Singapore’s Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced on April 6 that it will suspend operations at Terminal 2 for 18 months from May 1, 2020, due to steep decline in passenger traffic and slow recovery of air travel demand expected in the near term.
Moreover, operations at Terminal 4 have been scaled down considerably due to a “very small number of flights” serving the once-bustling transport hub, stated CAG in a press release. Should these remaining airlines choose to suspend or adjust their flight schedules, CAG will also consider temporarily suspending operations at T4.
Singapore’s Changi Airport Group to suspend operations at Terminal 2 for 18 months to cut costs
Tan Lye Teck, CAG’s executive vice president of airport management, said in a statement: “With airlines suspending flights in response to the sharply reduced travel demand, the consolidation efforts seek to help our airport partners during this difficult time. While the scale of our operations will be reduced in the near term, Changi Airport remains open to serve the airfreight and passenger flights that continue to operate.”
He assured that the airport “will have the flexibility” and will be “ready to ramp up operations quickly once the recovery takes place”.
Meanwhile, the suspension of operations at Terminal 2 will allow for the acceleration of its current expansion work from the previously scheduled 2024 to as early as 2023. CAG is in discussion with airport partners and concessionaires in the terminal regarding options available to them.
For now, CAG has waived all rentals for concessions operating in T4 for two months from March 24, 2020; and with its partners, is identifying retraining and redeployment opportunities for airport staff to protect as many jobs as possible during this downturn.
For example, ground handler SATS is sending staff for training courses to train them as airside drivers to support airlines. As well, CAG is partnering Certis Aviation Security to streamline and adjust the size of its operations, such as the deployment of security officers at pre-boarding security screening stations and at access control points to restricted areas.
Singapore Merlion devoid of tourists and locals in unprecedented Covid-19 times
The Singapore government will extend more financial support to help businesses and employees ride out the city-state’s month-long closure of non-essential workplaces – a “circuit breaker” measure which takes effect from April 7 until May 4, 2020.
The S$5.1 billion (US$3.6 billion) Solidarity Budget was announced by deputy prime minister and finance minister Heng Swee Keat in a parliament session today.
Singapore Merlion devoid of both tourists and locals as Covid-19 brings the economy to a standstill
In an unprecedented step, this marks the third round of measures the government has rolled out in under two months, following the S$6.4 billion (US$4.4 billion) Unity Budget in February, and the S$48.4 billion Resilience Budget last month.
The three stimulus packages comprise a stream of waivers and subsidies for businesses and employees to cushion the impact of Covid-19.
The Solidarity Budget includes increased wage subsidy for all companies in all sectors to 75 per cent of gross monthly wages, for the first S$4,600 of wages paid in April, for each employee. This overwrites the range of 25-75 per cent in the previously announced Resilience Budget, under which the aviation and tourism sectors were provided the highest tier of wage subsidies.
“I expect firms to make use of this Jobs Support Scheme to continue paying your workers and refrain from putting workers on no-pay leave during this period, or worse, retrenching them,” urged Heng.
Companies that hire foreign workers on work permits and S-passes will also have their monthly foreign worker levy due in April waived. Employers will soon also receive a foreign worker levy rebate of S$750 for each work permit or S-pass holder.
Singapore’s Ministry of Law will introduce a Bill on April 7 to allow businesses and individuals to temporarily defer certain contractual obligations such as paying rent, repaying loans or completing work. The Bill will also ensure property owners pass on the property tax rebate in full to tenants.
In addition, the government will bring forward the S$300 Care and Support Cash package announced earlier, and provide an additional S$300, bringing the total to S$600 for every Singaporean adult above the age of 21. Singaporeans can expect a payout from as early as April 14.
Heng wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday: “The Covid-19 situation has taken a very sharp turn, both globally and locally. Strong measures have to be taken to protect lives, but the economy has taken a hit as a result.”
Singapore’s overall GDP growth will dive further amid stricter restrictions to fight the pandemic, projected Heng. He shared that the government’s response to Covid-19 will ring up to S$59.9 billion, or about 12 per cent of Singapore’s GDP. The overall budget deficit for FY2020 will increase to S$44.3 billion, or 8.9 per cent of the GDP.
