Starting with THack@WIT, it showed the possibilities of innovation in an open travel world as about 40 developers got together for a 24-hour hackathon to work on APIs that had been made available for the event. 

(Picture: Kevin May, editor of Tnooz, rounding up the developers for their presentations)

From Following The Sun – allows you to choose airline seats for best views of the sun – to tracking Where Is My Travelling Parent (the winner), participants showed off their work at the Bootcamp, leaving us non-geeks gobsmacked at what can be achieved overnight.

WITP (because we love acroynms in Singapore) won because the judges felt it had myriad applications – as in you could use it to track WITK (Kid) or even WITP (Pet). 

Utopia would be of course the day when the gatekeepers opened up access to all data but as a panel at the WIT Conference, I Dream of An Open Travel World, concluded, that day is still a while in coming.

Right now, start-ups face a challenge, said Alex Kremer, co-founder and COO of FlexTrip, in getting access to data. One, it is closed and two, if it were open, it is expensive.

There is some selective opening of the gates. Greg Webb (right), president of Sabre Travel Network, in his session on the Leadership Groove talked about the Sabre Red App Centre set to open in a few weeks.

With the centre, Sabre wants developers to build innovative apps for its travel agency customers and the apps would be integrated into the Sabre Red Workspace point of sale tool. It will offer developers a 70-30 split on paid apps.

Here are some other themes which resonated with me through the WIT journey.

1. Innovation That is Adaptive and Imitative

In the WIT Bootcamp, it was clear that innovation is alive and well in Asia and indeed, perhaps we need to be innovative with how we define the word “innovation”.

In China, Fritz Demopoulous (left), former CEO of Qunar, whose company was acquired by Baidu, said innovation could mean a new business process or system that addresses local complexities.

It need not be about cool and sexy tools or ideas but something creative that solves local problems, he said.

And what’s wrong with imitation if it is done innovatively, said a panel on China at the WIT conference. That means copying an idea, adapting it and executing it well in the local context.

On the panel were names like myALN (My Affordable Luxury Network), which describes itself as a cross between Jetsetter and Voyage Prive and Lashou, a Groupon clone.

In Korea, the most super-wired country in Asia, retailers like Tesco are having huge success with virtual vending machines in train stations but it is clear travel lags behind customer adoption with most travel sites still focused on price and transaction.

What’s the message? Korea is ripe for the taking for the smart and brave.

2. Local heroes win

Local companies that solve local issues will win. Look no further than India or China for examples of local brands that have cornered the market – Ctrip, Qunar, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra.

This is inspiring entrepreneurs throughout Asia. In Indonesia, deal sites are hot andDealGoing.com is aggregating local deals. Ticket purchases are being simplified with Tiket2.com. Social networks are spreading like wildfire – trackpacking.comallows sharing of photos, stories and tips. And local delivery service, Go-Jek – “an ojek for every need” – is addressing the monumental problem of traffic jams in Jakarta.

With the emergence of social, local and mobile, local heroes will clearly have the bigger advantage.

The challenge local heroes face is scale – unless you’re in markets like India, China, Indonesia and perhaps Vietnam which is becoming an interesting place for online play.

I recall one moment when Winnie Tan (pictured above), one of the entrepreneurs pitching at the Bootcamp for her company,tourpackages.com.sg, answered a challenge by Abacus International’s Brett Henry.

“What you’re doing is too small,” he said. Her retort: “We think it’s big enough for what we want to do. And Brett, you’ve always championed local heroes.”

Local heroes who stand up for their place in the sun will win.

3. Local heroes will stumble

In their attempts to scale and grow, local heroes will face challenges. CanMakeMyTrip make its model work in South-east Asia? Its successful IPO means increased pressure for growth and in expanding, it will face similar problems that the multinational OTAs such as Expedia and Travelocity have faced. (Pictured, Amit Saberwal who is leading MakeMyTrip’s development in the region)

While there may be more empathy for an “Asian” brand vs a “Western” one, the diversity and historic legacy of the region will require sensitive treatment.

Ctrip so far has only made forays in North Asia where it feels it is still in its comfort zone. Japanese heroes like Ikyu and Rakuten have stepped into China but they know very well that China is as different from Japan as dumplings are from sashimi.

Rakuten is making serious attempts to go global. It has made English the official language in its Tokyo headquarters. Make no mistake, this is a big deal. “Imagine, if you were told, from one day to the next, you could no longer speak English, only Japanese,” Kei Shibata, CEO of Venture Republic, Japan, asked the audience. 

