Asia’s tourist destinations are overrun with visitors, testing the patience of residents in hotspots like Kyoto and Bali. Some governments are trying to limit the influx of visitors through measures like taxes or reduced visa stays.
Ethan Lin, co-founder of the Asia-based travel platform Klook, argued at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept. 8 that thinking of overtourism as a pure numbers problem misses the real source of the issue.
“Overtourism is a concentration problem, not a volume problem,” Lin said. In other words, too many tourists are going to the same small number of places within a country, rather than experiencing everything a destination has to offer.
AI may help tourists find something new to do or see. In Klook’s Travel Pulse survey of Gen Z and millennial travelers across Asia, 57% said they had used AI to find new destinations or experiences. “Technology and AI help to diversify [tourism] traffic into different and lesser-known destinations,” Lin said.
Speaking on a separate travel-focused panel, David Mann, Mastercard’s chief APAC economist noted that, per company data, those who pay for AI subscriptions are more likely to visit places off the beaten path. “People are looking to discover more places, more hidden gems, and plenty of places they’ve never tried before,” he said. AI “can really help them to find that even more effectively.”
Hospitality operators, too, have leaned on social media influencers to raise awareness about their offerings. Myoko Suginohara Ski Resort in Japan, for instance, recently collaborated with American snowboarder Travis Rice to showcase the appeal of its mountains for backcountry skiing and snowboarding.
“For two seasons, he brought a crew to film top boarders snowboarding down the mountains in Myoko,” Ken Chan, the founder of Singapore-based Patience Capital Group, which owns the resort, said. “This makes viewers want to have that experience, and [encourages them to] come over to Myoko.”
Driven by experiences
Travel today is also heavily driven by experiences, from concerts to sporting events. Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com, said demand was driven by the “three Ps”: premium, purposeful, and pro-leisure travel.
The most expensive package Trip.com has ever offered, a $200,000-per-person tour, sold out in 17 seconds, Sun said.
“Young people like to go to G-Dragon, Blackpink and Jay Chou shows,” she added. “NBA games and F1 car races are also very popular—the tickets [on our platform] sold out almost instantly.”
In Macau, integrated resorts are now staging their own experiences to diversify away from their reliance on gaming, dining and shopping. SJM Resorts hosts the Macao Open golf tournament, while Melco-owned City of Dreams stages “House of Dancing Water,” an aquatic spectacle of aerial acrobatics.
“They come for the golf, but they’ll stay for the dining, the hotel, and the holistic experience we offer here in Macau,” said Gerard Walker, SJM’s chief hospitality officer. (SJM Resorts was a host partner for the Fortune Leaders Forum.)
Finally, today’s travelers are turning their flexible working arrangements into “workcations,” performing their regular job duties from a holiday destination rather than an office. “Lots of people work Monday through Thursday. On Friday, they will fly their family [out and] spend a long weekend,” Sun said.
“It’s just more fun. When we’re in our own home city, we tend to be more lazy on weekends, deciding to just stay in or head out for [a quick] dinner,” Lin said during his session. “But when they travel, they have to spend more.”