As of April 5, the number of infection cases in Singapore stood at 1,309, including 116 new local cases and four new imported cases.
Langham Hospitality’s Group is rolling out staycation packages at 13 properties across its two brands — The Langham Hotels & Resorts and Cordis Hotels — to spur domestic travel within mainland China.
Bookings must be made between April 1 and August 31, 2020 for staycations that fall within these dates, though blackout dates apply.
Langham offers staycation packages at 13 properties, including Cordis Dongqian Lake Ningbo (above)
Offers rolled out are given four package names depending on the hotel’s brand name and length of stay. Packages targeting shorter- and longer-stay guests at The Langham Hotels & Resorts’ properties are termed Wellness Retreats and Linger Extra Longer, respectively. Meanwhile, similar packages at the Cordis Hotels’ properties are coined Family Getaways and Extended Staycations.
All packages include complimentary breakfast, a 20 per cent discount on dining experiences, and flexible check-in and check-out arrangements. Longer-stay discount packages will also include 30 per cent off laundry and dry-cleaning services.
Room rate discounts vary based on the length of stay. Guests staying more than five days will enjoy a 25 per cent discount on the best available room rates, while those on shorter stays will receive a 20 per cent discount.
Guests have to make room rate payments upfront for the entire stay and they are non-refundable.
Participating properties under The Langham Hotels & Resorts brand include The Langham, Hong Kong; The Langham Shanghai, Xintiandi; and Langham Place, Xiamen.
Meanwhile, Cordis hotels at which the offer will be rolled out are Cordis, Hong Kong; Cordis, Shanghai, Hongqiao; and Cordis, Dongqian Lake, Ningbo.
Guests can make reservations directly through the hotels’ websites and may be able to reach certain hotels on WeChat for more details.
Indonesian hotels are being pushed to the brink of collapse, and disintegrating further by the day, as the central government neglects to answer their call for tax holidays and further financial assistance to cushion the fallout of Covid-19, according to association leaders.
The outbreak, which has infected 2,273 people and killed 198 in the country as of April 5, has triggered mass layoffs and forced hotel closures, no thanks to plummeting demand amid lockdowns worldwide aimed at curbing the virus.
The ongoing Covid-19 crisis pushes Indonesia’s tourism sector deeper into the doldrums, forcing the closure of nearly 700 hotels across the archipelago, including at least 50 in Bali; aerial view of luxury hotel in Ubud, Bali pictured
Nearly 700 hotels across the archipelago have shut down, according to Maulana Yusran, deputy head of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI).
He said that the outbreak hit the industry so severely that occupancy rate had plunged to below two per cent as of April 5, prompting a wave of mass layoffs, and hoteliers worry that more are to come if they did not receive tax waivers and immediate financial assistance from the government.
“The PHRI expects the government (to waive temporarily) the income taxes of workers and companies. Hotels have already incurred financial losses due to the sharp decline in occupancy. Employees have also already taken unpaid leave and their salaries have also been cut,” said Maulana.
The body also hopes that the central government will instruct regional governments to temporarily exempt hotels from paying land and building taxes, allow them to defer health insurance premiums for employees, as well as give them a discount of up to 50 per cent for electricity bills.
Such requests have been conveyed by PHRI through multiple letters to president Joko Widodo and the relevant ministries.
Maulana bemoaned the fact that hotels and restaurants have been overlooked in the government’s stimulus package totalling 405.1 trillion rupiah (US$24.5 billion) that was launched last week through regulation in lieu of law to shore up the coronavirus-battered economy.
Of the package, the government will allocate 75 trillion rupiah for medical needs, 110 trillion for social safety, 70.1 trillion for tax incentives and credit for businesses, as well as 150 trillion for recovery programmes for SMEs.
In response to being left out in the cold, Maulana said that PHRI would be sending an additional letter to the president and relevant ministers to address the hotel sector’s financial woes.
“It seems that we have to fight very hard (to get the government’s assistance). I understand that it’s a very sensitive issue and it has massive implications. But I hope that the government will focus on helping employees first,” he said.
