THE inaugural session of a virtual panel discussion witnessed by policymakers, business leaders and industry experts across various economies within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) explored the need to facilitate the reopening of borders and explored innovation ideas such as green lanes and remote work visas.
Held on Nov 3, 6 and 11, the ‘Travel Reimagined: an Airbnb and APEC Forum’ discussed topics surrounding the future of tourism and tourism recovery across APEC economies.
The discussion also focused on identifying key milestones that APEC economies are looking to as a signal to reopen its borders and key initiatives to restore traveller confidence.
During the session, some of the key takeaways from Airbnb’s newly released data from a recent survey includes:
- Remote working is on the rise, with 40% of Malaysians currently adopting this new lifestyle, and 21% seeking to work remotely in the future
- The prospect of a work-cation is highly popular in Malaysia as 78% are interested in living and working from somewhere other than home for an extended period, citing a change of scenery as the most appealing aspect of this nomadic lifestyle, along with the opportunity to reinvigorate their work life
- 73% of Malaysians, 74% of Koreans, 84% of Australians and 72% of Thais are looking forward to travelling within their country, showing an upward trend in living and working from anywhere across the region
- Additional data also show that main searches for Airbnb amenities include WiFi connectivity and pet-friendly homes, further supporting the trend of people are looking to combine working and travelling
“We are seeing profound shifts in the way we live and work, and believe many of these changes will remain long after the pandemic,” said Airbnb senior vice president for global policy and communications Chris Lehane.
“There is now a need to create a healthy, sustainable form of travel that all of us within the industry have a responsibility to think about in a post-COVID world,” he added.
The second session of the forum highlighted how travel restrictions have affected the hospitality and tourism sectors, calling for a concerted effort in searching for a sustainable solution.
It was discussed that the recovery of these industries is contingent on investment, maintenance, and sustainability training through the collaboration of public and private sectors, and the tourism industry can become a key player in contributing to the economy for positive change.
“We need to look at the future and consider sustainable developments, by using the tourism industry as a mechanism for positive change locally. It can be part of an ecosystem that works with the local government and the indigenous people, for example, and start imagining the finishing line as we develop solutions to combat the pandemic,” said Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports member of the strategic team Jutamas Wisansing.
“It is important we refocus and reimagine the role of the tourism industry and how it can benefit other sectors around it,” he added.
The third and final session of the Forum explored how the growth of the digital economy has created new opportunities for communities especially in a post-pandemic environment, and how the travel industry can leverage this as they foster greater collaboration between private and public sectors across governments and nations to begin looking towards recovery.
On this, Grab regional head of public affairs Yew Heng Lim said: “There’s currently an accelerated need for digitalisation. It’s something that was more challenging in the past, especially for traditional and small businesses, but many businesses have now taken the first step in that direction.”
“The challenge now is to keep the momentum going, to help them optimise their business models by exploring digital marketing and manage their inventory better digitally, and overall to harness the recovery that comes along,” he added. – Nov 12, 2020
