The fourth edition of ITB Asia 2011, organised by Messe Berlin (Singapore), opened today (19 October) with a record number of over 750 exhibitors from more than 70 countries. Demand for the three-day exhibition was so strong that the space sold out four months before the event.

Addressing the opening press conference at Suntec Singapore, Raimund Hosch, CEO of Messe Berlin, said this showed that the exhibition is becoming more international, and serves as an important and effective platform for participating companies.

“The record number of exhibitors this year and the expected number of visitors will provide our show with even more diversity, and is strong proof that the travel industry in Asia is well-poised for growth despite all obstacles,” he said.

New exhibitors include Botswana, Finland, Croatia and even Iraq, as well as many first-time exhibitors, including official partner hotel, Hilton Worldwide.

Asia Pacific has been in the spotlight with the economic downturn and devastating natural disasters. Citing the 11 March earthquake in Japan, Hosch said the country displayed “amazing resilience”.

“The nation has bounced back just a few months after the tragedy. We are very honoured to support them as our official partner country this year,” he said. “Japan is still a key player in the global travel industry.”

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a long-time partner of ITB, was also represented at the press conference. UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said its long-term forecast showed there will be 1.8 billion international tourists by 2030.

“Asia will be the region to gain the most of the new arrivals. This is definitely the place to be for businesses and destinations, and ITB Asia is leading the way,” remarked Rifai.

According to travel industry research consultancy PhoCusWright, Europe is still the leading travel market, but Asia-Pacific has surpassed the USA, with China and India standing out.

However, Clement Wong, PhoCusWright Director, Research, said that while Asia Pacific represents almost one-third of the global travel market, it currently accounts for only 21% of online revenue. Nevertheless, rising Internet access and purchasing would see the online travel market enjoying double-digit growth in 2012.

“The keys to resilience are flexibility, partnerships, relevancy, source diversification and being able to catch the next wave,” said Wong.

Despite the drastic drop in inbound travel to Japan after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear leak, the numbers are slowly improving. Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata assured the media, “The government of Japan is making every effort for full recovery.”

Several changes and enhancements have been made to ITB Asia 2011. The organisers have introduced a new category of partially hosted buyers to the show this year, targeted at those with tight travelling schedules. In all, there will be about 600 buyers at the show.

The popular Association Day returns and a new TTG Travel Agent Conference join the line-up, along with several new seminars dealing with loyalty programmes, boutique hotels, business travel and women in travel. In addition, there will be a series of clinics on responsible tourism.

The long-established Web in Travel (WIT) programme continues to run in parallel with ITB Asia.

Japan Set To Recover With Ambitious Forecast Ahead 

Not only is Japan on a steady path of recovery from the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck in March this year, the country has also set ambitious targets for the coming years.

This was revealed by Mr Hiroshi Mizohata, Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency at the opening press conference of ITB Asia 2011.

Mr Mizohata announced that the Japanese government is making every effort to reach full recovery after the March 11 disaster and there were five measures that were taken to bring about speedy recovery.

A multi-agency effort was initiated to restore confidence in Japan as a holiday destination with the emphasis on disseminating timely and necessary information to visitors through the use of online media and networking.

International media was invited to visit Japan to get a firsthand experience of Japan as a safe and attractive holiday option. International celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were roped in to promote Japan and student groups were invited with the aim of spreading the message.

Furthermore, Japan was actively promoted as a MICE and incentive travel destination. Domestic travel also received a boost when governors from neighbouring provinces visited the affected sites and gave their stamp of approval.

The efforts seem to be paying off. According to Mr Mizohata, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake visitor numbers plunged 73 per cent compared to the same period last year. However as of August this year, the situation improved greatly and only went down by 33 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Mr Mizohata said Japan has ambitious plans for the coming years. The projection for 2015 is 15 million visitors while the long term projection for the future is to reach visitor arrivals of 30 million. Japan’s inbound market has seen positive signs thanks to an improvement of traveller perception and the prevalence of attractive deals that drew visitors.

The Impact of Demography and Technology on MICE Business in Asia”

The buoyant Asian economies have seen an increasing demand for travel – even more than for designer goods and cars – and with this, more business travel, meetings and conventions are also taking place.

This was the optimistic opening note provided by Paul Brown, Hilton Worldwide’s President of Global Brands & Commercial Services.

“As the Asian economy continues to grow, MICE is becoming an increasingly important sector,” said Brown, and this is evident in ITB Asia’s strong focus on MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions).

Citing Union of International Associations (UIA) data, Brown said that the share of meetings in Asia has grown from 13% to almost 25% of all meetings globally. A recent Forbes survey of business executives showed that some 85% of respondents preferred personal meetings to build stronger and more meaningful relationships.

Oxford Economics’ research has shown a 12:1 return on investment in business travel, said Brown, and for the hotel industry, transient business travel and MICE is a key segment.

