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The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will launch the first comprehensive travel and tourism festival, TravelRave, to bring together a series of key travel and tourism industry events being held between the 18th and 29th of October 2010, in Singapore. Anchored by key events in the travel industry, including ITB Asia, one of the leading travel and tourism tradeshows in the region, TravelRave in 2010 will also feature the inaugural Asia Travel Leaders Summit.
TravelRave seeks to create a regional marketplace where travel and tourism professionals from across the entire industry including hospitality, airlines, attractions, integrated resorts, travel agents and associations can gather to share business best practices and industry insights which would serve as the basis for cross-sector collaboration. In addition to helping travel and tourism enterprises tap into the vast potential of the Asian market, TravelRave also aims to celebrate Asia’s unique and multi-faceted tourism landscape.
The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has forecast that global international tourism arrivals will grow by 3 to 4% in 2010. The total tourist arrivals by region shows that the top three receiving regions by 2020 will be Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million) and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. East Asia and the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East and Africa are forecasted to record growth at rates of over 5% year, compared to the world average of 4.1%.
The latest research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), meanwhile, suggests that travel and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP in Southeast Asia alone will be around 3.5% this year, with the wider travel and tourism economy (including the flow-through effects of tourism on other sectors) contributing some 9.7%. More significantly, travel and tourism’s share of GDP in the region will grow by a projected 5.9% (direct contribution) and 6.3% (direct plus indirect) per annum over the next ten years.
Elaborating on STB’s objective of creating TravelRave, Aw Kah Peng, Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board said, “As Asia Pacific continues to deliver consistent travel and tourism growth, the industry is well-positioned to harness Asia’s huge growth potential and sustained economic development as well as investors’ confidence in the region’s strong business fundamentals. It is within this context that TravelRave was conceptualised to ensure that a dynamic and effective platform for business exchange and knowledge sharing amongst the industry exists.”
One of the anchor events for TravelRave is ITB Asia, Asia’s leading travel exhibition which highlights growing Asian travel source markets and features small- and medium-sized enterprises that cater to the rising demand for innovative and niche travel ideas. The TravelRave line-up for 2010 will also include the Asia Travel Leaders Summit, the Web In Travel Conference and Association Day @ ITB, amongst others.
Asia Travel Leaders Summit
As part of TravelRave, the Singapore Tourism Board will also host the first annual ‘Asia Travel Leaders Summit’ from 18-19 October 2010. Gathering business leaders with an interest in Asia’s travel and tourism industry, dialogue among participants will be designed to facilitate the forming of new partnerships and uncovering of Asia’s vast market opportunities. The Summit will serve as a platform for sharing the latest pan-Asian market insights and their impact on travel, as well as showcasing best practices in the Asian travel industry.
Commenting on the reason for STB to front the forum, Aw said that, “STB identified a need for a thought leadership platform that connects Asian travel and tourism industry leaders, Government officials and academia across various parts of the travel industry. The Summit then provides an objective platform on which to constructively discuss topical industry issues”.
Of note, several partners have joined STB to host the Asia Travel Leaders Summit. These partners include CNBC Asia, the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management, Visa, and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
“CNBC is delighted to be one of the partners to participate in the Asia Travel Leaders Summit. Being First in Business Worldwide, CNBC takes pride in contributing to the continued development of the business community in Asia by supporting platforms that facilitate thoughtful interaction,” said Satpal Brainch, President and Managing Director, CNBC Asia Pacific. “The Travel and Tourism industry plays an important role in today’s global economy with Asia increasingly being at the forefront of that story. There is no better time for business leaders to get together to discuss and share valuable insights on what the future holds for their respective industries, and this travel summit aims to do just that. As such, in conjunction with hosting this summit, CNBC is pleased to announce the inaugural “CNBC Asia Travel Business Leader of the Year Award” which salutes remarkable business leaders for their commitment to excellence in Asia.”
“The Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI) is pleased to be one of the partners to host the ‘Asia Travel Leaders Summit’. The summit is in line with CNI’s aims to develop quality leaders, managers and entrepreneurs for the Asian hospitality and tourism industry; and deliver cutting-edge hospitality research with Asian perspectives and focuses. The future of the tourism and hospitality industry in Asia promises great opportunities for growth in the next few years although major challenges lie ahead. We believe this Asia’s industry-led thought leadership conference will be an excellent opportunity for all of us to address current issues and come up with insightful solutions for the mutual benefit of all in the industry in Asia.” Dr. Russell Arthur Smith, Interim Dean for the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management.
Meranda Chan, Country Manager, Singapore and Brunei, Visa said: “Visa is a long-time advocate of tourism industries throughout the world. With global travel trends shifting and changing rapidly, the time is ripe for the Asia Travel Leaders Summit. By bringing together the leaders of Asia’s tourism industry, we can begin to identify the global trends which will build the tourism economies across the region. Visa has a long history of working with the Singapore Tourism Board which we formalized with our agreement in October 2009, and we are excited to support the Asia Travel Leaders Summit.”
“We have a number of Members either from, or well established, in Asia and we have been very active in this fast-growing region, notably through our China and India Initiatives,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC’s President & CEO. “Indeed, this is one of the main reasons we decided to hold our 10th Global Travel & Summit in Beijing this year. We now look forward to working with the Singapore Tourism Board and other partners to develop Asia Travel Leaders Summit, which will address some of issues and concerns that are specific to this region. Discussions and debates at Asia Travel Leaders Summit will help to unlock the full potential of Asia’s Travel & Tourism.”
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
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