Singapore, September 8 2014: What are the top ten tech trends likely to impact  the travel industry as it  addresses the increasing challenge  ( and opportunity) posed by the Web?
The 10th edition of the annual Web in Travel ( WIT)  Conference  being held in Singapore  next month  brings together authoritative industry voices  to  identify and describe  these trends. They've decided to theme the conference this year: “Little Big 10”.
The web has moved from websites to interfaces and data, marketing has shifted from pull to push and everything is moving to real-time. Lines are blurring everywhere. Travel is no longer a vertical but is everywhere. Where does this leave the “Travel Brand” as everyone gets into travel – from Amazon to Google to Facebook to Apple?
The conference will try and break ONE BIG idea into 10 Little tracks so that  attendees can walk away with   insights and ideas on what they  can do to adapt business for the next Little Big wave in travel.
The  ten tracks ( and trends) are:

1. OTAs: The Coming Wave What’s the next innovation in online travel? How is the transformation of the web – from websites to devices, interfaces to data, pull to push – changing customer behaviour and influencing the way travel is being sold and experienced? The world’s largest travel brands share their vision and story.

2. Search: The Next Mile: Meta-search’s been hot. Will it remain so? What’s the next frontier in search? A session that will address the extra mile in search and introduce the different models in search and look at the machinations going on in the market as each jostle for supremacy in an ever-crowded space.

3. Loyalty: The Future Battle: Acquiring new customers is becoming an increasingly expensive proposition as the big gets bigger and the market gets more crowded. Owning your customer and keeping them loyal has become the obsession of major brands. In this session, we share research into what makes customers in key Asian markets loyal, and share some best practices by leading companies who’ve made great strides in this area. 

4. Offline to Online: The Great Migration: All that hype about online travel agents but let’s not forget – the bulk of the packaged leisure market is still offline, in the hands of traditional travel players. And some are having great success in migrating their model online and managing to blend the best of both worlds. We showcase a few brands that have made the great O2O migration, be they in leisure or corporate travel. 

5. The Challengers: Changing The Status Quo:It is when the world turns topsy-turvy that challengers appear. Who are the players challenging the status quo and changing the rules of the game in their markets? 

6. Hospitality: The Next Generation: A new breed of executives and investors are entering the hospitality space, bringing with them fresh ideas to transform a traditional sector with technology and ideas. What are their intentions and how will this impact hotel distribution and marketing? And meet the new faces of Asian hospitality as a new generation of hotel owners enter the business to cater to a changing market.

7. Marketing: Math Drives Mad: It is said that nothing unlocks creativity as much as data. And in the world where we have moved from interfaces to data, it takes a blend of math and madness to cut through the clutter and strike a chord in the hearts and wallets of your customers. Some examples of how big data and small steps have influenced and informed sales and marketing campaigns. 

8. Aviation: The Transformers: It’s a time of great change in the aviation sector. Low cost saturation in South-east Asia, yet in the North, the market is just opening up. And in the Middle East, titans are being made. What’s unfolding in Asia and the Middle East as we delve into the two regions that are changing air travel the most.

9. The P Factor: The Ultimate Differentiator: You can have the best and most expensive technology in the world but none of it works without People to Delight People. How do you build great teams and run an organization that has to be global by default and local by execution on the back end and deliver great customer service at the front end? And how do you build great partnerships that allow your organization to scale? A panel that will ask the all-important question, how do you build a great organization around People and Partnerships? 

10. The Wild Card: Our industry is full of the unexpected. Who knows what will come along and disrupt our industry next? For the WIT Conference, our wild card is our signature debate, an annual battle of wits featuring our reigning champion, Martin Symes (we’ve lost count of how many times he’s won), and a brave new voice we pick each year to challenge him. Be prepared for fireworks.
 
The WIT Conference, is  being  in partnership with ITB Asia and is part of Singapore Tourism Board’s TravelRave week.   The conference includes the WIT Bootcamp for Innovation & Entrepreneurs on Oct 27, the  Conference on Oct 28-29 and the ITB Asia Clinics, powered by WIT, on Oct 30-31.  
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Across Asia, the online market share for total travel is still pretty low – according to PhoCusWright data, in India, it’s only 8.8% of total market, for example. However, the growth rate is higher for online than traditional travel and with high online penetration across the region, plus the advent of smartphones, the online channel has massive room for growth across all markets in APAC. Yeoh Siew Hoon ,  Editor and Founder of Web in Travel (WIT)  quoted in YourStory.com.
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