THE growth of Millennial travel has changed the face of travel in Indonesia in the last two years, presenting both a hurdle and a springboard for change.
High-level members of the industry spoke today at the Asian Travel & Tourism Industry Dialogue: Asian Millennial Travellers, and How to Tap This Growing Market, a roundtable session held at Pullman Jakarta and co-organised by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and TTG Asia Media under the TravelRave banner.
Ajay Sohoni, associate principal, Consumer Research Centre, McKinsey & Co, said Millennial travellers in Indonesia are financially savvy, willing to take risks in travel options, and use credit cards. They rely on the Internet as their primary tool for research when buying products, but listen to their friends for suggestions rather than family.
Social media and mobile technology are taking root in the country and altering the consumer behaviours significantly, according to Nicholas Oudin, head analyst, Travel (APAC).
He said: “Today, two-third of Indonesians are looking for local brands as opposed to international brands when they travel. This is a good chance for the industry.”
Oudin also said social media provide hotels with opportunities to customise their own products. To leverage word-of-mouth recommendations, hotels, for example, can offer special rates to guests based on their number of social media followers.
The elephant in the room remained how Millennials can contribute to the industry in terms of manpower that was touched on in the first instalment of this series of collaborative roundtable sessions (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 9, 2014)
Neeta Lachmandas, assistant chief executive, STB, said: “On top of hardware and technology, it is critical that we look at ways to attract and support Millennial talents to fully understand the needs of their peers. When we have such talents in the workplace, they in turn will be empowered to create products and services which are of value to other fellow Millennial travellers.”
Budi Tirtawisata, CEO, Panorama Group, said that the clout of Asian Millennial travellers cannot be ignored and it was necessary to take their habits and preferences into account when launching business initiatives. Employees must thus be able to understand this market.
However, Budi reminded the audience that while Millennials are important, they are not the only travel demographic.
