CHRISTINE Wang, managing director, Lufthansa Innovation Hub, made a return visit to Singapore recently, her first in two years since she relocated to Berlin. She shares her views on the trends she’s seen in travel tech and whether Asia, despite being slower in recovery, will continue to outpace in innovation such as social commerce and metaverse.
Christine Wang visits Singapore recently, her first in two years since she relocated to Berlin.
Q: We first met March 2020 when you relocated to Asia to head up the region for the Lufthansa Innovation Hub, at the start of the pandemic. Since then, you’ve returned to Berlin to head up the unit. What do you think has happened to travel innovation in general in these last two years?
It was quite a significant time when we met back in March 2020, as Covid-19 unfolded. Who would have thought that it would lead to the biggest crisis for the travel industry ever, with travel coming to an almost standstill?
Yet, I believe that innovation is the direct result of crises and challenging situations, and we are observing three fundamental developments that will define what traveling will be like in the future:
The acceleration of digitisation, e.g. increased time spent on services on our phone, will be important when we think about the next-generation travel touchpoints. The virtualisation of businesses and organisations, like online business meetings, and a heightened sensitivity towards sustainability will give rise to changing business travel policies.
These developments and more are leading to completely new business opportunities, which we are currently investigating more intensively with LIH.
Q: What are some of the interesting trends you’ve observed in Europe? Name three.
Based on those fundamental developments, we see several concrete trends, but they are not limited to Europe:
Virtualisation blurs the line between work and travel; hence we call it “blurred travel”. New use cases emerge such as “workation”, meaning working in a remote location. The new flexibility in choosing the place of work is also reflected in the new category of “long-term stays” on Airbnb, or in various new business models. An example for this are startups like Ukio or numastays which focus on filling the one-three month stay gap between short-term stays, like in a hotel, and longer-term stays like one-year rental contracts.
A second trend we investigate: FinTech and travel are merging in many cases. We see an increased interest of the financial sector in the travel industry, which is expressed, for example, in the fact that the neobank Revolut recently started offering 10 percent cashback on travel bookings made with its credit card. Buy-now-pay-later providers are also showing increased interest in the travel industry to bring their payment methods into the travel sector. An example for this is Klarna, now working closely with Expedia and Hotels.com.
And thirdly, sustainability remains important – this is certainly a top-of-mind topic in Europe. Western airlines are investing large sums in sustainable aviation fuel, but at the same time they are also researching other potential energy sources and propulsion systems, e. g. hydrogen or electric aircraft. Also, a growing number of travel providers are integrating sustainable booking options into their booking processes and thus contributing to raising customers’ awareness of sustainable travel.
Q: Lufthansa Innovation Hub was set up to address innovation at the intersection of global travel and mobility tech ecosystem. Obviously the pandemic has been really tough on airlines, has the Hub taken a back seat as such while the airline grappled with the effects of the pandemic?
I want to admit that it was certainly not easy, as it was not for a lot of other leaders and companies outside of travel alike. The last two years have shown me though that our team at Lufthansa Innovation Hub is not only resilient but also incredibly creative and flexible – something I am very proud of.
For us, it is important to create value and impact in travel, and even in the crisis, I believe we were able to create value, especially helping our mother company Lufthansa Group. For example, we created a Voucher Platform in only three weeks, which enabled unflown flight tickets to be converted into travel vouchers fast and easily. We also built an internal innovation community, the “Stronger Together Community, in two weeks to help thousands of Lufthansa Group employees stay connected during crisis and the short-time work.
We were never deterred to stop innovating due to the crisis and were true to our mission to create value also beyond flying. For example, we launched two start-ups RYDES and SQUAKE into the market, the former focusing on consolidating and offering mobility services for companies, the latter focusing on building greener products for the transportation sector.
We also continue to act as an intersection between the Lufthansa Group and the travel and mobility tech ecosystem and drive innovations forward. A good example of this is the project “Green Mobility Trainee,” a traineeship in the field of sustainable logistics and mobility, for which six companies – from the start-up ONO:MOTION to corporations such as Lufthansa Cargo and DB Schenker – are cooperating for the first time to offer the best possible training for future managers.
Q: You are back in Singapore, visiting your Asia unit for the first time in two years. What do you feel has changed in the Asia travel tech scene since you’ve been away?
Obviously, I cannot speak for the whole of Asia and those are only my deeply personal and subjective impressions, but I very much recognise the resilience and adaptability of the Asian travel companies and how they have quickly adapted to new circumstances. We have described some of these adaptation already in our Asia Travel and Mobility Tech Startup Report published in November 2020, for example how ticketing companies have swiftly adopted from offering regional to offering local deals, or how other travel startups have swiftly explored other verticals beyond travel.
Furthermore, on my visit to Singapore I was struck by how great the drive and hunger for exploration is and how high the energy level is. Of course, this is very subjective, but it seems to me that everyone here simply works hard and is not easily satisfied with the status quo. I find that very inspiring.
Q: Asia’s been the laggard in travel recovery, with restrictions still in place especially in North Asia, China in particular where you used to be based prior to joining Lufthansa. Do you think this slower pace in reopening will disadvantage the region?
I think it’s hard to say at this point. Too often, external circumstances have changed unexpectedly as a result of the pandemic. Basically, however, I find it remarkable in what way countries, regions, continents have reacted to different phases of the pandemic in very different ways and how they are all pursuing this “race to the New Normal”.
My impression is that a quick recovery and a rapid upswing has so far mostly taken place where either the domestic markets are strong, such as the domestic travel markets in China or also the USA – or where there is strong geopolitical cooperation, such as in the EU.
I am concerned about international air travel to Asia – so I am all the more pleased to see that the entry restrictions of many countries, such as Singapore, are now being eased. I hope these measures will lead to a quick recovery of travel throughout the region.
Q: Pre-pandemic, Asia was leading the way in mobile adoption, superapps and fintech. Clearly Covid has accelerated these developments – what are some of the more interesting tech developments you’ve observed in Asia that you feel will influence the evolution of travel tech in general?
Certainly, from a Western standpoint, social commerce and “live shopping”, i.e. the sale of products via social media channels and influencers, are becoming increasingly important and had their beginnings in Asia. It will be exciting to see whether the travel industry in Europe will follow this trend and develop new use cases for social commerce.
At the same time, I am very curious to see how the travel industry will use the metaverse and whether we will see the first real travel use cases here in Asia first.
Q: What are the top 3 priorities for the Lufthansa Innovation Hub in 2022?
We are currently busy building the necessary infrastructure to scale our impact, whether it is a full venture pipeline or intensify our collaborations and partnerships with the external start-up and tech ecosystem. We want to play a significant role in driving and shaping what the future of travel looks like especially in light with two years of dealing with Covid-19.
• Featured image credit: Lufthansa Innovation Hub
