← BACK TO HOMEPAGE

PROGRAMME

Episode 5, The C-Spot Revisited: The Sweet Spot of Customers In The Age of Covid

July 29, 6.00-9:00PM (Singapore Time, GMT+8)
Hybrid  |  In Partnership with

Every disruption brings with it shifts in customer behavior, often seismic. In 2010, right after the Global Financial Crisis, WiT Singapore marked the theme of “The C-Spot” to examine how traveller behavior would change after that Black Swan event. Ten years on, after this Blackest of Swan events, it’s time to revisit “The C-Spot” to once again put the spotlight on customers and their changing needs, tastes and preferences. Some changes may be short-term for as long as we live under the cloud of the pandemic, but some changes may be here to stay. There’s just one key question to be asked – how do businesses adapt to hit the sweet spot of customers in the age of Covid? Get the answers in this episode.

REGISTER NOW
Programme
2021-11-25
Episode 6
2021-08-26
Episode 5
2021-07-29
Episode 4
2021-06-24
Episode 3
2021-05-27
Episode 8
2021-05-10
Episode 2
2021-04-29
10:00 - 10:10
Setting The Stage
Setting The Stage image
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT
Setting The Stage image
Stephan Ekbergh
CEO
Travelstart
10:10 - 10:30
Campfire Chat
Interviewer:
Campfire Chat image
Stephan Ekbergh
CEO
Travelstart
Campfire Chat image
Gidon Novick
Founder
Lucid Ventures
10:30 - 11:00
Spotlight: Tracking The Flow Of Money

Before Covid (BC), there was already a flight of capital to quality and it looked like heady days were over for companies chasing unprofitable growth. Then Covid came along and stopped global unicorns in their tracks. What happened to the investment ecosystem During Covid (DC), and how are investors viewing the changed landscape After Covid (AC). We put the spotlight on investors.

 

Moderator:
Spotlight: Tracking The Flow Of Money image
Stephan Ekbergh
CEO
Travelstart
Spotlight: Tracking The Flow Of Money image
Lexi Novitske
Managing Partner
Acuity Ventures
Spotlight: Tracking The Flow Of Money image
Paul Rutherford
Founder/ Partner, Base Capital
and Founder, Nire Capital
11:00 - 11:10
Opinion: Tapping Into Pent-up Demand: Reading The Signals and Acting On Intent

There is no doubt that there’s pent-up demand for travel, especially to the much-loved parts of Africa. How can destination marketers read the signals and act on customer intent? Hear the latest first-party data from Expedia Group Media Solutions that shows the latest travel shopping and booking behaviours that will help you as you plan your 2022 marketing strategies.

Opinion: Tapping Into Pent-up Demand: Reading The Signals and Acting  On Intent image
Myriam Younes
Director, Business Development
Expedia Group Media Solutions
11:10 - 11:30
Spotlight: Lessons From Asia: The Building Of A Tech Hospitality Unicorn from South Korea

How did Yanolja, which started out 17 years ago as an aggregator of small and medium-sized accommodation in South Korea, grow into one of travel’s most successful unicorns, now expanding globally? In July, it received a US$1.7 billion investment from Softbank to fuel its expansion and it has identified Africa as a new market of opportunity. We have a conversation with the executive, responsible for the transformation and expansion of this hospitality tech startup, to go under the hood and take lessons from its scaleup.

 

Interviewer:
Spotlight: Lessons From Asia: The Building Of A Tech Hospitality Unicorn from South Korea image
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT
Spotlight: Lessons From Asia: The Building Of A Tech Hospitality Unicorn from South Korea image
Jong Yoon Kim
CEO
Yanolja & Yanolja Cloud
11:30 - 11:50
Campfire Chat
Interviewer:
Campfire Chat image
Stephan Ekbergh
CEO
Travelstart
Campfire Chat image
Sam Abdou
Executive Vice President, Search & Online Tech
Amadeus
11:50 - 12:20
The Future Of Payments In An Unbanked World

There’s no doubt that fintech and payments have been a breakout sector during Covid. It happened across South-east Asia and it’s happening across Africa, two regions that share a lot of common characteristics, especially in the size of of its unbanked population. We uncover the key trends and opportunities in this sector.

