How was travel sold? Why was it fun? What made it memorable? Tourism and hospitality veterans reminisce the good old days with anecdotes that will make you gasp in disbelief and ponder whether the industry has changed for the better. If you haven’t, read Blast from the past – Part One too for more travel trade nostalgia

In the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, the Far East was still new. There was a real sense of discovery, not just in sourcing new products but also in explaining the appeal to clients. In many areas, you were just looking at a handful of hotels whereas now you have over 100.

At most hotels, you were dealing with a director of sales who could make instant decisions and had the full trust of the owners. This was way before rigid automation/yield controllers came into fashion! It was fun as you could be creative and innovative, it was not just sold on the lowest price.

There was more unity and cooperation between the operators, hotels and airlines. We all wanted the business, but the hotels felt the best way to sell their product was through the tour operator. Hardly any clients booked direct with hotels.

Obviously the introduction of the web changed much of this, and now hotels almost seem to be working in competition to operators, doing their utmost to attract direct customers.

On client habits, the biggest change is, in the past there was an appreciation of your time and knowledge – and almost a guilt factor should the booking not proceed. It is vastly different now. Clients

now seem to think of the trade as a free consultation service, to verify what they might have heard or read. There is no embarrassment about taking an hour of your time without the ‘reward’ of a booking. Ironically this is coming from clients who in their own professions charge by the hour (e.g. lawyers, doctors, etc). Due to the Internet, everyone seems to be an ‘expert’, but with extremely selective vision and hearing! – David Kevan, director, Chic Locations UK on how the overall business of selling travel has changed. Read on for more personal reflections by Kevan and others.

LUCKY IF WE GOT US$15 FOR A ROOM

We opened our first property in Pattaya in 1978. We never planned to be in the hotel business. The only other company was Italthai, which also never planned to be in the hotel business. They had Nipa Lodge and we had the Royal Garden. They went from the Nipa Lodge to doing The Oriental and then the whole Amari chain came along.

We started in Pattaya with the Royal Garden Resort. We really knew nothing about the hotel trade apart from the fact that we had a property we wanted to sell, but we couldn’t get anyone to buy it. Next thing we knew we were in the hotel business.

When I look back to those days in Pattaya it was a really tough market. We were lucky if we got US$15-20 a room; to get US$25 was really lucky. When we opened our riverside hotel in Bangkok a couple of years later there was another crisis – martial law was announced the day we opened. So we opened the hotel even though there were no guests. That was another tough period for Thailand. Rates were terrible in Bangkok but at least we were able to make money from our property in Hua Hin that had much better rates back then. We were lucky we started in those sorts of places.

These days it’s pretty tough and competitive. There aren’t the same opportunities and I haven’t seen any uncompetitive markets in the country. The good thing is the country is still growing.

I smile every time people write off Thailand. I remember when people said no one would ever go back to Phuket after the 2004 tsunami. I’ve lived through six of the 12 coups in Thailand. Now, again, we seem to be at one of those times when people think Thailand is in a dire situation. There’s nothing wrong with Thailand; what’s wrong is the perspective from abroad.

We’re fortunate to have a world-class tourism industry. We’re never going to be world-class at making tennis shoes or mining coal; how many other countries in the world are better than Thailand at hospitality?

YOU WANT TO BE DEPORTED OR WHAT?

It was during martial law in the 1970s under Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos when, as the banquet manager of the then Manila Hilton (now Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel), I was asked by a Malacanang Palace officer to cater to the grand inauguration of San Juanico Bridge connecting Samar to Leyte in Visayas.

My expatriate colleagues advised me to turn down the business, fearing that the government would not pay. But I said: “I can’t. Otherwise all of you will be deported.”

The hotel’s kitchen brigade, including ice carvers, was brought on site and we set up the kitchen and service facilities including marquees, ice carvers and flowing fountains a week in advance.

The palace officer even commandeered the army, navy and air force at my disposal. What a high and mighty feeling to be the skipper in charge! When I saw the helicopters whirling in an open field and men in fatigue uniforms loading our china and other catering accoutrements, I was strutting like a peacock to see our hotel’s logo on display.

Everything went like clockwork, a complete success.

But the following morning, the cooks were furiously banging on my door. “Wake up, quick! Everything is gone, everyone disappeared!” they wailed. We were left stranded on the island and all the hotel’s equipment had disappeared.

When I tried to collect payment from the palace officer, he suddenly vanished! My head was spinning. I was on the chopping block. I guaranteed this catering, waiving the required deposit to the great apprehension of my banquet colleagues.

Luckily, I had another hotline to the palace. He raised the money and we got paid.

