Singapore Sevens to hit town as family-friendly event
Princess Cruises ups capacity for Vietnam sailings
Princess Cruises will boost its guest capacity in Vietnam by over 40 per cent in 2018 from 2017 as demand for Vietnam sailings grows.
In 2017, Princess Cruises carried over 58,000 guests on 22 sailings to Vietnamese ports such as Phu My, Nha Trang, Da Nang and Cai Lan.
This year, Princess Cruises’ six ships – Majestic Princess, Sapphire Princess, Diamond Princess, Golden Princess, Sun Princess and Coral Princess – will be deployed for 31 voyages, bringing over 80,000 guests to Vietnam throughout the year.
“Vietnam has become an increasingly popular destination for our guests from the US, Australia, and Europe as well as Asian countries, and cruising is one of the best ways to explore this part of the world. In response to this demand, we have significantly expanded our itineraries to offer passengers a choice of sailings and exciting itinerary options,” said Farriek Tawfik, director of South-east Asia, Princess Cruises.
According to CLIA, Vietnam received more than 400 ship calls across all its ports, the sixth largest number for Asian countries.
Figures from CLIA further show that cruise demand from Vietnam has increased by 126 per cent from 2012 to 2016, the largest increase in any Asian country. In 2012, there were only 158 Vietnamese cruise passengers, and in 2016 this number increased to over 4,100, demonstrating the huge potential of Vietnam as a source market for cruise travel.
Since 2014, the cruise line has been offering South-east Asia voyages that homeport in Singapore.
Flights cancelled as Mayon continues spewing
The alert warning on Mount Mayon was on Monday raised to a level four after a huge eruption took place, prompting the closure of Legazpi City International Airport as well as a string of flight cancellations.
At press time, the alert remains at level four on the five-level scale, meaning an explosive eruption is possible within hours or days.
According to the latest travel advisory issued by Cebu Pacific Air at 19.00 yesterday, the ash cloud spewing from Mayon Volcano is spreading into the atmosphere and is forecast to move towards the general direction of Mindoro and Northern Palawan by today morning.
The airline is hence rescheduling flights to and from Busuanga, Palawan for today as follows:
It is also cancelling Cebgo flights to and from Naga City and San Jose, Mindoro scheduled for January 24 with the codes DG6113, DG6117, DG6114, DG6118, DG6031 and DG6032.
Philippines Airlines also announced it would cancel flights to Legazpi City International Airport plying today and tomorrow, namely PR2922 and PR2921 to and from Manila; and PR2927 and PR2928 to and from Cebu.
It is also cancelling today’s services between Clark and Virac, Masbate and Naga.
Since Monday, airlines have been cancelling flights in and out of Legazpi, City International Airport – which remains closed – and Manila as a result of the volcanic activity. International flight cancellations include Jetstar’s services between Singapore and Manila on January 23.
Centara kicks off construction of second Cosi property
Centara Hotels & Resorts has broken ground in North Pattaya for another Cosi hotel, after the brand debuted in Samui last month.
Scheduled to open in 2019, Cosi Pattaya Naklua Beach will offer 282 rooms, all with Smart TVs, free Wi-Fi and USB ports. Cosi properties typically come with a swimming pool, laundromat, and the all-hours Hub, a social hangout and digital playspace complete with a café. At the 24-hour cafe, guests can enjoy free food and drinks using daily credits they get with their stay.
The hotel will be located a short walk to the beach and a five-minute drive to Central Festival Pattaya.
Launched in late 2012, Cosi targets travellers with “modern, connected lifestyles”. It is positioned as simple and affordable accommodation, with innovations like smartphone integration and self-service check-in.
As part of a five-year plan, Centara expects to add close to 40 more Cosi hotels to its portfolio, all situated in resort and city locations throughout Thailand and Asia.
Holland Heineken House opens for stays at PyeongChang Games
Holland Heineken House, which has travelled to every Olympic Games destination since Barcelona in 1992, is on Booking.com for the first time, offering sporting fans a space to stay and socialise in during the upcoming Games in South Korea.
From January 23 to 27, reservations will be made available on Booking.com each day at 09.00 (GMT). Rooms are available for only 32,500 won (US$30.23) per night.
This year, Holland Heineken House will host performances by Dutch artists including Van Velzen, André Hazes Jr and Di-rect, as well as offer a behind-the-scenes tour and visit to the Team Netherlands Lounge.
Originally a venue for Dutch athletes, their families and friends, the Holland Heineken House has since grown into a meeting place for thousands of Dutch and international visitors. Heineken organises the national house on behalf of the The Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation.
