For established Indonesian tour company Dwidayatour, adopting an online-offline approach is now key to its growth plan for the future.

Speaking to TTG Asia at its 50^th founding anniversary press conference earlier this week, Dwidayatour’s vice president commercial Hendriyapto said the company’s survey of 1,000 respondents early this year showed that most customers are using multichannels for trip planning, either seeking information online and booking offline or vice versa.

“The interesting finding is that while 83 per cent of customers perceived that online prices were cheaper, 76 per cent said they still bought tickets through a travel agent.”

Hendriyapto also noted the rapid growth of online business, mostly driven by customers aged between 20 and 30 years old. “Last year we saw a 100 per cent growth of online transactions compared to 2015.”

“Although the volume still represents less than five per cent of our total business, the potential growth is big in the coming year,” he said, further necessitating the use of multiple channels.

The Hybrid Channel, which was launched last year to integrate offline and online channels alongside a 24-hour hotline, is a distribution strategy Hendriyapto is positive would give Dwidayatour a competitive edge.

By enhancing its technological capabilities, offline products can now be sold through both web and mobile channels.

At the same time, Dwidayatour is also growing its physical presence from its current 92 branches in Indonesia to 10 more outlets this year. The agency targets to achieve 30 per cent growth this year.

To make up for recent booking cancellations owing to safety and security concerns, a newly formed private sector-led working committee in the Philippines is firming up a programme of fresh and viable tour products.

Cesar Cruz, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa), which is part of the committee, said the plan is for all Philippine sellers to promote the same packages for bookings between 4Q2017 and end-2018.

Banaue rice terraces

Key criteria influencing the choice of destinations include safety, accessibility, tourism infrastructure and sought-after tour products, including the stretch beginning from Ilocos to Cordillera and upland to Banaue and Sagada; Bicol; Pampanga; Batangas and Quezon, among others in Luzon and destinations in central Visayas.

Destinations included in ongoing travel advisories – Palawan, Cebu, Bohol and Boracay – will also feature in some packages.

Cruz told TTG Asia that the working committee will meet this month and have the mechanics ready by August for submission to the Department of Tourism and its marketing arm the Tourism Promotions Board, which will then help with in-market advertising through their overseas offices.

The packages will also be sold to global buyers during the Philippine Tourism Exchange in September.

Diethelm Travel Group has launched the industry’s first tuk tuk self-drive tours to discover the rural outskirts of Chiang Mai.

The one-day Northern Thailand Self-Drive Tuk Tuk Adventure programme takes travellers on the three-seater rickshaws through the heart of northern Thailand’s jungle-covered hills and rice fields, with stops in rural villages and an ethical elephant sanctuary, a traditional Thai lunch and bamboo river rafting.

In addition to visiting the elephants and driving around the outskirts of Chiang Mai, the five-day Northern Thailand Self-Drive Tuk Tuk Adventure experience also takes travellers up to the top of Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest peak, with overnights in homestays and a day spent trekking.

The 11-day Northern Thailand Self-Drive Tuk Tuk Adventure itinerary builds on the five-day option by giving travellers more opportunities to drive through the mountainous north, plus plenty of time to explore at leisure, lounge by hotel pools and spend time in the town of Pai.

Drivers are required to be 18 years old or older and hold a valid manual driving licence from their home country, as well as attend a safety briefing and tuk tuk driving lesson.

AccorHotels has partnered Hong Kong’s Golden Horse Group to open a Swissôtel in Australia’s Gold Coast come 2019, its second in the country after Swissôtel Sydney.

The A$60 million (US$64.9 million) new-build will be built within the Peter Thomson-designed, 18-hole Links Hope Island Golf Course precinct in the Hope Island district, a 45-minute drive from Brisbane International Airport and Gold Coast International Airport.

Swissôtel Gold Coast Hope Island Resort will offer 150 guestrooms across three levels and feature a spa and wellness centre, pool, children’s play area, fitness centre, conferencing facilities for up to 300 people and a restaurant to complement the existing golf course facilities.

Less than a quarter of hotels in Phuket (429 out of 1,724) are licensed six months on from the January 31 deadline set for offending hotels to become registered, according to C9 Hotelworks.

Of the 1,295 unlicensed hotels identified in Phuket, only six have had their licenses approved. A further 1,001 are pending approval, while 288 have not yet applied.

C9 Hotelworks’ managing director, Bill Barnett, said that a disconnect in regulation could be hindering the licensing process.

“Phuket’s provincial government has undertaken an admirable large-scale initiative to tackle the proliferation of unlicensed hotels,” Barnett said. “Currently the main challenges for the process are the strict regulations associated with the Thailand-wide Building Control and Hotel Act.

“As a result of these mandates, the province is considering reviewing the requirements to support the conversation process,” he added.

Local authorities are under pressure to tackle this issue, as strong demand from emerging economies continues to drive a sharp increase in tourism arrivals to Phuket.

For example, Russian passenger traffic at Phuket International Airport jumped 17 per cent in the first five months of 2017, while arrivals from mainland China rose eight per cent.

Hotel development in Phuket also continues to gather pace, with C9 Hotelworks’ pipeline analysis showing 33 hotels (5,738 rooms) being developed across the island, including major global brands such as Sheraton, JW Marriott, Best Western, InterContinental, Park Hyatt, Kempinski, Ramada and Rosewood.

At the same time, private sector investment into the hotel industry is racing ahead of the public sector.

Without the ability to apply hotel tax to unlicensed properties, the island is being denied much needed revenue that could be reinvested into infrastructure.

C9 Hotelworks stresses that it remains imperative to ensure that the 1,295 unlicensed hotels currently operating in Phuket are dealt with swiftly to ensure the issue does not do damage to the island’s international reputation.