Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) last week announced the extension of its 14-day visa-free entry trial programme for nationals from Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand.
The decision followed a June 11 inter-ministerial meeting convened by MOFA. The trial of visa-free treatment for nationals from these three countries will continue for another year from August 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019, with a possible extension in the future.
Taiwan renews visa-free entry program for Philippines, Thailand and Brunei; Taipei’s skyline pictured
This measure is being continued to attract visitors from New Southbound Policy partner countries for tourism and business purposes. Also factored into the decision to extend the trial period was the average length of stay by quality tourists and business travellers.
According to statistics from the Tourism Bureau, nationals from New Southbound Policy partner countries made a total of 2.3 million visits to Taiwan in 2017, a significant year-on-year increase of 27.7 per cent over the 1.8 million visits made in 2016.
As it forays into mainland China, KKday has kicked off a collaboration with Alibaba by launching a flagship store under Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s travel portal.
The tours and activities startup has also received an undisclosed investment from the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, which supports young companies through its ecosystem and e-commerce and financial services.
More partnerships for KKday; Ming Chen, founder of KKday pictured (photo credit: Twitter/kkdayth)
KKday recently launched an office in Shanghai – its first in mainland China. The three-year-old company is already operating in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.
“This deal will drive many potential collaborations – Fliggy is a great way for us to enter the Chinese market. Alipay’s universality will help us reach customers in China, and within South-east Asia,” said KKday’s CEO Ming Chen.
Chen believes that with Alibaba’s technology as a tool, KKday can streamline the travel experience and make it more enjoyable.
This news follows the previous partnership of KKday and Japanese travel firm H.I.S, which resulted in US$10.5 million raised and created new opportunities for cooperation between the two companies.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has taken delivery of its first A350 XWB aircraft, Airbus’ new family of mid-size widebody longhaul airliners, which it believes will help it better compete in the premium longhaul market.
PAL has ordered six A350-900s, which will be primarily operated on non-stop services to Europe and North America. These will include the carrier’s longest route to New York, which the A350-900 can operate non-stop in both directions, all year round.
From left: Airbus’ Jean-François Laval; Philippine Airlines’s Jaime J. Bautista; and Rolls Royce’s Christophe Molus
Representing a distance of over 8,000 nautical miles, the 17-hour return journey from New York to Manila previously involved a technical stop in Vancouver.
PAL has configured its A350-900s with a layout seating 295 passengers in three classes. This includes 30 seats that convert to fully flat beds in business class, 24 offering extra space in premium economy and 241 18-inch wide seats in the main cabin.
The aircraft features the Airspace by Airbus cabin, which is said to offer more personal space and full connectivity, on top of being “the quietest of any twin aisle aircraft”.
“The arrival of the A350 XWB will see PAL offer new levels of comfort on our longhaul flights,” said Jaime Bautista, president and COO of Philippine Airlines. “At the same time we will benefit from the A350 XWB’s new generation efficiency, with a significant reduction in fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs. We believe that the A350 XWB will be a game changer for PAL as we compete with the best in the premium longhaul market.”
The A350 XWB joins PAL’s existing Airbus fleet of 27 A320 family aircraft, 15 A330s and four A340s.
Hong Kong’s Madera Group has rolled out in-room Deliveroo menus to three of its boutique hotels in the city – Hotel Madera Hong Kong, Hotel Madera Hollywood, and Madera Residences.
With the partnership with food delivery platform Deliveroo, the hospitality company says participating hotels now offer a much wider selection of on-demand in-room dining options.
Hotel Madera Hollywood
Among Deliveroo’s range of restaurant partners are favourites such as Duocento Otto, Yu Mai and Honeymoon Dessert.
Guests may place their orders through guest services.
Onyx Hospitality Group has appointed Michael Gaehler as the new general manager of Oriental Residence Bangkok.
Prior to his appointment, Gaehler was group general manager at Regent Hotels and Resorts in Taipei, where he oversaw hotel projects in Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and mainland China.
The Swiss hotelier began his career in his native country as commis de cuisine at Restaurant Frohsinn in Aarau. He rose through the ranks, working in a variety of positions in the hotel industry and was named general manager at Villa il Tesoro, Maremma in Tuscany in 2003.
After another general manager assignment in Switzerland, Gaehler further honed his hotelier experience with pre-opening roles and running luxury hotels of various sizes across Asia.
The Middle House in Shanghai recently opened featuring five serviced residence units, on top of suites
Preferred Hotels & Resorts is putting priority on growing its residences collection and sees a huge opportunity in Asia where hotels with a residential component are becoming popular with developers.
Preferred Residences is not a home-sharing business, the bandwagon that several global hotel chains have jumped on of late, although its intent is the same, i.e. to cater to new travellers’ desire of staying in a home, or a home-like environment, and living like a local. Since its launch three years ago, the portfolio has grown to over 80 members and Preferred expects to have more than 100 members by year-end.
