Ayana Komodo Resort kick-starts Flores’ luxury hotel development

September 18, 2018

Indonesia’s Flores last week welcomed the arrival of its first luxury resort with the opening of the 250-key Ayana Komodo Resort on Waecicu Beach in Labuan Bajo, the gateway to the nearby Komodo Island and Rinca Island.

Speaking at the launch of the new resort, Rudy Suliawan, owner of Ayana Komodo Resort, said: “People have asked me why I have chosen Labuan Bajo in Flores to build the next Ayana after our Jakarta and Bali properties.

“By opening the resort here we will be able to bring in high-spending tourists to this destination as the gateway to the World Heritage Site, the Komodo National Park,” said Rudy. “We are here not only to bring hospitality (to Flores) but our main objective is to showcase Labuan Bajo as a world-class destination.”

He further added that Ayana’s debut also introduced a new hospitality concept combing accommodation and activity facilities into Labuan Bajo.

At the resort, guests can avail themselves of facilities including a ballroom and meeting rooms, seven F&B outlets, spa and fitness centre, swimming pools, kid’s club, dive and activity centre.

The resort’s specially built cruise ship, Ayana Lako di’a, will begin sailing on October 1, but the nine-cabin and suite luxury phinisi has already been booked for a wedding group of around 80 guests from China on September 22.

Ayana Komodo Resort also boasts a glass-bottom boat and a speed boat in operation. A second phinisi ship is currently under construction in Bira, South Sulawesi, while plans to build a catamaran and a beach club on a nearby island are in the pipeline.

As well, the property has committed to provide English training for the Komodo National Park rangers, and will donate one US dollar for each roomnight sold to support the national park by improving facilities such as toilets.

In his opening speech, Agustinus Dula, the regent of Manggarai Barat, believed that more facilities will follow in the wake of Ayana’s opening and welcomed investors into the destination to maximise human capital development.

“We will see a much improved destination in five years down the road,” he said. “We have opened a tourism school to prepare for the increasing demand of talents here.”

Welcoming the new opening, Umberto Cadamuro, COO inbound of PACTO, said: “Ayana is the only property with a large room inventory, as well as different room types, and can therefore cater to both the upper-middle and high-end markets. But, above all, we do not often see this kind of investment in off-the-beaten-track areas. I do believe that Ayana has understood the potential of the destination, and we really look forward similar initiatives in Raja Ampat.”

In data age, collaboration is key for smaller travel companies

By Pamela Chow

September 18, 2018

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data-city — Adara derives travel patterns, trends and behaviour from more than 750 million monthly unique traveller profiles across more than 190 travel brands

Becoming a tech-smart travel company in today’s fast-changing digital landscape is no mean feat, but the goal is becoming increasingly attainable.

Speakers at the Travolution Asia Forum 2018, which took place last week as part of PATA Travel Mart, shared that there is a growing pool of opportunities for small- and medium-sized players to tap on the immense amount of traveller data, which can empower them even in the face of competition from data giants like Google and Airbnb.

For example, Vietnam-based tour booking platform Triip has accrued a network of partners such as Dichungtaxi, TripRadius, Travelog and Keys China, representing a data ecosystem of more than 100 million users.

“All of these small companies decided to work together because if they don’t, they would have to spend a lot on advertising. In fact, they had already wanted to work together, it’s just that they did not know how to make the collaboration easier,” explained Hai Ho, CEO of Triip.

Richard Harris, CEO, Intent Media, echoed the sentiment with insight that travel agencies should not discount working with their competitors in co-ops to share data intelligence. This can even prevent precious data from being lost to bigger players like Facebook and Google.

He explained: “Data is power, so the relationship that you have with your customers is an incredibly important asset. You need to harness your data and make sure that your access to data is not taken away from you. Look at who you can partner with to take advantage of this asset.

“Think about models that involve some manner of cooperation with who you think is your arch-rival. This can hopefully disintermediate or prevent the platforms from taking your customer data,” he added.

Another key consideration is data security, which extends beyond privacy to reward. Ho advised that customers must also gain from sharing their data, and this can come in the form of free user services and an improved shopping experience.

