Bringing orange fever to sporting fans at the Games
Holland Heineken House, which has travelled to every Olympic Games destination since Barcelona in 1992, is on Booking.com for the first time, offering sporting fans a space to stay and socialise in during the upcoming Games in South Korea.
From January 23 to 27, reservations will be made available on Booking.com each day at 09.00 (GMT). Rooms are available for only 32,500 won (US$30.23) per night.
Bringing orange fever to sporting fans at the Games
This year, Holland Heineken House will host performances by Dutch artists including Van Velzen, André Hazes Jr and Di-rect, as well as offer a behind-the-scenes tour and visit to the Team Netherlands Lounge.
Originally a venue for Dutch athletes, their families and friends, the Holland Heineken House has since grown into a meeting place for thousands of Dutch and international visitors. Heineken organises the national house on behalf of the The Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation.
TPB wants to promote the country's festivals to tourists; pictured, Festival Dinagyang in Iloilo
The Tourism Promotions Board Philippines (TPB) will turn feasts and festivals into regular celebrations as well as craft a tourism icon to complement its stronger thrust in consumer and digital marketing – all part of its effort to offer more “innovative activities” to tourists.
Explaining the new direction, TPB’s COO Cesar Montano, told TTG Asia that tourism efforts must evolve with the times, especially as “everything is going digital”.
“But no amount of online promotions will help if there are no activities on the ground,” he added.
TPB wants to promote the country’s festivals to tourists; pictured, Festival Dinagyang in Iloilo
The country’s colourful and unique feasts and festivals will be “institutionalised” to ensure that they are held regularly with government and private sector support, which will in turn enable them to become part of tour packages that travel agents can sell.
There will be monthly themes, beginning with a culinary festival in April which will be experienced by a fam trip for up to 40 bloggers from around the world, in time for Madrid Fusion Manila 2018 and Philippine Tourism Exchange.
Montano also shared that since the Philippine tourism image is “so chop suey”, an icon will be chosen to represent the destination, similar to what Angkor Wat is to Cambodia and Statue of Liberty is to New York.
He pointed out that for ASEAN’s 50th anniversary last year, member states featured manmade attractions as their national landmarks while the Philippines’ was the eagle.
Another “innovation” is the cross selling of regional tourist destinations, hardware and packages. For instance, those in Luzon can be sold also in Visayas and Mindanao and vice versa.
TPB’s stronger investment in digital marketing and online promotions will mean a less prominent presence at travel trade shows.
“We’re partnering with Agoda, TravelAdvisor, etc. That is (our) direction, coupled with more efforts in consumer activation,” Montano explained.
In a separate interview on the Philippines’ past year performance and outlook for 2018, tourism undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr said the destination “managed to insulate ourselves from the whiplash of travel advisory” as foreign arrivals in the first 10 months of 2017 registered an 11.5 per cent year-on-year growth.
The double-digit growth, higher than the ASEAN and global single-digit average growth, was partly the result of a strategy targeting opportunity markets when some of the destination’s biggest source markets – which generate close to 70 per cent of total arrivals – were hit.
Bengzon explained that while these opportunity markets are “relatively low-based”, their combined performance “is able to mitigate the downturn in major markets”.
Bengzon expects 2018 to be another growth year as the Department of Tourism intensifies international marketing and networking activities with airlines, cruise planners and other industry players. The department is also maintaining its support of charter flights from other countries; expanding the product portfolio with new destinations and attractions; and ensuring that the competencies of hospitality frontliners will be on par with the rest of Asia.
He added that the Philippines is also targeting the promising markets of Turkey and Israel as it expands its geographical footprint.
Tourism Malaysia will get a bigger budget this year to support the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign, which will see a string of promotional activities beginning this year.
While Tourism Malaysia’s director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab is keeping mum on the budget figure, he told TTG Asia at ATF 2018 that the amount would be bigger than previous years’, and there would be more money to spend on raising Malaysia’s visibility as a tourist destination in the lead up to the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign.
Plump budget to support Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign
The year-long campaign is expected to boost tourist arrivals to 36 million and tourist receipts to RM168 billion (US$42.6 billion).
For a start, campaign details will be communicated to travel trade players at ATF 2018, and again at ITB Berlin in March.
Mirza said: “The build-up towards Visit Malaysia Year 2020 starts from this year as we want the country’s visibility to improve.”
He added that Malaysia’s hosting of PATA Travel Mart later this year in Langkawi will “present us with (another) platform to promote Malaysia and Visit Malaysia Year 2020 to the world.”
(From left) STR Global's Jesper Palmqvist; Sansiri's Apichart Chutrakul; and TTF 2018 co-organiser and C9 Hotelworks' managing director, Bill Barnett.
