Ekniti Nitithanprapas (left), chairman of the board of directors, Thai Airways (THAI), met with Wang Changshun (right), chairman of China Southern Airlines, last week in Guangzhou. Both parties discussed topics such as route network, interline agreements, as well as tourism cooperation between Thailand and China.
Korean Air links Busan and Danang
Korean Air has launched a daily service between Danang and Busan, operating on the B737-900. Flight KE465 will depart Busan’s Gimhae International Airport at 21.25, arriving at Danang at 00.20 the following day. The return flight, KE466, will depart Danang at 02.45 and arrive at Gimhae at 08.30.
AirAsia expands China network
AirAsia has extended its reach in China with the addition of a four-times-weekly service between Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, beginning December 2, 2018.
D7318 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 15.00 and arrive in Tianjin at 21.00 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. On the same days, return flight D7319 will depart Tianjin at 22.15 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.45.
AirAsia will also beef up its direct route between Kuala Lumpur and Changsha, doubling the current number of seats by operating its fleet of larger wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft commencing October 29, 2018.
There will also be a new flight schedule. D7352 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 18.10, and arrive in Changsha at 23.05 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On the same days, return flight D7353 will depart Changhsa at 23.50 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.30.
Air NZ and SIA boost Auckland-Singapore services
Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have jointly launched their third daily flight between Auckland and Singapore since October 28.
The new service will operate daily during the peak northern winter season (October 28, 2018 – March 30, 2019), and five times per week during the northern summer season (March 31, 2019 – October 26, 2019).
This new flight will boost capacity on the route by up to 40 per cent and adding more than 165,000 seats annually between the two cities. During peak months, the airlines will jointly operate a total of 35 return services a week between Singapore and New Zealand, including Christchurch and Wellington flights.
Lufthansa ups frequency between Singapore and Munich
Lufthansa will increase its five-times weekly flight between Singapore and Munich to six-times weekly beginning April 1, 2019.
The route will be serviced by a A350-900 and feature 48 seats in Business Class, 21 in Premium Economy, and 224 in Economy class.
LH791 will depart Singapore at 22.55 every day except Tuesday, and arrive in Munich at 05.25 the following day. LH790 will depart Munich at 22.05 every day except Monday, and arrive in Singapore at 16.05 the following day.
This comes shortly after the airline reintroduced Singapore – Munich route in March 2018 with the Airbus A350-900. In total, Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS) offers 20 weekly frequencies from Singapore to Europe starting summer 2019.
Managed by Far East Hospitality
Located at the heart of Sentosa, the new hotels are well connected to the attractions on the island as well as within close proximity to the key locations on Singapore mainland.
Village Hotels Sentosa offers the perfect experience for families, leisure and business groups. The 606-room hotel perfectly captures all Sentosa’s Sun, sand and sea in its modern architecture and the décor in sun-washed hues of nature by the sea. The elevated pool deck was to create an archipelago of endless water-fun activities with its four themed pool zones from the Children’s Play Pool, Lazy River Pool, Adventure Pool, and Pamukkale Pool. Not forgetting the thematic gardens, and outdoor spaces for rest, recreation or even intimate events. Holding large-scale celebrations and meetings for up to 480 people are possible too at The Commune within Village Hotel at Sentosa. Cosy and more intimate events are not forgotten as they can be held at the Revelry Hall in Events Centre which is ideal for celebrations and social events.
Designed for discerning millennials and couples, is The Outpost Hotel has 193 guest rooms with contemporary industrial aesthetics and clean crisp lines inspired by black-and-white design. For those who enjoy relaxing in the open, the exclusive rooftop pool and bar offers a picturesque backdrop of the sea or sunset for evening cocktails, candlelit dinners and intimate events.
Housed in a designated conserved building, the 40 luxurious guest rooms and suites of The Barracks Hotel are decorated with old-world sophistication and elegance. On the ground floor, rooms offer direct access to the private pool and jacuzzi.
