Virtual trade shows or Online roadshow, are the most recent trends affecting the travel industry. Essentially virtual show is similar to traditional event, but entire event is based online or hybrid.

The benefits is saving money and time, no need to travel etc. But wait, what is the catch ? The fact that there is no actual interaction between buyer and exhibitor seems to be the biggest drawback. Online Chat and video call can only do so much. Human touch is very important, especially for travel industry, less for ICT.

Since March 2020, Chinese buyers and sellers start to participate in online events, starting with Webinar. In the beginning, everyone is enthusiastic, but it dies down after two months. This is follow by Online roadshow and Virtual expo.

CTO interview with travel industry participants, both exhibitors and buyers in the past 4 virtual events in China, average participant experience 20% to 30% technical issues, some as high as 40% according to a Tourism Bureau in South East Asia: not able to hear in video call, system freeze, time zone issues, seller/buyer not showing up, difficulty to sell through online, connection not stable and more.

Company like Tencent Cloud, Dragon Trail all share some technical issues.

In conclusion, we believe technology is useful and important especially during Covid19 period, but we also think about the ROI, the right platform and how to make an effective campaign.