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”.

With the 2017 Chinese New Year celebrating the year of the rooster just around the corner, Singapore outbound agents are reporting healthy travel demand despite a dismal economy.

Attributing the strong Singapore dollar as one of the key factors driving demand, Chan Brothers Travel’s spokesperson Joyce Tan said: “Regardless of a good or bad economy, there are always good travel offerings or forex savings to be mined for the prudent traveller.”

Despite not seeing a significant uptick in booking numbers, the fact that Singaporeans are still able to travel for long stretches of up to 13 days are encouraging signs in a weak economy, noted Issac Ng, spokesperson at ASA Holidays, adding that regional countries like Malaysia and Thailand are most sought after.

This strong wanderlust, remarked Dynasty Travel’s managing director Clifford Neo, is because “travel has become a lifestyle among Singaporeans”. But travellers may tweak their itineraries accordingly, oping for shorter trips or destinations that they have stronger buying power like Japan, Australia and Malaysia, he added.

But as this Chinese New Year falls shortly after the recent year-end holidays, Neo does not see an exponential increase in the number of outbound travellers for the upcoming festive season, especially for the longhaul destinations, as many had just taken their long breaks.

Meanwhile, regional cruises are especially popular for Chan Brothers, according to Tan, hiking 20 to 30 per cent in demand from the last Chinese New Year. She said: “Cruises offer the opportunity for multi-generational families to travel together due to the convenience and proximity of onboard accommodation and facilities.”

In its latest campaign, Jetstar Asia is encouraging travellers to stay home during this celebratory period to be with their loved ones by waiving all change fees and fare difference for passengers who decide to move their flight departures on January 27 and 28.