Come 2018, the PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart will take place in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, the first PATA event to be held in the UAE.

The three-day event will include both conference and travel mart components, plus elements of environmental protection and social sustainability with special focus on empowerment of local communities.

Al Ain Convention Centre

PATA CEO Mario Hardy commented: “Connectivity is easy via the Abu Dhabi International Airport. Al Ain, together with the surrounding landscape, has so much to offer travellers of all ages. This event provides an exceptional platform for travel trade professionals to learn more about this compelling city and region.”

Saif Saeed Ghobash, director general of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, added: “Abu Dhabi has experienced significant growth in guest arrivals from countries within the PATA region in recent years, especially from India and China.

Known as the heritage heartland of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain is an increasingly popular business events destination, boasting 18 hotels and hotel apartments with over 2,000 rooms and dedicated facilities at the Al Ain Convention Centre, said PATA in a press release.

For more information or to register for the event, please email ATRTCM@PATA.org.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will add two Holiday Inn properties in the Philippines this year, a coup for the group, which was left with just three hotels in the country after losing InterContinental Makati to the wrecker’s ball and Holiday Inn Clark to a rebrand.

The first addition is Holiday Inn Express, which will be launched as a rebrand of Remington Hotel at Resorts World Manila.

Remington Hotel lobby

Leanne Harwood, IHG’s vice president operations, South-east Asia and Korea, told TTG Asia that 623-room and 89-apartment Remington Hotel has been part of the IHG portfolio since December 2016 while undergoing a rebranding.

As well, the 180-room Holiday Inn Baguio Center will be launched in 2H2017, the first foreign brand to open in Baguio City in 15 years.

Harwood explained that IHG’s expansion is anchored on “strong fundamentals of the Philippines hotel market given its strong and sustained economic growth in recent years, and with strong foreign investment into the country, including further interest from China in recent months”.

Having set ambitious arrival targets for the coming years, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism will offer airlines promotional support to entice them to fly into the country while work gets underway to ease the bottleneck at congested airports.

“To reach the 15-million mark this year, we need nearly four million additional seats,” said I Gde Pitana, deputy minister for international tourism promotion development, Ministry of Tourism, who revealed that the government has adopted a WAR (winning, acquiring and retaining) strategy to achieve its goals.

Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, Indonesia

“We are working to retain the current 7.5 million seats (a year), win 6.5 million (more) and acquire around 1.5 million from airlines currently flying to the neighbouring destinations,” he added.

“On the other hand, we are facing the reality of such airports as Jakarta, Denpasar and Yogyakarta having no more slots for additional flights, while Solo, Lombok and Medan, for example, still have many.”

The way to go, according to Pitana, is to entice airlines to open routes to Indonesian airports, especially those that still have the capacity, through joint promotions.

Pitana elaborated: “The joint promotions can be in different forms, such as sales missions, advertisements in the destinations or through the ministry’s online platform.”

The offer will be eligible to Indonesian airlines and carriers flying into the country for the first time.

Pitana estimates the ministry would allocate around US$10 per potential passenger for promotions.

Meanwhile, airports such as Tanjung Pinang (Bintan), Silangit (near Lake Toba) and Belitung could soon get gateway status.

“We are inviting the travel industry to give us inputs on which gateways they want us to open next,” Pitana said.

Centara Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement for its fourth resort in the Maldives – Centara Grand Muthaafushi Resort & Spa Maldives – slated to soft-open in 4Q2018.

Located in the south-western portion of Baa Atoll, the five-star resort will comprise 24 land villas and 77 water villas. Facilities include an underwater restaurant, floating cinema, Thai spa and a fitness centre.

Signing ceremony

Baa Atoll, approximately 123km north-west of Malé International Airport, consists of 75 islands dotted around three separate natural atolls and has held the status of UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve since June 2011.

The fourth edition of the annual Borneo Youth Leadership Conference, taking place September 13 -16, will be the largest to date with 500 delegates being targeted – thrice the size of the last three conferences.

