If tourism were judged solely by how many attractions you could squeeze into a holiday, the busiest traveller would always win. But Asia-focused destination management company Discova is heading to Singapore with a rather different proposition: perhaps the best journey is the one that gives everyone room to breathe.
Part of Flight Centre Travel Group, Discova will bring its purpose-driven travel message to ITB Asia 2026, held at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre from 21–23 October. With locally designed programmes across 11 Asian countries, the company wants travel buyers to look beyond sightseeing checklists and consider what visitors actually take home and what they leave behind.
A different measure of travel success
The centrepiece will be a conference presentation by Discova Managing Director Suyin Lee, entitled The Guest Mindset: The Case for Slower, More Purposeful Travel.
Her argument challenges the industry’s habit of treating visitor numbers as the final word on success. A destination can attract ever more arrivals without necessarily improving life for the people who call it home. Meaningful tourism, by contrast, asks whether travellers engage respectfully, spend with local businesses, and leave with a deeper understanding of the place.
It is a timely discussion for travel advisers weighing how to sell experiences rather than simply add another stop to an already crowded itinerary. After all, a holiday should produce memories, not require the stamina of an Olympic decathlete.
Lee’s presentation sits comfortably within the wider ITB Asia conference theme, Experiences in Motion: Human-Centred Design in Travel & Tourism. Organisers are bringing together industry speakers to examine changing traveller expectations, technology and fresh approaches to experience design.
The human touch cannot be downloaded
Discova is also putting its local guides firmly in the spotlight. The company argues their value lies not simply in knowing the date a temple was built, but in explaining how people live, work, celebrate and think today.
Chief Operations Officer Peter Christiansen puts it this way:
“Our guides can easily share stories about royalty, historical events and important milestones. But what travellers often value most are the everyday insights—what it’s really like to live in a country, from daily life and education to local customs and culture. As a destination management company with people on the ground, we can bring these stories to life and transform a visit from a collection of facts into a meaningful experience that creates genuine connection and a deeper sense of place.”
Discova backs that approach with annual face-to-face guide training and online learning. In August, the company reported training more than 50 guides in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, covering communication, leadership and the practical challenges of managing different groups.
For agents, that investment matters. A well-prepared guide can turn an ordinary touring programme into the reason a client recommends the trip to friends. No app, however clever, can quite reproduce a local person’s lived experience.
B Corp status adds another layer of accountability
Discova’s pitch comes with a new credential. It became a Certified B Corporation in June 2026, following assessment by the non-profit B Lab. The certification, registered under Buffalo Tours Singapore Pte Ltd, considers areas including governance, workers, communities, customers and environmental practices.
That does not mean every journey is automatically sustainable or free from impact. It does, however, provide a more substantial basis for scrutiny than an attractive brochure and a generous sprinkling of green adjectives.
Discova’s network spans 11 countries across South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Its offerings range from tailored holidays and group programmes to educational travel focused on cultural exchange and community participation.
A serious trade delegation with a simple message
Lee will be joined in Singapore by a broad Discova delegation, including sales leaders Chad Anderson and Nicholas Shuttleworth, operations chief Peter Christiansen, contracting leader Nicoline Dolman and emerging destinations manager Mark Ten. Also attending are business development manager Elena Bartolini, Singapore and Malaysia country manager Tricia Loh, and educational travel general manager Michaela Connor.
For Australian travel advisers and overseas buyers alike, ITB Asia offers an opportunity to discuss how locally led experiences can strengthen itineraries, differentiate products and create value beyond the initial booking.
Discova’s lesson to the industry is straightforward. Travelling further is not always the same as discovering more. Sometimes the smartest business decision — and the better holiday — is to slow down.
Trade enquiries: Contact [email protected]. Further information is available at Discova and the ITB Asia 2026 website.
By: Maysa Punchanit – © 2026.
Read Time: 4 minutes.
Author Bio:
Maysa Punchanit has never waited for life to become easy. She’s far too practical for that. Instead, she’s built her path the way many strong women do, step by step, job by job, learning something useful everywhere she’s been.
Her working life has taken her through hospitality, sales, beauty therapy and the fast-moving world of social media, where she partnered with some of Thailand’s best-known companies. Along the way, she discovered a steady voice for blogging, warm, direct and grounded in real experience rather than marketing spin.
Being a single mother sharpened her resolve rather than slowing her stride. If anything, it gave her purpose.
Now with DTN News and Stephen’s EGT Media, Maysa arrives not as a newcomer, but as someone quietly battle-tested, resilient, capable and ready for the next chapter.
