As 2014 draws to a close, WIT asked a few of our regular contributors for their review of the year and predictions for 2015.
Fritz Demopoulos, CEO, Queen’s Road Capital
1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)
• Skiing with my daughter in Lech, Austria.
• Cooked a 5-course meal for 20 unsuspecting guests.
• Moving out of my in-laws’ apartment.
2. The news headlines/developments that defined travel in 2014
• The continued prominence of the disrupters such as Uber, Airbnb, Alibaba, Tencent and Qunar.
• Emergence of amazing social travel services, led by TripPiece, ChengYou, Mafengwo and others.
• Mobile coming of age.
3. Three predictions for travel for 2015
• Local tours and activities will take center stage as the new “it” segment of travel distribution.
• Mobile will account for over 50% of digital bookings.
• South East Asia will start producing some real scale, attracting the local giants from the north (China) and west (India).
Morris Sim, CEO & co-founder, Circos Brand Karma
1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)
The year in which the voice of the youth altered the political landscape in some countries in Asia — feeling frustrated with the status quo, the youths of Asia who came of age channeled their energies into being heard, and the older world took notice, though not necessarily in agreement.
2. The news headlines/developments that defined travel in 2014
• The positive side of the sharing economy: more investments, bigger reach, more localisation, and more variety in suppliers are bringing more inventories to the market, giving travelers everywhere more choices.
• The dark side of the sharing economy: Uber missteps and mishaps causing doubts about the quality of sharing and also, calling into question the wisdom and humanity of the people running these businesses.
• Air safety: both in and out of the cabin. As more carriers fly over more airspaces carrying more (first time and sometimes impatient) travelers, public passenger shaming reached new heights as did shameful passenger behaviors.
3. Three predictions for travel for 2015
• Cyber-terrorists target a major player in the travel industry; hopefully the impact isn’t on the same order of magnitude as what’s happened with Sony Entertainment.
• Alibaba becomes a major player in Travel, either through internal product development, an acquisition, or both.
• Specific functions or apps (other than Maps) that help travelers become a default feature of smartphones from some vendors.
Ross Veitch, CEO & Co-founder, Wego
1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)
Mobile grew dramatically for Wego across all our markets to the point where it’s now our main product and marketing focus.
2. The news headlines/developments that defined travel in 2014
Alibabas blockbuster IPO underscored that it’s likely to be the Chinese internet giants that will end up dominating the Asian internet generally and ecommerce and online travel specifically.
3. Three predictions for travel for 2015
• Increasing amounts of capital from North Asia will fuel the growth of online travel in Southeast Asia.
• Mobile apps will take over from Web as primary platform for most online travel companies
• Paid search will remain an important channel for online travel businesses but it will decrease in importance as the game switches to mobile apps and SEM budgets get reallocated to app acquisition channels.
T Fuad, CEO & co-founder, Travelmob
1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)
Started the year celebrating my daughter’s first birthday and ending the year celebrating my 40th.
2. The news headlines/developments that defined travel in 2014
Sharing economy made its presence known – regulations and laws in key cities across the globe have adopted these “trends”, billions of dollars pumped into these “new” players and consumers are benefiting from these new options.
3. Three predictions for travel for 2015
• A very large acquisition in the billions of dollars
• Millennials shaping travel – forcing established brands to “keep up” and allowing new players to disrupt.
• Wearable technologies being applied to travel – discovery and enhancing experiences.
• Featured imaged credit (shaking bamboo sticks): leungchopan/iStock
