DESPITE the recent advisories raised against travel to coastal islands in Sabah, it is business as usual as far as buyers are concerned.

In spite of the travel warnings, Julien Ernst, director of group & special interest travel at Switzerland-based Tourasia, said he was aware that the ground situation is safe and will hence continue to sell the destination while assuring his clients at the same time.

“We have seen growing interest into the whole of Borneo because the Swiss like to experience nature-based tourism, and Borneo offers wildlife, rainforests and beaches, which are very popular among the Swiss,” he said.

Likewise, Walter Tretenhahn, managing director of Austria-based Eastlink Travel Service & Consulting, said clients were “not too affected” by the advisories.

However, Disney Jaboh, sales development executive of Borneo Adventure, expressed more caution. While he has yet to receive any cancellations, he said: “There will definitely be more questions (while) issues like insurance coverage may affect their decision.”

With more than half of Borneo Adventure’s business driven by the European market, he said: “We are all in touch with our agents in Europe to let them know that the situation is not as severe as the travel notices make it out to be.”

Earlier last month, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a travel advisory that raised the terrorism threat level for the islands off Sabah from ‘general’ to ‘high’. The advisory warned “against all but essential travel to all islands off the coast of eastern Sabah from Kudat to Tawau, including (but not limited to) Lankayan, Mabul, Pom Pom, Kapalai, Ligitan, Sipadan and Mataking”.

Vinod Zutshi, secretary, ministry of tourism, government of India

INDIA’s travel industry is set to receive a major impetus and play a stronger role in the country’s economy, if a new draft policy aimed at boosting tourism gets the nod from the national government.

Vinod Zutshi, secretary, ministry of tourism, government of India, told TTG Asia: “Upon Cabinet approval of the policy, tourism will for the first time be seen as the major engine for economic growth and (considered) a major factor in contributing to the national GDP.”

The new tourism policy also aims to grow India’s share in international tourist arrivals from the current 0.7 per cent to one per cent by 2020.

“We are working to improve the infrastructure at many of our beach destinations, and also to build new amenities and facilities on the beaches for tourists,” said Zutshi.

“We have spent almost US$300 million on at least 20 projects in the last six months. We intend to spend a similar amount in the forthcoming financial year.”

The improved coastal infrastructure will lend a hand in enhancing India’s niche tourism experiences, which include spiritual, wellness, wildlife and adventure packages.

To allay concerns surrounding female tourist safety in India, which surfaced in recent years, Zutshi said the tourism ministry had two initiatives in place.

Launched last month, the new Toll Free Tourist Infoline seeks to assist foreign travellers who encounter problems in the country. It is available in 12 languages, including English, Hindi, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

The tourism ministry will also establish a crisis management team in April.

Zutshi said: “We want to make sure that if there are any incidents, there has to be a strategy and standard operating procedure in place to prevent any misgivings or misinformation being reported.”

Meanwhile, international buyers at ITB Berlin also appear unfazed by safety concerns surrounding Indian tourism.

Bert Stoot, owner of Holland-based NOL Travels, said: “There is a lot of interest into South India. I have been there so I am not too worried about safety because I see that it is perfectly fine there.”

Oliver Drewes, owner of Holistika Spiritual Work & Travel in Germany, said: “We are keen to promote the bigger and more developed cities like Bangalore because it is a good starting point to introduce Germans to India.”

BANGKOK Airways intends to widen its codeshare partnerships, a move that is expected to bring an additional 1.2 million seats through the three key gateways of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Jirapon Hirunrat, vice president-network management at Bangkok Airways, told TTG Asia the plan was “to cover the most of the EU zone and utilise (partner carriers’) marketing tools”.

Another key strategy is “to focus on interline traffic through all international gateways to Thailand”.

In the pipeline are codeshare partnerships with one European and seven Asian airlines.
The smallest but best-performing carrier among Thailand’s publicly traded airlines, Bangkok Airways, has been swiftly expanding its portfolio of codeshare partners in its bid to grow European outbound and longhaul traffic to its Bangkok hub.

