Gareth Williams, CEO and co-founder, Skyscanner

TRAVEL search engine Skyscanner has delivered its seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth, largely on the back of mobile expansion and diversification beyond flight bookings.

The company saw its revenue grow 28 per cent to US$183 million in 2015, with bookings through its platforms grossing US$11.2 billion, up 49 per cent compared to 2014.

There was a 48 per cent increase in visitorship, driven mostly by a 67 per cent increase in visitors from China. Other regions that showed significant growth were Asia-Pacific (48 per cent), the Americas (55 per cent) and Europe (42 per cent).

“2015 was another strong year for Skyscanner, showing solid progress in our strategy of expansion beyond our home market, into mobile and beyond flights,” said Gareth Williams, Skyscanner’s CEO and co-founder.

“We saw excellent growth in travellers planning their trips on Skyscanner all around the world, especially on mobile and in the important regions of Asia-Pacific and the Americas.”

Mobile visitors from China and the Americas nearly doubled, while numbers in Asia-Pacific and Europe increased 62 per cent and 55 per cent respectively. Consequently, mobile web bookings grew 24 per cent year-on-year, making up 42 per cent of all conversions.

As well, revenue from Skyscanner’s non-air B2B arm, Skyscanner for Business, doubled. Contributing to this growth is a newly-launched car hire white label product, which grew by 71 per cent in 2015.

Brandon Chan

GLOBAL travel and event management company The Appointment Group (TAG) has named Brandon Chan as the general manager of its newly established Singapore office, its third office in the Asia-Pacific.

Chan joins TAG Singapore after a long career in the hospitality, travel and events industry under a number of leadership positions, including being director of sales and marketing at Design Hotels, as well as at Rosenbluth International, an independent travel company.

In his new role, Chan will manage daily operations as well as focus on enlarging TAG’s footprint in the region. He will be supported by Jodie Hobday, who takes on the role of operations manager at the Singapore office after relocating from TAG’s Sydney operation where she held the same position.

Kashyap: Staying in the lead

INDIA’s leading online travel company Ibibo Group is set to receive US$250 million in funding from South African media conglomerate Naspers, who is already a stakeholder in the group alongside China’s Tencent. With this latest round of investment, Naspers will own a 90 per cent stake in Ibibo.

Ibibo is known for hotel booking engine and air ticketing aggregator Goibibo.com, online bus ticketing platform redBus.in, car sharing app Ryde, among other businesses. Overall, it processed more than 6.5 million transactions in 3Q2015, generating more than 2.5 times the transaction volumes of its closest competitor.

During the same period, Goibibo hotel bookings surpassed 1.6 million room nights, up 400 per cent year-on-year, making it the largest hotels booking platform in India by volume. Mobile contributed to 71 per cent of the bookings in December 2015, up from 42 per cent a year ago.

Ashish Kashyap, founder & CEO, Ibibo Group, said: “Our objective is to solve problems for the transportation and accommodation providers and to connect them to the travellers. The commitment from both Naspers and Tencent to Ibibo is testimony to the strength of our platforms and the opportunities ahead.”

INDUSTRY players are disagreeable with Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s decision to put a blanket ban on the issuing of new hotel licences, saying they should instead focus on improving regulation.

According to official figures, there are 939 hotels currently in the city, including more than 400 budget accommodations.

Ally Bhoonee, executive director of World Avenues, said: “City Hall should look at rebranding the city to attract more high-end tourists. As Kuala Lumpur is the gateway into Malaysia, City Hall should work with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture to ensure there are enough rooms in the city to meet the ministry’s forecasted arrival targets in 2020 and beyond, taking into account that it takes three years minimum to build a hotel.”

He believes each development should be assessed on a case to case basis, rather than a blanket ban, so as to not discourage high-end international hotel brands from entering Malaysia, and in the process, further enhancing the city’s image.

He added: “The problem now is that the industry is not regulated properly. There are too many small establishments – shoplots in the Bukit Bintang area of five to 10 rooms – that are calling themselves hotels. This is eating into the business of the three-star hotels.”

