Today, he said, the big players in technology are names such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter or Microsoft. But look at China where some of these brands are not allowed and look at how a player like Baidu, China’s answer to Google, has emerged.

“The question is, what will it be?” he asked the audience of more than 400 travel agents from across the region attending the event themed, “Navigate 2011: Exploring A Better Future”.

He said it was hard to believe that the iPad, which had sold 25 million units by June 2011, did not exist 18 months ago and it was often hard to know what was coming next in this fast-paced changing world.

Citing his own family experience, where his own children’s behaviour was changing with new devices, he said customer adoption in Asia was ahead of other regions in the world.

At a later panel titled “Navigating a path to success through the age of disruption”, he agreed with the observation that in Asia, the gap between customer adoption and company innovation was wider than in other parts of the world.
And he called for a greater sense of urgency in the pace at which travel agents were adopting technology.

With Asia tipped to account for a third of global travel spending by 2020, Philippe Chereque, executive vice president, commercial, Amadeus IT Group, said Amadeus would be investing heavily in the region.

Europe is facing economic uncertainty and in the US, key assumptions are being challenged to improve margins and increase slow revenues.

He said travel agents needed to rethink how to deliver services in a new age where the traveler will always be connected and where social media is influencing his choices.

“Travellers are looking for a more seamless travel experience to address the weak points in a trip,” he said.

In an interactive poll, it was clear that travel agents also see the change coming. When asked which channel would see the highest growth in bookings over the next five years, the audience picked mobile, followed by OTAs, and then traditional travel agents.

Asked what was holding them back from embracing technology fully to meet the needs of the changing customer, most cited “complexity” – and that it wasn’t fear or high costs.

“We need to inspire confidence among our customers to adopt technology,” said Brett.

So what will be the next game changer, Brett was again asked.

“The thing is, we don’t know,” said Brett, reiterating the example of the iPad. But as he said in his introduction, “Life is unchartered territory.”

Which brings to mind this quote by Andre Gide – “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”