With the implementation of a new tourism development levy in Laos effective October 1, all travellers entering the country on foreign passports, including residents, will now be taxed US$1.
Set up in line with a government decree issued in April last year, the tax is meant to go towards tourism development purposes.
The change comes amid greater demands on the country’s budget for flood disaster recovery efforts and infrastructure investment, according to a Laotian Times article.
As more Chinese travel agencies join its network, Virtuoso will next year debut the Virtuoso Travel Week On Tour Asia in China, where the event will take place in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The global luxury travel network recently held the Virtuoso Travel Week 2018 in Las Vegas from August 12-16. The 30th edition of the annual travel week event saw the attendance of more than 6,000 travel representatives, including agents from 10 China-based luxury travel companies.
Commenting on upcoming China-focused initiatives, Virtuoso’s regional director, Asia, Evan Pierce said: “The engagement of our new members has been fantastic. We were delighted to have had all of our founding members make the trip to Las Vegas, with Virtuoso Supplier Partners equally enthused about connecting in person with the best luxury agencies in China.”
“Virtuoso Travel Week on Tour Asia will further enhance our engagement in the region, giving local front-line advisors a taste of the magic that happens in Vegas.”
Like a number of China-based travel agencies, a recent Chinese addition to the Virtuoso network, Zanadu, attended the recent Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas for the first time.
Zanadu chief product officer, Rick Xie, said: “Five years ago the luxury market in China did not exist, so while we are evolving quickly, we are still at the beginning of developing these networks and connections.”
Given how fresh the market’s luxury segment is, learning has become a focus area for agencies like Zanadu, and one of the reasons it joined the Virtuoso network.
An event like Virtuoso Travel Week has been “very relevant” and educational when it comes to information about Virtuoso services as well as products in the market.
“It’s not only the network meetings, it’s the professional development and engagement with Virtuoso staff who we can now work with to understand the services and tools Virtuoso offers to its network,” Xie said.
Marking its 30th anniversary since its debut in Phuket’s hospitality scene, the first Aman resort, Amanpuri, has undergone a thorough enhancement.
On top of upgrades to original resort components such as the Aman Spa, the refurbishment also saw the addition of suspended swimming pools to six of the guest Pavilions, new spa facilities and water sports equipment, a children’s Eco-Discovery Club, a beach bar and an activity space for all ages called The Hot Spot.
The resort comprises 40 Thai-style Pavilions and 40 private Villas (available for rental) within a grove of coconut palms. Six of the Pavilions have now been enhanced, each with the addition of its own private swimming pool.
Set on a hillside amid lush vegetation, the Aman Spa now features 12 treatment suites – six brand-new and all double the original size. Each has a spacious treatment room, its own bathing area, private steam room, dressing room and an outdoor relaxation pavilion. Other new spa facilities include hydrotherapy areas with steam rooms, traditional saunas, two infrared saunas, Jacuzzis and cold plunge pools, plus a finishing salon for nails and hair.
At the top of the hill lies Amanpuri’s two-storey fitness centre incorporating a glass-walled gym, a Pilates studio, a new Muay Thai studio with boxing ring, yoga pavilions and a new juice bar, all with sea views.
The new children’s Eco-Discovery Club, located adjacent to the Beach Club with its restaurant, deck and lap pool, is a glass-fronted structure housing its own nature museum – with terrariums, as well as a craft centre at which traditional Thai crafts such as batik and flower weaving are demonstrated and taught. The club also offers spaces for environmental and cultural discussions and lectures.
Programmes, which range from learning about turtles to customising batik-style surf trunks, are for four- to nine-year-olds.
Amanpuri’s new programme for all ages is inspired by alternative sport, music and digital-tech cultures, and takes place at The Hot Spot. This new space has an outdoor rope-free bouldering climbing wall and a skateboarding half-pipe complete with custom-built skateboards – both of which will be visited by coaches including skating pros from California in high season.
Indoors, older children will be able to record music and DJ at The Sound Box studio, or edit films they’ve shot of their Amanpuri adventures at a GoPro editing counter. The screening room/cinema can project movies (self-made or otherwise) both indoors and outside for evening viewings.
A new addition to Amanpuri’s water sports fleet is a boat well-suited for wakeboarding – a MasterCraft X23 – with a wakeboarding coach and boat captain available daily, in season.
Moreover, guests can now relax at the resort’s new Straw Hat Beach Bar, which offers a selection of classic Aman beach cocktails from the collection of Aman destinations including the Kila Colada, Yara Mojito and Nera Daiquiri, plus Thai craft beers, fresh juices and smoothies.
