Forming day two of the World Tourism Conference that was hosted in Melaka, Malaysia in October this year, some of the industry’s greatest minds came together to discuss the industry’s current situation and the way forward. In keeping with their Conference theme ‘Global Tourism: Game Changers and Pace Setters’, New Directions for Tourism Product Development and Boon or Bane of the Tourism Sector were the panel discussion topics for the day.
Panel Discussion III: New Directions for Tourism Product Development
Chang Hogan, Dy. Director General of Marketing and International Cooperation Department, China National Tourism Administration and David Chapman, Director General, The World Youth Student and Education Travel Confederation presented their experience on the topic, while Ong Hong Peng, Secretary General, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia moderated the session.
Kick-starting the session, Hogan revealed that tourism contributes to 4 per cent of China’s GDP, making it an important sector for the country. He further added that the Ministry has begun to set aside a certain amount of time every year where departments work in conjunction to increase tourism in every way possible. According to him, China has focussed on increasing rural, ecological and forest tourism sectors, as well as improving qualities of service and infrastructure. “We are willing to join hands with other countries for improvement in global tourism,” Hogan concluded.
Speaking about attracting youth and gen Y travellers, Chapman said that statistics show 200 million youth trips to date, with the prediction being 300 million by 2020. He opined that this is the fastest growth sector in tourism. “When things get tough, the youth get travelling. While the backpacker market has been seeing a dip since 2007, the flashbacker market has been on a rise. The youth spend on tourism has increased from EUR1500 in 2500 to EUR 1500 in 2012. TRhe age group of youth travellers is increasing along with their spending capacity and frequency of travel,” he revealed.
Panel Discussion IV: Boon or Bane of the Tourism Sector
Moderated by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Impact Newswire; the panel included Shaun Vorster, Advisor to the Minister of Tourism, South Africa; Kevin Leong, GM, Asia Cruise Association – Regional Perspective; William Harber, VP of Market Development, Carnival Asia – Global Perspective; and Azran Osman Rani, CEO, Air Asia X.
According to Vorster, who spoke about tourism and mega events in tourism, South Africa witnessed a fourfold growth in inbound tourists from 1993 to 2012, all through which the destination hosted events. “We learned a lot from our mistakes while hosting the FIFA in 2010, and benefited from it tremendously as well. We received 309,000 additional tourists, earned SAR 3.6 billion in tourism receipts, and also grew our brand exposure and improved infrastructure. We adopted a ‘milestone’ mindset; understood value proposition; learned the advantages of social media and TV; roped in local community support; and used green economy as a license to a broader economy,” he said.
Vorster further added that South Africa aims to earn SAR 6.2 billion over the next five years in exhibitions. To aid this, they hope to switch to e-visas over the next five to six years, as well as deal with the issues of air lifts and carbon footprint.
Speaking about reshaping tourism, Rani opined that multi-sector flights are a growing trend which means, length of stay won’t increase for the next few years; it will only stabilise as people get more inclined to LCCs. This, he added, will be the trend till there is a next generation in in the aviation model. He further added that infrastructure development is very lumpy, and this is an issue faced by all key tourism products. “While one year the seat capacity available is enough, the next year it is less as the popularity of the destination has increased,” he said.
The rapid growth of the cruise industry was evident in Leong’s presentation which showed a prediction of 3.8 million cruise passengers by 2020. Speaking about the challenges, Leong stated that geography, attitude towards cruising and limited infrastructure are the prime challenges that Asia will face when it has to hold these 3.8 million passengers. He further stated that the economic benefits of cruising are not yet recognised, which is why the industry is not yet a priority.
Harber revealed that Carnival Cruises expects to have welcomed seven million guests by 2020.
Onerous immigration policies, inflexible duty hours, distributors not selling client expectations and the need for training were some of the challenges Leong listed in cruising. He added high fees and port charges to this list.