While agents express an eagerness to harness and share data insights, they are still in the dark about how to do so.

Md Zahirul Alam Bhuiyan, CEO & founder of Bangladesh-based Discovery Tours & Logistic, lamented that information about inter-agency collaboration and data privacy and protection is scarce.

He added: “We cannot fight with Facebook and Instagram, but we can adjust to them and try to do something unique that isn’t possible online, such as designing multi-destination products with our customers.”

APAC dominates world’s busiest air routes by passenger numbers

By TTG Asia

September 18, 2018

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In a new study published by Routes, organiser of aviation network development conferences and events, the Asia-Pacific dominates the top 100 busiest routes by passenger numbers, accounting for more than 70% of the world’s total.

Hong Kong – Taiwan Taoyuan is the busiest international route and features as the eighth most popular overall, with 6.7 million passengers flying the 802km journey in 2017. Hong Kong features in six of the top 10 international routes.

With more than 13.4 million people travelling on the shorthaul domestic service, the 450km journey from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport to the island of Jeju off the coast of the Korean Peninsula has once again claimed the title as the most in-demand air route in the world. The route has an average of 180 scheduled flights per day – one every eight minutes.

As well, a total of 13.5 million passengers flew between Seoul and Jeju in 2017, an increase of 9.4% on the previous 12 months when the route was also ranked as the busiest in the world. It carried a staggering 4.4 million more people than the second busiest, Melbourne – Sydney Kingsford Smith.

The study also found that the Thai domestic route of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Chiang Mai is the fastest-growing route in the top 100. Two-way passenger numbers grew by 36% year-on-year to almost 2.4 million.

Steven Small, brand director of Routes, said: “This research backs up forecasts that the Asia-Pacific region will be the biggest driver of passenger demand over the next 20 years.”

Agoda, TravelGay now partners in growing LGBT travel content

By TTG Asia

September 18, 2018

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Agoda and TravelGay have entered into a partnership to increase focus on LGBT travellers amid a growing wave of support from destinations like Thailand to pursue this niche segment.

TravelGay is a gay travel, entertainment, and lifestyle guide for Europe, the US, and Asia’s most popular gay destinations.

Making gay-friendly travel content more accessible

Darren Burn, managing director of TravelGay, said: “We have expanded our site rapidly since acquiring the business just a few months ago and intend to work together with our accommodation partners in the coming months and years to further assist the LGBT community on their travels.”

“Central to everything we do at Agoda is the belief that we can help everyone to travel anywhere, so we are thrilled to partner with a company dedicated to ensuring that millions of LGBT travellers each year experience the same warm welcome and level of respect as all other travellers do,” said Aaron Moy, head of UX research and Agoda Colors (Agoda’s LGBT employee-resource group).

“Together with TravelGay, we hope to improve the planning and journey for LGBT travellrs in this region and beyond.”

Beep! – Your One-stop Portal for Car Rentals with Avis and Budget

By TTG

September 18, 2018

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Brought to you by Avis Budget Group

Honk! Honk! Beep! Beep!

The car horn is one of the most elementary and basic tools for communication in a vehicle. It is often used to warn and notify others of our presence and approach; to alert people to a potential danger related to a vehicle… literally, a way to “speak” to a fellow driver or pedestrian.

Wikipedia, Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster dictionaries all have different ways to express “beep”, whether for use in computers, telecommunications or transportation.

At Avis Budget Group, “beep” is the new buzz word for our new training platform – a one-stop-portal for travel trade professionals. The Asia platform was officially launched at PATA Travel Mart in September 2018 and provides an overview of our company’s brands, Avis Car Rental and Budget Car Rental, featuring training modules, booking tools, destination and driving guides.

“beep” makes it easier for you to offer products and services from the two brands to your customers. The Avis platform includes the premium Avis products from its 5,500 locations in approximately 170 countries, while the Budget platforms carries the same well-maintained and great value vehicles from approximately 3,500 locations in more than 120 countries. It aims to make the booking process simpler, more efficient and rewarding for our valuable travel trade partners with the added benefit of all bookings made through the platform being commissionable.

