The recent PATA 60th anniversary and conference event held at the China World Hotel, Beijing, threw up some interesting sessions on distribution challenges and changing demographics.
Attention was drawn to the huge process of urbanization taking place in both India and China.
Within the next 15 years, China would create cities equal to the size of most in Europe and India was planning to create 115 new airports.
This expansion will see massive increases in the numbers of Indians and Chinese willing, and able, to travel, leading to a major shift in global consumption patterns - even today the average Indian traveling in the U.K spends £792 a week compared to the average American spend in the U.K. of £710 a week.
With 70% of the Indian population under the age of 35, distribution trends will focus on increased marketing through social media and mobile access, while #trending enables industry players to have real-time feedback from consumers, shaping demand, supply, delivery, service, policy and direction.
With a predicted future shortage of skilled workers globally, there is also a real opportunity for India and China.
While in the past, the best hotel chains in India and China would hire expatriates, there will now be a reversal in this trend with the Ritz-Carlton’s and Four Seasons’ turning to India and China for their skilled management.
At the same time Boeing claimed that aviation was going to require training to support the growth in the sector with 126,000 new pilots and a quarter million mechanics need to be recruited and trained!
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