Sixteen years after travel agency Ken-Air folded, its founder, Mr Kenny Goh, said he does not regret the decision to close it.
And while he might have ended that chapter in his life, Mr Goh, now 64 years old, is still very much interested in the travel business, taking note of trends and demands of travellers.
He also sets his sights on delivering better, customised services to consumers.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Mr Goh said he is mentoring his children, Kenneth, 28, and Charmaine, 38, in a family venture called EventsKenAir.
For now, the venture provides professional services to meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (Mice) organisers. It helps the organisers to use cloud computing, which syncs data in real time online across all suppliers and service staff.
"We are moving from service 3.0 to 4.0," he said. "Service 3.0 is about providing cookie-cutter service, while 4.0 is about delivering bespoke experiential services."
For example, Mr Goh said that in the past, a group of 30 people would all go to the same places and eat the same food. With bespoke services, people can register their choices online on a cloud service so that they get a more tailored experience.
"Some people can go for cooking classes, while others can go for sightseeing tours. Even in banquets, there can be different main courses instead of everyone eating the same thing."
It is an interesting step back into travel for Mr Goh, whose company Ken-Air operated from 1973 to 2002, offering long-haul trips to destinations like the United States, Europe and New Zealand. It was "voluntarily liquidated" four months after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. "People were frightened and didn't want to go to the US any more," Mr Goh recalled.
He said he could have continued the business by cutting staff numbers, but decided to call it a day instead. "The decision turned out to be the right one," he added. "After we closed, there was the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome crisis and the Gulf War. These issues would have really hindered travel."
However, Mr Goh has kept abreast of the trends. Even with the rise of the Internet and people getting easy access online, he thinks the travel business can still thrive.
"Yes, some aspects like the flight arrangement business is gone," he said. "Now people can just book their own flights online. But what is still important and relevant lies in the area of providing experiences rather than booking arrangements."
He explained that an average consumer spends on a big-ticket vacation once in 31/2 years. So from the ages of 30 to 75, a person can go on about 13 major holidays. "From that perspective, selecting a big-ticket experience is a big decision and customers need help with professional activity-planning to maximise the limited time. For this reason, they are prepared to pay for a professionally designed programme."
With globalisation, overseas tour agencies also compete for the attention of Singaporean travellers, but local tour companies have the extra edge by catering to specific Singaporean demands.
"What is 'exotic' or interesting to someone depends on what his norm is," Mr Goh explained. "Once, I joined a tour in Hawaii and the highlight of the tour was getting to touch a pineapple. To the Americans, it was an exotic experience and to us, definitely not. It's about understanding your target market."
And as for Ken-Air - a company that pioneered travel and branched out into property, car rental, amusement centres, convention planning and event management services - Mr Goh has moved on.
"It's not for me to answer what the Ken-Air legacy is," he said with a laugh. "That's for others to decide. But I continue to be passionate in creating disruptive business models and I hope to pass my expertise and experience on to my children."
