Hilton Ngapali Resort & Spa has appointed Win Kyaw Zaw, also known as Eugene Win, as hotel manager.
Win joined Hilton in 2015 as operations manager for Hilton Ngapali Resort & Spa, bringing with him a wealth of experience in the hospitality industry amassed over more than two decades from international hotels in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, the UAE and Singapore.
He first began his career as a receptionist at the Andaman Club Hotel in Kawthaung.
While the Capital Region may not be the top destination for Asian first-time visitors to the US, the regional destination marketing organisation Capital Region USA (CRUSA) – covering Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland – is hopeful such perceptions will change with a new direct connection from Hong Kong.
CRUSA is keen to leverage Cathay Pacific’s four-times weekly Hong Kong-Washington DC service starting September 15 to bring more leisure traffic from Hong Kong, executive director Scott Balyo told TTG Asia at a recent trade workshop in Hong Kong, which also comprised Destination DC, Visit Fairfax, Arlington Convention & Visitors Service and Virginia Beach CVB.
“This new flight will also give more options for markets like India, New Zealand and Australia (to visit the the US via Hong Kong),” Balyo said, while indicating that CRUSA will in 2019 step up marketing efforts in India, its fourth largest market.
As well, CRUSA will look at working with its airport partners and Washington DC to organise fam trips for the international travel trade. “In 2019, we’ll definitely bring a larger group to the travel workshop in Hong Kong,” Balyo remarked.
Sellers in the Capital region are eager to promote new products to woo potential visitors from Asia.
Last November, Destination DC launched The Museum of the Bible and collaborated with WeChat to roll out the City Experience Mini Program, an interactive guide that offers travel recommendations, attractions information and audio guides in Mandarin. As well, the World Bank Group has opened a new visitor centre.
Virginia Beach CVB, vice president tourism marketing and sales, Ron Kuhlman, said: “We are four-hour drive from Washington DC so I don’t see immediate traffic from Hong Kong from the outset because they may opt for popular destinations like Boston first.
“Still, we keep refining our offers. For instance, the 91-year Cavalier Hotel was refurbished and reopened in February 2018 as a Marriott Autograph Hotel whereas the 120-room Residence Inn by Marriott is set to open in October.
“Once agents are familiar with our products, they’ll have more confidence to put us in their itinerary,” he remarked.
Tourism Malaysia is intensifying its marketing in second- and third-tier markets in Indonesia in a bid to boost arrivals from the country by 20 per cent to 3.4 million arrivals this year.
Among the markets coming into greater focus are Banyuwangi and Malang in East Java; Makassar, Gorontalo and Palu in Sulawesi; Balikpapan, Samarinda and Pontianak in Kalimantan.
Roslan Othman, director, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, observed: “There is a growing middle class and people are starting to embrace travel as a lifestyle choice in secondary cities in Indonesia like Banyuwangi and Malang in East Java for example.”
Tourism Malaysia is planning to open a representative office in Surabaya, which will serve as a hub to penetrate secondary cities in East Java.
Stressing the particular importance of travel agents when targeting secondary source markets in Indonesia, Roslan said: “Tourists from Jakarta are more independent. Most of them booked a ticket direct on website or using OTA. The people in secondary cities, however, are still dependent on travel companies to buy their holiday packages.
“We will go out more to meet with the travel agents, do more business sessions, coaching them on how to create and sell Malaysian products, (as well as) conduct fam trips to new attractions this year,” Roslan added.
To brings sales missions to Indonesia, The NTO works closely with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) for sales missions to Indonesia.
One area of focus for such missions is to raise awareness of Malaysia’s new attractions, such as Desaru Coast and Asia Pacific Master Games Masters.
Desaru Coast, for example, participated in a recent sales mission to Surabaya and Jakarta. Muhammad Zainal Ashikin, CEO, Desaru Development, shared: “We have a pretty big target, which is 600,000 visitors in the first year, and Indonesia will be an important market. However, not many (people in Indonesia) know Desaru Coast just yet.”
Indonesia remains the country’s second top visitor source market, numbering nearly 2.8 million, after Singapore, according to Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia, Zahrain Mohamed Hashim.
As at press time, there are eight airlines serving the two countries, including Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Lion Air, Batik Air, Malindo Air, Citilink, and KLM.
Further facilitating travel between the two countries, Zahrain pointed out that Citilink has opened direct flights to Penang, while Malindo Air launched flights from Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu.
