Making the attraction more kid- and family-friendly
Singapore’s Chinatown Heritage Centre (CHC), located within three restored shophouses on Pagoda Street, has undergone a makeover that features unique elements both new and old.
These include new multimedia guides with audiovisual commentaries in various languages in all galleries, augmented reality scenes that feature realistic and interactive photography props, as well as trishaw and walking trails around Chinatown.
The attraction is enhanced to be more kid- and family-friendly
The museum has also roped in the help of senior citizens aged 70-80 for Grandpa’s Shop, a mini provision shop in a retired trishaw, where the seniors will interact with visitors and share their memories of Singapore’s olden days.
“We hope to make CHC more family- and kids-friendly, and attract visitors who would normally stay away from museums and run far away from history,” explained Yiow Beng Png, director (board of directors), CHC.
With its revamp, the centre is calling for partnerships with more travel agents to extend its reach to new markets such as Japan, said Png.
He added: “Furthermore, the team at CHC will be happy to assist travel agents with bespoke experiences for their tour groups where viable.”
Hierro (left) champions responsible tourism with Pololikashvili
Former Real Madrid star Fernando Hierro has been named UNWTO’s Ambassador for Responsible Tourism.
“Fernando is an exceptional athlete and an example of personal integrity, and as a friend of the UNWTO, he will help us promote the positive values and real benefits that tourism can represent,” said UNWTO’s secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili.
Hierro (left) champions responsible tourism with Pololikashvili
Accepting the award from Pololikashvili, Hierro said: “As tourists, each of us can change the world if we act responsibly with regard to the places, the people and the cultures we visit. I feel part of this team and I support the World Tourism Organization in its efforts to ensure that tourism benefits everyone.”
Hierro’s legacy is closely associated with Real Madrid, a team with which he played more than 600 matches. Over his career, he won five Spanish La Liga titles, five Spanish Super Cups, the Copa del Rey, three UEFA Champions League titles and two Intercontinental Cups, among others.
He joins Spanish football coaching legend Vicente del Bosque, who was named Ambassador for Responsible Tourism last January 17 during the annual UNWTO Awards for Tourism Innovation.
Xavi Gonzalez has been appointed as general manager at The St Regis Singapore.
The Spaniard has nearly 20 years of international experience in the hospitality industry, cutting his teeth in management roles within Marriott properties such as The Ritz-Carlton Penha Longa Golf & Spa Resort, Portugal; The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong as well as The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place.
He also played an instrumental role in several rebranding and launch projects including the opening of The New York EDITION, and most recently led the opening of The Sanya EDITION.
MATTA's KL Tan says law requires guides to be licensed; tour guide at Mari Mari Cultural Village pictured
Barely two months since the launch of Tour Buddy, the digital sharing economy initiative introduced by the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) in collaboration with government agency Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation has come under fire from the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), which has decried the programme’s legality and urged its members nationwide not to engage the service.
However, MITA claims Tour Buddy services fall well within the law and that MATTA has misunderstood the initiative and assumed it was competing with licensed tourist guides.
MATTA’s KL Tan says law requires guides to be licensed; tour guide at Mari Mari Cultural Village pictured
In a press statement, MATTA president, KL Tan, opined that the new service was in violation of Clause 19 of the Tourism Industry Act 1992, which states: “(1) No licensed tourism enterprise shall employ, or obtain for a tourist or any other person the services of, a tourist guide who is not licensed under this Act or whose licence has been suspended or revoked.”
“Tour buddies are illegal tourist guides and would be in hot soup if caught by officers from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture when enforcing Section 21.1 of the Tourism Industry Act, which states that ‘No person shall act, or hold himself out, as a tourist guide unless he is licensed under this part’,” he added.
If tour buddies were to organise tour packages and offer them online, he said, this would be in violation of the regulations set under the Tour Operating Business and Travel Agency Business that permit only licensed tour and travel agents to do so. Tourist guides are licensed only to execute tours assigned by tour operators, he argued.
On the other hand, MITA secretary-general, Adam Kamal, said the programme simply involved training participants on how to use the Tour Buddy mobile app to seek information on local places of interest including its history, best food and shopping places in the area.
Tour Buddy provides training to qualify hosts; screenshot from tourbuddy.my
He stressed: “Tour buddies are not tourist guides. They don’t do guiding. They are not meant to replace the role of tourist guides.”
Rather, the initiative can complement existing tour services, being a community-based tourism programme that encourages local communities –especially rural ones – to support the tourism ecosystem, according to Adam.
For example, individuals can promote their fruit farms or their village’s best-kept secret attractions, which can in turn benefit the tourism industry.
