BUSINESS for Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) has grown more than twenty fold in Iran since it started trading in the market 15 years ago, with further growth expected for 2Q2016 following the recent lifting of international economic sanctions in the country.
Top outbound destinations for GTA in 2015 included Istanbul, Dubai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, while Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui, Penang and Langkawi topped as secondary destinations.
More bookings to Europe are expected this year, with London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Florence and main cities in Germany and Spain being the favourites for Iranians.
GTA also hosted a trade dinner last month for about 90 Iranian travel agencies.
“We are extremely encouraged by the number of travel agencies that have registered with us after the event and we will continue to help them enhance their produce offerings with our GTA content,” said Rami Mashini, vice president of sales, Middle East & Africa at GTA.
“More importantly, we also received positive feedback from our guests on what worked well for their customers, such as affordable five star hotels, promotion deals with free room upgrades or Stay 4 nights Pay 3, and catering to families with free hotel stay for children below 12 years old.”
INDONESIA’s Ministry of Tourism claims visitor arrivals reached 10.4 million in 2015, surpassing the nation’s target of 10 million.
A media statement from the Ministry of Tourism this week stated that Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya applauded the achievement, which he said was even higher than the preliminary data obtained last month.
The figure the ministry used was based on data issued by Statistics Indonesia, which broke down the figure into 9,729,350 tourists, 370,869 “border crossing foreign citizens” and 306,540 “other foreign visitors who stayed less than one year”.
Statistics Indonesia explained in a press statement: “The number of international arrivals has so far been calculated based on the immigration official reports, which have included foreign citizens who have entered using visas, visa-free, as well as electronic pass cards, and Indonesian citizens living overseas (visiting their home country).”
“To complete the information, this year’s report includes data of other foreign citizens’ traffic, comprising of border crossing foreign citizens and those who stayed in the country less than one year.”
Based on this, actual foreign arrivals fell short of last year’s targets, but is still 3.1 per cent higher than the same period in 2014 where there were 9,435,411 visitors recorded.
VANGUARD Hotels in the Philippines plans to get rid of the “terribly outdated” front desk system from its hotel lobbies.
Instead, a mix of self check-in terminals and handheld check-in systems for staff will allow guests to get to their rooms quicker with need for less manpower, according to Bruce Musick, Group CEO, Vanguard Hotels. Floating staff members will be on hand to provide help for less technology-inclined guests, he explained.
Vanguard is currently busy rolling out the Metro Blue and Vivid brands across South-east Asia, with a strong emphasis in the Philippines and Malaysia. All these new openings will operate without a front desk.
“It’s a practical, financial issue that benefits those operating at a lower price point,” said Musick. “Fewer touchpoints mean fewer staff so less labour costs.”
This will allow for divisional staff savings of up to 50 per cent, he added.
Vanguard used to have four people at its front desk during peak hours, but self check-in would allow that to be reduced by half, said Musick.
INTERNATIONAL tourism bodies are in agreement with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) stand that there should be no hard restrictions on travel to areas affected by the Zika virus.
On February 1, 2016, WHO declared the Zika situation a public health emergency of international concern, but stopped short of declaring any sort of travel ban.
However, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) both recommended adherence to travel and health advisories issued by local authorities, and to take appropriate precautions such as using insect repellent, avoiding places with standing water and covering up where possible.
“It is too early to comment on the impact of the Zika virus to the travel and tourism sector,” stated the WTTC in a release, adding that most airlines, cruise lines and tour operators from originating countries are being flexible, by offering alternative plans or refunds to pregnant women and their families who prefer not to travel to affected areas at this time.
The UNWTO concurs, stating: “As per the impact on the tourism sector, it is too early to make any effective assessment considering the evolving nature of the situation.”
The organisation does recommend certain precautionary measures, such as the disinfection of aircraft and airports per WHO guidelines, and providing travellers to areas where the Zika virus is active up-to-date information and relevant advice.
When you lose half your money, even though it’s just on paper, or when you don’t know what to do anymore or where to go just for a teeny-weeny yield for your hard-earned dollars, it is demoralising.
