Thailand’s insurance sector looks set to shake off any lingering concerns following the recent period of political instability. A number of insurers recently reported strong growth in premiums and earnings for the first six months of 2010, a trend that is expected to continue into 2011.
Speaking at a conference on the Thai life insurance sector, Sara Lamsam, chairman of the Federation of Thai Insurance Organisations, said that insurers had shrugged off the effects of riots that struck Bangkok in May.
“The industry was barely affected by the political violence, growing robustly in the first half of the year by 15%. We expect the industry will manage to surpass 18% growth by year-end, as the second half is normally the peak season.”
he told the conference.
These projections are in line with recent results posted by individual companies. On August 20, Bangkok Insurance (BKI) announced that it had achieved a 15-year high in net earnings for the first six months of the year. Earnings amounted to $27.6m, an increase of almost 80% compared to this same period in 2009. BKI also reported that written premiums rose by 18.5% to $160m, with net underwriting profit up by 64.4% to $15m.
According to Panus Thiravanitkul, BKI’s president, the outlook is as good or better for the remainder of the year.
“Our target growth of 13% is well achievable, as the global and Thai economies are recovering, exports are growing, banks are lending more, car sales are improving and the government’s stimulus spending is under way,”
Panus told local media.
Another policy writer, MSIG Insurance (MSIG), announced on August 18 that its earned profits amounted to $2.2m during the first seven months of 2010. The company also reported that it expects earned premiums to increase this year by at least 17% to $80bn. MSIG said in a statement that its strong performance was in part due to the recovery of the economy and a more selective approach to the underwriting of car insurance.
One factor that could slow Thailand’s economic recovery, and have a direct impact on the country’s insurance sector, would be a re-igniting of the political tensions that flared during the first half of the year.
Parts of downtown Bangkok were heavily damaged, resulting in substantial claims filed with insurance firms. This in turn is likely to affect the bottom line of a number of leading policy writers. However, the strong overall growth predicted for the sector means that the exposed insurers should be able to cover any losses.
In a statement issued in late May, BKI said it expected to incur losses of around $250,000 as a result of the political unrest, a figure the company said would not affect its financial status or operations.
Thailand’s insurance sector looks set to shake off any lingering concerns following the recent period of political instability.
Read More http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/country/Thailand
Oxford Business Group (OBG) is a global publishing and consultancy company which produces original economic and business intelligence on markets in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. Through its print and online publications, OBG offers comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic and sectoral developments.
Bangkok Insurance Public Company Limited is a Thailand-based company engaged in the provision of non-life insurance. The Company’s services include travel, motor, personal accident (PA), health, residential and commercial property, personal property, third party liability, business all risks, industry all risks (IAR), marine and cargo and miscellaneous insurance services.
Fire insurance covers loss of or damages to insured residential properties, such as detached houses, semi-detached houses and townhouses. It also covers furniture, decorative items and electronic appliances against damage caused by fire, lightning and explosion. Marine insurance covers cargo and hull insurances. Motor insurance includes compulsory and voluntary insurances. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had two associate companies, namely Asia Insurance (Cambodia) Plc and Asian Insurance International (Holding) Limited.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Cheapflights.ca releases Asia & Oceania Rising Stars Report - {Travel Daily News}
Cheapflights.ca's has released the third instalment of its Rising Stars series, which takes a look at travel to Asia and Oceania, two regions that rule the Pacific with their tropical beaches, historical cities and legendary geography.
After compiling search data from the first six months of 2009 and 2010, Cheapflights.ca, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, has published its 2010 Asia and Oceania Rising Stars Report. The list ranks the 75 most frequently searched destinations in Asia and Oceania at Cheapflights.ca according to their change in popularity over 2009.
Amman, the capital of Jordan, tops the list with a phenomenal percentage change between 2009 and 2010 of 603 per cent. Searches for flights to Bora Bora, the popular French Polynesian island, were up by 552 per cent while the neighbouring island of Tahiti also saw a jump of 160 per cent.