The catering cost one million pesos – which in today’s value is about 15 million pesos (US$342,234) – a record in the history of any catering contract for the hotel.

WHAT A GIFT!
The entire Sheraton Auckland Hotel and Towers, of which I was manager, was abuzz because the emir of a Middle Eastern kingdom was visiting New Zealand for the first time.

Since the local staff was not familiar with the Middle East, I called someone from the foreign affairs department to brief them on the specific nuances and habits peculiar to the Arab culture.

The visit proved to be fruitful with trade and investment agreements exchanged between the host and visiting governments. On the day of their departure, the chief minister came to see me, expressing the emir’s delight over the superb service, delicious food and warm reception. And he gave a few dozen boxes as token gifts.

I called the department heads, asking them to distribute the gifts to the staff who attended to the emir. That day, the air was thick with excitement. “Mr Lopez, do you know what was in those boxes?” shrieked the F&B manager.

“Rolex watches!”

– Lopez is also president, Philippine Hotel Federation

WHISKY AND RAW CHILLI

Looking through my old passports, my first visit to Thailand was in 1977, 37 years ago. It was my trip to Asia and I stayed at Montien Patpong – never seen such a busy coffeeshop at 02:00! Then down to Pattaya and met with a young, fresh-faced Henry Widler who was then a resident manager. Kurt Rufli was general manager of the Nipa Lodge.

Hardly anyone went to Asia at the time from the UK, then Kuoni bought Houlders Holidays, a big player in the UK and Asia took off in the mid-70s.

In Thailand my first points of call were Amari, Dusit and Diethelm Travel under Luzi Matzig at the time, as that covered 60 per cent of your product needs. Dusit at the time had Rayavadee and Santiburi as well. Then it was to Akorn Hoontrakul of the Imperial Group – he introduced me to the delights of whisky and raw chilli, which made for an interesting lunch! I recall Akorn telling me about his dream to build a hotel on a totally undeveloped little island called Samui. So the next day, we went to have a look. The flight to Surat Thani (this was way before Samui had an airport), then the ferry and we’re there, ending the day on the beach at what was to become Tongsai Bay.

It used to be incredibly difficult to get a room in Bangkok, as demand totally exceeded supply so frequently that we used airport hotels as base. Traffic was horrible even in those days, and most taxis considerately carried a plastic bottle in case of contingencies.

In Malaysia, Penang was the only resort on the radar. Rasa Sayang, Golden Sands, Casuarina, Lone Pine and a delightful little place called Palm Beach which Shangri-La knocked down to build the entertainment complex now residing between Rasa Sayang and Golden Sands. Langkawi was not even a consideration.

In Bali, the focal point was Sanur, with Bali Hyatt and Segara Village as the two most popular hotels followed by Sanur Beach. Nusa Dua was still being developed and Kuta was the preserve of young surfers. Upcountry, there were just a few hotels in Ubud, with the Amanpuri and Kupu Kupu as the forerunners.

Singapore, like Bangkok, had more demand than beds, with most of the hotels located off Orchard Road/Tanglin Road. Popular hotels at the time were Century Park Sheraton, Marco Polo and Goodwood Park. Clarke/Boat Quay were still a twinkle in a developer’s eye.

Depending on the year, Hong Kong seemed to go from feast to famine. There were times when you had to beg for a room, literally, then six months later you could negotiate a stay three/pay two deal with trimmings. Popular hotels at the time were Lee Gardens at Causeway Bay and New World Harbour View at Wan Chai.

It was an exciting time, as everything was new and fresh. You were applauded for innovation and creativity, and tourist boards/airlines and operators all worked hand in hand to build awareness. It was at a time when airline sales managers could be instrumental in building up routes and could really influence what was on offer, rather than just reacting to a head office directive. They had the autonomy to make decisions without having to refer everything to a yield controller. It was much less controlled, and probably more fun.

In many cases, tourism contacts I made in the region became good personal friends, although commercially I am now probably dealing with their grandchildren!

After all these years, I still have a great love for the region. I am privileged to have seen many destinations in their infancy and, in my own way, helped in their development. By the same token I am also saddened by the commercialisation of certain destinations, such as Bali or Phuket, but in reality that was always going to happen.

GUNG-HO TRAVEL TRADE PARTNERS

When I made my Disney debut in 2010, at our travel trade summit marking the resort’s fifth anniversary, travel agencies were content to be entertained. Increasingly, however, we have been introducing interactive formats in trade education, and travel consultants have become active participants in our edutainment and webinars, such as in the launch of Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point.

In March this year, my team and I had our top travel trade partners put on costumes and join the cast of the Adventure Behind the Scenes show, staged for the Celebration of Sales Excellence 2013 where 26 awards were presented to our top performers.

Our trade partners didn’t need much persuasion! They were keen to go on stage, and the experience gave them a more intimate understanding of the behind-the-scenes work that makes Disney entertainment appears effortless. Ultimately, such involvement brings them closer to our brand and contributes to more mutually rewarding partnerships in the long run.

Additional reporting from Prudence Lui, Rosa Ocampo, Greg Lowe and S Puvaneswary

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 5. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

How was travel sold? Why was it fun? What made it memorable? Tourism and hospitality veterans reminisce the good old days with anecdotes that will make you gasp in disbelief and ponder whether the industry has changed for the better

In the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, the Far East was still new. There was a real sense of discovery, not just in sourcing new products but also in explaining the appeal to clients. In many areas, you were just looking at a handful of hotels whereas now you have over 100.

At most hotels, you were dealing with a director of sales who could make instant decisions and had the full trust of the owners. This was way before rigid automation/yield controllers came into fashion! It was fun as you could be creative and innovative, it was not just sold on the lowest price.

There was more unity and cooperation between the operators, hotels and airlines. We all wanted the business, but the hotels felt the best way to sell their product was through the tour operator. Hardly any clients booked direct with hotels.

Obviously the introduction of the web changed much of this, and now hotels almost seem to be working in competition to operators, doing their utmost to attract direct customers.

On client habits, the biggest change is, in the past there was an appreciation of your time and knowledge – and almost a guilt factor should the booking not proceed. It is vastly different now. Clients

now seem to think of the trade as a free consultation service, to verify what they might have heard or read. There is no embarrassment about taking an hour of your time without the ‘reward’ of a booking. Ironically this is coming from clients who in their own professions charge by the hour (e.g. lawyers, doctors, etc). Due to the Internet, everyone seems to be an ‘expert’, but with extremely selective vision and hearing! – David Kevan, director, Chic Locations UK on how the overall business of selling travel has changed. Read on for more personal reflections by Kevan and others.

COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY BUT FULL OF HUMANITY

One of my first introductions to the travel trade was a copy of TTG Asia 36 years ago, on May 23, 1978, when I was with Singapore Airlines (SIA). Since then, it has been my source of trade information and news. Through the news revolution from print to digital, TTG Asia has kept its focus on providing the most relevant news yet keeping up with the times to meet the needs of the new online readers.

As a young tour planning officer of Singapore Airlines (SIA) Tourism Development Departure, I was assigned to man the SIA Holiday booth at the first NATAS Travel Fair held at the Hyatt Hotel in 1987. It was then dominated by NTOs showcasing their destinations. Consumers came to learn about the destination before they book. It was fun working at these destinations-focused fairs. But soon the entrepreneurial minds of some of the bigger agencies made them hold their own fairs. Quickly, everyone jumped onto the bandwagon to get direct sales and price became a fierce competitive tool. With the advent of OTAs, price competition became more intense.

Technology should be a tool that makes the sales process more efficient, thus improving profitability, but somehow it does not out work out that way. Software keeps changing fast; the need to keep up means more investments which do not necessarily result in better returns. So this endless pursuit of technology at times takes the focus off the core business of travel agencies. Many tried to go high-tech but lost the high-touch.

The recent change of employment policy (in Singapore) and its blind application across the board makes it even harder for service to be efficient. The ever-increasing demand of consumers today with decreasing tolerance levels, coupled with high costs and lack of manpower, makes it impossible to achieve the optimal equilibrium of price and service.

But one thing hasn’t changed, for which I’m glad, and that is the humanity of the travel agency workforce. While fiercely competitive, we are probably one of the few industries where competitors can enjoy a game of golf, meal and party with no boundaries drawn.

The Travel Corporation brands Insight Vacations, Trafalgar Tours and Contiki Holidays have benefited immensely by working closely with all our travel agency partners for more than 30 years in Singapore. Many mentors who helped me in the early ‘80s to establish Insight Vacations in Singapore are now close friends.

Today, we do brisk walking regularly.

AND THE OPERATORS ASKED IF WE LIVED ON TREES

My first trip to ITB Berlin was in 1978. It was so difficult then to market Malaysia and South-east Asia as the Europeans had not heard of this region. So I took out a huge map of South-east Asia and showed them where Malaysia, Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Singapore and Indonesia were. And the operators asked if we lived on trees. In jest, I replied: “Yes, to run from the crocodiles and tigers!”

Today, thanks to the good work of Tourism Malaysia and the other NTOs in this region, it is so much easier to market South-east Asia.

