Sydney Opera House

Asian tourists plan to travel abroad more frequently and explore “safer” destinations like Japan and Australia this year, according to the 2017 Travelzoo Travel Trends Report.

The survey found that 70 per cent of Chinese respondents say they will travel abroad two times or more in 2017, an increase by almost 10 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Similar sentiments are observed among Hong Kong respondents, where 30 per cent plan to travel four times or more this year, an increase of five per cent year-on-year.

Moreover, the number of Chinese tourists willing to spend more than RMB 14,000 (US$2,035) on travelling has also increased nearly 10 per cent from last year. As well, 11 per cent more respondents indicated they would spend more than RMB600 per night on a hotel this year.

Commenting on the rising travel interest among Asian tourists, Vivian Hong, president of Travelzoo Asia Pacific, said: “Thanks to Asia’s ascendancy in the global economy, consumer confidence in Asia remains strong and it’s reflected in the travel industry. This is especially the case for China.

“China is witnessing a generation of millennials that is becoming the dominant force in leading the travel wave. Most of them are married and have children now. They love to spend more of their disposable income on a sunny beach holiday with their family.”

The survey findings show that destinations within the Asia-Pacific region are notably more attractive to Asian tourists. Japan currently tops the list for travellers from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Australia also reigns high in interest in every Asian country, and is the second favourite destination for Chinese and Singaporean travellers.

And for the first time, none of the Western European destinations was voted for the top five destinations due to safety concerns among Asian travellers. Nearly 65 per cent of Chinese respondents chose “safer” as one of their reasons behind voting for Australia, while 50 per cent chose the same reason for picking Japan.

Hong said: “Nearly 80 per cent of (Asians) travel with family so they are very mindful of the security measures. As a result, destinations within the Asia-Pacific region, such as Japan and Australia, offer a compelling alternative.”

Immigration control at Suvarnabhumi Airport

The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of visa concessions for another six months to August, in a bid to attract more tourists to the country, reported the Bangkok Post.

The move was first introduced in December as part of a move to shore up tourist arrivals to Thailand, after the clampdown on zero-fee tours put a damper on the Chinese inbound market. It was originally scheduled to end this month.

Under the measure, visa fees at Thai consulates and embassies are waived while the visa-on-arrival fee is halved to 1,000 baht (US$29).

This scheme is applicable for visitors from Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

US-based hospitality sales and marketing consortium Associated Luxury Hotels, which owns and operates Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), has acquired Frankfurt-based rival Worldhotels for an undisclosed sum.

Together, both groups will create a global portfolio of around 600 independent hotels, comprising 350 hotels under Worldhotels, predominantly in Europe and Asia-Pacific; and 250 hotels under ALHI, mostly in North America.

According to Associated Luxury Hotels chairman, David Gabri, the company will operate ALHI and Worldhotels as separate divisions, initially keeping the memberships and operations of each organization separate. Select member hotels and resorts within Worldhotels may be invited into the ALHI membership portfolio.

Gabri said: “Together ALHI and Worldhotels will create a powerful combination to provide guests, members and MICE planners a comprehensive sales and marketing infrastructure and an expanded array of services that will effectively compete with the world’s biggest hospitality chains.

Associated Luxury Hotels’ chief commercial officer Tom Santora added: “In contrast to the mega-brand conglomerates, the ALHI and Worldhotels’ portfolios consist primarily of authentic and unique independent hotels and resorts that are prized for their distinctiveness, individuality and character, which are highly sought after by today’s travellers.

“As the MICE, business travel and leisure markets demand extraordinary localised experiences over accommodations and sameness, the two portfolios stand prepared to provide comprehensive sales, marketing, distribution and hospitality services for independent hotels and resorts worldwide, and are ideally positioned to serve this need.”

In conjunction with the acquisition, Santora will assume the additional role as executive chairman of Worldhotels to oversee its strategic direction. Worldhotels’ CEO Geoff Andrew, meanwhile, will continue to lead the organisation from the Frankfurt headquarters.

Global bedbank and B2B service provider HotelBeds Group has announced plans to merge its business unit with US-based Tourico Holidays.

The merger will mark the company’s move into the next phase of development since it became independent last September with the backing of Cinven and CPPIB, said Joan Vilà, executive chairman of Hotelbeds Group.

“The proposed deal will enable us to enhance our footprint, especially in Tourico Holidays’ home market of North America whilst (Tourico) will benefit from belonging to Hotelbeds Group’s global network,” added Vilà.

“Together we will combine our best in class technology and distribution expertise for the benefit of both our hotel partners and clients.”

For now, it will be business as usual at both companies, while development of a long-term strategy to combine the businesses gets underway.

No date has been announced for the transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust approvals.

Photo credit: City of Sydney

The Lunar New Year may be coming to a close but for tour operators specialising in the Chinese market, the goodies are expected to keep coming through the year as Australia is set to welcome about 1.2 million tourists from China in 2017.

“Our bookings have increased by 30 per cent over the past year, said David Pang, marketing manager at Grand City Tours. “Based on 2016’s growth, we expect to increase our customer numbers to 240,000 this year.”

An AccorHotels spokeperson commented that the group has also seen strong Chinese growth, with their Sydney and Melbourne CBD hotels reaching more than 90 per cent occupancy during the recent Lunar New Year period.

The numbers echo an overall 19.7 per cent boost in bookings by Chinese visitors in AccorHotels’ online systems last year, helped by a move away from shopping tour groups in favour of FITs.

Other indicators point to Chinese visitors’ willingness to stay longer, spend more and explore destinations beyond Australia’s major cities as they “seek a higher-quality experience”, she elaborated.

Meanwhile, Pang said his company has doubled their daily tours to meet the rising Chinese demand, introducing new destinations like North Melbourne and Echuca. “We’ve also introduced experiences like learning to fly a small jet plane with a pilot,” he said.

However competing for the Chinese market can be hard work, according to Sandy Chen, marketing manager for Extra Green Holidays. “Fifty percent of our clients come from China but competition with cheaper (regional) destinations is our biggest challenge. The Chinese economy is also weakening and that doesn’t help.”

Honolulu, Hawaii

Having received clearance from the Federal Aviation Authority to fly to the US last month, AirAsia X has confirmed that it will begin four-times-weekly flights to Honolulu, via Kansai International Airport, from June 28, 2017.

Outbound agents are clearly anticipating AirAsia X’s new Kuala Lumpur-Honolulu service, as no other Malaysian carrier currently flies to the US.

Desmond Lee, group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions, who had arranged eight group departures to Honolulu last year, expects interest in the destination to spike this year thanks to the new flights.

Lee also indicated that his company will promote tours to Honolulu at the upcoming MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur next month.

Cooper Huang, CEO of Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel, said: “Honolulu is a popular destination in the US. Currently, we use foreign airlines via Singapore, Taiwan or South Korea for our tours there. We look forward to the new services by AirAsia X as it will save our clients time and cost.”

Huang said the US remains a popular holiday destination for the upper-middle income group, and despite Trump’s recent travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries “there has been no changes from the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur on visa screening procedures”.