Be the first to stay with us or hold your event at the new gateway and getaway on Sentosa. Email sales.sentosa@fareast.com.sg or visit www.StayFarEast.com/Sentosa to find out more.
The latest DMC to enter the playing field, Xperience Singapore Events & Travel is keen to bring a host of in-depth and immersive activities for leisure and business travellers.
Owned by Xperience DMC – a partner of Destination China – Xperience is headed by director Jane Goh, a veteran in hotel conference services and tourism with more than a decade of guiding experience.
She opined: “There are many other things we can do to sell the country as a destination, but they’re not being done yet. There’s a lot of focus on man-made attractions, but the soft (experience) is not there yet. I wanted to show another side of Singapore that many travellers and incentive visitors have not seen.”
Activities offered include learning and performing the Chinese lion dance, tracking and photographing otters in the city, and rowing across Marina Reservoir on dragonboat.
Goh shared: “We only started in April, and there was an avalanche of ideas in just three months.”
The spark came in the form of a Teochew opera troupe performing at the Singapore Heritage Festival, where she witnessed their behind-the-scenes preparations.
“When I saw that, I knew that tourists would love seeing something like this,” Goh recalled, and revealed that the performers were initially “a bit worried” and shy to open up their practice to tour groups.
However, not only was she able to negotiate with and convince the opera troupe, Goh was also introduced to their friends from other cultural groups such as lion dances and Wing Chun (a martial arts style).
Many of these groups are willing to welcome tourists, but do not have the means or knowledge of how to market themselves to visitors, she explained.
She also revealed that the dragonboat racing group had approached a travel agent for a partnership in the past, but was turned away.
“Our guides have become bored with city tours, so they’re excited to start these activities,” shared Goh.
Xperience’s smaller size can be an advantage, Goh insisted. “We are very involved in direct contact with our clients,” she said. “We give our clients the link to the management and the assurance that we are always here if there’s anything they need.”
While swanky hospitality brands like Andaz are calling towering skyscrapers homes in Singapore, a crop of new hotels are finding love in the city’s older buildings, wooing travellers with a meld of history and modern comfort.
In 2017, The Lo & Behold Group set up camp in the old warehouses of Robertson Quay, originally built in 1895 for liquor distilleries and opium dens. Then in April this year, luxury resort brand Six Senses opened within a row of shophouses in the Tanjong Pagar district.
Most recently, Cube Boutique Capsule Hotel at Kampong Glam – located in restored shophouses along the Kampong Glam Heritage Trail – opened in July under Singapore real-estate firm RB Hospitality.
Sonia Anya Tay, COO and co-founder of CUBE Boutique Capsule Hotel, said: “Our capsules are built in restored conservation shophouses or authentic pre-war buildings with a rich history and sited in popular tourist areas.”
She explained that Cube caters to a new generation of guests that “(doesn’t) need a swimming pool or spa facilities on the premises” and are “price-sensitive”, but who also appreciate the immersive experience of staying in a heritage building.
“(Our guests) are identified as digital-savvy global explorers in the 18-35 age group,” Tay said.
Conserved heritage sites are hardly a novel setting for Singapore hotels. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore occupies a National Monument: the Fullerton Building, commissioned in 1919 as a part of the British colony’s centennial celebrations; Grand Park City Hall sits on a century-old conservation site; Link Hotel was converted from art-deco residential blocks from the 1950s and 1960s; and the iconic Raffles Hotel Singapore opened in 1887 with 10 rooms in an old bungalow-style building.
But this recent rush of new blood to the scene has reawakened the old dames, who have launched rejuvenation campaigns and technological innovations to remain competitive.
Link Hotel has reopened after a major renovation, and is now part of the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail.
As part of its restoration, Raffles Hotel Singapore will introduce a new line-up of dining experiences by celebrity chefs such as BBR by Alain Ducasse; La Dame de Pic by three-Michelin-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic; and yì by Jereme Leung, a Singapore-born chef who was a judge on Masterchef China. This heritage icon is slated to reopen in 1Q2019.