Magnum Room is a new dining space that will soon be unveiled at the resort. The 14-seat private dining room has its own bar, wine lockers, magnum-sized display cases and humidor. A new mixologist has expanded the resort’s signature drinks offerings across all restaurants including the Japanese Nama (which was enhanced with a new weather protected, canopied terrace), the Italian Arva, Thai at The Terrace, the Beach Club restaurant, The Lounge and The Bar.
Three new luxury properties have opened in Kuala Lumpur to add 441 rooms in recent months, but surplus in the luxury tier is not a concern for tourism stakeholders.
The new properties, Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur and W Kuala Lumpur join existing international luxury brands such as The St Regis Kuala Lumpur, Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur, Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur and InterContinental Kuala Lumpur.
InterContinental Kuala Lumpur area director of sales & marketing, Peter Turner-Smith, said: “There may be some short-term pressure on occupancy and rates with the increased availability, but in the long term these new hotels will help to stimulate demand for the city as well as raise the hospitality standards.”
Likewise, Aariana Hospitality International president & CEO, Reginald Pereira, said: “The additional inventory enhances the image of the destination and (shows) investors are confident of the destination.
“This is long overdue. We need these international brands to attract more high-yield tourists to the city.”
Moreover, the new openings are in tandem with developments in Kuala Lumpur’s overall luxury scene.
Arokia Das, director, Luxury Tours Malaysia, said new high-end brands serve to complement the new product developments the city has seen in recent years.
“It is now possible to hire a Ferrari car or a stretch limousine for clients, which we could not do four years back. (These developments have made it) so much easier to sell the city to the luxury segment.”
Manfred Kurz, managing director at Diethelm Travel Malaysia, further pointed out that the new inventory could ease the bottlenecks the city experiences when hosting big conventions or exhibitions.
Tom Roelens, general manager, Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur, agreed: “When there are large conferences and events, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre is always in need of additional supply of rooms and hotels of different tiers.”
The New Zealand government is implementing an International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy.
This is “to ensure international visitors contribute to the infrastructure they use and help protect the natural environment they enjoy”, according to an announcement made on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website.
Most international visitors entering New Zealand for 12 months or less will be charged a levy of NZ$35 (US$23). Visitors exempt from this levy include Australian citizens and permanent residents as well as people from Pacific Island countries such as Tonga and Samoa.
The levy will be collected through visa fees, and for citizens of visa waiver countries, via the proposed Electronic Travel Authority process.
Some NZ$80 million is expected to be collected in the first year of implementing the levy. This will be split 50:50 between tourism infrastructure and conservation activity. The government is currently working with conservation, local government and tourism industry stakeholders to further work out how best to spend the revenue.
The levy will be required to go through a legislative process, and is expected to be implemented in the second half of 2019.
TTG Asia Media has embarked on its next phase of organisational re-structuring to consolidate business development efforts of its publishing and events arms.
Sales of both TTG Travel Trade Publishing and TTG Events solutions will be headed by a centralised business development unit led by Pierre Quek, publisher and head, integrated solutions, and Chimmy Tsui, publisher and head, integrated solutions (China).
With the consolidation, the expanded team of business managers now offers clients a singular touch-point to TTG’s full suite of integrated solutions for the travel industry.
In a statement, TTG Asia Media said that this would enhance the company’s servicing strategy by industry and geography verticals implemented at the beginning of this year.
In line with these changes, business group re-structures along with new appointments also came into effect yesterday.
Ooi Peng Ee has been named head of TTG Global Commerce and Development, while Cheryl Tan has stepped into the role of head, TTG Events. In addition, Jonathan Wan now assumes the post of head, operational support services.
TTG Travel Trade Publishing, TTG Events and TTG Global Commerce are three of four business groups under TTG Asia Media. The company’s other business group is TTG Maps & Guides Publishing.
Helping open up Vietnam’s less-explored areas to international tourism, Vietnam Wine Tours takes visitors on winery escapades through Dalat, Ninh Thuan and the Mekong Delta.
“Not many people know that Vietnam has wineries that grow good wines. We want people to come and enjoy such areas that aren’t well known yet,” said Vietnam Wine Tours’ CEO and founder Raymond Ringhoff.
To raise awareness for other local businesses, the tour company combines its wine tours with stops at places such as family-run textile shops, herbal gardens and medicine farms.
Ringhoff told TTG Asia at the recent PATA Travel Mart (PTM) in Langkawi: “There’s so much Vietnam has to offer, from wines to the beaches of Hoi An. When I saw the local businesses, I wanted to bring more people to discover these places.”
Colleen Renner, owner of Colorado-based Playful Spirits Travel, a buyer at PTM, expressed surprise that Vietnam is home to wineries and has a network of wine tours on offer.