Thai luxury property developer Sansiri, better known for building high-end residences and condominiums across the country, has now forayed outside of the real estate sector as part of a push to diversity its portfolio.
On its agenda is to bring The Standard Hotels, a boutique hotel chain in the US, into Thailand and other South-east Asian countries very soon, announced Sansiri CEO Apichart Chutrakul at a press conference during the Thailand Tourism Forum 2018 in Bangkok yesterday.
(From left) STR Global’s Jesper Palmqvist; Sansiri’s Apichart Chutrakul; and TTF 2018 co-organiser, Bill Barnett of C9 Hotelworks
The Thai property company is “not new to the hotel game”, stated Apichart, as it already owns two small hotels with about 50-60 rooms in Hua Hin and Khao Yai to complement its condominium business. “We are no longer just a property company; we have now become a mixed development company,” he added.
“We want to bring the West to the East,” Apichart declared. “We want to bring some of the best brands and operators to be based here. We believe tourist numbers will grow and we want to bring Bangkok up to standard with mega cities of the world like Tokyo, London and New York.”
Besides Standard International, the Bangkok-listed developer has recently invested in five other lifestyle and technology businesses – One Night, a last-minute boutique hotel booking app; Hostmaker, a London-based management company for Airbnb hosts; JustCo, a Singapore-based co-working group; Farmshelf, an indoor farm start-up; and lifestyle magazine Monocle.
Together, these six brands, which represent an investment of US$80 million, will enable Sansiri to drive the “transformation” in Thailand’s hospitality and lifestyle sectors to meet the demands of a new generation of travellers.
Meanwhile, Sansiri will continue to seek deals in other hospitality-related businesses in future, revealed Apichart.
STB looking to enhance visitor experience using Grab's cashless payment solution, ride services and booking APIs
Keen to position itself beyond a ride-hailing company, Grab has entered into a three-year MoU with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to collaborate on a range of initiatives, from rolling out its cashless payment solution at tourist hotspots to offering mobility services for STB’s MICE industry partners.
In line with the national push to go cashless, Grab and STB will roll out GrabPay at locations including hawker centres, dining establishments, cultural and lifestyle precincts, shopping centres and tourist attractions.
STB looking to enhance visitor experience using Grab’s cashless payment solution, ride services and booking APIs
The cashless payment solution will also allow visitors to redeem GrabRewards points through the Grab app to discover other experiences and events.
Grab will also offer a range of its services, from GrabCoach to GrabCar Premium, to STB’s partners in Singapore’s MICE industry.
To proliferate the adoption of cashless payments in a more targeted manner, Grab and STB will exchange insights on visitor preferences, and will also launch a joint study to better understand visitors’ behavioural patterns and preferences for transport modes to get around Singapore.
In addition, Grab will be sharing its booking APIs in phases through STB’s Tourism Information & Services Hub (TIH), allowing select tourism businesses to integrate Grab’s various tools into their own digital platforms. This will enable visitors to better plan travel routes by providing easier access to information about estimated fares and waiting times.
Commenting on the partnership, Quek Choon Yang, chief technology officer at the STB, said: “With Grab’s extensive presence in the South-east Asian region, which contributes a very large share of our visitors, we are confident of reaching a sizable audience through the multi-faceted touch points offered through the Grab app. Together, we will create a travel experience that is both seamless and personalised to the needs of our visitors.”
At its annual general meeting held yesterday in Chiang Mai, the Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA) re-elected Hamzah Rahmat of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents as president for the second consecutive term.
Hamzah will be president for another term
Also elected were Mingkwan Metmowlee of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, who was named deputy president; Pauline Suharno of the Association of Air Ticketing Companies in Indonesia as secretary general; and Cesar Cruz of the Philippine Tour Operators as honorary treasurer.
Hilton has named Navjit Ahluwalia as senior vice president and country head, India and Jatin Khanna as vice president and head of operations, India.
Effective immediately, Navjit will oversee Hilton’s 33 hotels trading and under development, including the recently opened Conrad Bengaluru, while leading the company’s growth strategy in the country.
Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks Hotel
An Indian native, Navjit brings to Hilton 30 years of hospitality experience, including over 13 years at Marriott International where he held key leadership roles, the most recent being senior vice president responsible for expanding the company’s portfolio in South Asia.
Jatin, who assumes his position next month, takes over operations from Andre Gomez, who will be moving to a new role elsewhere in the company.
Also an Indian native, Jatin holds over 20 years of operations experience, including with both InterContinental Hotels Group and most recently Marriott International, where he managed the company’s full portfolio in Bengaluru city as vice president, Bengaluru and general manager for the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel.
