Classes and workshops, as well as wellness experiences, are the top activity categories global travellers are booking, according to TripAdvisor data.
TripAdvisor’s 2019 Experiences Trends Report revealed that globally, traveller bookings for classes and workshops grew by 90% year-over-year. This was even more so for travellers from Singapore, as bookings for classes and workshops doubled (+102%).
The Roman Gladiator School experience topped the charts last year
French travellers are leading the way worldwide, with bookings rising 137% over the previous year. A Roman Gladiator School: Learn How to Become a Gladiator became the world’s most booked class and workshop last year. Samurai School in Kyoto: Samurai for a Day, surf lessons at Sydney’s Bondi Beach and a Cambodian pottery class were also featured in the top 10.
Health and well-being is high on the list too. Global traveller bookings for wellness experiences jumped 69% year-over year, with New Zealanders leading the way in the quest for wellness, as bookings for wellness experiences by Kiwi travellers jumped a whopping 362% year-over-year.
Traveller bookings from Singapore for wellness experiences rose 68% over the previous year. A Széchenyi spa experience was the most booked wellness experience among global travellers, while a trip to Thermae-Yu Hotspring in Shinjuku and luxury spas in Phuket also ranked among the top 10.
TripAdvisor’s rankings
Sightseeing and iconic attractions are a mainstay, but experiences must cater to the whole family, TripAdvisor observed. Family-friendly activities have become a firm priority for travellers worldwide as bookings shot up over 200% year-over-year.
While tickets and tours to the world’s top attractions, like a Faster Than Skip-the-Line: Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica Tour, remain the most-booked experiences globally, there’s a growing focus among travellers to have such experiences cater to the whole family. Experiences like a Waitomo Glowworm Caves Guided Tour and Disney on Broadway Behind-the-Scenes Walking Tour are among the 10 most-booked family-friendly experiences.
Limited time registration for South-east Asia’s first Pokemon Go Safari Zone – taking place from April 18-22, 2019 – is now open.
Interested players will need to register their interest and select their preferred date of play on the event website: safarizone.sentosa.com.sg from now till March 7. Fans can bid for places as an individual or in a group of up to three applicants. Over 100,000 places will be available for free across the five-day event, and a ballot will be held to select participants.
Here’s your chance to try and catch them all
Organised by the Sentosa Development Corporation in collaboration with Niantic and The Pokemon Company, Pokemon Go Safari Zone, Sentosa will see players hunting their favourite Pokemon, including region-exclusive Pokemon, through the island’s beaches and past the island’s attractions, from the Sentosa Boardwalk to Tanjong Beach.
In a statement, Sentosa said fans can expect multiple PokeStops where they can stock up on supplies, as well as rare Pokemon such as the region-specific Tropius, shiny Shuckle, Unown and more.
While on the journey to catch ’em all, players can snap photos with Pokemon at various photo points across the island. At team rest areas, they can mingle, swap tips, trade Pokemon with fellow trainers from Instinct, Mystic and Valor.
Selected trainers will receive a notification email from March 11, 2019, and another email on a later date containing a QR code that serves as a ticket to the event. Participation in the event is limited to the day stated in the confirmation email, in order to give as many trainers a chance to take part.
For trainers living in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, travel agencies JTB and Panorama-JTB will be providing 3D2N Stay & Play tour packages which come with a guaranteed ticket to join Pokemon Go Safari Zone, Sentosa!
For each day of the event, 200 packages will be up for grabs on a first come first served basis. For more information on these packages, visit JTB Philippines, JTB Malaysia, Panorama-JTB, and JTB Thailand from March 7.
Trainers without a QR code can still enjoy normal gameplay at Sentosa during the event period.
The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali has promoted Saraswati Subadia to director of sales & marketing, after working in a parallel capacity for the past year as the resort’s assistant director of sales & marketing.
Saraswati first joined the resort in 2013 when she assumed the position as director of sales MICE, where she was significantly involved in securing a number of high-profile events such as the Annual Meetings 2018.
Balinese born and bred, Saraswati started out in the hospitality industry working as a guest relations officer, and then as an assistant tourism advisor for a division of the World Bank.
She then joined Tour East travel agency in 2001,followed by a succession of managerial appointments for international hotels, including Hard Rock Hotel Bali and InterContinental Bali Resort, as well as managing director MICE with Smailing Tour.
Kong: trends toward soft brands, plus access to Best Western's loyalty programme and customer base will fuel dramatic growth in Worldhotels portfolio
It’s not a long shot to expect a doubling of the Worldhotels portfolio in the next few years, without tradeoffs to its independent hotels-centric identity, Best Western CEO David Kong said following an acquisition of the company.
