CHINESE tourists who want to combine a holiday to the UK and continental European countries can now apply for both Belgium – a Schengen country – and UK visas in a single application.

Starting July 1, Chinese nationals who apply for a visa to the UK at the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre can also request a visa to Belgium, which gives them access to Schengen countries.

Belgium visas were only available through the Belgium embassy before hand and Chinese travellers intending to include the UK in their itinerary had to apply for both visas separately.

Travel trade members that TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to have welcomed the move, which makes multi-destination itineraries for the Chinese traveller less of a hassle.

Shanghai-based Hongkong Four Seas Travel – TSI, general manager for Greater China (business travel), Jonathan Kao said: “With the new policy, travellers can now easily plan for a ‘whole’ Europe trip, which means that they will most likely be travelling for long periods.

“The cheap euro certainly helps too and we are already seeing a lot of travellers who would’ve otherwise gone to Hong Kong now go directly to Europe to shop.”

He added that the new arrangement helps business travellers save time planning their trips as previously travellers could not apply for both visas at the same time.

The change in visa processes is also timely, as CITS Shenzhen’s outbound travel manager, Ding Wei, reported that travel demand to the UK has been so strong that most of the agency’s tours have been booked up this summer.

Ding said: “This visa initiative will drive more traffic for sure and we expect 50 per cent growth in 2015. Group tours have dominated outbound traffic but we are starting to see more FITs. We plan to create more new tour routes and FIT packages to Europe.”

TRAVEL solutions provider 11 infotech is holding an XML workshop to teach its members how to better distribute their products and work more closely with global online distributors this month.

To be held at Amari Don Muang Airport, Bangkok on July 28, the second edition of 11 infotech’s XML workshop is bringing together more than 80 of its users from around the world as well as global online distributors such as GTA, lowcostbeds and Jac Travel.

Attendees will get a better understanding on how to distribute their products and view the latest version of the TravFlex B2B distribution system, which now allows them to connect to air tickets and insurance products.

The travel solutions provider has been organising such workshops as an annual feature of ITB Asia Singapore for the past nine years.

MALAYSIAN inbound tour agencies are projecting a rise in post-Hari Raya business from the Indonesian market.

Agencies that TTG Asia e-Daily interviewed predicted business to be better than last year, with the weakened ringgit driving demand. Pent-up demand is also fuelling travel, as some had held back their plans to holiday last year due to Indonesia’s general election.

Nanda Kumar, managing director of Hidden Asia Travel & Tours, said he is anticipating a 10 per cent increase in business events travel to Malaysia this year, with five bookings already confirmed.

He expects a pick up in leisure family travel as well, with Genting, Kuala Lumpur and Legoland Malaysia in Johor Bahru being favourite destinations.

Arokia Das, senior manager, Luxury Tours Malaysia, said: “This year, post-Raya will definitely be stronger than last year. We expect leisure business to increase by at least 35 per cent year-on-year during the Lebaran holiday and MICE by at least 18 per cent post-Raya.

“Cheap airfares, a growing middle class, and direct connectivity from major cities such as Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya are driving business.”

Kimberley Khoo, deputy inbound manager at Skyzone Tours & Travel, said she has a few confirmed incentive bookings in August and had received requests for proposals for September and October.

Both Khoo and Das said that Kuala Lumpur remains a key destination for MICE, followed by Johor Bahru twinned with Singapore.

GARUDA Indonesia is back to its regular operating schedule today following the restoration of its online systems, which had blacked out in a fire that broke out at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport yesterday.

Arif Wibowo, Garuda president and CEO said: “The system has been back online since last night. We are adding extra flights and operating bigger aircraft, focusing on flying (some 3,900) stranded passengers. Today, all flights operate as per normal.”

He added that Garuda is allowing affected passengers to reschedule their flights or obtain full refunds.

A fire started in the lounge at Terminal 2E of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 06.00 yesterday, causing a blackout across the terminal and disrupting flights with some 33 flights were cancelled, including departures to Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Besides Garuda, Malaysia Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines flights were also among the flights suffering delays.

AIMING to give travel consultants a better and data-driven understanding of the market and customer needs, Amadeus today announced the global launch of its Agency Insight suite of products.

Amadeus Agency Insight is a suite of products and services to help travel agencies both online and offline leverage Big Data technologies by transforming market and traveller data into actionable insights.

It is comprised of two modules: Search Analysis and Booking Analysis.

Search Analysis lets agencies understand customers’ travel intentions and identify the most popular destinations, travel periods and trip durations by analysing search data, in turn helping agencies tailor offers based on expected demand.

Booking Analysis helps agencies benchmark their market position and evaluate the competition, while revealing trends on growing routes and airlines. Agencies can use the data to enhance sales monitoring, inform marketing strategies and improve supplier management.

The suite is powered by Amadeus’ cloud-based Big Data platform, the Travel Intelligence Engine, which gathers and analyses intelligence across the entire travel cycle.

Pasacal Clement, head of Travel Intelligence at Amadeus, said in a press statement: “Understanding how travellers search and book for travel is vital for travel players. Search Analysis and Booking Analysis will empower travel consultants to leverage data and target the right travellers at the right time.”