Asian Trails has launched a new eCommerce Department aimed at taking our operations to the next level in the digital space.

This specialised unit was created in response to the rapid growth of our eCommerce activities over the past two years.

Our goals include increasing eCommerce sales to 40-50 per cent across the entire Asian Trails group and enhancing how we purchase and offer competitive rates for online and traditional sales channels.

Marc Albert, a Swiss-Thai national and former Managing Director of Asian Trails Thailand, has been appointed Group Managing Director of eCommerce & Sourcing. Marc will lead the group’s efforts to boost sales for partners and their global customers through our innovative eConnect B2B portal, as well as through API.

Asian Trails initially ventured into eCommerce as the exclusive supplier for Kuoni Connect in South-East Asia, the bed bank of the Kuoni Group.

In the post-pandemic landscape, many DMCs lacked the resources or know-how to develop their online sales capabilities as we were able to, thereby providing an opportunity for Asian Trails to expand its sales channels and offer customers a timelier booking experience.

Marc explained: “This opened an entirely new world for our existing traditional customers and allowed us to work with travel technology companies and large new API customers supplying them with seamless services.

“We made great strides because of our investment in technology during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. While other DMCs focused simply on getting through this challenging period, we actively enhanced and invested into our future sales channels and business opportunities.

“The main ‘product’ has always been accommodation supply, but our experiences and transfers, developed over 25 years, have contributed to this growth. In my experience, working with large industry players, experiences and transfers were often seen as less significant in comparison to accommodation and as a result often neglected, leaving an interesting niche for a DMC like us.

“Experiences and transfers are more attractive in a sense, as they come with higher margins compared to the highly competitive accommodation ’product’ where margins are smaller. Also, fewer players offer experiences and transfers online, whereas accommodation is highly commoditized.

“The complexity involved in operating experiences, with multiple components versus selling a room for one night, makes it an interesting area for us to apply our expertise in.”

Asian Trails’ cloud-based system landscape has enabled our teams to perform their tasks remotely. For example, our Myanmar team, currently not involved in mainstream travel operations due to the ongoing political conflict, has been trained in loading data for experiences, accommodation, and transfers on behalf of all Asian Trails country offices.

Marc emphasised that the eCommerce Department has plans to create a new sales team focused on supporting our online business partners’ needs.

“Large API customers, such as resellers and wholesalers, have different requirements than our traditional travel agents who typically use our eConnect portal.

“A retail sales team will support travel agents in using our eConnect platform and with their day-to-day inquiries, while our commercial B2B team will focus on the onboarding of API customers, as well as assisting them with activities, such as mapping and initial sharing of our hotel portfolio.

“Our optimisation team will play a more active role in assessing competitiveness, availability, and pricing with suppliers, as well as technical issues and sales opportunities with our customers.”

The new unit will also prioritise customer service through our contact centre, ensuring customers have access to real, human support for issue resolution.

Marc said: “We plan to expand this team and hire more multilingual staff to handle inquiries from countries like China and maintain this service 24/7 across all destinations.”

Regarding our eConnect portal, since its official launch at the World Travel Market in London at the end of 2022, this system has undergone significant upgrades. The latest addition is a white-label option that allows customers to sell Asian Trails’ products under their own branding.

For example, we provided accommodation links to festivalgoers attending a music event in Cambodia, allowing the customer to brand the platform with their own logo.

Marc’s extensive experience has equipped him to lead Asian Trail’s eCommerce to the next level. He began his career in education and psychology in Switzerland and then transitioned into IT and networking engineering, working with educational and commercial institutions.

A keen diver, Marc learned how to dive in Switzerland’s cold and deep lakes, but seeking a warmer climate, he moved to Thailand to manage dive schools in the south of the country.

Despite the appeal of the dive instructor lifestyle in Thailand’s idyllic South, Marc returned to the corporate world, leading the Indochina venture of a regional boutique DMC before taking on a role overseeing the global operations and customer service of several multi-billion-Euro bed-bank businesses.

In 2021, Marc became the Managing Director for Asian Trails Thailand, where he led the unit out of the pandemic and eventually recorded the highest ever annual return in 2024.

Reflecting on his career, Marc said: “My background in education and psychology has helped me with negotiation, communication, and team engagement. I deeply value human relationships and am grateful to everyone I have worked with, especially my former deputy, Delphine Guillon, who stepped up to take over as Managing Director for Thailand. This has allowed me to take on this exciting new challenge.

“I am also indebted to Asian Trails’ founders, Luzi and Laurent, for entrusting me with this incredible role. Asian Trails is currently in a golden era of delivering exclusive and dynamic services and I look forward to working with our valuable partners as we continue this exciting digital journey.”