The US hotel chain giant last week bought over WorldHotels for an undisclosed sum, and the two are now part of a newly established parent company, BWH Hotel Group. WorldHotels properties will be positioned in the upper upscale end of the group, while Best Western will occupy the midscale.
Kong: trends toward soft brands, access to Best Western’s loyalty programme and customer base, and revenue improvements will fuel dramatic growth at Worldhotels
Combined resources under BWH Hotel Group
An alliance between the two companies was in talks three years ago, when “Worldhotels recognised that loyalty programmes is going to become more important and want to have access to that and our customer base”.
While an alliance did not pan out, what the two now have is “better than an alliance”, Kong remarked. “Now, we’re under one company, BWH Hotel Group. It’d be much easier for us to leverage the talent that work for both companies. There is so much knowhow and experience within the Worldhotels team here.”
Unlike some of the bigger mergers in the hospitality industry in recent times, Kong stressed that integration of the two companies is “not about streamlining the staffing, but about cross-pollinating ideas and leveraging talent”.
Kong added that Worldhotels brings value in the form of good sales relationships with corporate buyers and travel agents, on top of a relevant portfolio of luxury properties.
Perhaps, this is also a sign of Best Western’s Asian ambitions.
Roland Jegge, Asia-Pacific president, Worldhotels, pointed out that the company brings to the table a sizeable Asian presence as Best Western looks to increase its regional footprint – both in terms of hotels and sales offices. Some 80 out of Worldhotels’ global portfolio of over 300 hotels are in Asia, while Best Western has about 50 locations in the region.
A better proposition to agents, corporate buyers
While the merger brings together distinct midscale and upscale brands, there will be “no dilution, but synergy and added value”, Kong stated.
“Big companies have different travellers with different needs. Executives can stay at (more upscale) Worldhotels properties, but there could also be a lot of (travellers who would stay) at a Best Western. Bringing all those options and solutions to companies can make us more desirable as a one-stop shop. To present a travel manager with the ability to make a contract with one company while (taking care of different needs) is a very good selling proposition,” Kong explained.
Although the two will present a combined portfolio in B2B sales, WorldHotels properties will be separated from Best Western’s consumer-facing marketing efforts, allowing WorldHotel properties to retain their identity, Kong shared.
“Additionally, while WorldHotels will be part of our loyalty programme, it will be branded separately as WorldHotels Rewards.”
Under BWH Hotel Group, Worldhotels members will be held to the same criteria and inspection requirements to uphold standards as before, Jegge added. Hotels will continue to fall into a three-tier classification system, with Luxury at the top end, followed by Distinctive and Elite. Hotels will still have to meet independent LRA criteria to be classified in the Luxury tier, Jegge confirmed.
“Worldhotels’ (emphasis on) independence and self-identity is hugely important, so we have to protect that. It’s all about how we can create value for TMC customers and simplify the job of the travel manager. When we provide a whole suite (of distinct brands), that happens,” Kong stresed.
A hunger for soft brands
This is the latest in a string of soft brand activity in the hospitality industry involving companies that were traditionally focused on branded chains.
“The trend is there and the universe is huge for soft brands. Hotels are moving away from long term contracts with big hotel companies,” Kong observed.
Indeed, WorldHotels has seen accelerated expansion particularly in its Asia-Pacific portfolio in the past three years, said Jegge. The demand for a soft brand solution is coming both from owners de-flagging hotels when management contracts come to expiry, as well as from those wanting to independently brand new-builds.
Against this backdrop, synergies between large chains and soft brands are there for the taking, according to Kong.
While owners value their independence and don’t want the onerous branding requirements and exorbitant fees that come with being part of a chain, Kong pointed out that “they also need powerful revenue engines as an alternative to OTAs”.
“If they are independent, most business will come from OTAs – which is problematic. Hotels want to negotiate contracts, but OTAs do so much business that hotels (basically fall to) their mercy and the OTAs dictate the terms. (At the same time), more hotel companies are launching soft brands to attract independent hotels to be part of the revenue system as they need an alternate source of business.”
With its scaleable platform and over 40 million customers, Kong believes Best Western will be able to add to WorldHotels by driving revenue and savings for member hotels, which could contribute to “dramatic growth”.
“I have huge expectations of how much Worldhotels is going to be able to grow. Once hotels see the revenue advantages, more will join. Doubling the (number of member hotels) in the next few years is not far-fetched.”
