Starting June 1, Taiwan’s (ROC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will further relax visa rules for nationals from South and South-east Asia, under its New Southbound Policy, to attract more visitors for tourism and business.

Changes include the extension of a visa exemption trial programme for nationals of Thailand and Brunei to July 31, 2018. Since it was introduced on August 1, 2016, the numbers of visitors from Thailand and Brunei have increased 57.3 and 52 per cent respectively. And in the first two months of this year alone, the number of Thai visitors surged 91.8 per cent.

Jiufen, New Taipei

A visa exemption trial for Philippine nationals will also be introduced for a year.

In addition, the eligibility criteria for online visa applications will be eased for nationals from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Those who have been issued with an ROC visa (labour visas excluded) over the last 10 years and who have no record of violating ROC law may apply for a multiple-entry visa using the Online Application for ROC (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate run by the National Immigration Agency.

Citizens of Sri Lanka and Bhutan will also become eligible for tourist visas.

As well, businesspeople from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka can apply for an eVisa to Taiwan at the recommendation of local offices of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.

The Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) last week rolled out a major consumer campaign at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur to bolster interest in the destination, as Malaysia has posted a continuous year-on-year decline in arrivals since 2011.

Malaysia is among the top 10 source markets for Macau. However, arrivals from Malaysia declined 2.7 per cent from 2015 to 222,809 last year, a big drop from the 338,058 visitors in 2010. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of MGTO, said the decline was “partly related to economic reasons and we need to find new attractions and (tourism) products to attract repeat visitors.”

Campaign at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Tunku Iskandar Tunku Abdullah, MGTO representative in Malaysia, said Macau is now placing greater emphasis on Muslim-friendly tours as there are now seven halal-certified restaurants in the city.

To entice more potential visitors, the consumer exhibition broke away from traditional advertising and leveraged interactive technology like virtual reality and interactive light installations to allow visitors to “experience” Macau’s key festivals such as the Macao International Marathon and 64^th Macau Grand Prix.

Emily Tan, manager at Prestige Vacation Network, received good response at the consumer fair and sold more than 300 packages, including mono Macau tours as well as five-day combination group tours to Zhuhai. Zhongshan and Shunde.

Another outbound agent, Esther Leong, ticketing and operations personnel at MJT World Vacations, said the agency’s Parents Day package combining Macau and Zhuhai was also fully booked.

A larger Marriott Asia-Pacific will meet for the first time since Marriott International bought Starwood Hotels & Resorts, with CEO Arne Sorenson joining the gathering in Macau in April to chart ‘The Road Ahead’, theme of the meeting.

As to how much larger, the meeting will be attended by around 2,500 delegates, including Marriott general managers, HR and sales & marketing directors, along with its key corporate team members in the region. After the Starwood buy, Marriott Asia-Pacific consists of more than 550 hotels.

Kashgar Ballroom at Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel

The event will be held towards end-April at the largest Sheraton in the world, Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, with the leadership accommodated at the St Regis, also the largest St Regis in the world and connected to to the Sheraton in Cotai Central. Between the two hotels, there is a combined meeting space of 15,500m² and 4,400 rooms.

There is also a JW and a Ritz-Carlton in Cotai but “Sheraton is one of the few places where you can do large numbers”, said Janet McNab, managing director of the two hotels, when asked about details of the event.

She said the meeting’s structure is being driven by Marriott Asia-Pacific, which is putting “so much passion” into delivering a memorable event that also celebrates the merger.

“I sit on the weekly call and I think what they want to do is set the tone of what our new company is going to be like, take the best of one another’s culture. At the end of it, it’s also a getting to know you and the leadership better. And to do it so quickly after the close of the acquisition (is admirable),” said McNab, who rose through the ranks in a 25-year career with Starwood.

A growing list of travel advisories against parts of the Philippines after a clash between the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and the military left 10 dead has led to cancellations from the issuing countries and beyond.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France and the UK have warned against travel to areas in Mindanao and the Visayas.

Chocolate Hills in Bohol, Central Visayas

But Bohol Tourism Council chair, Lucas Nunag, expects the impact to be shortterm, saying: “The travel advisories and the actual encounter in Bohol have resulted in some, but not heavy cancellations.”

“The ASEAN meetings scheduled in Bohol this week will proceed and many of the participants will visit our popular attractions. The resorts still have high occupancy during Holy Week (last week) and tourism activities continue as usual,” said Nunag.

Blue Horizons Travel & Tours expects cancellations from Europeans, who are more sensitive to travel advisories and are mindful that trips will no longer be covered by insurance once a country issues them, said Marjorie Aquino, senior sales and marketing manager.

Even tourists from countries that haven’t issued travel warnings are daunted. An industry source shared that a group of travellers from Hong Kong and Singapore decided to cancel their trips to Cebu and Bohol at the last minute.

Philippine Tour Operators Association president Cesar Cruz said that it is “unfair” that the Philippines is being singled out as unsafe.

“Tell me, which country can (claim to be) safe after what happened in France, London, New York, Sweden and Spain? They are the epitome of safe countries but incidents also happened there. (Terrorism concerns) are a worldwide problem.”

In a statement, the Department of Tourism expressed “complete confidence that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are on top of the national security situation in Central Visayas”.

It added: “We are actively coordinating… with our local and national security and law enforcement agencies who are fully capable of putting travellers’ concerns at ease.

“Proper authorities have assured that both international and domestic travellers may continue with their travel plans, even as we remind all stakeholders of usual safety precautions that must be routinely observed at all destinations.”