Ying-Yang and a pang of regret

It was interesting watching the performance of two top tourism business leaders at the opening of the China Hotel Investment Summit (CHIS) in Shanghai.

The first to come on was KP Ho, chairman of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, who was delivering the keynote. Other than mentioning his hotel company a couple of times in reference to points he was making in his address, Ho did not use the platform to promote his brand.

Instead, he took delegates on a journey through the history of tourism and spoke about the different stages of development and how – poised at the third cusp of historic change – we in the Asian tourism industry had to confront some hard facts and think deep about what we would leave the world.

What, he challenged, would “the Asian era of tourism give to the industry besides hordes of uncouth tourists who refuse to queue and spit on the streets?”

It was the kind of thought-provoking, big picture message one expects from a business leader speaking at a high-level conference – a leader who can step outside his corporate confines and provide thought leadership to an industry at large.

Guest of honour, Marilyn Nelson Carlson, leader the Carlson Group, followed him. Carlson shared with the audience her love of Chinese poetry and arts, and spoke about the wealth and depth of Chinese culture.

She called on the industry to use the Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to raise a “metaphorical flag” to collaborate “and together we can show the world what hotels can do”.

She said we had a choice as the industry grew – to “do it the right way or do it the wrong way and like a mad tiger, eat its own tail”.

Environmental degradation, heritage destruction, and child prostitution – she said we had the power to stop them. Two million enslaved children are trafficked around the world for sexual purposes. “What we do to our children they will do to the world,” she said.

She ended her presentation with a Chinese-English recitation of a Chinese poem.

It was a nice feminine counterpoint to Ho’s more strident, masculine tone – the Ying to the Yang.

Unfortunately, she showed two fairly long corporate videos in between her messages.

Now I understand the pride of every chief executive in his or her company and I appreciate the need to promote to a captive audience.

But I also believe there is a time to promote, and there is a time not to. A conference, to me, is a platform for business leaders to provide vision, thought leadership and insights. It is not a platform to sell one’s company. The fact that you’re on stage means your company is sold.

Miguel Ko, president-Asia Pacific of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, in a later panel appearance, made a reference to Carlson’s speech, saying “other than the two corporate videos”, she made very good points.

KP Ho, when accepting the Finest Hotels of The World award, said – tongue in cheek – that since others took the opportunity on stage to promote their brand, he might as well anyway and went into a spiel about Banyan Tree.

Oh well, the perfect Ying-Yang balance that could have been …

Catch more of Yeoh Siew Hoon at her favourite hangout, the Transit Cafe – www.thetransitcafe.com