Thai Airways International (THAI) and its subsidiaries have recorded nearly 11.6 billion baht (US$364 million) in net loss for 2018, and will be continuing with the transformation plan implemented last year.
The group saw a 3.9 per cent increase in total revenue to 199.5 billion baht, coming from different revenue sources including passenger and excess baggage revenue.
Thai will press on with its transformation plan despite losses
However, total expenses increased 10.3 per cent to 208.6 billion baht, due to an increase in fuel expenses of 9.9 billion baht with 30.1 per cent increase in average prices. Non-fuel operating expense also went up by 9.8 billion baht due to the increase of aircraft maintenance and overhaul costs, lease of aircraft and spare parts, and depreciation and amortisation expenses.
Sumeth Damrongchaitham, THAI president, said that last year THAI took delivery of five Airbus A350-900 aircraft and decommissioned two Boeing 737-400 aircraft, resulting in 103 active aircraft as of December 31, 2018, three more compared to the figure as of December 31, 2017.
Aircraft utilisation was 12.0 hours, equal to the previous year. Production traffic increased by 2.9 per cent and passenger traffic increased by one per cent.
Average cabin factor was 77.6 per cent, lower than last year’s figure of 79.2 per cent. The total number of passengers carried was 24.3 million, a decrease of one per cent compared to the previous year.
This year, THAI changed the accounting treatment of the estimated residual value of aircraft and spare engines from 10 per cent to six per cent of the initial cost value, resulting in an increase of 3.1 billion baht in depreciation.
In addition, a review of the duration of sold but unused tickets, previously recognised as revenue over 24 months after the date of issue was changed to 15 months, leading to a one billion baht increase in passenger revenue in 2018.
Meanwhile, both production and passenger traffic increased while finance cost decreased by 215 million from cash management and ongoing financial restructure from last year.
THAI and its subsidiaries reported operating loss of 9 billion baht compared to 2.9 billion profit of the previous year.
In a statement, THAI said it implemented the transformation plan for the year 2018 in order to solve the negative retained earnings and enable THAI to generate future sustainable profit.
In 2019, THAI plans to “generate more aggressive revenues and make various improvements including modernised and competitive fleet, services enhancements from ground to sky, commercial strategies: digital marketing and ancillary revenues, business expansion such as maintenance eepair and overhaul at U-Tapao Airport as well as human resource improvement and appropriate financial restructuring”.
Cruise passengers could bring US$90 million in retail spend to Penang
Having joined forces with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents in November 2018, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Asia is stepping up its efforts to drive cruise education and awareness in Malaysia with its latest MoU signing with Malaysia Cruise Industry Association (MCIA).
“CLIA Asia’s mandate is to provide essential training, resources and support to travel agents in the region. Globally, we see that cruise markets with the highest market penetration have the most “cruise educated” travel agents,” Joel Katz, CLIA Australasia & Asia managing director said.
Cruise docking in Penang
The partnership with MCIA with provide CLIA with the opportunity to better equip members with better skills to promote and sell cruise holidays.
Meanwhile, MCIA will leverage CLIA’s expertise to educate their travel agent members and raise the profile of cruise tourism.
“(Cruising) has seen tremendous growth and interest in Malaysia, and our members are keen to market and sell more cruise holidays,” Rashid Khan, president, MCIA said in a statement.
According to CLIA’s Asia Cruise Trends 2018 report, Malaysia cruise source passenger count saw a 88 per cent year on year growth in 2017, but cruise penetration rate in the country is still comparatively low at less than 0.6 per cent.
TUI Blue Sarigerme Park is the first hotel under the TUI Blue brand, opened in 2016
Tui Group will make Tui Blue its global flagship hotel brand, targeting portfolio growth from 10 to around 100 hotels by 2020.
From summer 2020, the group will cluster the tailored offerings of its hotel brands Tui Blue, Tui Sensimar and Tui Family Life under the Tui Blue flagship brand.
TUI Blue Sarigerme Park in Turkey is the first hotel under the TUI Blue brand, opened in 2016
Tui’s other hotel brands and concepts will not be affected. Alongside Tui Blue, Tui Group’s growth strategy will continue to focus on its traditional Riu brand, its two club brands Robinson and Tui Magic Life, and the five-star resorts run under the Tui Sensatori brand.
The expanded portfolio of Tui Blue hotels will enhance the visibility and relevance of the brand, the group said in a statement.
Apart from its already strong footprint in southern Europe and the Caribbean, Tui Group and its Hotels & Resorts segment will also focus on other growth regions including South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean, regions it has identified as having high potential for Tui Blue.