MY VERY FORWARD-THINKING IDEA

Back in the 1970s, I worked with P&O Travel and we were one of the very first longhaul wholesalers operating from Hong Kong to Europe under Singapore Airlines (SIA) Europe Holidays. I proposed a system of three levels of ticket fares based on group size. I needed a very good fare for a smaller group so if there were only 10-15 people travelling, I could still make the tour happen. If it was a bigger group with 30 people, we could make more money and even share the earnings with SIA. Cathay Pacific was worried as it operated only to London and Frankfurt. The idea was very forward-thinking at that time and business jumped 100 per cent while transactions grew from nothing to thousands.

CONTIKI DANCED ITS WAY THROUGH

When we launched the Contiki brand, we had only 500 brochures. We held the kick-off (party) at a disco in Causeway Bay. Using a disco was way beyond the thinking (then) and eventually we got 300 bookings, which was amazing.

I WAS YOUNG AND MORALLY ADHERED TO THIS RULE

When we were appointed an IATA agency in 1959, there was a stipulation stressing no rebate for clients. I was young and morally adhered to this rule. That’s why for the first six years, my company hardly made any profit. IATA later sent me a letter and said that with no growth of my ticketing business, it might not renew my appointment. I later had a meeting with my staff and found that it was common practice for agencies to rebate customers and no one got caught. So I started doing this in January 1965 and the monthly turnover rose from HK$150,000 to over HK$1 million that summer. Today, the figures have mushroomed to HK$500 million per month. IATA forced me to earn money!

Additional reporting from Prudence Lui, Rosa Ocampo, Greg Lowe and S Puvaneswary

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 5. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Young, ambitious and ready to rev up their business to greater heights, here are some of Asia’s next-gen CEOs

Indonesia | Pauline Suharno, 36, managing director, Elok Tour

Pauline Suharno took over from her father Jono as managing director of Jakarta-based Elok Tour two years ago, a position she earned after many years of hard work in the company.

“I started working for my parents (her mother handles finance in the company) when I graduated from tourism high school in 1997, doing ticketing and hotel reservation. I worked in the morning and went to college in the evening, taking management subjects,” said the second-generation leader.
Her association with the travel business, however, started much earlier during her childhood. “While other families spent school holidays travelling, my parents were busy serving them as it was the peak season,” she recollected. “They took me to work to show how busy it was in the office…They showed me how many tickets they needed to sell to buy me shoes, to pay for school.”

Besides recognising the value of hard work, the early exposure to the travel business also taught her the importance of delivering high service standards to meet clients’ needs, a concept that remains core to the company despite a changing business environment. “This business is about serving people, so keeping up good service should always be the key to keep up the business.”

While other travel firms set up in the ‘70s have grown to handle volume-based and group series travel, Elok Tour remains a medium-sized company specialising in ticketing and outbound travel, with an eye on catering to more niche segments like FITs, premium FITs, families and small incentives.

“Our clients are those who like to be pampered; they communicate more by phone (as opposed to emails), requiring a lot of assistance from the planning stage to the end of the trip,” she said.

One of the changes Pauline had made to the company was to steer it towards a travel consultancy with more tailormade products. “We provide clients with one travel consultant as their point of contact to handle all their needs,” she said. The company now boasts nine travel consultants and 50 staff.

Pauline sees further growth in niche services as Indonesians are becoming more affluent travellers.

“We have had clients of just two people but requiring a private guide. Also, there are companies giving out (incentive trip) bonuses to suppliers or presents to clients of only three to five people in a group. These are the kind of clients we are catering for,” she added.

“This allows me to keep learning from problems and finding ways to solve them. This also improves my capacity as an assessor (of travel consultant certification),” said Pauline, who also sits on the executive board of the Association of Air Ticketing Companies in Indonesia as deputy secretary general and the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Jakarta Chapter as business development coordinator.

Pauline envisions an industry where players big and small have a chance to grow. “ASITA has approached NTOs to organise fam trips and include the SMEs because some of them also handle MICE groups. And the more travel companies are familiar with the destinations, the bigger the chance for the NTOs to grow the market,” she said.

By Mimi Hudoyo

Vietnam | Pham Ha, 39, CEO and founder, Luxury Travel

Pursuing a tourism career was a natural option for Pham Ha, a Vietnamese native with a penchant for the good life and a strong interest in foreign languages – backed by a trio of degrees in French, English and business administration.

“I chose tourism as a career as I find it the happiest job in the world,” said Pham, who started guiding tours during his student days in the 1990s. “I can meet many people from different cultures, personalities, hobbies, backgrounds as well as new challenges, and a job well done makes people happy and me happy.”

