General manager of Ramada and Days Hotels Singapore At Zhongshan Park, Tony Cousens, has been elected Skal Singapore president for the term ending 2019.
An industry veteran with a wealth of experience in Asia, Cousens has worked with hotel groups including The Jumeirah Group, Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and the Wyndham Hotel Group.
A Skal member for more than 18 years, Cousens has taken on many vital roles within the association, including as executive committee member for four years and as vice president in 2017.
In his role, Cousens will be able to contribute to the organisation’s mission statement of maximising networking opportunities and support a responsible tourism industry.
Other members in the committee are vice president, Michelle Sandhu (a self-employed consultant); honorary secretary, Andrew Jeffrey from Insider TV; honorary treasurer, Andrew Chan from ACI HR Solutions; Benoit Badufle from Horus Development & Consulting; Angeline Tang from Avis Budget Group; Ronald Sathianathan from Singapore Polytechnic; Megan Harris from William Angliss Institute and Melvyn Yap from Silverseas Cruises.
KrisFlyer members can choose from participating hotels in Australia, Indonesia, China and more destinations
KrisFlyer members can choose from participating hotels in Australia, Indonesia, China and more destinations
Swiss-Belhotel International hotel guests can now earn one KrisFlyer mile for every US dollar spent during their stay at participating hotels under the chain.
The Stay Happy & Fly Further programme also allows guests can accrue additional KrisFlyer miles when they spend at the restaurant, spa, bar or on other hotel services.
Commenting on the decision to partner KrisFlyer, Gavin Faull, chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel International, said: “The once-a-year family vacation has been replaced by short getaways, longer holidays and more frequent travel. More affordable and better travel routes with companies such as Singapore Airlines are creating a smaller world, one where people travel and stay in hotels more often.”
Royal Orchid Holidays, THAI's Alisara Kidmai (right) receives the reward from JNTO's Kazuhiro Ito
Royal Orchid Holidays, THAI’s Alisara Kidmai (right) receives the reward from JNTO’s Kazuhiro Ito
Royal Orchid Holidays, the travel arm of Thai Airways International’s (THAI), has been named top agent at the Japan Tourism Award in Thailand.
As part of a ceremony held by Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the award was given in recognition of the airline’s support in promoting Japan’s tourism products and services in 2017.
Following last year’s relaunch of TTG Asia online and e-daily news, we’ve given TTG Asia a refresh – our version of a nip and tuck to iron out the wrinkles and keep us looking youthful, attractive, friendly, interesting and entertaining.
We hope you will like the new look for TTG Asia monthly, but it’s more than just a cosmetic surgery.
The refreshed TTG Asia, featuring more than just cosmetic changes
If you look beyond the re-design, you will see that from this issue on we have revamped and expanded our destination reports to include coverage of more places within a destination; a new focus on innovative tours and activities; and a bigger drive to spotlight travel entrepreneurs or industry players who have a new business model or idea.
Beginning next issue, there will also be new columns, including pages dedicated to customer service and travel technology.
We’ve heard from you that you wish to see more guidance and information on customer service, so we’ve come up with several sections for this new column, including Troubleshoot – a specific issue a travel professional has faced on the job and how it was handled – and Say that again? – client requests that make an agency do a double take.
We’ll also take a look around the world of examples that show why travel agents are still needed – and, hey, why they aren’t – so you can learn from both the good and bad. And if we encounter a great or bad service ourselves while on the job, you can be sure we would be extracting the customer service lessons from it for you.
We want to hear from you regarding the magazine refresh as well as any ideas that you have, so that we can keep improving, keep being your trusted, relevant read since over four decades and in the decades to come.
Partnership with Chinese Internet giant part of the Malaysia Smart Tourism 4.0 Initiative
The Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC), together with its promotional arm Tourism Malaysia, will collaborate with Tencent Holdings – China’s tech titan behind super app WeChat and mobile payment platform WeChat Pay – to create a digital tourism economy to attract Chinese outbound travellers to the country.
