Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the US, has selected Contineo Marketing Group in China and, effective May 1, 2018, will appoint James Huang as the regional director to manage its strategic travel trade and marketing efforts in China.
As regional director, Huang will be responsible for working with Brand USA to create an integrated strategic plan and ensure its successful execution. He will also coordinate the work of Brand USA’s four China offices of AVIAREPS, the tourism destination marketing agency representing Brand USA in China for the past several years.
With extensive knowledge of China outbound tourism and expansive contacts and relationships in both trade and media, Huang’s marketing experience include the Scandinavian Tourism Board office in Shanghai responsible for Eastern China region; Tourism Victoria, where he was the head of marketing in promoting Melbourne; and most recently Visit California.
Scandinavia is high on the list for Malaysian travellers this June; Copenhagen, Denmark pictured
The upcoming June school holiday, which coincides with the Hari Raya festival this year, as well as the strengthening of the ringgit, is driving demand for longhaul travel to Europe, revealed outbound agents in Malaysia.
Mita Lim, managing director, Ice Holidays, said demand for group tours to Europe during the school break showed double-digit growth from the same period in 2017.
Scandinavia is high on the list for Malaysian travellers this June; Copenhagen, Denmark pictured
“We’re also seeing more multigenerational travellers, and more women friends travelling together,” said Lim. Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Scandinavia, are selling well this year, he noted.
Desmond Lee, group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions, expects an increase in sales of at least 30 per cent this June, compared with the same month in 2017.
More than 60 per cent of Apple Vacations’ European tour departures in June are already sold, Lee told TTG Asia, with the Balkans, Central Europe and Scandinavia being top favourites.
With forward bookings to Europe made during the recent MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur showing just a marginal improvement over last year, Cooper Huang, CEO of Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel, intends to spur sales by spending more on advertising and promotions after the general election on May 9.
Meanwhile, Ice Holidays is aggressively marketing its tours by holding a one day in-house fair for its partner retail agents, participating in the various MATTA Fairs organised in Kuala Lumpur and various states, as well as increasing its spending on consumer advertisements, shared Lim.
Marriott International yesterday announced one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) for its members, putting to rest questions surrounding rewards benefits since its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide more than a year ago.
Beginning in August 2018, members will be able to combine their separate Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG accounts into a single account spanning the entire loyalty portfolio. The three programmes will continue to live on under the new set of unified benefits until a new programme name is introduced in 2019.
Marriott International Asia-Pacific’s president and managing director Craig S. Smith, and chief sales and marketing officer Peggy Fang Roe at the announcement
Travellers will be able to book stays and earn or redeem points across Marriott’s 29 global brands comprising 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and territories for the first time on Marriott.com, SPG.com and the Marriott and SPG apps, or by contacting customer engagement centres.
Under the unified benefits, a single points currency will be introduced. In August, SPG members will see their points balance triple. SPG, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards members will all earn 10 points for every dollar spent at all brands except for Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Element which will be five points per every dollar spent.
With bonuses, elite members will earn even more for stays. In August, all members will begin earning points for F&B and qualifying incidentals on their folio, rather than just the room rate.
Members will earn more points faster than under the prior programs — on average 20 per cent more points for every dollar spent
Next, all hotels throughout the loyalty portfolio will have no blackout dates for points redemptions. In addition, a Free Night Award chart with peak, standard and off-peak pricing will be adopted for all hotels. The chart, which will launch with standard pricing in August, will add off peak and peak in 2019.
Additionally, the Moments experiential platform is expanding, with more than 110,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations from must-see attraction tickets and tours for purchase with cash by all guests, to once-in-a-lifetime events only available to members using points, including the new bespoke Moments Live event series.
In the coming months, Marriott will provide members with information about how and when in August they can begin combining their loyalty accounts.
With helpful resources at their fingertips on the free-to-use Tourism Information & Services Hub, tourism businesses can build their competitive edge, while saving on cost, time and effort
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has launched two free-to-use online portals for tourism stakeholders to access and contribute information and data analytics.
The Tourism Information and Services Hub (TIH), which began beta tests in end-January, is an integrated B2B2C platform that aggregates up-to-date information about Singapore’s tourism offerings. These include ongoing promotions, walking trails and opening hours.
STB said that TIH is the first of its kind and acts as a one-stop tourism resource for businesses
These are also available to local and international stakeholders through application programming interfaces, which allow organisations to distill relevant information into their own apps or websites.
Local agencies’ reception to TIH “has been quite positive”, said Quek Choon Yang, STB’s chief technology officer, at yesterday’s STB Tourism Industry Conference.
“We have over 600 companies on the platform now, and we are now launching it publicly after three months of beta-testing. TIH is now open for business,” he added.
The second portal is the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan), which stores and analyses tourism-related data, from tourist movement patterns around hotels and attractions to web searches and website traffic.