In Vietnam, Buffalo Tours has taken the joint venture route with Wotif and the new site, ivivu.com, has just launched. This is a marriage of convenience and compatibility, said both partners. For Wotif’s CEO Robbie Cooke (pictured left), it’s about local expertise and content. For Buffalo Tours’ Tran Trong Kien, it’s about technology, marketing and scale. 

It was interesting though – the one name that kept coming up in various sessions as the OTA brand most likely to succeed in Asia either as a pan-Asian brand or within local markets was Agoda.

What’s made Agoda work? I am guessing – hard work, relentless focus and discipline.

4. Love or hate, we need each other

Mobile will give more power to intermediaries. Mobile will allow suppliers to regain control of inventory. Deal sites will disappear and OTAs will live happily ever after. Deal sites are here to stay and will continue to give OTAs grief. OTAs will continue to wield power over hotel distribution. Hotels will fight back by pursuing clever and smart multi-channel strategies.

Yes, all these were said – and everyone has their opinions, right or wrong. But perhaps there is no right or wrong, just the right to have opinions.

Paulo Salvador of Worldhotels certainly made his feelings known during the Hotel-OTA panel – he believes hotels are financing the OTA business model with the high commissions being charged. OTAs however believe they bring real value to hotels by driving demand through their marketing and thus they should be paid for that service. 

I do love the inherent tension in the relationships in our industry. Tension is good. Conflict gives rise to creativity. It is when everyone is feeling smug and comfortable, that things go blah and boring.

(Picture: There was laughter during the Deals or No Deals panel but the tension was also evident in the outcome of the debate – the audience voted for No Deals)

There is a need for more transparency though in relationships. If the web has rendered us naked in front of customers, then we need to get naked with each other to look after our customers better – they are after all the main reason we need each other.

5. Search + Social, Friends Forever

While Team Social won the debate at the WIT Conference, it is evident that Search and Social, if used together smartly, packs a powerful punch.

Search is tried and tested, Social is still being tested but has immense possibilities. It needs new thinking and new approaches.

(Picture: Joe Nguyen of comScore Inc tries a new approach to search during the debate)

Besides, Social is sexier and more fun. Everyone is doing it – and people are talking more and more about travel on their social networks.

And because everyone can do it, well then perhaps everyone considers themselves a social media expert even though Luke Clark, Editor of Discovery Channel magazine, in his debate says that’s an oxymoron – like an “amateur Olympian”.

6. Put the Love (or Sex) back in Content and Make It Un-Google-able

Sean Simmons (left), legal counsel for Wotif Group, had a novel approach to the Content Groove panel. He likened the session to a “Sex In The City” episode and called me the Carrie Bradshaw of the industry. Where’s Mr Big then, I ask.

His premise was that perhaps we had spent too much time thinking about content as transactional – that it had to be optimized and searchable and had to produce an actionable result – and that we had lost the plot when travel content should inspire and make people want to discover places and people.

Interestingly, last week, Coldplay released its new album called “Mylo Zyloto”. When asked why the strange-sounding name, Chris Martin said, he wanted something un-Google-able.

This reminds me of something that very rich man Warren Buffet said once, “when everyone is doing one thing, do the complete opposite.”

The future of content, according to the panel? Deep, local, discovery, authentic, quirky

7. Welcome to the Golden Quadrangle

In the Golden Triangle of Thailand, I was told there is now a fourth country – China. A Chinese businessman has bought a 99-year lease on a massive piece of land and he’s built a casino with shopping malls to follow.

I don’t think we in the industry are prepared in any way, shape or form on how the Chinese outbound market will impact our tourism infrastructure.

That’s why the groove Patrick Andres of Sabre Hospitality Solutions picked – People Will Change Travel – resonated with me. Next year, it is said 60 million Chinese will travel overseas. How can that not change travel?

At the Lanjia Lodge where I stayed for a couple of nights, we lived among Hmong villagers. They served us, cooked for us, taught us how to make Hmong batik and sang and danced for us.

When we left, they came out to say goodbye to us. No check-out process, no “did you take anything from the minibar” question, the goodbye was as sweet as the hello.

In the Headline Act during the opening of WIT, Rod Cuthbert, chairman emeritus of Viator, cited a survey in the US that said people were happier before their vacation than during it. “Are we doing something wrong with the tourism experience?” he asked.

I think the answer is blowing in the wind in North Thailand. If not there, then it’s contained in the message brought to us by Travelstart’s Stephan Ekbergh (below) as he talked, danced and grooved his way to “Customer Love” at the WIT Conference.

Now there’s a local hero.