Additionally, out of the 75 rising stars in Asia and Oceania, twelve are in India and five are in China, showing that trade and tourism between Canada and those vast countries are growing year by year. Canada received Approved Destination Status from China in June (2010) and the VFR market (Visiting Friends and Relatives) is very healthy. And once again, the performance of the Canadian dollar over the past year has meant that many destinations have become more affordable to Canadian travellers.
After compiling search data from the first six months of 2009 and 2010, Cheapflights.ca, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, has published its 2010 Asia and Oceania Rising Stars Report. The list ranks the 75 most frequently searched destinations in Asia and Oceania at Cheapflights.ca according to their change in popularity over 2009.
Amman, the capital of Jordan, tops the list with a phenomenal percentage change between 2009 and 2010 of 603 per cent. Searches for flights to Bora Bora, the popular French Polynesian island, were up by 552 per cent while the neighbouring island of Tahiti also saw a jump of 160 per cent.
Additionally, out of the 75 rising stars in Asia and Oceania, twelve are in India and five are in China, showing that trade and tourism between Canada and those vast countries are growing year by year. Canada received Approved Destination Status from China in June (2010) and the VFR market (Visiting Friends and Relatives) is very healthy. And once again, the performance of the Canadian dollar over the past year has meant that many destinations have become more affordable to Canadian travellers.
China, the biggest opportunity of our times, requires a local approach that is driven by social media | Jens Thraenhart
While three flight hours south in Macau, the Pacific Asia Travel Association hosted its annual PATA Travel Mart, over 500 delegates gathered in Beijing on September 15-16 at the so far largest China Travel Distribution Summit. This key event for travel executives looking to understand how to distribute and market online to Chinese consumers, focused on the theme of “China, Consumer, Content”. For global companies, China is no longer the future. It is the present. China’s market share in the global tourism world is rapidly growing, and with over 420 million Internet users, China has the most online users in the world.
The key outcomes from this year’s China Travel Distribution Summit which are important for domestic and international travel organizations to keep in mind when looking to understand and take advantage of the lucrative China tourism market include:
It is critical to have a well balanced execution between direct and non-direct channels, as well as online and offline mediums. Convergence is more important in China than anywhere else, however online is growing and is the most important information source for Chinese consumers.
Social media in China is complex and vastly different than outside of China. China has its own social media sites, and blocked sites, such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are becoming more and more irrelevant. Any company looking to be successful in China needs to have a local social media strategy. Social media channels will also become important platforms for booking and transactions in the future, not just for information gathering. Most of the big online travel agencies in China, namely Ctrip and eLong, and media sites such as Qunar and Daoao have social media functionalities built in.
Service is a key component for success in China, as most transactions are still offline, and various bottlenecks still exist, such as obtaining visas for outbound travel and payment systems. Being able to service Chinese customers is critical.
Mobile will continue to grow, and will be the future for travel planning and distribution. The official and successful entry of the iPad into China is another catalyst that will drive this consumer behaviour which travel organizations have to adapt for. Having a Chinese content strategy that leverages various platforms and channels, including mobile will be the cornerstone to reach Chinese consumers.
Search is important in China, with or without Google. Baidu’s market share will push Baidu to innovate and learn from search engines like Google. However, China still has different rules when it comes to search. The traveler-centric future is more personalized results that combine mobile and social media with search.
Ram Badrinathan, general manager-Asia Pacific for PhoCusWright (www.phocuswright.com) kicked off the summit by comparing China with India, and came to the conclusion that while China is leading India with physical infrastructure, it comes short in soft infrastructure, namely travel innovation which he attributed to the shortcomings of the GDS landscape in China. While China may need different models and systems, according to Larry Liang, general manager of airline solutions of TravelSky, China’s leading GDS, certain functions that create efficiencies are still performed manually and offline. Only Chinese companies can better understand its consumers, no other international GDS will be able to handle the volume and scale.
When it comes to online distribution, eLong (www.elong.com) and Ctrip (www.ctrip.com) are still the leading players, with Ctrip having the majority of the market share. eLong’s CEO Cui Guanfu wants eLong to be part of the mix for hotels to improve revenues. According to him, the hotel’s direct channels should be in harmony with the OTA’s as they are complimentary to each other. Demand generation could come from portal websites, search, or even social networks.
