Agreement signed in Paris between (in the foreground) Airbus' Guillaume Faury (right) and CAS' Jia Baojun, in the presence of (background) visiting Chinese president Xi Jinping and French president Emmanuel Macron
Airbus has sealed a deal with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company for the purchase of 300 aircraft, as rival Boeing grapples with the 737 Max crisis after two fatal crashes.
The deal was signed Monday in Paris, witnessed by Chinese president Xi Jinping and French president Emmanuel Macron.
Agreement signed in Paris between (foreground) Airbus’ Guillaume Faury (right) and CAS’ Jia Baojun, in the presence of (background) visiting Chinese president Xi Jinping and French president Emmanuel Macron
The order is for 290 A320 family aircraft and 10 A350 XWB family aircraft, reflecting the strong demand in all market segments including domestic, low cost, regional and international longhaul from Chinese carriers.
According to Airbus’ latest China Market Forecast 2018 to 2037, China will need some 7,400 new passenger and freighters aircraft in the next 20 years, representing more than 19 per cent of the total demand for over 37,400 new aircraft.
By the end of January 2019, the in-service Airbus fleet with Chinese operators totalled some 1,730 aircraft, of which 1,455 are A320 and 17 are A350 XWB planes.
Philippines' outbound prospects are suffering from a weak peso, rising fares, and inflation
PAL postpones Delhi service
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has postponed the launch of flights from Delhi until further notice, attributing this to the trip cancellations that ensued from India-Pakistan border tensions.
Ticket holders of flights between Manila and New Delhi may opt to reroute their tickets to any regional destination within 30 days from the original travel date, or have the cost refunded. Affected passengers may call PAL’s reservations hotline (+63) 2 855 8888 or toll free number 1-800-I-FLY-PAL, or visit the nearest PAL ticketing office or partner travel agent where they booked their flight.
Cebu Pacific to commence Shanghai-Cebu service
Cebu Pacific will begin six-times-weekly flights between Shanghai and Cebu starting April 15, 2019. Flights depart Shanghai on the evenings of Monday through to Saturday, with just under four hours’ flying time.
Korean Air announces changes to summer schedule, new routes
Korean Air has announced changes to its flight schedule for the 2019 summer season, and new flights to Boston.
From April 12, Korean Air will launch a scheduled service between Seoul and Boston, in cooperation with joint venture partner, Delta Air Lines. Separately, the flight from Incheon to Seattle will be changed to 16.00 to “create synergy with Delta’s network within the US”.
In addition, starting June 1, the airline will begin a direct service between Incheon and Asahikawa, Hokkaido five times a week.
From March 31, flights between Incheon and Istanbul will increase from four to five times a week. The Incheon-Zagreb service, which launched in September 2018, maintains operation three times a week.
Korean Air will resume operation of its direct flight to the Russian city Irkutsk on April 22 and to St Petersburg from April 28. These routes do not operate in the winter season, but serve to provide flight options to Russia and Northern Europe during the summer.
Hotel Technology, Direct Bookings, Hotel Distribution
Hoteliers are taking control of their direct booking channels by stepping up personalisation, guest engagement and B2B relationships, industry players were eager to show at the recent Direct Booking Summit in Singapore.
“Direct booking rates can start from one per cent to 13 or 14 per cent for various hotels. Our best bet to secure direct bookings is to make the reservation process as simple as possible for the customer,” noted Matthew Faull, executive director & senior vice president of e-commerce, distribution and IT, Swiss-Belhotel International.
Hotels eager to achieve more direct bookings
“That would also depend on the market, what their purpose of travel is, and the different requirements that follow,” he added.
One of the recommended methods is ensuring targeted content on the hotel website. For example, Dewa Phuket Resort leverages its repeat clients – some 10 per cent annually – to share content on their stay online in return for rewards.
By using content generated by guests, the hotel would not have to spend money on campaign shots, and the content can be tailored according to market and season of visit, explained Gary Zurnamer, director of partnerships travel, Stackla.
