Antarctica growing in popularity, but Dynasty Travel says many are still have reservations about visiting since few 'reputable agencies' offer the destination
Turning to “experiential tourism” to meet new challenges in the travel business, Dynasty Travel is touting a more worry-free way for Singaporeans to cruise Antarctica with its charter of Ocean Atlantic, an ice-class vessel with a shallow draft operated by Albatros Expeditions.
The Singaporean agency, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, says the 15-day Antarctica Expedition Cruise to the Great White Continent in November 2019 will become one of its signature journeys.
Antarctica growing in popularity, but Dynasty Travel says many in Singapore still have reservations about visiting since few ‘reputable agencies’ offer the destination
In a statement, the agency says it is targeting “a new breed of travellers” with their “growing environmental awareness and penchant for off-the-beaten track experiences”. Travel agencies and tour companies are cashing in on the small but growing business segment as they adapt and evolve in a fast changing industry, Dynasty Travel observes.
The agency is betting on experiential tourism to cope with the challenges brought on by the digital revolution, which it says has “severely disrupted the industry not just in Singapore but around the world, where more and more people plan, manage and book their travels online on their own”.
With the new chartered cruise, Dynasty Travel says it is giving travellers in the Lion City a “reputable” and “safe” Antarctica cruise itinerary that goes beyond the traditional packaged tour.
The agency said in a statement: “We know that Antarctica is on many Singaporeans’ bucket list. However, most travellers are deterred because few reputable agencies like Dynasty Travel offer this destination. It is a not a journey that you can book confidently on the internet.”
The chartered cruise will be able to accommodate up to about 200 travellers onboard Ocean Atlantic, with a team of guides to take customers out on Zodiac boats to learn about topics ranging from marine biology to geology.
Star Cruises will relocate the SuperStar Virgo to North China, with the ship confirmed for homeport deployment in Dalian, Tianjin and Qingdao this year.
This will continue Star Cruises’ expansion in China to cover the country’s three main cruise markets – in the south, east and north – after SuperStar Virgo was homeported in Shanghai for the summer, SuperStar Gemini in Xiamen, Sanya and Haikou, and SuperStar Aquarius in Qingdao.
Superstar Virgo
“By deploying Star Cruises to the three key cruise markets in China, we are providing a variety of different cruise experiences from across China, building closer relationships with local travel agents, ports and business partners while boosting our market penetration rate and expanding further into the China market,” said Kent Zhu, President of Genting Cruise Lines.
SuperStar Virgo will sail from Dalian (staring September 9), Tianjin (staring September 30) and Qingdao (starting November 3).
On the four-night itineraries from Dalian, guests will visit Nagasaki, Kitakyushu and Fukuoka. There will be four- and five-night options for itineraries from Tianjin, which will visit Kagoshima, Beppu, Fukuoka and Nagasaki. And for sailings from Qingdao, SuperStar Virgo will call on Kagoshima, Fukuoka and Nagasaki.
“The deployment of SuperStar Virgo to North China during September to November will cover public holidays including the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week, (making the itineraries) suitable for family (travel). And autumn is the perfect time to visit Japan with its comfortable weather conditions and scenery,” said Ang Moo Lim, president of Star Cruises.
Hainan is doubling down on tourism in a bold move to allow tourists access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in addition to offering visa-free entry into its Sanya for citizens of 59 countries, including eight of the 10 ASEAN nations.
According a Reuters report, a special “gathering zone” will be created in Hainan province for foreign tourists to access the social media websites, a significant exception in China’s hard-line ban of international social media sites, chat apps and search engines.
With a target for 25 per cent arrivals growth, Hainan relaxes rules to lure tourists
The relaxed ruling for tourists was part of a plan announced this month to boost visitor arrivals into the province to at least million by 2020, or by 25 per cent annually.
Meanwhile, a new policy came into effect in May to allow citizens from 59 countries visa-free entry into Sanya – Hainan’s southern-most island and key tourist destination – for stays of up to 30 days.
This applies to individual or group bookings made through travel agencies registered in Hainan Province and approved by the China National Tourism Administration.
The 59 countries that now enjoy the visa-free access to Hainan include: South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, Qatar, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Ukraine, Italy, Austria, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Kazakhstan, Monaco and Belarus.
Tonino Lamborghini Hotels & Resorts is beginning its expansion beyond mainland China with two properties signed in Siem Reap.
Shanghai-based Join.In Hospitality Management yesterday announced it has entered an agreement with Hong Kong-based Shimao International Development for the development of the two properties.
