TTG Asia
Asia/Singapore Monday, 6th April 2026
Sister Publications
TTG Asia TTGmice TTG India TTGssociations TTG Asia Luxury
TTG Asia | Thai hotels call for travel subsidies amid fuel concerns ahead of Songkran
TTG Asia | Indonesia shifts focus to shorthaul markets amid longhaul travel risks
TTG Asia | Asia drives next growth
Page 1244

Italy tourism players make big strides in Chinese market

By Prudence Lui
0
Tourists in Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Italy has risen to the second most popular European destination for Chinese after Russia, having welcomed 3.1 million mainland Chinese visitors in 2018.

The number is expected to continue to grow next year, the 50th anniversary of diplomacy between the two countries, which will see greater cultural and tourism exchanges stemming from various bilateral cooperation agreements.

Tourists in Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Italy’s ENIT (National State Tourist Board) is stepping up efforts in China. According to Maria Elena Rossi, marketing and promotion director, ENIT will next year open a tourism office in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

It has also inked an agreement with Chinese OTA giant Ctrip to tap into the market. “This was signed shortly after president Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Sicily recently. We identified the high-end segment, Generation Z and millennials as core targets,” Rossi shared, speaking to TTG Asia at ITB China in Shanghai.

Moreover, as ENIT is celebrating its 100th anniversary in November, the NTO is expecting additional sales and marketing activities such as roadshows to take place next year.

“In terms of travel trends, we are seeing a desire for Italian lifestyle, fashion, wine and cuisine as well as interest in (honeymoon trips and destination weddings),” Rossi added.

Ctrip figures indicate the top five popular cities for Chinese travellers include Milan (30 per cent), Rome (26 per cent), Florence (15 per cent), Venice (seven per cent) and Mestre (four per cent).

While the NTO courts Chinese travellers, Rossi emphasised that it continues to seek value, coming from experiential travel and longer-staying visitors, over volume growth.

Last year, Chinese travellers made five million overnight stays in Italy. Rossi estimates arrivals would grow by 10 per cent this year thanks to the increase in direct air connections. For example, Rome Airport announced three new direct flights from Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hangzhou starting late May.

So far, Rome Airport operates direct connection to 12 cities in China. It expects 20 per cent growth in Chinese passengers to 900,000 at the end of 2019. The airport has also made some changes to be Chinese-ready including signages and airport apps in Chinese, free hot water at airport restaurants and bars, its own WeChat account, as well as mobile payment through Alipay and WeChat Pay.

The Italian travel trade is also doubling down in the Chinese market.

For the first time this year, new destinations like Sicily and Piemonte joined the Italy Pavilion in ITB China. NeedItaly, project manager, Beatrice Aondio said: “We collaborate with local tourism stakeholders like tour guides and drivers to form a platform with a focus on high-end hotels and winery tours. In 2019, we hope to drive the implementation of WeChat payment in Sicily to provide convenience to Chinese visitors.”

Said Annalisa Sacco, CFO of Allegroitalia Hotels and Condo, which runs 13 luxury and four-star hotels in Italy: “We started tapping Chinese FIT and group markets three years ago. Our properties in Torino and Pisa are popular choices. Efforts has been made to ensure a pleasant stay, e.g. Chinese translation of hotel materials and recruiting Chinese chefs.”

Google unveils slew of travel planning features under Trips

By TTG Asia
0
A screenshot from google.com/travel

Google will soon automatically save hotels and activities viewed by users to its trip planner, among the many new features that it says will simplify travel research and planning.

The site Trips is where Google stores users’ research and reservation. Last year, Google started automatically adding reservations for hotels and flights to a trip timeline for upcoming trips. This applies to reservations made when users are signed into their Google account, and after a confirmation email.

A screenshot from google.com/travel

Users can now make edits directly to their Trips timeline, and in a few weeks will be able to manually add new reservations as well.

In addition, recent searches, saved places and flights that users are tracking are added automatically to Trips whenever they are signed into their Google account.

Soon, Google will add viewed things to do and viewed hotels to Trips. When users want to continue planning, all their research will be waiting for at google.com/travel.

Users can opt out of having their travel research history automatically stored to Trips by adjusting their results and web & app activity settings.

Google is also allowing users to more easily navigate between Google Flights, Hotels and Trips when on desktop. This was first introduced last year for smartphones.

Meanwhile, Google has added nearby neighbourhoods and the corresponding information to Maps. In the next few months, Trips – including reservations for things like hotels and restaurants – will be accessible in Google Maps too.