What a start to the new year we’re all having. It’s all bad news. Let’s see the flash points: Chinese economy, stock market rout, Saudi Arabia-Iran, Dear Leader, blasts in Turkey/Jakarta, oil prices, and add to these existing problems such as the migrant issue which polarises Europe and… I’ve had enough, haven’t you?
What’s clear is 2016 will be challenging, with George Soros even going as far to say it’s starting to look like 2008.
Travel and tourism CEOs I’ve been speaking to about it aren’t giving me the usual big spiel about the glass being half full, or that ‘crisis’ means threats and opportunities. This time, they admit there are just too many uncertainties.
At the time of writing this on January 19, it’s hard not to worry about the psychological impact of losses made in the stock market on consumers. When you lose half your money, even though it’s just on paper, or when you don’t know what to do anymore or where to go just for a teeny-weeny yield for your hard-earned dollars, it is demoralising. When you don’t feel so rich anymore or don’t feel secure about money, it affects your mood to spend, including on travel.
So what to do in bearish times? Here are a few suggestions I hope will inspire you.
One, take stock and clean up your act. You’re going to be fighting with your competitors for any customer who is still travelling, so if you haven’t learnt about the art of personalised service or equipped your company and your people with the technology and mindset to deliver what consumers want, there’s no better time than now to start.
Make it the year you think about value add. For example, what grunt work can you outsource so that your travel specialists can deliver the real value-added knowledge to persuade the well-informed customer that he still needs a retail travel agency?
Give your business development people a lot of love and encouragement, or if you don’t have them on your paycheck, please employ the best you can afford, even if it’s just one person for now. Finding new market sources and new revenue streams are critical in bearish times.
Go even further and relook your entire business model. Are you able to discern a new niche that will ensure your longevity in the business in the years to come?
Lastly, do not be afraid. Let’s all show Indonesia some solidarity and adopt KamiTidakTakut (We’reNotAfraid) as the mantra not just against terrorism but in times of uncertainties. I’ve been inspired and strengthened by that simple line – three spirited words that encapsulates energy, defiance and dare.
Now don’t we just need these very qualities this year?
CURRENT CEO of Worldhotels Kristin Intress will be handing over her title to hospitality industry expert Dirk Fuehrer, who will join the group on February 15.
Fuehrer, who was once a chief commercial officer and member of the executive board at Steigenberger Hotel Group, previously held various senior roles at Hilton, Carlson Rezidor and Starwood.
Meanwhile, Intress will relocate back to Wisconsin, US, to pursue new opportunities after helming Worldhotels for the past two years.
HAVING grown massively in China, Wyndham Hotel Group (WHG) is now bent on huge growth in South-east Asia, where it admits it’s been “a bit slow off the mark”.
It has just relocated its vice president acquisitions and development David Wray from Australia to Singapore, while a new partnership with former Best Western International (BWI)’s head for AMEA, Glenn de Souza, who has set up his own management company, Kosmopolitan Hospitality, has in one fell swoop yielded nine hotels to-date in Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Japan under the brands Wyndham, Ramada, Tryp by Wyndham and Days Inn.
Barry Robinson, president and managing director, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia-Pacific and Wyndham Hotel Group South-east Asia and Pacific Rim, believes the pure hotel management side can double in South-east Asia within a year, while the vacation ownership business can grow by at least 30 per cent per annum in Asia for the next five years. He tells Raini Hamdi his strategy in this Newsmaker interview.
Wyndham has grown a lot in China but not South-east Asia. Why now? There are lots of opportunities. We had only a sprinkling of hotels in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and, with just a bit of focus last year, we more than doubled our presence in those markets. We should be having 150 hotels throughout South-east Asia already.
Barry Robinson
In total, outside China, we’ve signed just under 40 hotels last year, a mix of management and franchises but more management. My personal opinion, not the company’s, is we were a bit slow off the mark and my main goal now is to accelerate growth in the region. I’ve been passionate about Asia and South-east Asia, I supposed now I’ve convinced the company to give me the keys to the car.
What’s the strategy to grow in South-east Asia? Will you be partnering more small independent hotel management companies such as Kosmopolitan? We’ve got more staff here (in Singapore) and my head of development David Wray has just shifted to Singapore, from Australia. He has both the development people in Australia and Asia reporting to him. This office in Singapore is our HQ at the moment; as you can see, we’ve busted our space within eight months of setting it up.
