Thais aged 18 to 24 years old most likely to travel solo, study finds
Over a quarter of Thais (28%) have travelled overseas solo in the past two years, ahead of the global (24%) and Asia-Pacific (23%) averages, according to Visa’s Global Travel Intentions Study looking at international travel trends and behaviour of 17,500 global travellers from 27 countries including Thailand.
The study further identified those most likely to travel solo are the youngest group of travellers (18-24 years old) at 45%, and those combining business and leisure travel or bleisure travellers at 37%. Travellers aged between 25-35 years old and affluent travellers round out the group that is most likely to travel solo at 28% likelihood each.
Thais aged 18 to 24 years old most likely to travel solo, study finds
On the flip side, travellers aged 36-44 years old are the most likely to travel with other people throughout the entire trip at 71%.
When travelling with companions, bigger groups are common, and a group will typically comprise up to five people on average. Those travelling with others are most likely to be accompanied by their spouses/partners (49%) or friends/colleagues (42%). Travellers aged 45 years old and above (72%) are more likely to travel with their family and friends throughout the whole trip.
When it comes to travel activities, travellers from Thailand differ from their Asia-Pacific counterparts. The top three activities for Thai travellers are tours and attractions (71%), food and dining (69%), and shopping (68%). When it comes to food and dining, Thai travellers opt for eating at local casual and small restaurants (39%) and tasting street food (30%).
In addition, some of the key activities Thai travellers engage in are visits to cultural locales (52%), visits to theme parks and attractions (34%), and religious monuments (29%). Shopping for Thai travellers is all about venues that carry a range of brands and products, at duty-free shopping at destination airports (34%), at large and medium retailers (33%), and small retailers (30%).
On the other hand, top activities for Asia-Pacific travellers are food and dining (73%), shopping (69%), and tours and attractions (64%).
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok overlooking the Chao Phraya River
Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has announced that its River Wing is scheduled to undergo renovation from March to October 2019, right as another iconic name in the city, The Sukhothai Bangkok, unveils its new Club Wing.
The Sukhothai Bangkok this week completed the transformation of its Terrace Wing into the Club Wing as part of a larger restoration plan covering the rest of the hotel and the main wing room interior over the next few years.
The Sukhothai Bangkok's new Club Wing
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Club Suite living room
Club Balcony Room
Club Premier Suite dining and living area
The new wing features 33 brand-new rooms and suites, a club lounge on the sixth floor, a new fitness centre in the basement and a renovated 25m-long outdoor infinity pool surrounded by 12 cabanas.
Rooms in the wing range from 45m2 to 138m2, with some featuring large verandahs. In-room conveniences include Japanese toilets, Harman Kardon sound systems, a 55-inch LED television, digital bedside control panel, a Nespresso coffee machine and a pillow menu.
Club Wing guests also enjoy in-room check in when they arrive.
The club lounge located on the sixth floor of the new wing offers is believed to be one of the largest in the city. As well as a la carte breakfast, afternoon tea and cocktails, the lounge also offers a private meeting room for up to six persons.
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok overlooking the Chao Phraya River
Meanwhile, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced a renovation at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok next year, encompassing all the rooms and suites in the River Wing, together with the lobby, swimming pools and Lord Jim’s, The Verandah and Riverside Terrace restaurants.
A major component of the work will be to enlarge the guest rooms located in the River Wing. The overall number of guest rooms will be reduced from 338 to 301, while the number of suites will increase from 30 to 46.
All rooms and suites in the Authors’ and Garden Wings – restored in 2016 – will remain open throughout the renovation.
It will also be business as usual at all other restaurants and banqueting facilities, including the two-Michelin-starred Le Normandie, Authors’ Lounge, Bamboo Bar, Ciao Terraza, Sala Rim Naam, Terrace Rim Naam, The China House and the Ballroom.
As both swimming pools will undergo renovation, alternative arrangements will be made for guests wishing to swim. Spa and fitness facilities will remain fully operational.
