Taipei Took Over Hotel Industry International Forum Proposing 5 Action Plans for Future Deployment

2019.12.02

The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) organized “2019 Taiwan Hotel Industry International Development Trend Forum and Workshop”. Following the November 12th (2019) Forum & Workshop held in Kaohsiung, the original lecturer team moved the event to Taipei on November 14-15. On the first day of the forum, the event kicked off with “Insight-Market Trends and Analysis”, and the release of a survey report “Taiwan Hotel Industry Market Trend Analysis”. In the Taipei event,the Director-General of the Tourism Bureau,Chou, Yung-Hui,stated that mastering Big Data equals to controlling the market, and expected the forum participants to particularly make use of the workshop to focus on two topics “Flipping Force- Brand Sustainability and Innovation” and “Influence-Digital Hotel Business Strategy and Big Data Application”, to explore the brand mentality to create flipping force and the tips for digital management and Big Data applications. On the 14th and 15th of November, more than hundreds of hotel industry owner sand senior managers participated in the event from many different places and expressed their affirmations on the subjects of international integration and design of fully discussed forum contents.

Based on the survey report “Taiwan Hotel Industry Market Trend Analysis” released on the first day of the forum, on November 14th, the 7 major management issues and challenges the domestic hotel industry faces, including the current oversupply in Taiwan’s travel and lodging market, price competition, differences among counties and cities, talent cultivation, smart technology, OTA (Online Travel Agency) collaborations, etc. The report released by the internationally renowned STR market research company also indicated that, as of September this year, some markets such as Asia, Australia, and North America have shown oversupply, and the hotel reservation revenues have also shown a downward trend. Professor Huub Ruël from the world-renowned Hotel school The Hague Bachelor in Hospitality Business School, emphasized that technology cannot always substitute for manpower, and that the application of artificial intelligence(AI) must not only conform to a company’s culture, but also be adjusted step by step. More importantly, AI itself does not contribute to business performances, but encourages employees to work more responsibly instead.

Today’s (November 15) workshop wouldbe focused on two aspects,branding and digitization, and the operational thinking for international chain brands and the consideration to adjust business strategies and policies in response to the advent of the digital era would continue to be explored. Alexander Mucha, the Brand Director of Curious Consultancy, pointed out that the hotel industry should be aware of the importance of brand creation in the face of changing times. When brand, sales and marketing are consolidated as one, brand image shall create an avenue for marketing and drive its products into the market, which would in turn propel performance growth. Zumata’s Co-Founder and CEO Josh Ziegler brought up the discussion that the future development trend of technologies, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI), bio metrics, gene editing technology, Big Data application, and 5G in 2030, would completely change the ways to travel, so unprecedented and providing unmanned hotel services,different from what they use to be. Josh also emphasized that we are currently in an era of rapid development of science and technology, so those who cannot grasp and take advantage of the trends shall face the fate of elimination by the market.

Looking ahead into 2030, in regards to the hotel industry’s development in the upcoming 10 years, the two forums and workshops organized in Taipei and Kaohsiung summed up 10 major hotel industry development trends, including M-shaped housing prices, themed-operations to satisfy diverse needs, the emphasis on market segmentation and brand positioning analysis, the impacts of digitization and technology, the importance of social media, business opportunities brought about by major international events, the impacts of international situations and government policies, talent shortages, ecotourism, and the aging population; In response to these 10 major trends, industry participants at the forum also brainstormed and proposed: 1. Inventory existing digital resources, plan steps for digitization, and how to use AI and Big Data to improve service quality; 2. Plan education programs to cultivate general talents, examine salary structure and system, and retain talents; 3. Plan multi-national industry-academia collaboration programs, and train talents with an international outlook and competitiveness; 4. Implement the design of localized customer experience projects; 5. Create brand differentiation, consolidate brand consensus and etc. to deploy 5 future action plans. The Bureau of Tourism stated that the four-consecutive-day forum and workshop successfully created a field for in-depth learning. All travel and lodging related industry participants expressed that they highly identify with the forum and had gained a lot. The participants conveyed that they hope that the similar courses will continue to be held,so they can learn and cooperate through Industry-Government-Academy programs in order to stay in line with the world by ways of new operational thinking and be prepared for the next decade.