David was the one who built the partnership with Glenn (de Souza, founder of Kosmopolitan), who has a lot of experience in the region and strong relationships with owners. I like Glenn’s approach but we’re not going to be solely locked into Glenn. There are lots of independent management companies that are starting up and they need distribution, although some more passionate about using their own brands, in which case we won’t be partnering them. We will also work directly with owners; we can consider buying a group. In short we’re going to look at any opportunity to accelerate growth that presents itself.
Which brands are you intending to grow in South-east Asia? Wyndham, Ramada, TRYP, Days Inn, Microtel – the master in Philippines is doing a great job – and possibly Howard Johnson.
What we’re seeing is that our strong presence in China, where we have more than 1,050 hotels open and running under five brands, is now helping our development outside China.
There are 100 million-plus people flowing out of China and visiting Asia and they are following recognised brands such as Ramada, which has a strong presence in the four-star market in China. Days Inn and Super 8 are also solid three and 3.5-star economy brands which are growing in China.
In Malaysia last year, we signed up eight or nine hotels. We’ve just taken over two hotels in Indonesia, in Jakarta and Bali, and opening a brand new Wyndham, the first in Bali, in April, which we’re managing. With Glenn, we made good inroads into places like Halong Bay, Vietnam, which is another Wyndham, and that’s managed by Glenn’s company. So it’s a combination of us and partners managing.
Are you also growing vacation ownership? Oh yes. I first joined the company 14 years ago when it was still under Cendant and took over the timeshare business for South Pacific. Four years into the role, I started to blend timeshare with hotels, my mixed-use model.
We entered Asia last year with our vacation ownership model, with the first acquisition of Wyndham Sea Pearl Resort Phuket, which is spread over 15 to 20 acres. We bought 25 per cent of the stock and own about 40 units which we run as timeshare and the rest (210 units) as a normal hotel. That gives me a secure position as the timeshare club we started in Asia is a four-year-old club that lasts for 40 years, so we have the asset for 40 years and that’s also the terms of our management agreement.
The mixed-use model was what helped me secure strategic locations such as Melbourne and Sydney and enables me to control my destiny. In Australia, the club runs for 65 years so I’m managing the resorts for 65 years – it’s not like 10 or 20 years like with the other chains.
So our strategy is growth for both businesses. Vacation ownership is a very successful component of our overall worldwide global business.
But vacation ownership has such a bad name in Asia. That’s because the international players have not been in the marketplace, and there has been a lack of governance. We, Marriott, Starwood, etc, are trying to talk with governments and bodies like RCI and Interval to forge workable legislation that will mitigate somewhat the exposure to consumers by fly-by-night operators.
For example in Australia we were wrapped into the financial investment sector, yet we’re not a financial product. We’ve got a couple of caveats from governments (in Asia) that aren’t meant for our industry. Singapore’s legislation (on vacation ownership) is not workable at the moment and we have started dialogue with the government. In Thailand, Hilton has started talking with the government there.
So we need to explain and educate governments and consumers here in order to grow the sector. Besides the product is now moving towards lifestyle solutions; it’s not just about buying a timeshare holiday. There are lots of add-ons, like a concierge service, online discounts for groceries, restaurant deals, theatre tickets discounts – and all these not just when you go on holidays but are part of your lifestyle membership.
But who buys vacation ownership these days? Everyone. Again, much has changed. In the old days it used to be a pretty standard product – nice, but your usual one-, two-, three-bedroom units. Now the product is so wide. We have four-bedroom presidential units with plunge pool, chef’s service, all the bells and whistles. For example, the one in Fiji that we built a few years ago is the best product on the island; no one has the size of units with private plunge pools that we have. So while before we catered for middle-of-the-road travellers and families, now we’ve got, say, singles wanting to go to different destinations and stay in our hip hotels, or wealthy people predominantly using our presidential product.
But why would they buy vacation ownership? Because it’s somewhat forces them to take a holiday. Secondly, even some of my wealthy clients are saying they are sick of owning two or three holiday homes and when they turn up there’s always something wrong. They use the presidential villas and know when they turn up, everything’s going to be fine. No hassle. Plus they can let their friends use it; It’s easy to transfer. And it gives them variety – they don’t have to go the same place for a holiday.