Philippines takes innovative tack to tourism promotion
The Tourism Promotions Board Philippines (TPB) will turn feasts and festivals into regular celebrations as well as craft a tourism icon to complement its stronger thrust in consumer and digital marketing – all part of its effort to offer more “innovative activities” to tourists.
Explaining the new direction, TPB’s COO Cesar Montano, told TTG Asia that tourism efforts must evolve with the times, especially as “everything is going digital”.
“But no amount of online promotions will help if there are no activities on the ground,” he added.
The country’s colourful and unique feasts and festivals will be “institutionalised” to ensure that they are held regularly with government and private sector support, which will in turn enable them to become part of tour packages that travel agents can sell.
There will be monthly themes, beginning with a culinary festival in April which will be experienced by a fam trip for up to 40 bloggers from around the world, in time for Madrid Fusion Manila 2018 and Philippine Tourism Exchange.
Montano also shared that since the Philippine tourism image is “so chop suey”, an icon will be chosen to represent the destination, similar to what Angkor Wat is to Cambodia and Statue of Liberty is to New York.
He pointed out that for ASEAN’s 50th anniversary last year, member states featured manmade attractions as their national landmarks while the Philippines’ was the eagle.
Another “innovation” is the cross selling of regional tourist destinations, hardware and packages. For instance, those in Luzon can be sold also in Visayas and Mindanao and vice versa.
TPB’s stronger investment in digital marketing and online promotions will mean a less prominent presence at travel trade shows.
“We’re partnering with Agoda, TravelAdvisor, etc. That is (our) direction, coupled with more efforts in consumer activation,” Montano explained.
In a separate interview on the Philippines’ past year performance and outlook for 2018, tourism undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr said the destination “managed to insulate ourselves from the whiplash of travel advisory” as foreign arrivals in the first 10 months of 2017 registered an 11.5 per cent year-on-year growth.
The double-digit growth, higher than the ASEAN and global single-digit average growth, was partly the result of a strategy targeting opportunity markets when some of the destination’s biggest source markets – which generate close to 70 per cent of total arrivals – were hit.
Bengzon explained that while these opportunity markets are “relatively low-based”, their combined performance “is able to mitigate the downturn in major markets”.
Bengzon expects 2018 to be another growth year as the Department of Tourism intensifies international marketing and networking activities with airlines, cruise planners and other industry players. The department is also maintaining its support of charter flights from other countries; expanding the product portfolio with new destinations and attractions; and ensuring that the competencies of hospitality frontliners will be on par with the rest of Asia.
He added that the Philippines is also targeting the promising markets of Turkey and Israel as it expands its geographical footprint.
Tourism Malaysia amasses deeper marketing war chest
Tourism Malaysia will get a bigger budget this year to support the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign, which will see a string of promotional activities beginning this year.
While Tourism Malaysia’s director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab is keeping mum on the budget figure, he told TTG Asia at ATF 2018 that the amount would be bigger than previous years’, and there would be more money to spend on raising Malaysia’s visibility as a tourist destination in the lead up to the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign.
The year-long campaign is expected to boost tourist arrivals to 36 million and tourist receipts to RM168 billion (US$42.6 billion).
For a start, campaign details will be communicated to travel trade players at ATF 2018, and again at ITB Berlin in March.
Mirza said: “The build-up towards Visit Malaysia Year 2020 starts from this year as we want the country’s visibility to improve.”
He added that Malaysia’s hosting of PATA Travel Mart later this year in Langkawi will “present us with (another) platform to promote Malaysia and Visit Malaysia Year 2020 to the world.”
Thai property developer Sansiri eyes a slice of hospitality action
Thai luxury property developer Sansiri, better known for building high-end residences and condominiums across the country, has now forayed outside of the real estate sector as part of a push to diversity its portfolio.
On its agenda is to bring The Standard Hotels, a boutique hotel chain in the US, into Thailand and other South-east Asian countries very soon, announced Sansiri CEO Apichart Chutrakul at a press conference during the Thailand Tourism Forum 2018 in Bangkok yesterday.
The Thai property company is “not new to the hotel game”, stated Apichart, as it already owns two small hotels with about 50-60 rooms in Hua Hin and Khao Yai to complement its condominium business. “We are no longer just a property company; we have now become a mixed development company,” he added.
“We want to bring the West to the East,” Apichart declared. “We want to bring some of the best brands and operators to be based here. We believe tourist numbers will grow and we want to bring Bangkok up to standard with mega cities of the world like Tokyo, London and New York.”