While the previous editions were held at Curtin Sarawak in Miri as part of a student council programme, the coming event will move to Sarawak’s capital Kuching to accommodate a larger audience.

Vinodh Menon

Borneo Youth Leadership Conference was created by Vinodh Menon, a Curtin graduate who is passionate about empowering youths. This year’s edition will be organised by Vinodh’s company, Phoenix PR, of which he is the COO.

Vinodh is confident of achieving the targeted number of delegates with the support of Sarawak Convention Bureau which is assisting with delegate boosting activities, marketing and promotion support and speaker support.

Tan Wei Ni, business development manager at Sarawak Convention Bureau, said the bureau was supportive as the conference is essential for human capital development, The conference is also supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and Leaderonomics, a training provider based in Malaysia.

This year’s conference takes a new approach, providing opportunities for delegates to apply themselves through engagement and leadership simulations and to learn the traits required to pursue their dreams in line with the conference theme, Pursuing Your Passion, explained Vinod.

He added: “We have pushed the envelope with our speaker panel, comprising 25 young, successful personalities.”

The list includes Zee Avi, Malaysian singer and songwriter; Phat Fabes, radio DJ and television host; and Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, a Malaysian director and writer who produced the documentary, The Day That River Ran Red, which won the Jury Award at The KOMAS Freedom Film Festival Southeast Asia in 2013.

A study by MyTravelResearch.com shows East-West convergence in travel expectations and consumption patterns among Generation Z (those born in late 90s), with young Chinese, South Korean, Japanese and Indian travellers share as much in common with their Western counterparts as they do with their parents.

The report describes digital natives of Generation Z as ‘technoholics,’ entirely dependent on IT, with limited grasp of alternatives. They are career multi-taskers often in part-time ‘portfolio’ jobs, aspire to security and stability, crowd-source solutions to tasks and want to make a difference. They are also relatively dependent on their parents – and quite happy to be so.

“They tend to see the Internet as an extension of their self,” said Carolyn Childs, tourism strategist, co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com. “Their expectation is that all interactions both online and offline will be smooth, quick and easy. Their attention span is shaped by Snapchat. Whereas Generation Y (Millennials; born 1981-1995) seek constant feedback, Generation Z seeks constant dialogue – think instant messaging, WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Kik.”

Meanwhile, there are strong lifestyle generational changes across all demographics and identifiable life stages. This creates opportunities and challenges for tourism businesses, especially those that target specific generations.

For example, baby boomers (born 1945-60) in the West is a large, affluent and time-rich demographic. They expect the world to change around them and will embrace it as it does. What they won’t put up with is stereotyping or out-of-date images. They want to see themselves as they feel, not as we see them. Marketers who fail to appreciate this will be punished, stated Childs.

On the blurring lines between generations, Childs added: “There is a growing recognition that demographics are not destiny. Many destinations now look at their target audiences through psychographic or needs-based profiling, rather than demographics.”

The full analysis of Changing of the (Demographic) Guard report, which is authored by Childs for PATA, can be downloaded here.

From April 26 to October 8, Costa Cruises will base its newly restyled Costa neoRomantica ship in Asia to offer new itineraries covering destinations in Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Having recently underwent a HK$900 million (US$155.80 million) restyling, the 1,800-pax neoRomantica will set sail on 5D4N to 8D7N journeys to Sokcho and Busan in South Korea, Vladivostok in Russia, and Hakodate, Aomori, Sakata, Niigata, Kanazawa, Maizuru and Sakaiminato in Japan.

Pool deck on the ship

The deployment of Costa neoRomantica comes as part of Costa Asia’s continuing investment strategy in the region. Earlier deployments to Asia include Costa Victoria in 2012, followed by Costa Atlantica (2013), Costa Serena (2015) and Costa Fortuna (2016).

“The deployment of the fifth Costa ship in Asia will reinforce our leading position in Asia and allow us to continue to significantly grow the Asian cruise market in the next decade, (as well as provide) a further boost for Asia to become one of the most prominent markets in the world,” said Costa Group Asia president Buhdy Bok.