We will also progressively launch incentives and competitions as the platform is introduced into different countries across Asia. The current platform is in English, while the Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai versions will be rolled out progressively in Q4 2018 and Q1 2019.

We believe that “beep” will make it easier for you to offer products and services from our two brands to your customers through a simpler and more efficient booking process. At the same time, you can also receive commission when you make a booking through “beep”.

Additionally, there are also quizzes and a little game to challenge yourself on your knowledge of Avis and Budget, and in the world of car rental too!

So, hurry and beep your way through to the portal at www.abgbeep.com/asia to register and learn more about Avis and Budget now!

About Avis Budget Group
Avis Budget Group, Inc. is a leading global provider of vehicle rental services, both through its Avis and Budget brands, which have more than 11,000 rental locations in approximately 180 countries around the world, and through its Zipcar brand, which is the world’s leading car sharing network, with more than one million members. Avis Budget Group operates most of its car rental offices in North America, Europe and Australia directly, and operates primarily through licensees in other parts of the world. Avis Budget Group has approximately 30,000 employees and is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. More information is available at www.avisbudgetgroup.com.

A hot Bali spared effects of Lombok quakes

By Yixin Ng

September 17, 2018

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shutterstock_720684145 — Bali's popularity remains unscathed despite the string of disasters affecting neighbouring Lombok

The string of devastating earthquakes that recently struck recently have not taken the shine off the neighbouring tourist hotspot of Bali, said buyers at the PATA Travel Mart 2018 last week, although some players have seen a shift in demand to other beach destinations.

Bali’s popularity remains unscathed despite the string of disasters affecting neighbouring Lombok

In the wake of the August 5 earthquake, travel intelligence analyst ForwardKeys – in a study released on August 28 – estimated a 42.9 per cent plunge in bookings for Bali.

India, which recently entered the top five source markets for Indonesia, has shown relative greater resilience to the quakes compared to other regional markets like Singapore and China, according to the report.

Sanjay Mehta, chief executive of India’s Trans Globe Travels, said: “Direct flights from Mumbai to Bali (have spurred demand for Bali). In fact after getting news of the Lombok quakes, more of our customers are requesting Bali.”

News reports and an overall availability of information have kept travellers informed and up-to-date on the situation, hence offering assurance that Bali is generally safe to travel to, explained Mehta.

“They know how far Lombok is from Bali. Nowadays travellers are smart; they know where the place (most affected is) and feel they have nothing to worry about,” he said.

“(Moreover), we refer to travel advisories from the Indonesian tourism ministry that have kept us updated on the situation. This is something the tourism board is doing fantastically (to buffer travel confidence).”

At Agent Holiday from Australia, a key feeder market for Bali, travel to the island destination likewise has “not at all” been affected, spokesperson Debby Hunter shared.

Bali has been a traditional favourite among Australians holidaymakers, Hunter said. “People understand that (disasters) happen, and that it is not likely to happen while they’re in Bali.”

Another reason why some buyers are not seeing major impact is that the disaster struck outside of high season, according to Boris Kolokolov, managing director of Russia’s Luxe Travel, and Igo Cruz, Travbest Travel & Tours in the Philippines.

“Russians mostly travel to Bali in the high season, which is around the New Year period. For now it is low season because it is rainy. The traffic comes in December and January,” Kolokolov remarked.

However, T Tamil Selvam, CEO at Chennai-based World Travel Club, said demand for Bali from Indian honeymooners had dropped by more than 50 per cent due to the Lombok earthquakes, and they are opting instead for the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Malidves.

While forward bookings for 4Q2018 were returning, they are “nothing like what we saw in the past”, said Selvam.

Turkish Airlines is currently working on opening the new route to Bali in the first half of next year, following the successful launch of the Istanbul-Phuket service in April 2018.

Stephanie Step Stephen, marketing representative, said Turkish Airlines currently codeshares with Malindo Air to access Bali. She said: “We have seen a huge increase in demand for (Bali) so we are launching a direct flight.”

