Pausing a moment to think, Yilmaz said, “A Brave New World.”

He believes a new world is emerging in Asia – a new energy in the region, a strong economy, growth in travel and tourism, its new position in the global scheme of things.

“And I will be the brave one,” he laughed. He certainly had dark circles under his eyes to show for it – clearly, this is a man who’s forsaking sleep for work so that he can get the region under his skin sooner rather than later.

Indeed, one has to be brave to navigate the new world, he said. Change is happening at such a fast pace and then there are the cultural differences to bear in mind – the American way of doing business vs. the Asian way.

Blending East and West

Yilmaz has moved to Singapore from Istanbul, where he was Head of Travel for Google in Turkey. Coming from a country which is the bridge between West and East may put him in a unique position to blend the two worlds together, he believes.

“In the major cities in Turkey, we are very Western in how we live but Asian in how we think and conduct our business and our family values,” he said.

This, he said, makes him comfortable with the idea of working in the region. Other than the air-conditioning which he finds hard getting used to, you could say Yilmaz is lapping up all the learning he has to do in this new market.

I asked Yilmaz if everything he had heard about Asia being diverse and fragmented was true. He nodded vigorously. “Totally. There are some who say Asia is similar to Europe in that sense but I think there is much more diversity and fragmentation here.

“In Europe, there may be different languages and cultures but the fundamentals of how people live, what they eat, how they behave is more similar than here.”

Gap between customer adoption and company innovation widest in Asia

Another impression he’s formed is how much wider the gap between consumer adoption and company innovation is in Asia versus Europe or the US.

He explained. “The Internet is largely driven by the consumer. With the exception of companies like Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook and now Groupon that came along to change the way consumers behave; it’s been the consumer that’s driven the change.

“In the US, there’s a smaller gap between consumer adoption and company innovation and in some instances, the companies are ahead of consumers. In Europe, the gap is slightly bigger but is narrowing while in Asia, the gap is widest.”

He cites anecdotal evidence. On the tube in London, you will find people still reading a newspaper or book. Here in Singapore, people have their noses buried in their mobile devices, messaging, reading the news or watching something. (This article is more evidence of that.)

“Yet companies are behind in their innovation,” he said.

He recalled when he was looking to buy “white goods” for his new apartment and he went online to search for an ecommerce site. He couldn’t find any.

Likewise in travel where it is not that easy to go online to search for bus schedules or ferry timings, for instance, if you wanted to make a weekend trip to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia.

“Consumers can learn to create this kind of content,” he said, “if companies are not doing it. I am sure many people have made trips to Pulau Tioman and could share their experiences but there needs to be a certain culture to do it.”

One thing for sure that he’s noticed – in Singapore, there’s a lot of content about food and where to eat. “You love food like us in Turkey.”

This gap between consumer adoption and company innovation means plenty of space for entrepreneurs to create opportunities for themselves.

Plenty of room for strong local OTAs to emerge

For instance, he is surprised by the lack of a strong local OTA brand in Singapore. “Agoda started in Thailand, as did Asia Rooms. AirAsia started in Malaysia. So maybe there isn’t an entrepreneurial culture here because more people are working for big corporations?”

In Europe, Germany alone has more than 20 OTAs. Spain, Italy, France and Turkey have produced strong local OTAs.

“There’s plenty of room for everyone especially given how diverse and fragmented the travel market is in Asia and given the growth in travel in the region. Look at intra-Asian travel alone and imagine the opportunities there for strong local OTAs.

“In many parts of the world people have a tendency to prefer local brands (OTA in this case) over global brands.”

He said the recent joint venture between Expedia and AirAsia proved that global brands recognize the importance of local knowledge and content. “I think there’s plenty of scope for entrepreneurs in this part of the world,” he said.

Why aren’t you an entrepreneur then, I asked.

He laughed. “I am married with two kids, I need a safe job.” Having said that, he said he’d rather be in a position to mentor and guide and share his knowledge of the online world with aspiring entrepreneurs.

Facebook or website? What if you have to choose

Yilmaz recently spoke at the Small Luxury Hotels of the World Asia Conference in Singapore even though the audience may not exactly be his target customers – those being mainly the big brands. “Our goal is to share our love of the online world and spread knowledge.”

However he took the opportunity to address a question which was raised at a recent panel chaired by yours truly at a tourism industry conference. The question was, if I am a small hotel and had money for only one thing – website or Facebook – what should I do?

It’s a question that goes to the heart of the search vs. social media debate.

“It was the first time I had heard this question and so I did some research.”

What did Ali Yilmaz discover? Read Part 2 of his interview next week.