Ctrip’s CEO Fan Min on the other hand focused his comments mainly on the importance of customer service. Ctrip has always understood the shortcomings and the complexity of the Chinese market, and developed its model around it. Since 80% of the business of the OTA is transacted offline, call center operations and customer service obviously become a major part of being successful. While Ctrip may entertain expanding into other markets, it seemed clear that China is the core market for Ctrip, and that Fan Min sees still growth opportunities for the company.
This year’s summit also attracted more and more international travel organizations, represented with most senior executives from Sabre, Travelport, Priceline, Amadeus, and Tripit, as well as a few international hotel companies and airlines. China is definitely a market that is becoming more and more attractive for international travel brands, however reaching and connecting with Chinese consumers remains a complex and painful undertaking.
As anywhere in the world, social media is becoming a very powerful tool to engage with potential customers. China is seen as the most engaged country online with 92% of online users actively participating in social media. However the common sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, as well as Foursquare, are all blocked. The social media landscape in China has its own sites, as well as its own rules of engagement. Knowing which channels to use, how to set them up, and how to engage users is still complex for domestic Chinese companies, and extremely difficult for internationally organizations. George Cao, Co-founder of digital marketing and social media agency Dragon Trail (www.dragontrail.com) presented a case study of Canadian tourist board Banff Lake Louise Tourism. In a social media contest that Dragon Trail helped Banff Lake Louise Tourism launch in China, Banff’s new Chinese web site attracted nearly 200,000 visits and close to 100,000 registrations in a six-week period, without any advertising spend. Mr. Cao also showed the invite tree of the contest participants, and it demonstrated that the campaign had a viral spread of over 90%, meaning that 90% of registered people were invited by somebody that was already registered. The invite tree allows Dragon Trail now to identify the most influential people for its client, and interact with them in future campaigns or initiatives.
The conclusion of the China Travel Distribution Summit, as elegantly summarized by Charlie Li, head of summit organizer TravelDaily.cn, is that China welcomes foreign companies to be part of the growth of the China travel industry with all its opportunities. China is everyone's biggest dream, yet it could be everyone's worst nightmare if one is not prepared. Foreign companies need to be savvy in leveraging the digital landscape as well as align themselves with strong local partners that understand the Chinese culture and travel landscape, and that can act as a bridge by also understanding the western way of doing things, to avoid misunderstandings and disappointments. China is in a socio-economic transformation, and travel and tourism is major catalyst to drive that change.
By: Jens Thraenhart, Publisher & Chief Editor of www.ChinaTravelTrends.com (CTT is an information website and community jointly published by Dragon Trail and the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute - COTRI) – September 18, 2010
TAGS
pacific asia travel, pacific asia travel association, pata travel mart, online travel agencies, china tourism, obtaining visas, chinese consumers, global tourism, tourism world, china china, chinese customers, china travel, travel organizations, tourism market, travel
The key outcomes from this year’s China Travel Distribution Summit which are important for domestic and international travel organizations to keep in mind when looking to understand and take advantage of the lucrative China tourism market include:
It is critical to have a well balanced execution between direct and non-direct channels, as well as online and offline mediums. Convergence is more important in China than anywhere else, however online is growing and is the most important information source for Chinese consumers.
Social media in China is complex and vastly different than outside of China. China has its own social media sites, and blocked sites, such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are becoming more and more irrelevant. Any company looking to be successful in China needs to have a local social media strategy. Social media channels will also become important platforms for booking and transactions in the future, not just for information gathering. Most of the big online travel agencies in China, namely Ctrip and eLong, and media sites such as Qunar and Daoao have social media functionalities built in.
Service is a key component for success in China, as most transactions are still offline, and various bottlenecks still exist, such as obtaining visas for outbound travel and payment systems. Being able to service Chinese customers is critical.
Mobile will continue to grow, and will be the future for travel planning and distribution. The official and successful entry of the iPad into China is another catalyst that will drive this consumer behaviour which travel organizations have to adapt for. Having a Chinese content strategy that leverages various platforms and channels, including mobile will be the cornerstone to reach Chinese consumers.
