Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com | 3 TALKING POINT 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 11 Issue 1 Please address all subscription mail to the above address, Fax +852 3020 5794, or email travelweeklyasia@asia-ad.net. Online Subscription: www.travelweekly-asia.com/subscribe For reprints or copyright permission contact Travel Weekly Asia at +65 6801 0450 or email to twasia-salesmtg@travelweekly.com Printed by TIMES PRINTERS PRIVATE LIMITED (L007/08/2019) Travel Weekly Asia is BPA audited, with 11,100 print circulation and 24,277 eNewsletter circulation as of Jun 30, 2019. Around the world, BPA is the preferred third-party auditor for advertiser-supported business publications (including print and digital editions). BPA verifies paid, controlled, or any combination of paid and controlled circulation, and reports the data in a single Brand Report. Founded in 1931 BPA Worldwide is an independent, not-for-profit, self-regulating organization governed by a tripartite Board. NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP (ASIA) VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER, ASIA Irene Chua Tel: (65) 6801 0451 | ichua@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Yeoh Siew Hoon Tel: (65) 6801 0450 | syeoh@ntmllc.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE Ian Jarrett Tel: (618) 9433 6455 | ian.jarrett@travelweekly.com SENIOR EDITOR Stanley Ho Tel: (65) 6801 0457 | stanley.ho@ntmllc.com EDITOR Lee Xin Hui Tel: (65) 6801 0453 | xinhui.lee@ntmllc.com REPORTER Naomi Neoh Tel: (65) 6801 0461 | naomi.neoh@ntmllc.com HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT Catharine Nicol | cn@monsterpix.hk MALAYSIA CORRESPONDENT S.S. Yoga | yogasmstravel@gmail.com SINGAPORE CORRESPONDENT Natalie Joy Lee | sg.correspondent@ntmllc.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 ASSISTANT SALES DIRECTOR 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 DIGITAL/IT OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE Jake Mak Tel: (65) 6801 0464 | jake.mak@ntmllc.com CHINA OFFICE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Roger Wang Tel: (8621) 5179 8360 | roger.wang@travelweekly.com MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES HONG KONG/MACAU/TAIWAN ZAM International - Manna Ma Tel: (852) 9731 2090 | manna.ma@ntmllc.com 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 CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER Matthew Yorke EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER David Blansfield EXECUTIVE 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, DATABASE PRODUCTS Elizabeth Koesser TRAVEL WEEKLY EVENTS PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS, TRAVEL GROUP Alicia Evanko-Lewis COVER CREDIT(S): BAYRAMGURZOGLU/GETTYIMAGES Ian Jarrett is a widely travelled and experienced writer specialising in hospitality and aviation. His work has appeared in a variety of consumer and travel trade titles, and online newswires. Recent travels have taken him to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Seoul, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom and Bali, although he is just as happy walking with his dog on a local beach. Travel's Most Used Words of 2019 There is nothing quite like the end of one year and the start of another to ignite an explosion of lists. My desktop heaves under the weight of these "Best of" listicles of trends, luxury hotels and experiences. There is something about listicles that grabs attention even when you really don't want to know "10 ways to hypnotise a rattlesnake". Apparently, our brains love lists because they are a way of effortlessly acquiring data. Marketers love them because they know people like other people to organise things for them. And there is nothing more organised than a list. Some years ago, psychologists also discovered a "top-10 effect," where people lump things into round-number groups and view everything else as inferior. So never, ever be 11th. According to New Yorker magazine, lists create an easy reading experience, in which the mental heavy lifting of conceptualisation, categorisation and analysis is completed well in advance of actual consumption - "a bit like sipping green juice instead of munching on a bundle of kale". My personal favourites at this time of the year are the Words of the Year, words that generally capture big issues of previous 12 months. In 2018 the big word in travel was "sustainability". Resort designer Bill Bensley was right when he said he thought the use of the word was trendy and we would move on to better and bigger words. Not surprisingly in the year that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was Time magazine's Person of the Year, The Oxford Word of the Year 2019 is climate emergency. No one would argue that climate change has been at the top of the global news agenda – along with Donald Trump – in 2019 and its impact on travel has been headlined by the aforementioned Ms Thunberg, who shames airlines for their carbon emissions. The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression shown through usage to "reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance". Taking our cue from Oxford, what were travel's Words of the Year, the words most used to reflect what the industry was concerned about? There was certainly a lot of "disruption" around. If you weren't disrupting you were being disrupted. We'll probably hear less about disruption in 2020 as PR people conjure up another word to describe doing business a little differently. Another key expression was "transformative travel" which, according to Accor, is the search for immersive (another popular word in 2019) experiences by modern luxury travellers who "crave empowering moments and meaningful, lasting changes in their lives". Typically, Accor noted, these transformative travel experiences include community work, yoga retreats and wellness getaways. "Transformative travel helps to bring out the best in everyone," it said. Regent Seven Seas and Norwegian Cruise Line both offered "immersive" experiences, such as visiting wellness practitioners to lead sessions in "mindfulness", another word that popped up a lot. Lastly farm-to-table came in its own in 2019 as chefs hunted down local ingredients, became pals with farmers, while hotels tossed out plastic and made dining an immersive, sometimes transformational and often empowering experience.

• Cover