She added this will increase access to Indonesia from Europe and vice versa, with Istanbul serving as a major European transit hub. “Bali is the perfect destination for Turkey, and the route will be popular with the European market,” said Stephen.

Additional reporting by S Puvaneswary and Marissa Carruthers

Philippines gets loud and proud with first LGBTQ symposium

By Rosa Ocampo

September 17, 2018

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shutterstock_1132492148 — The Philippine trade sees strong potential in LGBTQ travel; Metro Manila Pride March 2018 pictured

Come October 12, the Philippines will welcome its first LGBTQ travel symposium in Malvar, Batangas, a culmination of efforts by the local trade to grow a largely untapped but promising market segment.

The Philippine trade sees strong potential in LGBTQ travel; Metro Manila Pride March 2018 pictured

The event, strongly supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), is expected to attract 300 participants from the travel trade, local government units and the academe, said organiser Lax Junnel Mendoza, concurrent president of the Association of Travel and Tour Agencies in the Calabarzon region which includes Batangas.

Mendoza, inspired to organise the local symposium when he attended the first LGBT+ Travel Symposium: Thailand organised by TAT in Bangkok earlier this year in June, is eyeing an “exchange” programme with the Thai NTO for travellers between Thailand and the Philippines.

In the pipeline are plans to create a training programme to make local properties and their services gay-friendly and tackle issues like the proper address for these travellers, providing gender-equal toilets, health and safety, and wellness, shared Mendoza.

“The readiness on the grassroots level can make or break the plan” to enhance the LGBTQ market, he stressed.

It is understood that TAT is lending strong support to the Batangas symposium as part of its strategy to build awareness for Thailand as an outbound destination for LGTBQ travel from the Philippines, beyond the key feeder markets of Manila and Cebu.

TAT’s Philippine marketing representative Alma Rivera said the LGTBQ market will be her “flagship in 2019”.

The Philippines’ LGBTQ outbound segment is growing faster than inbound and among the preferred Asian destinations including Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing and Cambodia, Thailand remains the most popular because of its open approach to LGTBQ and availability of LGTBQ-friendly facilities in the main tourist destinations.

Although the Philippines is known to be one of the most gender equal countries in Asia, LGTBQ inbound is still weak due to limited gay-friendly facilities. Also, it’s still a conservative society where public display of affection and cross-dressing are frowned upon.

Nonetheless, tourism assistant secretary Robby Alabado III said the Philippine Department of Tourism is already supporting LGBTQ through gender responsive tourism and that its marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board, is also supporting the LGTBQ travel symposium.

Ian Laroda, inbound and business development officer, Travel Warehouse, said LGTBQ inbound has a lot of potential but the bottom line is to have strong marketing and promotions with government support.

He is keen on remarketing the Outings brand for LGTBQ launched several years ago by a consortium of travel agencies including Travel Warehouse.

What will increase the awareness for inbound, said Laroda, is the first gay pride parade in Mindanao to be organised by young professionals in Cagayan de Oro in December. In metro Manila, the gay pride started with 1,000 participants several years ago but had grown to more than 7,000 when it was held in Marikina this year.

Through trade efforts and public campaigns, Mendoza hopes to remove the stereotype that LGTBQ travel revolves around sex and more importantly, this community wants to be respected and accepted and that the UNWTO is already acknowledging the potentials of this market.

Agreeing, Laroda said LGBTQ travellers are like the usual leisure tourists with penchant for the beach, history, culture and night bars.

LaBoracay beach party has gained a following from this niche market until the government decided that the island won’t be a party place anymore when it reopens next month. An alternative, Laroda said, is Puerto Galera which is known as a “gay” destination even before Boracay became famous.

Other destinations favoured by the LGBTQ travellers are La Union, Cebu, Bohol and Siargao which is booming.

New association pairs cities up for tourism success

By Marissa Carruthers

September 17, 2018

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A new association has formed to bolster tourism across the globe by pushing the development of twin cities.