I Made Ramia Adnyana, deputy chairman of Indonesian Hotel General Manager Association (IHGMA), said that he had spoken to Wishnutama Kusubandio, minister of tourism and creative economy, in a web meeting with his association, after the president issued the regulation in lieu of law last week.
During the meeting, he said, the minister told IHGMA that he had voiced the concerns of industry players to the president and Sri Mulyani, minister of finance. When asked why the tourism sector was left out in the cold in the government’s regulation, Wishnutama said that their requests will be followed up by the minister (Sri Mulyani) and president.
Made also said that he was waiting on the government to implement the six-month tax exemption that was promised to hotels and restaurants situated in Indonesia’s 10 priority destinations.
In early March, Airlangga Hartanto, coordinating economic minister, announced that the government would grant regional governments 3.3 trillion rupiah to compensate for the loss in tax revenues caused by the tax exemptions given to hotels and restaurants.
However, that promise has yet to materialise, according to Made.
In Bali alone, Made said, at least 50 hotels have temporarily closed. To date, layoffs in those hotels have yet to happen, but many employees have been sent home and had their salaries cut. If the government fails to act, there will be massive layoffs in Bali, he added.
He added that during the meeting with Wishnutama, the minister said that he would convey the trade’s concerns to the minister of finance and president, and strive to fulfil the industry’s demands to prevent layoffs.
Okinawa Prefecture’s tourism industry is set to receive an economic boost as part of the Japanese government’s upcoming stimulus measures to counter coronavirus fallout.
During a meeting with visiting representatives of local tourism, business and financial industries in the prefectural capital, Naha, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga pledged “large-scale assistance” to help Okinawa “achieve a V-shaped recovery after the virus is contained.”
Covid-19 cripples Okinawa’s tourism sector; tourists posing in front of the Shureimon gate of the Shurijo castle in Okinawa pictured
In recent years, Okinawa had seen a tourism boom, breaking its own tourism records every year for six consecutive years, until last year, according to a report in The Asahi Shimbun.
In fiscal 2018, arrivals reached 10 million, of which three million came from overseas, and tourism revenues hit 734 billion yen (US$$6.8 billion), it added.
The continued surge in visitation, coupled with the expectation of a new runway at Naha Airport that opened last month, prompted a spike in the development of hotels, eateries and other tourism-related businesses in Japan’s southern island prefecture.
However, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to Okinawa’s tourism-reliant economy, particularly since the Chinese government’s ban on overseas group travel came into effect in February.
In February, the Okinawan prefectural government recorded only 61,000 foreign tourist arrivals, a fall of 75 per cent year-on-year. Visitor arrivals from mainland China plummeted 99 per cent, while those from South Korea fell by 90 per cent.
The lull is expected to continue in the short term, especially with the suspension of all outbound international flights.
The tourism slump has been keenly felt by industry players. Hotels in Naha and Onna village report that room occupancy for March has dropped to 20 per cent, from 40 to 60 per cent during the same period in previous years.
Other businesses are also feeling the strain. In February, duty-free chain Laox closed its Naha store following a steep decline in sales and, in late March, Naha-based rental car company New Step declared bankruptcy.
Yasu Kochi, a MICE coordinator at the Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau, told TTG Asia that 17 corporate events scheduled up to July 2020 have been cancelled, while organisers of events slated to take place later in the year are considering their options.
The bureau is assessing the situation facing tourism players to decide what strategy it should put in place to support tourism across the archipelago, she added.
The Covid-19 crisis has left the global aviation industry reeling, in the wake of unprecedented capacity cuts across the world, leading to a 77 per cent collapse in global aviation year-on-year, found a report by ForwardKeys.
In the first week of April, international airline seat capacity fell to just 23 per cent of what it was during the same time last year. Just 10 million seats were still in service to facilitate essential travel, compared with 44.2 million a year ago.
The coronavirus outbreak has led to a collapse in air travel; aerial overview of multiple aircraft at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX Airport pictured
In 1Q2020, airline seat capacity is 9.4 per cent down, with 482 million seats in service, compared with 532 million in the same period last year.