Maldives hotel transactions to hit record high as investments pour in from outside Asia

By TTG Asia
0
German-based Seaside Hotels & Resorts acquired Finolhu Maldives, a resort in Baa Atoll, for approximately US$90 million. JLL Hotels & Hospitality acted on behalf of the seller, Coastline Group of Companies.

Having seen significant increase in investment from new sources, Maldives’ hospitality industry is on course to see its most active year with more than US$450 million worth of resort transactions either completed or under offer, according to real estate consultancy JLL.

Traditionally dominated by Asian investors, the Maldives is now attracting new sources of cross-border capital from Europe and the US. In the past six months, investments from new sources of capital represent US$300 million, compared to the annual average deal volume of US$120 million per year.

German-based Seaside Hotels & Resorts acquired Finolhu Maldives (pictured), a resort in Baa Atoll, for approximately US$90 million

Nihat Ercan, managing director and head of investment sales, Asia, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, said: “The tightening of yields in core markets across the globe, particularly in Europe, is causing investors to look further afield in search of higher yielding opportunities. Our clients outside of Asia are starting to show increasing interest in the Maldives, given its reputation as a sought-after tourist destination. We’re confident that investor demand will continue to rise and lift market sentiment.”

The Maldives tourism market continues to grow, with the first quarter of 2019 experiencing a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in visitor arrivals, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Growth in Europe, the largest regional source market, accelerated as arrivals rose by nine per cent in January alone. Other notable source markets include India and the US, with increases of 86 per cent and 44 per cent respectively year-on-year.

In April 2019, German-based Seaside Hotels & Resorts acquired Finolhu Maldives, a resort in Baa Atoll, for approximately US$90 million. JLL Hotels & Hospitality acted on behalf of the seller, Coastline Group of Companies.

Charlie MacIldowie, vice president, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, added: “The sale of Finolhu Maldives to Seaside Hotels & Resorts is our first transaction of a Maldivian resort to a European buyer. With a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in European visitor arrivals last year, European hoteliers see an opportunity to capitalise on the familiarity of their brands with these travellers and tour operators. In the next nine to 12 months, we expect more of our European and American clients to enter the Maldives hospitality market.”

This is the second transaction by JLL Hotels & Hospitality in the Maldives this year. In February, the real estate firm was involved in the sale of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort, part of Hilton Worldwide Holdings, to American investment firm Blackstone.

TripAdvisor introduces safety filters

By TTG Asia
0

TripAdvisor is introducing new features that allow users to more easily view safety information, soon after a resort was accused of extortion in a widely-circulated account of a couple’s nightmarish holiday in Bali.

The travel review website announced it was rolling out a filter that allows travellers to more easily surface:

  • reviews posted in the past year concerning sexual assaults and sexual misconduct by employees of a business, with reviews about other safety categories added on a rolling basis; and
  • all new reviews concerning safety issues including sexual assault, death, drugging, sex trafficking, armed robbery, and physical assault
TripAdvisor says it is committed to providing travellers with better access to critical safety information

In addition, a notice now appears at the top of each review that contains safety information to make it easier for travellers to distinguish these from other reviews.

Business owners are encouraged to use TripAdvisor’s management response feature to publicly convey what they have done to address travellers’ concerns.

In the coming months, TripAdvisor says it will be conducting extensive user research to understand what features will provide the most benefit to our global community (e.g. whether a hotel has 24/7 security or the surrounding neighbourhood is walkable at night), and will work with the global tourism industry to highlight safety as a basic human expectation for travellers.

“We understand that traveller needs and safety concerns will continue to evolve, and our platform will, too. We also recognise that we won’t always get it right, but we will continue to ask for feedback from our community and make changes as we go,” Lindsey Nelson, TripAdvisor’s president, core experience wrote in a blog post on the platform.

Ctrip signs multi-year deal for ATPCO’s retailing content

By TTG Asia
0

Ctrip has signed a multi-year deal for ATPCO’s Retailing Solutions content, giving the Chinese OTA access to all Routehappy rich flight content for integration across Ctrip.com and Trip.com.

The deal covers content for Amenities, UTAs and UPAs. In a statement, Routehappy explained that Amenities provide at-a-glance information about flight features, while UPAs provide media to describe an airline’s products and services by aircraft type, cabin, time of day and more. UTAs provide information on benefits and restrictions, such as cancellation, refundability and boarding priority by fare. UPAs visually highlight in-flight features through descriptive text, photos, graphics and videos, showcasing relevant product and fare offerings.