Siew Ka Wei, chairman of Tourism Malaysia, said: “We are working with Tencent Holding, which is the fourth most valuable Internet company in the world, to promote Malaysia to the 1.4 billion Chinese population.”
Partnership with Chinese Internet giant part of the Malaysia Smart Tourism 4.0 Initiative
This digital content production and promotion platform, known as the Malaysia Smart Tourism 4.0 Initiative, is described by Malaysian tourism and culture minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz as “a key development and game-changer that will transform our tourism industry and take us to the next level”.
The initiative includes the creation of 40 five-minute videos that showcase unique holiday experiences in Malaysia including gastronomy, soft adventure, resorts and beaches, history, culture and heritage.
Siew said Tencent Holding staff will be in Malaysia to shoot the videos in May and the videos will include comments from key Chinese influencers. The videos will go live on the Tencent platform in July.
Targeted at the growing number of FIT travellers from China, there will also be links for holiday makers to book their holiday packages online.
China is currently the top medium-haul market to Malaysia and the third largest tourist source market after Singapore and Indonesia, while Malaysia is among the top 10 Asia-Pacific destinations preferred by Chinese tourists.
Last year, a total of 2.2 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia, a growth of 7.4 per cent over 2016. Through this digital initiative, MOTAC and Tourism Malaysia hopes to attract eight million arrivals by the year 2020.
As it marks 25 years of operation in Indonesia, AccorHotels is readying to venture deeper into the country, including “New Bali’s” such as Mandalika (Lombok) and Labuan Bajo (Komodo), to meet its development pipeline of 94 projects.
AccorHotels is on track to reach 200 hotels in Indonesia by 2020, a goal set up two years ago, said Garth Simmons, AccorHotels’ COO for Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, speaking at a media briefing in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Pullman headed for Mandalika in Lombok
“We see the importance of having new destinations beyond Bali and in support of the government’s focus on developing 10 new destinations,” said Simmons.
AccorHotels currently operates 115 hotels and more than 23,000 rooms in 36 cities across the country, with the bulk located in the key business and tourist cities.
Rio Kondo, AccorHotels’ vice president of development for Indonesia and Malaysia, shared: “Jakarta has the biggest number of our properties. We operate 32 hotels (nearly 3,000 rooms) and 15 more in the pipeline. Bali comes second with 21 hotels (more than 2,000 rooms) and 10 more properties in the pipeline. In Central Java we operate 12 hotels (2,000 rooms) and nine more to come.”
The group is developing Pullman Mandalika, with 251 rooms and direct beach access, targeted to open in 2021, according to Rio. Meanwhile, the cliff-top Mercure Komodo Labuan Bajo, with 200 rooms, is scheduled for a launch in 2020.
AccorHotels has also signed its first hotel in Bengkulu and taken up the management of Nexa Hotels in Bandung, owned by Telkom Indonesia.
Rio added: “We are in talks for hotels in Tanjung Kelayang (Belitung), Borobudur (Central Java), Lake Toba (North Sumatera) and Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands, Jakarta).”
Other key projects in the pipeline include the 236-room Pullman Ciawi Vimala Hills in Ciawi, West Java (opening December 2018); the 241-room Grand Mercure Surabaya and the 165-room Ciwaruga Botanica Bandung-M Gallery (latter two opening in 2019).
“We will also have the first Novotel Suites, a serviced apartment concept for extended stay, in Malioboro, Yogyakarta. We are expecting this 290-room property to open in 4Q of this year,” Rio continued.
Besides, AccorHotels expects to roll out recently acquired as well as newly created brands to Indonesia, including Swissôtel, Mama Shelter and 25 Hours Hotel.
Update: The article misstated the number of hotels in Indonesia that AccorHotels targets to reach by 2020. It should be 200, not 2,000.
