HONG Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) yesterday announced they would be jointly setting up the world’s first Asia Cruise Fund.

Effective April 1 and running for three years, the regional co-operation fund will comprise contributions from participating ports and be used to subsidise cruise companies for developing and marketing cruise products.

A major requirement is that cruise lines must deploy vessels to at least two participating ports or territories in a single itinerary.

HKTB executive director, Anthony Lau, said: “The launch of the fund marks a significant step towards regional cruise cooperation, which is vital if the industry is to successfully tap the potential created by the growing population of Asia’s middle class and booming outbound travel over the next decade.

“We believe the fund will show our dedication and commitment to cruise tourism development and reinforce cruise operators’ confidence in deploying more ships to Asia, benefiting not only the participating ports but also cruise lines and other industry stakeholders.”

Commissioner for tourism of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Philip Yung, said: “The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which are targeted for completion in the coming few years, will significantly improve connectivity between Hong Kong and southern China.

“By working with neighbouring ports in the region, we believe we can make Asia an opportunity too good to miss for international cruise companies – both as a destination and a rich source of potential passengers.”

Asia holds huge potential for the cruise industry as by 2030, around two-thirds of the world’s middle class will be based in this region, according to a recent report by the UN Development Program.

CATHAY Pacific yesterday announced it is making changes to its New Delhi schedule and will offer double daily non-stop flights to Hong Kong starting March 31.

The airline that is at present operating a daily non-stop flight on the sector, will convert its other Delhi-Bangkok-Hong Kong flight to a direct service.

Utilising A330 aircraft for both non-stop flights, the first flight from Delhi will arrive at Hong Kong International Airport at 07.00 and the second flight at 09.25, directly connecting passengers to destinations such as Australia, North America, Korea, Japan, China and the Philippines offered by the airline and its sister Dragonair.

The airline is also planning to enhance the frequency of its Kolkata-Hong Kong service, operated through Dragonair, by adding two more flights by end-2014.

“We have utilised all our traffic rights to India except Kolkata, where we can operate two more flights. We are hoping to operate daily flights to the city by year-end,” said Rakesh Raicar, regional sales and marketing manager, South Asia, Cathay Pacific.

India is among the top 10 markets for Cathay Pacific. The airline saw growth of 25 per cent last year with the addition of Kolkata and Hyderabad to its network.

The airline recorded an average load factor of 82 per cent in India in 2013. It currently operates 47 weekly flights from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

THAILAND last year welcomed more Indian travellers than the year before, with the kingdom recording about 1.1 million Indian arrivals, growth of four per cent over 2012.

The tourism board is expecting growth of seven to eight per cent in tourist arrivals this year over 2013.

Said Runjuan Tongrut, director, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), New Delhi office: “Cities like Bangkok and Pattaya remained hugely popular with Indians and there was a noticeable rise in demand for the regional destinations of Phuket, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, and Krabi.

“Favourite activities for Indians in Thailand continued to be shopping and sightseeing, but there was also significant growth in the number of Indian weddings in the country, golf tours, spa and wellness trips, student travel, eco-tourism and MICE.”

“We will focus on non-metro Indian cities and on creating awareness of our festivals like Songkran and Loi Krathong to fuel growth in the Indian market.”

TAT New Delhi office will also organise a three-city road show In August covering Delhi, Jaipur and Amritsar respectively.

Meanwhile, Thailand is witnessing an increase in demand from women group travellers from India in 2014, despite its political unrest.

“We are noticing a new trend this year with many all-women groups travelling to Thailand for experiential trips. These groups are particularly interested in spas, wellness centres and Thai cooking classes besides exploring new destinations,” shared Runjuan.

Apart from budget and young travellers, TAT is looking to draw more Indian luxury travellers and well-travelled tourists to the country, engaging travel consultants in the promotion of yacht excursions, high-end hotels, exclusive dining and entertainment activities.