“Some of the tour buddies love to show their skills to tourists such as cooking, boat skills, video-taking, cycling and dance. MITA believes the Tour Buddy training will enhance the tourist experience and give more reasons for them to stay longer in Malaysia.”
He assured that MITA will not allow tour buddies to provide services if they were in violation of the law.
Japan, Thailand and Taiwan the top destinations for Chinese during the holidays
Asia-Pacific looks set to be the biggest beneficiary from the greater numbers of Chinese travelling abroad during the Lunar New Year, according to ForwardKeys.
Daily international departures are ahead 11 per cent on a comparable period last year, and ForwardKeys expects South-east Asia will experience additional uplift with the Chinese avoiding South Korea.
Japan, Thailand and Taiwan the top destinations for Chinese during the holidays
ForwardKeys further shows that Chinese travellers are making an early start from the beginning of their winter break at the end of January with figures already significantly ahead. Current bookings show that travellers will begin to peak from February 10 to February 14, ahead of the Chinese New Year (February 16) and the following Golden Week holiday.
Globally, Asia-Pacific is the top destination region. It has a market share of 76 per cent, ahead 13 per cent. But other parts of the world – the Americas, Europe and Africa & the Middle East, are showing steady, healthy growth, as the Chinese become increasingly attracted to international travel.
Japan, Thailand and Taiwan hold their positions as the top three destination countries. New Zealand tops the list of the fastest-growing destinations, ahead 30 per cent on last year; followed by Vietnam, ahead 22.5 per cent; and Hong Kong, ahead 18.3 per cent.
The pattern for Chinese travellers heading home after the celebrations tracks last year’s movement – peaking on February 21 at the end of Golden Week.
Two airports in Japan see the greatest increase in returning numbers – Sapporo, ahead 40 per cent, and Osaka, up 39 per cent. They are followed by Phuket and Dubai, ahead 34 per cent.
Chicago tops the list of those airports benefiting from Chinese homeward bound transfers.
Aiming to double Indian arrivals in the next couple of years, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) is looking to up the ante in India through a mix of digital marketing and B2B shows to capture market share from competing destinations in South-east Asia.
As part of its digital focus, the tourism bureau has invited bids for a US$700,000 digital advertising campaign for the Indian market which it expects to introduce in May this year.
The Kelaniya Temple in Colombo, part of the Ramayana Trail.
“The digital advertising campaign in India will run for six months. In the past we have focused on electronic platforms to create a buzz but going ahead our impetus will be on digital marketing,” said Sutheash Balasubramaniam, managing director of SLTPB.
SLTPB is looking to push niche segments including golf, adventure and Ramayana trails – 50 sites mentioned in the Hindu epic.
“Nearly 25 of these sites are accessible. We have recently shot a high definition TV documentary to highlight stories related to these sites. We are working with scholars in India and Sri Lanka to develop literature that can present the right stories related to Ramayana. We will be educating Indian travel agents about the Ramayana trails through fam trips and roadshows,” said Balasubramaniam.
He added that the NTO expects to push the average length of stay of Indians, which is presently five to seven days, to 10 days by promoting lesser explored products like Ramayana trails.
The tourism board is also working to take on competition from South-east Asian destinations, including through the five or six roadshows it has planned for metro and non-metro cities.
“The number of Indian outbound travellers to Sri Lanka has increased over 17 per cent in the last six to seven years. Indian tourists have for a long time been visiting South-east Asian destinations while Sri Lanka is comparatively newer,” said Balasubramaniam.
Sri Lanka recorded about 385,000 Indian tourist arrivals in 2017, up 7.3 per cent over the previous year.
To better compete, the bureau is enhancing cooperation with private players to come up with packages, shared Viranga Bandara, SLTPB’s assistant director of marketing, India/SAARC region, adding that it brought 52 companies to the recently concluded SATTE 2018, up from 42 last year.
“We expect a lot of Indians considering the proximity and unique products like Ramayana Trail that are not present in any other regional competitors. We as a company handled about 2,000 pax from India last year, double the numbers over the previous year,” said Anton Perera, managing director, Relax Lanka Tours.
Boutique hotels that use SiteMinder, such as Arrive Hotel, Palm Springs (pictured), can now be listed on Airbnb
Airbnb has entered into a new partnership with cloud-based distribution platform SiteMinder to allow hotels and accommodation providers to list on the site through their existing property management systems.
This partnership is expected to enhance Airbnb’s support for traditional hospitality businesses such as boutique hotels and bed and breakfasts, which could be listed on the site independently in the past but not through third-party distribution service.
