The campaign launch will proceed as planned at WTM London
Sri Lanka’s industry officials yesterday confirmed that the country’s new tourism campaign, So Sri Lanka, will launch as planned after obtaining support from the new government.
The destination marketing campaign was earlier in limbo after the sudden sacking of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by president Maithripala Sirisena on October 26, which threw the country into a constitutional crisis.
The campaign launch will proceed as planned at WTM London
But now, the So Sri Lanka campaign will be launched as planned on November 5 at WTM London. The campaign will filter into a larger three-year long destination marketing campaign starting in 1Q2019.
This certainty was reached after industry officials met on Tuesday with the new tourism minister Wasantha Senanayake, who reassured officials that the campaign can proceed as planned.
Sri Lanka Tourist Hotels Association’s president Sanath Ukwatte, who was present at the meeting, said they presented the new campaign to Senanayake, who then agreed to its continuation.
“He (minister) gave his okay to the campaign,” Ukwatte said.
Although tourism promotion and marketing campaigns are normally done by the official Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) in consultation with the private sector, SLTPB’s managing director Sutheash Balasubramanian was not present at the meeting.
Balasubramanian, who ends his contractual term today (Thursday), said he would not be attending the WTM, but confirmed that the new minister agreed to proceed with the campaign.
So Sri Lanka has been in the works for the past three to four years, having made to jump through bureaucratic hoops, tender processes, various procedures and changing governments. The industry has been clamouring for a new promotion campaign since the aftermath a 30-year-long ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.
Brand USA is seeing promotional budget increasing for South-east Asia and is turning its attention for the first time to attracting incentive groups from the region to the US.
Louis Lu, Brand USA’s senior manager of global trade development, in a video interview at ITB Asia, said there had been no budget cuts for the organisation under the Trump administration, rather it was in fact seeing marketing dollars increase for South-east Asia.
That’s because partners are keen to tap arrivals from the region. Brand USA has some 800 partners in the US and do joint marketing efforts to drive international visitations, he explained. “South-east Asia/Asia is one of the most important markets we allocate budgets to every year. But when private partners participate, more funds are unlocked. Asia is already the big thing, not the next big thing, for our partners,” Lu said.
Brand USA is launching new initiatives to drive up traffic from South-east Asia, including tapping the region’s incentives market for the first time. The strategy is still “under construction”. “The US has a diverse offering and we want to target both mega groups from industries such as pharmaceuticals, insurance, finance, etc, as well as the top 200 companies for luxury incentives,” he said.
Watch the video to hear Lu’s thoughts on tapping South-east Asia incentives, as well find out what other initiatives Brand USA has up its sleeve next year.
New York City is one such partner that is stepping up promotions in South-east Asia, having just opened a representative office in Singapore.
NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organisation for New York City, has also launched a 2019 – A Monumental Year campaign in the region.
Watch the video of Christopher Heywood, NYC & Company’s senior vice president global communications, explaining why next year is monumental for agents to send clients to the US.
As well, watch the video of NYC & Company’s managing director tourism market development, Matsuda Healy, share her targets for South-east Asia now that it has resources on the ground in the region.
Chaudhary: Half a billion dollars planned for Europe expansion
Having recently acquired The Farm at San Benito in the Philippines, CG Hospitality – the hospitality arm of Nepal-based conglomerate CG Corp Global – now wants to turn this eco-luxury medical wellness resort brand into a worldwide chain.
“With the acquisition of The Farm at San Benito, doors have opened for us to take this brand global. Earlier, this was just a stand-alone property. In fact at present there are no existing chains of wellness resorts and this is the gap we are looking to fill. The idea is to replicate the high standard of experiences of The Farm brand in different destinations and cater to the growing wellness demand,” Binod K Chaudhary, chairman of CG Corp Global, told TTG Asia.
Chaudhary: Half a billion dollars planned for Europe expansion
The Nepali billionaire has plans to open four destination wellness resorts in the next three years under The Farm brand, with the first one located in the Balkans (The Farm Montenegro), followed by openings in Latin American markets such as Mexico.
CG Hospitality is also scouting for a possible location in the Himalayas, either in India or Nepal, to plant The Farm brand. “Our investment will be of at least US$ 100 million in each upcoming resort under The Farm umbrella,” shared Chaudhary.
