Archipelago International to open 12 new hotels in 2017

June 20, 2017

Indonesia’s largest hotel management chain Archipelago International has unveiled plans to open at least 12 more hotels in Indonesia in 2017, which will add to its current portfolio of over 125 properties across South-east Asia.

Openings under its select-service brand favehotel include the 75-room favehotel Sorong in West Papua; the 164-room favehotel Bandara in Greater Jakarta’s Tangerang district, close to Soekarno–Hatta International Airport; the 105-room favehotel Tuban in Jawa Timur, west of Surabaya; the 155-room favehotel Tasikmalaya in Jawa Barat, West Java; and the 62-room favehotel Madiun in East Java.

Coming online too will be the 247-room Aston Batam Hotel & Residence Batam, located just one hour from Singapore; the 123-room Aston Banyuwangi Hotel, located on the eastern tip of Java and a short drive to Bali; and the 160-room Aston Inn Pandanaran in Semarang, the capital of the Central Java province.

Meanwhile, Hotel Neo Kebayoran will launch in South Jakarta with 102 rooms while Hotel Neo Gajah Mada will add 105 rooms to Pontianak’s inventory.

In addition, there will be a 133-room Harper Cikarang, the capital of Bekasi that is also known as the biggest industrial estate in South-east Asia; and the 271-room Alana Ah Poong Sentul City, which will be positioned as an urban escape property in Jakarta.

Sabre Airline Solutions slices up APAC business, welcomes regional heads

By TTG Asia

June 20, 2017

0

Sabre Airline Solutions has restructured its business in Asia-Pacific into three separate regions – South Asia, North Asia and South-east Asia; the Pacific and Japan; as well as mainland China.

With this change, Axel Bench has been appointed regional director – Asia of Sabre Airline Solutions, overseeing South Asia, North Asia and South-east Asia. Scott Barratt will oversee the Pacific and Japan region while Peter Wu will lead mainland China.

Axel Bench (left); Clayton Grant

Bench rejoins Sabre after having spent two years with Sabre Airlines Solutions (2005-2007) as account director for the Pacific region in addition to having sales responsibilities in Asia for some Sabre Airline Solutions products.

He brings with him over 25 years of experience in senior sales and account management roles spanning positions in Harris Aviation Solutions Group, Thales, ERA and Lufthansa Systems with a specific focus on Asia-Pacific.

Meanwhile, Clayton Grant has been named senior account director for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Grant is an experienced account director who has been with Sabre for four and a half years, and plays a key role in with several strategic clients such as Virgin Australia.

In his 12 years at Virgin Australia, he started at the reservations department before moving to commercial and revenue management positions and eventually became manager of revenue management development.

Shanghai Disney Resort celebrates first birthday

By TTG Asia

June 20, 2017

0

On June 16, Shanghai Disney Resort celebrated its first anniversary with fireworks and floating lanterns at its Enchanted Storybook Castle.

Guests were entertained by the Mandarin version of When You Wish Upon a Star, as a montage of photos and videos highlighting events of the resort’s first year were projected on the façade of the castle, along with actual guest videos and images of magical memories from their visits.

Shanghai Disneyland has welcomed over 11 million guests since its opening. In addition, the theme park has also announced its first post-opening expansion, a new land themed to the Toy Story franchise, set to open in 2018.

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel has a new GM

By TTG Asia

June 20, 2017

0

Cheong Hai Poh has been appointed general manager of Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore.

In his new role, he will provide leadership and strategic planning to all departments in the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel while supporting of Millennium Hotels and Resorts Group’s service culture, as well as maximising revenue and guest satisfaction.

With 28 years of international hospitality experience, Cheong has also held various positions such as board director of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and president of the Food and Beverage Managers’ Association.

Malaysian tour operators perplexed over which tax to apply

By S Puvaneswary

June 19, 2017

0

Conflicting statements by the federal and state governments and the lack of official documentation over the charging of the controversial tourism tax – supposed to come into effect on July 1 – is making it difficult for Malaysian operators to inform their overseas counterparts.