Grand Park City Hall is also undergoing the final phase of its transformative masterplan – scheduled to complete soon – which will integrate it into an upcoming mixed-use lifestyle precinct, City Hall Square. It will be the first hotel in Singapore to launch mobile check-in facial recognition technology, reducing check-in time from five minutes to a minute.
“The new Grand Park City Hall appeals to travellers looking for unique experiences that are infused with Singapore’s stories, and have an appreciation for arts and history. These guests also embrace seamless experiences empowered by technology today,” said John Kockan, general manager, Grand Park City Hall.
Meanwhile, The Fullerton Hotel has taken its 90th anniversary this year to introduce year-round events and promotions. These include the inaugural Fullerton Concours d’Elegance showcase of more than 90 vintage and classic cars; and a series of theatrical drama tours that retell the history of the national monument.
Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale, the hotel’s general manager, said: “I believe there is an air of romance and mystique that surrounds Singapore’s heritage buildings, especially one like the Fullerton Building. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of heritage building, each stay is enhanced by authentic stories and experiences that are hard to replicate.”
Just as Cebu’s tourism development is picking up pace, the island province’s worsening traffic congestion is beginning to take the shine off one of the most visited destinations in the Philippines.
Urbanisation, the lack of arterial roads and limited transport system combine to worsen Cebu’s traffic gridlock – which some say is even worse than Manila’s – over the last couple of years, forcing tourists to limit their activities and stay in one area rather than fully exploring the destination’s rich offerings.
Congestion was even more acutely felt in recent months as Cebu became the top alternative destination for tourists who would have otherwise flocked to Boracay, were it not for the latter’s temporary six-month closure, said Margie Munsayac, vice president sales and marketing, Maribago Bluewater Resorts.
Travel Experts’ inbound manager Girlie Malaran said the traffic jam is a big consideration for visitors to Cebu, to the extent that properties on Mactan Island benefit from their nearer proximity to the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), whereas hotels farther in Cebu City are less favoured as transfers will be exacerbated by traffic jams.
Another travel agent shared that even for business events, they are forced to choose hotels near MCIA and confine their activities in the hotel to avoid the traffic rush.
Aware of the traffic problem, Colliers International’s research manager Joey Bondoc said that property developers are replicating Manila’s mixed-use developments in Cebu, which integrate offices, residential units, hospitals and shops, while providing transport as well from these developments to other destinations.
Bondoc added that major infrastructure projects planned over the next four years, including the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, Metro Cebu Expressway, Cebu-Negros Link Bridge, Cebu-Bohol Link Bridge and Bus Rapid Transit System, should help to ease traffic in the province.
Such infrastructure projects “should spur the demand” for more hotels and resorts outside the metro Cebu corridor, comprising Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu in Mactan and Mandaue, and attract more tourists, Bondoc said.
Despite its ongoing traffic woes, Cebu received 4.9 million foreign and domestic travellers last year, and is projected to enjoy a 10 to 15 per cent annual growth in visitor numbers over the next two or three years.
Its hotel occupancy rate, sustained at 78 per cent on average last year, should hover between 70 and 75 per cent over the next three years, according to a report by Colliers International.
The completion of MCIA’s modern and efficient Terminal 2 for international flights paves the way for bullish tourism prospects for Cebu as it will triple the airport’s annual handling capacity from 4.5 million to 12.5 million travellers.
It also helps that GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp, operator of MCIA, is actively working closely with Cebu Pacific to connect the airport with various destinations in Cebu, and neighbouring provinces by land and water.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific, the largest carrier operating in MCIA, will increase flights to Cebu by 20 per cent next year to serve the growing tourism industry, according to Michelle de Guzman, the airline’s overall in charge for marketing.