Fastrack Group’s Adrian Caruso, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore & The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore’s Jeff Crowe, Dewa Phuket Resort’s Olga Gergenkop, Swiss-Belhotel International’s Matthew Faull, and Stackla’s Gary Zurnamer
Some hotels have also enhanced their methods of building a strong digital presence and sustaining online customer engagement. For example, Conrad Manila has rolled out a table booking solution with conversational reservation platform Alex, developed by Global Hospitality Solutions.
Unlike a chatbot that is typically embedded in a company website or app, Alex enables hotels to reach customers directly through popular messaging platforms, and uses their preferences from previous bookings to customise the offerings presented for the next reservation.
“We’re moving from e-commerce to conversational commerce. We have to reach customers where they are, where the conversation is – and different target markets use different chat apps, each with different features and booking functions. For example, in Japan it’s Line and in Indonesia it’s Facebook messenger,” said Bernard Quek, founder & CEO, Global Hospitality Solutions.
Some hotels have taken the B2B route, establishing partnerships with neighbouring suppliers to refer visitors. Chantelle Veness, group director of sales & marketing, The Lancemore Group, shared that the Australia-based group’s property in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula struck a partnership with a nearby popular hot spring, which directs customers to the hotel’s website.
Still, as the conversation about online strategies continues, industry players remain faithful to the human touch in hospitality.
Olga Gergenkop, resident manager, Dewa Phuket Resort, said: “We also have to be mindful of the importance of the on-site experience. We are about to roll out a programme to provide incentives to our front office staff to convert customers who have booked through OTAs into direct booking customers.
In a demonstration of Asia’s growing power and influence on the world stage, Japan, Singapore and South Korea now hold joint top spot on the Henley Passport Index.
These latest results consolidate 12 months of Asian dominance, after Japan first climbed to the top spot in February last year.
Singapore passport tops the latest Henley Index, alongside Japan and South Korea
The three Asian countries hold the crown with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 189. Following a visa-exemption from Uzbekistan, Germany currently sits alone in second place, with a score of 188.
Five countries now share third place on the index with a score of 187: Denmark, Finland, France, Italy and Sweden.
The UK and the US look increasingly unlikely to regain the top spot they jointly held in 2015, with the UK now in fifth place with a visa-free/visa on arrival score of 185, and the US in sixth, with a score of 184.
The UAE continues its upward trajectory and is now just one spot away from entry into the index’s top 20. After the recent formalisation of a mutual visa-waiver agreement signed with Russia, UAE passport holders are now able to access 165 destinations without a prior visa.
China’s ascent is less dramatic, but it is a change that experts believe to be far more significant from a geopolitical point of view. The country now sits in 67th spot, having moved up 12 places since 2009.
As well as illustrating the widespread adoption of open visa policies, the latest rankings reflect the transformative effect that Asian development and growth is having on networks of transcontinental cooperation and connectivity. With the three tied in top spot all Asian countries, “there is a clear momentum behind the region taking centre stage in globalisation”, said Parag Khanna, founder and managing partner of FutureMap.
“The steady rise of China through its visa-waiver agreements shows how incremental and reciprocal measures can lead to significant progress in trust and recognition,” he added.
“With the Belt and Road Initiative expanding its constellation of member states and cross-border projects, we can fully expect Asian, European, Arab and African countries to continue to seek more seamless access to each other’s countries. This will benefit both China and all states participating in the rising trade along the new Silk Roads.”
While growing passport strength seems inevitable for some countries, uncertainty abounds for others, as protracted Brexit negotiations continue. Last Thursday, EU leaders agreed to a request to delay the Brexit process, with a new conditional deadline set for mid-April.
Although the outcome remains unknown, Florian Trauner, research professor at the Institute for European Studies at the Free University of Brussels, pointed out that the process has not yet affected the UK’s standing on the Henley Passport Index.
