Singapore welcomed 9.2 million international visitor arrivals (IVA) in 1H2018, up 7.7 per cent, albeit with a continued marginal dip in tourism receipts due to lower expenditure across components such as shopping and F&B, according to the latest Tourism Sector Performance Q2 2018 Report released by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
Lower shopping and F&B spend for Singapore in 1H2018
China (1.7 million), Indonesia (1.5 million), India (769,000), Malaysia (585,000) and Australia (533,000) were Singapore’s top five international visitor-generating markets in 2018, accounting for 56 per cent of total IVA in January to June 2018.
China (+11%), India (+16%) and Indonesia (+5%) registered the largest absolute year-on-year growth while Germany (-4%) was the only market recording an absolute year-on-year decline.
Tourism receipts reached S$13.4 billion (US$9.7 billion), a flat performance compared to the same period last year. This was due to lower expenditure across some components including shopping as well as F&B.
Excluding expenditure on sightseeing, entertainment and gaming (SEG), China, Indonesia and India were the top three tourism receipts generating markets in the quarter, contributing to 45 per cent of tourism receipts (excluding SEG).
Among the top 10 tourism receipt markets, China, Indonesia and India registered the highest absolute year-on-year growth in tourism receipts (excluding SEG).
Gazetted hotel room revenue for 1H2018 was estimated at S$1.9 billion, a growth of 8.5% year-on-year. AOR increased by 1.2 percentage points to 85% as ARR grew 1.9% to S$217, resulting in a 3.3% increase in RevPAR to reach S$186.
Garuda Indonesia is assuring the public that its Boeing 737 Max 8 is safe to fly, as the deadly Lion Air crash fuels discussion in the aviation industry on safety checks and crisis response.
The airline said it has passed a special audit of the airworthiness of Boeing 737-8 MAX aircrafts carried out by the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation this week in accordance with the Letter issued by the Directorate General of Airworthiness and Aircraft Operation (DKPPU).
Garuda is confident about its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft
The ramp check Garuda was subjected to included repetitive problems, troubleshooting, airworthiness, complete equipment and operation management in handling technical problems.
The results of DKPPU’s inspection concludes that Garuda Indonesia has carried out routine inspections of its B737 Max 8 maintenance process on schedule, all installed components have not exceeded the age limit and there were no technical issues with the aircraft engine features.
In the case of the Lion Air tragedy, many believe that erroneous readings from the plane’s air sensor and the pilot’s response were significant considerations when looking at how the tragedy could have been avoided.
However, aviation safety expert David Gleave was quoted by The Guardian to have said there were several checks that flight crew could perform that would help identify which airspeed reading was correct. Still, he added that erroneous readings might startle the pilot and lead to a fatal accident.
Meanwhile, Boeing has issued a bulletin to airlines using its 737 Max jet containing instructions about how pilots should react to erroneous readings from sensors.
Garuda Indonesia director of maintenance, I Wayan Susena said: “In line with our effort to maximise safety aspects in the operation of our 1 B737 Max 8 fleet, Garuda Indonesia has also coordinated intensively with Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft manufacturers by conducting mitigation manual updates on the operation of the Boeing 737 Max 8. This manual is compiled in Flight Crew Operating Manual Bulletin which was further updated by Boeing.”
The manual illustrates the guidelines that pilots must take when experiencing certain conditions related to the condition of the ‘erroneous input’ of the aircraft’s ‘angle of attack sensor’ feature. We have also extended the bulletin to all maintenance and operations lines of Garuda Indonesia and became a guide for carrying out operational activities in Garuda Indonesia, especially for our B737 Max 8 fleet,” Wayan added.
Following a two-week dry dock in Singapore, Norwegian Cruise Line has completed the refurbishment of Norwegian Jewel as part of The Norwegian Edge programme.
Norwegian Jewel
1 of 3
Norwegian Jewel aerial shot
Stateroom balcony
3 Bedroom Garden villa living room
Norwegian Jewel will debut in Sydney on Saturday, December 1, showcasing refreshed venues, updated spaces, premiere entertainment and redesigned staterooms.
Nearly all dining, bar and lounge offerings on Norwegian Jewel were updated, with two new venues – The Pit Stop and Bliss Ultra Lounge – replacing the Sky High Bar and FYZZ Cabaret Lounge.
All 1,188 staterooms were upgraded with new TVs and USB outlets, as well as new carpet, artwork and furniture. The Haven by Norwegian received updates to the courtyard, additional cabanas on the sun deck and new finishes, carpets, tiles, drapes, artwork and furniture for all suites and villas.