Fares at a glance

The Chinese OTA will showcase Routehappy rich content in 19 languages – including English, Russian, traditional and simplified Chinese – leveraging ATPCO’s pre-translated content.

With Ctrip’s acquisition of Trip.com, Routehappy rich content will be accessible to travellers throughout Asia and in the 28 countries in which Ctrip has operations.

“With access to rich, descriptive, and user-friendly content, we can improve our shopping displays and ensure hundreds of millions of consumers throughout Asia and the world have access to universally understood shopping information they care about,” said Yudong Tan, vice president, CTO of the Flight Business Group at Ctrip.

“We… urge more Chinese and Asian carriers to also partner with ATPCO to create and distribute rich content that Ctrip can consume and showcase to travellers.”

ATPCO believes Asia is ready to take airline retailing seriously

Jonathan Savitch, chief commercial officer at ATPCO, added: “As the fastest growing travel market in the world, we know that Asia is ripe for innovation and ready to take airline retailing seriously. With Ctrip leading the charge in China and throughout Asia, flight differentiation will soon be a reality in these markets.”

ATPCO has been providing Ctrip with fare data and related information for more than six years. The new Retailing Solutions deal follows Ctrip’s data subscription renewal with ATPCO, which was signed in 2018 for another five years.

Next Story acquires Melbourne property for LinQ debut

By TTG Asia
0

Next Story Group will debut LinQ Hotel in Melbourne’s waterfront hub of Southbank.

The new-build hotel will soft open with 162 rooms on September 1, 2019. After a complete fit-out, the hotel will officially launch its first upper midscale LinQ Hotels brand on November 1, 2019.

LinQ Hotel Melbourne Southbank is a short walk from the Southbank Promenade, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and Crown Entertainment Complex.

The property is expected to complement the Next Hotel Melbourne at Collins Street, slated to open in 2Q2020 and the Sage Hotel Melbourne, Ringwood, which has been in operations for over a year.

Next Story Group says this acquisition further reinforces the importance of Australia, where most of its hotel portfolio is located, as a key market. It is also aligned with Next Story Group’s expansion plans, which focus on strategic growth in Australia, South-east Asia and South Asia.

New hotels: MGallery Kyoto Yura Hotel, Pullman Nadi Bay Resort & Spa and more

By TTG Asia
0

MGallery Kyoto Yura Hotel, Japan
The 144-room luxury hotel has made its debut in the country’s historic capital of Kyoto. Local fabric nishijin-ori can be found in each of its guestrooms celebrating a weaving heritage dating back over 1,200 years, while the seating area is furnished with traditional tatami mats. F&B options include the 54th Station Grill, named after the route connecting Tokyo and Kyoto; and the Samurai-inspired 1867 Bar. Located within walking distance of the hotel are the famed geisha district of Gion, Yasaka Shinto Shrine, Kamo River and the downtown district of Kawaramachi.

Pullman Nadi Bay Resort & Spa, Fiji
The Pullman brand has made its debut in Fiji with this latest opening. Located on Wailoaloa Beach, the resort offers 236 rooms and suites, all of which come with balconies or patios, and stocked with Pure Fiji toiletries. There are four restaurants (one of which, Kah, is an adults-only bar and dining venue); three bars; Veikau spa; gym; two tennis courts; and four swimming pools (one of which is also adults-only). Families may also avail the water sports and activities centre; as well as a dedicated Kids Club or a Teens Retreat.

Function venues on the hotel grounds include two meeting rooms, and the Soqoni Ballroom which can cater for up to 500 people theatre-style. In addition, the resort’s private beachfront area, as well as its restaurant and bars also allow for private, catered functions.

Swiss-Belresidences Rasuna Epicentrum, Indonesia
Swiss-Belhotel’s latest opening in Jakarta stands close to the 53ha retail, lifestyle and entertainment complex – Rasuna Epicentrum. The four-star hotel features 269 Deluxe Rooms and Grand Deluxe Rooms, as well as 54 suites that come with a separate living room. Amenities include the Swiss-Café Restaurant; Lobby Lounge & Bar; outdoor swimming pool; spa; and fitness centre. The hotel also boasts 18 function spaces spread over four floors, all supported by the latest audiovisual technology.

Caravelle Saigon, Vietnam
The historic 335-key Caravelle Saigon hotel in Ho Chi Minh City has reopened with spruced-up guestrooms and function spaces after a nine-month-long renovation.

The new rooms in the Opera Wing on floors 8 to 12 start at approximately 38m2, with soundproof windows, a 49-inch Samsung flatscreen TV, walk-in vanities and marble-clad bathrooms. Recreational facilities include six F&B options, Kara Spa & Fitness, a pool and a 24-hour gym.