“Post-Brexit, it is likely that UK citizens will retain their (short-stay) visa free travel for the Schengen area. If the UK and EU manage to maintain a close political and trade relationship, the actual impact of Brexit on the travel freedom of British citizens may remain limited. However, the picture may change with regard to long-term mobility given that the free movement rights for UK citizens in the EU (and vice versa) will cease to apply.”
Meanwhile, overall passport strength of countries with citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programmes is another of the index’s success stories. Malta currently sits in eighth spot, ahead of Australia, Iceland and New Zealand, and Montenegro, which is due to launch its CBI program soon, has climbed 19 places since 2009 to 43rd place with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 143.
Moldova has jumped 21 places over the past decade and is now in 45th place on the index with holders able to travel to 121 global destinations visa-free.
Afghanistan and Iraq remain at the bottom of the ranking with a score of just 30, a position they have occupied throughout the index’s 14-year history.
Locals bear the hidden costs of tourism; pictured, tourists to Vietnam going down a canal in traditional bamboo basket boats
There are hidden costs in tourism that urgently need to be addressed with new solutions, according to a newly released report, which also named South-east Asia among the regions most vulnerable to such “invisible burdens”.
Failing to do so puts ecosystems, cultural wonders and community life at increasing risk, and places the tourism industry on a weak foundation that could crack under its own weight, according to the report by Travel Foundation, Cornell University’s Centre for Sustainable Global Enterprise and EplerWood International.
Locals bear the hidden costs of tourism; pictured, tourists to Vietnam going down a canal in traditional bamboo basket boats
The range of costs not currently accounted for include those needed to:
– upgrade infrastructure beyond resident needs to meet tourism demand
– manage and protect public spaces, monuments, the environment and natural habitats
– mitigate exposure to climate change risks; and
– address the needs of locals affected by rising real estate prices, driven by the demand from tourism
Either residents are left to pay these costs, or they are simply not paid, increasingly leading to environmental crises, spoiled tourism assets and growing dissatisfaction among local residents.
The report’s authors argue that destination authorities urgently need access to new resources, systems and expertise to ensure that the true costs of every new visitor are fully covered as tourism grows.
Some “urgently needed solutions” recommended include:
– new local accounting systems that capture the full range of costs stemming from the growth of tourism, in place of an incomplete set of economic impact measures;
– new skills and cross sector collaboration, underpinned by data and technology, to achieve effective spatial planning, manage demand for public utilities and services, and evaluate the availability of vital, local resources; and
– new valuation and financing mechanisms to redress debilitating underinvestment in infrastructure and local asset management and enable the transition to low-carbon destination economies.
“The earth’s greatest treasures are cracking under the weight of the soaring tourism economy. New data-driven systems to identify the cost of managing tourism’s most valued assets are required to stem a growing crisis in global tourism management. With the right leadership, finance and analysis in place, a whole new generation of tourism professionals can move forward and erase the invisible burden while benefiting millions around the globe,” said Megan Epler Wood, principal report author, Epler Wood International.
“The invisible burden goes a long way to explain why we are now witnessing destinations failing to cope with tourism growth, despite the economic benefits it brings. It’s not enough to call on governments and municipalities to manage tourism better, if they don’t have access to the right skills and resources to do so. Destination managers need support to develop new skills and new ways of working that will enable them to move beyond tourism marketing,” added Salli Felton, CEO, The Travel Foundation.
“This is a challenge of investing for the long-term health of a critical global economic sector. Future success will require collaboration among business, government and civil society so that destinations are managed as the valuable, yet vulnerable, assets that they are,” commented co-author Mark Milstein from Cornell University.
The authors conclude that some destinations are more vulnerable to the invisible burden and should be prioritised. These include island states, where there is a high risk of climate change impacts (which would disproportionately affect a visitor economy); South and South-east Asia, where the rise of the global middle class is driving tourism growth at unsustainable levels; and the Caribbean, where there is high economic dependence on tourism.
Naresh Goyal, founder of India’s Jet Airways, has stepped down as chairman of the company.
His resignation will likely pave the way for potential investors to save the cash-strapped Jet Airways. They were held back by Goyal’s reluctance to give up control of the company, according to a BBC report.
