Arival, an information and insights provider for the in-destination experiences industry, hosted Arival | Activate Bangkok from 12 – 14 June 2023. Now, it has shared some key insights from the event, as the recovery of attractions, tours and activities in the Asia Pacific region gathers pace.
More than 300 attendees got together in Bangkok for Arival | Activate to talk about a wide range of relevant topics, from regional expansion to super applications, and to share ideas on everything from TikTok to OTAs. It was also an opportunity to reconnect with peers from the experience industry.
1. Asia drives recovery for Asia
Hannah Pearson from Pear-Anderson delivered a data-rich presentation on the state of the recovery in Asia. In this session, she provided a breakdown by region and country.
“Cast away those pre-conceived notions that the long-haul market is the most important market for you,” said Pearson. “Asia’s tourism recovery will continue to be driven by intra-Asian travelers.”
Pearson’s data showed that neighbouring countries are the main players boosting the recovery in important Asian locations. For instance, nine of the top ten arrivals in Taiwan and South Korea are from other Asian nations (the United States is the only top ten non-Asian source market, coming in at number six and two, respectively).
A number of sessions on the state of recovery in significant Asian markets were also held. Senior executives from Trip.com, MyRealTrip, Thrillophilia, and Arigato Travel and Veltra discussed important developments in China, Korea, India and Japan, respectively.
2. The challenges and opportunities of OTAs
The most popular breakout session was a town hall on online travel agencies (OTAs), which featured senior executives from Klook, GetYourGuide, BeMyGuest, Grasshopper Adventures, and Merlin Entertainments.
In his opening trends presentation, Arival CEO Douglas Quinby observed that during the recovery, OTAs had experienced the greatest growth of any distribution channel. As a result, the OTA-operator relationship attracted a lot of attention. Questions posed in person and via the Arival event app were answered live by the engaged crowd.
The two-hour-long seminar addressed a wide range of topics, including how to negotiate commissions, terms and conditions, and bid on branded keywords for Google AdWords, as well as best practices for how operators can rank better and obtain more reservations and how everyone is using ChatGPT.
The discussion also covered the wide range of OTAs that are now available, from those that specialise in a certain market segment to those that are especially targeted at Asian consumers.
3. The evolution of how travellers find and book experiences continues
One of the main themes at this Arival event was how the various methods that travellers are finding and booking tours and attractions, as well as the various channels available to them, continue to develop. This included Super Apps, TikTok, Google Things to Do, and of course OTAs.
Tejveer Bedi, head of travel and tourism for TikTok in Southeast Asia, presented a discussion on the main stage about how TikTokers find and organise experiences and how to get to them. He pointed out that 60% of travel reservations made as a result of seeing content on TikTok were done impulsively, and 80% of TikTok users concur that the platform motivated them to travel.
4. Social entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism development are key trends
The increased focus in Asia on initiatives and strategies to use tourism to improve the world was another important issue.
According to Craig Dodge, who spoke from the main stage, while the Western world was moaning about not having enough toilet paper, the social enterprise Phare Circus, based in Cambodia, was assisting people in escaping poverty and setting world records.
Several workshops covered a range of issues, including the need to prioritise sustainable experiences. During a keynote discussion with Natalie Kidd from Intrepid Travel, the event explored how combating over-tourism might go hand-in-hand with enticing experience-oriented tourists with a growing appetite for uncommon, off-the-beaten-path activities.
There were several other inventive instances of entrepreneurial ventures that had a social and sustainable focus. My Indie World is a pioneering online firm that offers community-focused, purpose-driven experiences, such as one that involves the “hero rats” that save lives by finding landmines. Community lead Henry Beh revealed that the firm currently provides a number of experiences in Cambodia and that it has plans to expand to Singapore and other countries.
5. Connecting and re-connecting
Connecting and reuniting with industry colleagues was by far one of the top highlights and reasons for coming, reports Arival.
“I’m really glad to be back and reconnecting meaningfully with all connections and also making new ones,” said Go City’s Amar Koul in advance of Arival. Many of the operators attending the first APAC Arival since 2019 echoed this sentiment.
Another participant talked about the importance of being able to interact face-to-face with OTAs and reservation systems after having some problems resolved with one of his partners who were in attendance.
Arival will be digging deeper into many of the topics discussed and data shared over the coming weeks on the Arival website, and the keynote sessions and some of the breakout sessions will be available on the Arival website to Insider Pro Access members.
Earlier this year, Arival held its first European event for 2023 in Berlin, and provided blooloop with a summary, looking at the key trends and topics that were discussed over the course of the three days.
