With the inaugural ITB China event round the corner, programme and speaker details for the key conference component have been released, covering themes of ‘destination’, ‘online travel & travel tech’ and ‘corporate travel & MICE’.

The keynote speech will be delivered on May 10 by Ctrip CEO Jane Jie Sun, who with PhocusWright founder Philip Wolf will discuss how the Chinese OTA giant will focus on globalisation as a core strategy in the next few years.

Leading industry figures such as Rungang Zhang, vice-president of the China Tourism Association and Eduardo Santander, executive director of the European Travel Commission, will then present papers on destinations.

The second day will be dedicated to online travel and travel technology, with a panel discussion looking at how travel companies can cater to the increasingly diverse and personal needs of travellers.

This will be moderated by Joseph Wang, chief commercial officer, TravelDaily and feature panellists Steven Pang, managing director of Greater China Skyscanner; Ning Ma, general manager of marketing department, Yangtze River Airlines; and Qianyuan Yin, general manager, Zhejiang New Century Manju Hotel Management.

Cindy Tan, vice president of display, Asia-Pacific, TripAdvisor will discuss opportunities in China’s inbound and outbound travel and share insights on the search trends and behaviours of global and Chinese travellers.

The third day is dedicated to corporate travel and MICE. Kejian Wu, deputy general manager CWT China, will speak on the business-travel challenges posed by China. A panel discussion on the transformation of the MICE industry will be moderated by Lenny Jia, founder and chief editor, China BT MICE.

Speakers will include Crystal Zhang, president, UCC; Kitty Huang, vice president – customer loyalty and revenue generation, Greater China, Wyndham Hotel Group; Dong Wei, COO, Shouqi Car Rental; and Lei Li, founder, Youli Hotel GSA.

ITB China will take place from May 10 to 12 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. TTG will be the official show daily during the three-day show.

The Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) theme park in Perak, opening this June, is ramping up sales efforts in Singapore by offering discounts to visitors who drop by its booth during the Travel Malaysia Fair 2017, held at the Singapore Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre from today to April 23.

With Tigerair and Firefly providing direct flights from Singapore to Ipoh, Singapore is an important source market for MAPS.

MAPS rendering

MAPs will generate interest at the travel fair by offering freebies and having The Smurfs cartoon characters, Papa Smurf and Smurfette, greet visitors.

The launch of the attraction had been plagued by numerous delays. It was supposed to open in 1H2016 but was delayed to early 2017. And after months of silence surrounding the project, local publicity kicked off with a media site inspection on April 21.

In Malaysia, some agents remain uncertain about the attraction’s opening dates and saleability.

Kingston Khoo, senior product development/contracting manager at Discovery Overland Holidays, said: “We will do our own recce once it opens to see what markets and age groups it is suitable for before we start marketing the product.

“We also need more information such as will it fully open in June or will that be a partial opening.”

Siti Rafeah, assistant account manager, Asia Pacific, MICE at Asia Experience, told TTG Asia that support for the attraction will only come after more details such as opening date and contract rates are made available.

The Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa) has called for the resignation of Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) COO Cesar Montano, who was accused by his staff of 24 alleged irregularities, all of which he denied.

“Even if only half of these allegations were true, Montano should resign as he has lost the moral ascendancy to lead TPB,” said Philtoa president Cesar Cruz, who is also backing a Senate inquiry into the issue.

Montano (left) with tourism chief Wanda Teo after being sworn in in December last year

Cruz said the issue has thrown the industry off kilter at a time when “Philippine tourism is in a very critical situation”, not only because of the travel advisories from various countries but also due to the drop in the country’s tourism competitiveness caused by safety and security issues, global financial concerns, problems in Europe and the need to focus on Visit ASEAN@50.

The 24 allegations filed by anonymous TPB employees with the Presidential Action Center against Montano range from corruption to questionable work ethics and competence.

But in a phone interview, Montano said: “My name is being tarnished and maligned unfairly as the complaint was unsigned and there was no evidence to back up their allegations.

“I’m willing to answer their allegations point for point at the right forum,” Montano said, adding that he aired his side to president Rodrigo Duterte, who earlier maintained his trust in Montano.

Montano said the complainants were threatened because he uncovered TPB projects that have no contracts, with the most expensive entailing “billions of pesos”. As these projects took place in the last two years before he assumed office, Montano said “they might be doing it also in previous years” without detailing the projects or divulging names.

Singapore-based luxury travel agency Urbane Nomads has rejuvenated its business approach with a new website, fresh itineraries, courtship of high-end corporate retreats and an unusual travel game that benefits humanitarian organisations supporting various causes in 18 strickened destinations.

The highlight of the next-generation Urbane Nomads, according to founder Hajar Ali, is Nomads:Subversion, a deck-building collectible card game spanning 18 countries and 450 characters.