Air Astana yesterday took delivery of its first Embraer E190-E2, which features a special snow leopard livery meant to draw attention to the threat of extinction faced by the wild cat.
The Embraer plane arrived at Nursultan Nazarbayev International airport in Astana clad in the eye-catching livery, which Air Astana says reflects its intention to improve ecological protection for endangered species such as the snow leopard, native to mountain ranges in the Kazkhstan’s south.
This is the first of five Embraer E190-E2 aircraft to be delivered to the Kazakhstan airline following an order placed in August 2017.
The new generation aircraft will gradually replace older Embraer E190s in the airline’s fleet. The carrier currently operates nine Embraer E190 aircraft on domestic and low-density regional services, with the first aircraft having entered service in 2011.
The twin engine, single aisle Embraer E190-E2 belongs to the family of upgraded E-Jets, said to offer lower operating costs, emissions and noise levels, with a range of more than 5,000km.
While seen as an alternative, El Nido does not have the capacity to absorb Boracay volume in the summer peak season
Another tourist destination in the Philippines, El Nido in Palawan, is up for rehabilitation but without the complete shutdown as imposed in the case of Boracay, much to the relief of the travel trade.
“I think they saw that the rehabilitation of Boracay needed more planning and cannot be done with an iron hand,” said Jojo Clemente, president of the private sector consultative body Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP).
While seen as an alternative, El Nido does not have the capacity to absorb Boracay volume in the summer peak season
“They learned from the Boracay experience that there should be a better way of rehabilitating (a destination), that instead of closing everything in one go, it can be done selectively or in phases,” he told TTG Asia.
Clemente welcomed measures pronounced by tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat to impose a carrying capacity, as well as fix the wastewater, sewage disposal and other environmental problems the tourist destination is facing without closing it down.
Puyat is part of the inter-agency task force that also includes the heads of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Interior and Local Government who visited El Nido and Panglao in Bohol last week to get rehabilitation work off the ground.
Clemente further shared that Puyat is consulting regularly with his organisation, TCP.
Approving the government’s new tack, he foresaw the rehabilitation of El Nido and other destinations to “be much better in terms of planning and giving stakeholders ample time (to comply)”.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), which frowned on Boracay’s closure, has proposed to “close or heavily fine only those establishments that are proven to have violated environmental codes”.
It also proposed that “erring officials be charged or removed from service”.
Jose Leviste, PCCI director for environment and climate change, speaking to TTG Asia at the sidelines of the recent PCAAE 6th associations summit in Subic, emphasised the need for “gradual, not abrupt rehabilitation” of El Nido, “otherwise the patient might have a cardiac arrest”.
In the early days of the government extending rehabilitation efforts beyond Boracay, Clemente observed that tourism stakeholders in El Nido are already working on alleviating the environmental impact to avoid the possibility of being closed down.
As many as 500 million guests may potentially have had their personal information exposed in an illegal hack of its Starwood database that began since 2014, Marriott International announced on Friday.
The company said in a statement that for 327 million guests, personal information compromised could include some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, date of birth and Starwood Preferred Guest account information among other personal details.
Security of 500 million Starwood guest records potentially compromised
For others, the information could include credit card numbers and expiration dates, but those numbers were encrypted, the hotel chain said.
There are two components needed to decrypt the payment card numbers, and at this point, Marriott said it has not been able to rule out the possibility that both were stolen.
Marriott said it learned about the breach after an internal security tool sent an alert on September 8. That was when a probe was launched and the unauthorised access discovered. It was only on November 19 that Marriott was able to decrypt the information and determined that the contents were from the Starwood guest reservation database.
The incident has already been reported to law enforcement, and the company has also notified regulatory authorities.
The hospitality giant said that it has been sending emails to affected guests beginning Friday.
Properties under Starwood include Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, St Regis, Four Points, Aloft, Le Méridien, Tribute, Design Hotels, Elements and the Luxury Collection.