For example, STB has learned that Chinese tourists venture around Singapore the most – moving approximately 10km from their hotels – compared to Australian visitors, who stay within one or two kilometres of their hotels, shared Quek.
Industry partners currently providing data to Stan are Gardens by the Bay, Sentosa, Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Expedia.
Stan has been rolled out within STB and will be released to industry players in gradual phases.
Hawaii partners to create new networks and packages with hundreds of local agencies and encourage Hong Kong-based business and leisure travelers to visit Hawaii. Photo credit: Hawaii Tourism Authority
The kicked off the third edition of Camp Aloha in Hong Kong, Wuhan and Shanghai this week with its biggest-ever trade delegation and agent participation, bringing together 350 buyers and 18 sellers in over 1,000 one-to-one business meetings.
This year, Hawaii Tourism China invited buyers from 16 different Chinese cities, including 11 fast-growing “new” destinations. Buyers from Xi’an, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing and Beijing were invited to Wuhan, whereas the Shanghai session catered to agents from Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Wuxi and Nanjing.
Hawaii partners created new networks and had more than 1,000 business meetings with local agencies. Photo credit: Hawaii Tourism Authority
The Hawaii Tourism Authority also invited 40 agents from from Shenzhen and Guangzhou to join the mission in Hong Kong on April 16, a move that according to Hawaii Tourism China’s managing director Reene Ho-Phang, would strengthen the Hong Kong outpost – which started two years ago – through the creation of more events.
She said: “Our Chinese partners love coming to Hong Kong. Instead of going to the Southern China cities, we utilise it as a stop. We want to strengthen this stop while showing our commitment to Hong Kong.”
First-time attendee Umauma Falls Zipline & Rappel Experience’s president, David Gross, said he hoped to establish a network and build product awareness during this sales mission.
Gross shared: “We started the business in 2011 and (want to attract) FITs, groups and DMCs. To incentivise more Chinese buyers, we are offering a 20 per cent commission for direct bookings.”
Guangzhou-based Guangdong Panda International Tourist, manager for America department, Charles Zhang, told TTG Asia: “Hawaii is mainly a destination for family and business travellers. The challenge is to sell (Hawaii) in the absence of direct flights, as we have to fly via Hong Kong.”
Ho-Phang added: “To incentivise the trade to sell Hawaii, we work with lifestyle brands like Chow Tai Fook Jewellery and bring in luxury agents to create luxury products. It’s about combining resources with the travel industry (through the) sharing of resources and campaign ideas. We’ve (also held) two more travel trade fams (that revolved around themed experiences) i.e. ecotourism this year.”
Sunway Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality division of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway Group, has appointed Andre Scholl as CEO to lead the company and oversee the next phase of development for the hotel group.
In his new capacity as CEO, Scholl will be responsible for Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ 11 hotels and resorts in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, which represents over 3,300 guestrooms, suites, serviced residences and luxury villas; and a multitude of convention, meeting and exhibition facilities.
With over 30 years of leadership experience, Scholl was most recently the group senior vice president of operations for Regent Hotels & Resorts and prior to that the vice president – group operations and COO for the Marco Polo Hotels.
The Swiss hospitality veteran has undertaken numerous senior leadership positions for international luxury hotels including Shangri-La, Conrad, Mandarin Oriental and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
Hong Kong is now the most expensive location for business travellers, having overtaken Tokyo which drops to second spot, revealed the latest Daily Rates research published by ECA International.
Lee Quane, regional director – Asia for ECA International, said in a statement: “This change is mostly due to the overall price of business travel in Japan decreasing in dollar terms after the yen fell in value over the course of 2017. The cost of business travel in Hong Kong has remained unchanged from last year with the typical business trip now costing US$508 per day on average.”
Hong Kong is the most expensive location in APAC for business travel
However, the average cost of a business trip to Singapore has increased to US$479 per day, up from US$472 in 2016, which now puts the city state a joint third with Seoul for most expensive Asian location for business travel.
Quane said: “Hotel costs have risen slightly in the past 12 months, but the main reason for Singapore’s rise has been the increased cost of eating out in restaurants frequented by business travellers in the city over the past year.”
Meanwhile, the cheapest region for international business travel remains Malaysia, with Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru residing at the bottom of the rankings due to the continued weakness of the ringgit against major currencies.
“Although fellow ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Cambodia have cities which rank amongst the cheapest in the region for business travel, the cost of business travel remains low in Malaysia. The cost of a business trip to Kuala Lumpur is less than half of what it is in Hong Kong,” said Quane.
Top 10 list of most expensive destinations in Asia for business travellers
The Thai cities that were included in the survey all saw a slight increase in business travel costs, with Bangkok moving into the top 50 for the first time. The average business trip to Thailand’s capital now costs US$278 a day.
Chinese cities have also seen an increase in cost for a standard business trip, with Shanghai now ranked as the ninth most expensive location for business travel in the region.