Jet Airways is struggling for its survival
The BBC report also added that Jet Airways ended potential deals with Etihad Airways and interest from Indian conglomerate Tata group, both of which were trying to save the beleaguered carrier. But both companies stepped back when Goyal refused to resign.
Indian media reports indicate that Goyal’s stake in Jet Airways will fall to less than 50 per cent, and he will lose the majority stake to lenders. The statement said it would also issue 11.4 million new shares.
According to Channel NewsAsia, the Mumbai-based carrier is deep in debt of more than US$1 billion, and banks would be injecting up to US$218 million as immediate funding support. Currently, Jet Airways has been struggling to pay aircraft lessors, employees and suppliers.
In recent weeks, India’s oldest airline had grounded more than two-thirds of the 119 aircraft in its fleet. Thousands of customers have also been stranded in recent weeks, after flights were cancelled with little notice.
Within minutes of his resignation, Jet Airway’s shares jumped by around 12 per cent.
Destination NSW has opened a retail store in Shanghai in collaboration with Chinese OTA giant, Ctrip.
“Never before have we opened a retail travel store and we are the first tourism organisation to do this with Ctrip, so this is a major coup,” Destination NSW’s CEO Sandra Chipchase said.
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The retail store provides travellers with the chance to speak with a specialised travel agent about NSW as a destination for holidays or business trips, she shared.
The store will also host consumer events throughout the year centred around NSW highlights such as regional food and wine destinations and the Vivid Sydney light festival.
“This new Ctrip initiative is a tangible demonstration of how serious our state is about growing the China market, which is currently worth an incredible A$3.5 billion (US$3.4 billion) to the NSW visitor economy.”
The Ctrip Destination NSW Flagship Store will be located in Shanghai for one year and open from March 2019 until end of February 2020.
Air pollution at dangerous levels; Chiang Mai streets pictured
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has issued a statement saying the air quality in parts of the country’s north has been at unhealthy levels for the past weeks.
It is advising tourists visiting Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and the surrounding provinces to monitor air quality index (AQI) reports and take necessary precautions.
Air quality in Thailand’s north at ‘unhealthy levels’; Chiang Mai streets pictured
The Pollution Control Department under the Ministry of Public Health is providing ongoing reports of air quality, and tourists can keep abreast of these via the Air4Thai website or by downloading the mobile application “Air4Thai” on App Store or Google Play.
The haze may also affect flight operations and cause delays. Passengers may check the flight status from the airline that they are travelling on or get the latest updates from the airport authority.
TAT also suggests that individuals take precautionary steps such as wearing an N95-rated face mask whenever going outside, and advises those with respiratory problems or other suspected effects of the haze to see a doctor or pharmacist immediately.
Tourists who experience “any unfortunate incidents” are encouraged to immediately contact the Tourist Police Hotline on 1155.
The NTO has also stated its readiness to support the government and other public or private sector efforts to tackle the haze, which is blamed mostly on forest fires, open scrub burning and vehicle emissions.
The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts has announced a “rebrand”, which includes a change in logo, website and names of three hotels in Asia-Pacific.
The group presents its new logo, the Oberoi Sun, which it says represents the brand promise of bringing warmth, energy and a sense of well-being to guests.
A screenshot from the revamped Oberoi website
The Oberoi Mauritius, Bali and Lombok have been renamed as The Oberoi Beach Resort, Mauritius; The Oberoi Beach Resort, Bali; and The Oberoi Beach Resort, Lombok.
As part of the brand initiative, the group also unveiled a new website design and brand video.
Bedsonline has appointed Elif Esen as regional sales manager for the Indonesia and Singapore markets.
Based in Singapore, she will lead a team of eight across Singapore and Indonesia to expand and diversify the number of travel agent subscribers in both markets.
Prior to this new posting, Esen was Bedsonline Asia head of sales, having joined Hotelbeds destination offices in Turkey in 1997. She has been with Hotelbeds for over 22 years.