“We deeply regret this incident happened,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s president and CEO. “We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves. We are doing everything we can to support our guests, and using lessons learned to be better moving forward.”
Sorenson added that resources will be devoted to phase out Starwood systems, and accelerate the ongoing security enhancements to the Marriott network.
Marriott bought Starwood in 2016 for US$13 billion, and 30 hotel brands currently fall under the Marriott umbrella. It is the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 6,700 properties in 129 countries and territories.
Rendering of a guestroom at the upcoming hotel in Clark
Come 2019, Radisson Hotel Group and Best Western Hotels & Resorts will be opening one property each in Iloilo and Angeles City respectively.
The Radisson Hotel Group is scheduled to open its third Park Inn by Radisson hotel in 1Q2019. Standing next to the SM City Iloilo in Mandurriao, the hotel is a 20-minute drive from Iloilo International Airport.
Rendering of a guestroom at the upcoming Best Western hotel in Clark
The Park Inn by Radisson Iloilo will offer 200 keys, as well as facilities such as an all-day dining restaurant, a self-serve section for on-the-go goodies, gym, and swimming pool. For events, its main function room can accommodate a maximum of 100 guests, while the al fresco space by the poolside can cater to smaller evening functions.
The Radisson group currently has 22 hotels in operation and under development in the Asia-Pacific region.
Over in Angeles City, a tourist destination near Manila, the SureStay Plus by Best Western Regency Angeles City Clark will feature 56 guestrooms with an array of amenities which include an outdoor pool, restaurant, cafe, and business services.
The property is slated to open in 2Q2019 on Surla Street, and is the first SureStay-branded hotel in the Philippines.
Best Western currently operates five hotels and resorts all across the Philippines.
Garuda Indonesia will restart its Jakarta-London Heathrow direct services on December 13, after suspending the service on October 29.
The thrice-weekly flights will utilise the Boeing 777-300ER, and will offer two classes.
Ari Askhara, president director of Garuda Indonesia, said in a statement that the reopening of the route was made possible following the company’s cost structure management.
“The reopening of the service is also part of Garuda’s move to develop the international route network, especially when the Indonesia to UK traffic is growing in line with the UK market to Indonesia,” Ari said.
Data from Statistics Indonesia showed that the number of arrivals from UK to Indonesia, particularly via Bali, ranked fourth after China, Australia and India. It also revealed that between January and September 2018, arrivals from UK reached 210,062, which was nine per cent higher than the same period last year.
While acknowledging the bulk of the UK traffic headed to Bali, the announcement made no mention of any Garuda service to Bali.
Instead, Ari said: “We are confident that the growth of arrivals (to Indonesia) has the potential to support the development of (Garuda’s) Jakarta-London service.”
The Indonesian flag carrier also expects that the service will help capture the Kangaroo route between Australia and Europe.
The Inside Access offers bespoke dining and private events
Food and hawker fare have long been a selling point for Singapore, but now tourism and hospitality players are cooking up a storm of elevated gastronomical experiences to entice visitors to the city.
The Inside Access offers bespoke dining and private events
Singapore in recent years has seen a brimming culinary calendar populated with the likes of the Michelin chef series, Singapore Food Festival and Sentosa GrillFest, Beerfest Asia, Whisky Live, World Gourmet Summit, Singapore Restaurant Week and Oktoberfest, with scores of celebrity restaurants and F&B pop-ups thrown into the mix.
For example, F&B distributor Mead – which supplies premium Japanese imports to restaurants such as Tippling Club and Cut by Wolfgang Puck – has taken to introducing special sake pairing and food tasting sessions with its restaurant partners.
Andre Chalson, managing director of Mead, shared: “Events like this round out the Singapore culinary legend. It’s all about storytelling, our story as a nation of food aficionados. To truly live up to that reputation, we must continue to embrace all food cultures and hold events like this, to give communities access to new culinary delights.”
