Middle three, from left: AMSPA's Jeanette Tambakau, Tourism Malaysia's Ahmad Shah Hussein Tambakau and KL Tan
The Association of Malaysian Spas (AMSPA) has partnered The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) in a joint effort to grow wellness tourism in Malaysia.
The two associations signed an MoU encapsulating arrangements that relate to promotional programmes and activities leading up to Visit Malaysia 2020 and beyond, exchange of information, cooperation in capacity building, as well as product development in the area of wellness tourism.
Middle three, from left: AMSPA’s Jeanette Tambakau, Tourism Malaysia’s Ahmad Shah Hussein Tambakau and KL Tan
MATTA president, KL Tan, shared: “These strategic areas of cooperation are timely as we are supporting the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign to bring in 30 million international tourists and RM100 billion (US$24 billion) in tourist receipts to the country.
“The initiative is expected to unleash the potential of this emerging sector in Malaysia and make Malaysia’s wellness tourism on par with Bali and Thailand and other prime wellness destinations in Europe.”
Malaysia took the eighth spot in a ranking of top 10 wellness tourism destinations in Asia-Pacific for 2017. Wellness tourism expenditures in Malaysia in 2017 totalled RM5 billion.
The new single-aisle aircraft will be able to fly 4,700 nautical miles
Airbus has unveiled designs for the A321XLR, which the aircraft manufacturer claims is the world’s “longest range single-aisle airliner”.
Set to take to the skies from 2023, the newly launched A321XLR (Xtra Long Range) is touted by Airbus to be able to fly an “unprecedented” 4,700 nautical miles – 15 per cent more than its predecessor A321LR while maintaining the same fuel efficiency.
The new single-aisle aircraft will be able to fly 4,700 nautical miles
The latest evolution of the A321neo aircraft is the European planemaker’s response to market needs for more range and fuel efficiency, as the A321XLR is expected to bring a 30 per cent lower fuel burn per seat than previous-generation aircraft in the market.
With the A321XLR’s added range, airlines will be able to operate a lower-cost single-aisle aircraft on longer and less-heavily travelled routes – many of which are currently served by larger and less efficient wide-body aircraft. This will enable operators to open new routes such as India to Europe or China to Australia, as well as on direct transatlantic flights between continental Europe and the Americas.
As for passengers, the A321XLR will offer seats in all classes with the same comfort as on longhaul wide-body aircraft.
Technical modifications to the A321XLR include the new permanent rear centre tank for more fuel volume; a modified landing gear for an increased maximum take-off weight of 101 metric tonnes; and an optimised wing trailing-edge flap configuration to preserve the same take-off performance and engine thrust requirements as today’s A321neo.
According to Airbus, the A320neo family has received over 6,500 orders from more than 100 customers worldwide since its launch in 2010.
Changi Airports International (CAI) has announced the promotion of managing director, asset management Eugene Gan to the position of CEO from July 1.
Gan will succeed current chief Lim Liang Song, who will be moving on to pursue personal interests.
Eugene Gan
In his current role, Gan is responsible for the business and operating performance of the airports in CAI’s investment portfolio.
Since joining CAI in 2001, Gan has held various leadership positions in the investments and consultancy businesses. He also serves as director on the boards of airport companies in Brazil, China, India and Russia.
Kee Teck Koon, chairman of CAI, said: “Eugene has close to 20 years of experience in CAI. He is well acquainted with the global aviation industry, and has been deeply involved in charting the company’s strategic direction. We welcome Eugene to his new position as the CEO of CAI. We are confident that the company will continue to expand its footprint and create sustainable airport businesses around the world under his leadership.”
Traveloka Xperience's Sylvia Gunawan (left) and Traveloka Thailand's Tee Chayakul
Indonesian OTA Traveloka has rolled out the Xperience activities booking platform in Thailand.
Thailand is chosen to be the first official launch market of Xperience as the OTA has achieved significant growth across all its business units and has proven to be very popular among Thais and international visitors visiting the kingdom.
Traveloka Xperience’s Sylvia Gunawan (left) and Traveloka Thailand’s Tee Chayakul
Traveloka says the platform is targeting not only domestic and international travellers, but even residents seeking unique experiences or a night out.