 

Moderator:
The Future Of Payments In An Unbanked World image
Paulina Klotzbücher
Group Chief Commercial Officer
Travelstart
The Future Of Payments In An Unbanked World image
Andrew Ma
Chief Operating Officer
Stitch
The Future Of Payments In An Unbanked World image
Theresa Emerick
Managing Director
Nightsbridge
The Future Of Payments In An Unbanked World image
Virginia Reinecke
Head of Commercial Products
Mastercard Middle East Africa
12:20 - 12:45
Spotlight: Startup Showcase

Highlighting the best of Africa’s travel startups that had their breakout moment during the pandemic, and how they see the future.

 

Moderator:
Spotlight: Startup Showcase image
Kieno Kammies
Co-founder and Program Director
Innovation City Cape Town
Spotlight: Startup Showcase image
Onyeka Akumah
Co-founder & CEO
Treepz Inc.
Spotlight: Startup Showcase image
Ibukunoluwa Salau
Founder
Afriktrip
Spotlight: Startup Showcase image
Lara Dendy Young
Co-founder
Conservation Club
12:45 - 13:05
Lifeline

 

Interviewer:
Lifeline image
Kieno Kammies
Co-founder and Program Director
Innovation City Cape Town
Lifeline image
Herman Singh
CEO
Future Advisory
13:05
It’s A Wrap
18:00 - 18:20
Opening & The Wrap
Featuring “My Dream Trip” by
Opening & The Wrap image
Maunik Thacker
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Marina Bay Sands
18:20 - 18:45
Campfire Chat: Graham “Skroo” Turner, CEO, Flight Centre Limited

He’s one of travel’s most colourful and outspoken leaders and personalities, and he’s also proven his longevity in the business. After all, it was back in 1973 when he and two mates bought a couple of double-decker buses in England and began Top Deck Travel. Armed with that experience, he returned home to Australia in 1981, established Flight Centre and grew the business into a global travel empire. You can thus bet that no virus is going to knock “Skroo” down. In this episode, the Australian entrepreneur takes centrestage to talk about the biggest crisis ever to hit travel, how he’s steered his group globally through the crisis and his outlook on the future.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Campfire Chat: Graham “Skroo” Turner, CEO, Flight Centre Limited image
Graham Skroo Turner
CEO
Flight Centre Limited
18:45 - 19:15
Spotlight: Beating The Odds, Homegrown Travel Brands Soar

In a world gone local, where your home is has come to mean a lot. Travel brands based in huge domestic markets, with strong domestic play, have thrived better than those that relied on cross-border travel. And 18 months into the pandemic, we are seeing the shift towards homegrown brands solidifying and strengthening their positions at home, and giving them a solid base on which to expand. Not to mention new funds – in the past month, South Korea’s Yanolja has raised US$1.7b, India’s Ixigo, after securing US$53m in funding, is headed for an IPO and Vietnam’s VNLife, which owns VNTravel, garnered $250m in Series B funding. We go under the hood of this development.

 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panellists:
Spotlight: Beating The Odds, Homegrown Travel Brands Soar image
Jong Yoon Kim
CEO
Yanolja & Yanolja Cloud
Spotlight: Beating The Odds, Homegrown Travel Brands Soar image
Aloke Bajpai
CEO & Co-founder
ixigo
19:15 - 19:25
Stats & Stuff by Phocuswright
19:25 - 20:00
Spotlight: The Year of The Roadtrip – Meet The Road Warriors

It’s been called the year of the roadtrip. In countries and regions with big drive markets and where domestic and regional tourism have been allowed, consumers are favouring the road over air. According to Expedia Group, comparing search dates in Jun/2021 vs May/2021, for car rental pickup dates in July, searches are up just over 135% MoM. In this session, we speak to entrepreneurs who have made the road their home and have made roadtrips possible for customers, whether locally or globally.

 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panellists:
Spotlight: The Year of The Roadtrip – Meet The Road Warriors image
Nikita Dedik
Founder & CEO
Road.Travel
Spotlight: The Year of The Roadtrip – Meet The Road Warriors image
Jared Campion
CEO & Founder
Dream Drive (WiT Startup of the Year 2020)
Spotlight: The Year of The Roadtrip – Meet The Road Warriors image
Simon Wong
Co-founder
Singapore Sidecars
20:00 - 20:25
Campfire Chat: When Home Meant The World

What happens when the world shuts down and suddenly, the world you knew, the markets you counted on to attract visitors become out of bounds? And the only market left is your home, which had no natural domestic market? How do you flip thinking, re-orchestrate strategies, roll out tactical campaigns to stoke demand from customers to whom home is familiar territory? This is a story of a destination that had to save itself at home, create a market at home and yet not lose ground in a competitive world when the world opens up again. How do you market a destination in a pandemic?
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Campfire Chat: When Home Meant The World image
Lynette Pang
Assistant Chief Executive, Marketing Group
Singapore Tourism Board
20:25 - 20:45
Lifeline – Reflections Of The Roadshow & The Road Ahead

With an end, a beginning. As we come to the end of our Travel Roadshow series, it’s time to take a pause, huddle around the campfire, recall special moments on this journey, share key learnings and prepare for the next leg of the journey – yes, the Road to WiT Experience SG 2021 starts here. Welcome Home.