His exposure to high-flying international visitors through travel guiding would shape his life outlook and career. “Thanks to them, I have developed a good taste of life and know how to live a good life. They come as foreigners but leave as friends,” he shared.

As Pham built up experience in the tourism industry in roles ranging from operations to sales and marketing, it deepened his desire to introduce Vietnam’s beauty to more foreigners; it also led him to identify a gap in high-end, tailormade travel at a time when budget, low-quality service was the call of the day and luxe resorts and international-standard golf courses were still far and few between in the country.

With just “US$1,000, one person, one laptop and one website”, Pham founded Luxury Travel in 2004, positioning the company as a luxury tour operator specialising in privately guided, fully bespoke and experiential travel experiences.

To that end, the tourism entrepreneur has designed training programmes for each of his staff – whom he calls “Luxers” – to ensure they embrace professionalism and a positive attitude when engaging with customers.

Now, a decade later, the Hanoi-based DMC boasts offices throughout Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, in addition to representative offices in California, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Brisbane and New Delhi.

Last year, Luxury Travel unveiled its new B2B website and established a joint-venture company – Asia Premium Travel – in Cambodia.

As well, the ambitious Pham has sights set on realising another dream: to be the owner of a luxury cruise boat. Come end-2014, he will launch Emperor Cruises in Halong Bay, a 10-cabin traditional Vietnamese wooden boat featuring six-star, all-inclusive cruising experience with butler service.

“We want to create an experience that touches the heart and senses of the most discerning travellers. Our customers will be served like feudal emperors,” said Pham, who believed his latest venture would enable him to tap the unexploited ultra-luxury market.

By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

Thailand | Chotechuang Soorangura, 33, associate managing director, NS Travel & Tours

Chotechuang Soorangura cut his teeth as a marketeer for brands such as ExxonMobil, Thanachart Bank and Procter & Gamble. Two years ago he decided to follow his younger twin brother Chatchawan into the travel business their father Suparerk Soorangura, the current president of the outbound-focused Thai Travel Agents Association, established 35 years ago.

Following in their father’s footsteps is no mean feat when you consider the network of businesses he has developed over the past four decades.

“It’s more of an empire really,” said Chotechuang as he detailed some of the companies within the group, including NS Travel & Tours, which takes up 80 per cent of his time; the recently launched World Collection Travel that targets outbound MICE; Transasia Express, which boasts a fleet of 100 coaches and 30 vans; and Serenata Hotels & Resorts Group, which has a portfolio of 15 properties.

“Were lucky to have a highly experienced team, more than half of them have been with us for 17 to 20 years,” he said. This brings its challenges, however, especially when it comes to using new technology and social media, something he is trying to hardwire into the company’s DNA.

“I recently had a client say if we could not talk to them via Line (a social messaging app) he would go to another company, so I set up the account straightaway. The problem is some of our staff still don’t like using email, let alone social media.”

Chotechuang has already improved the design of NS Travel’s website and enhanced its search engine optimisation, and is looking at more contemporary ways to market the company. “One of the challenges is trying to adjust the company culture so we can attract enough new blood to keep us strong in the future while making sure we listen and learn from the experienced staff who have been with us for years.”

EC Vacation is one of his other innovations due to come online imminently. The business will work as a wholesaler for domestic tour operators. “No one has really looked at this type of wholesaling in Thailand before because it’s a high-volume, low-margin business. But I’m convinced it’s a viable idea as every tour operator is looking for customers today and customers still value service, so we can support both sides.”

By Greg Lowe

Hong Kong | Jason Wong, 33, general manager, Hong Thai Travel Services

The son of Jackie Wong, who founded Hong Thai Travel Services in 1966, Jason Wong was groomed for the tourism world from young by his dad and naturally took on the family business upon graduation from university in 2003.

“Tourism is an eye-opening industry which exposes me to various cultures as well as challenges. I like gaining new knowledge, and the travel business trains both my adaptability and flexibility. In fact, being innovative is always our company motto,” said the younger Wong, who became the helmsman of the company three years ago.

“This particularly applies to our tour products. We think out of the box by working with different media and tourism bodies to explore new products, for instance, gourmet tours guided by celebrity chefs and the introduction of exotic destinations like Ethiopia and Brazil exclusively guided by travel guru James Hong,” he added.

The company has also worked with Tourism Australia to produce a series of short movies promoting outbound travel Down Under.

“Group travel has moved into a more insightful and personalised format. Moreover, we are stepping into a new emerging market – overseas wedding services,” Wong revealed.

