It’s an interesting place to be. Here we are planning for our first WIT Europe conference in London and we don’t know if by June 30, Britain will still be part of the EU depending on how the referendum on June 23 goes.
Some people would call it awful timing but for me, it’s the best of time – to bring a travel conference that builds bridges, instead of destroys them.
If you asked me a year ago, I’d have said in all certainty that the vote would be No to Brexit and I’d have bet my bottom dollar on it. Now I am not so sure.
I sensed the wobbly waters during my last trip to London just a month ago when a couple of taxi drivers started voicing their opinions. One said he wished the debate would not be about spreading fear. “If they’d tell us the positives of staying instead of the negatives of leaving, it’d make for a healthier debate,” he said.
Fear is divisive. It teaches us to reject people because of differences instead of accepting them because of commonalities.
A cafe in Bermondsey, London: We travel for the differences and we celebrate the communalities that bind us.
Travel is the complete opposite. Travel teaches us to understand, appreciate and accept people for their differences and commonalities. We travel for the differences and we celebrate the commonalities that bind us.
WIT is a brand built in Asia. In truth, there is no Asia – no physical geographic boundaries that define it. It’s pretty elastic depending on your take on it. It could stretch anywhere from China to Indonesia or Pakistan to Papua New Guinea – and it could even include Australia and New Zealand (some people still call that Australasia) given the social/economic shifts that have taken place the last two decades.
But what it is is a state of mind.
That state of mind recognises the collective but understands, appreciates and respects the differences.
That state of mind is excited about the potential and promise of Asia but is well-aware that there is no one Asia strategy.
That state of mind knows you can’t open an office in Singapore and expect to conquer Asia or, for that matter, buy or partner a company in Beijing and then say, we’ve got China.
That state of mind understands not just the physical distances between markets but the social distance of doing business in countries in Asia. You can’t send a business development person for a week’s trip and expect doors to magically open. That person needs to have drunk a lot, sung a lot and every now and then be prepared to get naked in onsens – if you’re taking on Japan, for example.
That state of mind knows that like everywhere else, it takes people and relationships to build things, just that the how you do it is different.
Chinatown, London, in full colour
In many ways, there are similarities between Europe and Asia. Rich history, diverse cultures, different religions and traditions, countries at different stages of growth, huge inequality between the haves and have-nots, politically messy … the difference is that in Asia, or even ASEAN (the 10-member smaller South-east Asian grouping), we don’t share a common currency and no easy cross-migration of people, things we’d love to have but know they are still pretty much pie-in-the-sky stuff for now.
Just as in Europe, low cost airlines have brought people in Asia closer together. This is a powerful social unifier. The more someone in Malaysia understands someone in Cambodia through travel, the better it is for everyone. Europe led the way in this social revolution and we in Asia learnt from it. There’s much for us to learn together.
So whatever the outcome of the referendum of June 23 – we are mindful we will be in London at a historic moment whatever the outcome – we are excited to bring Asia to Europe with one simple message – travel is about building bridges, and we vote against fear and fearmongers.