Ohri, ASEANTA’s new president

Devinder Ohri, president of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS), has assumed presidency of the ASEANTA, taking the baton from Aileen C Clemente of the Philippines, who helmed the Association since 2015.

The announcement came ahead of ASEAN Tourism Forum 2017 which opens in Singapore this Wednesday.

With the appointment coming at a momentous year for ASEAN, Ohri intends to move forward initiatives mooted by his predecessor to support the Visit ASEAN@50 campaign.

“In (ASEAN’s) Golden Jubilee year, ASEANTA has joined the many other stakeholders in celebrating the whole year as Visit ASEAN@50. This commemorates the coming of age of ASEAN being promoted as a single destination, which was the vision that our founding fathers had in mind with great foresight half a century ago,” said Ohri.

Key ASEANTA initiatives in place to support the campaign include the ASEAN Sky Caravan and the ASEANTA Excellence Awards 2017 targeted for presentation on the day of ASEAN’s founding (August 8), as well as multiple ASEAN cities packages and the ASEANTA Tourism Honourees project.

Tokyo skyline

Tokyo continues to be Asia-Pacific’s most expensive city for hotel room rates, with Sydney and Singapore following closely behind, according to HRS Hotel Price Radar: 2016 Year in Review.

In 2016, Tokyo still tops Asia-Pacific as the most expensive city for hotel room rates with ADR increasing 11.7 per cent to 191 euros (US$203) from the previous year, a rising trend that is expected to continue well into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Sydney and Singapore, meanwhile, saw 175 euros (up 2.9 per cent) and 171 euros (up 2.4 per cent) in ADR respectively.

Despite a plunge in tourist arrivals in 2015 due to MERS, South Korea’s inbound tourism has since made a comeback to see a 33.1 per cent rise, according to Korean Tourism Organization. With an aggressive marketing push resulting in a surge of tourists from China, ADR in Seoul spiked to 32.5 per cent, growing from 126 euros in 2015 to 167 euros in 2016, the highest increase across Asia-Pacific.

Ho Chi Minh City posted an ADR increase of 31.1 per cent from 74 euros in 2015 to 94 euros in 2016, partly due to an inventory crunch. The launch of e-visa facilities in February 2017 is set to improve the country’s accessibility and further drive the demand for rooms.

India, ranked the 10th biggest business travel market globally in 2016 by a GBTA Foundation report, continues to see room rates rise in certain cities. Bengaluru, the IT hub of India, saw a marked increase in 2016 with ADR rising 16.2 per cent, a growth that is expected to continue into 2017.

In contrast, China’s two largest cities – Shanghai and Beijing – experienced a drop in their average room rates, probably due to the stabilisation in demand and room supply.

Jakarta and Bangkok were the only cities that recorded neutral growth despite rising business travel, with their ADR possibly tapered by the onslaught of terror attacks and other events that occurred in both cities in 2016.

MATTA’s Tan

In the current weak economic climate, it is becoming more vital than ever for Malaysian inbound operators to maximise their returns at overseas B2B travel trade shows and undertake creative measures to milk major events taking place on homegrounds, highlighted the half-day seminar organised by Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) last week.

The association’s vice president for inbound, KL Tan, said: “This seminar was organised to help members cope with rising tradeshow costs and a weakening ringgit, as well as to encourage them to capitalise on Tourism Malaysia’s marketing efforts to drive business to Malaysia.”

Calling for the “close partnership between the public and private sector”, Tourism Malaysia’s senior director, International promotion division, Asia/ Africa, Musa Yusof, stressed that sellers should not only concentrate on business sessions but also attend conferences, dialogues and forums organised during international travel marts, as well as networking events and pre-/post-tours arranged by the organisers.

At these shows, they should also seek opportunities to work with the press to promote their new products and offerings, he added.

Another speaker, Henry Lee, certified professional trainer by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and the Ministry of Human Resources, also urged sellers to consider attending smaller international trade shows which are not well represented by other sellers from Malaysia. “The business is yours as you are the only one there,” he remarked.

As well, tour operators can also drive sales by creating tour packages aligned with Tourism Malaysia’s marketing activities, Musa pointed out. One way to do so is to target Malaysian events such as the CIMB Classic, the only PGA gold tournament outside of the US, and the inaugural One Belt One Road Marathon – expected to attract 10,000 Chinese participants – as there exists a market gap in pre- and post-travel packages to entice attendees at these events.

Other major events that should be on inbound tour operators’ radar for pre- and post-event packages include the Rainforest World Music Festival, MotoGP Malaysia and Malaysian Grand Prix, he added.

Costa Victoria

Costa Cruises has deployed Costa Victoria to Laem Chabang (Bangkok) on January 11, officially marking the cruise line’s expansion into the Gulf of Thailand.

Until January 25, 2017, Costa Victoria will be going on three four-night sailings to destinations such as Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Phu Quoc in Vietnam and Koh Samui in Thailand.

“Costa Asia is excited to expand into Thailand by launching its first homeport cruises from Laem Chabang (Bangkok), the country’s largest port. Guests based in Thailand can now embark and disembark from right at their doorstep for short cruises. We believe in the long-term potential of Thailand as a sourcing and destination market,” said Buhdy Bok, president of Costa Group Asia.