Adam Kamal, CEO, Olympik Holidays, said: “We are in a dilemma as we are unable to inform our overseas partners accordingly. To be safe, we have included the state tax and the new tourism tax as a precaution for new bookings made from July 1 onwards. We will discount the amount in the case that the implementation of the new tax is deferred or the state decides to abolish the state taxes.”

Malaysia’s tourism and culture minister Nazri Abdul Aziz earlier stated that states which have their own tourism taxes would be asked to stop the collection when the country’s tourism tax comes into effect.

However, Penang’s chief minister, Lim Guan Eng, said Penang would continue to collect the RM3 (US$0.70) levy on a per room, per night basis even after the enforcement of the tourism tax, and that the revenue collected would be used to promote tourism products in the state.

Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid, Kedah’s state tourism committee chairman, told TTG Asia last Friday that the state had yet to decide whether to continue collecting levy on domestic and foreign tourists staying in hotel accommodations on Langkawi. This would depend on what percentage Kedah gets from the country’s tourism tax.

The levy currently imposed in Langkawi ranges from RM1 per room night for one-star and two-orchid rated accommodation to RM5 per room night for five-star accommodation.

“The government should send a clear message on the mechanics of the tourism tax or Malaysia will look bad. Everything is done in a rushed manner. There should have been half a year’s lead time so tour operators could inform their clients overseas,” Manfred Kurz, managing director of Diethelm Travel Malaysia, pointed out.

“The federal government must also be transparent to the states on their share of the revenue collected,” he concluded.

ASITA’s Bali, South Sulawesi chapters link up for tourism promotion

By Mimi Hudoyo

June 19, 2017

0

The Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies’ (ASITA) Bali and South Sulawesi chapters have signed an MoU at the recent Bali & Beyond Travel Fair 2017 to boost traffic between the destinations.

Enhanced cooperation would facilitate the creation of combined packages covering the two destinations, under an hour from each other by plane, and enable the trade to attract more international tourists, said Didi Manaba, head of ASITA South Sulawesi Chapter.

Rammang-Rammang village along karst mountain range, South Sulawesi

“As Bali is still the major gateway and the number one destination of international tourists, we expect more travellers to Bali will continue their trips to South Sulawesi.”

Meanwhile, Denpasar City Tourism Promotion Board (TPB) is taking further steps to promote the Balinese city’s tourism.

Ida Bagus Sidartha Putra, chairman of Denpasar City TPB, said not many travellers are aware that tourist attractions in Sanur – such as the Sindhu Market and Badung Market – are located within Denpasar City.

Sidharta Putra said the TPB was formed in 2015 to raise tourism awareness. “Our priority is to lift the Denpasar City branding as well as attract investment into Denpasar and Sanur. We work closely with Sanur Development Foundation, which foresee the development in the area, and us the bridge between the investors and the (foundation).

With a tourism promotion strategy that focuses on reaching out to the youth market through digital and online platforms, he said the board has received a biannual budget of US$200,00 from the mayor office, and the figure is expected to increase in the next term.

Campaign push first priority for new Sri Lankan tourism chief

By Feizal Samath

June 19, 2017

0

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s new chairman has come into office intent on speeding up a long-delayed destination marketing campaign, with a roll-out targeted in the next few weeks.

“The prime minister (is) emphatic in saying the bureaucracy has been very slow in getting the campaign off the ground. We need to kick-start it fast (and have) the first phase (ready) in the next 30 days,” said newly-appointed tourism chief Udaya Nanayakkara, former president of the Universal Federation of Travel Agents Associations.

Fishermen at the sunset near Galle, Sri Lanka

The campaign, although ready for two to three years, has been delayed by bureaucratic red tape and procedural matters, forcing prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint a new Tourism Task Force (TTF) last month to speed things up.

The 13-member committee, including Nanayakkara, comprises industry experts representing hotels, travel, marketing, adventure sport and human resources.

TTF member Dileep Mudadeniya, head of brand marketing at Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, added that the task force’s mid- to long-term objectives include removing roadblocks in implementation processes, improve domestic aviation and create new routes, improve visitor experience at heritage sites and develop family-friendly facilities in Colombo.

