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Senior Minister of State and Industry, Mr S Iswaran
The challenge ahead now lies in sustaining this momentum of achievements. In his speech, Minister Iswaran reminded delegates that Singapore faced aggressive regional competitors and real physical constraints. He also pointed out the need to find new solutions to perennial problems.
A necessary shift towards higher yield visitors and greater value-add to the overall visitor experience must be made through a three-pronged tourism strategy comprising innovation, integration and productivity.
Later, two panel discussions separately delved into the ubiquitous role of digital media and how productivity and service excellence could contribute to a quality destination experience.
Discussion Panel I
The first discussion panel featured Mr Lawrence Law, Regional Marketing Director, Diageo as moderator, Mr Marc Charron, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, TripAdvisor, Ms Sophia Ng, Executive Director of Brand and Marketing, Singapore Tourism Board and Mr Tan Tong Hai, Chief Operating Officer, Starhub.
Seeing how social media had dramatically changed the rules of engagement between companies and their target customers, they observed that companies were now compelled to spend more on digital and mobile channels, relying on them to connect with existing customers and to reach out to new ones.
Mr Tan shared that, for Starhub, social media channels had become both a marketing and customer service channel. Customers were also more willing to share now than ever before.
Agreeing with him, Mr Charron further elaborated that for websites like TripAdvisor, digital media platforms are now the raison d'état. After all, this is a website which boasts more than 50 million unique visitors a month and has become a highly influential site for traveller recommendations.
Alongside growing traffic, recent trends also point to the evolving demographic profile and increasing diverse digital media users. Interestingly, active users on social networks like Facebook are from beyond the younger generation with 40 per cent of Facebook users aged over 35 years old.
Unsurprisingly, it was revealed that buying patterns in the real world were also reflected within the digital media paradigm. Women, for example, were responsible for 70 per cent of revenues on sites like Groupon and one of the key target markets for companies that are progressively shifting the weight of their businesses online.
At the same time, with YouTube now the world’s second largest search engine after Google, videos have become an increasingly important medium on the web. Ms Ng noted that this was particularly significant for the travel sector since digital media now “…provides sights and sounds - the very sensory experiences that form the reason for travel.”
The discussion then concluded with the overall consensus that the cost of data roaming charges remained a major concern and that these charges would have to be lowered for travellers to fully utilise their smartphones while on the road.
Discussion Panel II
The second panel discussion revolved around the topic of productivity and service excellence on the basis that quality tourism is all about the quality of the experience. Moderated by Ms Caroline Lim, Director, Institute of Service Excellence, the panellists comprised Mr Andrew Tjioe, President & Group Executive Officer, Tung Lok Group, Mr Ian Wilson, General Manager, Fairmont Singapore, Mr Terry O’Connor, Group Chief Executive Officer, Courts Asia and Ms Neeta Lachmandas, Executive Director of Capability & Innovation and Visitor Information & Feedback , Singapore Tourism Board.
Manpower remains a huge challenge that has been plaguing the industry. Mr Wilson highlighted the challenge of enlisting locals into the hospitality industry. He contrasted his experience in North America, where he would get around 1,000 applicants per job whereas in Singapore, he would be lucky to receive even 40 applications.
Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board, Ms Aw Kah Peng
To overcome these constraints, more industry players are reviewing their business models. Hotels are merging functions together. Industry members are looking to re-design service processes and explore the use of technology as an enabler to lift customer satisfaction and improve the experience.
Mr Tjioe aptly sums up by noting that the underlying principle of businesses these days is “to improve productivity through product innovation.”
A higher quality consumer experience stems from a building up the basics within the heart of organisations from training to job empowerment, business process reorganisation to productivity initiatives.
Challenges and opportunities lie within the core of organisations. Whilst technology can enhance operational processes, it remains the human factor that will form the foundation for the future.
In the concluding remarks, audiences were reminded that creating a better experience also means understanding what consumers want from that experience. Whilst some large organizations have the luxury of research and dedicated teams, all it needs is for one to put one’s ear to the ground and listen out for what customers are really saying...And digital media helps us do that so much faster.