The collection comprises largely high-end residential units in hotel or resort developments, serviced apartment units, and villas and suites in resorts, not individual homes. In Asia-Pacific, examples are the five residential units in The Middle House, a five-star boutique hotel in Shanghai which is part of Swire Hotels; 8 on Claymore Serviced Residences in Singapore which offers 85 apartment units; and Andara Resort & Villas, Phuket, which has 26 villas and 37 suites.
The Middle House in Shanghai recently opened featuring five serviced residence units in addition to suites
Preferred’s president Michelle Woodley, interviewed during the recent ILTM Asia Pacific in Singapore, said Preferred Residences differs from home-sharing in that “it is about providing a luxury residential experience with the amenities, safety and services of a hotel”. The company may extend to home-sharing in the future as “there is a certain segment that is interested in home-sharing with some branding – however, nothing eminent right now”, she said.
As it is, there is enough ground for Preferred to build up the collection as hotel developers are increasingly including residential units in their projects. Often, this supports the financials and infrastructure for the hotel development and vice versa.
In Asia, the ‘branded residence’ concept has taken off since Adrian Zecha launched the first Aman, Amanpuri in Phuket, in 1988. According to C9 Hotelworks’ research, Thailand now accounts for 41 per cent of South-east Asia’s supply, with over 21,000 hotel residence units, followed by Indonesia, while Vietnam, in particular Danang, is a rising star.
C9 Hotelworks counts at least 29 new hotel residence projects in Thailand alone as of October 2017. In addition, it expects developers to continue to seek brand affiliation for the projects as this fetches a price premium and greater buyer demand.
This augurs well for Preferred, which sees opportunity in Asia. “We see growth and opportunity for these types of developments and the support of the Preferred Residences branding provides value to the owner and choice for the consumer,” said Woodley.
Preferred’s customers expect access to a range of offerings depending on the ‘when, where and why’ of their travel, said Preferred’s CEO Lindsey Ueberroth in an earlier interview with TTG Asia. “The member who stays at a luxury hotel on one trip may stay at a moderate shared apartment on the next trip,” she said.
The rise of multi-generational stays in the Asian travel market, or of groups of friends or groups with similar interests travelling together, or of weddings and other celebrations being held overseas, also fuels demand for residences, which often have multiple rooms. To engage families, corporates and leisure travellers, Preferred is working on a dedicated section and new features for the residences collection on its website, which will be relaunched in the third quarter.
The fee for joining Preferred Residences is similar in nature to joining the other four collections of Preferred, namely Legend, LVX, Lifestyle and Connect. In fact some members that are already in one of the four collections have also joined Residences as an “add-on”. Examples include Montage Los Cabos, Mexico, which has 122 rooms and 52 residence units. It is in both Legend and Residences. Or, Primus Hotel Shanghai Hongqiao, which is in both LVS and Residences. The newly-opened hotel has 393 rooms and 158 residences.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Preferred has over 650 member hotels in the five collections, and the focus to grow residences is a way to expand further and create a new revenue stream. Woodley said it is eyeing a footprint of 250 to 300 members in the residences collection eventually.
Preferred appears to be the first and only one among independent hotel chains to have a strategic focus on residences. When approached by TTG Asia, WorldHotels’ CEO Geoff Andrew said the company has no plans to tap residences potential, but the main reason is priorities.
“We have just launched our new hotel collections and have a number of other major projects on our plate, including a new loyalty programme and CRM. For now, we want to focus on growing the hotel portfolio and driving additional revenue per hotel,” said Andrew.
Meanwhile, Preferred is also branching out to offer consulting solutions to hotels, including PR and representation, with Asia-Pacific as a key area of growth.
Earlier this year, it set up Preferred Hospitality Solutions to offer these services. This sits under Preferred Hospitality Group, a consulting arm which was set up in 2012 and has since represented several provinces in China including Suzhou and Nanjing in PR, social media and sales to the US market. In May, Preferred appointed Susan Devine as executive vice president to oversee Preferred Hospitality Group and its expansion in hospitality solutions. Devine has been with Preferred since 2006 and was senior vice president strategic development before the new role.
Said Woodley of the services offered: “A new hotel opening in Singapore may want to do a media event in London. For them to go find an agency who does not know them, and figure out a way to do a launch event in London, is difficult. But Caroline (Michaud, Preferred’s executive vice president corporate communications and PR) and her team can put together a programme for three to six months.
“Also branding. Often times hotels go through a renovation and they need help in positioning themselves in the marketplace because they’ve just invested all this money, and that might include more than just branding, into communications strategy, revenue management strategy – we’re able to bring the resources together and work with them on that.
“Pre-opening is another area. We’ve got owners and developers who are opening independent hotels for the first time; they need the expertise – how do I hire a GM or director of sales, what should my pre-opening plan look like? We have a lot of know-how and resources in our organisation to help them do that. That applies globally but we see a big opportunity here in Asia for that piece of business.”
Absolute Hotel Services has promoted Suchitra Sirirak to general manager of U Chiang Mai.
