Ovolo Hotels has launched a paw-fect initiative, V.I.Pooch, which sees the offering of dog-friendly rooms in all its properties across Hong Kong and Australia.
V.I.Pooch
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The paw-fect scheme will cost pet owners an additional HK$800 (US$102) + 10% (Hong Kong hotels) or A$80 (US$55; Australian hotels) per night, and up to two furry friends are permitted per room.
Each pet-friendly room will be decked out with a dog bed, a no-mess eating and drinking mat, separate food and water bowls. Guests of Ovolo will enjoy a Loot Bag full of snacks, while V.I.Pooch’s are gifted a Doggy Bag containing toys, healthy snacks and poop bags.
Gavin Weightman has taken the helm of Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, Singapore as general manager.
The Australian native is a seasoned hotelier who brings over two decades of extensive hospitality experience to the role.
Weightman was most recently general manager of Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu, and previously held roles in Shangri-La hotels and resorts around the world, including Fiji, Australia and Malaysia.
He is supported by Nick Flynn who recently assumed his role as resident manager of Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, in early 2019.
Flynn was in a similar role at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang and previously helmed the kitchen, and F&B departments in various hotels in Australia, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn speaking at the TATP20 event
Thailand is training its sights on attracting quality tourists including first-time travellers and FITs to the country, as the country continues its quest to shift its widely perceived image from that of mass to responsible tourism.
On Monday evening, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) officially announced its action plan for 2020, which will run from October this year to end of August 2020.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn speaking at the TATP20 event
While tourism would remain a key sector in driving the Thai economy, TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn sees a need for stronger strategies to penetrate the high-spending segment and responsible tourists. “TAT will focus on the quality of visitors rather than the numbers,” Yuthasak said.
A key part of the new strategies outlined involves placing a strong focus on the “more local, go quality” approach in the coming year, which will see TAT showcasing new or unexpected experiences especially in second-tier destinations.
In the pipeline is a global campaign called Amazing Thailand Week. TAT will work with airlines and alliances to roll out attractive packages beckoning visitors from around the world into the country.
Meanwhile, Srisuda Wanapinyosak, deputy governor for international marketing Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, also painted a tourism picture that is currently challenged by many pain points and difficulties, including the global economic recession, ongoing trade war between the US-China, a longer summer period in Western countries due to global warming that may see fewer European tourists visiting and staying in Thailand, appreciation of Thai baht, among others.
“TAT will have to overcome these factors in a bid to remain Thailand in global travel map,” Srisuda remarked.
To meet its goals, TAT has outlined different strategies to penetrate each region differently based on their markets conditions. For instance, efforts targeting the US market will be focused on first-time visitors and the young generation, while in Europe and the Middle East market the focus will be placed on attracting new segments. In addition, LGBT and DINK (Double Income with No Kid) travellers will make up main target segments from Latin America.
In the region, focus will be placed on high-spending markets such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and India, revealed Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, deputy governor for international marketing Asia and South Pacific.
The Thai NTO is also preparing to launch a major campaign targeting China in a bid to boost arrivals from the country’s largest visitor source market. The China market is being pushed through current exemption of visa on arrival fee through the second half this year.
In addition, Thailand hopes to lure young and FIT travellers not only from mature markets but from every potential market. TAT will be working with OTAs to promote Thailand brand and local offers.
“Currently, 70-75 per cent tourists to Thailand are FITs. But FITs from some countries such as China account for only 40 per cent so Chinese FITs are one main target,” Chattan said.
As well, TAT has adjusted its earlier 2020 forecast of 41.3 million international visitors down to 40.2 million, and tourism receipts of 2.2 trillion baht (US$71.3 billion).
For the domestic market, TAT is set to ran a campaign called “60 Happiness Routes @ Thailand the Series” as part of its 60th anniversary. The domestic tourism is expected to generate income of 1.1 trillion baht this year.
Tourism authorities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) are showing a keener interest to attract more tourists from the region, building on the greater ease of travel and accessibility that the cross-border integrated economic and business zone has brought.
Singapore has been identified as a prime market for growth, said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), which is leading the charge for GBA’s latest tourism push.
St. Dominic’s Church in Macau pictured
To this effect, MGTO is looking into opening an office in Singapore “sometime next year”, announced Fernandes.
“Macau has not been active in (marketing to) Singapore for a while, so this is a good time to re-tender (our agreements) our relationships and look for new representation here. It’s important to make a comeback in the Singapore market,” she elaborated.
She reasoned that Singapore has a strong link to China, and many Singaporeans have roots in the Pearl River Delta region.
Macau’s destination promotions are tied with the development of the GBA, where the Guangdong region has been ramping up its tourism products and facilities.