Amid a burgeoning FIT market, Wong will continue to enhance Hong Thai’s successful position as a travel retail store by fine-tuning the company’s online platform through the roll-out of a wider product range that includes group buy special offers and online air ticketing functions.

“Hong Kong is such a convenient city so many clients still rely on frontline staff support at branches,” he said. “Still, social media channels like Facebook can’t be underestimated – our Facebook page now has the biggest number of fans (among travel agencies in Hong Kong) at around 100,000.”

Network distribution is key for Hong Thai, which currently boasts 24 branches in Hong Kong, China and Singapore. The opening of a joint-venture office in Shenzhen last September under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement has enabled the company to take advantage of the vast Chinese outbound market.

By Prudence Lui

India | Ankush Nijhawan, 36, managing director, Nijhawan Group

Ankush Nijhawan is a third-generation leader at Nijhawan Group, a New Delhi-based travel conglomerate with diverse interests across the technology, hotel and airline representation domains.

Although the baton has been passed to him, Nijhawan said it is his own passion for the industry and the myriad of opportun
ities available that keep him going. He joined the business in 2000 and became the managing director in 2004. Since then, his focus has been on establishing the company as one of the leading players in India.

“We are working in 14 countries today and are hopeful to take this tally to 30-35,” he revealed. “Now our aim is to be the largest B2B player in the world.”
In particular, Nijhawan has been focusing on the company’s technology products to make inroads into international markets including South-east Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

As part of its branding and business alignment process, the company has brought its existing products, Travel Boutique Online (TBO), Techmaster and the recently launched tboholidays.com, under the ambit of the TBO Group.

“Through TBO we have a strong inventory of domestic and international airlines, but now through tboholidays.com we are looking to further strengthen our hotel inventory. We aim to be one of India’s top two B2B players in the hotel business through tboholidays.com.”

Tboholidays.com now allows  real-time booking of over 200,000 hotels worldwide, he said. “We have ensured a hassle-free booking experience for travel (consultants),” said Nijhawan.

He is also looking to aggressively market Techmaster, which offers a range of travel technology solutions for travel agencies, tour operators and consolidators in emerging countries.
“We have been exporting technology solutions to international markets including the Middle East and Africa. Our target now is to tap markets like the Far East and Latin America. We have purposely not sold technology solutions in India as the market here doesn’t value intellectual property,” said Nijhawan.

By Rohit Kaul

Philippines | Aileen Clemente, 40, president and chairman, Rajah Travel Corp

Aileen Clemente, president and chairman of Rajah Travel Corp, has brought the family-owned business into the high-tech age and transformed it from a travel agency into a travel management company.

“Rajah Travel is always evolving. We are always looking for ways to streamline operations and enhance processes. We have created new departments and shifted the organisational structure several times, always with a view to create a stronger team,” said Clemente, who just turned 40 in May.

“In recent years, we have also put extra focus on the digital and technology aspects of the business. We have upgraded our website to allow our clients to book online and harnessed the power of social media to communicate directly with our clients and partners.

“We are also reaping the benefits of technology, specifically cloud-based solutions. These have allowed us to move away from heavy capital expenditures and shift these to operating expenses,” Clemente enthused.

“We have improved our branding and created our own product lines. I am most fond of Funtastic Vacations, which we started for the Philippines. These are more theme-based itineraries and not just the usual city breaks that our competitors are selling,” she added.

Clemente’s work at Rajah Travel officially began 17 years ago, but unofficially she had been involved in the business since childhood. She said: “I have fond memories of helping out on tour runs and creating marketing collaterals when I was still a kid.”

Rajah Travel was founded 42 years ago in 1972 by Aileen’s parents, Joe and Alejandra Clemente. She said: “I continue along this path as I share their pride for the country and their vision of contributing to the economy through the multiplier effect that tourism generates.

“Also, this is more of a stewardship for me. I believe in the jobs we create and the families we help. Most of our current employees are the sons, daughters, relatives and neighbours of our previous employees,” said Clemente. “In all honesty, this is my family.”

By Rosa Ocampo

Malaysia | Chris Ng, 38, managing director, MP Travel & Tours

When the previous owner decided to part with MP Travel & Tours in 2010, Chris Ng, then the firm’s general manager, saw further growth potential in the company. He bought over the business and has since been running the agency as managing director.

“I wanted to take (the company) to the next level,” recalled Ng. “At the time, inbound comprised about 80 per cent of the total business revenue, outbound made up 10 per cent of the business and 10 per cent was from visa (processing) – we were the official outsource travel agency for the Singapore High Commission in Malaysia for the acceptance and submission of visa applications and collections.

“I have diversified the company’s business by growing the outbound department and corporate business,” he said, attributing the outbound business growth to strong support from airline partners such as Malaysia Airlines and LCCs like AirAsia.

“Prior to 2010, most of our outbound business was retail. Today, retail leisure business makes up only 30 per cent of our outbound business revenue while the remaining is outbound corporate business.”

Today, both outbound and inbound business revenue are almost equal for MP Travel & Tours, revealed Ng, while the company has also expanded its share of corporate business.

“There is less risk in servicing corporate outbound travellers as this is a year-round market, compared with leisure outbound which is seasonal. There are also higher margins in handling corporate outbound,” he remarked.

The next step in the business is to upgrade the company’s B2B online booking engine, to allow tour packages to be booked online, and to develop a mobile phone application so that rooms and packages can be booked on the go with instant confirmation.

Ng said: “We need to stay ahead of the game as I see the usage of smartphones to make bookings as a future trend. We plan to develop this app within two years.”

With a self-confessed immense love for his job, Ng finds personal satisfaction in taking the business to new heights and believes that innovation is key to growth.

“The challenge is to do things differently and to service your clients well,”

he stressed. “Everyone sells inbound tours to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi and other places. We offer more variety. We have culinary tours, cycling tours and packages for health tourism.”

By S Puvaneswary

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 64. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

PEEK INTO THE FUTURE: In this section, Raini Hamdi asks industry leaders to pen their thoughts on what the future will bring. Here is Loh Lik Peng, director, Unlisted Collection, on the future of boutique hotels

Singapore’s hospitality scene has changed dramatically since I opened Hotel 1929 in 2002. When we opened 1929, the industry was moribund and dominated by older hotels, most of which were managed by the big hotel brands. In that environment 1929 was seen as a breath of fresh air; for such a tiny property in the ‘wrong’ part of Chinatown, it opened people’s minds to new concepts and redefined what was considered suitable locations for hotels.

Fast forward to today, there is a huge range of new boutique hotels spread around all corners of Singapore, especially in its distinctive heritage and conservation neighbourhoods. Is the market getting saturated? I do think we need a new paradigm for Singapore’s boutique hotel scene going forward.

Land and building costs in Singapore have accelerated beyond what is sustainable for boutique hotels. This means that hotel yields are now so compressed, and it is hard to justify the investment at a time when interest rates look to be rising and competition increasing. Singapore is getting a massive increase in new hotel room inventory while manpower is increasingly difficult to come by and visitor arrivals are starting to slow from record highs. How will existing boutique hotels cope with this?

Boutique hotels have always had less economies of scale than the large branded hotels, and the new business environment means cost pressures will increase while competition for guests will be much fiercer. To thrive in this new environment the incumbents and the new entrants must look beyond the traditional ways of operating. Singapore will be a much tougher environment in the next decade, and boutique hotels will need radical solutions to survive.

I believe the way forward is to embrace change and look at the traditional strengths in marketing and public relations, agility and flexibility that boutique hotels have always been good at. Building something bigger, better and fancier than your competitive set is going to be much harder to justify because those types of hotels are much harder to run in today’s environment. The new premium branded hotels that have recently come into the market will always have a massive advantage in facilities and service offerings compared to boutique hotels.

The large expansion of the hotel market leaves niches that I believe boutique hotels are much better at occupying. Cultural relevance and distinctive marketing campaigns built around local neighbourhoods and key cultural events, and a strong emphasis on interesting stories relevant to today’s global traveller, will allow boutique hotels to continue to be interesting and relevant. We will also need to strip ourselves as much as possible of the heavy fixed costs that large hotels are capable of absorbing and start giving today’s guests only the things that are truly important to them. This means less fancy check-in desks and less traditional manpower-intensive luxuries, and more local tie-ups up with interesting businesses and events so that guests can enjoy the true experience of being in Singapore without the hotel carrying such costs.

We need to move to a model that caters to the modern traveller’s real needs without bearing the costs of Singapore’s increasingly expensive business environment. This will require agility and flexibility like never before. I hope we as an industry are up to the challenge!

By Loh Lik Peng, director, Unlisted Collection

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 10. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

PEEK INTO THE FUTURE: In this section, Raini Hamdi asks industry leaders to pen their thoughts on what the future will bring. Here is Taleb Rifai, secretary-general, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), rounds off with harnessing the power of tourism

On a riverboat sailing along a quiet stretch of the Trang An river in rural Vietnam, I had the privilege of speaking with the lady who was paddling our group through the winding waters. She told us that she was part of a group of women who had created a local community business of taking tourists on river tours.

“Before, when I did not row the boat for tourists, my income was mainly from rice paddies,” she said. “This work gave my family a more prosperous life than before. I saved money to build my house.”

