Making a quick exit from Berlin – can't help but think how ironic I just attended the world's largest travel trade fair where there was a lot of talk about technology and how that's changing travel but there's not much evidence of that in real life.
Check-out at hotel was manual. The automatic check-in machines don't work for my international e-ticket. There is no free wifi at Tegel airport.
Oh well … talk is one thing, real life is another.
At the ITB Asia session run by yours truly, we talked of trends to watch and heed in Asia – given that it is projected that there will be one billion travellers from Asia by 2030, 60% of whom is expected to come from China, I guess there is some interest in our region from suppliers in Europe.
Pictured above (L-R): Kei Shibata, Yeoh Siew Hoon, Morris Sim, Lily Cheng
Lily Cheng, managing director, TripAdvisor China talked of how Europe was high on the Chinese traveller's dream destination list – and that they will account for 20% of inbound travellers to the EU by 2020 (compared to 5% in 2010) – excluding EU intra-regional travel.
She said that between 2010 and 2020, Chinese travellers to Europe will grow by five times.
She also spoke of how demand was coming from all over China from over 60 different cities. "Counter to popular belief, less than 30% of the outbound travel demand comes from the top four famous metropolitan cities in China: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
"Outbound travellers are coming from all over China. To reach 70% of the demand, you need to cover 60 cities all over the country – there are Implications on how to efficiently reach and serve this valuable segment."
Full story ITB Berlin 2014 Live Coverage: www.4Hoteliers.com/itb 
