In March 2019, Check-in Asia’s Gary Bowerman travelled to Madrid to deliver a keynote presentation entitled Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0: A force of change in global tourism in the 5G era, at the Centro de Estudios de Turismo Chino (CESTUR China).
More details to follow.
The post What Factors Will Drive Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0? appeared first on Check in Asia.
In March 2019, Check-in Asia’s Gary Bowerman travelled to Madrid to deliver a keynote presentation entitled Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0: A force of change in global tourism in the 5G era, at the Centro de Estudios de Turismo Chino (CESTUR China).
More details to follow.
The post What Factors Will Drive Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0? appeared first on Check in Asia.
In March 2019, Check-in Asia’s Gary Bowerman travelled to Madrid to deliver a keynote presentation entitled Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0: A force of change in global tourism in the 5G era, at the Centro de Estudios de Turismo Chino (CESTUR China).
More details to follow.
The post What Factors Will Drive Chinese Luxury Travel 5.0? appeared first on Check in Asia.
A quick check of the calendar tells us there are just 11 weeks left of 2018… and counting. As Asia’s highly competitive travel and lifestyle sectors cautiously prepare for the uncertain backdrafts of a China-US trade war, possible currency fluctuations and jittery GDP announcements, Check-in Asia rewinds another eventful year of trends tracking.
How has Ctrip contributed to the Chinese Travel Revolution?
In 2018, we teamed up with EyeforTravel to produce a timely report charting the local, regional and global rise of Ctrip, China’s leading online travel agent which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2019. An accompanying White Paper takes a broader look at China’s fast-changing online travel market, and assesses Ctrip’s cashed-up challengers, Meituan-Dianping, Fliggy and Tongcheng-Elong (which Ctrip part-owns alongside Tencent), the proliferation of activities-based booking platforms, and the prospects for Chinese travel should the value of the RMB weaken in 2019.
Does Macau’s new family-friendly focus open up the casino-tourism market for Cambodia and Japan?
Tourism is the mainstay of Macau’s economy, and casino gaming has been the primary revenue driver since 2004. A policy shift towards family and business-oriented tourism, however, means new destination marketing tactics are designed to entice more visitors from South East Asia, Japan and Korea, and reduce the reliance on visitors from Mainland China. Check-in Asia partnered with Mintel to track the tourism challenges faced by Macau, particularly as Cambodia and Japan target investors in the lucrative casino travel market.
How are brands and retailers responding to changing consumer aspirations in South East Asia?
Urban consumers across the 10 countries of ASEAN are embracing smart technologies, and expect brands and travel providers to constantly upgrade their service offerings. Each month, we round-up new innovations created to make travel, living and working more fun and more convenient in Thailand and Indonesia. Recent themes include revolutions in home-delivery, free bus rides in exchange for used plastics, low-altitude drone taxi tests and concerns over a digital citizen database. Travel-inspired observations range from the coastal marine trash overload and photo-shaming visitors who post social media images disrespecting the spiritual significance of ancient ruins to a rumoured CIA ‘Black Site’ that is now a historic tourism attraction.
What are the next “Big Things” in Asian tourism and lifestyle?
With aspirational Asian travellers likely to continue driving change across the tourism industry, we are fine-tuning our upcoming 2019 report. In the meantime, here’s a rewind of the 2018 Top 10 Asian Travel Trends, published in December 2017, which sifted through the segments and sectors we thought would dominate the travel landscape.
The post Decoding Asia’s Shifting Travel & Lifestyle Landscape appeared first on Check in Asia.
A quick check of the calendar tells us there are just 11 weeks left of 2018… and counting. As Asia’s highly competitive travel and lifestyle sectors cautiously prepare for the uncertain backdrafts of a China-US trade war, possible currency fluctuations and jittery GDP announcements, Check-in Asia rewinds another eventful year of trends tracking.
How has Ctrip contributed to the Chinese Travel Revolution?
In 2018, we teamed up with EyeforTravel to produce a timely report charting the local, regional and global rise of Ctrip, China’s leading online travel agent which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2019. An accompanying White Paper takes a broader look at China’s fast-changing online travel market, and assesses Ctrip’s cashed-up challengers, Meituan-Dianping, Fliggy and Tongcheng-Elong (which Ctrip part-owns alongside Tencent), the proliferation of activities-based booking platforms, and the prospects for Chinese travel should the value of the RMB weaken in 2019.
