ITB Asia needs “guts and stamina”

SINGAPORE: The latest edition of Singapore Tourism Board’s P@SSPORT online newsletter offers the view that the success of ITB Asia will depend on guts and stamina

P@SSPORT asks, “Is there room for another travel trade fair in Asia?” and adds:

That’s the main question being asked as Messe Berlin, organisers of the world’s largest travel trade event, ITB Berlin, rolls out its plans for ITB Asia.

The travel industry in Asia is awash with trade events at all levels – from national fairs to regional events to those on the international circuit. And each year, travel suppliers make their pilgrimage to all corners of the globe to sell their wares.

With two main travel fairs already entrenched in the region – the ASEAN Tourism Forum every January and the PATA Travel Mart every September – ITB Asia, timed for October 22 to 24, 2008, could pose a threat to the latter.

Travel fairs in Asia, and indeed round the world, face one key challenge – that of attracting enough of the right calibre of buyers to satisfy its exhibitors who have paid good money for booth space.

In Europe, as the market consolidates and as more tour operators merge, there are fewer of the big buyers around. And small, niche operators tend to want to do business in a more personal manner than within the anonymity of the trade floor.

In Asia, it has been traditionally difficult to get buyers from the major markets of Korea, Japan and China. One reason for this is that tour operators in those markets are not used to doing business in a trade show environment.

Another reason is that their business is usually handled by a nationally-linked inbound partner – that is Japanese business tends to go to Japanese handlers, likewise for businesses from Korea and China.

ITB Asia’s plans are to have an international exhibitor base selling to a largely Asian buying audience. One component needs the other. Without the right Asian buyers, exhibitors might not come in. Without a good mix of exhibitors, the buyers might not come in.

Every trade fair organiser’s challenge is to strike that perfect balance between exhibitor and buyer. ITB Berlin, by virtue of its longevity, has managed to achieve that.

Its history has also made it the meeting and gathering place for hoteliers around the world – it is the place to meet old friends, find a job and generally find out what’s going on, other than contracting business.

ITB Asia has its work cut out if it wants to achieve ITB Berlin’s success. It is critical it finds that magic formula quickly because even as the Asian market expands, market dynamics may also change as rapidly; fuelled by advances in technology which are changing consumer purchasing behaviour.

Travel companies in Asia now have alternative ways of selling their products. The online travel space is booming. The travel industry in many of Asia’s mature markets is undergoing fundamental structural changes.

Hotel companies also conduct their own road shows which most say yield more bang for the buck than a mass trade event.

Tour East Singapore group vice-president marketing, Judy Lum, was quoted in TTG Asia as saying: “ITB Asia is trying to cast a wide net to reach both Asian and international sellers and buyers. I may decide to sit back on the first ITB Asia and monitor the demographics of the attendees.

“Large international trade shows are not cheap even if held in Asia and we are beginning to question their worth. Some major hotel chains are giving these trade shows a miss and are instead spending their money on dedicated road shows. Major tour operators are also questioning their presence in these shows.”

Yet the travel trade fair model remains fundamentally low-tech. It is masses of people meeting masses of people in a big physical hall. This has its advantages and disadvantages.

Grace Meike, CEO of the Sarawak Tourism Board, hailed the launch of ITB Asia as “great news”.

“It is likely exhibitors will be at both fairs (like us!). We could have buyers/contractors attending this with a focused interest in Asia,” she said.

Some travel suppliers are quite clear about where they stand. Luzi Matzig, CEO of Asian Trails, Thailand, a veteran of ITB Berlin, said: “ITB Asia wants to go after the Asian outbound as a priority so the question is, will the European, Australian and US inbound providers travel to Singapore to meet them?”

He voiced doubts about this for reasons already mentioned: “In general, Asian outbound follow Asian in-house connections for handling their business abroad.”

What is clear is that ITB Asia must ensure the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

With ITB Berlin, suppliers have to organise their own appointments in advance.

Edwin Yeow, managing director, marketing of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, told P@SSPORT he personally preferred events that offered fixed appointment schedules like the PATA Travel Mart.

What would interest him, he said, is that if ITB Asia was able to target high-end, retail travel agents. “We can reach the tour operators easily enough, but it’s hard to reach the luxury retail agents.”

At the press conference to launch ITB Asia, Messe Berlin and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) were also asked if they were concerned about the tight room supply in Singapore, particularly during October when business is normally buoyant for the city’s hotels.

As with anything new coming into a crowded market, there will always be mixed responses.

For Messe Berlin, which must have done its homework to take this plunge after so many years of studying the market, the key is knowing what it wants to do and sticking with it, yet at the same time being flexible enough to adapt to a new and different market.

It’s called guts and stamina.

Courtesy of P@SSPORT, by the Singapore Tourism Board