Luxe City Guides has launched Luxe Directory, a B2B tool allowing hotel concierge teams, travel consultants and remote concierge service providers to create personalised shortlists and share them with travellers.

Travel consultants can choose from a database of more than 6,000 recommendations, organised by category and location. The directory currently covers 30 global destinations and all relevant categories such as accommodation, dining, shopping, activities and spa and beauty.

In addition, Luxe Directory can be personalised to allow companies to add new content and recommendations in their database, place their logos and create custom emails and PDFs to share with clients.

The directory can be accessed via any browser and on any device. For more information, view the Luxe Directory presentation at www.luxecollaborations.com/directory.

Travel retailer Flight Centre Singapore has launched a series of Game of Thrones-themed tour packages visiting iconic set locations of the HBO series in Europe during winter.

In Dubrovnik, Croatia, travellers can visit King’s Landing – the main filming location of the show – as well as Gradac Park, the site of the Purple Wedding, and the abandoned Hotel Belvedere, where The Red Viper met his end.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

A tour to Iceland will traverse from Reykjavik — where the scenes Beyond the Wall, and with the White Walker’s, were filmed — to Thingvellir National Park, home to two of the Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir hotspring.

There are also tours to Alcazar of Seville, where the 14^th-century Spanish castle was the setting for the Water Gardens of Dorne.

Tailor-made itineraries are rapidly gaining traction among China’s luxury travellers in recent years, with the demography becoming better travelled, more globally-oriented, more plugged-in to the gamut of products available and motivated by more complex needs, said buyers at the recent ILTM Asia.

According to Hurun’s The Chinese Luxury Traveller 2017 report, the proportion of wealthy Chinese choosing standard packages fell from 37 per cent in 2015 to 26 per cent last year, with over half showing preference for fine-tuned packages (27 per cent) or fully-customisable packages (23 per cent).

“A lot of companies previously were about groups and having charters and fixed departures, which (continues) to happen in the luxury segment. But now the ‘real high-end’ (segment) looks for tailor-made experiences, niche destinations and properties with few Chinese guests,” said Aymeric Naudin, assistant general manager at China’s Sparkle Tour.

Wealthy travellers now have desires more sophisticated than “spending money and being flashy”, he explained. They want to learn on their travels and live like a local, and are better able to realise these goals, being “less shy to interact with locals” and with “(lesser) language barriers”.

Even Ctrip, China’s largest OTA, now provides on-request itineraries to “high-end clients” via its luxury brand HHTravel. “Clients often turn to us with requests for something unique and we connect them to an ‘experience guide’ who will design an itinerary for them,” said Luigi Deng, market manager Italy, accommodation business, Ctrip.

Li Changsong, managing director at Deluxe MICE Tour & Luxury Travel, foresees the Chinese luxury market would ultimately turn into a tailor-made one. He said: “There is a great phenomenon happening – people are now more aware of new products and more (discerning) about quality.”

Despite being a proponent of the value of personalisation, Li admitted that packages continue to make up 30-40 per cent of his business. “It takes time for the market to mature,” he told TTG Asia.

Meanwhile, Kevin Wang, business development manager at Megastars, a B2B company selling packages, has seen sustained demand for the fixed format, while acknowledging the need to continually incorporate new products to stay relevant.

Vietnam’s extension of visa exemption for several European countries is a welcome move, but trade players interviewed said that conditions limiting single-entry stays to 15 days need to be revisited.

The Vietnamese authorities recently announced that they will extend the current visa waiver scheme for France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK for another year from June 30.

Tourists in national park in Quang Binh

The scheme has been in place since mid-2015 and resulted in double-digit growth in arrivals from Western European countries in the first four months of 2017.

Jose Gregorio Manzo, general manager of Asian Trails Vietnam, said his company has seen an increase of 30-40 per cent from these markets since the introduction. In 2017, he saw largest growth from Spain and the company is on track to surpass the 40 per cent increase seen in 2016.

However, he said the 15-day limit is insufficient as longhaul customers normally make enquiries about two- to three-week holidays in Vietnam.

Hoang Minh Ngoc, Saigon office manager at Indochina Charm Travel, agreed: “In my experience, Europeans prefer more time (in the destination) after having spent about 24 hours to get there.”

Pham Ha, founder and CEO at Luxury Travel Vietnam, added that the single-entry condition is proving a damper for the suggested three-week, multi-entry itineraries.

“European travellers usually holiday for two to three weeks in South-east Asia,” he said. “They combine Vietnam and countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar and often want to return to Vietnam. Therefore, they still have trouble getting visas while travelling.”

Florencia Allo Morena, general manager at Khiri Vietnam, said a duration of 15 days (17 including flights) is typically enough for clients. However, if this becomes an issue, a multi-country programme would be opted.

Silversea Cruises has partnered The Peninsula Hotels to enhance the programming for the Silver Muse’s 73-day Grand Asia-Pacific Voyage in 2019 and other Asia-focused itineraries.

As part of the deal, the Hong Kong-based Peninsula Hotels will provide guests with insider knowledge on destinations through an onboard team of local specialists and chefs. It will also work with Silversea on events in select Asian cities.

Silver Muse

In addition, the voyage will end with a three-night post-cruise stay at The Peninsula Tokyo, which will include a Japanese-themed dinner in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom.

The Silver Muse will set sail from Sydney to Tokyo, visiting 39 destinations in 12 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Departing on February 2, 2019, the cruise’s first quarter itinerary is now open for reservations.