“There are about 600 flights serving Indonesia-Malaysia per week. We are still working to add more flight so that tourists are more comfortable travelling to Malaysia,” Zahrain remarked.
To incentivise more airlines to fly to Malaysia, the government is offering discounted parking fees to Indonesian aircraft flying to the destination, and considering giving subsidies to airlines linking Malaysia with small towns in Indonesia.
Amadeus Agent Pay has been launched, a solution said to makes airline call centre bookings more secure by removing payment information from the conversation, and which can also accept alternative payment methods that see growing popularity in recent years.
With call centres remaining a significant channel and accounting for 15 per cent of total airline bookings, according to Amadeus, airlines have had to trade off security against convenience when taking payment in this channel.
Not only were customers required to give their card details over the phone, either to an agent or an automated voice system, they were also limited to just card payments unlike other channels which offer multiple payment methods.
Amadeus claims its new solution addresses these limitations by allowing airline agents to send their customers a link, via SMS or email, to a secure webpage. The customer can then complete the payment from their smartphone, tablet or PC. Meanwhile the ticket is kept on hold, and issued automatically once the payment is completed.
With Agent Pay, customers can also pay with alternative methods like PayPal and Alipay, just as they would in the airline’s web or mobile page.
Finnair is the first airline to deploy Agent Pay at its call centre in Finland, and has proceeded to introduce the solution for its chat-based customer service agents, said Satu Karaksela, digital customer care manager of Finnair. The carrier is also testing the software at the airport.
Come July 25, the world’s largest Warner Bros-branded indoor theme park is set to open in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island with six lands and 29 rides spread across 15.3ha.
Guests first enter Warner Bros Plaza, an Art-Deco inspired land that celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood as well as Warner Bros, such as through the All-Star Spectacular show.
In Metropolis, visitors will discover an urban landscape protected from evil by DC Super Heroes like Superman and other members of the Justice League including Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg and Aquaman.
And on the dark streets of the Gotham City land, guests will get the chance to witness DC Super-Villains such as The Joker, Harley Quinn, and The Riddler disappear into the shadows when Batman arrives.
Cartoon Junction features characters such as Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby-Doo; while Bedrock brings guests into contact with the Flintstones.
Venturing into the animated storyland Dynamite Gulch, guests can experience Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner’s dizzying dash firsthand, and keep an eye out for Marvin The Martian and The Jetsons.
Dafam Hotel Management is setting sights on expansion outside Indonesia as its parent company Dafam Property readies to go public later this week.
Andhy Irawan, managing director of Dafam Hotel Management, said: “Within seven years of operation, we have 23 hotels in 16 cities in Indonesia with a total of 2,301 rooms and some in the pipeline.”
As the company continues to expand in Indonesia, it also harbours international ambitions, targeting an overseas management portfolio of 100 hotels by 2025 in total, in Indonesia and overseas.
Headquartered in Semarang, Central Java, Dafam Hotel Management has won a contract for seven properties in Mecca and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in addition to receiving an offer to either invest in or manage a hotel in New Delhi. The company is also considering Singapore and Malaysia for expansion.
Andhy remarked that Dafam’s key to winning the hotel management in Saudi Arabia was their experience in managing Syariah hotels in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan and Yogyakarta.
“Olayan (Group Hotels) initially signed a contract with us for its 500-room Mecca property and as we are in the process of taking the management, they entrusted us with six others with a total of around 4,000 rooms in Mecca and Jeddah,” he shared.
“We see a lot of potential (demand) from the Indonesian market to some of these (locations), and this is a lucrative customer target for us,” he said.
In the meantime, Dafam Property will be listed at the Indonesia Stock Exchange on April 27, releasing 25 per cent of its share to the public.
The board of directors of Dafam Property – whose business covers commercial and residential property, hotel development and management, as well as restaurant, catering and entertainment businesses – are confident the time is right for the company to go public.
Billy Dahlan, president director of Dafam Property, explained: “Indonesia’s tourism potential is high, the hotel industry has been growing significantly in the last few years and most importantly, the government’s infrastructure development programmes across the country has impacted directly on hotel business (in those areas).”
The Meliá Phuket Mai Khao is scheduled to open in 2021 as Meliá Hotels International’s fifth property in Thailand.
Overlooking a white sand beach and the Andaman sea from its location in the north of Phuket, the hotel will boast 101 private villas, each with a private pool.