As well, TTF member Dinesh Weerakkody, advisor to the tourism minister and ‎chairman at the National Human Resource Development Council of Sri Lanka, said he has been tasked with preparing a strategy to fill 300,000 jobs in the industry by 2020.

Beyond the ministry’s target of four million arrivals by 2020, double of last year’s, Nanayakkara also wants to increase the daily spend to US$210 from the current US$154.

Nanayakkara was formerly chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism but stepped down in 2005 after two key trade associations rallied for his removal.

Indonesian e-commerce leader buys local OTA Tiket.com

By Mimi Hudoyo

June 19, 2017

0

Blibli.com, a major e-commerce player in Indonesia, has acquired Iocal OTA Tiket.com as it seeks growth in its travel business.

As of June 12, Blibli.com owns 100 per cent of Tiket.com’s shares. Tiket.com’s new CEO is George Hendrata, chairman of global speciality paper company BMJ and development director/business diversification of Djarum.

The acquisition is in line with Blibli.com’s expansion programme to strengthen its travel business, marked by the launch of the Blibli Travel category last year.

On the decision to acquire the OTA, Kusumo Martanto, CEO of Blibli.com, said: “Tiket.com has a good track record (and) has managed to grow into one of Indonesia’s biggest OTAs.” He added that the companies’ common mission and vision would “hopefully ease the synergising process”.

Blibli.com targets the acquisition would result in 250 per cent business increase, both organically and non-organically.

TTM+ 2018 heads to Pattaya

By TTG Asia

June 19, 2017

0

Following the latest two editions in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) will move to Pattaya in 2018, it was announced at the 16^thTTM+ last week.

As well, Thailand will host several key tourism events next year. Besides TTM+, there will be ASEAN Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai in January, the UNWTO Conference on Tourism Gastronomy in May and the Mekong Tourism Forum in June, which will be held for the first time in the north-eastern province of Nakhon Phanom.

Deputy prime minister of Thailand Tanasak Patimapragorn

Other sports events on the Thai calendar include the Thomas Cup badminton championships and the Uber Cup finals in May 2018, and the MOTO motor-racing championship in October 2018. In addition, the Sport Accord Convention will also be held in Bangkok in April 2018.

These tourism and sports events will keep Thailand in the global limelight and underpin the role of travel & tourism as a positive contributor to the national economy, said deputy prime minister of Thailand Tanasak Patimapragorn at the opening ceremony of the TTM+ 2017 last week.

Sail away with Emperor Cruises Halong’s summer trade deal

By TTG Asia

June 19, 2017

0

Emperor Cruises Halong is currently offering an industry rate for members of the travel and hospitality industry worldwide from June through September.

Trade members can just pay for one suite to get another suite free of charge on the 2D/1N Emperor Experience programme. All the eight cabins on the cruise come with private balconies and butler service. The experience includes unlimited F&B and massages at the spa. No charge will be imposed on two children under 11 years old who are sharing room with their parents.

In addition, travel trade members can also enjoy 50 per cent off Emperor Cruises Nha Trang based on contracted rates.

Subject to availability, this offer is valid from June to September 2017, and is only available to certified professionals – employees of travel agencies, hotels and airline companies – within the travel industry with proper identification. Full payment is required upon reservation.

This travel industry offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, and only a maximum of two suites per trade member per booking is permitted.

For more information or to make a reservation, please contact sales@emperorcruises.com or call (84) 123 666 8879.

Archipelago International to open 12 new hotels in 2017

Sabre Airline Solutions slices up APAC business, welcomes regional heads

Shanghai Disney Resort celebrates first birthday

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel has a new GM

Malaysian tour operators perplexed over which tax to apply

ASITA’s Bali, South Sulawesi chapters link up for tourism promotion

Campaign push first priority for new Sri Lankan tourism chief

Indonesian e-commerce leader buys local OTA Tiket.com

TTM+ 2018 heads to Pattaya

Sail away with Emperor Cruises Halong’s summer trade deal

Tried and Tested

Disney Adventure

What to Buy Now

Plaza Premium unveils Langkawi lounge with opening access offer