 

Featuring:
Lifeline – Reflections Of The Roadshow & The Road Ahead image
Ong Wee Min
Vice President of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions)
Marina Bay Sands
Lifeline – Reflections Of The Roadshow & The Road Ahead image
Veemal Gungadin
Founder & CEO
GEVME & GlobalSign.In
18:00 - 18:15
The Wrap & Opening
The Wrap & Opening image
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT
18:15 - 18:35
Campfire Chat: Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor, Condè Nast Traveller

Few journalists have visited, scrutinised and written about as many boutique hotels and luxury resorts, all the while pondering their positive impact as much as Juliet. A freelance travel journalist, editor and broadcaster in the mainstream media in the UK, founding editor of Mr & Mrs Smith and founder of consultancy bouteco.co, an independent authority on sustainable design-led hotels, she celebrates the power of travel to do good. Her book, Travel: Easy Tips for the Eco-friendly Traveller, was recently published by Ebury, an imprint of Penguin. In this conversation, she shares her views as a traveller and the changes Covid will bring to travel.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Campfire Chat: Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor, Condè Nast Traveller image
Juliet Kinsman
Sustainability Editor
Condé Nast Traveller/ BoutecoLoves.com
18:35 - 19:00
Spotlight: How To Turn Revenge Into Beautiful Travel

Yes, we all know there will be pent-up demand and that will carry us through into recovery but surely we can do better than that and truly offer “beautiful travel” to the customers willing to get back on the road. We speak to those who are in the frontline, reading customer sentiment and creating new products and experiences and find out how they are thinking about the sweet spot.
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelist:
Spotlight: How To Turn Revenge Into Beautiful Travel image
Mar Pages
Co-founder
Solo Female Travelers
Spotlight: How To Turn Revenge Into Beautiful Travel image
Laurent Kuenzle
CEO
Asian Trails
Spotlight: How To Turn Revenge Into Beautiful Travel image
Nuno Guerreiro
Regional Director, South Asia, Oceania & Chains
Booking.com
19:00 - 19:15
Case Study: The Transformation of Resorts World Sentosa

With its plethora of premium lifestyle offerings, conference facilities, and attractions catered for both the business and leisure crowd, this resort destination was not spared the impact of COVID-19. The past year has thus been one of transformation – quick adaptation of offerings and reinvention of experiences for the local market, as well as embracing virtual and hybrid events through leveraging technology with a personal touch. We speak to one of the leaders behind the transformation.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Case Study: The Transformation of Resorts World Sentosa image
Lam Xue Ying
Assistant Vice President of Business Innovation
Resorts World Sentosa
19:15 - 19:30
Trendspotting with Expedia Group

Brand new research by Expedia Group in partnership with Wakefield, detailing insights into what travelers value when shopping for and booking travel, and how the pandemic has shifted their perspective.

Trendspotting with Expedia Group image
Greg Schulze
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Strategic Travel Partners
Expedia Group
19:30 - 19:45
Spotlight: The Return of Cruising & A New Generation of Cruisers

Genting Cruise Lines’ World Dream was the first ship in the world to resume cruises during the pandemic, starting with Taiwan in July 2020 followed by Singapore in November 2020; and soon in Hong Kong at the end of July 2021. It’s seen interesting new trends emerge, as well as a new set of customers. How will these new customers change the way cruises are sold, packaged and operated in the future in a region that’s fairly new to cruising but heralds a new ocean of opportunity and growth?
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Spotlight: The Return of Cruising & A New Generation of Cruisers image
Michael Goh
President
Dream Cruises
19:45 - 20:10
Spotlight: Finding Wealth in Health, Wellness and Nature

This was one event that made everyone think about their health and sales of fitness equipment soared through the roof worldwide, as did nature walks and wellness experiences. Pundits believe this trend is here to stay. Find out how businesses on the island of Sentosa, Singapore collaborated and created a whole array of new offerings with the new health-conscious consumer in mind, products that will last way after Covid.
 

Moderator: