Each week, the crisis broadens and deepens, with entire countries now on lockdown, from South-east Asia to Europe, US, Africa and Australia. Travel is indeed facing its biggest test with Covid-19, as it grounds to a virtual halt around the world.
But China is slowly emerging from lockdown as people get back to work, some travel restrictions eased and some tourist attractions reopening. And things in Singapore remain fairly calm, even with new travel restrictions, as the population eases further into the new normal.
As travel faces its darkest hour, it is even more important to have the important discussions and debate, so that we can learn from each other’s experiences, share ideas and practices, and unite and collaborate our way out of this crisis.
No one knows how long this will last, but what we do know is that we will come out stronger if we think together. And failing the ability to meet physically for now, the WiT Podcast is our way of connecting the industry through deep, meaningful discussions and debate
Episode 4: Fritz Demopoulos, CEO, Queen’s Road Capital/Co-founder, Qunar
Since travel has come to a halt, this serial entrepreneur and investor has been staying home in Hong Kong for longer than usual, and spending time with family. And with schools closed in Hong Kong since January, he’s had a lot of time to observe how his kids are learning at home and through e-learning. It’s given him insights into the future of education, a sector he’s very excited about as an investor.
In this wide-ranging interview, he speaks about his disappointment in humanity’s failure to learn from the past, lessons that can be gleaned by the West from China’s and Singapore’s handling of the viral outbreak, what kind of recovery we can expect and what travel companies have to do to get through this storm, how events like WiT have to rethink their business models, his pick of industries that will flourish in the aftermath and how Hong Kong should reset as a destination.
Above all, he feels this is a time for us personally to rethink our own travels. “Maybe travel was never meant to be a mass market, Walmart style consumer product, maybe it was more of a Gucci bag or a Hermes bag where you might get one or two in your life.” His wish is, we will all learn to appreciate travel better once we get back on the road.
(This was recorded March 9. For a look at the evolving Covid-19 situation, check this site Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS)