Roberto Simone, COO of Join.In Hospitality Management described the signing as a “major milestone”, marking “the first step in our expansion outside and beyond borders of China”.
Tonino Lamborghini Hotels & Resorts also plans to add 12 more properties in key tourism areas across East and South-east Asia in the coming years, starting with Macau and Saipan.
The development of Tonino Lamborghini Hotels & Resorts brand began in 2012 with the opening of its very first luxury hotel in the Chinese city of Suzhou, shortly followed by properties in Kunshan and Huangshi.
Currently, the brand’s development pipeline holds 18 projects in locations across mainland China, namely Chnogqing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Xi’an, Qingdao, Dalian, Xuzhou, Wuxi, Wenzhou, Yixing, Huangshan, Taihangshan and Taihu, all to be opened before 2020.
Hilton has appointed Matt Fry as senior vice president, development in Asia-Pacific (APAC), effective from August 6, 2018.
In his new role, Fry will oversee the team responsible for the overall development strategy for APAC. He will be based in Hilton’s APAC regional office in Singapore and report to Ian Carter, Hilton’s president, global development, architecture, design and construction.
Most recently, Fry served as the head of global real estate operations and Americas real estate at WeWork – a company which provides shared workspaces with a strong emphasis on community.
A seasoned professional, Fry possess over 20 years of experience in the real estate and development industry, with nearly 18 years leading teams at Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Ten out of those 18 years were based in Singapore leading Starwood’s development efforts for APAC (excluding China).
He then rose through Starwood’s ranks to senior vice president, global development, overseeing development in APAC, Europe and Latin America, and was also responsible for global oversight of feasibility and deal approval processes.
Gaurav Mathur has assumed the role of country manager for India at Kuoni Global Travel Services since June 1, 2018, reporting to Reto Kaufmann, vice president sales & sales operations South-east & South Asia.
Mathur has joined Kuoni Global Travel Services since 2009 and taken on various management roles over the years. His latest assignment was senior sales manager, India.
A recognised industry expert with in-depth knowledge of the Indian outbound group travel market, Mathur has been instrumental in developing a wide range of new product solutions for clients and introducing new destination ideas to the market.
Bookings pouring in for properties on Rattanakosin Island, where coronation ceremonies will be held
Large European tour operators appear to have an appetite to establish their own DMCs rather than outsource the handling of their passengers to in-destination agencies, as shown by the new joint venture (JV) company in Thailand created by Thomas Cook Group plc and Asian Trails.
If this becomes a trend, it will make a dent on the profitability of DMCs and intensify their need to diversify accounts. Thomas Cook Group’s new joint venture DMC in Thailand will mean a huge loss of business for inbound agencies that have been handling the account, in particular Travel Center Asia but also AED and Exo Travel, according to sources.
Thomas Cook In Destination Management (Thailand) will handle the over 100,000 clients that Thomas Cook Group sends to Thailand each year
The new outfit, Thomas Cook In Destination Management (Thailand), will handle the more than 100,000 clients that Thomas Cook Group sends to Thailand each year effective November 1. Travel Center Asia is understood to be the hardest hit, as it has been handling a big part of Thomas Cook Group’s clients, particularly Germans, for over two decades, while AED is responsible for the Scandinavians, Exo French tourists and Asian Trails UK clients.
Michael Scheidler, Thomas Cook Group director, destination management, in response to questions from TTG Asia, said more than half of its clients to Thailand are from continental Europe, one-third from the Nordics, then “small programmes out of the UK and France”. He declined to comment why Thomas Cook Group did not set up the joint venture with its long-time partner Travel Center Asia.
Travel Center Asia’s managing director, Thomas Maurer, also declined to comment, saying: “For the whole duration of our cooperation (with Thomas Cook Group), Travel Center Asia does not give any kind of information at all.”
On why it picked Asian Trails, Scheidler said: “Asian Trails has proven to be a strong partner for UK and an established company with experience of working with other large tour operator companies like Kuoni; strong relationships within Thailand (hoteliers and authorities); positive negotiations and shared vision for the JV; and good cultural/values match.”
Scheidler said the primary driver for Thomas Cook Group to operate its own inbound agencies is “greater control over the quality and consistency of service all our customers receive in destination”, although a source observed that one big motivation surely must be “a cut of the profit” by owning the groundhandler.
“Such JVs are the future as they mean profit optimisation for large tour operators,” said the source.