The ship also boasts two new Haven Deluxe Owner’s Suites spanning 111m2, featuring large, 53m2 balconies, two private Jacuzzis and accommodates up to four guests.
Offering seven- to 19-day itineraries in the region, Norwegian Jewel will spend her winter 2018 and spring 2019 seasons cruising from Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, before joining Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy in Alaska for the summer.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection has unveiled new technology enhancements to its River Currents travel advisor booking tool and a new waitlist functionality, said to offer travel advisors more opportunities to generate sales, save time and avoid missing out on potential client bookings.
Enhanced agent booking tools from Uniworld; SS Beatrice on the Danube River pictured
Improvements to the popular booking tool and need to waitlist guests for sold-out cruises were made based upon recommendations from partner travel advisors, according to Uniworld President and CEO Ellen Bettridge.
The brand-new waitlist functionality, available for both Uniworld and U by Uniworld clients, was created so that travel advisors can add their clients to a waitlist on selected sold out cruises for a minimal deposit.
Other new major technology enhancements Uniworld made to River Currents include:
• Expanded promo code functionality and messaging. When utilising a promotional code, once entered, River Currents will now advise status of the promo code as either “successfully applied” or “rejected / invalid”
• Clear breakdown of the savings. In the “Breakdown Section” after the promo code has been applied, it will breakout the savings amount upfront. Travel advisors no longer need to complete a booking to see the full savings breakdown.
• Ship board credits. Applicable credits will now be notated in the savings breakdown section during the booking.
• Simple invoice sending options. Travel advisors can send, view, print or e-mail a copy of an invoice for a booking.
• Booking Status Displays. All bookings made in River Currents are now displayed so that travel advisors can easily determine a booking’s status. Statuses include: Confirmed, Paid in Full, Deposit, Released and Canceled.
Tencent and Shangri-La Group have formed a partnership to develop and deploy smart hotel solutions to power the transformation of hotel operations and services.
Through the agreement, the Chinese technology giant will use cloud computing, artificial intelligence, social communications and payment platforms to help support Shangri-La’s transformation of its services and operations.
The partnership will see Tencent leveraging Shangri-La hotels as a testbed for its smart hotel technologies
Smart hotel solutions are expected to help Shangri-La deliver greater convenience and personalised experience for its customers.
At the same time, Tencent will be able to leverage Shangri-La hotels as a testbed to continuously enhance and promote its smart hotel technologies.
In addition to smart hotels, Tencent and Shangri-La have plans to bring the strategic partnership to cover a wider scope and scale in the future.
Shangri-La will utilise its worldwide hotel network and business resources to support Tencent in promoting its technology to the world.
The two companies will also explore the application of digital solutions and smart technologies beyond hotels to include Shangri-La’s real estate business in shopping malls, service apartments, office buildings, as well as in over 500 hotel restaurants and other catering business.
Since opening in January, Sheraton Grand Danang Resort has boosted the Central Vietnamese city’s growing portfolio of upscale properties. Marissa Carruthers checks into the five-star property.
Location
The hotel is situated mid-way between Danang City and the UNESCO Heritage town of Hoi An, a convenient 20-minute drive from Danang International Airport. The beachfront property sits on an uninterrupted stretch of white sand at Non Nuoc Beach, where several luxury developments are underway.
1 of 5
Sheraton Grand Danang
Deluxe rooms feature two queen beds with luxury bedding
Deluxe Pool View
Deluxe Plunge Pool rooms
Hotel Lobby
Rooms
The 258-key property is spread across 17.3 hectares of beautifully manicured gardens. Comprising two, six-storey modern hotel blocks, one houses 130 rooms and suites, including the Ambassador Suite, while the other is home to 128 keys, including the exclusive Presidential Suite that comes with a private lift and helipad. A handful of suites have private plunge pools.
I stayed in the Deluxe Sea View room, a spacious 47m2 space with a moderately-sized balcony that overlooks the ocean. The classic décor features touches of contemporary design, with the natural tones brightened by a splash of colour.
A fantastic night’s sleep is guaranteed thanks to the Sheraton Signature Sleep Experience bed, which provides the plushest pillows and duvets, and a mattress that makes it difficult to get up. A separate bathroom includes a powerful rainforest shower. Small tokens were left daily, including sweet treats and souvenirs.