“Airline partnerships, either codesharing or other cooperative arrangements, have become powerful tools for expanding networks, enhancing revenue and reducing costs,” said Jirapon.

The use of codeshare partnerships had yielded a growth of nearly 13-17 per cent annually for the past three years for Bangkok Airways, he added.

Among its codesharing agreements with 20 airlines, British Airways is showing “significant traffic growth” while Emirates generates “significant revenue proportion”.

The independent full-service regional carrier is also planning further expansion, as it expects to receive three ATR72-600s and three to four Airbus A319s, bringing its total inventory to 36 aircraft this year.

This year, the company will introduce three new routes, namely, Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son, Bangkok-Danang (Vietnam) and Samui-Guangzhou (China).

It will also upgrade frequencies on popular sectors. On the cards are Bangkok-Phnom Penh (five to six daily flights), Bangkok-Chiang Mai (seven to eight daily flights), Chiang Mai-Samui (once to twice daily during high season) and Samui-Singapore (double daily).

South-east Asia’s top tourism officals link hands at the pre-launch of the Visit ASEAN@50: Golden Celebration campaign

AS ASEAN gears up to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 2017, top tourism officials have come together to lay the groundwork for a new campaign and build up the momentum to promote the region as a single tourism destination.

The Visit ASEAN@50: Golden Celebration campaign will highlight the region’s top 50 festivals and 50 travel experiences, in addition to launching special themed offers and travel promotions on the website.

Speaking to TTG Asia at the official pre-launch of the campaign at ITB Berlin, Malaysia’s minister of tourism and culture, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, said the campaign would be a formal endorsement of tour operators’ on-going efforts in selling multi-country packages.

“In the past, each operator has been (marketing these packages) on his own, and now he will get support from ASEAN. It will not be done haphazardly, it will be done properly with the support of ASEAN,” he said.

Packages will be devised based on themes; a consolidated heritage tour, for instance, will leverage UNESCO World Heritage sites in ASEAN.

Thailand, on its part, has already initiated efforts in promoting dual-country packages under its ASEAN Connect project since last year, according to Thai minister of tourism and sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul.

However, improving connectivity will be a core aim for ASEAN in its quest to roll out “realistic packages”, admits Kobkarn.

She added: “We have improved land connectivity to neighbouring countries, enabling the roll-out of packages such as Trat by road to Sihanoukville and onward to Siem Reap, or Trat-Sihanoukville-Phu Quoc.”

Recognising the importance of trade partners, Thai tourism authorities have also linked arms with Bangkok Airways to improve air connectivity between Thailand and neighbouring countries.

“Airlines need to help us,” said Kobkarn. “We want to improve connectivity not just between capital cities, we also want to connect tier two to tier two cities, tier three to tier three cities, etc.”

Singapore Tourism Board director of trade engagement & market access, international group, Soo Siew Keong, agreed: “The main driver of this (campaign) is to work with the trade to see what is appealing to the travellers and involve them.

“We want to bring in airlines from longhaul markets into the ASEAN countries. We also have an interest in cruise and hotel chains too. They can all come together to form an attractive package,” he added.

“For instance, visitors can fly into South-east Asia by Singapore Airlines, then fly around the region on AirAsia and stay in a hotel chain across the ASEAN countries and this can all fit into a package. The trade forms a very important role to allow this campaign to roll,” he said.

However, the absence of a single visa for the region continues to be a bugbear for visitors, especially for those hailing outside of South-east Asia.

Mohamed Nazri believes the campaign will “motivate” member countries to ease their visa requirements if they see the success of its neighbours in attracting higher visitor numbers owing to liberal visa policies.

During the campaign pre-launch yesterday, So Mara, secretary of state at the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia said the campaign aimed for 121 million visitor arrivals to ASEAN by 2017, an increase in tourism receipts to US$83 billion and a longer average length of stay of six-seven days and to more than two ASEAN countries.

Additional reporting from Paige Lee Pei Qi