Besides Standard International, the Bangkok-listed developer has recently invested in five other lifestyle and technology businesses – One Night, a last-minute boutique hotel booking app; Hostmaker, a London-based management company for Airbnb hosts; JustCo, a Singapore-based co-working group; Farmshelf, an indoor farm start-up; and lifestyle magazine Monocle.
Together, these six brands, which represent an investment of US$80 million, will enable Sansiri to drive the “transformation” in Thailand’s hospitality and lifestyle sectors to meet the demands of a new generation of travellers.
Meanwhile, Sansiri will continue to seek deals in other hospitality-related businesses in future, revealed Apichart.
STB partners Grab on e-payment, transportation initiatives
Keen to position itself beyond a ride-hailing company, Grab has entered into a three-year MoU with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to collaborate on a range of initiatives, from rolling out its cashless payment solution at tourist hotspots to offering mobility services for STB’s MICE industry partners.
In line with the national push to go cashless, Grab and STB will roll out GrabPay at locations including hawker centres, dining establishments, cultural and lifestyle precincts, shopping centres and tourist attractions.
The cashless payment solution will also allow visitors to redeem GrabRewards points through the Grab app to discover other experiences and events.
Grab will also offer a range of its services, from GrabCoach to GrabCar Premium, to STB’s partners in Singapore’s MICE industry.
To proliferate the adoption of cashless payments in a more targeted manner, Grab and STB will exchange insights on visitor preferences, and will also launch a joint study to better understand visitors’ behavioural patterns and preferences for transport modes to get around Singapore.
In addition, Grab will be sharing its booking APIs in phases through STB’s Tourism Information & Services Hub (TIH), allowing select tourism businesses to integrate Grab’s various tools into their own digital platforms. This will enable visitors to better plan travel routes by providing easier access to information about estimated fares and waiting times.
Commenting on the partnership, Quek Choon Yang, chief technology officer at the STB, said: “With Grab’s extensive presence in the South-east Asian region, which contributes a very large share of our visitors, we are confident of reaching a sizable audience through the multi-faceted touch points offered through the Grab app. Together, we will create a travel experience that is both seamless and personalised to the needs of our visitors.”
FATA elects new board, MATTA’s Hamzah president again
At its annual general meeting held yesterday in Chiang Mai, the Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA) re-elected Hamzah Rahmat of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents as president for the second consecutive term.
Also elected were Mingkwan Metmowlee of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, who was named deputy president; Pauline Suharno of the Association of Air Ticketing Companies in Indonesia as secretary general; and Cesar Cruz of the Philippine Tour Operators as honorary treasurer.
The HSBC World Singapore Rugby Sevens is pushing beyond its sporting roots to become a family-friendly festival that hopes to pull in travellers from around Asia.
Supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and government agency Sport Singapore, event organiser Rugby Singapore has been increasing outreach efforts to tie up with attractions and travel agents.
“We see the Singapore Sevens as one of the tentpole events that can bring fans and people from around the world to Singapore. We are currently in talks with agents, family-friendly attractions and retail options for partnerships”, shared David Lim, chairman of the board, Rugby Singapore.
He added that there has been a “rise in popularity” for rugby in Asia, particularly driven by Japan’s recent victories in the sport. Last year, 24 per cent of Singapore Sevens attendees were foreign visitors, and the event generated a total economic impact of S$23.5 million (US$18 million).
As the only South-east Asian host in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Singapore aims to “draw more visitors from proximity markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia”, by delivering a memorable fan experience that differs yearly, STB’s sports director Jean Ng told TTG Asia.
For the third edition this year, Rugby Singapore is stepping up the programme with the Singapore Rugby Carnival, an event with activities such as face painting, themed challenges, inflatable stations, photo booths, local bands and food.
“We want that diverse variety of activities – not just sports – that will engage and bring people (together) here. This is something we want to use to distinguish ourselves from every other stop in the World Series,” explained Lim.
The Singapore Sevens is the eighth leg – out of 10 – in the Series, and is one stop after the sell-out Hong Kong Sevens.
Agents feel that having the event as a destination lure is a plus for Singapore. General manager of Diethelm Travel, Judy Lum, described the initiative as “good news”. She said: “The organiser should consider having a dialogue with local DMCs. I am sure there are some of us who can help to promote it to overseas tour operators.”
Samson Tan, founder/CEO of GTMC Travel, suggested maximising marketing distribution by using the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore as a communication platform with agents.