Despite an uptick in capacity at the start of January, compared to last year, it started to fall during the last week of the month when the Chinese government announced restrictions on outbound travel.
Following after until mid-March, air capacity fell substantially, and tumbled precipitously to the end of the month.
Olivier Ponti, vice president Insights, ForwardKeys, said: “Governments have closed entire countries; and in response, the airline industry has cut services to the bone. It is likely that when we get to the other side of the pandemic, things won’t return to the vibrant market conditions we had at the start of the year, anywhere near as easily as some people imagine.
“By then, it is possible that a number of airlines will have gone bust; consumers will have lost confidence in flying and uneconomic discounts will be necessary to attract demand back.”
The top ten airlines still operating in the first week of April (March 30 to April 5) are KLM, with 800,000 seats still in service; Qatar Airways, with nearly 500,000 seats in service; and Ryanair, with 400,000.
They are followed in descending order by Delta, Air France, American, BA, Wizz Air, Cathay Pacific and Jeju. However, this picture will change soon, as Ryanair recently announced that almost its entire fleet will be grounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Oakwood has promoted Lina Abdullah to the role of regional general manager, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.
This dual-role is in addition to her current position as general manager of Oakwood Hotel & Residence Sri Racha in Chonburi, Thailand.
In her new capacity, Abdullah will oversee a cluster of six operating properties in Thailand, as well as pre-opening projects in Cambodia and Myanmar, while maintaining the growth of Oakwood’s portfolio in these countries.
Abdullah began her Oakwood journey in March 2015, where she was tasked to manage the former Oakwood Residence Garden Towers Bangna, Bangkok, with her remit including the Bangna Convention Center and Food Camp by Oakwood. She went on to open Oakwood Hotel & Residence Sri Racha in 2017.
Prior to joining Oakwood, Abdullah was with Onyx Hospitality Group where she was the general manager responsible for opening the Amari Dhaka in Bangladesh in 2014.
She first began her hospitality career with an eight-year tenure at Marriott properties in Malaysia and the UK. While in the UK, she joined Thistle City Barbican in London as hotel manager before being promoted to acting general manager. Abdullah accepted her first general manager role at Holiday Inn Northampton West in Northampton, before venturing to the Middle East to open the Holiday Villa in Bahrain in the same capacity.
Mainland China’s hotel industry is starting to bounce back from the scourge of the coronavirus, showing early signs of performance recovery that points towards the beginning of the return to normalcy.
Daily hotel occupancy in mainland China reached an absolute level of 31.8 per cent on March 28, up from a low of 7.4 per cent during the first week of February, according to preliminary data from STR. Additionally, opening rates have been significant in key markets across the region.
China’s hotel sector shows early signs of recovery; Shanghai skyline pictured
“We’re seeing green shoots in hotel occupancy figures, but we must stress that these are only early signs of a recovery that is likely to develop slowly,” said Christine Liu, STR’s regional manager for North Asia.
“Some of the demand stems from corporate travel, primarily within the same province, as well as small-scale meetings. Additionally, hotels are seeing business from those travellers quarantined after returning to China from other countries as well as those returning to cities for work. Overall, we’re seeing limited leisure business in city centres but a bit more recovery in that segment in surrounding suburbs.”
In Beijing, daily occupancy sat around 10 per cent for most of the first week of March, but climbed to as high as 21.6 per cent on March 28. Shanghai was as low as 11 per cent on March 1, but reached 28.6 per cent on March 28.
Among the key STR-defined markets for mainland China, the highest absolute occupancy levels have been seen in Xi’an (35.9 per cent on March 28) and Chengdu (35.6 per cent on March 28).
“Xi’an captured business from South Korea because of Samsung’s manufacturing factory in the tech zone – expatriates were able to relocate their families to Xi’an when the outbreak hit South Korea. Additionally, Xi’an is one of the redirect destinations for inbound flights scheduled to land in Beijing,” Liu said.
The occupancy trend line in Wuhan has taken a much different path. Occupancy in the city fell to as low as 7.5 per cent on January 23, jumped to a high of 72.7 per cent on March 7, and has since trended downward to 62.4 per cent on March 28.