The categories include attractions, movies, events, entertainment, tours, beauty & spa, sports, playgrounds, transport, food & drink, classes & workshops, as well as travel essentials.
Traveloka Xperience has built strategic partnerships with international players including Cartoon Network, Universal Studios, Resorts World, Legoland, Disneyland, Ngong Ping, etc.
Commenting on the launch in Thailand, Sylvia Gunawan, vice president for revenue & growth, Traveloka Xperience, said: “Thailand has become one of the most popular destinations in South-east Asia visited by travellers, as well as Traveloka’s second largest market.”
Tee Chayakul, country manager of Traveloka Thailand, said: “Xperience is for anyone who wants to discover more of the many ‘worlds’ around them. The initial response to Xperience has exceeded our expectations and we look forward to building on this momentum and continually offering more experiences worldwide tailored to individual preferences and passions.”
Traveloka currently has an inventory of nearly 15,000 listings across various countries, available for booking by users in seven countries including Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
From left: Dan Lynn and Vikram Malhi, co-founders of Zuzu Hospitality Solutions
South-east Asian hospitality management start-up Zuzu Hospitality Solutions has partnered with Revinate, a global reputation management software company, to help independent hoteliers source and collate guest feedback data at no additional charge.
Through Zuzu’s all-in-one hotel management system, hotel partners will have access to guest reviews from all online channels. The system will also provide consolidated sentiment analysis and analytics of the reviews. This solution will allow the hotels to closely monitor the guest experience and take corrective actions where required.
From left: Dan Lynn and Vikram Malhi, co-founders of Zuzu Hospitality Solutions
With access to guest feedback coming in from multiple channels, hotels will then able to address specific concerns and thus provide better hospitality services, according to Zuzu.
Typically, chain and large independent hotels buy reputation monitoring or management software to track guest feedback and collate the data. With this partnership, small and medium independent hotels across Asia-Pacific will be able to leverage Zuzu’s platform to get access to the data set provided by Revinate.
Vikram Malhi, co-founder of Zuzu Hospitality Solution, said in a statement: “Our initial four-in-one solution of insights analytics platform, channel management, revenue management and property management delivered an average uplift of 30 per cent in online revenue to our hoteliers.”
He added that this new partnership will allow the start-up to provide a “five-in-one solution” that will provide hoteliers with “easy access” to crucial data insights.
Thai Airways International (THAI) has opened an office in Taipei, located in the Jia Jia Building in the CBD.
The airline currently operates 21 direct flights per week between Bangkok and Taipei with Boeing 737-300, Boeing 777-200, and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Marking the grand opening of the office were (from left) THAI’s Kunjit Reanthong; Thailand’s tourism division Taipei’s Chookiet Potito; THAI’s Wit Kitchathorn; Thailand Trade and Economic Office Taipei’s Thongchai Chasaweath; THAI’s Nond Kalinta; and Taipei Association of Travel Agents’s Benny Wu, as well as customers and sales agents.
Hotelbeds makes available a local domain to improve usability in China
Hotelbeds has launched a China-based hotel extranet solution for hoteliers in China.
China-based hoteliers now have access to a Chinese domain version of MaxiRoom, Hotelbeds’ free hotel extranet launched in 2015.
Chinese hoteliers will be able to access MaxiRoom via a local domain – https://www.maxiroom.cn – without facing any restrictions and in Chinese.
Hotelbeds makes available a local domain to improve usability in China
Adam Krzciuk Kuna, head of supplier connectivity partnerships, Hotelbeds, commented: “Doing business in China requires a bespoke approach as their technology platforms are different. In the past we tried other non-domestic websites, but the performance of the platform was not up to the standard we wish our hotel partners to receive.
“The domestic domain is created to improve usability and functionality, which is part of our commitment to offer hotels a segmented and ever stronger value proposition. MaxiRoom offers hoteliers greater autonomy by helping them find and manage their rates, availability, offers and content more easily.”
Hotelbeds says MaxiRoom also helps hoteliers to be more competitive, since it offers information about performance in comparison with local competitors and allows hoteliers to make decisions to improve their pricing in order to optimise productivity.
