OUTRIGGER Hotels & Resorts is intensifying its sales and marketing efforts in China and Australia, with new properties coming up in China and Vietnam.

China is an increasingly important market for Outrigger, both as a source of guests for its properties and as a new development market, said Mark Simmons, vice president sales and marketing Asia-Pacific.

“We’ve been making moves in China,” he said. “We opened a sales and marketing office in Beijing in March with satellite offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Our team there will be driving our social media strategy for China through all the local channels, such as Weibo. We’ll also be launching a new Chinese-language website, which will be hosted in China, by the year-end.”

One of the company’s two live projects in the region is in China. Outrigger Clearwater Bay Resort and Spa will add 499 keys to a cluster of five-star hotels on Hainan by end-2016.

Outrigger Vinh Hoi Resort & Spa in Vietnam will come online in 2017, bringing 256 rooms, a golf course and residences to the resort town located between Danang and Nha Trang. Both properties will be managed by the hotelier.

Simmons revealed that the group had also undergone internal restructuring. “This included expanding our Sydney office as Australia is among the top three markets across all of our properties. We also opened a sales and marketing office in Paris in January, and this has especially benefited our Phuket properties. Plans are to open an office in Russia by the beginning of next year.”

The Hawaii-based hotelier inaugurated its first 100 per cent owned property in the region, Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort, outside of its traditional footprint in the US and South Pacific. It also purchased three properties earlier this year: Outrigger on the Lagoon Fiji, Castaway Island Fiji and Outrigger Mauritius Resort and Spa.

RUMOURS that Thailand Travel Mart Plus could be rebranded as World Travel Market (WTM) Thailand next year received a mixed response from the trade floor at last week’s show.

The move hinges on a deal being brokered between Reed Travel Exhibitions and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which organises the tradeshow. An official from the NTO toldTTG Asia e-Daily that negotiations with WTM were ongoing but that no final agreement had been reached.

One Thailand-based travel specialist who preferred to remain anonymous said he would not have a problem if the event is rebranded, “as long as it brings the volume (of buyers)”.

However, he expects any deal with Reed, which owns and operates WTM and its four satellite events, would benefit hotels more than other sellers.

Ray Aucott, owner of Pack Ya Bags Travel Wholesale from New Zealand, said: “I’m not convinced it would work,” he said. “WTM events are very well organised, but the problem is that Reed’s list of buyers is very Eurocentric, so I’m not sure that it would work for the Thai exhibitors. (The organisers) have to be very careful not to lose the local connections that have been built up over the years.”

Speculation arose when buyer and seller questionnaires were circulated at last week’s trade fair.

Exhibitors said they were asked if they thought changing the annual event to WTM Thailand would be a positive move. On a separate questionnaire, buyers were asked if they would object to changes in the event’s current format, though there was no mention of either WTM or Reed Travel Exhibitions.

MYANMAR is ramping up efforts to develop new destinations within the country as well as promote travel during rainy season in a bid to make its tourism industry more sustainable.

While the plans fall short of offering incentives to hoteliers and travel companies to develop destinations outside of key hubs – namely Yangon, Mandalay, Inle and Bagan – authorities hope they will help resolve some of the capacity issues affecting the industry.

Said Kyi Thein Ko, secretary-general of Myanmar Tourism Federation: “People can arrive in Yangon, spend some time sightseeing then move on to destinations such as Pha-an (in Kayin state), which has lovely hot springs and some unique local hotels. The (tourism) ministry is now also promoting Min Tak in Chin state, which is excellent for trekking.”

Tin Nwe Wynt, marketing manager at the federation, said they are also marketing travel during the so-called “green season”, or rainy season when tourists can enjoy room rates at discounts ranging from 20 to 50 per cent.

The South-east Asian nation has seen its tourism industry boom since international sanctions were lifted two years ago, putting increasing strain on key destinations, especially Yangon which has limited hotel capacity and where room rates are now some of the highest in the region (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 13, 2014).

ASEAN Tourism Forum will be held in Naypyidaw next January, the first time the event has been held in Myanmar. The country hopes to be able to offer visa-free travel to more ASEAN member states by that time, especially neighbouring Thailand.

Said Kyi Thein Ko: “(Thailand and Myanmar) have agreed on it at a government-to-government level, but there are some difficulties. Thailand only wants to grant visa-free travel through its airports, but our government wants to include visa-free travel via the borders too, so they are currently discussing this point.”

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has cut its arrivals target for this year by 2.6 million with a corresponding 96 billion baht (US$2.9 billion) drop in revenue projected due to the country’s protracted political crisis.

Governor Thawatchai Arunyik said the NTO was forced to revise down its original target of 28 million arrivals and revenue of 1.4 trillion baht, but remained bullish that tourism would bounce back. He said: “We are planning a number of special festivals and events to attract tourists.”

Thawatchai said TAT has arranged for a major international singer to perform in Thailand, is bringing 1,000 top travel buyers for a major fam trip, and pushing for an additional undisclosed marketing budget that should help it net 25.9 million arrivals.

The governor will also work with local specialist groundhandlers to strengthen ties with China. He was unfazed by a group of 20 buyers pulling out of Thailand Travel Mart Plus at the last minute. “I’m not too bothered by that; we’ll be looking for higher quality buyers and also hold talks at a government-to-government level,” he told TTG Asia e-Daily.

Plans to develop an insurance fund for tourists are also underway.

On the trade front, DMCs said it was still too early to assess the full extent of the damage to the tourism industry caused by the political crisis.

Tobias Fischer, business development manager at Go Vacation Thailand said: “Until there’s some sort of end in sight to the current situation there’s no point in investing much in (hotel) promotions.Tourists need to feel confident about coming to Thailand again.”

“Also, hotel promotions or discounts alone won’t work, they would need to be supported by promotions from airlines as well.”

Wasinee Kunlawat, group sales manage for Asia and Africa at Exotissimo Travel said she was offering some promotions for the Middle East market but explained that it was “not a special promotion to win tourists back because of the political situation”.

“The best we can do on that front is to send out regular updates on the situation to clients,” she said.

*The article originally quoted Tobias Fischer, business development manager at Go Vacation Thailand, as saying “there’s no point in investing much in promotions or marketing”, which was inaccurate and has since been edited for clarity.