A group of South Koreans protesting on the streets in November, demanding President Park Geun-hye’s resignation

South Korea’s travel industry is largely unscathed by the political unrest that has gripped the country for the last two months, with some travel players even observing the spawn of a new tourist group keen to visit the rallies to mingle with the demonstrators.

“For now, there has been no impact at all,” Han Yeo-ok, general manager of the Korea Tourism Organisation’s Singapore office, told TTG Asia. “The events in Seoul have been very controlled and have only taken place in one part of the city centre on Saturday evenings.”

November and December are typically busy periods for visitors from South-east Asian nations, said Han, and the KTO is anticipating a record-breaking number of visitors to South Korea this year.

Min Woo, head of public relations at Hana Tour, said there was “some concern” in the early stages of the demonstrations against the administration of president Park Geun-hye. “But it has now become like a festival and many tourists are very keen to take part in it. There were fireworks last Saturday night because Park had been impeached on Friday.”

Hotel Lotte Seoul has similarly seen no impact on inbound business since demonstrations began in October, said international communications team associate, Lee Seon-yoon.

“Some hotels close to Gwanghwamun Square seem to be having even more guests visiting, but the general feeling is that there has been no significant difference because of these issues,” she said.

Alila Villas Koh Russey’s one-bedroom villa

The swelling ranks of high-end hospitality offerings, alongside improved infrastructure and expanding flight connections into the country, have made the Cambodian luxury tourism market ripe for growth.

Upcoming hotel openings include the 175-room Rosewood Phnom Penh in January and private-island retreats Six Senses Koh Krabey and Alila Villas Koh Russey in mid-2017, followed by Shangri-La, Okura Prestige and Hyatt Regency in the Cambodian capital over the next few years.

Travel bosses are expecting the entry of these upscale properties will expand the luxury travel sector beyond the Siem Reap core to other parts of the country and make Cambodia more appealing as a standalone destination with higher hospitality standards.

Andrew Booth, CEO and founder of Exotic Voyages, said: “We have been trying to offer Cambodia as a single destination as opposed to an add-on to Thailand. With more luxury brands moving into new regions, combined with amazing dining experiences, we see huge growth.”

Furthermore, these international brands also come with the benefits of global marketing of the destination, an area where Cambodia falls behind, pointed out Pierre-Andre Romano, general manager, Exo Travel Cambodia.

As well, a stronger demand for luxury tourism will also drive the demand for quality service within the industry. Andy Carroll, CEO, AboutAsia Travel, said: “It will help elevate the level of training and education for Cambodian staff.”

The National Museum of Myanmar in Yangon has reopened in November, following a major refurbishment as part of a 100-day plan set out by the Ministry of Culture under the new government.

The revamp included the redecoration of the exhibition space on the top floor to better showcase the different ethnicities in Myanmar and their traditional costumes and weaving patterns.

Another highlight at the museum is the Royal Lion Throne of the last Burmese monarch King Thibaw.

Meanwhile, visitor-friendly features at the museum include signs in both Burmese and English as well as air-conditioning in all 14 exhibition halls.

Located on Pyay Road in Yagon’s Dagon township, the museum opens from 09.30 to 16.30 on Tuesdays through Sundays, and is closed on public holidays. The entrance fee for foreigners is 5,000 kyat (US$3.80) and 500 kyat for Myanmar citizens.

Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas

Both Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and Royal Caribbean International have been given the green light from the Cuban government to operate cruises to the country in 2017.

All three of NCL’s brands – Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises – have received the approval.

NCL’s first cruise will set sail from Port Miami on Oceania Cruises’ Marina on March 7, 2017, with select Caribbean itineraries featuring calls on Havana. Seven Seas Mariner, of the Regent Seven Seas Cruises fleet, will call on Havana during two cruises in April 2017. As well, Norwegian Sky will also offer a selection of four-day voyages that will overnight in Havana in May 2017.

Royal Caribbean’s revitalised Empress of the Seas will make its first visit to Cuba during a five-night sailing departing Miami on April 19, 2017. The ship will then reposition to Tampa, and offer two itineraries with calls to Havana on April 30 (seven-night sailing) and May 20 (five-night sailing). These Empress of the Seas sailings are now open for bookings.

