Northstar

HOTELS www.travelweeklyweb.com Chua Hui Wan, Chief executive officer, ZUJI Singapore 10 minutes with… All freshened up It has facilitated over 3.5 million trips around the world since 2002. Recently, this OTA has launched a fresher brand image and a quarterly travel insights report that profiles the habits and preferences of Singapore-based travellers. We speak to Chua Hui Wan, chief executive officer of ZUJI Singapore, to find out her thoughts on how the travel trade will be like in 2014. Q: How do you think the travel trade has fared for 2013? A: Singapore-based travel continues to grow steadily. People are spending more nights away during their holidays, showing a willingness to take longer breaks, which reflects a growing affluent population. In addition, short haul travel (0-5 hours of flight time) remains popular, making up 78 per cent of bookings on ZUJI. This is likely due to the breadth of travel options available in the Southeast Asian region that can be enjoyed at affordable rates. Economical travel options also allow Singapore based travellers to make ad hoc decisions about overseas trips, particularly around long weekends. " Adventure travel is sectioned into "hard" and "soft" experiences. The hard experiences are the more physically demanding activities, whereas soft adventure refers to enriching activities like culinary pursuits, archaelogical, wildlife viewing and so forth. Q: What are the potential markets for growth in 2014? A: ZUJI booking data lists Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Seoul and Taiwan, as the top five flight destinations departing from Singapore. However we are also seeing newer flight destinations emerge, which include the likes of Sydney, Ho Chi Minh and Xi'an Xianyang. For hotels, the top 3 new destinations include Batam, Indonesia; Salzburg, Austria and Dublin, Ireland. Q: What are your projections for the coming year and what can we expect for travel? A: We see three prominent trends for 2014: 1. More individual holiday experiences • Consumers seek more authentic and tailored experiences and will rely more than ever on technology to plan and enjoy their trips. • More people will turn their backs on artificial 'travel worlds' and instead seek holiday destinations and experiences with moreww interaction with local communities. 2. Adventure travel will gain more traction • More active, adventurous travel is growing fast as people seek diverse new experiences. • Adventure travel is sectioned into 'hard' and 'soft' experiences. The hard experiences are the more physically demanding activities, whereas soft adventure refers to enriching activities like culinary pursuits, archaeological, wildlife viewing and so forth. 3. Travellers are increasingly willing to spend more on holidays • Booking value has improved. Travellers are increasingly booking longer stays at their destination, tagging on additional nights when they previously would have only booked a 2.5 night stay. " The Indi spensable stry Rea TravelWeekly Asia – a cut above the rest and always close to you Bringing readers vital news, features, interviews and special reports every month, TravelWeekly Asia continues to inform and enlighten, placing you right in the middle of emerging trends and developments. For advertising information, please contact Kevin Ng • (65) 6521 9742 • kevin.ng@contineomedia.com 16 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | DECEMBER 2013 Travel Indu d Feature Highlig ht Luxe defi finition finition Vol. 4 Issue 05 | May 2013 | www.trav elwe ekly web. com | Published by Trav el & Mee tings Group, Cont ineo Business $158 m budget illion tourism to boost in New Zealand New Zeala nd's Prime Minis Media S RWM to host US$7 Asian Title 50,0 00 Airlines Page 14 ter John AUCKLA Key anno uncing his ND – A plans for tourism budget the NZ$ sector, of NZ$ 158 millio 158 millio to boos next four n budget n has been years. 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As well be targe need to land, to Bowler n centres incre asing as attra l and MIC ting busin attract support also adde ct mor people funding the eme ess trave said Key. d that Tour E. e visito who spen to estab rging llers and rs to g ng urism N r m New lish signi d more. specifically high-spen ew Zeala w Zeala The Prim ficant p We will and now , India, ding luxu nd now presenc resence e Mini s n e in w has suffi Indonesia ry trave the focu "There u thes eme has su and Latin llers," s for the ster adde d that s Latin Am a n Ame these emerging fficient rging mark t rgi g ma high value are also enha tourism spend $34 the MIC rica. r a nced plan merica. arkets, indu ets, E visitors. million lans in a s n place to ensu on inter We will over four stry, in the next sect or will also pa e re this national work with lace for targetin r targe years to be Zeal four year niche is r ting business and exhi ng high h prem significan s. "We and's fanta high end, develope with premium e ium h end, events, bitions. will attra tly expa tour m tourism d to its stic high to its fu u including Conferen t full po valuable nd our operator op a ull pote ctions," end acco conferen otent ce focus as they ntial leve perators said Bow s tial lever mmod modatio ces, conv e aging spend $318 and conventio for the ler. TRE NZ i n, trans entions n visito New aver per day is New port prov rs are showcase announce age tourist," on aver particular iders and said the s the key Zeal and' s prem age, com ment at ly prov prime mini TRENZ pared to tourism ier tour iders and 2013 operator ism trad $208 ster du the i our or y pf ign u Pte Ltd Rri ti FbscEpEon Su y! toda www.travelweeklyweb.com/subs www.travelweeklyweb.com

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