With these upcoming infrastructure developments, tourism prospects for Cebu are looking bright as it grows into a hub linking up different destinations within the Philippines, allowing visitors to bypass Manila, said Travel Experts’ Malaran.
Booking Holdings has sealed a strategic partnership with Grab, alongside an investment of US$200 million into the Singapore-based company, now a ride-hailing leader in South-east Asia.
With the partnership, Grab users will be able to book travel-related services powered by Booking and agoda for the first time, and pay using the GrabPay digital wallet.
Booking Holdings’ brands will also be able to offer Grab’s on-demand transport services through their apps.
The deal comes as Grab works to become a super app, having expanded beyond ride-hailing to digital payments and delivery solutions, and now travel services.
Ming Maa, president of Grab, said: “The online travel market in South-east Asia is set to nearly triple by 2025 and we see numerous synergies between travel and transportation that will allow us to capitalise on this huge opportunity.”
Furthermore, with Booking Holdings’ latest investment, Grab is now on track to raising US$3 billion after bagging over US$2 billion in its current round of financing.
Singaporeans are eschewing Australia’s traditionally popular cities like Sydney and Melbourne in favour of the Outback for their adventure fix.
Known for Ayers Rock in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the Northern Territory (NT) has recently been attracting the interest of Singaporeans with its national parks and outdoor activities.
“A lot of our customers have been to Australia before, and now they’re looking for new things to do. NT has things that the rest of Australia is not offering,” said Holiday Tours’ head of MICE and leisure, Cindy Loo.
Adventure-focused travel agency Travel Wander has also identified NT as a unique Australian destination where travellers can engage in outdoor activities while appreciating “undiscovered” natural attractions, said the agency’s founder Sheryl Lim.
Recognising this demand, Tourism Northern Territories last week brought its sales mission back to Singapore after a hiatus of four years. The roadshow connected Singapore and Malaysia travel agents with 18 territory operators under the Adventure NT theme.
The Northern Territory Government’s minister for tourism and culture, Lauren Moss, told TTG Asia: “Numbers have been increasing from Singapore, as well as Greater China and Japan.”
NT saw 29,000 visitors from Asian countries outside Greater China and Japan in 2017, and for the year ending March 2018 received 49 per cent more visitors from China to reach 13,000. This number is projected to reach 30,000 by 2020, said Moss.
She added that this region has “untapped potential” for tourism into NT, and the government will be channelling more resources into marketing in countries such as Singapore, such as an additional A$103 million (US$73 million) for its two-year tourism budget.
These funds will go towards new attractions to be rolled out “over the next couple of years”, said Moss. These include opening up new swimming spots in Litchfield National Park and a A$12 million mountain-biking trail through the Red Centre.
She said: “People are well-acquainted with places like Melbourne and Sydney, and now they’re looking for different experiences. We know that people are looking for authentic opportunities to experience aboriginal culture so we’re focusing a lot more on that.
“We are moving towards demonstrating a more modern NT and the new experiences you can have there.”
A new expressway halving travel time between Hanoi and Halong Bay will lead to a surge in cruising and day trips to Halong Bay, industry experts predict.
The Ha Long-Hai Phong Expressway, which opened in September, runs from Hanoi through to Dinh Vu port in Hai Phong, reducing the journey between the Vietnamese capital and Halong Bay from about four hours to less than two-and-a-half hours.
Coupled with the opening of a new seaport dock in the area and the slated opening of Van Don International Airport in December, as well as the hosting of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Halong Bay next January, visitor interest to the northern Quang Ninh province is set to grow.
Jeff Redl, managing director of Diethelm Travel Vietnam, expects this to spark a rise in demand for cruises, especially day trippers. He said leisure and business tourists as well as MICE groups enjoying a short stay in Hanoi may now consider a day cruise in Halong Bay.
Added Redl: “Due to the transfer time, we offered few day cruises from Hanoi in the past. By considerably reducing the time spent in a vehicle, we will be more confident at offering such a service.”
