META-search sites are muscling in on OTAs and other traditional players, and pundits expect the disruption in travel distribution to continue with the end winners and losers being anybody’s guess.

With facilitated or assisted bookings gaining ground in Asia – where users don’t have to leave meta-search sites to complete bookings – other intermediaries can effectively be bypassed.

Ross Veitch, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Wego, a meta-search, said: “There’s probably a few more layers in travel distribution than there needs to be. It’ll be good for suppliers and customers if we could strip it down. ”

Wego is working with some of its bigger partners to allow consumers to book their inventory without having to leave the Wego app. Veitch said the emergence of “deep linking standards” over the last year would help Wego further drive conversion rates for its suppliers.

“(With deep linking) when we send somebody from Wego, we drop them on a booking page with their flights and the right fare already selected; they just have to pull out their credit card and fill the form,” explained Veitch.

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DYNASTY Travel Singapore yesterday scooped up TTG Asia’s inaugural Innovator Award for its efforts in driving staff mobility and efficiency with a new iPad mini booking system, which runs on proprietary software and integrates both front and back end, and with CRM.

Two years ago, the outbound agency started equipping its travel consultants with iPads for sales pitches. And from March, they could start using iPad minis to execute bookings with the Tourix system, which updates prices and itineraries in real time. This would also allow a concierge service to be launched in the future, servicing clients at their choice of location.

At TTG Asia’s Technology Conference at ITB Asia yesterday, Dynasty Travel managing director Clifford Neo showed how the company uses the system to monitor sales trends based on dates, regions and packages. Bookings can also be tracked, including information such as where customers have been before, amounts spent and frequency of travel.

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LEGACY human resource practices of hotel and tourism companies are starting to unwind, as findings show most Millennials in the industry are unlikely to stay with their company for the next three years.

A Singapore Tourism Board (STB)-commissioned research on the Asian Millennial workforce and the travel industry released Wednesday shows only 39 per cent of Millennials are likely to stay with their company for the next three years. Not even half (45 per cent) believe they are paid a competitive wage. Only 54 per cent are satisfied with career progression prospects.

Asked if the industry must be disruptive about their HR practices to attract and retain talent, Neeta Lachmandas, STB’s assistant chief executive, interviewed by TTG-ITB Asia Daily at TravelRave Leaders Gala Tuesday evening, said: “I definitely believe our industry needs to look at everything from a clean sheet perspective. We have a complex industry that is very structured and it’s hard to move away from the structure.

“I don’t think we have a choice but to be disruptive. It won’t happen overnight but at least the conversations have started on the ATLS (Asia Travel Leaders Summit) platform and we’re learning.”

Interviews with industry CEOs show old ways are starting to disappear, fortunately.

Previously it would take on average 17 years to rise to the position of a hotel general manager, but this is being rapidly flattened.

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SINGAPORE is kicking off a series of seminars and interactive masterclasses for MICE industry stakeholders from early next year, aimed at arming them with the expertise and know-how to make events more experiential for meeting delegates.

This first initative under Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) MICE 2020 Roadmap comes at a time when the NTO and industry players recognise the need to add value to the MICE visitor experience in Singapore in order to counter popular perceptions that the destination is becoming a more expensive place to meet.

The Experience and Development Series, which will run for a year, will be spearheaded by management advisor Joseph Pine, an expert in helping businesses conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings.

STB assistant chief executive, Neeta Lachmandas, is optimistic that the new series of classes will help transform the city into an “enriching learning destination” for MICE delegates.

“Through this series, participants will learn how to bring Singapore to the delegates during their event and let them interact more with the country,” she said.

Serving local authentic cuisine and utilising technology can offer creative elements that planners can tap on to execute memorable events in Singapore, she elaborated.

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BRAND USA will intensify its focus on South-east Asian markets next year, with a new travel agency training platform being the linchpin of its efforts.

Already in other markets like the UK and India, the USA Discovery Program will be rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand in 2015.

“One of the biggest challenges within the region is currently the lack of education and awareness,” Brand USA vice president, global market development, Jay Gray told TTG-ITB Asia Daily.

To address this, the interactive online course has six specialist experience modules – Big City Buzz, Great Outdoors, Culture & Heritage, Winter Sports, Coastal Escapes and Fly-Drive – plus the Regional Expert Badge, which users must attain initially after passing five tests. Further modules such as Food and Drink and Family will be added in the coming months.

“We’ll use this as a way to identify travel agencies that will participate in our mega-fam,” said Gray, who shared that Brand USA has not conducted any fams in South-east Asia yet. In contrast, North Asia has some 10-12 fams a year.

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