Moderator: Peter Greenberg

Martin Craigs, PATA CEO: The big picture is very health for Asia. We are headed to 500 million tourists by the end of 2040. We should’t only be measuring visitor numbers, but we have to measure how long they are staying and how much they are spending. There is very high growth in Southeast Asia. Western governments just don’t get. They are destroying job opportunities. We are at a point that the typical consumer does not want a typical experiences, they want authentic experiences.

Panelists: Makots Arima, Google Japan; CHEN Rong, China International Travel Service CEO; AW Kah Peng, Singapore Tourism Board chief executive; Tatsuko Nakamura, Japan Association of Travel Agents; and David Katz, Visa head of Government Relations for North Asia.

Makots Arima: I believe in Southeast it is rapidly growing in terms of Google-use. The use of smartphone and mobiles for travel is rapidly increasing, which surprises us the most. This is the region that uses the most of mobile phones. The Indonesian people are using Internet the most, followed by Singapore and China.

CHEN Rong: The Chinese economy is rapidly growing. China has the largest outbound travelers, and US469 billion in spending. Shift is more on “deep” tourism. Three elements that will impact Chinese outbound travel– the development technology, we need to capture the needs of the elderly (180 million elderly in China), and globalization (we need to systematize this).

AW Kah Peng: Visitors arrivals have always been important. We put additional emphasis on tourism receipts, because they give us an insight on what tourists what they are spending on. We’re now doing a lot research to look at what they are spending.

Tatsuko Nakamura: In principle, consumers and clients also make reservation through the Internet. The amount of sales through Internet is growing. The Japanese customers, they want to know the substance of the tour. Even if the product is available on the Internet, they still want over-the-counter agents sales.

David Katz: The Asia-Pacific now counts for a major travel trend, but a lot of that is intra-Asia Pacific. Southeast, North Asia then Oceania are the leading regions.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

We are at a point that the typical consumer does not want a typical experiences, they want authentic experiences.
The Asia-Pacific now counts for a major travel trend, but a lot of that is intra-Asia Pacific.
We put additional emphasis on tourism receipts, because they give us an insight on what tourists what they are spending on.