Even in this age of Airbnb? We are an Airbnb. We started before them! It’s the same thing, condominiums, and in fact our service is getting better. When people ask if I’m worried about Airbnb, yes, of course but no more than the normal worrying about competitors. Although I do say shame on us because we should be smarter and better at shouting about how our product has changed.
So where in Asia do you see opportunities to grow vacation ownership? Thailand, Indonesia and Japan.
Why should owners go for it?
There is synergy for owners in mixed use. We give them greater yield for their asset. A vacation ownership property typically runs at 80 per cent occupancy – my Fiji resort runs 95 per cent each year because it is prepaid and it forces members to vacation.
So in economic boom and bust cycles, you have a stable environment. In downturns people still use their vacation ownership. Secondly, the levies they pay go towards running the property – common areas, reception check-in, and so on – so when you run the rest of the property as a hotel, you can yield up because part of your cost is already paid up by the vacation ownership members.
Indonesian travel agents at the Ke Singapura Yuk event organised by GTA
KUONI Group’s Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) saw a record number of bookings into Singapore last year with a 22 per cent year-on-year sales growth.
The growth was driven largely by performance in key source markets, which include Indonesia, Australia, the UK, UAE, South Korea, China, India and Japan.
“The strong performance by GTA was led mainly by strong bookings to hotels in Orchard Road (up 30 per cent) and the Marina Bay area (up 16 per cent),” said Daryl Lee, regional vice president of sales and marketing for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, GTA.
Lee also shared that GTA commenced several key projects in 2015, including the Strategic Partnership programme. It brought together players from the hotel industry and initiated a marketing collaboration with SilkAir, seeing a co-investment of over S$2 million (US$1.4 million).
GTA also had success with the Premium Collection campaign, which focused exclusively on promoting top-tier hotels and products.
“We expect growth this year to be supported by the traditional markets but also new developing markets such as Iran, Sri Lanka and the Philippines,” Lee added.
SHILLA Stay has opened its eighth property in South Korea in Seoul’s digital district of Guro.
Spanning 25 floors with three room categories – standard, deluxe and grand – the 310-key Shilla Stay Guro is located a five-minute walk away from Guro Digital Complex Station and within close proximity to the Guro Digital Complex.
The business hotel offers three multi-purpose meeting rooms equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual systems. A business corner also reside in the hotel and is equipped with high-speed Internet computers, with complimentary usage for guests.
Other facilities include a fitness centre on the 21st floor and an F&B outlet on the second floor serving a buffet selection of international and pan-Asian favourites for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Shilla Stay Guro is offering a special introductory package to guests staying in the hotel this month. They will receive a Shilla Stay bear, complimentary breakfast for two, free Wi-Fi, and access to the fitness centre with room rates starting from 130,000 won (US$108.5) per night.
INDONESIA’s tourism ministry has stepped up efforts to market Indonesia to travellers from India and improve flight connectivity between the two countries.
With a hefty US$9 million marketing budget, which is ten times that of the previous year, the ministry hopes to record 350,000 (20 per cent more) Indian arrivals in 2016.
“Last year we had just five promotional activities in India. But we plan to organise 20 promotional activities in India in 2016,” said Vinsensius Jemadu, director for Asia-Pacific tourism promotion, Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia.
The ministry plans to deploy print and electronic advertising, a five-city sales mission covering New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, as well as direct promotions in shopping malls in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Also planned for this year are Indonesian cultural festivals, including the Wonderful Indonesia festival in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, and a culinary festival in Kolkata and New Delhi.
The ministry is also angling for greater flight connectivity and has an agreement already in place for Garuda Indonesia to start flying directly to Mumbai later this year. Garuda is likely to also start direct flights to New Delhi and Chennai.
What a start to the new year we’re all having. It’s all bad news. Let’s see the flash points: Chinese economy, stock market rout, Saudi Arabia-Iran, Dear Leader, blasts in Turkey/Jakarta, oil prices, and add to these existing problems such as the migrant issue which polarises Europe and… I’ve had enough, haven’t you?