That was just one of the many profound experiences I have had travelling around the world while witnessing how tourism can change people’s lives.

Many times when we think of tourism, we think of the pretty veneer of tropical beaches and famous landmarks. What we don´t usually see are the millions of people behind tourism, whose lives depend on this global sector that moves over a billion people around the world each year.

In just six decades, tourism has seen a dramatic rise in breadth and scope. Back in the ‘50s, a mere 25 million people travelled the globe, mainly to and from the traditional destinations of Europe and North America. In 2013, the number of international tourists surged ahead and hit 1,087 million, with emerging economies increasingly capturing the imaginations of travellers.

Today, tourism is one of the biggest and fastest-growing economic sectors in both emerging and developed countries, accounting for nine per cent of the global GDP, 30 per cent of total services exports and employing one in 11 people across the globe.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper significance of tourism´s continued expansion is its extraordinary ability to propel inclusive socio-economic development, create millions of jobs, empower communities, raise awareness of environmental preservation and spark global interactions that foster multicultural respect and understanding.

The transformative impacts of tourism are countless, yet they do not come free of challenges and complexities. For such positive benefits to be realised, we must ask ourselves: How can we ensure the continued growth of the tourism sector while safeguarding our precious resources? How do we guarantee that tourism’s benefits trickle down to the host communities in a fair and equitable way? And how do we make tourism accessible to all?

Answering these questions and ensuring that sustainability is at the core of tourism development is central and requires a concerted and cohesive effort of all tourism stakeholders – embracing the public and private sectors, civil society and, of course, tourists themselves, as transforming tourism’s growth into the global phenomenon that it is today challenges us to answer our higher call as global citizens.

By Taleb Rifai, secretary-general, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 10. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

PEEK INTO THE FUTURE: In this section, Raini Hamdi asks industry leaders to pen their thoughts on what the future will bring. Here is Frits van Paasschen, president & CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, on the future of hotel management

Today, technology is evolving faster than companies and consumers can think of ways to use it. This is having a profound impact on how we live our lives, and in the hospitality industry, how global brands cater to the evolving needs of their guests.

If you go back in history, you will see that brands were actually born from technology and change. In our industry, about 50 years ago in the newly arrived jet age, travellers began to look for reliability from hotel brands – a consistent, quiet, clean room from one market to the next. Brands like Sheraton and Le Méridien rode this wave and hotels planted flags in new and exotic locations, creating outposts for Western travellers. Yesterday’s luxury became today’s necessity and, over time, reliability became boring.
Then, as television, sports, music and modern advertising turned the world of brands from black and white to living colour, companies began to create brands with personality and dimension that tapped into people’s imaginations and self-definition. Brands like Nike, BMW and Gucci spoke to people’s attitudes and aspirations, and a new way of living. In our industry this phenomenon led to the creation of W Hotels, bringing global scale to a burgeoning boutique segment focused on lifestyle and design.

As change marched forward, the ‘90s ushered in the Internet age, changing consumer expectations yet again. With new abilities to access a wealth of information, people learned more about the companies behind their favourite brands and wanted those companies to share their personal values, such as sustainability. A cool image was no longer enough. This is why we launched a brand like Element and set goals to reduce our energy and water consumption by 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively over 10 years. Those actions say a lot about who we are.

Today, technology and social media are accelerating the evolution of brands. People are connected real-time, all of the time, with each other, with their interests and with their brands. They no longer want a one-size-fits-all option, they want a dialogue and they want brands to know what’s on their mind right now. For us, technology is not only changing the way people search and book their stays, it’s changing the way we connect with our guests.

While it is far from simple, we must keep pace because companies that can deliver personalisation consistently and globally will be set up to win. Global hospitality companies, like Starwood, have the scale to build and connect digital capabilities, pulling together revenue management, Big Data offer engines, reservation systems and information about individual guests – and then tie it all to brand loyalty, a global network of hotels, and thousands of associates to give guests personalised experiences.

Our oldest hotel, the Goldener Hirsch in Salzburg, was built in 1407 with a tunnel from the general manager’s office overlooking the front desk so he could see and hear guests arriving, come down the stairs and warmly greet each once like an old friend. Big Data is a 21st century version of this tunnel, allowing us to recognise our guests and provide personal hospitality on a global scale across 1,200 hotels in 100 countries. Really knowing our guests allows us to send people offers that matter to them, customise their visit, do more that they actually want, and avoid doing things they don’t, which makes us more efficient operators while providing our guests superior experiences.

By Frits van Paasschen, president & CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 8, 2014 issue, on page 10. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.