MALAYSIAN outbound travel agents have not received any requests to postpone travel to New Zealand for the upcoming March holidays but impact on new bookings remains to be seen.

Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel CEO, Cooper Huang, said some adjustments would be made to itineraries to avoid areas affected by the earthquake that rocked Christchurch on Tuesday.

He, however, did not expect any cancellations for the school vacation, which is more than two weeks away.

Mayflower Acme Tours deputy general manager Abdul Rahman Mohamed said it was still too early to tell whether clients wanted to pull out. New bookings were likely to be affected though, he added.

Sri Sutra Travel managing director Syed Razif Al Yahya said his company had temporarily stopped selling New Zealand tours to reduce risks.

EARLY entrants in Asia’s online travel space such as ZUJI and Wotif.com believe their first-mover advantage and successful localisation will keep Expedia at bay, even as Expedia fields a Singapore-specific website backed by global reach, better rates, established branding and technical know-how.

The OTA enters Singapore in one fell swoop with over 130,000 properties worldwide, a 24-7 local call centre, no cancellation fee when travel plans change, and bells and whistles such as its Deal Hunter, virtual hotel tours and independent traveller reviews. Airfares and packages will be included later this year. Expedia is also planning new sites in Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand within the first half of this year.

Unfazed, Roshan Mendis, president of ZUJI and regional vice president of Travelocity Asia-Pacific, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “ZUJI is an early entrant into the Singapore market and has since built a strong and thriving business. Apart from Singapore, the growth of online penetration is still in development for other parts of South-east Asia. We foresee an increase in the number of players who will be leveraging the value proposition of online travel booking, which will accelerate consumers’ migration to the online space. We are strongly positioned to benefit from the growth and acceleration of the online travel industry and will continue to provide travellers with the most compelling place to book their travel online.”

Singapore may be small, but it is a key travel market because it is a regional hub for LCCs and home to IT-savvy travellers, notes Wotif.com’s executive general manager Matthew Varley. Expedia’s market would help encourage more travellers to get online and Wotif, present in Singapore since opening a local office in 2004, will continue to nab its share through localisation.

“Localisation is certainly a good strategy to cut through the clutter in the crowded online marketplace and has always been part of Wotif.com’s regional growth strategy in Asia. For six years with Wotif.com.sg, we have successfully localised our content, tailoring our deals, promotions and credit card partnerships to our Singaporean audience,” Varley said.

GERMANY’s second largest airline, airberlin, is set to further strengthen its regional hub in Bangkok after it becomes a full member of oneworld early next year.

The carrier established Bangkok as its regional hub late last year when it started to operate codeshare flights on Bangkok Airways’ Bangkok-Phnom Penh route, said general manager for Thailand, Stefan Magiera.

He added that talks were ongoing as to whether the codeshare agreement would be extended to Bangkok Airways’ lucrative Bangkok-Siem Reap route due to compatibility of flight schedules.

“We will be able to announce (other destinations) after the complete integration of our membership with oneworld,” said Magiera.

According to Bangkok Airways, airberlin supplied 12,463 passengers last year through codeshare flights to Koh Samui, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Phnom Penh. This is almost a 100 per cent increase compared to numbers in 2009.

airberlin operates nine flights a week from Germany to Bangkok and four-weekly flights to Phuket during its winter timetable from November to March. For its summer schedule, the airline flies daily to Bangkok and connects passengers to domestic destinations via codeshare flights with Bangkok Airways, an agreement that started in 2009.

By Sirima Eamtako

THE MALAYSIA Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) launched on Tuesday its Industry Partner Programme (IPP), a platform meant to help business tourism players compete more effectively for clients.

Industry partners will benefit from a cooperative sales and marketing platform under the MyCEB banner, access to sales leads and business referrals, and professional development opportunities. The programme will also facilitate sharing of knowledge, expertise and quality of service delivery.