Meanwhile, the company’s hotel investment team is also looking to acquire some 20 hotels in India that are facing financial distress, with a majority of these hotels expected to be branded as The Fern.
Chaudhary added: “We are also looking to enter new international markets like Europe. We have created a US$500 million fund for our European expansion, and have tied up with a major US-based hospitality brand for our European foray.”
As part of its diversification plans, CG Corp Global will also launch a major inbound tourism vertical in India by partnering with a Turkey-based company.
“The company we are entering into a joint venture handles big Chinese and Russian high-end tourists travelling to Turkey. The idea is to also promote India as an inbound destination among those clients,” said Chaudhary.
At present, CG Hospitality’s portfolio includes 95 hotels both owned and managed under a range of brands including Taj, Jetwing, Radisson, Alila, The Fern, Zinc Journey and Summit, in 12 countries including Nepal and Sri Lanka. The company plans to double its number of properties by 2020.
Japan’s Venture Republic is starting to roll out initiatives that leverage its new partnership with messaging giant LINE, which earlier this year acquired a 34 per cent equity investment in the company.
Venture Republic’s founder and CEO, Kei Shibata, in a video interview with TTG Asia, said the company has already launched its first initiative in Japan, which was making its hotel metasearch available on LINE. This offers users not only competitive prices, but loyalty points from LINE when they make a booking, he said.
Shibata is excited about a whole new catchment of customers using LINE, which is not only used in Japan but key Asian markets including Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. LINE has some 76 million monthly active users in Japan, or 80 per cent of the Internet population in Japan, while in Taiwan, “100 per cent of Internet users use LINE”, he said.
When asked what he expects from the partnership, Shibata said: “A lot. The user base that LINE has is tremendous… we see a new range of products and services to be available using their assets. This includes not only the messaging platform but the payment platform, loyalty programmes, location information, the list goes on.”
Shibata also believes there is a big future for push notifications.
“We see the future where if you’re a LINE user, you can get push notifications from us. Let’s say you’re out of town, LINE will recognise that you’re travelling. We can send push notifications to you about things to do in, say, Langkawi. (We have) have more than 30,000 travel articles (on our content platform) about things to do, places to stay, places to eat. With that mix of content, we can effectively reach out to you in destinations through push notifications.”
Currently, efforts are being focused on Japan because it has the largest number of LINE users. But down the line, Shibata plans to tackle other Asian markets where LINE has a big marketshare.
LINE has gone into the food delivery space and shopping, but not travel, which Shibata said is a new segment. “They’ve made a decent success in those two areas, so they know how to engage users and bring transactions to businesses,” he said.
He believes messaging apps are the big next wave of disruption. In Asia, that would be LINE, WeChat and Kakao but “LINE is perhaps the only pan-Asian native super app”.
André Brulhart has been appointed the new general manager of Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay.
A Swiss national with three decades of hospitality management experience, the industry veteran first completed his management training with Mandarin Oriental, and entered the hospitality industry with Hilton, working at hotels in Hong Kong, Hawaii and Indonesia.
Brulhart then held senior management roles at leading Thai hotels including The Regent Bangkok, The Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Plaza Athénée Bangkok and Le Royal Méridien Phuket Yacht Club, prior to joining Centara in 2005 at the then Sofitel Centara Grand Central Plaza Bangkok. He also spent time in Vietnam with the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi.
Ekniti Nitithanprapas (left), chairman of the board of directors, Thai Airways (THAI), met with Wang Changshun (right), chairman of China Southern Airlines, last week in Guangzhou. Both parties discussed topics such as route network, interline agreements, as well as tourism cooperation between Thailand and China.
Korean Air links Busan and Danang Korean Air has launched a daily service between Danang and Busan, operating on the B737-900. Flight KE465 will depart Busan’s Gimhae International Airport at 21.25, arriving at Danang at 00.20 the following day. The return flight, KE466, will depart Danang at 02.45 and arrive at Gimhae at 08.30.
AirAsia expands China network AirAsia has extended its reach in China with the addition of a four-times-weekly service between Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, beginning December 2, 2018.