Other features of MaxiRoom include:
• Interactive calendar where hoteliers can make rate and room type changes
• An intuitive content management system designed to easily update the quality of information, images and offers
• A tool that allows to quickly and easily make massive changes in availability and price by product range or by room type.
• Smart alerts that notify hotel partners about dates that have been left unavailable, incomplete descriptions or lack of images so they can improve their showcase on the platform
• A promotions manager that allows hoteliers to launch their own offers directly any time and in a dynamic way
Hotels that work with Hotelbeds have access to more than 60,000 tour operators, airlines, point redemption programs, loyalty plans, and travel agents from more than 140 source markets.
Visit local communities and have rice and a water well donated under your name as part of Shinta Mani Angkor’s Open Doors, Open Hearts CSR package.
Guests will take a full-day tour of the Angkor temples complex including English-speaking tour guide, private vehicle and driver; visit the Green Gecko project with rice donation to an orphanage; visit a village with a donation of a water well to a family; and have dinner complete with performance at Bambu Stage Siem Reap to support the local community.
Shinta Mani resort in Siem Reap
The Open Doors, Open Hearts CSR Package also includes:
– private round-trip airport transfers
– fast track immigration on arrival
– three-night accommodation in Superior Room
– daily breakfast
– 60-minute spa treatment
– early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability)
Valid this year, the package costs US$1,890 (pre tax) per couple for travel during the peak season (January 1-3, December 23-31); US$1,550 per couple for travel during the high season (November 1 to December 22) and US$1,290 per couple for the low season (April 1 to October 31).
A percentage of the daily room rate will be donated by the resort to the non-profit Shinta Mani Foundation created by the owner, to support their health, education and development programmes for the less fortunate in the community.
An open sky proposal made by Indonesian president Joko Widodo, who suggested allowing international airlines to operate domestic routes, has drawn a mix of support and caution from tourism stakeholders.
With the Indonesian trade recently up in arms over high air ticket pricing, Widodo opined that heightened competition could help keep airfares affordable.
“Maybe there is not enough competition. We try to multiply the competition by inviting foreign airlines to serve domestic routes,” said Widodo.
Domestic air travel hindered by high airfares;
Under the current law, foreign airlines need to establish a business entity in the country with at least 51 per cent of shares held by Indonesians in order to operate flights within the country.
AirAsia Indonesia was set up under such rulings on ownership.
The transportation ministry is to study Widodo’s proposal, and the government will convene this week to discuss the possibility of open skies in Indonesia.
Such developments in aviation could have far-reaching effects on the tourism and hospitality industry, expressed Haryadi Sukamdani, chairman of Indonesia Hotel & Restaurant Association.
At present, the local aviation industry is dominated by two major airlines, namely Lion Air Group and Garuda Indonesia Group.
Haryadi said the duopoly market conditions have contributed to the high airfares in Indonesia.
He added: “The president’s plan will not only stimulate competition in the aviation industry, but also (make air tickets) more affordable. The hospitality industry is very affected by airline tickets. As is the case at this time, hotel occupancy (has taken a tumble) after air ticket prices have risen.”
Pauline Suharno, secretary general of The Indonesian Travel Agents Association, believes open skies will improve opportunities to promote the destinations in Indonesia and distribute tourism benefits to local communities.
She said: “The main obstacle to Indonesian tourism is access. There are destinations that are ready with the airports, but sadly the flights are still limited. One example is Belitung, which has only five to six flight services from Jakarta. If the government allows the foreign airlines to fly domestic (routes), perhaps the story will be different.”
Pauline sees huge projected growth for domestic travel in the coming years. “But if there are still limited airlines and high fares persist, Indonesia’s tourism will suffer greatly as more Indonesian will opt to travel overseas,” she remarked.
However, while supporting the open sky discourse, Pauline prefers for the government to allocate more slots to existing airlines. “To make destinations in Indonesia more connected, the government can start by making it easier to grant flying licenses and give more flying slots to existing airlines,” she suggested.
Similarly, Budijanto Ardiansyah, vice president of Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies, also opined that the government needs to give consideration to other important issues in its move to allow foreign airlines to operate in Indonesia.