THE supply of hotel rooms in Yangon will nearly double in the coming year in an effort to ease the city’s shortage, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

Minister of Hotels and Tourism, Htay Aung, said: “More hotels will be granted (licences) to develop to meet increasing demand, especially in Yangon. Numerous hotels are already in construction around the city and a few more are slated to open in 2016 and later.”

The ministry has also issued 166 hotel licences in the past year – on average three new hotel licences per week (TTG Asia e-Daily March 11, 2014).

Figures from the ministry as of December 2013 showed that Myanmar had 923 licensed hotels and approximately 34,834 rooms throughout the country.

Yangon had 232 hotels with 10,175 rooms, followed by Mandalay with 104 hotels (4,439 rooms), Bagan-Nyaung U with 77 hotels (2,386 rooms), Taunggyi-Inle with 70 hotels (1,939 rooms) and Naypyidaw with 50 hotels (4,030 rooms).

Among the 923 licensed hotels, only six were rated as five-star, 17 as four-star, 83 as three-star, 116 as two-star and the rest as one-star/certified.
Htay Aung said the ministry would like to encourage both local and foreign investors to invest in hotel and other tourism-related business which are “very promising” for the investor.

The Myanmar Investment Commission has so far granted permission worth up to US$2 billion of investment into 39 hotels and tourism-related projects.

“We look at the foreign investment hotels and commercial complexes; there are 39 projects with the availability of 8,029 rooms. Only 30 projects with 5,207 rooms have been completed and the other six projects are under constructions,” said Htay Aung.

In 2013, the number of tourists visiting Myanmar surged to over two million compared to one million in 2012, indicating a significant two-fold increase from last year.

The ministry forecasts that in 2014 the number of international tourists will increase to three million.

MALAYSIA is eyeing more visitors from South Asia for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, with a series of road shows from March 10 to 20 to Sri Lanka and India to whip up enthusiasm and support.

The first leg kicked off in Colombo, where Tourism Malaysia’s deputy director general (Planning) Dato’ Azizan Noordin said the NTO hopes to increase the number of visitors from Sri Lanka this year to 70,000, from 64,051 in 2013.

The NTO also hopes to increase the number of flight frequencies to Malaysia. At present 31 flights operate to Malaysia from Colombo weekly.

Asked by the press about the increase in visa fee to Malaysia for Sri Lankans this year to Rs5,000 (US$38.30) from Rs500, due to the introduction of an outsourced visa-handling agent, Noordin said the NTO will consider a reduction in the visa fee.

The second leg of VMY 2014 started yesterday, with the sales mission team moving on to India’s Kochi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi.

Malaysia is targeting 780,000 Indian arrivals in 2014 compared to 700,000 in 2013.

The delegation led by Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia will introduce initiatives to promote new destinations like Johor, Penang and Borneo in the growing Indian market.

Asked if Malaysia Airlines’(MAS) case of the missing MH370 flight had any impact on the sales mission, Tourism Malaysia’s Mumbai office said there is no change in roadshow plans.

Seema Ahmed, general manager, Kolkata-based Gainwell Travel & Lesiure, said: “The case is still under investigation and I do not want to speculate. Our clients’ opinion is if it was a terrorist act then KUL airport security comes under a cloud. However, we have not seen any great negative impact on travel to Malaysia.”

Sandhya Kartha, director, Mumbai-based Redchilli Holidays, said: ” Flight safety is a concern especially since Malaysian carriers will necessarily have to be used for destinations beyond Kuala Lumpur to Borneo or Penang.”

Meanwhile, he added new destinations need to be introduced to Indian travellers as clients are always looking for fresh ideas for vacations.

However, P P Khanna, director, New Delhi-based Diplomatic Travel Point, highlighted: “New destinations in Malaysia will take time to be assimilated by the Indian travellers.

“Flight prices must be kept low for Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. Penang is already a known destination, but numbers are likely to increase with special promotions by Malaysian tourism stakeholders.”