Does Macau’s new family-friendly focus open up the casino-tourism market for Cambodia and Japan?
Tourism is the mainstay of Macau’s economy, and casino gaming has been the primary revenue driver since 2004. A policy shift towards family and business-oriented tourism, however, means new destination marketing tactics are designed to entice more visitors from South East Asia, Japan and Korea, and reduce the reliance on visitors from Mainland China. Check-in Asia partnered with Mintel to track the tourism challenges faced by Macau, particularly as Cambodia and Japan target investors in the lucrative casino travel market.
How are brands and retailers responding to changing consumer aspirations in South East Asia?
Urban consumers across the 10 countries of ASEAN are embracing smart technologies, and expect brands and travel providers to constantly upgrade their service offerings. Each month, we round-up new innovations created to make travel, living and working more fun and more convenient in Thailand and Indonesia. Recent themes include revolutions in home-delivery, free bus rides in exchange for used plastics, low-altitude drone taxi tests and concerns over a digital citizen database. Travel-inspired observations range from the coastal marine trash overload and photo-shaming visitors who post social media images disrespecting the spiritual significance of ancient ruins to a rumoured CIA ‘Black Site’ that is now a historic tourism attraction.
What are the next “Big Things” in Asian tourism and lifestyle?
With aspirational Asian travellers likely to continue driving change across the tourism industry, we are fine-tuning our upcoming 2019 report. In the meantime, here’s a rewind of the 2018 Top 10 Asian Travel Trends, published in December 2017, which sifted through the segments and sectors we thought would dominate the travel landscape.
The post Decoding Shifting Trends in Asian Travel & Lifestyle appeared first on Check in Asia.
A quick check of the calendar tells us there are just 11 weeks left of 2018… and counting. As Asia’s travel, consumer and lifestyle sectors cautiously prepare for the uncertain backdrafts of a China-US trade war, possible currency fluctuations and jittery GDP announcements, Check-in Asia rewinds another eventful year of trends tracking.
How has Ctrip contributed to the Chinese Travel Revolution?
In 2018, we teamed up with EyeforTravel to produce a timely report charting the local, regional and global rise of Ctrip, China’s leading online travel agent which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2019. An accompanying mini report takes a broader look at China’s online travel booking market, and assesses Ctrip’s cashed-up challengers, Meituan-Dianping and Elong-Tongcheng, the proliferation of activities-based booking platforms, and prospects four outbound and domestic Chinese travel should the value of the RMB weaken in 2019.
Does Macau’s family-friendly focus open up the casino-tourism market for Cambodia and Japan?
Tourism is the mainstay of Macau’s economy, and casino gaming has been the primary revenue driver since 2004. A policy shift towards family and business-oriented tourism, however, means new destination marketing tactics are needed to entice more visitors from South East Asia, Japan and Korea, and reduce the reliance on visitors from Mainland China. Check-in Asia partnered with Mintel to track the tourism challenges faced by Macau, particularly as Cambodia and Japan target the lucrative casino travel market.
How are brands and retailers responding to changing consumer aspirations in South East Asia?
Urban consumers in Thailand and Indonesia are eagerly embracing smart technologies, and expect brands and travel providers to . Each month, we produce a round-up of innovations designed to make travel, living and working more fun, more convenient and more . Recent themes have included new modes of e-commerce home-delivery, providing free bus rides in exchange for used plastic bottles, low-altitude drone taxi tests and concerns over a digital citizen database. Travel-themed observations include marine trash overload on popular beaches, photo-shaming visitors who post social media images disrespecting its spiritual significance of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and how a rumoured CIA ‘Black Site’ has become a historic tourism attraction.
What are the next “Big Things” in Asian tourism and lifestyle?
As aspirational Asian travellers continue to driving change across the planet, we are fine-tuning our upcoming 2019 report. In the meantime, here’s Check-in Asia’s 2018 Top 10 Asian Travel Trends report, published in December 2017, that sifted through the segments and sectors we thought would dominate this year’s travel landscape.
The post Decoding Shifting Trends in Travel & Lifestyle appeared first on Check in Asia.