Over the past 12 months, it has become more costly for business travellers who visit Chinese cities as prices of goods and services commonly consumed by this segment has increased. Despite the increase, Shanghai is still cheaper than Hong Kong and Tokyo for business, and is over US$100 a day less expensive on average.
AccorHotels is expanding its luxury portfolio in Japan with the 144-room MGallery by Sofitel Kyoto, which is set to open in 4Q42018.
The new-build hotel will be located in the heart of Sanjo, one of Kyoto’s most popular dining and shopping precincts, offering guests access to nearby famous attractions including Yasaka-jinja Shrine and the famous geisha district of Gion. It is adjacent to Sanjo Kiehan Station and 15 minutes from the bullet train hub of Kyoto Station.
Yasaka-jinja Shrine in Kyoto
According to Patrick Basset, AccorHotels’ COO for Upper South-east and North-east Asia, the MGallery collection is one of the group’s fastest-growing upscale brands as travellers seek out boutique lifestyle hotels.
The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018, taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22-25, will see its biggest-ever hotel exhibition space, a reflection of the rapidly growing regional hospitality market and pipeline in the GCC.
The show will also feature 68 main hotel stand exhibitors, including eight new brands, over an area of more than 5,000m2, in addition to over 100 Middle East hotels featured alongside their respective national tourism organisations.
Press: GCC region is poised for further greater developments in 2018
Among the largest hotel stands are A.A.Al Moosa Enterprises UAE, owners of hotels operated by Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Taj and Wyndham; Intercontinental Hotel Group; and the Middle East’s newest hotel group, Roda Hotels.
Simon Press, senior exhibition director of ATM, said: “The increase in hotel exhibition space in 2018 reflects the hundreds of new property and brand launches we have seen during the last 12 months.”
Data from STR confirms the total pipeline of rooms in the GCC currently stands at 152,551 across 518 properties. The leading contributors are the UAE with 73,981 rooms in the pipeline; Saudi Arabia with 64,015; and Oman with 8,823. In percentage terms the largest increase on existing stock will be seen in Saudi Arabia, which is on track to witness 123.7 per cent growth.
In celebration of its 25th year, ATM 2018 will host a series of seminar sessions looking back on the tourism revolution in the MENA region over the last quarter of a century, while exploring how the industry will shape up over the next 25 years.
The annual show has adopted responsible tourism – including sustainable travel trends – as its main theme and this will be integrated across all show verticals and activities.
ATM has also partnered with IHIF (International Hotel Investment Forum) organisers to deliver the inaugural Destination Investment Forum, whereas the second edition of the International Luxury Travel Market Arabia (ILTM) will also return on the first two days of the show.
Also debuting at this year’s event will be the ATM Student Conference – Career in Travel – a programme aimed at students and graduates with talks from guest speakers and travel industry leaders sharing more about the industry and potential career paths.
As high as 92 per cent of all bookings in Asia-Pacific are abandoned at checkout, with travel agents in the region facing the biggest struggle to convert customers, as data from Ve Global – an advertising and marketing technology company headquartered in London – shows.
The findings, taken from over 58 million customer sessions between January 2017 to April 2018, show that 95.5 per cent of them abandon their online booking with agents in the region. Although performing better, hotels (90.4 per cent), airlines (91.6 per cent) and vehicle hire companies (88.9 per cent) are also failing to convert the majority of would-be bookers at the checkout phase. The most clinical sub-sector was reserved for the more low-cost options, with coach and ferry operators converting 20.2 per cent of active traffic into bookings.
Ve data reveals that a third of APAC customers complete travel bookings via their mobile and tablet devices, more so than any other region globally
In terms of countries, Australian travel companies do the best job in turning browsers into bookers with a relatively low 82 per cent abandonment rate. Japanese customers looked to be the hardest to convert with 93.8 per cent leaving their online baskets without completing a booking.
While abandonment still plagues the travel industry, the research did find Asia-Pacific customers are far more receptive to forms of re-marketing than their global counterparts. The region’s travel companies can expect to recover one online booking for every 18 re-marketing emails sent, compared with the 23 that European companies must send out on average.
The data also reveal customers in Asia-Pacific complete more online travel bookings using their mobile devices than in any other region globally. Almost a third (30 per cent) of all travel bookings made in the region were completed using a mobile or tablet device. This compares to 29 per cent of bookings in the US, 28 per cent in Europe and just 13 per cent in Latin America.
Jamie Pierre, managing director at Ve Global Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong, said in a statement: “Increasingly, APAC travel companies are allocating vast sums of their marketing spend to attracting customers online, only to lose them during the booking process.
“Although the causes of customer abandonment are varied, travel companies should pay close attention to the growing use of mobile devices in completing bookings and ensure they offer a multi-channel approach that meets the growing expectations of consumers.”
