ASEAN’S integrated tourism strategy would pack a heavier punch by focusing on South-east Asia as a destination rather than branding the association within the travel trade, say industry players.

Few doubt the region’s ability to attract travellers from regional and long haul markets. However, some remain unconvinced a “Visit ASEAN” campaign could ever outweigh the appeal of promoting South-east Asia.

Peter Semone, chairman, PATA Foundation and chief technical adviser, Lanith, said: “I have always felt strongly that ‘Visit ASEAN’ is a misnomer. ASEAN is an association. So, it would be like saying ‘Visit PATA’. I don’t think major medium-haul and long haul markets understand what ASEAN is. They do, however, know what South-east Asia is. We should be promoting South-east Asia and not ASEAN.”

Duncan Webb, CCO, Onyx Hospitality Group, concurred, adding that brand ASEAN “has little resonance with consumers”. He said: “The increased focus from the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community may increase some consumer awareness, but it’s unlikely it’ll ever have the same credibility at a consumer level as South-east Asia and its mystical allure.”

However, other industry players are more positive about the association’s ability to market the region. “I don’t foresee any major challenges with promoting ASEAN tourism, showcasing our cohesion within the ASEAN communities and our unity across our cultures,” said Philip Wigglesworth, business development manager, Destination Asia (Thailand). “Creating a single-market ASEAN campaign may be a challenge…but with the right balance for all we can hopefully grow and encourage tourism right across the community.”

Valerie Gardelle, marketing manager, Luxury Travel Vietnam, said while ASEAN may lack South-east Asia’s “sex appeal”, when it comes to marketing, the association plays a key role in developing tourism across the region.

“ASEAN’s purpose is noble and everybody can find his or her own benefit within this initiative. The challenge (in promoting ASEAN as a destination) is to find the right words and the easiest way to make messages understood, and engage all kinds of audiences,” she said.

THE INDONESIAN trade is seeing few impacts on air travel following AirAsia Indonesia’s accident, compared with incidents involving other domestic carriers with a less spotless safety record.

Anton Thedy, managing director, TX Travel Indonesia, said: “There were fewer than 10 cancellations on AirAsia Indonesia the first few days following the accident…what might be impacting air travel is the government’s new regulation on lowest fare.”

Excluding Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia, other Indonesian carriers have been on the EU blacklist.

Ng Sebastian, managing director, Incite Travel Makassar, said: “Lion Air has many flights connecting Makassar and other areas in Indonesia, and they continue to be full. Travellers have not stopped going to remote destinations on Indonesian airlines.”

Longhaul travellers have not lost interest too, said Herman Rukmanadi, managing director, Bhara Tours Bandung. “We have secured a new partnership with many (European) tour series for this year – the only condition is to only use Garuda for the domestic connections.

Meanwhile it is estimated Malaysia lost 540,000 Chinese tourists last year due to the disappearance of MH370 and Sabah’s kidnapping cases.

Mint Leong, managing director, Sunflower Holidays, said Chinese travellers are opting instead to fly to Malaysia on Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

Adam Kamal, CEO, Rakyat Travel, said: “Passengers are concerned also about the validity of their travel insurance coverage.”

Additional reporting from S Puvaneswary.

Air KBZ, Myanmar’s privately owned domestic carrier and sister airline of Myanmar Airlines International (MAI), is expanding regionally with plans to launch flights between Yangon and Chiang Mai in May.

The ATR72-600 service will start with two flights a week, according to Crystal Aung, assistant manager marketing and sales, Air KBZ.

“We are working on a codeshare agreement with another Myanmar airline company to increase the number of frequencies,” she said.

Aung said the service is targeted at Thai travellers and international travellers visiting Chiang Mai to travel on to Myanmar and vice versa.

Its second destination in the pipeline is Mae Sot in Thailand.

The airline hopes to link up secondary cities in the region. “MAI will continue serving the major destinations and Air KBZ will help to open up access between secondary cities,” she said. Future destinations will include India and China and cities Air KBZ will operate to will be decided at a later stage.

Air KBZ now operates five ATR-500 and two ATR 72-600 aircraft.

“More aircraft will be deployed to support our (domestic and regional) expansion,” she said. Additional aircraft scheduled for delivery next year include one ATR-600 and two CRJs.