Additionally, hoisted by high-profile events such as the Trump-Kim summit in June, as well as the popularity of book-turned-movie Crazy Rich Asians and TV series Masterchef Singapore, more players are raising the bar even higher for culinary experiences.
Arron Lim, founder of The Inside Access, commented: “With the premiere of Crazy Rich Asians, there will probably be a surge in travellers interested to check out what sort of luxury experiences there are in Singapore.”
The Singapore-based curator recently launched Insider Experiences, a menu of bespoke private events that brings renowned chefs and restaurant partners to any venue, including on a yacht with its newest Chef On Board series.
Lim added that exposure on the golden screen can also open up opportunities for attractions beyond traditional luxury, from Singapore’s “urban landscape to (its) dining scene”.
The movie, for example, inspired food tour company Wok ‘n’ Stroll to launch a Crazy Rich Asians – “Behind the Scenes” Food Tour in August. Its itinerary treats participants to local food mentioned in the novel and movie, such as carrot cake, roti prata and Malay cakes at venues like Newton Hawker Centre and Joo Chiat; as well as more upscale venues like Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant New Ubin Seafood at CHIJMES and LeVeL33 Craft-Brewery Restaurant & Lounge.
“Singapore looks so attractive and sexy in the movie. We wanted to give the audience the experience of being a crazy-rich Asian for one evening,” shared Wok ‘n’ Stroll founder and CEO Karni Tomer.
For hospitality giant AccorHotels, Singapore’s burgeoning identity as a culinary destination has become an opportunity to enhance the group’s F&B strategy. Amir Nahai, CEO food & beverage and lifestyle, AccorHotels, said: “Our F&B (offer) was not where it needed to be. There were a lot of opportunities to improve it for our guests. We’ve embarked on a big transformation,” he said.
Part of this transformation was the acquisition of hotel groups such as Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel over the past three years, which has brought AccorHotels “an element of luxury to its F&B”, said Nigel Moore, director of F&B, Fairmont Singapore & Swissôtel The Stamford.
He added: “What we’ve set out to do is position our restaurants as standalone restaurants. In the past, hotel restaurants had bad lighting, bad drinks and unsociable spaces, where you only went because you were a hotel guest and didn’t know where else to go.
“Now, in our luxury (properties), we don’t cookie-cut. So you won’t find the same restaurant in a Fairmont in Mumbai as in Singapore or New York. People come to our restaurants because they like the atmosphere and the food.”
Exemplary of this is the highly anticipated reopening of Raffles Hotel Singapore next year, which will launch 10 culinary spaces, including four new concepts BBR by Alain Ducasse, La Dame de Pic by three Michelin star chef Anne-Sophie Pic, yì by Singapore MasterChef Jereme Leung and Butcher’s Block.
Lifestyle brand naked Group has made three executive appointments for its resort business – naked Retreats.
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Han Zantingh
Charles Young
Caspar P Schmidt
Heading naked Retreats as CEO is Han Zantingh, who has more than 20 years of experience managing business and lifestyle brands. In his new role, he will manage naked Retreats’ business performance and development, and create more opportunities and possibilities for the naked brand. Prior to joining naked, he was most recently vice president of marketing at Carlsberg China, and was previously managing director, Asia for Brainjuicer, and TAG Worldwide.
Taking up the COO role is Charles Young, who joins naked Retreats with over 25 years of hotel management experience, having worked for seven different brands from Hyatt to Marriott. He will focus on the operation and management of naked Retreats, lead customer service, as well as accelerate business development throughout China and the world.
In the position of CEO of naked Retreats international business is Caspar P Schmidt, who joins the naked Group from Sydney’s boutique hotel brand Veriu, where he was ground COO. He previously also spent 13 years with Toga Far East Hotels in several senior management positions in Australia and Europe. With more than two decades’ experience in the hospitality industry. Schmidt is responsible for all commercial operations of naked Retreats’ overseas businesses.
