THE Awakening – Short Stay Summit 2022 (SSS) has recently made its second debut at the W Hotel, KLCC on Oct 26 & 27, propelling Malaysia as a springboard for short-stay businesses to grow.
The summit, organised by Malaysian short stay management platform HostAStay, provides the opportunity for stakeholders from technology, tourism and property industries as well as investors from around the world to gather in one place to meet, network and form collaborations.
The main objective of the SSS is to boost the confidence of the tourism and property industries especially following the COVID-19 pandemic by having industry experts such as Airbnb, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Agoda, Ekta World, Tropicana, AirAsia and more to shed light on the future trends of the industry with strong support from data and insights.
Short-term rental accommodation company Airbnb contributed approximately RM3.98 bil to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) and supported 52,100 local jobs as of 2019, according to a data report by Oxford Economics.
“Almost three years on since the pandemic began, millions of workers are no longer tethered to a physical office and are embracing the life-changing possibilities of remote work,” shared Airbnb territory manager (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan) Kwan Synsatayakul.
“As more international travellers look to live and work from anywhere, we are actively evolving our platform to meet the industry’s changing needs.
“Our latest updates provide guests with greater flexibility when searching for stays, including a search function for flexible dates, and additional search filters for long term and remote work-friendly stays.
“MDEC’s DE Rantau programme is a forward-looking endeavour that will provide Malaysia with an edge in attracting this new global wave of remote workers and digital nomads. We look forward to partnering with the government on this front.”
As one of the Malaysia Digital Catalytic Programmes (PEMANGKIN), the DE Rantau programme aims to establish the country as the preferred digital nomad hub in Southeast Asia to boost digital adoption and promote digital professional mobility and tourism across Malaysia.
According to MDEC chief executive officer Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, through DE Rantau and in addition to the newly-introduced DE Rantau Nomad Pass, MDEC also seeks to create a vibrant ecosystem that can support the digital nomad lifestyle.
HostAStay is a key partner for DE Rantau as it helps to establish DE Rantau Hubs in selected DE Rantau locations. It is also the company behind the development of DE Rantau Platform, a lifestyle mobile app exclusive to DE Rantau members.
Mahadhir added that DE Rantau is capable of accelerating the growth of the digital economy and is expected to contribute RM4.8 bil by 2025.
In line with the travel trend, Tropicana Corp Bhd had also launched the “Tropicana Journey Collection”, focusing on holiday destinations in Langkawi and Genting Highlands.
According to Tropicana Corp Bhd managing director of marketing and sales Ixora Ang, the Tropicana Windcity and Tropicana Cenang mark Tropicana’s first presence in the holiday destinations.
As such, this puts the SSS in the perfect time and place. Featuring foreign speakers and attendees from Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore and the US, the SSS further aims to expand overseas and potentially host the next summit in other parts of Southeast Asia.
“We as the team behind SSS are all so excited and confident that the event will bring lots of value to everyone who is involved,” commented HostAStay founder and chief executive officer Jordan Oon.
Oon, who is also the organising chairman of SSS 2022, further noted that while the SSS 2019 was a physical event, the summit returned the following year (2020) in the form of a virtual event.
“After two years in the thick of the pandemic, everyone is ready to bounce back positively,” he shared. – Nov 16, 2022
