Reed Travel Exhibitions global director Tom Nutley: "It used to be enough to get delegates to attend an event, to get x number of visitors and the responsibility ended there. The future is to use IT to identify the individual needs of the buyers and sellers and match-make the right buyers with the right sellers. We have to act as brokers of information and business contacts.
The successful exhibition organiser will need to have a complete understanding of the industry but also have as part of their tools a comprehensive database of buyers and sellers to ensure relevant buyers are matched to relevant sellers."
Accor Asia Pacific president David Baffsky: "Asia is the future battleground for the world's global hotel groups. The industry is forced to move towards the global approach because of the growing importance of alliances. Travellers ensure they get maximum personal returns through frequent flyer and loyalty programmes.
Smaller hotels will join groups, while the small boutique hotels need to be exceptional to survive. The modern traveller also demands technology in hotel rooms, (so we will) see further quantum leaps in the new millennium which require massive investment. (This will) inevitably lead to global partnerships."
Kuoni Travel Holding chairman Daniel Affolter: "The Internet is just starting to get into public awareness. More people will wish to organise their travel details by themselves. The future holds direct selling, e-commerce as a new tool to make business, and an increasing need for new information. Customers want to be reassured that they get the best value out of their money, and to survive, you should deliver it. Safety will be the major issue in the future. Because of the Internet, the customers have all this information, making them more aware of the risks of travelling.
Every accident that takes place makes them afraid. People will care more about issues like safety, pollution, water scarcity. These will all need to be addressed."
Reed Exhibition Companies chairman Mike Rusbridge: "The Internet puts greater power in the hands of the consumer, making him more discerning. It will increase competition and drive down costs. It will force us to find ways of adding value and evolve more rapidly and how to market ourselves.
Hyatt International Corporation president Bernd Chorengel: "Lenders and banks are going to be more cautious. Asian developers compete with their Western counterparts for the same dollar. Governments have to instigate tax advantages to the tourism industry to attract tourism dollars and control demand and supply."
Garuda Indonesia president Abdulgani: "The market is very competitive. To compete effectively, we have to improve safety, service and product quality."
Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Yeo Khee Leng: "The challenge is always to create a reason for people to come to Singapore. We must make things more interesting.
We are looking at segments - how to focus on them in an aggressive manner. Stopover traffic is one segment. Hubs will always be needed in spite of new generation aircraft. Airlines will still need to open up connections to places they couldn't reach before."
New Zealand Tourism Board chief executive George Hickton: "Year 2000 is an unusual year for us because of the Olympics. It is challenging and can be either good or bad for us. The Olympics are hard to read as the travel paterns are not seen yet. We could get people visiting Australia for the Olympics or could lose people who were supposed to come to New Zealand. In the long term, our challenge is to grow tourism numbers at a certain rate but grow the economic value even more. In 10 to 15 years, we have to maintain a sustainable volume of tourists in a country that is vastly underpopulated. We are in the numbers game. We want to establish New Zealand as a premium destination."
National Association of Travel Agents Singapore chief executive (from January 1, 2000) Robert Khoo: "The role of the travel agent will not diminish. We will just have to learn to adapt to the new business environment. We will always be in business but in a new form. Agents will have to pursue areas where their knowledge is not directly available to customers. Agents will need to invest in research and development to provide quality service and products to their clients."
Singapore parliamentary secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Yaacob Ibrahim: "There is pressure on Singapore's status as an aviation hub because other governments in the region have placed investments in airport development. There is a need to look for new ways to differentiate and promote Singapore."
Philippine Convention & Visitors Corporation executive director Daniel Corpuz: "The Philippines faces an accessibility issue that needs to be resolved - access from an internal viewpoint. We should make far-flung destinations within the Philippines easier and more efficient to reach. On the marketing side, our challenge is to provide better links, better routes and cheaper airfares to the Philippines."
Malaysia Airlines chairman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli: "Brand is going to sell in future. The moment a thing is branded you have to pay more. We have to work on MH branding.
This is timely since we are coming out of the recession and working toward the year 2000. We have to identify, promote and manage the brand. It has to be something that can be capitalised upon."
Malaysia Airlines executive vice-president (airline) Datuk Bashir Ahmad: "Figures are picking up but competition will remain. While we welcome competition we look forward to a stable environment to compete.
The aviation industry is changing. The networks of airlines are changing - going for non-stop services, alliances and buying other airlines."
Malaysian Association of Tours and Travel Agents (MATTA) secretary-general Jenny Shabudin (Travcheq Travel): "The year 2000 will augur well for inbound and domestic tourism with the input from the government and an increase in the promotional budget. Tax incentives are also maintained. There is an optimistic air on tourism.
On outbound, the economy is picking up and the stranglehold on travelling budget might be loosened but not that much yet. There is only one area - that is manufacturing - that has shown a lot of improvement."
Century Hotels Malaysia director of sales and marketing Andrea Lee: "The year 2000 will be better. When we talk to our corporate clients they are more positive about the economy now. Meetings and seminars are coming back.
But the buying power is not as strong as it used to be. Consumers are pressing hard on rates. Overseas operators are pressing rates on local operators who in turn press the hotels. It just needs one hotel to start throwing rates and that will affect all the rates in other hotels."
Cathay Pacific general manager Hong Kong & China Alan Wong: "Both airlines and travel agents must continue to respond to changes in the market place if we are to remain competitive. We should take advantage of the business opportunities created by new technology (including e-commerce) to make ourselves more efficient and more cost effective, and to develop new and innovative ways to provide value added customer based services."