KUONI Group Travel Experts will gather more than 20 hoteliers from 10 European destinations in Singapore and Jakarta next week to meet with the trade and learn more about the preferences of South-east Asian travellers.
Led by Marco Russi, Kuoni Group Travel Experts’ vice president for hotel sourcing and reservations, the participating hoteliers will hail from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
In a statement, Kuoni said hoteliers will “learn more about the size, value and particular needs of South-east Asia’s group travel trade”, meeting with key travel consultants and tour operators through one-to-one appointments during the trip from April 15-22.
The trip aims to give the hoteliers insights into Indonesia’s pool of first-time longhaul travellers eager to see iconic European attractions, as well as Singapore’s mature travellers keen on destinations outside the capital and more bespoke itineraries.
Russi said: “South-east Asia presents enormous opportunity for the group travel industry with a mix of high-volume mature source markets and faster-growing ones.”
For Kuoni, Italy, France and Switzerland remained top for group travellers from Singapore last year, while the Netherlands took fourth place from Germany with a seven per cent rise in the number of room nights booked.
Croatia almost doubled last year for room nights ahead of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Albeit in smaller volumes, Ireland and Russia enjoyed the highest year-on-year increases in group travel from Singapore.
Indonesian group travellers most favoured France last year, which was followed by Italy and Switzerland. Interest in Turkey rose enormously and ahead of Norway, while room nights booked in Argentina, Slovakia and Slovenia more than doubled.