HNA progressively dropping stakes in Hilton-related assets
HNA progressively dropping stakes in Hilton-related assets
Following the shedding of assets in recent months to pay down debts, China’s heavily indebted HNA Group now plans to sell some or all of its US$6.3 billion stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Reuters reported.
The sale was announced on Thursday through a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, coming just after last month’s sale of stakes in two other Hilton-related companies: Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations.
HNA Group bought a 25 per cent stake in Hilton from Blackstone for around US$6.5 billion to become its biggest shareholder in 2016. The Chinese conglomerate currently owns 26.1 per cent of Hilton.
No details were available on when or to whom HNA would sell its Hilton stake, or the size of the divestment, according to Reuters.
Stuart Allison's scope of responsibilities expanded from Australia and New Zealand to APAC
Carnival Corporation has announced leadership changes within Princess Cruises related to certain business units and its operations in Asia, including the promotion of Stuart Allison from vice president for Australia and New Zealand to senior vice president, Asia-Pacific planning and operations.
Continuing to be based in Sydney, he will be directly responsible for Carnival’s China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore business, while retaining revenue and operations oversight for the Australia and New Zealand business.
Stuart Allison’s scope of responsibilities expanded from Australia and New Zealand to APAC
He will report to Deanna Austin, newly appointed chief commercial officer for the Princess Cruises brand, who currently leads global deployment and revenue management.
In addition to her current work, Austin has assumed overall responsibility for the commercial management for the Princess Cruises brand in 12 offices in the UK, Australia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as international sales through Princess Cruises GSAs.
Austin will continue to report to Jan Swartz, group president, Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia.
As well, former executive vice president, international operations for Princess Cruises, Anthony Kaufman, has been appointed executive vice president, professional services and CFO, for four business units of Carnival Corporation – Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and Carnival Australia.
Reporting to Stein Kruse, CEO of the four business units, Kaufman will oversee financial planning and reporting, financial analysis, accounting, tax and the financial strategy for this group.
A new US$20 million cultural and retail attraction headed for Thailand’s upcoming Iconsiam development is promising to bring together 3,000 traditional businesses and craftsmen from the country’s 77 provinces in a single destination.
Chadatip Chutrakul, CEO of Siam Piwat and director of Iconsiam, said: “SookSiam is like a window into every province and into every corner of Thailand… The outlets at SookSiam are real stores that all have real counterparts in towns and villages around Thailand and which are transposed into SookSiam.
Sook Siam to feature stores selling regional products with real counterparts in local villages and towns
“Within SookSiam are outlets of varying types that are built in the style of their respective regions, and which offer regional specialties, whether they be crafts, foods, beverages or services that are unique to that region,” she said.
To bring the local towns to life, the attraction will leverage technology and and interactive virtual reality software, Chayapong Naviroj, CEO of SookSiam, added.
Explaining the “co-creation” model, Luckana Naviroj, who is producing and curating the attraction, said: “Everything special being presented at SookSiam is created by someone somewhere else in Thailand. We ‘co-create’ with them by adding our knowledge of consumer preferences and supporting them with innovation as well as with retailing and marketing techniques based on our insights into the needs of Thai and foreign visitors. We also assist them in ‘curating’ the selection and the presentation of their offerings, adding value to their intellectual property and proprietary skills.”
SookSiam will span 1.6ha in the US$1.7 billion Iconsiam, a mega riverside project scheduled to open at the end of this year.
Partnership follows last month's announcement that Flipkart was entering the travel retail business
Partnership follows last month’s announcement that Flipkart was entering the travel retail business
Indian OTA MakeMyTrip has partnered the country’s largest e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart, with the aim of leveraging the latter’s consumer base to drive online bookings in travel services.
The partnership will start with a roll-out of domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus and holidays bookings.
Commenting on the partnership, Deep Kalra, founder & group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said: “This partnership will help us reach out to an even wider consumer base and further open up the online travel market.”
In turn, the partnership furthers Flipkart’s goal of being a one-stop destination for all digital transactions online, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart said.