Armand Cheveux, Bhaya Group’s director of marketing, agreed the road upgrade will lead to an increase in cruising in Halong Bay, while stressing that it is vital that measures be taken to ensure this does not impact the environment.
He said: “The number of boats will have to increase to supply this increase in demand. This scenario would result in more pollution of the area. As the day boats are ageing, we expect that by the time a significant increase in passengers arrive, less old boats will be available and newer, more environmentally-conscious operated boats will cruise in Halong Bay.”
Pham Ha, CEO of Heritage Cruises, said: “Travellers can cruise longer in the Halong Bay region from the Cat Ba Archipelago to the ancient trading seaport Van Don in Bai Tu Long Bay. (Overall), travellers have more choices for cruising and there will be a boom in interest in Cat Ba Archipelago.”
But Pham also expressed concern over mass tourism in the future, adding that vital investment should be ploughed into creating new experiences in the area rather than “cable cars, ugly planning of Halong City and amusement parks that are packed in the summer with Vietnamese holidaymakers”.
New travel start-ups in Asia-Pacific will face difficulty in getting funded as investors bet on galloping horses that were formed earlier.
And that’s not the only bad news. New entrants face “unprecedented obstacles”, including incumbents that have become more powerful through consolidation; product expansion into travel by the likes of big brands such as Google or Amazon; and maturing start-ups that are being oiled by investors who prefer winners established within the past few years (think India’s Oyo or Hong Kong’s Klook).
That’s not to say, however, that funding has dried up for new start-ups, sessions during the recent WIT 2018 Bootcamp and interviews conducted on the sidelines of the event, heard.
“It is not impossible for new start-ups to raise money,” said Coney Dongre, Phocuswright’s research analyst based in Bengaluru, India.
The consensus is, the further away a start-up is from transactions, the less attractive it is to investors. Phocuswright’s research shows the top three verticals that failed (from 2008-1H2018) were non-transactional Inspiration, Itinerary and Destination content.
“Social networking sites or inspiration-based sites may help travellers, but investors question the revenue source,” said Dongre.
Yet, it is difficult to get traction with transactions unless the product has sufficient differentiation and marketing means, especially when the start-up is up against giant incumbents such as Booking and Expedia. Thus, interest from investors have shifted to B2B, from B2C, in the last two years.
However, there is still hope for small B2C start-ups. They could play in B2B too, in areas such as personalisation or experience improvement, pointed out Bart Bellers, founding partner and CEO of Xpdite Ventures.
Or, said Mizuho Hiraguri, corporate development, Recruit Holdings, they might transform themselves into another type of business, more mobile for instance, provided they had begun with a core business and had a clear value to offer.
Added Dongre: “Categories such as software or product as a service have seen phenomenal growth because of the interest in B2B. Nobody likes to have a legacy system that would require millions of dollars to be invested and see not much of the product being used.”
But Norman Tan, CEO of uBingo, a China travel start-up, remains optimistic. He believes declining funding is “a normal cycle”.
“In the last couple of years lots of money were pumped into travel and travel-related startups such as Uber. People felt good, so a lot tried to get a piece of the pie. But many were not sophisticated investors. Now, it’s winter, and we see those funds go away.
“(The funds) will return because good companies are still surviving in China. These focus on product and service. Some 100 million new passports are expected in China in the next few years, and these are new outbound travellers who need trustworthy product and service,” said Tan.
Asia also has emerging markets such as the Philippines, where opportunities for new travel start-ups are aplenty and are expected to be watched by investors.
Worldwide, start-ups have raised US$19 billion from 2008-1H2018, but funding has been sliding since 2014, said Dongre, citing a Phocuswright study.
North America leads with 38 per cent share of start-ups. Last year was a phenomenal year for Asia-Pacific, with 42 per cent of total funding raised for start-ups here, including OYO’s US$1 billion deal.