These include high-speed rail links; regional airports, ferry services and land connections to Hong Kong and Macau; and travel itineraries that include food, attractions and festivals.
As part of its promotion efforts, MGTO invited Singaporean travel blogger Keith Yuen to tour 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area in June. Yuen then shared his experiences at the GBA travel mart last week with some 80 members of the travel trade from Singapore, Macau and Zhuhai.
Tourism officials and representatives from Macau, Zhuhai and Zhongshan also held a dialogue session with Mohamed Ismail Hussain, general manager of National Association of Travel Agents Singapore on July 4.
MGTO hopes to collaborate with more GBA tourism authorities to showcase the destination and encourage multi-destination and themed itineraries.
The GBA comprises Hong Kong, Macau, as well as the Chinese municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province.
After seeing record arrivals in 2018, Chiang Mai is now grappling with a 5.1% drop in market-wide hotel occupancy for the first five months of 2019, compared with the same period last year, according to hospitality data provider STR.
The comparison between 2018, when the gateway airport surpassed a record-high five million passenger arrivals, and now in 2019 as haze and air pollution strongly impacted tourism, “are reminders how fragile travellers shifting appetites can be”, said C9 Hotelworks in its newly released Chiang Mai Hotel Market Update.
Night Bazaar Road in Chiang Mai, with the Royal Lanna Hotel Chiang Mai in the background
International arrivals increased by more than 17% in 2018 on the back of increasing flight connections. Taiwan was one notable growth market, as the number of Taiwanese passengers rose from 2,773 in 1H2018 to 30,660 in 1H2018 with the launch of direct daily flights AirAsia and Eva Air.
Although hotel supply increased by 33% in 2018, both occupancy and ADR were fairly stable with RevPAR standing at 2,417 baht (US$78).
There are five hotels in the pipeline with the majority in the upscale tier and most with brand affiliations, as owners look for a competitive edge. The recent opening of the Novotel Nimman Journeyhub is one example of a Bangkok developer looking to diversify into more affordable hotel assets outside of Thailand’s capital.
However, with 2019 expected to bring challenging trading conditions for hotels and tourism across the board, the total hotel supply of 48,000 keys makes it necessary for Chiang Mai to step outside its boutique image and find ways to fill rooms with more mainstream offerings, C9 recommended.
C9’s research also highlighted Chiang Mai’s mounting reliance on the mainland Chinese sector – which is in the midst of a slowdown – as a cause for concern. In 1H2018, China was the number one international source market, holding a 14% share in hotel guests.
Moving past pollution, Chinacation and over-development issues in the longer term, the bigger issue is how will Chiang Mai evolve from a headlong dive into a far bigger tourism pool and still retain the destination’s long-lasting image as a cultural icon.
Read the complete C9 Hotelworks full Chiang Mai Hotel Market Update here.
From left: Tourism Solomons' Josefa Tuamoto; Guam Visitors Bureau's board of director Flori-Anne Dela Cruz; PATA's Pairoj Kiatthunsamai, Trevor Weltman and Mario Hardy; TripAdvisor's Sarah Matthews; Capilano University's Chris Bottrill; The Ayre Group Consulting's Bill Calderwood; Asian Trails' Luzi Matzig; Asia Tourism Consulting's Soon-Hwa Wong; Forte Hotel Group's Benjamin Liao; Hawaii Tourism Authority's Jennifer Chun; Macao Government Tourism Office's Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes; Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort's Shahid Hamid; and Global Tour's Henry Oh
PATA has announced the ratification of the 2019/2020 PATA Executive Board, which sees Capilano University’s Chris Bottrill and TripAdvisor’s Sarah Matthews continue serving for an additional one-year term as chairman and immediate past chairperson, respectively.
The new executive board members were confirmed at the recent PATA Board Meeting, which took place on May 12, 2019 during the PATA Annual Summit 2019 in Cebu.
From left: Tourism Solomons’ Josefa Tuamoto; Guam Visitors Bureau’s board of director Flori-Anne Dela Cruz; PATA’s Pairoj Kiatthunsamai, Trevor Weltman and Mario Hardy; TripAdvisor’s Sarah Matthews; Capilano University’s Chris Bottrill; The Ayre Group Consulting’s Bill Calderwood; Asian Trails’ Luzi Matzig; Asia Tourism Consulting’s Soon-Hwa Wong; Forte Hotel Group’s Benjamin Liao; Hawaii Tourism Authority’s Jennifer Chun; Macao Government Tourism Office’s Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes; Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort’s Shahid Hamid; and Global Tour’s Henry Oh
During the summit, five members were also elected to its executive board. This includes Asia Tourism Consulting’s CEO Soon-Hwa Wong; chairman of Taiwan-based Forte Hotel Group Benjamin Liao; director, tourism research of Hawaii Tourism Authority Jennifer Chun; IATA’s regional director – airports & external relations Vinoop Goel; and South Korea-based Global Tour’s chairman Henry Oh Jr.