Boutique hotels that use SiteMinder, such as Arrive Hotel, Palm Springs (pictured), can now be listed on Airbnb
Under the partnership, businesses that use SiteMinder and meet Airbnb’s hospitality standards will be able to list rooms on the platform.
“Small hotels and B&Bs have long used Airbnb and now we’re building new tools and partnerships to help these local businesses thrive,” said Cameron Houser, Airbnb’s program manager for hotels.
SiteMinder’s more than 28,000 clients include leading boutique hotels, hotel ownership groups, and many other hospitality providers globally.
The period after the December-January break is when people start dreaming about their next holiday, says MyTravelResearch.com, providing an opportunity for travel marketers to inspire dreamers into making bookings.
“Many tourism businesses don’t enjoy marketing,” says Carolyn Childs, co-founder and strategist for the company. “They prefer to focus on delivering the experience. But to the potential customer, the first touch point is part of the experience. If a travel brand is not there at the dreaming stage, they will likely miss out altogether.”
Targeting dreamers with the right content
MyTravelResearch.com defines the “path to purchase” as dreaming, planning, booking, anticipating, en route, at destination, and post-holiday sharing. It’s not often as linear as that, but travel destinations need to make their presence felt at each step.
At the dreaming stage, Childs says the more emotional and engaging content is, the more it will prove “sticky” and get travellers to move from dreaming to planning and booking.”
Childs shows that ideas and actions on the path to purchase can loop back. For example, there are three ways people enjoy a holiday: anticipating, experiencing and remembering. The remembering part drives future behaviour (such as return visits) or inspires dreaming about travel among friends and colleagues.
With the early dreaming stage marketing visuals critical, the company says travel promotion needs to evoke a positive emotion. Research shows that enticing colour in marketing images often acts as a trigger to book. Citing research by Xerox, MyTravelResearch.com shared that coloured visuals increase a person’s willingness to read content by 80 per cent. Colour boosts recall by 82 per cent.
The link between videos and dreaming is clear, MyTravelResearch.comsays. A Google/ICT Ipsos study shows that 51 per cent of leisure travellers are inspired by online travel videos, 69 per cent of business travellers and 55 per cent of affluent travellers.
The company further stresses that the time frame between dreaming and booking varies. For major trips it can be months. For short breaks the dreaming to booking phase may take place the same day. Sometimes a booking can be triggered by a hot deal, but the person has to have been dreaming about the destination to some extent beforehand.
More ATRs for regional expansion; Bangkok Airways' Anawat Leelawatwatana (left) and ATR's Christian Scherer
Bangkok Airways on Wednesday signed a contract to purchase four ATR 72-600 aircraft, valued at more than US$10 million, for the airline to develop its domestic and regional networks.
Anawat Leelawatwatana, its senior vice president – finance and accounting, confirmed at Singapore Airshow 2018 that the airline is looking to expand its reach in the Indochina region.
More ATRs for regional expansion; Bangkok Airways’ Anawat Leelawatwatana (left) and ATR’s Christian Scherer
“We’d also like to increase the frequency (of flights) to some of our existing destinations,” shared Anawat. Bangkok Airways flies to more than 20 destinations in Thailand and Asia, including Koh Samui, Phuket and the Maldives.
The airline has considerably increased its fleet strength, from eight aircraft in early-2014 to the current fleet of 15.
This includes the four new additions, comprising a total of nine ATR 72-600s and six ATR 72-500s being progressively replaced by the former.
Artist impression of Fraser Suites Akasaka (left) and Capri by Fraser, Ginza
Frasers Hospitality, a member of Frasers Property Group, has invested S$250 million (US$188 million) to develop two new serviced residences in Tokyo’s Ginza and Akasaka districts.
Capri by Fraser, Ginza / Japan, to launch under the group’s millennial-focused hotel residence brand Capri by Fraser, will have close to 200 rooms, as well as social spaces such as a lobby bar. It will be situated near Ginza, with the Chuo-dori shopping street, Shimbashi Station and the Shiodome City Center located in the vicinity.
Artist impression of Fraser Suites Akasaka (left) and Capri by Fraser, Ginza
Fraser Suites Akasaka, designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, will offer luxurious studio- and one-bedroom apartments at a central downtown location surrounded by Tokyo’s main transportation hubs and foreign embassies.
Both properties are scheduled to open in 2020.
“Frasers Hospitality is no stranger to the Japanese market. We opened Fraser Residence Nankai, Osaka in 2010. The country continues to be a priority market for us and we are looking to extend our footprint not just in Tokyo but also other key cities in Japan,” said Choe Peng Sum, Frasers Hospitality’s CEO.
Frasers Hospitality’s global portfolio, including those in the pipeline, stands at more than 145 properties in over 80 cities with close to 23,000 keys.
