THE Malaysian government is awaiting approval from the South African authorities to send an investigation team to conduct a coastal search focused along South Africa and Mozambique, following the discovery of two plane debris in Mozambique which are likely to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.

Malaysian transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, said the paint and stencilling on both debris as well as the dimensions, materials and construction matched that used by MAS.

MAS described this as another breakthrough and hoped it would bring all parties closer to resolving the disappearance of MH370. A flaperon found on the French island of Réunion was confirmed late last year to be part of the missing aircraft.

MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 passengers on board.

GENTING Hong Kong’s new premium cruise line Dream Cruises has announced that its first ship, the 150,000-tonne Genting Dream, will make its maiden sail from the Guangzhou Nansha homeport on November 13 this year.

Genting Dream will offer five-night itineraries to Danang, Halong Bay and Sanya from November 13, 2016 to January 2017, and to Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City from January 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. There is also a choice of a two-night weekend itinerary to Hong Kong.

Thatcher Brown, president of Dream Cruises, said: “In order to support our travel agent community, we’ve built up a sales and marketing team with over 100 staff in the region and plan to expand capability of call centres in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.”

Promotional roadshows have also been organised over the last several months. Cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and international markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and India will be revisited in the next few months.

On top of its core market of Chinese luxury travellers and meeting groups, Dream Cruises is also expecting affluent Indian travellers to drive demand for Genting Dream’s high-end offerings.

In line with the luxury positioning of Dream Cruises, the Genting Dream will be priced 30-35 per cent higher than Star Cruises.

The cruise liner’s 142-suite, VIP-only Dream Mansion, for instance, will offer private access to areas such as a private sundeck with pools, Jacuzzi, a private gym and a private dining room. The ship will also boast a purpose-built spa with a choice of over 100 types of reflexology treatments.

TTG Asia e-Daily will be taking a break tomorrow, March 25 to observe Good Friday.

News will resume on Monday, March 28.

Have a Good Friday and blessed Easter!

Victor Mogilev, general manager, Thailand

DIETHELM Travel Group (DTG) has newly appointed three senior staff as part of plans to further strengthen its management team.

Jean Francois Redl has been promoted from country manager for Vietnam to managing director, replacing Torsten Edens who is now group operating director.

Redl brings more than 25 years of professional experience in the tourism industry to the role with an emphasis on operations, sales, marketing, and business development.

In addition, Victor Mogilev has moved from his role as sales director for emerging markets to general manager for Thailand, and will support Edens in Bangkok.

Mogilev originally joined DTG in 2012, guiding the growth of its partners in Russia, the CIS countries and Eastern Europe, before going through two promotions.

Finally, Louise Lithgow has been employed as group sales director, responsible for managing the entire sales team and activities across the 12 countries DTG operate in.

Lithgow joins the company with 14 years of experience working for STA Travel as well as time spent with various hospitality groups, such as Millennium Hotels.

Steam train from North Borneo Railway

A locomotive from North Borneo Railway was unable to complete its journey yesterday due to a missing bolt pin.

The steam train departed as scheduled from Tanjung Aru Station but made a turn back after arriving at Kinarut, the halfway point, around 10.30.

According to a source at North Borneo Railway, all passengers affected will be given a 50 per cent refund which will take two weeks to process. Services will resume as per normal on Saturday.

The North Borneo Railway provides the oldest running steam train in Sabah and Borneo and runs two-weekly return departures on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Kota Kinabalu to Papar, all year round.

Laksa dish from Langkawi International Laksa Carnival 2015

THE Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) hopes to grow gastronomic tourism in Langkawi through its homegrown Laksa Carnival this May, which is expected to attract some 60,000 visitors.

At the fifth edition of the Langkawi International Laksa Carnival, which will run from May 27 to 29 at Laman Padi, over 10 participants from all over Malaysia will showcase laksa creations from the various states.

Asian rice noodles specialists from China, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines will also be dishing out their local noodle dishes.

Other activities include laksa cooking contests, art performances and live laksa cooking demonstrations by four local celebrity chefs.

While laksa and noodles are the main highlights, other local delicacies will also be on sale during the three-day event.

Deputy CEO of LADA, Rozaina Radzi, said: “The purpose of the carnival is to complement domestic and international tourists travelling to Langkawi during this period with live activities that engages the taste buds.”

Lake Toba

GARUDA Indonesia has launched the Jakarta-Silangit route via Pinangsori as part of ongoing route expansion plans and in support of Indonesia’s efforts to develop tourism to Lake Toba.

Arif Wibowo, president and CEO of Garuda, said: “The new route is part of the company’s continuous route expansion and a commitment to support the government’s programmes (to improve) connectivity between islands and cities to develop tourism as well as the national economy.”

The thrice-weekly service will be operated on the CRJ-1000 aircraft with 96 all-economy seats.

I Gde Pitana, deputy minister of international marketing development at the Ministry of Tourism, said: “One of the issues in developing Lake Toba is the fact that it is only accessible by road from Medan (and the route takes between five and seven hours). We expect that the new service will entice more travellers to go there.”

Garuda also has plans to connect Silangit with other cities in Sumatra like Medan, Sibolga, Gunung Sitoli, Dumai and Pekanbaru.

Meanwhile, the government is setting up the Lake Toba Tourism Authority with the aim of better coordinating development and management efforts.

Arief Yahya, Minister of Tourism said: “The tourism authority will be tasked with developing infrastructure such as road and airport on Lake Toba area. Such development has been very slow because of the overlapping authorities among seven government agencies in the area,” he explained.