Officially launched last Friday at PATA Travel Mart 2018 in Langkawi, the Twin Cities World Tourism Forum Association (TCWTA) aims to build upon the success that exist between the already established 7,000 sister cities worldwide, while developing relationships between new cities.

Twin Cities World Tourism Association Switzerland’s Enrique Lepehne and Thomas-Peter Binder

Enrique Lepehne, TCWTA director of marketing and sales, said: “We want to use this platform to bring twin cities together, to get them communicating, and show them the tourism possibilities and new ways to explore tourism in the cities.”

Initiatives include exchanges between senior travellers, educational exchanges and joint tourism marketing campaigns, Lepehne shared.

Thomas-Peter Binder, TCWTA president, said: “We want to encourage people to travel to the twin towns. While contact through social media is all well and good, it is no substitute for real, personal and direct interaction between people.”

When establishing new twin cities, Lepehne said they are looking for destinations that offer differing cultures, climates and landscapes, such as pairing up a beach destination with a city that is home to mountains.

Twin destinations need not be far away, added Hikmet Atilla, general manager of Raffinesse Travel in Turkey. This year his hometown of Didim in Turkey is twinned with the nearby Greek island of Kos.

He said: “We can combine Turkey and Greece as one holiday, which is helped by the twin city status.”

In the coming months, Lepehne will visit cities across the globe to show them the potential the programme holds to maximise their twin city status.

TCWTA will also attend a series of exhibitions and marts and will host its own gathering on January 18 in Zurich.

The association board will comprise 14 members, including 13 mayors from countries worldwide while Hüseyin Baraner, the only non-mayor member, will be appointed general secretary.

The board is expected meet once a year in the city of the president to exchange ideas, concepts and plans.

Star Wars VR attraction coming soon to Resorts World Genting

By TTG Asia

September 17, 2018

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The Void and ILMxLAB are joining hands to bring the first-of-its-kind hyper-reality experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, to Resorts World Genting later this year.

The location-based VR experience will be The Void’s first venture outside of America and the UK, making this experience at Resorts World Genting the first in Asia.

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will take guests on a journey through the Star Wars universe, allowing them to walk freely and untethered on an interactive stage. Reality and imagination will mix, where guests will feel the impact of blaster bolts, smell the smoke from the surrounding environment, push buttons to solve an interactive puzzle to escape enemies, while coordinating directly with their unit in real time through the blended virtual and physical world.

Under the orders of the rebellion, teams of four travel to the molten planet of Mustafar and sneak onto an Imperial Base. During the mission, visitors will encounter familiar Star Wars characters as they navigate through the world.

Craig Watson, chairman of The Void, said: “The Void’s hyper-reality experiences are taking people to worlds that, until now, only existed in their imaginations. The Void is leading location-based entertainment to the next level. By making the impossible real and allowing guests to step into completely new and alternate realities. In Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire visitors can hear, feel, touch and even smell bringing them closer to the story, characters and places.”

TTGmice scoops PATA Gold Award 2018

By TTG Asia

September 17, 2018

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At the PATA Travel Mart 2018 in Langkawi, The Technology Experience article by Karen Yue was recognised with the PATA Gold Award for Travel Journalism – Industry Business Article award.

This marked another achievement for a TTG publication at the annual awards of PATA, following TTG Asia Luxury’s win two years ago.

Celebrating the award in Langkawi last week were TTG Asia Media managing director Darren Ng and publisher Pierre Quek, accompanied by team members and PATA’s Mario Hardy and Macao Government Tourism Office’s Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes

Ayana Komodo Resort kick-starts Flores’ luxury hotel development

In data age, collaboration is key for smaller travel companies

APAC dominates world’s busiest air routes by passenger numbers

Agoda, TravelGay now partners in growing LGBT travel content

Beep! – Your One-stop Portal for Car Rentals with Avis and Budget

A hot Bali spared effects of Lombok quakes

Philippines gets loud and proud with first LGBTQ symposium

New association pairs cities up for tourism success

Star Wars VR attraction coming soon to Resorts World Genting

TTGmice scoops PATA Gold Award 2018

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