The global economic slowdown has put renewed focus on intra-Asian travel and travel suppliers must better understand the current mood of the Asian traveler, their changing psyche and, increasingly, how they are behaving online. P@SSPORT reports.

With long-haul markets such as the US and Europe being hit by the global economic slowdown, Asian destinations are increasingly looking towards their neighbours for sustained growth.

And opportunities abound for those who know how to tap into the current mood of the Asian traveler, their changing psyche and, increasingly, how they are behaving online.

A Visa/PATA Asia Travel Intentions survey, timed for release at WIT (Web In Travel), showed that more than 60% of respondents said economic uncertainty would impact their travel plans over the next year.

The survey, presented by Ms Meranda Chan, General Manager-Singapore and Brunei, noted that 57% would switch to less expensive destinations or itineraries, 38% would travel domestically instead; and 36% would postpone travel plans for a year.

The survey, which covered more than 5,500 people from 11 key source markets, also showed the changing preferences of travelers, with respondents ranking natural scenery top of "what attracts travelers", followed by sunshine and beaches, discovering new places, food and history, heritage, architecture.

In terms of deterrents, terrorism/threats was ranked top of the list, followed by infectious diseases, racial discrimination, natural disasters and airport hassles.

Travel websites were ranked the leading source for travelers to seek the latest deals, followed by books/travel guides, tourism board websites, recommendations from friends or family and travel operators/agents.

And up to 75% of respondents said they preferred online sources to plan and book travel.

Understanding the habits of the Southeast Asian online user

With that insight, understanding the online behaviour in Southeast Asia is paramount to marketers and at WIT, Yahoo!'s head of marketing for the region, Ms Bennett Porter, shared insights from a survey conducted by the online giant.

According to Yahoo!, Southeast Asia today has 82 million Internet users, a number that will grow to 130 million by 2012; and consumers in Southeast Asia are spending twice the time online that they were just two years.

Yahoo! also found out that young Asians increasingly want to access the online world via their mobile phones. Currently the region has 255 million mobile subscriptions, while young Asians spend an average of 3.1 hours a day online on their mobile.

Ms Porter said that there were local peculiarities to the explosion of Internet use in each country. In Indonesia, the median age of first-time online users is 16 years, while the typical profile of Indonesian online users was single students under 24 years.

In the Philippines, young users typically access the web through Internet cafes, while in Vietnam, the average age of the first-time user is much older at 34 years old. Typically, the Vietnamese were "info-hounds", she said, hungry for news and information from the outside world.

Splitting typical users into five "tribes", Socials, Embracers, Fun Explorers, Utilitarians and Casual Browsers, she stressed it was important to know the characteristics of each group.

While those in the Social category were online mainly to be in contact with friends, the Embracers were typical of those who used the Internet more for greater work efficiencies, and were more likely to be influencers with regards to websites. Fun Explorers were most typically gamers, while the last two categories were infrequent web users.

The best advice in terms of targeting online users?

"Target your tribe. Who are you looking for online?" Those in the Social category might respond better to video inputs, while people who were Embracers tended to be more workmanlike in their online behaviour, she said.

Asia pays dividends for online travel players

Meanwhile, online travel giants are reaping dividends in the Asian online market.

As bookings in Europe and USA begin to stall for online travel agencies, companies such as Expedia, Zuji/Travelocity, Wotif.com and Priceline's Agoda have found that their investments in Asia-Pacific markets are paying off.

"Asia-Pacific has become a huge part of the story for our group as a whole," said Mr Adrian Currie, CEO of Agoda.com, the Asian hotel reservation service acquired by priceline.com. "Bookings are growing fast, and they're a significant piece of the pie now."

"The Asia Pacific market is in some ways more lucrative because travellers tend to book hotel rooms and airline tickets together," said Mr Scott Blume, CEO of Zuji, Asia Pacific's leading online travel company. "Travel agencies can build higher profits into such sales by securing wholesale prices from hoteliers and airlines, and marking up these vacation packages."

Mr Robbie Cooke, CEO and Managing Director of Wotif.com, said the online portal, which was launched in Australia in 2000, quickly became known as the online marketplace for hotels' distressed inventory.

"We pioneered selling discounted accommodation based on hoteliers' live and up-to-date inventory. By only selling a week ahead, and later 14 days ahead, we got great rates from the hotels."

Mr Cooke added: "Our innovative way of displaying room rates gave travellers and the hotels an easy way to check all available prices, up-front." 

Mr Jens Uwe Parkitny, Managing Director, Distribution of Expedia Asia Pacific, which has been successful in building its foreign operation from the ground up, had a different approach. 

"Expedia's game plan was to put more supply teams and market managers in the market to provide consultancy services to hotels. Building supply relationships in the region is key to the consumer value we deliver and it's also important to match demand and supply," said Mr Parkitny.