Northstar

20 | www.travelweekly-asia.com What's brewing for 2018? Challenges and bright spots: hear from various industry representatives as they look to the future. Campbell Wilson, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Singapore Airlines Ltd "Challenges persist in our industry as significant capacity continues to be mounted in key markets, and yields remain under pressure despite some stabilisation in recent months. The SIA Group is well placed to meet the challenges, with many strategic initiatives to enhance competitiveness including investments in both full-service and low-cost airline operations, joint venture airlines in other markets, pilot training and the ongoing enhancement of products and services to better serve our customers." Cinn Tan, chief sales & marketing officer, Pan Pacific Hotels Group "While growth forecasts have been raised for developing markets in Asia Pacific, geopolitical tensions combined with currency fluctuations could influence travel demand and spending. Intra-regional travel will keep growing on the back of enhanced flight connectivity to countries including Myanmar, Vietnam, and Malaysia, where we have expanded our footprint significantly. Chinese travellers will continue to make outbound trips, especially to Southeast Asia, and we have the advantage of a brand presence in China with Pan Pacific Beijing in the capital city. Technology presents both a challenge and an opportunity, and is driving us to rethink marketing. We are working on being more agile and dynamic in meeting our customers' digital and social needs to be closer to them." Shinya Kurosawa, president & CEO, JTB "With the increase of travellers from Asia travelling to other parts of the world as well as an increase in travellers to Japan, the challenge is to capture and ride the wave. A key trait of this rise is that travellers will also increasingly opt for free and easy itineraries planned using online tools and we have to adapt ourselves for this change. We are now focusing on DPS (Destination Products Services), enhancing our online sales through sales promotions as well as expanding our market presence through the collaboration with OTAs and new business partners." Sim Kian Peng, general manager, South East Asia, Carlson Wagonlit Travel "Data science presents immense opportunities to change the way business travel is viewed, experienced and managed. However, the wealth of data in the corporate travel sector is still relatively under-utilised compared to other industries. There are several areas where we see data science having a transformative impact: One of these is in creating a more intuitive, user-friendly and personalised business travel experience, similar to what we encounter as consumers when using services like Netflix. Another is in helping companies measure the return on investment on their business travel. It has now been just over a year since we had Dr Eric Tyree, our chief data scientist, join CWT and we're making steady progress in extracting greater value from our data." Teresa Wong, head of marketing and market development, Asia Pacific, CyberSource "The growth of digital commerce has been a boon for retailers, especially so for those in the travel sector. With the rise of cashless payment systems, merchants can create a seamless and unified online payment experience for time-strapped travellers. In 2018, managing payment across multiple channels that embed seamless payments solutions into the traveller's lifestyle will be key. CyberSource is partnering merchants closely to deliver best in class digital payment solutions that keep both merchants and their customers' payment security top of mind." Kevin Goh, chief operating officer, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) "We see tremendous opportunities for serviced residences in Asia Pacific. Currently, almost 80% of our units are in Asia Pacific and China is our biggest market. China's growing middle class with rising affluence is driving domestic travel and making the country the world's largest outbound travel market. While the supply of serviced residences in China is set to increase, we are well-positioned to stay ahead of the competition given Ascott's brand reputation and expertise in managing world-class serviced residences globally, our over 20 years of experience in China, and the consistently high standards of our properties and services. Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam also present strong growth potential, given their young population, rising middle-income group, and economic policies put in place to attract foreign capital."

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