F&B
There is no shortage of dining and drinking options. Table 88 offers a buffet of local cuisine and dishes from across the Pacific Rim. The Grill serves a slice of sophisticated Western cuisine and sumptuous seafood platters. The delicious feast of freshly-caught local seafood, including lobster, oysters, clams and prawns, I ate during my stay was more than impressive.
Alternatively, guests can overlook the ocean while feasting on classic Asian eats at La Plage. The sizzling sounds of jazz can be enjoyed over a single malt chosen from the more than 60 whisky brands offered at Mix Bar. The Poolside Bar serves up a range of refreshments next to the huge swimming pool and the Tea Lounge is stocked with more than 25 world-class and local teas.
Facilities
As well as catering to leisure travellers, Grand Sheraton Resort is taking MICE business seriously. The resort’s dedicated conference centre features more than 3,300m2 of flexible space spread across 14 indoor function rooms. The 1,267m2 Sheraton Grand Ballroom can be divided into three areas, with poolside lawn and beachfront space available for outdoor events.
The Shine Spa has seven warmly-decorated rooms and serves up a menu of relaxing treatments that are the perfect way to unwind. Guests can also enjoy water sports and beach activities, such as surfing, volley ball and snorkelling, take part in a cookery class led by one of the head chefs or keep fit at the state-of-the-art gym.
Service
Despite the scale of the hotel, personal touches were maintained throughout, including staff remembering my name. Check-in and check-out were quick and efficient, and staff were attentive to any queries I had. An electric buggy was a phone call away from my room to transport me throughout the sprawling resort when needed.
Verdict
A classic yet contemporary hotel that has everything on site. It is the perfect spot for business or leisure travellers to experience Central Vietnam in style.
Scott Thomson has been appointed general manager of Hilton Taipei Sinban.
Thomson most recently served as general manager of the Hilton Chongqing.
Scott Thomson
The 25-year hospitality veteran began his career with James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor in New Zealand, followed by several hotel management positions in Auckland, Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chongqing.
Business travel within Asia is growing at twice the pace of the rest of the world and even looks set to overtake the top-spending Americas within the next 10 years[1], making it an increasingly lucrative segment.
To capitalize on this huge growth opportunity APAC’s travel agents need to understand the unique habits and motivations of Asia’s business travelers, who tend to have a very different mindset from those that travel for leisure.
In-trip internet use is currently one the biggest differences between business and leisure travelers in the region. While leisure travelers rely mainly on Wi-Fi, our latest Journey of Me research found that business travelers are happy to pay to stay connected, with half (52%) of business travelers from Singapore purchasing a local sim card for internet access when overseas for work, which mirrors the general trend across APAC.
Another unique trait of Asia’s business travelers is that they find trip recommendations more relevant than leisure travelers do. Perhaps surprisingly given they travel on the company’s dime, the recommendations that they most value are suggestions to save them money (34%), followed by tips to ensure their safety (31%) and make their travel more comfortable (29%).
Asia is also starting to see the rise of a business traveler sub-group – the so-called ‘bleisure’ travelers – who combine work travel with wanting to enjoy local leisure activities while they’re overseas. As more millennial and Gen Z professionals climb the career ladder, ‘bleisure’ looks here to stay and as a result employers themselves are becoming increasingly accepting of the practice.
All of these trends present a big opening for Asia’s business travel agents (BTAs) to grow revenue and loyalty by creating services that cater to the ‘new’ needs of today’s business travelers, whilst also helping businesses themselves to navigate the unchartered territory of ‘bleisure’ travel.
In-trip presents one of the biggest opportunities.
Given Asia’s business travelers stay highly-connected when they’re overseas and place a premium on convenience, business travel agents can use their trusted position to become an intermediary for useful in-country services that fulfil dual business-leisure needs – from internet access, to parking, lounge access, restaurant recommendations and more.
To get this right, BTAs need to take a mobile-first approach to ensure that their mobile platform is fully optimized. Personalization is also imperative.
In short, in-trip offerings should be tailored as much as possible to both the trip location and the preferences of the individual traveler. Our research shows that business travelers from different countries tend to expect and want different things when in-trip, and the same will be true for travelers of different ages, seniorities, sectors and interests. The most successful BTAs will be the ones that can take a ‘concierge’ approach, informed by demographic, professional and behavioral data – the more targeted, the better.
Beyond in-trip services, another significant opportunity for BTAs is to directly cater for the leisure portion of the trip too by sharing timely content and offers related to the destination, to inform and inspire.
