On the road to 2020 and beyond, let’s take a look back at WiT Japan & North Asia
We’re on the road to 2020 but before we get there, we’d like to take a look back at our last event. It has been a little over six weeks since the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia conference in Tokyo. Taking place over two days and two stages – the Innovation and Main Stage covered virtually every corner of travel and how it relates to this unique and booming region.
Here’s a round up of some of the highlights:
- Who could forget the stunning opening performance by Samurai Workout? Read their story on how they are using dance as a medium to share the history and beauty of the Japanese warriors’ martial art to travellers.
- Speaking of warriors – travel experts were quick to look at Google and it’s expansion into the OTA space as both a threat and opportunity. Alliances are being forged between super apps LINE, WeChat and Naver. Meanwhile. it’s a battlefield for customer loyalty and payments as companies like Rakuten stick to traditional tactics with rewards points while Japan Airlines goes gets savvy with new programmes. Find out more here.
- In the digital era, fostering loyalty will need to stretch beyond points schemes and extra perks. ADARA’s CMO, Carolyn Corda made a powerful case for balancing data analytics with empathy, to personalise interactions between travel brands and their customers. She likened digital marketing to engineering, and as a true blend of science and art.
- From online to offline, Douglas Quinby, founder & CEO of Arival untangled the countless complexities of the in-destination tours and activities market, concluding that “a big part of the future of tours and activities will be defined by companies in Asia”.
- In the startup realm, there’s a lot of investor money going around. However, it’s pouring into fewer and fewer pockets. Competition for funding has always been fierce and it will take a special breed of young business to catch the eye of the more bullish VCs. The key lesson – funding knows no boundaries these days, said Sozo Ventures’ Phil Wickham. Startups have to be global from day one. Get the investor perspective here.
- Of course, we give a special shoutout to FlyMya – a domestic flights OTA based in Myanmar – who were tapped as this year’s WiT Startup Pitch champion, but not before they clinched the crowd’s vote for People’s Choice Award for Best Startup too. Catch them at WiT Singapore 2019 (October 14-16) where they will share their insights into this growing market.
Relive the experience. Watch this video:
