is booking more and more last minute, therefore agencies need to have technology that allows them to service this trend. This can be achieved through increasing integrations with suppliers such as flights, hotels and other ground services.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, December 11, 2015 issue, on page 17. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Additional reporting from Paige Lee Pei Qi, Mimi Hudoyo, S Puvaneswary and Rohit Kaul