In December 2017, Check-in Asia published 10 Key Trends in Asian Travel & Tourism, analysing the sectors and segments likely to dominate in 2018. Ranked at # 6 was “Make Room for the MMTs”, referencing the aspirational generation of Muslim Millennial Travellers, which accounted for 36% of the 121 million Muslim travellers in 2016, and is predicted to spend USD100 billion annually on travel by 2025.
Ahead of this week’s ITB Asia show in Singapore, which features the annual Halal in Travel Summit, Check-in Asia caught up with Fazal Berhardeen, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based CrescentRating, a leading global authority on halal travel.
“Muslim Millennial Travellers accounted for 36% of the 121 million Muslim travellers in 2016.”
Crescent provides training, auditing and accreditation for hotels regarding their Halal and Muslims friendly services, and publishes the annual Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index. It also hosts the Halal in Travel Summit, which has been a mainstay of ITB Asia in Singapore since 2016, and has held spin-off summits in Berlin, Istanbul, Tokyo and KL.
In recognition of the rising influence of Halal travel – which is projected to be worth USD220 billion by 2020 – this week’s ITB Asia will feature a dedicated Muslim Travel Pavilion. Its daily seminars and discussions range from Catering to Muslim Travellers at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics to The Next Shift in the Muslim Travel Market, plus contributions by Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism, Cape Town Tourism, Tourism Western Australia, Shaza Hotels and Klook.
As the travel industry gears up to enhance its understanding of shifts in Muslim tourism, we wonder how the hotel industry is responding?
“Generally, the hotel industry has not reacted fast enough in the last few years to developments in Muslim travel.”
“Generally, the hotel industry has not reacted fast enough in the last few years to developments in Muslim travel, but that does seem to be changing in the past 6-12 months, or so. Hotels in general, are starting to look more seriously ar their engagement with Muslim travellers,” says Fazal Berhardeen.
He notes two key drivers. Firstly, boutique and small hotels have spotted an opportunity to focus on the Halal travel market. Secondly, driven by market demand, the major hotels are now looking at how they can better service the large and diverifying Muslim market.
Destinations are, however, taking a more strategic approach. In Asia, Fazal Berhardeencites Korea, Japan, Taiwan as being “the most aggressive destinations in promoting themseles as Muslim-friendly.” alongside more experienced Halal-aware desinations,
“Korea, Japan and Taiwan have become very reliant on China as their primary tourism source market, so they are all trying to diversify their visitor base.”
“Korea, Japan and Taiwan have become very reliant on China as their primary tourism source market, so they are all trying to diversify their visitor base, and an obvious target is Indonesia and Malaysia, which offer large growth potential and are majority-Muslim markets. Japan is also hosting the Olympics in 2020, and wants to use the Games as a tourism showcase for international travellers.”
In South East Asia, Singapore and Malaysia – which both count populations of muslim travellers – are relatively expereinced halal-aware destinations, although both will need to adapt to developments over the coming years, particularly as muslim millennial travellers grow increasingly influential.
“Indonesia is taking stragetic steps to attract 3.8 million inbound Muslim travellers in 2018, rising to 5 million in 2019.”
Indonesia, too, is taking stragetic steps to raise its appeal. As the world’s largest Muslim population nation, it aims to attract 3.8 million inbound Muslim travellers in 2018, rising to 5 million in 2019. The nation’s capital Jakarta is also increasing its range of halal travel products and services in partnership with tourism authorities and local universities with the aim of being a leading regional halal destination by 2020.
Emerging destinations are also raising their game. “I was in Uzbekistan last month talking to the Tourism Ministry, and they are providing new guidelines to hotels to push them to step up their engagement with Muslim travellers,” says Fazal Berhardeen
Other countries are still lagging behind, however, and there is “still a lot of education and awareness raising to be done,” says Fazal Berhardeen.
“Often, players in the travel industry don’t fully appreciate the potential of Muslim travel in their own country, and, even if they do, they tend to be concerned about perceptions of religious-based tourism, he adds, “So, a lot of our work is about steering them towards the community side of travel. There are a lot of opportunities in this aspect, because Muslim travellers are very community minded, and like to engage with the communities that they visit.”
The post Asia Travel Trends in Focus: Halal Tourism appeared first on Check in Asia.
