The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be extending the free visa-on-arrival for citizens of 20 nations for another six months, from November 1, 2019 until April 30, 2020, after the Thai government greenlit the decision.
This is the fourth time the government has extended its visa-on-arrival fee waiver, since it was first introduced in November 2018, in a move meant to boost tourism arrivals while enhancing ease of entry into the country.
Thailand extends free visa-on-arrival for citizens of 20 nations until April 30, 2020
Citizens from the 20 nations – Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China including Taiwan, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan – are exempted from the 2,000 baht (US$66) visa-on-arrival fee for single-entry leisure travel in Thailand for not more than 15 days.
The government first approved the visa-on-arrival fee waiver from November 15, 2018 to January 14, 2019, then extended the measure to April 30, 2019, before extending it again to October 31, 2019.
Totalstay, part of B2B accommodation provider WebBeds, has launched a brand new booking website for global travel agents.
The new totalstay.com website contains enhancements that provide more than 20,000 travel agents worldwide with a tool to access, search and book more than 250,000 hotels across 10,000 destinations.
Totalstay rolls out new booking site for travel agents
Totalstay.com retains many of the existing features while adding new functionality to make searching and booking hotels faster, easier and more intuitive.
Some of the new features include:
Single search box function where users can discover the best accommodation by destination, hotel name, landmark or airport
Users can pre-filter search results by a huge range of feature.
Cancellation terms now appear earlier in the booking process
Google Maps and TripAdvisor reviews enable agents to make more informed decisions for their clients with enhanced information at their fingertips
Enhanced quote functionality allows agents to build a single quote for a range of properties, with or without prices, to email their customers
Basket/multi-component functionality enables users to add multiple hotel items to their basket
Quick view and flexible display means users can view hotel images, facilities, reviews and location all on one page as well as hide prices from screen display
Intuitive and simple design means a smoother and faster booking journey and checkout
Vietnam-based hotel & resort company Fusion has appointed industry veteran Akshay Moza to the new role of chief commercial officer (CCO).
Moza first joined Fusion in 2015 as group sales and marketing director, and after three years in the role he was promoted to group commercial director. In this latest appointment as CCO, he will take on greater responsibility for developing the portfolio of hotels and resorts, and will help lead the charge with new projects.
The industry veteran has over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry with his career spanning the UK, India and South-east Asia, having worked at hospitality companies like Absolute Hotel Services and Franklyn Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Stein Hotels and Resorts), as well as major hotel groups like Hilton, Melía, and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels.
Ray Jingshu Zhang has been hired as the new general manager of Fusion Suites Saigon.
With a decade of experience working in the hospitality industry across Asia-Pacific, the Australian national most recently worked as pre-opening deputy general manager of Banwa Private Island in the Philippines.
Prior to this, Zhang was group operation project manager for Regent Hotels & Resorts, where he managed hotel projects through their pre-opening phases in locations including Jakarta, Montenegro, Taipei, Guam and Phu Quoc. He has also held management level positions with IHG Hotels & Resorts in Australia, and the Park Hyatt Melbourne.
The successful bidding of Indonesia to host the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2021, coming on the back of the Asian Games and IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in 2018, has brought a sense of anticipation to the travel trade as industry members see a chance for the country to gain mileage from the publicity generated around hosting world-renowned events.
WITA Tour’s director of sales Rudiana expects the FIFA U20 World Cup – which marks the first time that Indonesia is hosting a FIFA tournament – will likely be a boon for the country’s tourism industry because the international sporting event will attract fans across the globe and boost the country’s reputation overseas.
Indonesia wins bid to host FIFA U20 World Cup
But Rudiana stressed that branding efforts around the event needs to be carried out. “We have to succeed in hosting the FIFA U20 World Cup. There is no guarantee that an opportunity to host a major event like this will come twice,” he said.
Like Rudiana, Hasiyanna Ashadi, chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Jakarta chapter saw massive tourism opportunities arising from the FIFA U20 World Cup, but she also urged the organising committee to learn from the previous Asian Games which brought few benefits to the travel agent community.