“Our clients would definitely be interested in that. Vietnam is getting more popular and they’re always up to visit new places that few others have gone to before,” said Renner.
Asian solo travellers are more likely to be younger – millennials (41%) and Generation Zers (38%) – while in the West, solo travel is more prevalent among baby boomers (39%) and Generation Xers (24%), one of the highlights of a recent study released by Agoda.
Agoda’s Solo Travel Trends 2018 survey, conducted by YouGov, found that solo travellers from the West are more likely than those in Asia to indulge in solo travel for longer periods, more often taking trips for four to seven nights (34%). In addition, Western solo travellers are twice as likely to go on trips of 14 nights or more (20% versus 10%).
Millennial and Generation Z Asian solo travellers tend to take shorter, one- to three-night solo trips (46%).
Relaxation and time to unwind is the number one motivator for solo leisure travel globally (61%), followed by getting away from routine (52%) and exploring new cultures (45%), the survey shows.
The study also found that solo leisure travellers spend more time in front of their laptops and phones than any other traveller type – two hours a day (119 minutes), which compares to 15% more time than when travellers are with friends (100 minutes) and 26% more time than if they are with family (86 minutes).
Asian solo travellers are the most digitally connected and are more than two times as likely to spend four or more hours a day in front of their screens than their Western peers (31% versus 12%).
Whether for business, leisure or bleisure, independent solo travellers are all heading to cosmopolitan cities.
According to Agoda’s booking data, Bangkok is the top destination for Asian solo travellers this year, while London is number one for Western solo travellers.
Tokyo is a popular choice for both Asian and Western travellers, hitting the top three for both groups.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Tourism Malaysia have launched Passport 2 Nature, a campaign to jointly promote Singapore’s Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Malaysia’s Pulau Kukup Johor National Park.
This is the first such initiative by STB and Tourism Malaysia under the Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia’s Tourism Working Group. It is supported by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks) and Johor National Parks Corporation (JNPC).
From October 1 to December 31, 2018, visitors can receive a Passport 2 Nature at the parks’ entrance counters, and collect stamps through completing a series of questions. After filling the passport with stamps, they can present it to staff at either park and redeem a souvenir created for the campaign (while stocks last).
“Singapore is located along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This means we serve as a stop-over in the journey taken by migratory birds that come from as far away as Siberia. We welcome the opportunity to work with our wetland counterparts in other countries that are also part of the flyway, such as Pulau Kukup Johor National Park, to build up our knowledge of the
migratory patterns and requirements of these amazing birds. This will enable us to better formulate conservation strategies for our wetlands to ensure the long-term survival of these birds,” said Adrian Loo, group director, conservation of NParks.
Pulau Kukup Johor National Park, a Ramsar Site, is one of five national parks in Johor under JNPC, a state agency. The park underwent upgrading works by IRDA between 2015 and 2017. Also in line with plans for the park to become a leading ecotourism site in Johor, nearby Kampung Permas Besar has been named a “Kawan Iskandar Malaysia” (Friend of Iskandar Malaysia) village focusing on developing community-based ecotourism.
Passport 2 Nature follows an MoU signed between NParks and the JNPC on February 21, 2018 to establish Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Pulau Kukup Johor National Park as Sister Sites under the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The MoU enhances collaboration in joint research on migratory shorebirds found in both sites.
Hotelbeds Group has made further senior management appointments across its group in Asia-Pacific (APAC) following its integration of Tourico and GTA.
Hui-Wan Chua has been confirmed as the regional director for wholesale sales for the APAC market. In this role, Chua will be responsible for growing the group’s business in the APAC region across the three different bedbank brands – Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA – reporting directly to Sam Turner, the wholesale sales & sourcing director with global responsibility.
Chua joined GTA in 2017, before it became part of Hotelbeds Group in 2017, and was most recently the vice president of Asia sales & marketing.
Prior to that, she was CEO at Zuji. Chua has also held a number of senior roles in Asia at leading travel companies such as Travelport and Abacus International.
Additionally, the regional management positions that will report to Chua have been confirmed. Hotelbeds said in a statement that the new appointments combine “the best of existing internal talent from across the three bedbanks”.
In the regional manager roles, Chan Tze Yuan has been appointed to cover South-east Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan; Isabelle Kim will cover East Asia; Richard Styles will be in charge of Pacific and Indochina; and Laura Wang and Joy Huang will lead China.
Since January, the group has been identifying top employee profiles from the three companies, at both senior management and management levels. So far 350 appointments have been made.
Hotelbeds says growing business in the APAC region is a top priority. China remains the number one source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds Group in APAC and is now the fourth biggest for the group globally, up from fifth place only last year.
