Northstar

www.travelweeklyweb.com www.travelweeklyweb.com 6 | ■ TRAVELWeekly AsiA | FEBRUARY 2014 Paul Kerr, CEO, Small Luxury Hotels of the World Ross Veitch, CEO, Wego "Unsurprisingly, digital is of continuing importance. In 2013, revenue in SLH's online booking engines increased by 25% (from 40 million USD to 50 million USD) and this year SLH is re-launching its website to be even faster and easier to use. We have seen our mobile visits vastly increase; 42% (700,000 visits) on iPad and a 39% on mobile (300,000 visits). Travel agents are still of vital importance to SLH and generate 52% of revenue. As a destination, "Most Asia Pacific economies should see continued strong growth in 2014, although national elections in Indonesia and India and the ongoing political standoff in Thailand, will likely act as a break. Rising middle class incomes will see more people travelling than ever before, both domestic and international. Asian aviation will undergo some big changes in 2014 with the Tata Group JVs with both AirAsia and Singapore Airlines reviving the Indian travel market. AirAsia X opening a long-haul hub in Bali will be good news for travellers in Australia and Indonesia. The longer term secular trend from offline to online travel booking will continue fuelled by cheaper more powerful smartphones and tablets, cheaper and faster China is looking to be the most dynamic. The appetite for creating fantastic experiences continues unabated and the independent hotel sector is flourishing in China right now. We signed up five properties in 2013 and are in negotiations with numerous properties due to open in 2014. We have also launched a dedicated site in Chinese and hosted in China to support this growing market." mobile and broadband data networks, better online booking websites and increasing consumer confidence in e-commerce generally. Hoteliers will see improved channel management and online campaign management tools. More well- funded local OTAs will emerge across Southeast Asia pitting their local knowledge and focus against the proven technology, scale and marketing machines of their global competitors. In 2014 at Wego, we will continue to invest in upgrades to our consumer products and partner platforms, but the key theme for us is scaling up to reach more travellers every month and delivering ever increasing booking volumes to our travel partners." FEATURE Martin Rinck, President, (Asia Pacific), Hilton Worldwide "In 2014, the hospitality sector in Asia Pacific should continue on the positive trend consistent with previous years, in particular driven by Japan, Australia and China. With China's growing middle class developing a voracious appetite for travel, the Chinese market is an important driver for domestic as well as outbound travel, with more than half of the preferred 10 destinations of Chinese travelers being cities within Asia Pacific. We will therefore continue to grow our portfolio of properties in China and the rest of Asia Pacific, and operate great hotels under our luxury, full-service and focused-service brands in order to capture the hearts and minds of today's travelers, and build affinity with our brands." Mark Lankester, CEO, Tune Hotels "2014 is looking likely to be a year of balance. With the gradual recovery in the Eurozone and the US, we'll see travel trends for destinations that have seen slow growth or drops begin to return to positives. Asia Pacific will continue to welcome more visitors with good growth and Africa will begin to see its growth prospects be recognised. Digital and Online are the areas of excitement and the sheer numbers that consumers are turning to the internet is amazing. Consumer tastes are changing with the larger low to medium middle class coming into its own and the prospect of travel, both domestically, medium haul and long haul is now being unleashed. More people have the propensity and desire to travel illustrated by the almost 1.1 billion international tourist arrivals globally in 2013." Travellers are looking for new experiences and destinations and as more markets open up and invest globally, this bodes well for the travel and tourism segments."

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