MyCEB CEO, Zulkefli Sharif, said: “The programme will act as a platform for MyCEB to engage with industry players and to encourage cooperation in order to increase Malaysia’s success rate in securing international business events and to grow overall business tourism arrivals from the current five per cent to eight per cent by 2020.”

Putrajaya Lake Cruise director, planning and business development, Syamsani Mansor said: “Networking with members nationwide will allow us to know what is happening in other cities and states, and we will be able to tap each other’s strengths.”

Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel managing director Yap Sook Ling added that the IPP will encourage greater synergy between the industry and government.

INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group’s (IHG) boutique brand will see a second property coming up in Thailand, with the Hotel Indigo Phuket Naithon Beach Resort opening on June 1, 2014.

Located 15 minutes from the airport, the resort will feature 120 rooms and 15 villas, with facilities such as an all-day dining restaurant and bar, swimming pool and spa.

IHG will manage the resort on behalf of owner and operator, Tiansin Property Development Co.

Said IHG Asia Australasia managing director Jan Smits: “Globally, we are aggressively expanding Hotel Indigo’s distribution – our focus is on bringing our newest and fast-growing Hotel Indigo brand into markets where there is demand, with current developments in key cities like New York, Hong Kong and Bangkok, where the first Hotel Indigo in Thailand will be located.”

There are 38 Hotel Indigos worldwide and the brand continues to expand in major cities such as Madrid, Vancouver, Mexico City, Glasgow and Liverpool. In Asia-Pacific, Hotel Indigo made its debut late last year in Shanghai, and will soon see openings in Taipei and Bangkok, among others.

Hotel Indigo targets upscale travellers, and each hotel is inspired by its local neighbourhood.

WITH little hope of retrieving members’ deposits from bankrupt Mandala Airlines following the carrier’s failure to get debtors to back its debt restructuring programme last week, the Indonesia Ticketing Agents Association (ASTINDO) is preparing to demand better terms and conditions when dealing with airlines.

ASTINDO board member Rudiana said: “With this latest development, we see the case with AdamAir repeating itself once again. We are not going to give in and are preparing a few steps to gain our rights.”

ASTINDO and Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Jakarta Chapter have been trying in vain to recover deposits from AdamAir since it was declared bankrupt in 2008.

“We are preparing to renegotiate terms and conditions with Indonesian airlines other than Garuda Indonesia (which has been using IATA for domestic services), including the deposits and terms of payments,” said Rudiana, adding that they would be working closely with the Indonesia Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) and Indonesia government.

“There is no way for us or our customers to know the health of an airline. We only found out at the meeting with debtors last week that Mandala’s total debt was 2.3 trillion rupiah (US$256 million),” said Rudiana.

“The owners can just get away without repaying the money they owe. There must be some way the regulators can prevent such a situation from happening again.”

LEGOLAND Malaysia will be among the first leisure and tourism products to be completed in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, a region that is three times the size of Singapore.

The theme park is within Medini Iskandar Malaysia, a mixed-use development in Iskandar Malaysia that is being developed by Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB).

Spread over 31 hectares and built at a cost of RM720 million (US$236 million), Legoland’s first park in Asia will feature over 40 rides, shows and attractions targeting children from two to 12 years old.

Of the million visitors it expects to attract in the first year, some 60 per cent are likely to be domestic travellers, said Muhammad Zainal Ashikin, CEO of IDR Resorts, a member of IIB.

Siegfried Boerst, senior director of operations, said the priority was to hire 50 pre-operation staff this year, out of which 13 would focus on coming up with a detailed marketing plan to reach out to the trade and general public.

“We hope to be able to talk to the trade and bring them here by summer,” Boerst told TTG Asia e-Daily, adding that promotions by agents may involve “some cost-sharing”.

Meanwhile, sites next to Legoland have been earmarked for a themed hotel and a business hotel, with incentives such as a 10-year corporate tax exemption and the ability to source capital globally being dangled. Work on a smaller indoor theme park nearby that will feature characters such as Bob the Builder and Barney has also started. Puteri Harbour, near Medini, will also be developed to allow cruiseliners to berth, providing a new source of visitors future attractions can tap.

IIB oversees the development of approximately two per cent of land in Iskandar Malaysia, which includes Medini and a 14.5km coastal highway that will connect Johor city centre to Medini in 15 minutes when it opens this year.

LAGUNA Hotels & Resorts (LHR), the joint owning company of Laguna Beach Resort, is selling its shareholding in the hotel for 723.6 million baht (US$23.6 million) to Laguna Phuket Club, the Thai company controlled by Real Estate Equity Partners (RECAP), an Asian-focused private equity fund.

LHR’s joint venture partner in the hotel is also selling the remaining shares to Laguna Phuket Club, giving RECAP full ownership of the 252-room deluxe beachfront property. Completion of the deal is expected in May.

The operations of Laguna Beach Resort and the Laguna Phuket integrated resort complex will be unaffected by the change of ownership.

RECAP, headed by chairman Suchad Chiaranussati, acquired the Jungceylon shopping complex and hotel in Phuket in 2006 and invested in Bangkok’s four-tower Millennium Residence development.

Six months ago, LHR also sold the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket to Dusit Thani for 2.62 billion baht. Both transactions are in line with its publicly-disclosed strategy of divesting part of its interests in Thailand, enabling focus on emerging opportunities elsewhere in Asia.

LHR also recently picked Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts to manage the current Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket effective June 30. The property will undergo a five-month 500 million baht refurbishment and re-open in December as the Angsana Laguna Phuket.

EXPEDIA’s entry into Singapore is expected to expand the city’s online travel market, with existing online and traditional travel agents saying they are undaunted by the new rival.

Boh Tuang Poh, executive chairman, Singapore-based Asiatravel.com, said: “Looking at the big picture, the entry of Expedia into Singapore is a positive development because it shows that the demand here is growing enough to catch their interest.

“We don’t see it as a big impact on our business. Expedia is also not a ‘new competitor’ so to speak as Singaporeans would have already been able to access its website previously. One player can never cover the whole spectrum of packages. We’ve also been in the market longer and we know what Singaporeans want, especially since we have our own storefront that opened last year.”

Boh added: “Expedia will help create awareness among Singaporeans of buying holidays online, which is currently a market still in its infancy. This will then expand the market for all of us. At the moment, Singaporeans are still going to traditional travel agents to buy outbound packages, and these agents hold a sizable share of the market.”

CTC senior vice president (marketing and PR), Alicia Seah, said: “We are already competing with other OTAs like ZUJI anyway, and the entry of more OTAs is something we have to accept. We are not overly concerned because while there are consumers who favour online bookings, there is also a growing segment of travellers who want customised tours. CTC has been doing customised tours and we have the ground expertise. There might even be a chance for a partnership between CTC and Expedia, which is strong with hotels and ticketing but not customised land programmes.”

Additional reporting by Karen Yue

PARIS-based Louvre Hotels & Golden Tulip is pressing ahead with expansion plans in Asia and will open 30 hotels in the region this year, including more than 10 in India, about seven in China and three in Thailand.

Aiming to grow its Asian footprint from its current eight hotels, and regional offices in Shanghai, Delhi and Bangkok, to more than 100 hotels by 2014, Louvre Hotels & Golden Tulip’s vice-president international operations & CEO, Olivier Derycke, identified China, India and Thailand as the chain’s three key growth destinations in Asia.

The hotel chain – the second largest in Europe and eight largest in the world – is expanding in the region mainly through management deals, but is also looking at equity agreements with local partners to roll out its three-star and budget Tulip Inn, Premiere Classe and Campanile brands.

The chain has already introduced its five-star Royal Tulip and four-star Golden Tulip brands in Asia. For now, it has no plans to introduce its three-star Kyriad Prestige and Kyriad brands in the region.

By Sirima Eamtako