When it comes to growth in the hospitality industry, nothing spells the future quite like the Asia Pacific region.
Online bookings are booming all across the region, so it’s no wonder that tapping into that phenomenal growth remains top of mind for travel companies around the globe.
Chinese consumers booked $11 billion worth of travel through online travel agencies last year, a 70 percent increase over 2014, and new forecasts predict as many as 600 million Chinese citizens will travel abroad in the next five years.
Phocuswright says the Asia Pacific online travel market is approaching $140 billion – nearly as large as the U.S. – and growing much faster.
As the world’s leading hospitality distribution company, DHISCO aims to help both our hotel and travel-selling partners leverage these and other new opportunities. That’s why our team of top executives is headed to Singapore this month for two of the region’s top industry conferences, ITB Asia and Web in Travel.
Chief Revenue Officer Noreen Henry, DHISCO COO Greg Berman and I will be on hand to showcase our latest solutions for connecting the world and to learn, firsthand, about the latest trends in these enormous but still emerging tourism markets and the unique challenges of fostering global growth.
I’m also super-excited to be one of the judges for Sabre’s annual Destination Hack,which is being held at Singapore’s Impact Hub in advance of these two important industry conferences.
The popular “hackathon” challenges participants to “push the boundaries of the latest and greatest” by developing new technology that will reinvent travel, all in just 24 hours. Whether that’s through a mobile app, virtual reality, a chat bot or new voice interface, the possibilities are endless. And I can’t wait to see the results!
This year, Sabre’s goal is to have 100 to 150 developers put their ideas to the test on application program interfaces provided by Sabre and other sponsors. With a first-place prize of $10,000 and chance to showcase the winning creation at Web in Travel, Destination Hack is the place to see some of the globe’s brightest developers, marketers and entrepreneurs put forth their ideas for reinvigorating the travel technology spectrum.
I’m honored to be invited to join fellow judges David Moore, Sabre senior vice president of software development, Roshan Mendis, Sabre Travel Network senior vice president, and Jason Shi, Ctrip director of research and development, for this exciting event.
Stay tuned for the results!
– Toni Portmann