“Meeting planners have always been strong partners for the hotel industry and we see that partnership continue to grow as the MICE sector develops further,” he said.

Brown also suggested that global companies adopt matrix organisational structures as this would enable them to be more flexible, addressing multiple business dimensions and multiple management structures.

Referring to challenges, such as the current economic uncertainty, he said that there “may be dark clouds in the horizon”, but they could also be a “silver lining”.

Citing Hilton Worldwide’s experience, Brown said they did not see a drop in forward group bookings for meetings and incentives with a 6-to-12 month lead time, compared to the same period last year. “In fact, we are up year-on-year.”

However, he mentioned there were variations by industry segment and region: “While the financial services are backing off, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, manufacturing and high-tech are strong. This in turn will have impact on the regions.”

The second challenge to the MICE sector is technology as substitutes – video and teleconferencing, tablets and social media, as well as telepresence and proprietary software tools such as Salesforce, Webex and others.

However, Brown said, “instead of viewing these substitutes as challenges, we should embrace them and integrate specific elements of them into the product”.

He cited Hilton Worldwide owners’ conference in Orlando, where some 2,000 attendees were issued with iPads and all information streamed after each session. Real-time interaction was one of the key features. But this required a huge investment in technology.

If done effectively, such integration will ultimately allow entry into new segments of the market. Many of these new segments will prove to be some of the largest growth opportunities for the MICE sector over the next several years.

Brown noted too that the demographics of attendees are also changing, and hotels and service providers must cater to this.

He acknowledged that hotel companies still “have a bit of work to do to develop the technology that will enable meeting planners to book a venue online”. While there has been progress in application to inventory and revenue management practices for transient bookings, this was less evident for meetings.

Although encouraging the audience to embrace new technology, he reminded them that relationships and face-to-face connections are still important, and surprised them with an interesting fact from the UCLA to think about: 90% of communication is actually non-verbal.

“Within our increasingly global world, building relationships is more important than it has ever been in the history of business,” said Brown.

He ended with a note of encouragement: “Have confidence – in the value of the products we provide our customers and the growth and viability of the MICE business.”

Loyalty Programmes: Valuable USP Or A Costly Must-Have?

ITB Asia’s first of three panel discussions took place today with key industry heavyweights addressing the pros and cons of loyalty programmes.

Paul Kerr of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, kick-started the panel with his elaboration of the three tiers of their loyalty programme – SLH. Represented by the initials of “Small Luxury Hotels”, the programme is split into three guest-centric categories, ‘Special, Loved and Honoured’ which are the three stages of the group’s growing relationship with guests. 

Maria Taylor of the Accor Group reviewed her 18 years of loyalty benefits for her guests which encompasses a multi-tiered and multi-planned programme with lots of room for customer feedback and soft benefits. Hilton’s Alfie Yee elaborated on the Vacation Club of Hilton and explained the advantages of consistency and easy redemption in the Hilton Loyalty Programme – Hilton HHonors.  And Sim Beng Khoon, Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Association of Corporate Travel Executives addressed the unique needs of corporate bookings and the specific expectations of frequent business travellers. 

All panellists recognised the possible economic challenges facing most countries and travellers, both business and leisure.  With the wider economic climate coming under pressure, tightening of costs may come into play including the need to come up with more individual direct and targeted offers, double and triple points promotions and enhanced packages such as complimentary breakfasts, room upgrades and unlimited internet access.

Kerr designed a restricted social networking for his club members to enhance the branding of his loyalty programme. Hilton’s adherence to advocacy lies in the communication channels with members via the various social networking sites to share ideas of the benefits and to reap the positive feedback via word-of-mouth marketing.  Hilton also pushes the proposition of “Work-Life Balance” where businesses are encouraged to accumulate points via work and enjoy time off with their families using the points. Sim highlighted the need to augment the preferential treatment of loyal customers while Taylor explored the brave new world of the use of technology to recognise customers. To conclude, unique, attractive and creative loyalty programmes may be one of the USPs of different hotel chains and operators, to help differentiate themselves and sail through challenges in the future. 

ITB Asia Stickman For A Social Cause

Attendees at ITB Asia 2011 were pleasantly surprised to receive a smiling rubber figurine adorned in ITB’s distinctive orange hue. The little orange figure is known as the ITB Asia Stickman and marks ITB Asia’s social media project to do its bid for charity.

Messe Berlin (Singapore), initiated the scheme to raise funds for Operation Smile Singapore a volunteer, non-profit medical services organisation that provides reconstructive facial surgery to needy children and young people.

Delegates are encouraged to snap a picture with the ITB Asia Stickman in the different cities they travel to for leisure or business, and encouraged to upload their snapshots onto the ITB Asia Stickman photoblog (http://www.facebook.com/itbasia or e-mail: stickman@itb-asia.com).

ITB Asia has pledged to donate US$10 for each of the first 250 photographs uploaded, to Operation Smile, The total sum raised will go towards funding approximately seven life-changing operations.