THE IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) and Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) are setting up a joint working committee, which would address issues facing the trade such as airline commissions and service taxes.

With each association fielding three members, Rajendra Churiwala, director-eastern region, IAAI, explained: “We wish to set an example in the travel trade in India that individual agendas of various associations do not supercede the higher good of the industry. Each stakeholder’s concerns and problems must be represented and addressed. We need unity, and IAAI and ETAA are leading by example.”

Biji Eapen, president of IAAI, added: “We are also planning to interlink IAAI and ETAA websites. This will help leverage the membership pool of both associations.”

Eapen also revealed that IAAI will hold its annual convention in New Delhi in February 2015, but the two associations may propose a joint event instead.

INDIA’S skies could get more competitive with the entry of six new airlines, which are lining up for lift off within the year after receiving approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The six include: the New Delhi-based Zexus Air and Air One Aviation, the latter already runs charter operations with business jets and helicopters; Premier Air, to operate out of Bengaluru; Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha that now operates charter flights; Air Carnival from the south; and Zav Airways that will offer services from the relatively untapped region of the north-east.

The airlines must now obtain air operators’ certificates from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation before beginning services.

Anil Kumar, managing director of Acma Travel Tours Bengaluru, commented: “Smaller airlines with lower overhead costs will rationalise air fares, bringing sanity to the highly fluctuating market. There must be parity and value-for-money offers (from these airlines) to stabilise a rocky aviation industry.”

Padmini Narayanan, managing director of Akshaya India Tours & Travels Chennai, said: “Indian aviation needs more airlines both at the national as well as the regional level. Many smaller cities have airports that are unutilised or grossly underused. Business travel is growing exponentially and these sectors have sufficient demand to fill planeloads.”

CARLSON Wagonlit Travel (CWT) will integrate a score-keeping functionality to its mobile app CWT To Go in order to encourage corporate travellers to adhere to company travel policy.

Travel Gamification is a game-style loyalty scheme for companies in which employees earn points for compliance and track their position on the company’s gamification leader board.

Joel Wartgow, senior director, CWT Solutions Group, Americas, said in a press release: “Travel Gamification is a tool travel managers can use to positively reinforce behaviour compliant with their travel programme. Providing travellers access to the tool via CWT To Go will help them understand the impact of their purchasing decisions, providing travel managers further opportunity to educate and influence their travelers to support the goals of their travel programme.”

Each company’s Travel Gamification programme is customised to the client’s needs.

Wartgow added: “As supplier pricing appears likely to increase through 2014, it’s more important than ever for travel managers to find innovative solutions to drive savings. With Travel Gamification now available and optimised for CWT To Go, we are offering even more ways for companies to encourage traveller buying behaviours that will drive programme performance.”

HOSPITALITY and restaurant group Samadhi Retreats has signed a long-term management agreement to brand and manage The Blue Mansion, A Cheong Fatt Tze Legacy.

The boutique hotel is one of three heritage buildings in Penang to have won awards from UNESCO. It was built by renowned Chinese tycoon Cheong Fatt Tze just before the turn of the 20^th century.

Under the helm of Samadhi Retreats, The Blue Mansion’s 18 rooms have been restored to reflect the tycoon’s opulent lifestyle. Each room is individually themed and furnished with luxurious amenities alongside precious heirlooms from the family’s private collection.

A new addition to The Blue Mansion is the Cheong Fatt Tze Restaurant, serving modern Cantonese cuisine. Other facilities include a swimming pool surrounded by Chinese gardens, and a Samadhi Spa.

The Blue Mansion will be the group’s third property in Malaysia after Japamala Resort Tioman Island, a 13-chalet jungle-luxe resort that opened in 2004, and Villa Samadhi, a 21-room urban retreat in Kuala Lumpur that opened in 2011.

Samadhi Retreats is poised to open a fourth hotel, a 22-room colonial escape in Singapore’s Labrador Park, at the end of 2014. This will be the company’s first hospitality foray outside Malaysia.

Federico Asaro, founder and owner of Samadhi Retreats, said in a press release: “Samadhi Retreats is thrilled to be associated with The Blue Mansion, which holds great cultural value and is such an integral piece of Penang’s historical fabric. Its iconic status makes it a perfect match with Samadhi Retreats properties, which are identified by their unique locations that are true to its strong sense of place.”

MORE than half of Chinese travellers now make accommodation reservations via the web or mobile, up from 45 per cent in 2013, according to a Hotels.com survey.

According to the OTA’s third edition of the Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM), slightly less than half use review sites in the research stage of travel, a third keep their eyes on social media, and 84 per cent share photos and experiences on social media during and after a trip.

Younger Chinese travellers are also venturing overseas on their own, with two-thirds saying they now prefer to travel independently, five percentage points higher than in 2013.

Given how connected the Chinese traveller is, free Wi-Fi is unsurprisingly the most important service in a hotel, said 59 per cent of respondents.

Abhiram Chowdhry, vice president and managing director APAC of Hotels.com, said: “There are many factors driving the desire of the Chinese people to explore the world. The rising affluence of the growing middle class with higher disposable incomes, the upward trend in the number of repeat travellers, more relaxed visa conditions and improved local infrastructure are all dovetailing to expedite this growth.

“However, our report quantifies another factor: the rate at which technology is transforming the landscape of Chinese overseas travel.”

The CITM garnered responses from more than 3,000 Chinese international travellers and 3,000 hoteliers around the world.

THE upgrading of Myanmar’s data networks by new telecomms companies in the country are facilitating DMCs’ own systems upgrade with many turning to software-based solutions to handle bookings.

A spokesperson from a Yangon-based travel agency who wished to remain anonymous, remarked: “Myanmar’s recent opening resulted in more bookings, and therefore we need a software that can handle this increased workload.”

Such software would allow travel consultants selling packages to perform faster single and cross-country package calculations, as compared to doing them manually.

Local offices of Asian DMCs can also provide real-time data to headquarters to enable management to react faster to changes in booking patterns and observe trends for the future.

Take-up of software solutions were lacklustre before due to Myanmar’s slow bandwidth, coupled with power outages that made sending and receiving data a tedious task.

Khiri Travel Myanmar is one such company that has implemented new software. Vice president Andre van der Marck commented: “Our Myanmar office now has a real chance to catch up with our (12) other Khiri offices in terms of getting online back office systems aligned.”

However, the same spokesperson from the Yangon-based travel agency pointed out: “Introducing a software-based solution means a lot of extra work that cannot be done by our staff while they are busy with day-to-day schedules. Therefore we need to hire professionals who will implement our software cleanly and provide training to our staff during the process.”

By Tobias Esche

SINGAPORE-BASED LCC Scoot is relocating to Don Mueang Airport from its current location at Suvarnabhumi Airport starting from September 1, 2014.

The airline announced that the move was prompted by two factors: cheaper and faster access to the Bangkok city centre, as well to offer passengers connections to more than 20 Thai cities via its LCC parter, Nok Air.

Passengers can now view a full range of onward destinations on Nok Air at www.flyscoot.com for travel from September 1.

Scoot officially entered a joint venture with Nok Air for the budget NokScoot Airlines, acquiring Pete Air to jump-start the new carrier (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 20, 2014).