The centrepiece of Caravelle Saigon’s event floor upgrade is the 4.7m-high, 300m2 Caravelle Ballroom. The ballroom can cater up to a maximum of 400, can also be divided into two separate event spaces, and also has a 180m2 pre-function area. The 10 function spaces on the second and third floor have also received a makeover.

Oakwood Hotel Journeyhub Phuket, Thailand
Marking Oakwood’s first entry into a resort location, Oakwood Hotel Journeyhub Phuket stands in Patong, featuring 171 rooms and suites across several categories ranging from the lead-in deluxe room to the two-bedroom suite. Other facilities and services include a fitness centre, rooftop infinity pool, Crossways Bar & Restaurant, and complimentary shuttle service to the nearby Jungceylon Shopping Centre, Bangla Road and Patong Beach.

TTG Asia breaks for Vesak Day

By TTG Asia
0

TTG Asia will be taking a news break on Monday (May 20, 2019), which is Vesak Day public holiday in Singapore. News will resume on Tuesday.

Here’s wishing all our Buddhist readers a happy Vesak Day!

Hospitality veteran Mark Swinton heads Capella Ubud

By TTG Asia
0

Capella Ubud has appointed Mark Swinton as general manager, a hospitality veteran with more than 30 years of professional experience in the luxury hospitality industry.

Prior to joining Capella Hotels & Resorts, Swinton led the pre-opening efforts for Six Senses Bhutan, where he acted as country general manager, assisting with the conceptualisation, development and operational strategy implementation for all five lodges.

Previously, the Canada-born spent 10 years with Aman, working in management roles across Bhutan, Beijing, Borodubur, and Bali, where he was regional director of Aman, Indonesia.

Looking back and forward

By TTG Asia
0

LAURENT KUENZLE
CEO, Asian Trails
Congratulations on TTG’s special anniversary! You have had an incredible journey and through it all, always remained on top of all the Asian professional travel news publications. Kudos to the superb news team and I look forward to many more years of exciting news and interesting travel stories. I always loved the TTG ATF parties – the best networking parties ever and never to be missed!

BENNETT PETER
General manager, Hyatt House Kuala Lumpur, Mont’Kiara
For the past 20 years, TTG Asia publications have always been a read that I look forward to. Through various postings around Asia, it was always comforting to see the familiar mail, wrapped in plastic, that kept me connected to the travel industry in the region. Brought more so to life is when we would meet the editors, reporters and business executives of TTG at the various travel tradeshows. With TTG Asia, it’s not just a good read, but it was more of an irrational loyalty and as an acknowledgement that if it was important news – you can be sure TTG would cover it.

RONALD WU
Chairman, Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents (HATA)
Congratulations on TTG Asia’s 45th anniversary! TTG has always been very supportive of HATA in featuring our stories and events regularly, including our 60th anniversary diamond jubilee celebrations in 2017, as well as our recent 2018 convention to Dubai. With such a broad range of readers across the globe, HATA is very fortunate to be consistently featured on this influential platform amongst the travel industry.

TUNKU ISKANDAR TUNKU ABDULLAH
Group executive chairman, Melewar Group Berhad and former president of Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents
TTG Asia is my “go to” for the latest news in travel and tourism in Asia. From the printed copies mailed to my office, the dailies at conferences and travel marts that continue to provide the latest gossip and tidbits, and the daily online news, it is the “rag” I look forward to reading from cover to cover. The TTG Awards is also the icing on the cake for so many deserving travel-related companies in Asia including my company, Mitra Travel, which has received this prestigious recognition several times.

LEE CHOON LOONG
President/CEO, DiscoveryMICE
“You deserve to win the sticky buyer award”, the words struck me like a bolt of lightning as I stared into her eyes searching for some sense of clarity. My mind blurred as I put on a wry smile and thanked the lady whom I just had an appointment with at TTG’s IT&CM Asia in Bangkok. My thoughts ran wild. Who in their right mind would want to be labelled as a sticky buyer? Isn’t a sticky person troublesome … OMG! Was I difficult to her? Maybe I was clingy and overstayed my appointment. The sticky buyer remark remained a sticky mystery for a long time.

Some years later in 2015, when Taiwan won a marketing and promotion sticky award for its extraordinary corporate mementos did I realise that being sticky means “memorable” in advertising jargon. The revelation was a watershed moment for me. For the sticky awards idea, TTG truly deserves a sticky award themselves.

