Asia’s first travel wholesale alliance, Trip Affiliates Network, has been formed.

The alliance’s first members, and who have been integrated on a single distribution platform already available in the market, includes Westminster Travel, CN Booking, Bayu Buana, Aviation Services, Dragon Travel, InterAsia, Hotel Bank, Holiday Tours and Ark Travel Express.

Many more members are in the pipeline, according to the network’s co-founder Tan Huck Khim, who is also executive director of Travel Prologue, which developed the integrated technology solution for the alliance.

“There is a spiderweb of loose consortiums in Asia but there is no one to bring them all together,” said Tan, when asked for the impetus behind the network’s formation, adding that travel agents all face the same global competition and that banding together allows for economies of scale to come into play.

“Our aim is to provide top players in the travel industry with a single platform to share content across borders and agencies, and enable the delivery of good content and competitive wholesale pricing across Asia to travellers.”

The process for the alliance’s formation first begun when Tan and his co-founders went on a roadshow earlier in May to meet with potential partners in countries such as Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines. It then snowballed into a full blown alliance after initial partners introduced more potential partners and sub-agents wanting to join.

“Not much convincing was needed to get members onboard. We have a long pipeline and will expand further once this phase is completed,” said Tan. “There is no limit to the number of alliance members.”

He believes small and medium sized agencies are driving most of the demand for the alliance’s formation and that the benefit of getting locally contracted rates for agencies without a presence in a certain market is definitely one of the key advantages for members.

With the combined content of its founding members, the alliance now boasts over 50,000 exclusive, directly negotiated hotel contracts and more than 150 airline relationships in the region, on top of a global stock of aggregated hotels and airlines inventory.

Tan hopes Trip Affiliates Network can one day match the scale of Travel Leaders Group in the US and The Travel Network Group in Europe.

Edward Liu

THE formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) last year will boost the appeal of Singapore as a hub for business events looking to attract South-east Asians, but more support can be provided to fully leverage this “immense opportunity”, according to CEMS’ group managing director, Edward Liu.

Elaborating to TTGmice e-Weekly, Liu who was speaking at the MICE in Asia panel session at ITB Asia today, said: “When we run our tradeshows in Singapore, many exhibitors lament that Singapore is such a small market. But with AEC, we have moved from being just a country of about five million people to a hub of over 600 million.”

As such, Liu urged organisers to utilise this advantageous position while promoting their tradeshows to international counterparts.

He said: “Our challenge now is how to position our tradeshows that will attract firstly exhibitors, then buyers. While we want to continue pushing Singapore as a centre of the MICE industry, my take is that organisers are much more pragmatic and frankly most of them have gone into other places like Indonesia in a big way.

“Hence, we have got to be aware and continue to raise the profile of our shows and make use of technology to reach our target audience to bring them to Singapore,” he added.

When asked what type of support is needed, Liu said: “If the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) can give us more funding then we can certainly host more regional visitors to Singapore, which can enhance our positioning. Also, the STB can mobilise their regional offices to promote our events to raise further awareness.

“On our part, we will ensure that we create content that will appeal and engage both Singaporeans and South-east Asian trade visitors, and structure our programme accordingly so they will have a reason to come to Singapore,” concluded Liu.

Tourists admire the view of Marina Bay Sands 

Arrivals to Singapore rose 12.5 per cent in 1H2016 over the same period in 2015, according to latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and of the resulting 8.2 million visitors, the majority came from Indonesia (1.4 million, up 7.3 per cent) and China (1.5 million, up 55.2 per cent).

This signals a change in source market potential for Singapore, with China quickly overtaking Indonesia as the chart-topper.

Low See Peng, regional director, Greater China, STB said: “This strong performance could be attributed to Chinese residents’ increased propensity to travel and STB’s increased efforts to market Singapore in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities since June 2015.”

Low added that the increased flights from cities like Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing were important contributors as well.

Daniel Goh, manager of Siam Express, said: “(China) will be a strong performing market in 2017 because of the strengthening Chinese yuan.”

However, inbound agents here are bracing for slower business from other markets in 2017, due to economic uncertainties.

Judy Lum, senior vice president sales & marketing international market at Tour East Singapore, said failing industries and rising unemployment as well as the “effects of Brexit setting in” will “affect (UK) holidaymakers’ decisions”.

GTMC Travel’s CEO Samson Tan urged Singapore to “create more niche tourism products, step up (courtship of) untapped central Asian markets and do more roadshows” to combat 2017’s expected slowdown.

Lisa Fitzell

Travel agents that are able to cater to the ever-evolving needs of their customers and offer specialised, integrated online and offline services, will continue to be well sought after despite growing competition.

They first need to recognise their need as subject matter experts rather than a sales channel, said members of the trade interviewed by TTG Asia, so that they don’t compete in the same space as OTAs or metasearchers.

“Reservations by travel agents account for over two-thirds of all SLH (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) bookings,” said Mark Wong, the group’s vice president Asia Pacific.

“Many of our luxury resorts and country houses are not located at point-to-point destinations. Therefore, our guests need more assistance with planning.”

Wong attributes the value of agents to their luxury clientele who are mostly “cash-rich, but time-poor”. “Trusted travel agents provide a one-stop service that will assure customers of hassle-free trip planning and experienced travel advice, pre- and post-trip,” he explained.

According to an Amadeus study released last week, traditional travel agents still account for a large proportion of global travel sales. For instance, 80 per cent of Chinese travellers booked via an offline agent last year, stated the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute.

The report added that successful travel agencies have a virtual presence to help customers discover them. Personalised, expert service by consultants should then follow, providing a human touch and sealing the deal. The success of such a hybrid approach is also evident in some OTAs opening call-centres and brick-and-mortar stores.

In the study, Claude Blanc, CEO of Travel & Co, surmised: “We work on a research online, purchase offline model. We have websites and a limited social media presence, but most customers like to talk to our experts via the call-centres.”

Dynasty Travel is one agency forging ahead with a hybrid approach. They had in July this year launched a Mobile Concierge service where agents travelled to meet clients at a venue of their choosing. This marks the first time a full-service agency is offering this in Singapore, said spokesperson Alicia Seah.

Using technology to aid the know-how of agents is favoured by DMC Diethelm Travel as well. Managing director Lisa Fitzell said they are “developing technologies to reinvent our business”, such as APIs that connect directly to their agents’ systems.

“Technology has changed the landscape of travel… but DMCs create packages – we design itineraries that create amazing memories that can’t be purchased online,” she commented.

Moreover, Vijay Sharma, country director Singapore & Malaysia of Club Med, which works through a “big network of agents”, highlighted the need for travel agents especially in the luxury and family segments. He said: “Travel agents are a strategic priority for Club Med due to their customer reach and ability to sell upscale products.

“Families are almost 70 per cent of our clientele (as) we cater to children’s needs as much as adults in terms of food, entertainment and activities. Travel agents play a role in advising the right resort to families depending on their wish list.”

Sharma added that he prefers offline agents as the level of engagement offered through OTAs is very low.

Similarly, Fitzell said: “The online space is cluttered and the consumer is looking for expertise (and personalisation). Agencies will… focus more on being destination specialists and (serve) segments such as luxury, adventure and weddings.”