As we're all yearning for the long-awaited travel and tourism recovery in Asia, we spoke with several PR and comms professionals in the travel space to hear what they have missed the most and how they have been preparing comms strategies to catch up with the rest of the world again. 
Daryl Pan, Senior Director, Communications, Asia Pacific excl. Greater China, Marriott International
I believe that travel builds connections and promotes a deeper understanding and appreciation for cultures. The desire to discover or rediscover, and not only to escape, is stronger than ever. And this applies to ourselves, with each other, or even with others we meet along the way. I look forward to connecting with different places, people, and cultures, and in particular, broadening perspectives.

As we expect leisure demand to lead to travel recovery, we have been shifting gears to focus on demand generation leisure pitches. Our team is also looking to scale-up Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy, a programme that allows guests the opportunity to forge first-hand connections with local communities to create a positive impact - through the pillars of community engagement, marine conservation and environmental protection. We piloted this programme last year considering the increasing demand for purpose-led experiences and expect to expand the programme to even more hotels this year across the region. We continue to inspire travel with our travel programme alongside our portfolio of 30 distinct brands. We have great stories to share and look forward to travel coming back in full force.

Dominique Backhouse, Founder, Companion Communications
I can't wait to meet and work face to face with my colleagues in the travel industry again. It's been a long long while since we've all been together, either on property, on a roadshow, or at a travel conference. The travel industry is full of some of the most interesting people you could ever meet - hardworking and passionate but also well-travelled [of course!] as well as open and flexible to different cultures and ideas.

To prepare for the opening of Asia, our clients are all wanting to look at the macro-level - how to optimise their positioning in the region, how to adapt their offers and experiences to a world post-COVID, how to reach out to old guests and new demographics alike. Over the last two years, the big question has been - how do we add real value to our offer? Travelling in the post-COVID world isn't just about a room or an infinity pool anymore - guests are looking for authentic experiences, they want to reconnect with themselves and their loved ones, to escape the stresses of the last two years, to really 'live.' The industry is bubbling over with ideas and excitement as they begin to re-engage with an Asian audience - it is such an exciting time.

Krystal Lie, Director, Client Services, CatchOn
We are seeing recovery in Asia and internationally, and the travel industry is coming back with resilience and resolve. I hope Hong Kong will catch up soon and I look forward to being able to travel with less fear and uncertainties, without having to worry about catching COVID and being subjected to quarantine measures.

At CatchOn and together with our Finn Partners global travel practice, we have been planning for tourism’s recovery since 2020, by hosting a number of webinars, participating in various industry initiatives like World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and EVORA Forum, and producing thought leadership reports. We’ve also developed an international advisory panel made of industry heavyweights like David Scowsill, former President and CEO of the WTTC, and Dr.Taleb Rifai, Co-Chair of Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) and Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council and former Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organisation, and sustainability and crisis experts that our clients can tap into. Our teams have been working on helping destinations plan for recovery.

Paul Hicks, Founder and CEO, GHCAsia
As GHCAsia have been specialists for over 20 years in luxury travel and hospitality, one of the things I am most looking forward to is being able to rebuild our client list! A lot of great travel clients have been on hold, shelved or dormant while the whole travel industry has been mothballed. I can’t wait to rediscover the excitement of launching a new exotic resort or chic city hotel and seeing it finished for the first time. I used to do that regularly and it now seems like a previous lifetime. I also can’t wait to go and hang out with my lovely colleagues in Singapore and Shanghai, and our clients and industry friends around the world that have been part of the extended PR family for so many years. I can’t believe how much I even miss killing time in airport lounges.

In terms of preparing comms for the return of travel, we’ve been writing, rewriting and revising the strategy for two years already. We have exciting new hotels, cruise ships and travel services that we can’t wait to finally reveal to the world. We just have to be a little bit more patient I guess.