In anticipation of stiffer regional competition for the tourism pie following the pandemic, the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) is giving inbound players in the country a head start by organising virtual B2B sessions to connect local tourism players with overseas travel agencies ahead of the annual ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF).
This year’s ATF, hosted by Cambodia, will take place from January 16 to 22 in Preah Sihanoukville.
MITA president, Uzaidi Udanis, shared that the association has planned seven B2B meetings with agents from Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines between January 4 and 14.
Unlike the traditional format of travel trade shows where pre-appointments are made and business appointments are prescribed a time limit, Uzaidi shared that MITA has done away with these formalities.
He said that the aim of organising these B2B events is to provide regional exposure for SMEs in Malaysia’s tourism sector, while showcasing new products and services that the country has to offer.
At the same time, Uzaidi hopes that it will encourage outbound players who had to pivot to attract the domestic market during this pandemic to now expand their services into the inbound sector, in preparation for the return of leisure tourists, which is expected sometime later this year.
He explained the focus is on South-east Asia as the region represented the majority of Malaysia’s inbound tourist arrivals pre-pandemic. China, which used to be the country’s top medium-haul source market, was excluded as “our outbound counterparts from China were not confident that China would allow its citizens to travel overseas for leisure purposes before 3Q2022,” shared Uzaidi.
To encourage participation, the fee is capped at RM100 (US$24) per session for sellers. It is free for buyers to attend.
Uzaidi stressed: “At ATF, we are competing with our counterparts for regional and international travel business. It is also easy for small and niche sellers, such as adventure tourism players, to get ‘drowned’. Here, we keep the fee affordable and encourage new sellers in the market to participate, and we are not competing with other nations for business.”
South-east Asian travel agents who wish to participate as buyers can register at https://virtualaseanb2b.eventbrite.com. Registration for Malaysian sellers has closed.
UNWTO and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have launched a joint report on the use of big data for better tourism planning and management.
The report features examples from across the Asia and the Pacific region, while also showcasing the main trends in the use of big data in tourism at the forefront of technology and innovation. It also makes clear the role that big data can play in recovery and the measurement of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of tourism.
UNWTO notes that international arrivals plunged by 73 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic, and predicts a 70 per cent and 75 per cent fall on 2019 levels for 2021.
As the sector looks to recover, data and market intelligence are critical to empower destinations, businesses, and tourism workers to be better prepared in a rapidly changing landscape. The Covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated the shift toward digitalisation and so further highlighted the need for relevant and reliable data and intelligence to manage tourism.
The joint UNWTO and ADB report will assist both governments and the private sector as they look to complement official statistics with big data so as to better understand changes in consumer behaviour and to enhance recovery with targeted products, segments, and source markets.
Big data will also be key to supporting seamless travel through the implementation of safety protocols, biosecurity technologies, and digital health certificates to enable the safe reopening of borders.
The report further addresses some of the key challenges standing in the way of fully realising the potential of big data and digitalisation for better tourism policy. These include ongoing concerns over privacy, skills gaps, data reliability, inadequate governance and infrastructure, the digital divide, and accessibility barriers.
These challenges make clear the need for comprehensive agenda to pave the way for the effective use of big data to assist tourism recovery and its transformation toward a greener, more resilient sector.
Together, UNWTO and ADB will work to ensure tourism policies across the region are aimed at establishing measurement, monitoring, and management systems and frameworks, thereby ensuring harmonised, comparable, and reliable data and indicators.