SINGAPORE hotels are starting 2015 on a positive note, confident that rates will hold steady despite a fresh injection of rooms into the city’s supply.

According to the latest Cushman & Wakefield’s assessment, hotels are expected to have closed 2014 at 84.3 per cent occupancy, down from 86 per cent in 2013, as a result of more rooms coming online and a significant drop in the number of Chinese visitors. Despite this, the average room rate (ARR) held steady at S$260 (US$195) compared with S$258 in 2013.

Hotels expressed the same optimism, and said the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 will help boost ASEAN traffic towards the end of the year.

Royal Plaza on Scotts general manager, Patrick Fiat, said: “Royal Plaza closed 2014 with an occupancy rate of 89 per cent and ARR of S$290. We are expecting ARR to increase three to four per cent this year and occupancy to be similar to last year’s.”

The Westin Singapore general manager, Lance J Ourednik, is also optimistic the hotel will “experience healthy growth” in occupancy and ARR this year.

Similarly, Furama RiverFront general manager, Kwan Hun Fah, said: “We closed 2014 with occupancy above 80 per cent and we expect growth in 2015 of three to five per cent for both occupancy and ARR.”

He added: “We expect 2015 to pick up with AEC 2015 and other major events such as the SEA Games as we are one of the hotels providing accommodation to the athletes.”

While Fiat said the impact of AEC on the hospitality industry will only be felt from the end of this year, he added: “With this (AEC) in place, the ease of travel among ASEAN countries for both regional and long haul travellers is expected to increase.

“The joint efforts of AEC 2015 will result in a boom in the region as they encourage cross-border collaborations and investments. This will in turn drive business travel within ASEAN.”

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide regional vice president, South-east Asia, Charlie Dang, concurred: “We are hopeful AEC 2015 will make tourism even more attractive with favourable tourism policies, improved flight connections and a more aligned tourism plan.”

COME 2016, an association, an event organiser and the host committee of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) are expected join hands to leverage their individual strengths for the annual trade event.

 The Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) will be taking the lead in putting together ATF 2016 in Manila, with support from ASEANTA and TTG Asia Media.

Philippines tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez told the Daily the Philippines is eager to get the private sector involved, calling it a “fruition of insights of past ATFs”. He said: “Governments can be a little boring without the private sector, as they are the voice of the industry.”

 Aileen Clemente, president, ASEANTA, said: “This is a testament of public-private partnerships, which have been increasing especially towards ASEAN integration. This collaboration shows the strength of the co-operation and unified goals of all parties, including invitation for investments and contribution to ASEAN’s economic growth.”

 If both parties are appointed by the Philippines, TTG would manage the Travex component while ASEANTA would arrange logistics such as accommodation as well as organising the ASEAN Tourism Conference.

 Darren Ng, managing director, TTG Asia Media, said: “Such a tripartite arrangement will leverage the individual strengths – TTG for its specialisation in event and exhibition organisation for the travel trade and ASEANTA for its established trade ties.”

 One new component of ATF 2016 that ASEANTA is introducing is the investment fair. Said Clemente: “Almost every year, the ASEAN Tourism Conference is handled by ASEANTA. In 2016, ASEANTA will convert the half-day event to two days concentrating on investment opportunities in ASEAN. We’d like to push the portfolio of investments before the conference, so that by the time the conference comes round people can just sign the contracts there.”

 On the choice of Manila as the host destination, Jimenez said: “A lot of things will be completed in Manila by 2016, such as new hotels, and Entertainment City will be in full swing. We also want to clear up a misperception that it’s impossible to get around Manila, but this is possible with the proper management of events.”

 Asked why some DMCs have said they no longer participate at such tradeshows due to low ROI, Ng said that unlike other event organisers, TTG Events will continue to monitor buyers and ensure buyer quality with its experience handling travel tradeshows.

 ASEANTA will contribute by recommending high-quality buyers. Ng added: “A key area of focus is to get new buyers. We’re looking to host about 400 buyers, about 50 per cent from Asia, 30 per cent from Europe and 15 per cent from North America. Traditionally for ASEAN, intra-regional travel is important, and the next important step is Europe.” – Additional reporting by Rosa Ocampo