LET THERE BE SAMSONITE

Samsonite CEO Kyle Gendreau is banking on a new hybridised segment of travel that is both business and leisure - times have never been sweeter to be a global nomad

- JONATHAN HO

POPULATED WITH VORACIOUS TRAVELLERS, Asia has been Samsonite's most profitable region accounting for almost 40% of total revenue for the first half of 2023. In fact, a new report by global hospitality leader Hilton coined "GenerAsian" to describe an emerging generation of Asian travellers who are pursuing travel that will enable them to better understand their identity.

These insights were gleaned from more than 10,000 travellers from nine countries - China, UAE, India, Singapore, Mexico, U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. The report also found that 73% of Singaporean travellers are inclined to spend more on travel in 2024 than they did in 2023, with 74% aiming to reduce spending on other areas of their lives in order to prioritise travelling.

Indeed, the pandemic has led to new insights on how consumers react to freedoms so suddenly lost during the lockdown. Even the common question at Airport passport control, "Business or pleasure?" has been rendered moot when the current breed of global citizens likes to do both, as Samsonite CEO Kyle Francis Gendreau discovered in the numbers. How does this bode for the future of travel?

Can you recall a situation where you've had numbers that told you one thing, but your gut instinct told you to go in a different direction?

Often, numbers tell you where you should be focused and where maybe you shouldn't be focused. One of the things that I've been very focused on as a global business, is making sure we're prioritising what we do for things that move the needle.