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Khiri Travel celebrates 25 years

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BANGKOK, 28 August 2018: Travel industry executives celebrated Khiri Travel’s 25th anniversary at a cocktail party, last Friday, in the garden home venue of Nai Lert Park.

Khiri Travel was founded by Willem Niemeijer in Bangkok in 1993 to arrange travel to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia at a time when the Mekong region was opening to tourists.

From a one-room office, the start-up has grown into a destination management company with 230 employees and 17 offices in eight Asian countries.

During the anniversary event, a travel leaders panel discussed, “The Next 25 Years in Travel.”

Pacific Asia Travel Association CEO, Mario Hardy, told the 150 gathered travel executives that the next 25 years would likely see exponential tourism growth, which must be underpinned by better tourism dispersal and more respect for host communities and the natural environment.

Global Sustainable Tourism Council CEO, Randy Durband, told the audience that travel technology would become better and more widely applied to product information and distribution.

He called for improvements to destination management. He said governments were only now awaking to the need to manage tourism better and not just apply budget to promotions.

“An increasing number of travellers will also seek less crowded and more ‘authentic’ places to visit – so better traveller dispersion through improved visitor management will be vital,” said Durband.

QUO  CEO and branding specialist, David Keen, said Asia’s future would “depend on sustainable policies to control mass tourism that has massively degraded some destinations and now threatens the livelihood of other resort destinations across the continent.”

He said it was time for governments to stop defining tourism success by arrival numbers.

Khiri Travel CEO, Willem Niemeijer, admitted it was almost impossible to predict the next quarter century in travel due to the increasing speed of technological change.

However, Niemeijer said that tourism dispersion would remain central to Khiri Travel’s product development.

“Khiri Travel will continue to support the sustainable development of travel beyond Asia’s hubs.” He added that values such as integrity, inclusion and respect for local culture would continue to define Khiri’s commitment to responsible travel.

Khiri Travel’s 25th anniversary celebration at the Glass House at Nai Lert Park Heritage Home in Bangkok featured a display of Khiri Travel images and memorabilia from the last 25 years.

The anniversary event also featured a traditional Thai puppetry show.

Guests were greeted by Khiri Travel staff dressed in traditional attire from Khiri’s countries of operation: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

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