Ready for guests to come knocking: (from left) Club Med Greater China's Gino Andreetta, Fosun Tourism Group's Qian Jiannong, Idera's Takuya Yamada and Club Med's Xavier Desaulles
Club Med Tomamu Hokkaido opened for business last week, with over 600 guests from over 20 countries present to celebrate the official launch of the year-round ski resort.
Ready for guests to come knocking: (from left) Club Med Greater China’s Gino Andreetta, Fosun Tourism Group’s Qian Jiannong, Idera’s Takuya Yamada and Club Med’s Xavier Desaulles
Unveiled at the opening ceremony are features including Japan’s largest indoor wave pool, Mina Mina beach, open all year; four dining concepts including specialty restaurant Haku, which serves up farm-to-table yakiniku barbecue with local Hokkaido and Wagyu beef; and winter attraction Ice Village, a frosted forest complete with ice slides, an ice restaurant and bar serving cocktails in ice glasses.
Containers repurposed into pop-up accommodation in Greenland
An innovative breed of accommodation is aiming to shape the future of hospitality, and has its sights set firmly on South-east Asia.
In the modern age of travel, where mass tourism can have a detrimental effect on the environment and people are seeking out unique experiences, Danish start-up Poshtel PopUp believes it has found the solution.
Containers repurposed into pop-up accommodation in Greenland
It plans to “challenge the hotel industry and the dominant logic around it” by offering a sustainable alternative to traditional beds, according to co-founder Kristoffer Bloom.
Having snapped up a fleet of shipping containers, the company’s vision is to transform them into luxury, eco-friendly pop-up suites that are affordable and can be transported anywhere in the world.
Said Bloom: “We often see ourselves as part of a greater movement… sustainability is one of the main factors. Sustainability has moved from being a niche to a necessity. Not (simply) stickers about towels on the floor; we mean deeply embedded responsible behaviour in every piece and element of the business. You can pretty much view the suites as banks of raw materials.”
Franchise deals being negotiated round the globe
With the first project recently opening its doors in Copenhagen, franchise deals are being negotiated across the globe, with prospective sites in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia currently being explored. Projects in Japan and South Korea are also likely to pan out.
“Our plans for South-east Asia are big as the opportunities are endless. In this part of the world, it feels like every corner tells a new story, it’s rich in exciting cultures and rapid growth that opens new possibilities,” Bloom said.
“These traits have led to a lot of over-tourism during the last two decades. This has (led) a lot of travellers to seek out the unexplored. Poshtel’s highly-modular construction method combined with out high concentration on sustainability allows us to enter new, unexplored frontiers.”
Pushing the sustainability element, Poshtel has also designed a utility unit in a box called The 5th Element. This is an off-the-grid utility unit that provides power, water and waste management that is 100 per cent solar powered.
“With this technology, we can really challenge the boundaries of what is today possible in the industry, and that’s exactly what we set out to do,” added Bloom.
The iconic Merlion structure on Sentosa Island and the Singapore Cable Car running from Mount Faber into Sentosa are primed for a suite of enhancements in 2018.
The developments will be made under the new One Faber Group, an autonomous subsidiary of the Sentosa Development Corporation that also manages other attractions such as Sentosa’s night show Wings of Time, FUN Shop and Faber Peak Singapore.
Fine dining in the sky products to be designed for couples and families
A refresh of content and attraction experience will be given to Singapore’s largest Merlion structure, located in Sentosa, to be fitted with augmented and virtual reality elements, Lim Suat Jien, managing director of One Faber Group, told TTG Asia in an interview.
Lim added that by popular demand for the “romantic and intimate” Dining on Cloud 9 – which arranges a fine-dining experience on cable-car rides between Harbourfront and Mount Faber – the product will soon be extended to also run on the Sentosa line, and will also offer family-friendly packages.
“On the Sentosa line, we’re going to introduce a more ‘family’ feel with a picnic-in-the-sky concept. For this, we will bring bento sets. It’s a picnic with a difference,” revealed Lim.
She confirmed that the refreshed Merlion is scheduled to be unveiled in 2Q2018, while cable car dining on Sentosa Line would be launched in 2018.
This follows the group’s launch of its new brand video, key visual and tagline – “One Escapade, Countless Experiences” – last Friday. With this new branding, One Faber Group will look into creating a “seamless experience” between Mount Faber and Sentosa, which are connected by the Singapore Cable Car, described Lim.
More recently, the group has opened the Dusk Restaurant and Bar that overlooks the Harbourfront skyline, and enhancing the Wings of Time show with on-ground elements such as mascot meet-and-greet sessions during special occassions.
The group is also incorporating its new developments into its regional outreach to target markets such as India and China. The latter will be engaged through popular platforms such as WeChat and Alipay.
