KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 – AirAsiaGo is aggressively pushing its business forward to grow its revenue by over 50 per cent this year, and maintain this momentum into 2015.
The online travel portal also intends to re-invest in its web operations and marketing in order to capture some 15 per cent of Southeast Asia’s online travel market share by 2017. However, the portal declined to disclose any figures.
To meet its ambitious targets, AirAsiaGo General Manager Darren Goh Boon Yew said it would be leveraging on the different points of sales, which are expected to grow at different speeds and scale based on market maturity, online penetration and the country’s overall economic growth.
“Mature markets like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are expected to have slower acceleration, while Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are expected to grow faster,” he told Bernama in an email interview.
One-third of AirAsiaGo’s business comes from Malaysia, he added.Goh also believed that the high target would be backed by mobile web, higher travelling demand and AirAsia’s new route launches.
The portal is expected to introduce its mobile web by the fourth quarter of this year, which will see conversion improvements of over 45 per cent when it migrates all its sites by next year.
The travel portal targets the Asian millennial leisure travellers as the Gen Y often seeks and relies on information available on the web, are highly into social media and high technology and prefers travelling to global destinations at low cost.
“Millennial travellers, those born after 1980, are very high on brand awareness but are not loyal, they focus on price, convenience and reviews from peers.”Social networks plays a big role in influencing purchase decisions, therefore it is important to pay attention to how travellers utilise various social media platforms,” he added.
On the back of these reasons, he noted that AirAsiaGo’s business was expected to be bullish in the second half of the year.Asked on the aviation industry’s performance, Goh said that the travel and tourism industry would continue to show robust growth in the second half of 2014.
“The recent MH17 and MH370 tragedies have deeply impacted not only Malaysia, but the entire world. The tragic loss from these recent disasters will stay with us for many years to come. Tourism and air travel may be impacted in the short run, but it will pick up later,” he added.
AirAsiaGo is managed by AAE Travel Pte Ltd, a 50-50 joint venture (JV) between low-cost carrier AirAsia Bhd and Expedia Inc, an online travel company.AirAsiaGo currently contributes 20 per cent to AAE Travel’s bottom line and this is expected to grow by five per cent annually.
– BERNAMA
