Itävaara and van der Marck: a focus on personalised experiences
TRAVEL industry veterans and destination specialists Andre van der Marck and Mika Itävaara have come together to establish new offices in Thailand and Myanmar under HG Travel, a Hanoi-based DMC with existing offices in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
“The joint venture came at the right time,” said HG Travel Thailand managing director Andre van der Marck, formerly vice president of Khiri Travel.
HG Travel Thailand is expected to start operations in April 2016, and will initially boast a team of five in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
HG Travel Myanmar managing director Mika Itävaara, meanwhile, leads the Indochina-focused DMC’s expansion into Myanmar with the merger of Discovery DMC, a boutique tour company where he was owner and CEO. The Yangon-based office began operations late last year with 13 staff.
The business model of HG Travel is strictly B2B, and van der Marck and Itävaara will focus on building the US and European outbound markets into Thailand and Myanmar.
Said van der Marck: “We will fill the gap for personalised, middle size and high touch segment (in both countries), led by a general manager who has been (in the destination) for ages. We will offer customised tours with destination experts.”
As Thailand and Indochina remain popular destinations, the region’s highly competitive DMC industry still has room for more players, commented van der Marck.
“With over 25 million arrivals to Thailand, I just need 0.01 per cent of the market. There’s something for everyone,” he added.
Itävaara sees untapped potential in northern Europe and will tap his Finnish background and industry links to grow the longhaul market for HG Travel Myanmar.
“The Scandinavian market is only coming in a small trickle into Myanmar. With Emirates’ new daily service (linking Dubai and Yangon from August 3), Yangon will be a nice hub and travellers can fly out of Bangkok or Phuket.”
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