The 75,200-tonne Costa Victoria was refurbished in 2013 and has the capacity for 2,394 guests. Facilities onboard include five restaurants, 10 bars, three swimming pools, a fitness centre and a solarium.

Shinichi Inoue

Japanese LCC Peach Aviation will commence its Bangkok-Okinawa service from February 19, making Thailand its first South-east Asian destination in its expanding network.

“I hope Peach will be a ‘bridge of Asia’ and enable Thais, South-east Asians and Japanese to have convenient journeys by planes,” said Shinichi Inoue, Peach’s representative director and CEO.

Inoue expects the average load factor on the new route to be 75-80 per cent in the first year of operation, compared with the airline’s average load factor of 87 per cent.

Airfares will range between 3,180 (US$89.86) and 13,983 baht per trip, about half that of a full-service flight.

Meanwhile, the company is looking to expand its Airbus 320-200 fleet from its current 18 to 35 in 2020, mainly to serve business growth in Asia-Pacific, especially South-east Asia.

Inoue was tight-lipped about where Peach’s next destination in South-east Asia would be, but said the LCC was keen to use Japanese-style services to compete with incumbents like AirAsia X.

Peach uses Hana Airport in Okinawa as its secondary hub to expand business to South-east Asia, with other existing hubs being Kansai International Airport and Haneda Airport. It is scheduled to establish additional hubs at Sendai Airport in 2017 and Shin-Chitose Airport in 2018.

Golden Tulip Bhiwadi, India

French hotel company Louvre Hotels Group’s acquisition of a majority stake in Sarovar Hotels has propelled it to become one of India’s largest hospitality groups.

Sarovar Hotels is a strong mid-market player in India with 75 hotels under the Sarovar Premiere, Sarovar Portico and Hometel brands, plus 20-25 more openings in the pipeline.

The Louvre Hotels Group currently manages 22 hotels under its Golden Tulip umbrella brand, and has been owned fully by Chinese firm Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Group since late 2014.

“We started in India about 10 years back and felt that now is the right time to scale up our operations here,” Pierre-Frédéric Roulot, CEO of Louvre Hotels Group commented, adding that he also sees good potential in introducing Sarovar brands in international markets with significant Indian population like the US.

Sarovar Hotels’ executive director Ajay Bakaya said: “This is a first combination of a large Indian management company and an MNC with European and Chinese lineage. The acquisition will offer owners a bouquet of brands to choose from and help Sarovar’s existing hotels to reach out to the global markets through synergies in distribution platforms, loyalty programmes, and sales and marketing initiatives.”

Boasting international operations in African countries like Kenya and Tanzania, Sarovar Hotels is also keen to introduce its brands in overseas markets like the Middle East, where Louvre Hotels Group already has a strong presence.

Montano (left) being sworn in by tourism secretary Wanda Teo

Following Cesar Montano’s appointment to COO of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), marketing arm of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT), the private sector’s initial opposition over his lack of qualifications seems to have quietened to a pensive acceptance.

A familiar face in the local show business, Montano replaced Domingo Ramon Enerio III, who ended his 36-year stint with the DoT and its attached agencies when he went on early retirement last August, one of the casualties of the shakeup under the new administration.

TPB deputy COO, international promotions department, Maricon Ebron, commented: “Cesar comes in with fresh perspectives on how to best promote the Philippines. He is smart and pregnant with ideas. He can do the job.”

Rajah Tours president, Jojo Clemente, said: “I’m not putting down Cesar nor his ideas, but the concern is that he may not have enough experience considering the fact that we’re in a very delicate situation right now as far as our image is concerned.

“The job of the TPB COO entails a lot of aspects. It’s not just about promoting; it also involves administrative, fiscal and other functions, which we are not yet sure if Cesar can bring to the job.”

Nonetheless, Clemente expressed that the trade should be supportive of Montano “to achieve the common goal of promoting the Philippines and bringing in quality tourists”.

GlobalWings Travel and Tours’ general manager Alexander Divinagracia agreed: “Cesar might be a neophyte in the tourism industry but the work in promoting the country is the concerted effort of everybody.”

He believes Montano possesses the enthusiasm to listen and work with other tourism professionals “for the common good”.

“The appointment of anybody is the (Philippine) president’s discretion. I have to respect that,” Divinagracia concluded.

Ananda Temple

The Ananda Temple in Myanmar’s Old Bagan comes to life as villagers and monks flood into its grounds to celebrate its namesake festival, taking place from January 12-27.

A spectacle of tradition, the Ananda Festival will see 1,000 monks chanting scriptures continuously for 72 hours, while thousands of villagers arrive with ox carts to buy clothes, furniture and kitchenware from vendors from around the country. Many families attending the annual event will camp around the temple.

The celebrations continue through the night, with performances such as traditional dances, marionettes shows, slapstick comedy (with actual slapsticks), singing and movie projections starting at 21.00.

And on the morning of the full moon day, villagers would offer gift bowls to the monks.

Located east of the city walls of Old Bagan, the Buddhist temple was built in 1105 during the reign of King Kyanzittha of the Pagan Dynasty. It is one of four surviving temples in Bagan and has been titled the “Westminster Abbey of Burma”.