Budijanto added that before even considering the safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, there are “problems” still to fix within the country. “I am worried (the move) will backfire if foreign airlines are allowed to fly. We don’t want foreign airlines to destroy the Indonesian aviation industry.”
He added: “I suggest the government gives more incentives, like tax reduction for local airlines. Perhaps, if such kind cost is reduced, it can make airlines more efficient and ultimately bring down ticket prices.”
If the open sky finally happens, Arief Yahya, Indonesia’s tourism minister suggested that foreign airlines would not only fly trunk routes but also connect remote areas or small cities in Indonesia.
“They should not only fly on routes around Java Island or Bali. They must also link the services to areas that are remote or isolated. I do hope they will fly to developing regions,” Arief said.
Encouraging visitors to hop from island to island and from resort to resort
The Maldives has launched an aggressive destination marketing campaign this year, tripling its promotion budget from a few years ago, and partnering Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the BBC in the process.
“Yes, we are promoting the destination more aggressively,” asserted Thoyyib Mohamed, managing director of the Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC), the country’s main state tourism promotion agency.
Under new national leadership, the destination marketing agency has three times the budget
The agency is set to spend close to US$7 million this year, up from US$2.2 million annually in the past two to three years. The increased budget was approved after a new government took office in April this year.
In comments made at the Travel Trade Maldives show in Male last week, Mohamed said a social media marketing campaign targeting six countries – the US, Ukraine, Thailand, India, Russia and China – will begin soon. The organisation has also signed separate contracts with 11 PR agencies across the world.
The destination is partnering with SIA in an US$180,000 deal promoting the destination in China, Japan, South Korea and the US, while MMPRC is also in talks with AirAsia, Emirates and SriLankan Airlines for similar arrangements covering other markets.
Thoyyib added that the agency has signed a contract with BBC, starting September 2019, to use their multimedia platform for a 3.5-month period to promote the destination.
“We are constantly looking for new ideas and taking different approaches than what we used to,” he said, adding that MMPRC is bringing back roadshows as part of the campaign. In recent years, the Maldives trade has complained about the lack of proper promotion on a smaller budget with presence at overseas trade fairs being the main item on the then budget.
Andrew Ashmore, chief commercial officer at Coco Collection Hotels & Resorts, welcomed the promotion campaign as a positive step forward. “Funding is critical. (And with) so many new high-level brands opening in the Maldives, the future new airport will help increase global awareness and bring the destination further into the mainstream,” he told TTG Asia.
“Interestingly the lesser markets like India are really growing, but we need much more to achieve the millions (targeted) in the next few years,” he said, referring to the Maldives’ goal of reaching two million arrivals in 2020-2022.
Abdul Karam, president of the Guesthouse Association of the Maldives, shared that the promotion campaign will, for the first time, include guesthouses as part of the product offering in the Maldives.
However, the general manager of a destination marketing company cautioned: “You need to be careful not to focus too much on guesthouses and low-end accommodation because people will then think this is a cheap destination… whereas the Maldives is a premier destination”.
Visit local communities and have rice and a water well donated under your name as part of Shinta Mani Angkor’s Open Doors, Open Hearts CSR package.
Guests will take a full-day tour of the Angkor temples complex including English-speaking tour guide, private vehicle and driver; visit the Green Gecko project with rice donation to an orphanage; visit a village with a donation of a water well to a family; and have dinner complete with performance at Bambu Stage Siem Reap to support the local community.
The Open Doors, Open Hearts CSR Package also includes:
– private round-trip airport transfers
– fast track immigration on arrival
– three-night accommodation in Superior Room
– daily breakfast
– 60-minute spa treatment
– early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability)
Valid this year, the package costs US$1,890 (pre tax) per couple for travel during the peak season (January 1-3, December 23-31); US$1,550 per couple for travel during the high season (November 1 to December 22) and US$1,290 per couple for the low season (April 1 to October 31).
A percentage of the daily room rate will be donated by the resort to the non-profit Shinta Mani Foundation created by the owner, to support their health, education and development programmes for the less fortunate in the community.