Other executive board members include Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director, Macao Government Tourism Office; Bill Calderwood, managing director of Australia-based The Ayre Group Consulting; Jon Nathan Denight, representative at Palau Visitors Authority; Shahid Hamid, executive director of Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort; Luzi Matzig, chairman of Thailand’s Asian Trails.
Wong was elected as the new vice chairman, while Fernandes remains secretary/treasurer.
Josefa Tuamoto, CEO of Tourism Solomons and Fanny Vong, president of Macau’s Institute for Tourism Studies have been appointed to the executive board as non-voting members.
Flori-Anne Dela Cruz, youth representative of Guam Visitors Bureau Board of Directors and PATA Face of the Future 2019, joins the PATA Executive Board as a non-voting member and observer for a one-year term at the invitation of the PATA chairman.
Marriott International has signed an agreement with Japanese property developer Sekisui House to build a new Ritz-Carlton hotel in Fukuoka, the brand’s seventh in the country.
Slated to open in spring 2023, The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka will be part of a new 24-storey tower that will include high-end retail and office space. The tower is set to rise within Tenjin Big Bang, a redevelopment project led by Fukuoka City to create an urban lifestyle destination within the city’s core commercial and business districts.
The hotel lobby will be located on the first floor of the building, and the 162 guestrooms and suites will occupy the 18th to 24th floors with views of the city skyline. Facilities will include six F&B outlets, a ballroom, two meeting rooms, chapel, a fitness centre, spa and an indoor swimming pool.
Sekisui House has already worked with Marriott International to open three hotels in Japan, and in addition to The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka, has another 19 in its pipeline across the country.
Marriott International currently has eight open luxury hotels in Japan, including four Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Okinawa, The St. Regis Osaka, and three Luxury Collection hotels, including The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, Suiran Kyoto, and IRAPH SUI, Miyako Okinawa – along with eight more luxury projects in the signed pipeline.
Malaysia’s much-anticipated integrated destination resort of Desaru Coast officially threw open its doors last week, in a launch ceremony presided by the sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.
Held at the Desaru Coast Conference Centre, the launch was witnessed by the chief minister of Johor, Sahruddin bin Jamal and Ahmad Pardas Senin, chairman of Desaru Development Holdings One (DH1), the master developer of Desaru Coast, as well as other dignitaries.
Roslina Arbak, CEO of DH1, said in a statement: “With the Visit Malaysia 2020 and Visit Johor 2020 campaigns, Desaru Coast is prepared to collaborate and partner with various stakeholders in pursuit of a common goal to provide a well-rounded, end-to-end spectrum of guest experiences. That is Desaru Coast’s commitment to the wider tourism ecosystem.”
In conjunction with the official launch ceremony, Desaru Coast also hosted the inaugural edition of the Ombak Festival (July 5-7). The Ombak Festival will be an annual event with specially curated activities including culture, music and food that highlight homegrown talent and products, and showcase local expertise and creativity.
Singapore-based Dynasty Travel has unveiled a new expedition cruise in The Arctic, adding to its Antarctic programme announced earlier last year in its push to roll out more ‘experiential’ tour offerings.
Departing on July 2, 2020, the 12N9N Svalbard Expedition starts from S$12,888 (US$9,480) per person for twin-share cabin, for the cruise only on July 2020.
Svalbard Expedition
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Sailing from Svalbard – the last stop before the North Pole – the seven-night expedition cruise will be onboard the Ocean Atlantic, one of the few ice-class expedition ships built to withstand the North Pole’s pack ice. It will sail as close as possible to the pack ice from the North Pole north of Svalbard.
Wildlife such as birds, polar bears, reindeer and arctic fox can be spotted, and zodiacs allow for travellers to have frequent shore landings and go on exploratory mini cruises in fjords.
Dynasty Travel can also arrange for 16 days and 18 days Svalbard Expedition, pre- or post-tours which comprise land travel to Norway’s Lofoten Islands and fjords. Prices for the pre-post tours start from S$15,888 per person.
Yeoh Soo Hin has been appointed as the pre-opening general manager of 8 Conlay Kempinski Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
He was previously the vice president of finance for Kempinski Asia.
Set to open in 2021 with 260 rooms and 300 suites, the hotel is part of 8 Conlay, an integrated development by lifestyle property developer KSK Land, located between the KLCC area and Golden Triangle. It is currently under construction and will have a four-storey lifestyle retail podium, as well as two towers of branded serviced residences called YOO8 serviced by Kempinski.
