Aussie Pippa Williamson, VP Commercial for APAC opens MarketHub Asia in Bangkok for over 400 partners and media
Pippa Williamson flew the Aussie flag in Bangkok this week the APAC VP (commercial) of Hotelbeds revealed the burning topics and key pillars for growth in the travel industry; technology, digitalisation and innovation and opened the MarketHub Asia conference.
Nancy Hromin is in Bangkok this week to cover the 2023 MarketHub Asia exclusively for the Australian trade!
Williamson, along with her colleague Tomeu Gili who was representing the Middle East, opened the conference with figures that demonstrated a bounce back in the industry to pre-COIVD levels, even for the APAC region where lockdowns, in particular in China were a lot harsher than in the Northern hemisphere, especially from a hotel occupancy perspective.
“We need to be agile, and we need to be able to get out partners’ product to our clients in real-time with relevant rates,” Williamson, said.
“So we’ve increased the way that we work with static and dynamic to make sure that your pricing is relevant to consumers”
APAC is the economic powerhouse of travel industry
Sarah Wang, regional director (Asia), for WTTC, left no economic stone unturned, unveiling a set of data around travel trends and insights for the region.
“The travel industry has now a global GDP contribution of 7.7 trillion, an increase by 22 per cent, compared with the previous year, we’re at 21.4 million NEW jobs in 2022,” Wang, said.
“We see a strong increase in International spending by 22 per cent to 82 per cent.
“And for this year, we’re projected to have a very strong development for 2023, reaching the GDP contribution of 95 per cent pre-pandemic level.
“Looking a further 10 years ahead, sour travel and tourism sector will reach new highs with 50. 5 trillion US dollars in terms of GDP contribution globally, and in terms of job creation, it will be 430 million jobs being created.
“So in the next 10 decades, there will be 110 million new jobs.”
“Interesting, nearly 70 per cent of these new jobs will be generated in Asia Pacific region.
“This is partially attributed to our strong economic growth and new fast growing middle class and increased travel demands from them.”
Wang also touched on a number of key travel industry trends:
- The correlation between increased economic activity and greenhouse emissions will be ‘decoupled’
- Interests of sustainable travel products and desire for flexible booking policies with people are on the rise exponentially.
- Travellers are attracted to flexible booking polies and payment options.
- Travellers are booking trips ahead of time and staying longer, despite the economic uncertainty.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
bangkok MarketHub Asia Pippa Williamson Sarah WangLatest News
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