“Wuhan saw an influx of hotel demand as medical workers entered the market, but some of that demand has tailed off as the situation becomes more stable,” Liu said.
In another positive sign for the industry, STR data showed that 87 per cent of the hotels in its mainland China sample are now open, after many had closed over the last two months.
Starting Tuesday, April 7, Singapore will lock down all non-essential businesses for at least one month, announced the city-state’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday afternoon, in response to the total number of coronavirus cases in the country crossing the 1,000-mark.
Essential services that will remain open include food establishments, wet markets and supermarkets, clinics and hospitals, utilities, transport, and banking establishments. Also allowed to remain open are businesses in key economic sectors, including those part of a global supply chain, as long as employees go to work with safe distancing measures in place.
Singapore to lock down all non-essential businesses from next Tuesday
All other work premises must close, stated Lee, who encouraged staff to work from home and telecommute wherever possible.
The government will “make arrangements to look after” foreign workers who will not be able to work, he added.
Further support for businesses and households will be announced on Monday at a parliament session by deputy prime minister Heng Swee Kiat, including a new legislation that mandates landlords pass on property tax rebates in full to tenants, as well as relief from certain contractual obligations for businesses and individuals.
“Looking at the trend, unless we take further steps, things will gradually get worse or another big cluster will push things over the edge. To pre-empt escalating infections, we will impose significantly stricter measures to help reduce risk of a big outbreak occurring, and also help to gradually bring our numbers down,” explained Lee.
He shared that these stricter measures have been enacted after discussions with Singapore’s multi-ministry task force, and may eventually help improve the situation which would lead to the relaxing of some measures.
The announcement comes as the number of global coronavirus cases worldwide topped one million yesterday. In Singapore, the number hit 1,049 this week, including 49 new cases yesterday and a fifth death of an 89-year-old woman today with no history of travel to affected countries or regions.
“We used to see fewer than 10 new cases a day, but in the past two weeks, we have had more than 15 new cases daily. These were initially imported from overseas – mostly returning Singaporeans – but in the last week, we began to have more (locally transmitted) cases. Despite good contact tracing, nearly half of these came from places we don’t know where or from whom. This suggests there are more people out there who are infected but have not been identified, passing the virus unknowingly to others.”
Lee assured: “The next few weeks will be pivotal. Even with these stricter measures in place, the number of cases will quite likely go up in the next few days. Within a few weeks, we should be able to bring the numbers under control and bring numbers down to a more sustainable situation.”
Five provinces in Thailand such as Phuket have issued closure directives; Phuket's skyline pictured
Thai provincial governments have toughened up measures to stem the spread of coronavirus in the country by ordering temporary hotel closures.
The Thai Hotels Association confirmed with TTG Asia that five provinces have issued closure directives to date, with the latest being Chonburi province, home to the city of Pattaya; and Phuket.
Five provinces in Thailand such as Phuket have issued closure directives; Phuket’s skyline pictured
Chonburi’s directive came into effect on April 2, while Phuket’s will commence on April 4. Both will remain in effect until further notice.
Under the directives, all licensed hotel businesses, apart from those which have been converted into field hospitals or quarantine centres, must close.
For Phuket, hotels with no guests must close immediately, whereas hotels with existing occupants must report their guests’ name and contact details to district officials who will follow up and detain any guests if they fall sick. Tourists who have already checked-in will be allowed to complete their stay, but hotels are not allowed to take in new guests. Those who breach these orders will be fined 100,000 baht (US$3,030) and/or jailed.
Other provinces that have earlier issued closure directives for hotels include Kanchanaburi, Chanthaburi and Phang Nga.
Affected hotels will be able to claim financial aid from the Thai Social Security Fund for their formally-employed, full-time staff.
These measures come as a nationwide curfew starts tonight barring all non-essential domestic movements between 22.00 and 04.00 until further notice.
Prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday issued a directive blocking all travel to Thailand, including those by Thais, with immediate effect until April 15 to allow the nation time to prepare “state quarantine” facilities after more local infections were linked to imported cases.
