January 2017 Hot Topics

Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport announces expansion plan, with two new terminals raising overall annual capacity to 38 million passengers by 2019. Currently, the airport is operating over-capacity, handling 31 million passengers when it was designed for 25 million. Read More

The 15th edition of the Bain Luxury Study found that travel and experiences and luxury hospitality grew 5% and 4% respectively in 2016. As consumers prefer experiential purchases, food, wine and beauty also saw growth. This represents opportunity to create an experiential package for tourism destinations. Read More

Outbound travellers from emerging Asia-Pacific markets currently outnumber those from developed Asia-Pacific market by 1.5 times, and this figure is poised to grow more than twice as fast over the next five years (7.6 per cent vs. 3.3 per cent CAGR), according to the Future of Outbound Travel in Asia Pacific (2016 to 2021) report by Mastercard. Myanmar is projected to be the fastest-growing outbound travel market with a 10.6 per cent annual growth rate over the next five years, followed by Vietnam (9.5 per cent), Indonesia (8.6 per cent), China (8.5 per cent) and India (8.2 per cent).
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A majority of Chinese theme park visitors expect virtual or augmented reality experiences and guides at resorts within three years. They also wish for technology to help them with payment and assistance at the parks – such as wristbands or smartphone apps. If theme parks in China successfully launches the product, it will revolutionize traditional theme parks around the world. The demand for technologies in making processes more efficient is also one to note when dealing with Chinese tourists. Read More

WeChat has launched a new initiative called ‘Mini Programs’ which allows for third-party services to work within the WeChat application, without switching between apps to access them. WeChat reported 768 million daily logged-in users as of September 2016, and some 50% of users stayed online for at least 90 minutes per day. ‘Mini Programs’ is deemed considerably more feasible for travel apps. This strategic move is expected to monopolize WeChat in the instant messaging platform. Read More

Bermuda Tourism Board launches new campaign with Media Agency Group in London, using a camera on the billboards on the roads. It scans the license plate on the vehicle, identifying the value of the vehicle and changes the digital display on the billboard to Bermuda’s tourism products should the car owner fall into the target audience wealth range. It ensured minimum wastage and maximum relevance. The image recognition software reassures that the car owner’s details are not exposed through the scans. Read More

China has become the world’s eighth biggest cruise market. A total of 2.12 million Chinese holiday-makers departed from China’s 10 major port cities, to travel overseas last year, up 91 percent year-on-year. The number of outbound cruise passengers in China topped 2 million for the first time in 2016, according to a report by China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA).