Crystal Expedition Cruises has postponed the launch of its luxury expedition ship, Crystal Endeavor, till November.
The delay comes after the temporary closure of the MV Werften shipyards, which halted operations due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Crystal Endeavor’s launch has been postponed to November due to Covid-19
Debut of the ship, initially slated for this August, has been pushed back, with all scheduled itineraries through October 31, 2020, cancelled.
The ship’s maiden voyage will now be the Tasmania & Fjords of New Zealand 14-night cruise embarking on November 14, 2020.
“We know that, like us, our guests have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to explore anew with Crystal aboard this groundbreaking ship, and we deeply regret that this change has become necessary and has disrupted our guests’ travel plans,” said Crystal’s president and CEO, Tom Wolber.
The company said that it is reaching out to guests and their travel advisors directly with rebooking options.
Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has appointed Hatsume Nagai as executive director for the Singapore market, effective April 1, 2020.
In her new role, she will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of strategies to promote Japan as a preferred tourist destination among Singaporean travellers.
Nagai joins JNTO at a time when the global tourism industry is undergoing its biggest crisis yet due to the coronavirus pandemic, and she will be helming the organisation’s recovery efforts for when travel resumes.
Furthermore, Nagai said that the NTO will also be strengthening promotional efforts such that the Singapore market will prioritise Japan as their first travel destination when the situation improves.
ASITA West Java's Yunarto (one-word name) (2nd from left) hands out grocery package to staff of ASITA members who are affected by covid 19 .jpeg
Even as the scourge of coronavirus tightens its grip on the tourism sector, a bright spot has surfaced in these bleak times – and that is players in travel showing solidarity amid their struggles, by donating food essentials and medical supplies to support the community during the pandemic.
In Indonesia, trade bodies and travel agencies have rallied together to fight the virus crisis. The Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA), through its subsidiary Asita Care, has been distributing food to medical workers at government referral hospitals.
ASITA West Java’s Yunarto (second from left) hands out grocery packages to staff of ASITA members affected by Covid-19
Budijanto Ardiansyah, vice president of ASITA, said the initiative by the national board of ASITA was then followed by its chapters. ASITA East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), for example, has donated 300 masks to the community through the NTT Covid-19 Handling Acceleration Task Force. Elsewhere, Asita Riau Islands has distributed 500 boxes of rice directly to motorbike taxi drivers, taxi drivers, street sweepers, and other needy people.
“There are four chapters that have carried out acts of solidarity – North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Riau Islands, and West Java. Other regions may soon follow suit,” said Budi, who is also ASITA’s West Java chairman.
He added: “The form of assistance varies, depending on the conditions and needs in the region. Like in West Java, we chose to focus on helping affected travel agent employees by giving them grocery packages.”
Also contributing towards pandemic relief efforts is Panorama Group which has donated 100 personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical teams working in Covid-19 referral hospitals. The group also makes portable sinks to be placed in public areas, along with spray equipment and disinfectants.
AB Sadewa, vice president brand and communications at Panorama Group, shared that they are in the midst of collecting donations. “The target is to prepare 1,000 grocery packages for people in need. We hope this will help them to get healthy and nutritious food in the midst of Covid-19.”
Previously, WEHA Transportasi Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Panorama Group, has pledged to provide shuttle services between specially designated Covid-19 hospitals and hotels designated for medical staff.
Sadewa said: “We’re doing everything we can to lend a hand and speed recovery from Covid-19 in Indonesia.”
Meanwhile, Tiket.com has launched a campaign called Berbagi Sehat (Sharing Health). Through this programme, users can exchange a certain number of TIX Points (membership reward points) on the platform, which the OTA will then use to buy PPE for medical workers across Indonesia.
Eric Waldburger, the former president of Marco Polo Hotels and founding president of the Macau Hotel Association, has passed away on April 10 in Ueda, Nagano, Japan after battling a short and sudden illness.
He was 70 years old.
Eric Waldburger
Born and trained in Switzerland, Waldburger started his rich hospitality career as a kitchen apprentice in a hotel. He ventured into Asia in 1973 as a restaurant manager at the newly-opened Furama Hong Kong, before rising through the ranks at prestigious hotels such as Mandarin Oriental Macau, The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, and Hutchison Whampoa’s Harbour Plaza Hotel Group.
He was the president of Marco Polo Hotels before retiring in January 2016.
Waldburger also founded the Macau Hotel Association.
In his semi-retirement state, Waldburger presided over his consulting firm, i Solutions and Concepts as well as SPICE Coaching.
In a tribute to Waldburger on April 15, Jennifer Cronin, president of Wharf Hotels, wrote: “Through these roles it was his mentorship and innate leadership skills that have fostered more than one generation of passionate and dedicated hoteliers, providing the stepping stones of opportunity to grow and develop with the same enthusiasm and vitality as Eric himself.
“The many heart-warming and grateful messages are flowing around the global hospitality network, from legends of the industry, hotel owners and aspiring hospitality students to academics and corporate leaders, as we share and celebrate Eric’s lifetime of experiences.”
Describing Waldburger as “one of our industry’s legends and statesmen”, Cronin said: “The world has lost an advocate of knowledge-sharing and an accomplished ground breaker, he was definitely a frontrunner in the disruptor movement, a man ahead of his time.”
Peter Borer, COO of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, recalled Waldburger as being “very passionate grand hotelier” who possessed “great charm”.
“His leadership style was admired by all staff and colleagues like myself,” said Borer.
Veteran hotelier James Smith, former general manager of Hilton Hong Kong and who had recommended Waldburger for the position at Hutchison Whampoa, said: “Eric being exposed to top quality operation in his formative career had high standards, was committed to having excellence and producing what the owners required. I don’t believe he had any other goal except dedication to his family.”
Duncan Palmer, the former managing director at The Murray, Hong Kong, a Niccolo Hotel, recalled: “I first worked with him on the opening of Macau Excelsior. As a general manager, he put a very young team together, giving them opportunity and space to be creative. In fact, he groomed leaders and left a legacy (of leaders) with very good managers around the world.”
Kevin Murphy, director of asset management, AHS Advisory Australia, recalled his first encounter with Waldburger in the ’70s. “Eric was never one to seek the limelight among his industry associates. He will be well remembered for his quiet nature, gentle manners and sartorial elegance, as well as a dignified calmness and professional assurance under all circumstances throughout his successful career,” remarked Murphy.
“I was always happy to see his wry smile and accepting manner whenever he supported change in ways that might have ruffled some of his early superiors in Hong Kong circles. He sometimes seemed an old soul gliding well through a modern century environment while his work did much to introduce the more modern approach in personnel management in particular that he was well noted for,” he added.
In lieu of flowers, people can make a donation in name of the Eric Waldburger Memorial Scholarship. Cheques, marked payable to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, should be sent to Pauline Ngan (pauline.ngan@polyu.edu.hk) at School of Hotel & Tourism Management, 17 Science Museum Road, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Alternatively, an online donation can be made. Purpose of donation to be specified as SHTM – The Eric Waldburger Memorial Scholarship.
Waldburger is survived by his wife Naoko and children Marc and Tanya.
What has Oakwood done to achieve greater gender equality across the company?
Oakwood’s initiatives to support gender balance include a gender-diverse recruitment process; a merit-based rewards and promotions system; fair assessment of results; mentorship for all potential talents; and look at promotions from within.
How was Lina Abdullah selected for the position of regional general manager for Cambodia, Myanmar & Thailand?
We recognised Lina’s leadership competency five years ago when she was tasked to manage the former Oakwood Residence Garden Towers Bangna, Bangkok. Within two years, Lina led the pre-opening team at Oakwood Hotel & Residence Sri Racha to great commercial success and acclaim in 2017. By 2018, she was named as Thailand’s Best General Manager for the Hospitality Category conferred by CMO Asia in 2018.
She was also recognised as Rising Star of 2020 during the annual Serviced Apartment Awards in London.
Oakwood has a robust management programme to cultivate leaders for the future. Given our aggressive expansion plan to double Oakwood’s portfolio by 2025, there is an urgent need for senior leaders who embrace our Oakwood values and service philosophy. The best strategy for us to achieve this is through the promotion of internal talents.
Instead of applying for this management training programme, candidates are shortlisted and assessed based on a set of performance criteria. Team leaders are responsible for identifying and nominating candidates for career advancement.
How does Oakwood show its commitment to having more women in leadership positions?
Oakwood is committed to being a fair employer and strong advocate of gender equality.
We have a structured annual performance appraisal system that helps us recognise rising stars within the organisation. With every potential talent, a carefully crafted career advancement plan is developed according to individual strengths and weaknesses. This talent development process is gender-neutral.
In recent years, we have nurtured five celebrated women leaders in Asia-Pacific aside from Lina.
Patty Luo – executive assistant manager, Oakwood Premier Guangzhou. Luo is also the winner of the Stelliers Greater China 2019: Hotel/ Resident Manager of the Year 2019
Tamaki Okoshi – executive assistant manager of Oakwood Apartments Azabudai, Tokyo and Oakwood Residence Azabujyuban, Tokyo
Tomoko Watanabe – executive assistant manager, of several Oakwood properties in Tokyo, namely Oakwood Apartments Minami Azabu, Oakwood Apartments Roppongi Central, Oakwood Apartments Shirokane, Oakwood Residence Aoyama
Kyoko Terada – executive assistant manager of Oakwood Apartments Nishi-Shinjuku and Oakwood Residence Shinagawa
How do you think the industry will evolve in terms of gender balance?
At Oakwood, we have noticed a significant increase in women leaders across the organization. In addition, the change in perception towards women in society, especially within Asia, as well as our results-driven appraisal system contribute to the emergence of women leaders.
Most importantly, organisations that are committed to operational success would recognise leadership potential, be it male or female.
Hong Kong’s Airport Authority (AA) will buy 500,000 flight tickets in advance from the four home-based airlines – Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express, Cathay Pacific, and Cathay Dragon – as part of a fresh relief package pegged at HK$2 billion (US$258 million) to ease the liquidity pressure of airlines and aviation support services operators.
Hong Kong’s crippled aviation industry has suffered the double blow of prolonged social unrest and the global pandemic, with visitor arrivals plunging to a mere 199,000 in February 2020.
Hong Kong’s Airport Authority has crafted a new relief package for home-based airlines and aviation support services operators
The purchase will inject liquidity into the airlines upfront, while the tickets will be given away to global visitors and Hong Kong residents in a future market recovery campaign to be launched when the pandemic is over.
Aviation support services operators at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) will also have the option to sell their ground services equipment (GSE) to the AA. The AA will pay cash upfront for the GSE, so as to improve the cash flow of operators.
As well, operators will enjoy a rent free period for using the equipment after the sales. Operators providing services in ramp handling, maintenance, catering and into-plane fuel, and more, may participate in the scheme on a voluntary basis.
A spokesperson for the AA said: “During this difficult time, the AA has been trying its best to support business partners. As an integral part of the aviation industry, the AA is also facing a significant shortfall in revenue because of the traffic plummet.
“The AA will go to the financial market in the next two months to raise the necessary funds, in order to maintain its own liquidity for funding the airport operation and the committed capital projects. The loan will also be used to finance the new relief package.”
In addition, the CEO and executive directors of the AA will take a voluntary pay cut of 20 per cent for six months starting from this April.
“While we are taking active measures to address the cash flow issues of the AA, all six executive directors and I, on our own initiative, will take a pay cut, as our message to the entire airport community that we share the sufferings everyone is going through, and that we are all in it together,” said Fred Lam, CEO of the AA.
TripAdvisor’s tour company Viator has rolled out more than 100 virtual experiences, including pasta-making courses, self-guided wine-tasting, and sight-seeing trips, as part of its new project #RoamFromHome, which enables tour guides and experiences hosts to bring their activities online.
The curated experiences are a mixture of free and paid-for, with roughly 80 per cent of the latter run by small businesses. For the paid experiences, Viator will waive commission, with all proceeds going to the operator.
Viator will offer virtual experiences in culture, sightseeing, food & drink, and more
Viator said the initiative is to allow travellers to quench their wanderlust during lockdown, while supporting tour operators hit hard by Covid-19.
Travellers can access Viator’s new virtual experiences in a dedicated section on its website. Experiences are organised by category, including culture, sightseeing, and food & drink.
Homebound travellers can prepare vegetarian dishes like mattar paneer in a private cooking class with a chef broadcasting from her home kitchen in Mumbai, or learn to make pasta at home from a chef in Florence, who has been running Italian food tours with her family for over 15 years.
While the experiences are currently only available in English, Viator said they may expand to include additional languages in the future.
Mid-April New Year celebrations were cancelled in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, along with existing border restrictions on foreign arrivals.
While Cambodia is currently not under a lockdown, its borders with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos remain closed until further notice. A travel ban is in place for entry from Germany, the US, Italy, France, Spain and Iran.
Lively New Year celebrations this month were absent in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia due to Covid-19 fears
International visitors must go into mandatory 14-day quarantine, with visa-on-arrivals currently postponed.
Bars, beer gardens, karaoke bars, spas and massage parlours have been closed, with restaurants, markets, hotels and other stores remaining open. During the cancelled Khmer New Year period, a one-week provincial travel ban was enforced.
In Myanmar, all international commercial flights have been suspended until April 30. Beaches have been shuttered early for the season, with the government recommending hotels in Mandalay and Bagan close. Many have reportedly followed the suggestion. Some hotels in Yangon have closed for April and May.
The government is encouraging people to stay at home until the end of the New Year holidays on April 20; while celebrations have been cancelled the public holidays remain in place.
Anti-Covid-19 measures are stiffer over in Laos. A lockdown came into effect on April 1, restricting people from leaving their homes except only to buy essential goods, visit hospitals or to work in limited essential services such as restaurants and cafes.
Hotels are allowed to operate but only to provide F&B services and accommodation. International and inter-provincial borders are closed to all movement apart from those transporting goods.
The measures are slated to be reviewed on April 19.
On April 1, Vietnamese authorities imposed a 15-day social distancing and stay-at-home order. It has said these will continue this for “some time” in regions considered high-risk while other areas will see restrictions relaxed.
From April 9, all visitors arriving at Ho Chi Minh City’s airports and train and bus stations must receive a Covid-19 test.
As of April 15, Vietnam has 266 confirmed cases and no deaths; Cambodia has 122 and no deaths; Myanmar 63 and four deaths; and Laos 19 and no deaths.
Princess Cruises is canceling all voyages through June 30 this year, a decision that overwrites its earlier move to pause sailings for two months between March 12 and May 10, 2020.
The latest decision was made in continued response to the impact of the Covid-19 global outbreak and the recent order from the United States Centers for Disease Control.
Along with the continued hibernation, Princess Cruises will cancel all Princess Alaska Gulf cruise and cruisetours. The five wilderness lodges, trains and buses operated by Princess in Alaska will not open this summer. However, round-trip sailings from Seattle to Alaska on Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess will continue.
Princess Cruises is canceling all voyages through June 30 this year; Majestic Princess pictured
Princess Cruises will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for canceled cruises that were paid in full, in recognition of the critical role travel advisors play in the cruise line’s business and success.
For affected guests, Princess Cruises is offering two cancellation options.
Those paid in full will receive a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) equivalent to 100 per cent of the cruise fare paid and, as an added incentive, an additional 25 per cent FCC.
Guests can also choose to get a full refund for monies they have paid for affected sailings.
“This global outbreak continues to challenge our world in unimaginable ways. We recognise how disappointing this is to our long-term business partners and thousands of employees, many of whom have been with us in Alaska for decades,” said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises.
“We hope everyone impacted by these cancellations – especially our guests, travel advisor partners, teammates, and the communities we visit – understand our decision to do our part to protect the safety, health and well-being of our guests and team. We look forward to the brighter days and smooth seas ahead for all of us.”
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will open the Regent Shanghai Pudong on May 16, marking the property as the first new addition to the Regent portfolio since its acquisition of the brand in March 2018.
Regent Shanghai Pudong, located in Shanghai’s prime Lujiazui area, is a rebranded property secured through a new management agreement with Shanghai 21st Century Hotel Co.
Regent Shanghai Pudong to open this May
IHG will also take over the management of Shanghai 21st Century Hotel Co’s luxury apartments, which sit above the hotel in the same tower.
Along with this milestone, IHG is ready to transform the iconic InterContinental Hong Kong into a Regent hotel in 2022, bringing the hotel back to its roots as it first opened its doors as a Regent in 1980.
The hotel will be shut from April 20 this year for what will be its biggest renovation in 30 years.
The transformation will span all guestrooms and suites, all public areas, restaurants and event venues. The building façade will also gain a contemporary new look.
InterContinental Hong Kong will close for a transformation this April, and resurface as a Regent hotel come 2022
Yan Toh Heen, the hotel’s one-Michelin star Cantonese restaurant, will remain open throughout the renovation, with access via the adjoining K11 Musea.
colleagues will be supported with opportunities, wherever possible, within IHG properties after the hotel closes. They will also be given priority to re-join the hotel when it re-opens and be part of the transformation for its re-opening and relaunch.
In addition, the Regent brand is also expecting new openings in Phu Quoc, Vietnam later this year; Bali, Indonesia in 2021; as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Chengdu, China in 2023.
