Though one expects a "Face of the Future" award to go to a young person, does such an award beg the question: "Just how much impact can one person have in the early stages of his or her career?"
In the case of the 2008 recipient of such an award, bestowed by the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the answer is clear. Not only is honoree Kenneth Low, director of strategy, Asia-Pacific, for InterContinental Hotels Group, overseeing brand development and operations in the world's most aggressively growing region, his enthusiasm for his work is infectious.
After speaking with him, his future looked bright to MeetingNews.
Q What does winning the PATA Face of the Future Award mean to you?
A I'm honored and delighted to receive this award, which I see as strong recognition for the role that young people can play in the travel and hospitality industry. It sends a clear signal that this is an industry worth joining. It can offer tremendous growth and career development opportunities for all levels and types of professionals.
The hospitality industry is growing by leaps and bounds in this part of the world, and I hope the PATA award will bring attention to the exciting and attractive career opportunities this field brings.
Q When your name was announced as the award recipient, you spoke of your efforts to ensure a sustainable future for the industry. What is it that you are doing, particularly on behalf of InterContinental Hotels, in that regard?
A The Asia-Pacific region, and China in particular, has been experiencing tremendous growth over the last few years. It's one of the fastest growing and most important regions for IHG globally, and it will continue to grow in importance. In the next 10 to 15 years, China will become the world's number-one inbound tourist destination with 183 million trip nights taken. At the same time, outbound trips by Chinese travelers to the rest of the world will grow from 10 million to more than 100 million. There are also some really interesting global macro-trends that will have a positive impact on our industry.
For example, U.S. travel and tourism spend is expected to grow 200 percent by 2015. Meanwhile, the continuing growth and availability of low-cost airlines is expected to contribute to 44-percent passenger growth by 2010. And, we are starting to serve the next generation of guests, owners, and employeesall of whom have higher expectations than ever before.
As a member of IHG's global strategy team, I help to identify these trends and also help decide how best to prioritize and capitalize on the various growth opportunities in ways that will create sustainable benefits for all of our stakeholdersour guests, our owners, and our colleaguesas well as the communities in which we operate.
Q As part of the award, you will be given free registration to attend IMEX 2008 or 2009. Which will you attend, and how do you think your attendance at that show will ultimately help meeting and incentive customers?
A I plan to attend the 2009 event and expect it to offer a chance for me to network, learn new things, and hopefully bring something [to the table], in terms of sharing my IHG experience. The meeting, incentive, convention, and event business is becoming increasingly important. At IHG, we recognized the growth potential of this segment many years ago, as seen in our Crowne Plaza brand, which is designed to cater particularly to the needs of meeting and event customers. I hope to share some customer insights from the research we conducted when we developed the brand.
Q What can meeting planners expect to see from IHG in Asia-Pacific, especially in your main focus areasChina, India, and Japan?
A As economies in Asia-Pacific continue to develop aggressively, the demand for meetings- , conferences- , and events-related services will also continue to grow. MICE continues to be a major segment for IHG, and we continue to expand and develop the Crowne Plaza brand. It is expanding rapidly in all our key markets, and, in fact, it's the fastest-growing brand in its segment in Asia-Pacific.
In China, we have the largest portfolio of Crowne Plaza hotels anywhere in the region: We have a total of 21 properties at last count, with many more in the pipeline. In Japan, our joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA) gives us great strength. We now have six ANA Crowne Plaza hotels across Japanall former ANA Hotels that were successfully co-branded last year. ANA Crowne Plaza combines the best of Japanese hospitality with global experience, products, and services. In India, we've invested heavily in people and have a great team to drive our future growth. The recent opening of the Crowne Plaza Gurgaon in New Delhi gives us a flagship meetings and events focused hotel in the fast-growing market.
Q All this and you're just 35. Where do you see yourself headed in the hotel and tourism industry?
A I hope to continue playing a leading role in spearheading the growth of our industry in Asia-Pacific. This goes beyond just looking at the growth in inbound and outbound travel in the various regional markets. Responsible tourism is on everyone's minds these days, and [this trend] is going to become increasingly important in the years to come.
I look forward to continuing to grow with IHG and taking on increasing levels of responsibility as I progress in my career with the company. I also hope to encourage other talented young people to join this exciting industry. I think many of them don't actually realize the tremendous career and development opportunities it can offer.
Contact Rayna Katz at [email protected]
Originally published April 7, 2008