“There was also a lack of coordination among the committee members of the Asian Games. This should be a lesson for the FIFA U20 World Cup committee,” said Hasiyanna, expressing hopes that the FIFA U20 World Cup’s organising committee would seek out greater collaboration with travel agents.
While Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism had asked travel agents to create special tour packages around the Asian Games that include tournament admission as well as trips to the capital’s major tourist attractions, the game schedule was released only a month ahead of the opening ceremony, resulting in many cancellations from inbound clients due to pricey last-minute airfares, Hasiyanna recalled.
To prevent history from repeating itself during the upcoming FIFA U20 World Cup, Elok Tour’s managing director Pauline Suharno expected the government to gather travel agents together for early discussions in order to overcome any potential technical issues.
Rudiana, meanwhile, expressed concern over the readiness of the 10 cities where the football games would be held, namely Jakarta, Bogor, Cikarang, Bekasi, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Palembang, Surabaya and Bali.
Of the 10 cities set to host the FIFA U20 World Cup, Rudiana reckons that only Jakarta and Bali are fully ready for tourists in terms of attractions, accessibility and amenities. Nevertheless, he remains upbeat that the other eight cities can catch up on making improvements in those three aspects, though that would pose a major challenge for the government and tourism stakeholders.
Rudiana believes that by 2021, the 10 cities will be tourist-ready, especially Jakarta which will boost better infrastructure to improve the mobility of athletes and their supporters. “I am sure that in 2021, the construction of Jakarta MRT phase two will have been completed,” he said.
Thai Airways International (THAI), which is currently struggling with financial problems, has announced the resignation of Ekniti Nitithanprapas as chairman.
Chaiyapruk Didyasarin, who is currently vice-chairman, will serve as acting chairman.
THAI gave no reason for Ekniti’s departure, which came after three of the airline’s executive directors recently quit, according to a report by the Bangkok Post.
Media reports had earlier said that the airline was at risk of shutting down, a statement that has been refuted by THAI president Sumet Damrongchaitham.
The Thai national carrier reported a net loss of nearly 6.7 billion baht (US$222 million) in the second quarter of this year, it added.
Last month, deputy transport minister Thaworn Senneam Thaworn Senneam expressed concerns that the national flag carrier is in financial peril and runs the risk of chalking up net losses of over 10 billion baht by year-end.
The demand for local tours in Singapore may be flourishing, but sourcing for new talent to drive the industry is no mean feat. One tour operator has taken up the mantle of grooming a team of young management and guiding talent to lead innovation in the local tourism scene.
Monster Day Tours, run by founder & CEO TY Suen under Woopa Group, is now Singapore’s largest walking and private tour operator.
Monster Day Tours’ founder & CEO TY Suen wants to attract young talent into the tour operator and guiding industry
Monster Day Tours’ prominence grew in 2017 when it launched free daily walking tours in Chinatown and Little India, taking participants through the districts’ heritage sites, hipster hotspots and architectural wonders. The company has since expanded its menu of free tours to cover Kampong Glam, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, the Civic District, Bugis and Bras Basah.
Suen explained: “We aim to combine adventure and professional storytelling to create quality visitor experiences in Singapore, and to make travel accessible for everyone. Most tour and activities companies will address a specific audience or conduct a specific genre of tour, but we do our best to spread it out.”
But while Singapore’s touring landscape is thriving more than ever before, it is not immune to the challenge of recruiting bright and passionate talent.
Suen professed: “My idea is to be able to attract young talent into the tour operator and guiding industry. Most of Singapore’s younger generation still think that tours are big group bus tours, and a tourist guide is someone waving a flag and bringing the group from point to point. They are not aware that there are new ideas and innovation happening in this industry, and I hope to be able to change that.”
Now, Monster Day Tours’ management team and tour guides are among the youngest in the local industry, with an average staff age of 30 years. Suen said he involves the guides in the brainstorming of ideas for tours to keep them on their toes.
He said: “We continuously update and refresh our tour offerings. In the past two years, we have seen existing players start to innovate and develop more unique tour experiences. It has also begun to attract even players outside of the industry. I think the challenge for tour operators is how to keep our tours and tourist guides relevant for travellers.”
