HK just the ticket for travel writers (hktdc.com)


	Nick Wayland, CEO and founder of TravMedia (right), with Nick Walton, South China Morning Post Travel Editor

Hong Kong has everything a traveller could want: five-star hotels, efficient transport, easy connections and unrivalled shopping. The city also ticks all the boxes for TravMedia, an international online information resource for travel journalists, which has opened its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong.

TravMedia was founded in 2000 by former travel journalist Nick Wayland. The company now has offices in Australia, the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand and Dubai. It is growing so fast that a regional hub became necessary, and CEO Mr Wayland said Hong Kong was a clear choice.

"Hong Kong is English speaking and centrally located to Asia's other key cities. The city is conveniently located to the airport with good airline connections to Europe and the rest of Asia. TravMedia's clients are mainly based in Hong Kong for the same reasons."

Mr Wayland said Hong Kong has always been popular with travellers and journalists alike. "It is a key hub to Asia and Europe and a preferred stopover point especially for business."

Fast Internet

Hong Kong's advanced next-media infrastructure, Mr Wayland added, was another good reason for setting up an online business in the city. "Fast Internet speeds are always an advantage for business when using the Internet. Time is money," he said. "As the Internet revolution has taken hold, we have always been very dependent on the speed of the site, so it's very pleasing to see that Hong Kong is a world leader in Internet speed."

Established as an electronic travel news service for journalists, TravMedia distributes media releases instantly to more than 11,000 travel, lifestyle and travel-trade media globally, with six offices around the world. It is a one-stop research resource for media, allowing journalists access to travel company information, public relations contacts and high-resolution imagery from anywhere in the world.

The free service can be tailored to send journalists hourly, daily or weekly email alerts. The site distributes news announcements for more than 1,000 companies worldwide and hosts about 36,000 high-resolution photographs.

Travel companies posting news on TravMedia represent a broad cross-section of the industry, including airlines, tourism boards, hotels, tour operators, cruise lines, theme parks and more.

As a busy travel writer, Mr Wayland always had a need to research material while on the go. "TravMedia was created to provide the travel industry with a dedicated communications channel with the media, and to provide an online filing cabinet of the industry's breaking news and media resources in one place," he said.

Entry point to China

The Hong Kong office, headed by regional manager Lauren Michod, will also serve as the company's entry point to the Chinese mainland.

TravMedia's growth plans include a launch in Germany later this year, South America and South Africa in 2009, as well as Chinese and Japanese language versions. Mr Wayland believes Hong Kong represents a great platform for the company's growth.

"The media have always traditionally been a good guide for helping choose one particular location over another. There is a strong presence of travel and lifestyle media in Hong Kong, and with the launch of a Chinese-language version, we see further growth into the China mainland and the rest of Asia."