Operating Offices
CEO / Group Managing Director
Mr. James Reed
James Reed had an eclectic career spanning numerous countries and a wide range of company management before becoming co-founder and CEO/Group Managing Director of Destination Asia, Asia’s most successful destination management company.
Originating in Canada, Jim received an Honours Diploma in Business Administration before assuming his first job in 1976 as the Executive Director of the Canadian Amateur Synchronised Swimming Association. Jim then moved to Australia in 1979, where he became a Director of a travel marketing company in Sydney. This involved the organisation of tours and group travel around the world, but especially to Asia, which in turn led to his first on-site Asian posting...
Jim joined Shangri-La International in 1985, where he worked on the opening team of the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok and was involved with numerous award winning incentives and conventions. He was then transferred to Hong Kong where he opened the Island Shangri-La Hotel. “My time with the Shangri-La was a great experience, as the key to their success was always to provide the absolute best service to our clients, something which I now regard as the key to our own company’s success.”
Jim then joined a destination management company in 1991 and was based in Bangkok as the Managing Director responsible for Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma. He opened new offices in Saigon, Phnom Penh and Yangon, and as such was one of the pioneers of the Indochina travel industry.
In 1996 he joined with several leading travel industry executives to form Destination Asia, now one of Asia’s leading destination management companies. He is most proud that Destination Asia has no outside shareholders and is totally independent from overseas airline, tour operator and outside interests.
“I believe in employee empowerment. The creative drive to succeed when a company is owned by its staff is something that cannot be equalled by an international travel conglomerate. At Destination Asia, the staff are family.”
Now dividing his time between Bangkok, the corporate office in Sydney, aeroplanes and trade shows, Jim is a frequent visitor to every destination within the group, ensuring group standards are adhered to, and researching future opportunities.”
Destination Asia has grown phenomenally from the two country operation with which we started business in 1996. I am - and I believe quite justifiably - proud of all that we have achieved to date but we keep a very close eye on our markets and our expansion has always been timely. We have never rested on our laurels and there are certainly more opportunities for us in Asia.”
In his spare time(of which there is little!)and when not travelling around Asia, Jim plays golf and dabbles in his twin hobbies of airlines and sports history, primarily ice-hockey and baseball. “There is nothing more enjoyable than taking my three children out for a game of golf, or a day at the beach” according to Jim. He also collects old airline memorabilia, die-cast miniature aeroplanes, and Asian art.
“I love Asia. My heart and soul are in Asia. The beauty of its scenery, the stunning spectacle of its great wonders such as Angkor Wat, the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the Imperial Citadel in Hue and Borobudur in Indonesia. The senses of its varied cultures have captivated me since I first arrived in Thailand in the late 1970s. But most of all I love its people. The sense of peace and calm, and of one’s place in the time of humanity continue to touch me. Asia is my life and it is now my family. It has almost been a mystical calling for me, as if I was always meant to be here, in Asia.”