Meliá Phuket Mai Khao will also feature courtyards, two pools, the signature YHI Spa, as well as meeting and banquet facilities. Guests will also have F&B options such as an all-day dining restaurant, a lobby lounge and a pool bar.
The property is owned by Thai developer Phuket Villa Group.
Mamerth Banatin, founder, president and CEO of Adam’s Express Travel in the Philippines, was recently presented with the lifetime achievement award by European wholesaler Miki Travel.
Lauding the veteran’s contributions and accomplishments, Miki Travel’s CEO Asia division Olivier Moeschler said Banatin has in 33 years steered Adam’s Express to become one of the Philippines’ biggest travel agencies and one of the top producers to Europe.
Banatin had pioneered pilgrimage tours to destinations ranging from the Holy Land and Lourdes to Fatima and Eastern Europe. He also introduced a wide range of exotic destinations to Philippine travellers, including Bhutan, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.
Competition is revving up in the tours technology space as online giants TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings respectively acquired Bokun and FareHarbor to expand beyond their core offerings.
The acquisition of Bokun, an Iceland-based business management software for tours, attractions and experiences suppliers, will enable TripAdvisor to expand its offering by “providing suppliers with technical solutions”.
Dermot Halpin, president, TripAdvisor Experiences and Rentals, commented in a statement: “Our opportunity in this space is enormous. We’re committed to taking the experiences sector far beyond its current online penetration of just 20 per cent, and Bokun will play a critical role in this mission.”
TripAdvisor will slash the pricing of Bokun’s product from its monthly subscriptions of €100 (US$122) to “a fraction of a per cent per booking” in the near term, making it far under the industry standard of five to six per cent, it revealed in the press release.
This latest move will signify “a new phase” for TripAdvisor as its seeks to grow beyond our core offering as a distribution channel, Halpin remarked, adding that Bokun is expected to simplify distribution for suppliers and dramatically improve the shopping experience for travellers.
Bokun will remain based in Iceland, with immediate plans to expand the team. Terms of the acquisition are not disclosed.
Meanwhile, TripAdvisor’s latest move reflects similar aspirations of Booking Holdings, which last Thursday announced the acquisition of Denver-based activities and experiences booking software provider FareHarbor.
“Today travel is fueled by technology, yet the local experiences and attractions marketplace is still largely offline,” said Gillian Tans, CEO of Booking.com in a statement.
“We see an immense opportunity to leverage this technology to bring more local experiences online, benefitting the entire global travel ecosystem for both consumers and local businesses by allowing them to connect instantly through a seamless digital experience,” she added.
FareHarbor will operate as an independent business within the company, and its senior management team will report into the Booking.com leadership team.
The acquisition has been approved by FareHarbor’s board of directors and stockholders and is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions.
Already seeing strong growth in tourist arrivals from China and India, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) is now setting its sights on expansion into new Asian markets like Malaysia and Indonesia as it looks to attract 10 million international tourists by 2021.
Speaking to TTG Asia at the Arabian Travel Market 2018, SCTDA chairman Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, said: “We are looking at ways to reach out to Malaysians and Indonesians from where at present we are attracting a small number of tourist arrivals. There is a lot of potential that these two markets offer, considering their sizeable Muslim populations. We will promote Sharjah by showcasing our rich Islamic culture in Malaysia and Indonesia.”
SCTDA is currently gathering market intelligence on Malaysia and Indonesia in its development of a promotion and marketing strategy targeting these two markets. It is also shortlisting major outbound travel agencies in both countries to work with to boost tourist arrivals.
Welcoming the NTO’s pitch for new markets, Jamal Abdulnazar, CEO of Sharjah-based Cozmo Travel, said: “There is a lot of infrastructure development going on in Sharjah for the purpose of tourism development. Markets like Dubai are already seeing a growth in tourist groups coming from Indonesia, so there is a good opportunity for Sharjah also to attract these travellers.”
Meanwhile, key Asian source markets, India and China, posted strong growth last year. In 2017, the emirate recorded 138,000 and 126,000 hotel guests from India and China, marking growths of 32 per cent and 54 per cent respectively from the previous year.
“Tourists from both India and China are looking for experiential travel. They are being drawn to our tradition and heritage. We expect the numbers from both these markets will continue to grow strongly this year as well,” said Al Midfa.