D7318 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 15.00 and arrive in Tianjin at 21.00 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. On the same days, return flight D7319 will depart Tianjin at 22.15 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.45.
AirAsia will also beef up its direct route between Kuala Lumpur and Changsha, doubling the current number of seats by operating its fleet of larger wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft commencing October 29, 2018.
There will also be a new flight schedule. D7352 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 18.10, and arrive in Changsha at 23.05 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On the same days, return flight D7353 will depart Changhsa at 23.50 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.30.
Air NZ and SIA boost Auckland-Singapore services Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have jointly launched their third daily flight between Auckland and Singapore since October 28.
The new service will operate daily during the peak northern winter season (October 28, 2018 – March 30, 2019), and five times per week during the northern summer season (March 31, 2019 – October 26, 2019).
This new flight will boost capacity on the route by up to 40 per cent and adding more than 165,000 seats annually between the two cities. During peak months, the airlines will jointly operate a total of 35 return services a week between Singapore and New Zealand, including Christchurch and Wellington flights.
Lufthansa ups frequency between Singapore and Munich Lufthansa will increase its five-times weekly flight between Singapore and Munich to six-times weekly beginning April 1, 2019.
The route will be serviced by a A350-900 and feature 48 seats in Business Class, 21 in Premium Economy, and 224 in Economy class.
LH791 will depart Singapore at 22.55 every day except Tuesday, and arrive in Munich at 05.25 the following day. LH790 will depart Munich at 22.05 every day except Monday, and arrive in Singapore at 16.05 the following day.
This comes shortly after the airline reintroduced Singapore – Munich route in March 2018 with the Airbus A350-900. In total, Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS) offers 20 weekly frequencies from Singapore to Europe starting summer 2019.
Located at the heart of Sentosa, the new hotels are well connected to the attractions on the island as well as within close proximity to the key locations on Singapore mainland.
2 mins walk from Imbiah Monorail Station
10 mins from Singapore’s Cable Car Sky Network
15 mins from Singapore’s Central Business District, major shopping areas and attractions including Gardens by the Bay and Trick Eye Museum
Village Hotels Sentosa offers the perfect experience for families, leisure and business groups. The 606-room hotel perfectly captures all Sentosa’s Sun, sand and sea in its modern architecture and the décor in sun-washed hues of nature by the sea. The elevated pool deck was to create an archipelago of endless water-fun activities with its four themed pool zones from the Children’s Play Pool, Lazy River Pool, Adventure Pool, and Pamukkale Pool. Not forgetting the thematic gardens, and outdoor spaces for rest, recreation or even intimate events. Holding large-scale celebrations and meetings for up to 480 people are possible too at The Commune within Village Hotel at Sentosa. Cosy and more intimate events are not forgotten as they can be held at the Revelry Hall in Events Centre which is ideal for celebrations and social events.
Designed for discerning millennials and couples, is The Outpost Hotel has 193 guest rooms with contemporary industrial aesthetics and clean crisp lines inspired by black-and-white design. For those who enjoy relaxing in the open, the exclusive rooftop pool and bar offers a picturesque backdrop of the sea or sunset for evening cocktails, candlelit dinners and intimate events.
Housed in a designated conserved building, the 40 luxurious guest rooms and suites of The Barracks Hotel are decorated with old-world sophistication and elegance. On the ground floor, rooms offer direct access to the private pool and jacuzzi.
The latest DMC to enter the playing field, Xperience Singapore Events & Travel is keen to bring a host of in-depth and immersive activities for leisure and business travellers.
Owned by Xperience DMC – a partner of Destination China – Xperience is headed by director Jane Goh, a veteran in hotel conference services and tourism with more than a decade of guiding experience.
She opined: “There are many other things we can do to sell the country as a destination, but they’re not being done yet. There’s a lot of focus on man-made attractions, but the soft (experience) is not there yet. I wanted to show another side of Singapore that many travellers and incentive visitors have not seen.”
Activities offered include learning and performing the Chinese lion dance, tracking and photographing otters in the city, and rowing across Marina Reservoir on dragonboat.
Goh shared: “We only started in April, and there was an avalanche of ideas in just three months.”
