We need people to make the online world go round

Yesterday, I popped into a new salad bar opened by a hotelier friend and his son and amid chomping on healthy greens, we talked about what were some of his biggest problems he faced opening this new business.

"People," said Daniel Desbaillets, a hotelier with vast experience of working in Asia. "The lack of them."

It's not a new problem - the industry has been lamenting about the lack of talent for as long as I can remember - but then the Global Financial Crisis hit and everyone's attention turned to the lack of money and the people issue was put on ice.

But here it is again. At WIT-Web In Travel, Robbie Cooke, CEO of the Wotif Group (pictured), said he had four years worth of projects in the pipeline but he couldn't get them off the ground because of the lack of people.

He said it was his biggest frustration. "We are in a space where they are so many opportunities, so many things to do with the various brands, a few projects we'd like to get off the ground," he said during The Online Chat Room, Part 1.

Adrian Currie, chairman of Agoda, on the same panel agreed. He said the problem of the lack of people was not only in matured markets but it was everywhere, and he said the growth in the online travel sector in Asia would be challenged by this issue.

"There's a certain mindset of working in online companies and it means finding the people who are passionate and who are prepared to roll up their sleeves."

People are clearly at the heart of what drives any business. Take Webjet which is expanding to North America because a "people" opportunity just happened to pop up - someone they knew at Virgin Blue was moving to the US. "The planets were aligned," said CEO of Webjet Limited, Richard Noon.

During the WIT Start-Up Pitch, the panel of investors also said they always invested in people first. A good idea with bad people had a so-so chance of success but an average idea with good people had a better chance.

I think if there is one sector of the industry that has a good chance of bringing in young, smart talent, be it as employees or entrepreneurs, it's the online travel space.

It's in a language that is known and natural to the young. Digital natives do not need convincing that this is the brave new world. Those who were tweeting at WIT were mainly students and younger folks to whom learning comes in bite-sized chunks and whose attention span lasts no more than three minutes, at most.

As they are our future consumers, they are our future talent.

In the course of organising our event sub-track WIT*e - Inspiration & Mentoring, we came across a lot of bright young sparks who honestly did not know the travel industry offered opportunities beyond hospitality, travel agencies and event companies.

Few knew about the opportunities in the travel technology, distribution and marketing sector.

I think we need to find a way to connect the two dots - those who want new opportunities and those of us who need talent to make new opportunities happen.

Otherwise, we will end up stuck in a space where we know there are oysters to be found but nobody to shuck them.