From there, the Empress of the Seas will homeport in Tampa for the 2017 summer season – the cruise line’s first-ever summer programme from the destination – offering a series of four- and five-night sailings, including port calls to destinations in Cuba.

Vietnam’s real estate firm VinaCapital, together with Hong Kong’s Gold Yield Enterprises and the Suncity Group of Macau, have entered into a joint venture to develop Hoiana, a new resort destination located south of Hoi An in central Vietnam.

The US$4 billion beachfront project is scheduled to open its first phase in 1Q2019 with a casino, 445-room hotel complex, 200 apartment-suites for sale on a buy-to-let basis operated by Hong Kong’s New World Hotels, a luxury Rosewood spa with 75 villas and 25 residences, as well as a Robert Trent Jones II-designed golf course.

Leisure activities include a beach club and entertainment venue, live shows and events, watersports and dive centre, retail promenade and a range of new bars and restaurants.

Subsequent phases will happen over the course of 10 to 15 years, where a township of hotels, residential and lifestyle zones, beachfront village and retail district, convention centre, hospitality training college, water sports hub, second golf course and a new lagoon are currently being envisioned.

Hoiana’s chairman, Don Lam, said: “This integrated resort and leisure playground will set a new benchmark for high-end tourism in Vietnam, bringing economic prosperity and opportunity to Quang Nam province.”

Lam expects the mega resort to inject significant income opportunities into the local economy, but added that the developers will seek to minimise the venture’s impact on the environment.

The expansion of the nearest Da Nang International Airport has since been fast-tracked by the Vietnamese government to accommodate the expected influx of visitors when Hoiana is completed.

An electronic tourist visa facility will be made available to select nationalities visiting Vietnam from February 1 next year as part of a two-year trial scheme, the latest announcement in a series of visa relaxation initiatives to facilitate travel into the country.

Under the scheme, visitors can apply for 30-day single entry visas through a website and have them issued by the immigration authority within about three days, according to local media reports.

Vietnam’s tourism authorities are certain that such improvements in visa policy will make entry into the country much easier and boost the destination’s competitiveness.

“We try our best to make the (visa application) process more convenient. Many travellers today, including those from Singapore, value convenience and (time-savings) instead of just cash savings,” said Ha Van Sieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, at a roadshow in Singapore last Friday.

The list of nationalities eligible for the new e-visa facility has not been disclosed.

Other recent developments include the extension of temporary visa exemption for citizens of the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany till June 30, 2017.

Currently, Vietnam’s visa-exempt countries include Japan, South Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and ASEAN countries.

The temporary suspension of some operations at China’s travel e-commerce aggregator Shijie99, which ran into financial troubles recently, had affected many suppliers in Hong Kong and dented their confidence in working with Chinese online platforms.

The Beijing-based company had issued a letter of apology to all cooperating partners on November 27, stating it would reassess all cooperation channels and various business streams and resume all operating platforms on December 2.

Utour, parent company of Shijie99, had also agreed to inject more than RMB40 million (US$5.8 million) into the company.

Westminster Travel has since taken actions to curtail any disruptions arising from Shijie99. Said CEO Larry Lo: “We have stopped supplying air tickets to the site as it still owes us money. Typically, millions of transactions are generated per month from the site as the booking traffic is immense.”

Lotus Tours, which is also awaiting payment from the company, has stopped issuing air tickets online except for bookings via QQ or email. CEO Ken Ng said: “Our monthly transaction is small, less than HK$10 million (US$1.3 million), so we are not seriously affected.

“However, it’s an issue of business trust so once the management clears their internal issues, we may resume the service,” he added.

For Nan Hwa (Express) Travel Service executive director Jason Shum, on the other hand, business has resumed with Shijie99 since early December after the Chinese B2B site cleared the issues. He said: “We have been paid through weekly BSP and booking traffic is starting to come in again. Frankly, the site generates a lot of business for us.”

However, Shijie99’s predicament is not confined to Hong Kong only, as “quite a number” of suppliers in Singapore and Taiwan were affected by Shijie99’s partial closure of services, Shum told TTG Asia.

Since its establishment in April 2014, Shijie99 has grown to become one of China’s leading travel e-commerce aggregators with over 300 staff.