Hajar: using gaming element to highlight ‘exciting’ and lesser-known aspects of troubled destinations 

Eighteen of the rarest cards are kept by appointed humanitarian organisations in 18 different countries hurt by political instability or unfair demonisation caused by travel bans. They are hidden in wooden boxes and their artworks anamorphic, requiring mirrored cylinders to view.

Players hoping to score these rare cards will need to make the highest bid to the holding organisation, which will then decide if the successful bidder needs to make a trip over to receive the card.

There will be nine installations of the game, with each lasting a month and focusing on two countries. New installations will be released every three months. The first installation, available soon, features Syria and Circassia, Republic of Adygea (an autonomous republic within Russia), the latter known for having the first genocide in modern history.

However, not all featured destinations are safe for travellers. “They have been selected for a history of humanitarian crisis in modern times,” said Hajar, while noting that those that can be explored may “yield surprising under-the-radar touristic finds”.

Examples include undiscovered pyramids in Sudan, which Hajar opined “are as attractive as those in Egypt”, and “unexpected accommodation options” such as ski hotels and a “sci-fi looking pod seemingly in the middle of nowhere” in the Republic of Adygea.

When asked if the reputation of featured destinations – even those deemed safe to visit – would discourage travellers from taking up the game, Hajar said: “You cannot change the mindset of people but we hope that by highlighting the exciting but unknown historical aspects of these destinations, we could encourage travellers to visit them.”

Nomads:Subversion targets fans of card games as well as adventurous travellers who seek new concepts.

As for Urbane Nomad’s new itineraries, Hajar said travellers could look forward to experiences in new or relatively unknown parts of popular destinations, such as an ultra-luxurious overnight train in Japan, an udiscovered resort in Indian backwaters and an exclusive ski resort in Austria that can only be accessed on snow mobiles.

Since the start of this year, the agency has also diversified its focus to the corporate event market, targeting C-level retreats hosted by MNCs.

A central tourism marketing and advertising council is set to launch by end-April to help Cambodia achieve its target of seven million visitors by 2020.

Tourism minister Thong Khon said the council’s main aim is to promote Cambodia to the international market through campaigns and initiatives, and also encourage the private sector to market and advertise the destination.

Bayon temple, Siem Reap

Khon added that the tourism industry is a vital economic pillar for the country, with the seven million visitor target translating to an estimated revenue of US$5 billion and more than one million direct jobs.

A five-year tourism masterplan has also been developed, the minister revealed. In this, he urges the creation of new tourism products and keeping resorts and their surroundings clean.

Other elements include infrastructure development, promoting green resorts, building new roads to reach resorts, and increasing quality and manpower within the sector.

This move is welcomed by industry players, who claim that international promotions is an area where the destination is lagging.

Chin Meanhung, CEO of Mekong Adventures, said: “For a long time, agents have said more needs to be done centrally to promote Cambodia. We individually do what we can but that is only so much. I hope we can work with the government to improve this in the future.”
Thourn Sinan, chairman of Cambodia Pacific Asia Air Travel Association, said: “This will push development within the tourism sector in the right areas.”

Shortly after Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism announced a sharpened focus on boosting seat numbers into the country, new pipeline routes were revealed from its visit to the offices of Sriwijaya Air, AirAsia, Garuda Indonesia and Angkasa Pura II in Cengkareng last Monday.

Toto Nursatyo, commercial director of Sriwijaya Air, said: “This year, we will receive 12 new aircraft so we will be able to bring in more tourists here… China now (makes up) 80 per cent of our international network, and we will expand our network to Australia and India.”

Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali

He shared that the airline has the rights to fly to 48 cities in China, but will focus on connecting eight cities in China with more destinations in Indonesia, such as Medan and Makassar, on charter basis.

“Currently, we have flights from Guangzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanjing, Jianjien and Fushan (to Bali and some to Manado).These are the major sources of tourists from China.”

Meanwhile, AirAsia plans to open new services between Indonesia and China and India via Kuala Lumpur this year, targeted to commence in October and May respectively.

Dendy Kurniawan, group CEO of AirAsia Indonesia, said: “We will announce the routes and exact flying dates when we are ready. Currently, we are still in the preparation stage.”

On the other hand, Garuda’s new president and CEO Pahala Nugraha Mansury told the media that the airline is now reviewing plans to launch several new services, on top of additional seasonal services to Australia.

“We are having internal reviews on (operations), including plans to open services (from Jakarta) to Moscow and the US as well as from Bali to Chengdu. We will announce the results (soon),” he said.

DeepFlight Adventures has partnered water sports operator Ocean Group to launch its three-man submarine for underwater excursions, which will be offered at a select luxury resort in the Maldives come 4Q2017.

The DeepFlight Super Falcon 3S submarine was designed to enable guests to experience “underwater flight” as they glide alongside marine life and over spectacular shipwrecks and reefs.

SuperFalcon submarine

Adam Wright, managing director of DeepFlight Adventures, said this presents the opportunity for properties to differentiate themselves.

The submarine has been pilot tested and according to an Ocean Group statement, meets safety standards, is environmentally clean, quiet and efficient.