Formed in 2019 to address regulations around short-term rentals and digital marketing, the body has found new purpose with Covid-19 as it seeks to lobby governments in APAC to establish common protocol for safe travel such as a two-swap process for opening of travel corridors and safety and hygiene standards in destinations and hotels.

Yeoh Siew Hoon speaks to ATTIA chair Ang Choo Pin, a career diplomat who joined travel to “change the way governments look at tourism”. With ATTIA, he sure has a big job on his hands – to find wider acceptance by a fragmented industry and to be seen beyond a “big boy” lobby.

Ang Choo Pin: “There is an increased need for platforms to come together for travel recovery. Our purpose is to look at how to manage the crisis and how to recover.”

You know an industry has come of age when it needs an association to champion its interests, or perhaps it takes a crisis such as Covid-19 to accelerate its formation and kickstart it into action. Or perhaps it felt its interests were too specific and unique that they couldn’t be looked after well enough by other travel associations.

Whatever the reason, say hello to the newly-formed Asia Travel Technology Industry Association (ATTIA), spearheaded by the big four online travel brands, Expedia Group, Booking.com, Agoda and Airbnb, to champion the interests of their sector which is expected to account for more than half of all travel bookings by 2022 (Phocuswright APAC Total and Online Travel Markets Report), and that’s before Covid-19 struck.

Yes, from being an outlier segment circa 1996 when the likes of Expedia and Booking.com were found, the segment is now huge enough to command its own association to fight its battles.

And let’s face it – the mass migration of consumers online and the increased familiarity with e-commerce tools across generations will without doubt accelerate the shift to online in the region.

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