The DMC business is still lucrative in Asia, with a flurry of M&As in the past two years, such as DNATA’s acquisition of Destination Asia or Thomas Cook India buyout of Kuoni’s DMC network including Asian Trails. The latter however had no influence on this latest JV; Thomas Cook India is not part of Thomas Cook Group.
If Thomas Cook Group had its way, it would probably set up a fully owned Asian DMC but Thai law does not allow 100 per cent foreign-owned DMCs. With Asian Trails it shares the same level of ownership in the JV, said Scheidler.
The company has been exploring options to either own, manage or set up inbound agency operations since 2014, he said. “We already have successful operating models in Spain, Portugal and the US and will also operate our own agency in the Caribbean from this winter,” said Scheidler.
He added the company is “reviewing the destination management set up across all major destinations, to find the best organisational solution and partner to work with in each destination to meet our operational and service needs”.
When asked about the structure of the new company, Asian Trails CEO, Laurent Kuenzle, said: “The control of the company will be under a Thomas Cook Group appointed manager who will sit at the administrative headquarters in Bangkok which is a separate office from Asian Trails. Also the operation hub in Phuket will be a separate office. It is a completely separate company from Asian Trails. Asian Trails will sit on the board together with Thomas Cook Group appointed officials. The company will have its own reservations, operations, contracting, finance, managers and staff. I can’t disclose the number of staff at the moment.”
Thomas Cook Group isn’t the only large tour operator to establish its own in-destination agencies. Germany’s REWE Group which owns DerTour, Meier’s Weltreisen and Kuoni Switzerland, has its Asian network, Go Vacation, which is represented in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Caption: Tom Santora (left) and James Koh at WorldHotels' office in Singapore
Associated Luxury Hotels says it is investing more than US$10 million this year on a slew of new hires and initiatives at WorldHotels, which it acquired in February last year, and believes its leadership of seasoned hoteliers and a sales-focused culture will make a whole world of difference to WorldHotels.
Tom Santora, chief commercial officer of Associated Luxury Hotels and executive chairman of WorldHotels, said in an interview in Singapore on the strategic direction for WorldHotels: “Our mantra is, we’re not in the membership business; we are in the revenue generation business. We want to grow the membership in the right places to support our customers, and we want to make sure we have the sales support to make those hotels successful.
From left: Tom Santora and James Koh at the WorldHotels’ office in Singapore
“We’ve always been a sales-focused organisation that highly incentivises our sales people to perform.”
Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), owned by Associated Luxury Hotels, has over 30 years’ track record as a global sales organisation matching meeting & incentive planners in North America to its portfolio of over 250 luxury hotels and resorts.
That sales-oriented culture has quickly seeped into WorldHotels.
A new incentive scheme for sales staff of WorldHotels, for instance, is now in place. James Koh, WorldHotels’ regional vice president hotel development Asia-Pacific who has been with the company for more than 11 years and was recently promoted to the position, said: “One thing that is vastly different is the more attractive incentive scheme that has been put together. In the past there wasn’t really a proper programme in place. Clearly this will be the key driver for the sales (team) as they will be rewarded for the targets they hit.”
Santora said: “WorldHotels did a nice job in driving revenue but it was more of a supportive role to members. We’re shifting the culture and we want to amp that up, removing obstacles so that the sales people can perform and providing them with the tools – technology, collaterals, access to go to more events and so forth – to succeed.
“With all the independent hotel groups being on the same technology (Sabre SynXis Central Reservations), technology is a given. So what makes the difference? Sales,” he added.
At acquisition 14 months ago, WorldHotels said it had 140 sales professionals and expert staff globally. The company recently promoted one of its sales veterans, Ganessan Suppiah, to regional vice president of sales Asia-Pacific. Outside the region, recent new hires included Tim Burke, global director, travel industry partnerships, and Fernando Carranza, regional director of sales based in Los Angeles. Both came from the hospitality sector.
Santora pointed out how an organisation that is run by hoteliers is “a big shift” for WorldHotels, which was previously owned by Battery Ventures, a private equity firm whose focus was more on technology companies.
The leadership at Associated Luxury Hotels rose through the ranks from a sales and marketing background. President & CEO Josh Lesnick was Wyndham Hotel Group’s EVP and CMO, while Santora was OMNI Hotels & Resorts’ CMO and SVP of sales. Chief sales officer Mark Sergot was Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ SVP of sales. WorldHotels’ CEO Geoff Andrew was Corinthia Hotels International’s head of sales and marketing before joining WorldHotels’ then sister company, Nexus.
