Destination Asia Pacific - Tourism Hub The 21st Century

Travel industry seems optimistic about the Asia-Pacific?

Is carried out according to a study in 2013, the year has been good for the international tourism and stronger for the objectives in the Asia-Pacific region - Asia six percent has grown. Moreover, the number of foreign tourists is around 14 million to reach 248 million. Southeast Asia (as part of the Asia-Pacific region) has increased by 10 percent. China has a record number of international tourist arrivals in 2013, 55.69 originated in the tourism industry employs 65 million people and million.Asia supports in 12 jobs - think about how financial services industries.

Needless to say, this growth has also led to the creation of 1 million jobs and represent the USD2 billion contribution to GDP, around nine percent of the gross domestic product of the region (GDP). This means that the industry currently employs around 65 million people and supports in 12 jobs - think about how financial services industries.

That Tourism Brings to The Table

With more tourists in cities across the Asia-Pacific region to explore as holiday destinations, benefits abound.

Economic growth

The contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP of this region is expected to increase by 5.4 percent annually since 2024. More employment opportunities continue to grow in sectors such as hospitality, airlines, transport services and forth restaurants, to name a few. By 2014, travel and tourism industry will account for 79 million jobs.

Social Benefits

As the tourism industry matures, social media platforms are making progress. Most of these online platforms, including online forums and travel blogs are increasingly used by companies to spread to the general public, information. Needless to say that social media is leading to a greater awareness of travel among Asians. This was one of the factors contributing to the resurgence of budget air travel in Southeast Asia.

Green

Sustainable tourism as one of the growth engines for the sector arise. Members of the group Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are joint efforts for a sustainable future in tourism. Tourism Working Group of APEC is an initiative to promote growth in the travel and tourism industry in the region.

Where are the opportunities?

As the Asia-Pacific region gaining popularity as a tourist destination is gradually becoming a leader in the global tourism scene.

How does this change take place?

The emergence of new segments travelers

A marked change is underway in the preferences of travelers, where a personalized approach would be best to meet their travel needs. This has resulted in a number of categories of travelers under the business women, small business travelers, friends and family visiting travelers as well as older travelers, not to mention the gay and lesbian travelers or LGBT given. Create The growing awareness of the segmented demand opportunities for service providers to produce more targeted offers.

Technological progress in the region

Online transactions and mobile devices as a fundamental means for travel bookings occur. In countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, the phase of the Internet festival series with the use of mobile Internet device-centric has developed. So there was support for agents and providers of travel services to mobile solutions or have become obsolete.

Furthermore, social media is an emerging an effective tool of information and decision-making influence. 61% of Indonesians that the use of social media during the trip as a way to seek advice from friends and contacts to mention.

Automatic speed adjustment

Consumers aged 18-30 show great interest in cruises.

With the strongest interest of the 18-30 age group cited - many travelers have expressed a great interest in cruises. This represents a market opportunity for travel agencies. But infrastructure hinders the cruise industry. Many terminals in the region have the ability to accommodate larger vessels.

The growth of low-cost airlines

The global middle class is growing rapidly and is expected to 2.1 billion in 2030. The increase came walking from Indonesia, India and China. According to a survey in 2013, 47% of tourists have made at least one international flight with a low-cost airline in the last 12 months.

Future challenges

Tourism industry of the Asia-Pacific region seems to have a lot of business opportunities. The growth can be maintained?

Facilitating access to travel in the countries of Asia and the Pacific

While Asian governments to focus on economic integration through trade and investment liberalization to take between nations to travel. A strong indicator of the liberalization is the increase of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). With only 53 in 2000, now there are 250 FTAs ​​in various stages of development from September 2012. Further liberalization is on the cards. Asian governments to bring trade barriers by the AEC, RCEP and multilateral TPP. One of the obstacles that trade agreements could help address is reducing visa restrictions. It is a huge obstacle for the industry, particularly with regard to the takeover of the demand from China and India, the Indian and Chinese travelers are usually required visas for most destinations in this area.

The lack of infrastructure

It required an improvement in infrastructure, particularly in the cruise industry. Although the construction of the cruise terminal port of origin, the region lacks terminal can accommodate vessels larger and more modern. In addition, to strengthen the potential of outbound tourism from China and India, the airline capacity to be improved airport infrastructure and meet less stringent visa policy must be addressed.

Improve customer experience

The technology to achieve and improve a target segment, the online experience of customers Hugging is becoming a decisive competitive factor in the success. Service providers need to understand that the web presence is absolutely necessary because travelers often use the Internet to book travel. The recommendations on social media (often on mobile devices) before you read a holiday destination also. Service faced pressure to improve their assessments of social media platforms and online forums, as travelers are increasingly looking for validation of the online community, and not information from traditional sources.

Human capital crisis

While there is a boom in the travel industry, investment in human capital seem to lag behind those in the like hotels and airports infrastructure. According to a report in 2014, an expected shortage of eight million jobs over the next 15-20 years is anticipated.

Coming Trends in Travel

Catering to different types of travelers is large on the agenda of the suppliers of travel services as a one-stop approach is no longer practical. Some of the upcoming trends are:

Focus on millennials

The growing influence of Millennials is undeniable in this region. Most of them fall into the age group of 18-30 years and are far more ethnically diverse than other generations. They are young and have the enthusiasm to explore the world. Some key features of Millennials have a preference for urban tourist destinations, the opportunity to travel in search of favorite hobbies and roaming with friends of the same age group in an organized manner.

Seniors

Contrary to popular belief, seniors are less likely to travel. They are not only enthusiastic, but very demanding as well. Customer service is an important part of their travel experience.

Taste for luxury

Since the number of millionaires continues to grow, so does the number of wealthy American families - with an increase of 10.5 million in 2012 to 20.5 million by 2020. This has fueled the rise of a luxury vacation. This particular sector will be dominated by the United States, Japan and Europe, but significant demand coming from China, India and the Middle East in the future.

On the other hand, luxury travelers are writing reviews of hotels, which take account for 52 percent of all hotel ratings worldwide 2012 to 2014. active - the addition of another target segment of interest.

Moving forward

Tourism industry of the Asia-Pacific region is growing at a fast pace and brings economic, social and environmental issues in its wake. Abundant have an opportunity for investors with the rise of new travel segments, technological advances and the underserved cruise industry gathering emerged next to the phenomenal growth of low-cost airlines have opened up destinations in Asia for budget travelers.

At the same time remain challenges. The infrastructure is underdeveloped and many suppliers of travel services are not differentiated their offerings enough to segment. Millennials, the elderly and luxury travelers, for example, have needs and wants when traveling quite different. And most operators have not yet fully exploited the incredible increase in the use of mobile Internet in the region.

For the future, the tourism industry in Asia is probably a phase of maturation, when rates begin differentiated and segmented to appear, enter both online and off-line. We can have multiple sections of the major tourist cities expect that more and more focus on different tourist segments. We can expect that the promotion of national tourist offices will always try to position their countries, to meet a wide range of entry as well as national tourist segments.