Adam Kamal, Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association deputy president 2, opined that stricter regulation is needed on the classification of hotels, especially budget properties.

Agreeing with Bhoonee, he said: “For this, City Hall has to work closely with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia. There are currently too many small establishments calling themselves hotels that don’t meet international standards. If we want to attract more foreign tourists, we need to improve on the standards.”

According to a recent report in The Star, the freeze in hotel licences in Kuala Lumpur applies to all hotel types. However, hotels that have already received planning permission from City Hall are allowed to continue with construction.

MYANMAR’s Ministry of Culture has banned visitors from ascending Bagan’s temples and pagodas, save for five of the largest ones, namely Pya Thet Gyi, Shwe Sandaw, South Guni, North Guni and Thitsar Wadi.

The ministry had earlier issued a complete ban, but allowed for some concession after tour operators voiced concerns over tourist arrivals. Bagan is famed for its sunsets and sunrises.

The blanket ban was issued six days after a video of people dancing on Bagan’s pagodas surfaced, and the ministry sought to prevent the ancient sites from structural damage and to condemn what was regarded as disrespectful tourist conduct.

“We can’t accept this type of behaviour on the top of the pagodas. At the same time, watching the sunrise or sunset from these sites is one of the main tourist activities in Bagan, which we make a point to highlight in our itineraries,” said Phyyu Phyu Mar, spokesperson for Seven Star Travel and Tour.

Mar added that there are ways to preserve the ancient cultural sites while still allowing access, such as more systematic regulations or the building of sunset towers.

Aye Kyaw, managing director of Ruby Land Travel and Tour, agreed that a full ban was not the only option, citing the example of one of Cambodia’s temples. He said: “(Out of concern) that the temple will not be able to withstand (the influx of tourists), metal railings and stairs were built so that visitors were not walking directly on the temple. Provisions have also been made to limit the number of people that can access certain areas of the temple at one given time.”

Bagan is known as the temple fairyland of Myanmar. From the 11th to 13th century, more than 13,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in Bagan’s 42km2 plain, of which around 2,200 temples and pagodas have been kept intact while another 2,000 remain in ruins.

THE Hong Kong government will be allocating a budget of about HK$380 million (US$49 million) to boost dwindling arrival numbers to the autonomous region, according to the financial secretary’s 2016/17 budget speech yesterday.

Apart from waiving license fees for 1,800 travel agents, 2,000 hotels and guesthouses as well as 27,000 restaurants and operators for a whole year, the government will also subsidise the implementation of information technology (IT) for small and medium-sized agencies through a HK$10 million fund.

Michael Wu, managing director, Gray Line Tours, welcomed the move and estimates that more than 1,500 agencies will be eligible to apply for the IT subsidies.

“The subsidy targets agencies with less than 50 staff who can’t afford IT initiatives like websites and online business development. Through the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, successful applicants may have half of their IT investment subsidised by the scheme,” said Wu.

However, Angela Ng, managing director of Blue Sky Travel Service is also concerned about maintenance costs that comes after the initial implementation.

She said: “I currently use social media which requires regular updating. If I build a company website, it will also require regular updates and uploads so it means more expenses to bear in the long term.”

Torsten Edens

DIETHELM Travel has promoted Torsten Edens to the newly-created position of group operating director, reporting to Lisa Fitzell, group managing director.

Edens joins Diethelm Travel’s headquarters in Bangkok from his previous role as managing director of Diethelm Travel Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

He will primarily be responsible for leading Thailand operations, as well as working across all of Diethelm Travel’s destinations to ensure best practices and improve intra-company operations.

Concurrently, Hans van den Born stepped down from his position as managing director of Diethelm Travel Thailand on February 19.

In announcing the changes, Fitzell said: “Hans has played an integral part in Diethelm Travel’s success since joining the company in 2010, and we wish him all the best in his future efforts.

“And with Asia’s inbound growth forecasted to continue outperforming other regions, Torsten’s role will be vital in further positioning Diethelm Travel at the forefront of new opportunities.”