“We are an organisation that is run all by hoteliers and we’re very involved with our hotels. Members have access to me, Josh, Mark, if they have a problem with anything; we’re not just providing our sales people with directions, we’re almost hands on with our members.
“WorldHotels was always owned by distribution – it’s almost a different business model. This is a big shift. Now we are focused on getting the right members in the right locations and we’re all about sales,” said Santora.
Support for members is also being intensified. In Asia-Pacific, WorldHotels last week signed an in-principle agreement with ACI HR Solutions as its training partner for the region. ACI will provide training to WorldHotels members, starting with those in China and Japan, on sales and marketing, including revenue optimisation, digital marketing and social media marketing.
“The most successful members are the ones that engage with us,” said Santora. “It’s like having a gym membership. We have all the equipment – from sales missions to digital experts to help you with your booking engine – but if you don’t go to the gym and use the machines, you’re not taking advantage of your membership.”
Continuing the analogy, he said WorldHotels has one “personal trainer” (officially a person guiding members on performance revenue optimisation, or PRO) per 20 hotel members while the ratio might be one per 60 or even 90 elsewhere. “We hired a PRO from another group – that person had 115 hotels to one person. So he was just being reactive whereas our ratio allows our PROs to be proactive,” he said.
Koh believes the new directions for WorldHotels will put it on an even keel to compete for new members and retain existing ones in the region. Asia-Pacific is WorldHotels’ second largest market (93 members) after Europe (175 members). WorldHotels has 350 members currently.
“With Associated Luxury Hotels coming in, a lot of things have changed and new directions set. Our fees are transparent, based on actual data the hotel provides and what we think we can produce – everything is factual,” Koh said.
Santora elaborated: “When we’re talking to a potential new member, our capabilities presentation is almost all numbers: our year-on-year growth, GDS production, consortia production, how many accounts do we have in your market that we can tap into, and so forth. It’s not ‘here’s the ads we ran, or here’s the PR we’ve garnered’. Those are important and we do all that but at the end of the day, the focus is on sales, because revenue is what members want.”
Santora has set a target of 500 members but he re-emphasised expansion is going to be strategic. “It might even be addition by subtraction. There could be members that are not profitable or that we can’t support, so we may see those hotels go. We might not get 15 new hotels onboard but we might have five new ones that from our perspective generate more revenue than the 15.
“In the past year, we have turned away over 10,000 rooms inventory from people who came to us. When we did the background, we didn’t think we could support them so we didn’t want to take their money, or we felt their quality wasn’t where we’re going. We’re trying to shift the focus to the right hotels that we can help make a success.”
Macau making use of its new UNESCO designation as Creative City of Gastronomy
Gastronomy and festivals will be front and centre of Macao Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) marketing plan going forward.
At the annual marketing meeting – which gathered 46 market representatives of MGTO, consultants and representatives of promotional entities came from different parts of the world – MGTO encouraged market representatives to plug the destination’s new designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, using the image of Mak Mak, a new tourism mascot born in April.
Mak Mak
MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes also presented a lineup of major local events in the second half of 2018, which includes the 29th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest, Global Tourism Economy Forum･Macao 2018, the 18th Macau Food Festival, the Macao Light Festival 2018, and the 3rd International Film Festival & Awards, Macao.
Meanwhile MGTO’s market representatives are keeping their eyes peeled on updates about the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, hoping to “seize the timing to further promote travel to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau”, according to an MGTO press release.
MGTO urged representatives to nudge tour operators towards new multi-destination itineraries and products under different themes to draw more visitors to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Bay Area.
The Indian tourism ministry will continue to have offices in the US, Germany, the UK, Dubai, Russia, China and Singapore
India has rolled out free e-visas for Indonesians since June 18, the Indian Embassy in Jakarta says on its website.
This announcement follows Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia last month to commemorate 70 years of bilateral relations between both countries, with tourism expected to be a beneficiary resulting from the event.
60-day e-visas now available to Indonesians visiting India
Indonesians may now apply for tourist, business or medical e-visas through the evisaindia.org website. Valid for 60 days from the arrival date, the e-tourist and e-business visas offer double entry, while the e-Medical allow for triple entry.
Visitors are required to have passports valid for at least six months from the date of arrival in India, and have either return or onward tickets to another destination.
Among the 25 airports and seaports that Indonesians can enter using e-visas are Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa and Mumbai.