The strategy to further expand the group’s market presence is not only being implemented by Tui’s own hotel companies but also supported and driven ahead by partnerships with joint venture partners, including Atlantica and Grupotel, and third-party hoteliers, according to the group.
“Hotels remain a strong and attractive growth segment… What we were lacking was a hotel brand with a global presence incorporating Tui in its name,” said Fritz Joussen, CEO of Tui Group.
“Since the development and launch of Tui Blue three years ago, the Tui brand name has become part of the hotel experience. After the successful launch phase of the first 10 hotels, building the brand as our global flagship hotel brand is the consistent next step for us to significantly expand our hotel segment, go even more global with the brand and increase the target audience.“
The flagship brand will target particular segments, with Tui Blue For Two an adults-only concept in line with the previous Tui Sensimar hotel brand, whereas Tui Blue For Families has specifically been tailored to meet the needs of large and small families.
Meanwhile, individual services such as Select Your Room will be available to an even larger number of guests. The technology concept relating to the Blue app will also be launched in all hotels.
Indonesian unicorn and OTA Traveloka has expanded to Australia as it partners the tourism ministry on a campaign to boost arrivals into the country.
The online booking provider started operations in Australia last week, allowing Australians to access its five products; flight ticketing and hotel booking services, flight ticket and hotel packages, airport accommodation, entertainment and utility services through its website and application.
Traveloka global partnership head Yady Guitana as saying that Australia is relatively ahead of South-east Asian countries in terms of internet connection and penetration as well as payment infrastructure.
He said: “We hope that our digital presence in Australia can further enrich lives of our users by empowering them to discover the world around them by offering a various travel and lifestyle products in one platform.”
Traveloka has also partnered the Indonesian Tourism Ministry on the Wonderful Indonesia campaign, which is aimed at helping the government reach the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, Yady said.
Edy Wardoyo, deputy of marketing development 1 at the Indonesia Ministry of Tourism said: “The government’s target to attract 20 million foreign tourists will not be achieved if it does not synergise with players in the industry. Together with Traveloka, we hoped this synergy can help our mission, and we will continue to support Traveloka to exist in this new market.
“The Australian market itself is one of the promising tourism markets, where foreign tourist visits from Australia to Indonesia continue to increase year on year. Traveloka’s decision to open in the Australian market is very important to help in facilitating travel access and answer the diverse travel needs of users,” added Edy.
Indonesia was the second-top travel destination for Australians after New Zealand in 2018, according to market research and business intelligence portal Statista.
Statistics Indonesia recorded 1.3 million Australian tourist arrivals in the country in 2018. The tourism ministry expects to see the number increase 15 per cent this year to reach 1.5 million.
The Ritz-Carlton, Pune is expected expected to open in September 2019 as the brand’s second property in India and one of three Ritz-Carltons in the pipeline for the country.
The hotel is the outcome of a long-term management agreement between the brand and Panchshil Corporate Park Private.
Rendering of Ritz-Carlton, Pune
With 198 rooms, The Ritz-Carlton, Pune will house an Indian, Japanese and all-day dining restaurant, a lounge, fitness facilities and a spa with eight treatment rooms. Additionally, there will be 3,344m2 of indoor and outdoor banqueting venues, and guests staying on the Club Floor will have access to a rooftop Club Lounge where five F&B presentations will be served daily.
Commenting on the city’s potentials, Paul Foskey, chief development officer, Asia Pacific, Marriott International, said: “Pune attracts a mix of business and leisure travellers and shows potential for continued growth in the luxury segment.”
The Ritz-Carlton, Pune is expected expected to open in September 2019 as the brand’s second property in India and one of three Ritz-Carltons in the pipeline for the country.
The hotel is the outcome of a long-term management agreement between the brand and Panchshil Corporate Park Private.
Rendering of Ritz-Carlton, Pune
With 198 rooms, The Ritz-Carlton, Pune will house an Indian, Japanese and all-day dining restaurant, a lounge, fitness facilities and a spa with eight treatment rooms. Additionally, there will be 3,344m2 of indoor and outdoor banqueting venues, and guests staying on the Club Floor will have access to a rooftop Club Lounge where five F&B presentations will be served daily.
Commenting on the city’s potentials, Paul Foskey, chief development officer, Asia Pacific, Marriott International, said: “Pune attracts a mix of business and leisure travellers and shows potential for continued growth in the luxury segment.”
Traveloka global partnership head Yady Guitana as saying that Australia is relatively ahead of South-east Asian countries in terms of internet connection and penetration as well as payment infrastructure.
