NEW CEO of Trails of Indochina (TOI) John Watson has made a slew of new hires and is consolidating the DMC’s three office locations in Ho Chi Minh City into one this month as part of his strategy to transit the company into the next stage of growth.

Watson, who took charge last April, said he is taking TOI to the next level by tapping new source markets, expanding the DMC’s coverage in the region, raising the quality of operational service to clients, launching new products and embarking on new technological developments.

New senior management appointments include Dan Walsh as vice president North America, Lindy Andrews as director of sales and marketing for Australia and Vincent Esnoul as marketing communications manager.

Watson said: “TOI has always been very strong in North America and Spanish-speaking markets – that will continue. We have, however, been under-performing in some key European markets and will rectify this. We also see other markets such as Africa as a growing source and recently entered into a partnership in Kenya.

“We haven’t put down any firm expectations of passenger numbers from ‘new’ markets at this stage. Our strategy is to rifle-shot high quality B2B partners around the globe and progress slowly but surely.”

To service an anticipated growth of passenger numbers, new country managers will be introduced in two integral operational destinations: Helmut Krause starts his role as country manager Thailand this month, while William Meyrick has been appointed as country manager Cambodia. Moira Lategan has joined as inside sales and reservations manager.

On expanding TOI’s DMC coverage in the region, Thailand remains a destination with “enormous potential” despite the recent bomb blast, he reckoned. TOI has been operating in Thailand since 2007 “but we are relatively small there and will expand as that is what our customers are asking us to do”.

TOI recently opened a new office in Chiang Mai in response to the demand.

“Having lived and worked through the tsunami and several coups, I know how very resilient Thai tourism is. So, recent events have not changed our plans in any way,” said Watson, who was former CEO of Diethelm Travel Group.

TOI has over 180 staff who will operate from one central flagship office from this month. The company has also invested in a new fleet of vehicles due for delivery by November, along with the development of training programmes for staff and guides.

In the fourth quarter, TOI plans XML feeds to key B2B partner sites, along with a new collection of products “to reinforce the brand’s positioning as a provider of high-end experiences to agencies and their clients worldwide”, said Watson.

SWITZERLAND continues to witness a strong growth in visitor arrivals from South-east Asia for the past six months, despite the revaluation of the Swiss franc earlier this year when the Swiss National Bank abandoned the currency cap with the euro.

It was expected that tourist arrivals would take a hit due to the steep rise in prices of food, accommodation and transport within the country. However, latest figures from Switzerland Tourism show otherwise.

According to Ivan Breiter, director of South-east Asia at Switzerland Tourism, the first half of 2015 saw an increase in visitors from Thailand and Indonesia at 35 per cent and 34.3 per cent respectively. Another promising market is the Philippines, which has shown a consistent 20 per cent annual growth.

In total, Switzerland has logged roughly half a million overnight stays from main markets in South-east Asia in the past year, Breiter added.

Visitors from Malaysia and Singapore, the two biggest South-east Asian markets for Switzerland, experienced a slight drop of eight per cent. However, Breiter attributed the fall to “several record years and over-proportional growth rates (of around 50 per cent annually from both countries) in the last few years”.

He added: “Based on several independent studies and research, we expect to continue with annual growth rates of above 10 per cent for the remainder of the decade.”

By Samuel Ng

TTG Asia Media is inaugurating a media engagement workshop at ITB Asia in Singapore and this year’s focus will be: ‘With the next headline-grabbing disaster just around the corner, can you handle the media and the buyers?’

As the industry gets hit by one crisis after another, the workshop will field top journalists and media practitioners giving their views on how to engage the media constructively and creatively, and how crisis management must progress beyond the SOP like media fam trips and using social media.

CEOs from recent disaster-hit destinations will give a reliable account of recovery progress to date and share their thoughts on the media and buyers’ role in rebuilding efforts.

Data-crunchers will pinpoint the common patterns or trends that stand out again and again when a crisis hits – how traffic redirects itself, the role data and intelligence play in crisis management, and how affected destinations can adjust their sales and marketing efforts.

The two-hour, not-for-profit workshop will be held on October 21, 11.00-13.00 at Marina Bay Sands, Sands Convention Centre, Basement 2 Hall D-F. This is within the ITB Asia travel mart and is free for all ITB Asia delegates. Arrangements have also been made for a visitor pass at discounted rates.

Seats are on a first-come, first-served basis as the room can accommodate only 150 pax. To date, a steady stream of registrations has been received. Whether you are the media, PR practitioner, seller, buyer or NTO official, TTG Asia Media welcomes you to the workshop.

Secure a seat on the website or contact Stephanie Toh at (+65) 6395-7531 or stephanie.toh@ttgasia.com

Journalists and media practitioners speaking at the workshop include Kannan Chandran, founder and publisher of E-Quill News Media and Six-Six News; Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire; and Ken Scott, former journalist and now PR practitioner of Scott Asia Communications.

Listen also to the real experiences and recovery updates from direct sources including Marcus Cotton, managing director of Tiger Mountain Nepal, and Jamili Nais, director of Sabah Parks, who was personally involved in the search, rescue and now rebuilding of Kota Kinabalu mountain trails.

Data-driven analysts include Stewart Hunter, director Asia-Pacific of Sojern, and Todd Arthur, managing director Asia-Pacific of HRS.

Get the updates, listen to the media, hear the facts – register now.

HAYLEYS Leisure, part of Sri Lanka’s conglomerate Hayleys Group, is investing in a new US$65 million property in the Maldives and a cluster of leisure properties in Sri Lanka.

Lalin Samarawickrama, managing director of Hayleys Leisure, said the proposed five-star hotel in the Maldives will comprise 150 villas and is located within a 30-minute drive from the airport. Construction is expected to commence in January with an opening scheduled for 2018.

This is Hayleys’ first venture into the Maldives, putting it in direct competition with the likes of Aitken Spence Hotels and John Keells Holdings, Sri Lanka’s two largest conglomerates with sizable investments in the island chain.

In addition, Hayleys is investing in six tea plantation bungalows in Sri Lanka’s central hills while another hotel is being developed in the central town of Nuwara Eliya at a cost of 2.5 billion Sri Lankan rupees (US$18 million). Work on the hotel begins early next year.

Hayleys also plans to add 160 rooms to the 229-key The Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo and will manage a new 66-unit apartment complex in the capital city in October 2015.