The company’s synergistic energy has empowered it to launch a number of paid themed tours, including A Taste of Michelin 1-Star Chicken Rice & Local Hawker Food Tour, Singapore After Dark Local Street Food & Nightlife Tour, as well as Crazy Rich Asians: Singapore Icons & Filming Locations Car Tour.
This year, Monster Day Tours has branched out to “other focus areas” and developed two new brands: UBE and 8xplore.
Touted as the “pioneer of start-up and business innovation tours in Singapore”, UBE organises localised tours in conjunction with creative start-ups and businesses from various industries in Singapore. Its debut product is Singapore’s first Silicon Valley of Singapore Insider Tour at one-north and JTC Launchpad.
Set to be launched next year is 8xplore, which will specialise in themed Singapore holidays curated for the China market, with offerings ranging from food and culture to heritage and shopping.
China’s flight and hotel wholesaler, Guangdong Qiyouji International Travel Service (Qiyouji), has inked a deal with Vietnamese booking platform VLeisure in a partnership that will give Qiyouji access to a wide variety of Vietnamese inventory at local rates.
Anson Neo, marketing and partnership director of Qiyouji, said that this partnership means the company can “offer premium inventory, including hotels and flights, at extremely competitive rates”.
China’s wholesaler Qiyouji partners VLeisure to gain access to a wide variety of Vietnamese inventory
VLeisure’s online platform will enable Qiyouji to make online travel and accommodation bookings, plan tours, as well as purchase travel insurance and other relevant products in Vietnam.
VLeisure’s CEO Phan Le said: “As a tech company and marketplace for hotels, suppliers, airlines and travel agencies, we empower OTAs by managing and distributing their travel products. Agents have access to our extensive range of inventory and the tools to manage and book products in real time and more efficiently. It means that there are fewer manual inputs and interruptions.”
VLeisure, which operates in Asia, Australia and Europe, provides a marketplace and infrastructure for hotels, suppliers, airlines and travel agencies, said the company in a statement. Travel businesses in over 147 countries use its online tools to prepare contracts, compare tariffs and distribute their products, as well as manage customer enquiries, it added.
Asia remains a key growth market for Finnair, as the carrier plans to step up frequency and capacity on key routes to match demand from the region.
Finnair will grow its network in Asia by 12 per cent this year, having increased frequencies to Hong Kong and Narita to twice daily from this summer. In December, it will add twice-weekly services to Sapporo in Hokkaido to become the first European carrier to serve the Hokkaido route since KLM suspended its services in 2002.
Finnair continues to grow its Asian network
The carrier will further expand its services in North Asia next year, commencing daily flights from Helsinki to Haneda and thrice-weekly flights from Helsinki to Busan in March.
Finnair’s general manager for Asia-Pacific, Tamas Hanyi, said that overall passenger growth on its Singapore-Helsinki route had increased by seven per cent last year, while group travel had surged 30 per cent in the same period.
He added that “bookings on the Singapore-Helsinki route in 1Q2020 are also looking really good,” despite headwinds from the ongoing US-China trade war and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
Positive sentiments are also observed for Asia as a tourist source market for Finland.
Said Mervi Toivonen, director of Visit Finland global sales promotion: “Travel from Asia to Finland is growing steadily with a 10 per cent increase from January to August 2019.”
He added that the total number of overnight stays by Asian visitors in Finland has risen by 10 per cent in the first eight months of this year, as compared to the same period in 2018.
The first chamber of the famous Tham Luang cave has reopened to the public on Friday, according to a report by The Bangkok Post.
The cave complex, located in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, was the site of a dramatic rescue effort of 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped underground for 17 days.
Part of the famous Tham Luang cave reopens to the public after restoration works
Officials of Tham Luang Khun Nam Nang Non National Park were quoted by the report as saying that at least 2,000 visitors thronged the park to be among the first to see part of the cave, which was previously closed to tourists for safety reasons and restoration efforts.
Only 20 people at a time are allowed to enter the cave and they need a permit from the park, according to the report.
Tham Luang was upgraded from a forest park to a national park last month after it received global attention from the three-day international rescue effort to excavate the young players and their trainer, said the report.
About 1.5 million people visited Tham Luang in the last fiscal year, although they were not allowed to enter the cave as the area was still undergoing restoration works, it added.