Zulkifly Mohammad Said, director general, Islamic Tourism Centre, Malaysia, which was one of 12 exhibitors at SATTE in New Delhi earlier this year, revealed: “Tourism Malaysia will also focus on promoting golf and sport tourism in the Indian market.”
Additional report from Shekhar Niyogi.

AS SEARCH for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 continues, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak called for patience and stressed that the government is doing its best to find information that can lead to the discovery of the aircraft.

The search now covers nearly a total of 27,000 square nautical miles in the Straits of Malacca South China Sea. Forty-two ships and 39 aircraft have been deployed, involving 12 countries, with India, Japan and Brunei being the latest to participate.

In a press statement yesterday, acting transport minister and minister of defence, Hishammuddin Hussein, said the way forward is to bring more experts to analyse both civilian and military data; in the East or the West, on land or water.

“We are now working with many experts, including those from Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Authority, and the US National Transport Safety Board,” he revealed.

He also described co-operation with the Vietnamese authorities as being “very good”, adding: “We have already requested permission for Malaysian aircraft to search Vietnamese areas of responsibility.

“The Vietnamese have responded positively, and have requested a diplomatic note from Malaysia, which has already been sent by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

Meanwhile, as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew of MH370, MAS today announced the MH370 and MH371 flight codes will be retired from the airline’s Kuala Lumpur-Beijing-Kuala Lumpur route.

With effect from March 14, the new flight numbers to replace MH370 and MH371 will be MH318 for Kuala Lumpur-Beijing and MH319 for Beijing-Kuala Lumpur services. The airline will continue to operate double daily services to Beijing.

THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday announced the airline industry remains on track to deliver a second consecutive year of improved profitability for 2014.

This is despite a slight downward revision of its industry profit forecast from US$19.7 billion to US$18.7 billion, the main driver of which is higher oil prices now expected to average US$108/barrel (Brent), US$3.5/barrel above previous projections.

The US$3 billion added cost on the industry’s fuel bill is expected to be largely offset by stronger demand, supported by a strengthening global economy, while overall revenues are expected to rise to US$745 billion ($2 billion greater than previously projected).

However, IATA director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, said:“ Overall industry returns remain at an unsatisfactory level with a net profit margin of just 2.5 per cent.”

The industry retains on average US$5.65/passenger in net profit, improved from US$2.05 in 2012 and US$4.13 in 2013, but below 2010’s US$6.45.

“The efficiencies of improved industry structure through consolidation and joint ventures is providing more value to passengers and helping airlines to remain profitable even in difficult trading conditions.

“But we still need governments to understand the link between aviation-friendly policies and broader economic benefits. In many parts of the world, the industry’s innate power to drive prosperity through connectivity is compromised by high taxes, insufficient infrastructure and onerous regulation,” said Tyler.

IATA expects passenger demand passenger demand growth of 5.8 per cent this year, slightly weaker than previously forecast (six per cent), but an improvement on the 5.3 per cent growth for 2013. Passenger yields however are expected to deteriorate by 0.3 per cent.

As airlines continue to introduce new product options, ancillary services may add almost US$14 to the expected average fare per departing passenger of about US$181.

GDP growth projections for 2014 have been raised from 2.7 to 2.9 per cent. Improvements in the global economic outlook are largely being driven by developed economies – job creation in the US, the end of fiscal austerity in Europe and a much weaker yen are stimulating demand.

While China appears to be continuing on a trajectory of impressive growth, key emerging economies such as India and Brazil face major economic challenges.

Regional performance by airlines highlights there is a wide range of challenges and opportunities. All regions are expected to see higher profits and EBIT margins in 2014 than in 2013.

Asia-Pacific airlines are expected to post profits of US$3.7 billion and an EBIT margin of 3.4 per cent, an improvement over 2013. Forecast for the profits of airlines in this region in 2014 is US$400 million less than the previous projection.