The spark came in the form of a Teochew opera troupe performing at the Singapore Heritage Festival, where she witnessed their behind-the-scenes preparations.
“When I saw that, I knew that tourists would love seeing something like this,” Goh recalled, and revealed that the performers were initially “a bit worried” and shy to open up their practice to tour groups.
However, not only was she able to negotiate with and convince the opera troupe, Goh was also introduced to their friends from other cultural groups such as lion dances and Wing Chun (a martial arts style).
Many of these groups are willing to welcome tourists, but do not have the means or knowledge of how to market themselves to visitors, she explained.
She also revealed that the dragonboat racing group had approached a travel agent for a partnership in the past, but was turned away.
“Our guides have become bored with city tours, so they’re excited to start these activities,” shared Goh.
Xperience’s smaller size can be an advantage, Goh insisted. “We are very involved in direct contact with our clients,” she said. “We give our clients the link to the management and the assurance that we are always here if there’s anything they need.”
While swanky hospitality brands like Andaz are calling towering skyscrapers homes in Singapore, a crop of new hotels are finding love in the city’s older buildings, wooing travellers with a meld of history and modern comfort.
In 2017, The Lo & Behold Group set up camp in the old warehouses of Robertson Quay, originally built in 1895 for liquor distilleries and opium dens. Then in April this year, luxury resort brand Six Senses opened within a row of shophouses in the Tanjong Pagar district.
Six Senses plants its first flag in Singapore within restored heritage shophouses
Most recently, Cube Boutique Capsule Hotel at Kampong Glam – located in restored shophouses along the Kampong Glam Heritage Trail – opened in July under Singapore real-estate firm RB Hospitality.
Sonia Anya Tay, COO and co-founder of CUBE Boutique Capsule Hotel, said: “Our capsules are built in restored conservation shophouses or authentic pre-war buildings with a rich history and sited in popular tourist areas.”
She explained that Cube caters to a new generation of guests that “(doesn’t) need a swimming pool or spa facilities on the premises” and are “price-sensitive”, but who also appreciate the immersive experience of staying in a heritage building.
“(Our guests) are identified as digital-savvy global explorers in the 18-35 age group,” Tay said.
Conserved heritage sites are hardly a novel setting for Singapore hotels. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore occupies a National Monument: the Fullerton Building, commissioned in 1919 as a part of the British colony’s centennial celebrations; Grand Park City Hall sits on a century-old conservation site; Link Hotel was converted from art-deco residential blocks from the 1950s and 1960s; and the iconic Raffles Hotel Singapore opened in 1887 with 10 rooms in an old bungalow-style building.
But this recent rush of new blood to the scene has reawakened the old dames, who have launched rejuvenation campaigns and technological innovations to remain competitive.
Link Hotel has reopened after a major renovation, and is now part of the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail.
As part of its restoration, Raffles Hotel Singapore will introduce a new line-up of dining experiences by celebrity chefs such as BBR by Alain Ducasse; La Dame de Pic by three-Michelin-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic; and yì by Jereme Leung, a Singapore-born chef who was a judge on Masterchef China. This heritage icon is slated to reopen in 1Q2019.
Grand Park City Hall is also undergoing the final phase of its transformative masterplan – scheduled to complete soon – which will integrate it into an upcoming mixed-use lifestyle precinct, City Hall Square. It will be the first hotel in Singapore to launch mobile check-in facial recognition technology, reducing check-in time from five minutes to a minute.
“The new Grand Park City Hall appeals to travellers looking for unique experiences that are infused with Singapore’s stories, and have an appreciation for arts and history. These guests also embrace seamless experiences empowered by technology today,” said John Kockan, general manager, Grand Park City Hall.
Meanwhile, The Fullerton Hotel has taken its 90th anniversary this year to introduce year-round events and promotions. These include the inaugural Fullerton Concours d’Elegance showcase of more than 90 vintage and classic cars; and a series of theatrical drama tours that retell the history of the national monument.
Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale, the hotel’s general manager, said: “I believe there is an air of romance and mystique that surrounds Singapore’s heritage buildings, especially one like the Fullerton Building. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of heritage building, each stay is enhanced by authentic stories and experiences that are hard to replicate.”