Offering in-trip, B2C services will be a new area for a lot of BTAs, so building a local network of reliable partners will be the best entry point for most. Given the responsibility and duty-of-care that BTAs owe to their business customers it’s critical that they apply the same level of stringent vetting and due diligence to choosing any partners that they work with for their ‘bleisure’ offer too, to ensure that they uphold the levels of safety, ethics and service that corporations expect for their employees, regardless of whether the traveler engages the service in their work or leisure capacity.
BTAs will also need to think carefully about the tone and style of their content if this is their first foray into business-to-consumer communication.
Ultimately, business travel agents should never lose sight of the fact that they are, first and foremost, providing a business service. But, as the nature of business travel itself changes there’s an opportunity, and a need, for BTAs to evolve their offering. BTAs that do this well will not only be able to solidify their relationship with their corporate clients through improved traveler service, but will also be able to unlock additional revenue in the process.
The Malaysian government is deliberating the imposition of a departure levy on all outbound air passengers starting June 1, 2019 to encourage travellers to take domestic holidays, but members of the travel industry are doubtful that the move will lead to the desired outcome.
When tabling Budget 2019 recently, finance minister Lim Guan Eng introduced the tax and its rationale of encouraging domestic tourism. The proposed levy is two-tiered, RM20 (US$4.80) for ASEAN-bound travellers and RM40 for other countries.
Departure levy won’t dampen outbound travel, says trade
Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president, KL Tan, believed the departure tax will not have a significant impact on growing tourism and it would not deter travellers who have already made up their minds to travel overseas.
He also pointed out that not all travel abroad is for “leisure” purposes, but also include travel for education purposes, business travel, visiting relatives and friends living abroad as well as for religious purposes such as pilgrimage.
This view is also shared by others in the trade. Stephen Thomas, managing director at Topaz Travel & Tours, said: “Our clients are mainly middle and upper middle class. If they can spend on a holiday to Europe or any other longhaul destination, paying an additional RM40 will not have an impact on their travel decision.”
Manfred Kurz, managing director at Diethelm Travel Malaysia, opined: “Outbound travel may slow down a little in the beginning but people will get used to the departure levy because they cannot get around it.”
To stimulate domestic travel, product owners should create awareness of their attractions through enticing promotional materials, suggested Raaj Navaratnaa, general manager, New Asia Holiday Tours & Travel.
He added: “Relevant government agencies should also study the trends of what Malaysians are looking for and the travelling needs of the younger generation and tailor products accordingly. There is not much information on agro-tourism and the historical site of Bujang Valley lacks exposure.”
Boutique hotel booking site Mr & Mrs Smith has raised six million pounds (US$7.8 million) through crowdfunding in mid October to accelerate the expansion of its hotel portfolio and into new verticals.
The financing came from about 2,000 public investors, ranging from existing members to new customers including angle investors.
Lohan: acceleration fast-tracked with funds injection
Founder and executive chairman, James Lohan, said: “When thinking about the next chapter for our 15th anniversary, we decided that we want to raise more money again, which happens with many growing companies.
“Last year we made 1.5 million pounds EBITDA so we are a profitable group, and for the last 12 months we grew 37 per cent (July 2017- June 2018). Frankly, we don’t technically need money but by raising money, we can move faster.”
Mr & Mrs Smith welcomed a new chairman and created the new position of chief growth officer, which is filled by Julian Diment who was in charge of sales and marketing, Lohan told TTG Asia. The company also recruited a new managing director in the US, with the market growing 45 per cent year on year.
“We will put in more time and effort there so we can curate more quickly, but we are not changing our way of curating. So far, there is a queue of roughly 500 interested hotels globally and we’ll expand the curation team in order to bring these hotels into our portfolio more quickly.”
The new funding also helps fuels SideStory, a tour experiences vertical recently added, which offers guided journeys to discover hidden gems, from photogenic corners, tucked-away market stalls, out-of-sight street art and exclusive ateliers.
Currently, the service is available only in London and Paris, but Lohan aims to roll out to 10 more cities before the end of 2019.
He explained: “It’s just started and we understand our guests’ desire to have more than just a hotel stay.”
While Asia is a sizeable market for the company, expansion in the region is for now constrained by language.
“Out of our 1.5 million membership, Asian membership accounts for 250,000… But (expansion) is a bit restricted at the moment. For now, we are only in English-speaking locations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.
“One of our challenges is that we are a content rich company and we are really investing more into our blogs and main website. So to keep up with editorial and translation, where should it be translated first? Should it be here or Germany? Mr and Mrs Smith will continue to invest more in Asia and is trying to work out what the Chinese play would be,” said Lohan.