Suchitra first joined Absolute Hotel Services in April 2015 as a public relations manager at U Sathorn Bangkok, where she rose to the position of executive assistant manager of the property two years later in 2017.
She also possesses extensive experience working in hotel management for organisations such as Centara Hotels & Resorts, The Peninsula Bangkok, and The Siam Luxury Suites and Villas.
The much criticised Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020) logo will soon be replaced, a decision made shortly after a new tourism minister was sworn into prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s cabinet.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is planning a contest to find a replacement logo and “a discussion at the ministerial level will soon be held to decide on the details”, according to a report by The Star, quoting tourism minister Mohamaddin Ketapi.
The old logo (above) will be replaced, after much online derision
The existing logo was launched by former tourism and culture minister, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai in January.
Inbound operators selling Malaysia do not think a change in logo at this stage will confuse the market.
Raaj Navaratnaa, general manager, New Asia Holiday Tours & Travel, said: “We have not done (such) extensive international marketing (based on) VMY2020 that a change in logo at this stage will have an impact.”
Bobby Eng, general manager, Sunflower Holidays, is in favour of the contest format, as it will help to create buzz around VMY2020, especially if it is open to foreign participation.
Azizi Borhan, managing director, Asutra Convex, opined: “The ministry has to be fast in deciding on a new logo and relaunch it as well as the VMY2020 campaign at major travel shows that will take place from September onwards such as PATA Travel Mart, ITB Asia, IT&CM Asia and WTM.”
Asiatravel.com Holdings suspended trading on July 6
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has served a Notice of Intent to Suspend to Asiatravel.com and its subsidiary companies – AT Reservation Network, AT Express and SH Tours.
The Notice of Intent to Suspend is served on grounds of public interest, STB said in a statement, with an independent auditor’s disclaimer over the continuation of Asiatravel as a going concern in the audited financial statements of the group for the 2017 financial year.
Asiatravel.com Holdings’ controlling shareholder missed a critical payment leading up to the online travel company ceasing trading on the Singapore Stock Exchange July 6
STB added that it is aware that Asiatravel and its subsidiaries are unable to fulfil some of their outstanding obligations to their business partners and customers.
Asiatravel and its subsidiaries have 14 days to submit reasons to STB, to show cause against the Notice of Intent to Suspend their travel agent licences.
During this period, Asiatravel and its subsidiaries will still be required to ensure that consumer bookings are not affected, and make good all existing obligations to their consumers and industry partners.
They are also required to inform all customers of the notice of intent to suspend with immediate effect.
Speaking to TTG Asia in an exclusive interview after Asiatravel suspended trading on the Singapore Stock Exchange, executive chairman and CEO Boh Tuang Poh expressed there is opportunity for a turnaround for the group, citing new funding, transformation and restructuring exercises to bring costs down, among other reasons.
Asahi river in Okayam city,Okayama prefecture, Japan,2018,07,08: after flood
The travel industry in western Japan has been hard-hit by the floods in the region, some of the worst the country has seen in the past 30 years.
A number of foreign tourist groups were caught up in the disaster and others were cancelling plans to visit the region, TTG Asia understands.
The Asahi River in Okayama city after the flood, taken earlier this month
Travel agencies in the area insist, however, that problems are temporary and that major tourist sights are largely unaffected. Moreover, they say hotels in the main cities are operating as usual and that transport services could be back to normal in a matter of weeks.
The prefectures of Hiroshima and Okayama have been most affected by flooding and landslide, triggered by torrential rains on July 7 and 8. Several towns in the region have reported more than 58cm of rain in the space of 18 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, inundating low-lying areas and destabilising hillsides.
“The flooding and landslides have been very bad and we have had some clients call to cancel or alter their trips after seeing the images on the news,” said Megumi Ueda, general manager of the Kyoto-based Ayabex travel agency.
“We are lucky in some ways because we are not into the peak travel season yet so we have been able to change destinations for groups that still want to come to Japan, while others have chosen to delay their trips until later in the year,” she told TTG Asia.
One group was in Okayama Prefecture during the height of the flooding, Ueda said, but decided to continue with the trip as the bad weather has passed.
Popular sights in the region – such as the Atomic Dome Park in Hiroshima and the UNESCO-listed Miyajima Island, in the Inland Sea – have largely escaped damage and are operating normally, said Eiji Tanaka, president of the Travel With agency in Hiroshima.
“The problem right now is the road and rail links into the region,” he said. “Hiroshima Airport has been affected by power outages, but we understand that it is open again now. But the highway and rail links to the city have been damaged. We have been told that the government is working hard to repair the links, but the work will not be completed for another few days at least.”
Travel firms are keen to emphasise that floodwaters have largely subsided and landslides mainly affected more remote mountain towns rather than destinations that are popular with foreign travellers.
The death toll in what is the worst flooding to affect Japan in more than 30 years has surpassed 200 and rescue teams are still searching towns and villages for survivors.