JASON WONG
Chairman, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong
Since my first encounter with TTG Asia years ago, reading the publication became one of my ways of exploring new ideas. Its comprehensive and informative journalism gives us the inspiration to develop new services and widen our thoughts. Today it’s even easier to access this great content across a range of different platforms including print, digital, and an e-Daily bulletin. TTG Asia has evolved with the times and I look forward to many more successful years ahead.

PARITA NIEMWONGSE
Director, human capacity building programme, PATA
I’ve been working with TTG since I started my communications career at PATA many years back. I admire TTG team’s spirit of professionalism, trustworthiness and fun. I’m lucky to work with many TTG colleagues on various programmes, just to name a few such as Darren Ng, Caroline Boey, Raini Hamdi, Lina Tan and of course the late Patrick Tan who always took many great group pictures of the PATA team for PATA Travel Mart’s dailies with boundless energy, passion and laughs.

PAUL PRUANGKARN
Director, communications & external affairs, PATA
It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the TTG team over the past years. I am impressed not only with the fantastic attitudes and professionalism of the staff and management, but also their work in covering the latest news in Asia and standing out as a leading travel trade resource. I always look forward to connecting with them at PATA and other events in the region alike.

JENNY WONG
Former editor, TTG China  (formerly TTG Chinese)
I joined TTG Asia in 1995 as editor of TTG Chinese before it was revamped into TTG China. It was my first time working for an international publication. The team was young and energetic, and there were lots of fun and laughter.

In addition to fam trips and travel conferences around the world, I got the chance to attend the historical handover ceremony of Hong Kong to China on June 30, 1997. It was a most memorable moment in my lifetime. Thanks, TTG!

HIRAN COORAY 
Chairman, Jetwing Hotels
I will not be wrong when I say TTG Asia has been the most informative travel industry publication. I have spent years with PATA and so did TTG. During the good and bad times of Sri Lanka tourism, TTG continued to support us and we are grateful for that. We wish TTG the very best.

UDAYA NANAYAKKARA 
Former chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism
When I was chairman of the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka 20 years ago, tourism was suffering with bombs going off in Colombo and various other places. At that time I came out with an idea of promoting Indian tourism to Sri Lanka, TTG was one of the publications that helped to promote tourism from India to Sri Lanka, marking the start of Indian tourism to Sri Lanka. TTG gave us the fullest support and interviewed me many times.

TTG was also helpful in other instances. For example when I was chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism around 2005-2007, we started to promote Chinese tourism, and TTG was at the forefront which helped us alot. That market also developed during that period. TTG had a hand in supporting our initiatives in these two prime markets.

ALLY BHOONEE
Executive director, World Avenues Malaysia
My best memory of TTG was in 2009, during the economic downturn and the Middle East inbound market was badly affected. The precise industry information given by TTG has helped me to sustain my business and gave me the motivation because others inbound players in South-east Asia were in a similar predicament.

RAINI HAMDI
Former senior editor, TTG Asia Media
I’ve so many treasured TTG moments and memories it is hard to pick one ‘best’ recollection.

There were my promotions through the 18 years, from senior reporter to all the way up to group editor. My first taste of launching a new title, Incentives & Meetings Asia (now TTGmice), in the early 1990s when incentive travel was novel to the region, down to the last new title I launched for the company, TTG Asia Luxury, in 2012.

Each time TTG comes to my mind, it’s always about the 3Fs: family, fun and, of course, food. At editorial, there’s a table just for snacks, including my favourite crunchy and spicy muruku, supplied by creative designer Redmond Sia. There’s always editorial assistant Lina Tan, who would make sure we are properly fed, especially when we do dailies at tradeshows, which is tedious work.

There were the pranks I played on my team each time their birthday came up and we all had a great laugh afterwards. The evenings we networked hard at TTG parties and at various industry functions.

Happy 45th birthday, TTG. Here’s wishing you many more happy years.

1...1,2431,2441,245...2,910Page 1,244 of 2,910

Tried and Tested

What to Buy Now

 
Subscribe To
Advertise With Us
 
Asia-Pacific's Leading Travel Trade Business Resource Since 1974

  • All Rights Reserved

Copyright TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd © 2025-2026
Sister Publications
TTG Asia TTGmice TTG India TTGssociations TTG Asia Luxury
TTG Asia | Indonesia shifts focus to shorthaul markets amid longhaul travel risks
TTG Asia | Asia drives next growth
TTG Asia | Thai hotels call for travel subsidies amid fuel concerns ahead of Songkran