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www.travelweekly-asia.com | 3 Published by NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA SINGAPORE PTE LTD SINGAPORE 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652 • TEL: +65-6801-0450 FAX: +65-6801-0469 BEIJING Room 024, Building 8, Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound, No.9 Jianguomenwai Street, Chaoyang District 100600, China • TEL: +8610-8532 3611 | FAX: +8610-8532 5293 SHANGHAI Room 2553, The Headquarters Building, No.168 Central XiZhang Road, Shanghai 200001, China • TEL: +8621-5179 8360 | FAX: +8621-5179 8360 Travel Weekly Asia is published on a monthly basis by Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd. Located at 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652. All rights reserved. Volume 9 Issue 8 Please address all subscription mail to the above address, Fax +852 3020 5794, or email travelweeklyasia@asia-ad.net. 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NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP (ASIA) GROUP PUBLISHER Irene Chua Tel: (65) 6801 0451 | ichua@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Yeoh Siew Hoon Tel: (65) 6801 0450 | syeoh@ntmllc.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Esther Faith Lew Tel: (65) 6801 0457 | esther.lew@ntmllc.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE Ian Jarrett Tel: (618) 9433 6455 | ian.jarrett@travelweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Lee Xin Hui Tel: (65) 6801 0453 | xinhui.lee@ntmllc.com REPORTER Naomi Neoh Tel: (65) 6801 0461 | naomi.neoh@ntmllc.com ASIA CORRESPONDENT Will Chin Tel: (65) 6801 0453 | asia.correspondent@ntmllc.com HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT Catharine Nicol | cn@monsterpix.hk PHILIPPINES CORRESPONDENT Bing Jaleco | bingjaleco@gmail.com ART DIRECTOR Lim Bee Bee Tel: (65) 9750 8405 | bb.bbcreative@gmail.com SALES & MARKETING REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Ng Whey Whey Tel: (65) 6801 0460 | whey.ng@ntmllc.com REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Kevin Ng Tel: (65) 6801 0459 | kevin.ng@ntmllc.com ASSOCIATE MANAGER, MARKETING AND EVENTS Melanie Ong Tel: (65) 6801 0458 | melanie.ong@ntmllc.com AD TRAFFIC AND PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Rena Koh Tel: (65) 6801 0455 | rena.koh@ntmllc.com IT & DIGITAL IT & DIGITAL OPERATIONS Ron Wee Tel: (65) 6801 0456 | ron.wee@ntmllc.com CHINA OFFICE GROUP PUBLISHER (China) Rebecca Zhang Tel: (8621) 5179 8363 | rebecca.zhang@ntmllc.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Roger Wang Tel: (8621) 5179 8360 | roger.wang@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Susan Li Tel: (8610) 8532 3611 | susan.li@travelweekly.com MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES HONG KONG/MACAU/TAIWAN ZAM International - Manna Ma Tel: (852) 9731 2090 | manna.ma@zamintl.com.hk INDIA MHI Communications - Smriti Khanna Tel: (9198) 1040 7483 | skhanna@mhi.com.hk JAPAN R Project Incorporated - Hiroki Fukunaga Tel: (81) 90 4958 0658 | hirokif@rprojectinc.com KOREA Young Media Inc - Keon Chang Tel: (822) 2273 4833 | ymedia@chol.com PHILIPPINES MMPR Media Group, Inc - Marie Monozca Tel: (63) 917 328 7658 | marie@mmprmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR - ASIA Patti Mo | patti.mo@travelweekly.com DATABASE & FULFILLMENT MANAGER Zoe Chu | zoe.chu@travelweekly.com FINANCE ASIA FINANCE MANAGER Julia Tham Tel: (65) 6801 0452 | julia.tham@ntmllc.com NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Thomas L. Kemp CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Lisa Cohen PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL MEDIA Thomas Cintorino EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER David Blansfi eld SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lori Cioffi SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Arnie Weissmann SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Janine L. Bavoso SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION Roberta Muller VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION PRODUCTS GROUP Sheila Rice VICE PRESIDENT, IT INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS Rich Mastropietro VICE PRESIDENT, DATABASE PRODUCTS Elizabeth Koesser TRAVEL WEEKLY EVENTS PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS, TRAVEL GROUP Alicia Evanko-Lewis TALKING POINT Siew Hoon is a traveller who loves to write and a writer who loves to travel. She's combined her two loves into a career in travel journalism that has seen her launch several travel industry titles and conferences, including WIT. She loves the change and discovery that comes with travel and the business. At the Two Sis café in Pyrmont where I had lunch on my last day in Sydney, the place was packed with youngsters from Asia — there's a local university nearby and the café is popular with students. The café, owned by a Cordon Bleu-trained Thai woman, serves fusion dishes that are made for the Instagram generation. Every dish is pretty to look at. It's known for its coloured lattes — from taro to rose to matcha. Every dish is carefully photographed before it is eaten. The two Thai girls sitting next to us have an SLR camera and they take photos of their food from every angle. They could be KOLs (Key Online Infl uencers), after all, posting for their living. They appear to be more interested in how their food looks than how it tastes, picking at their pancakes, which come with a topping of carefully orchestrated candy fl oss. I felt I could have been in a hipster café in Bangkok or Tokyo or Seoul. I hear Mandarin, Cantonese and Thai. When an Australian bloke walks into the café, all eyes turned to him — OK, he's a good looker but he is the minority in this carefully curated new world of food-meets- social media. At the CAPA Australia Pacifi c Aviation Summit in Sydney, executive chairman Peter Harbison spoke of the growth in inbound tourism to Australia. China is clearly leading the way with 1,449,264 visitors expected in 2018. Growth rates since 2010 have been in the double digits. Other growth markets over the 2009– 2018 period are all from Southeast Asia: Vietnam, India, the Philippines and Malaysia. Markets that have declined in that period are Ireland, Japan, South Africa and Israel. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know where Australia's An eye candy treat in a Sydney café future lies. Qantas' growth in the last few years has been in international and Asia, not in domestic. Harbison lamented that despite the growth in tourism, it remains invisible to the Australian government. "It's time for the government to get serious. Tourism jobs are AI-resistant and as long as tourism isn't recognised in its own right, it doesn't get political recognition." It accounts for more jobs in related sectors in Australia — construction, retail, transport, accommodation, education and arts and recreation — than mining, he said. On this trip, I fl ew ScootBiz for the fi rst time. It was pleasant enough. There's ample legroom — 38-inch seat pitch. It's not a fl at bed, but it reclines enough for comfort. ScootBiz comes with ScooTV which you download before the fl ight. It comes with one meal. You want more? Pay. You want Wi-Fi? Pay. I like the buy-as-you-fl y and, as a frequent fl yer with Singapore Airlines, its parent company, I can imagine some cannibalisation of business — but it might as well go to the other pocket than someone else's. As an aside, I spoke to a Scoot executive to ask him about MARVIE, the chatbot, newly introduced by the airline to handle customer queries and eventually transactions. Turns out that MARVIE does better with Singaporean English (Singlish) than Australian English. Apparently, MARVIE gets our more direct way of speech. Good to know we talk like robots and eat like social media stars. *This is an abridged version of Yeoh Siew Hoon's article, which fi rst appeared on Web in Travel (webintravel.com).

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