Search is important in China, with or without Google. Baidu’s market share will push Baidu to innovate and learn from search engines like Google. However, China still has different rules when it comes to search. The traveler-centric future is more personalized results that combine mobile and social media with search.
Ram Badrinathan, general manager-Asia Pacific for PhoCusWright (www.phocuswright.com) kicked off the summit by comparing China with India, and came to the conclusion that while China is leading India with physical infrastructure, it comes short in soft infrastructure, namely travel innovation which he attributed to the shortcomings of the GDS landscape in China. While China may need different models and systems, according to Larry Liang, general manager of airline solutions of TravelSky, China’s leading GDS, certain functions that create efficiencies are still performed manually and offline. Only Chinese companies can better understand its consumers, no other international GDS will be able to handle the volume and scale.
When it comes to online distribution, eLong (www.elong.com) and Ctrip (www.ctrip.com) are still the leading players, with Ctrip having the majority of the market share. eLong’s CEO Cui Guanfu wants eLong to be part of the mix for hotels to improve revenues. According to him, the hotel’s direct channels should be in harmony with the OTA’s as they are complimentary to each other. Demand generation could come from portal websites, search, or even social networks.
Ctrip’s CEO Fan Min on the other hand focused his comments mainly on the importance of customer service. Ctrip has always understood the shortcomings and the complexity of the Chinese market, and developed its model around it. Since 80% of the business of the OTA is transacted offline, call center operations and customer service obviously become a major part of being successful. While Ctrip may entertain expanding into other markets, it seemed clear that China is the core market for Ctrip, and that Fan Min sees still growth opportunities for the company.
This year’s summit also attracted more and more international travel organizations, represented with most senior executives from Sabre, Travelport, Priceline, Amadeus, and Tripit, as well as a few international hotel companies and airlines. China is definitely a market that is becoming more and more attractive for international travel brands, however reaching and connecting with Chinese consumers remains a complex and painful undertaking.
As anywhere in the world, social media is becoming a very powerful tool to engage with potential customers. China is seen as the most engaged country online with 92% of online users actively participating in social media. However the common sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, as well as Foursquare, are all blocked. The social media landscape in China has its own sites, as well as its own rules of engagement. Knowing which channels to use, how to set them up, and how to engage users is still complex for domestic Chinese companies, and extremely difficult for internationally organizations. George Cao, Co-founder of digital marketing and social media agency Dragon Trail (www.dragontrail.com) presented a case study of Canadian tourist board Banff Lake Louise Tourism. In a social media contest that Dragon Trail helped Banff Lake Louise Tourism launch in China, Banff’s new Chinese web site attracted nearly 200,000 visits and close to 100,000 registrations in a six-week period, without any advertising spend. Mr. Cao also showed the invite tree of the contest participants, and it demonstrated that the campaign had a viral spread of over 90%, meaning that 90% of registered people were invited by somebody that was already registered. The invite tree allows Dragon Trail now to identify the most influential people for its client, and interact with them in future campaigns or initiatives.
The conclusion of the China Travel Distribution Summit, as elegantly summarized by Charlie Li, head of summit organizer TravelDaily.cn, is that China welcomes foreign companies to be part of the growth of the China travel industry with all its opportunities. China is everyone's biggest dream, yet it could be everyone's worst nightmare if one is not prepared. Foreign companies need to be savvy in leveraging the digital landscape as well as align themselves with strong local partners that understand the Chinese culture and travel landscape, and that can act as a bridge by also understanding the western way of doing things, to avoid misunderstandings and disappointments. China is in a socio-economic transformation, and travel and tourism is major catalyst to drive that change.
By: Jens Thraenhart, Publisher & Chief Editor of www.ChinaTravelTrends.com (CTT is an information website and community jointly published by Dragon Trail and the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute - COTRI) – September 18, 2010
TAGS
pacific asia travel, pacific asia travel association, pata travel mart, online travel agencies, china tourism, obtaining visas, chinese consumers, global tourism, tourism world, china china, chinese customers, china travel, travel organizations, tourism market, travel
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