Visitors at the Burj Khalifa observation deck

Powerhouse Asian markets are making their presence felt in Dubai’s tourism in 2016, as India surpassed Saudi Arabia as top source market with arrivals growing 12 per cent to 1.8 million tourist arrivals and Chinese arrivals up 20 per cent to reach 540,000.

Both markets are key Asian sources for Dubai as the city works towards achieving its target of 20 million tourists by 2020, Hamad Bin Mejren, senior vice president, Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM), told TTG Asia during an interview at SATTE 2017.

Dubai recorded 14.9 million international tourist arrivals with a growth of five per cent in 2016. Saudi Arabia and the UK, two of Dubai’s traditional source markets, grew six and five per cent respectively last year.

India’s demonetisation drive did not dent its outbound traffic into Saudi Arabia while the UAE’s visa-on-arrival initiative introduced for Chinese tourists last year has helped to boost arrivals. Hamad said: “The Chinese market crossed the half million mark for us for the first time. We expect Chinese market will grow rapidly in the years to come.”

Meanwhile, the DTCM is now banking on cruise holidays and its new attractions to maintain India’s leading position as a main visitor source market.

“We expect newly opened theme parks like Dubai Parks and Resorts with attractions like Bollywood Parks Dubai will help to maintain the interest of this segment. We are also trying to promote Dubai as a destination for cruise holidays in India and will organise (another) in-market multi-city roadshow,” added Hamad.

Praveen Chugh, managing director, Business Travels is confident that Indian interest in Dubai will stay strong. “Dubai also sees a strong movement from the Indian MICE and wedding segments. The destination is well-known in the Indian market and considering the excellent air connectivity between both destinations, outbound demand from India to Dubai will grow further in the years to come,” he said.

Sabre Corporation will be the first technology provider to introduce live data feeds from FlightGlobal’s schedule data from over 900 airlines worldwide to its GDS and travel booking platforms, which it says will address the frustrations that come with flight changes not showing in real time.

With this, more than 425,000 travel agents worldwide will have live access to flight changes and schedules accurate up to the millisecond via the Sabre Red agency platform.

All flight data processed in the Sabre travel marketplace and through Sabre APIs for online travel sites and developers will update dynamically while consumers, travel agents and business travellers shop for flights.

For airlines, the increased schedule accuracy is expected to allow them to market more efficiently, ensure their inventory is accurately displayed across channels and better manage seat availability for each flight.

Credit: www.suratthaniairport.com

Bangkok Airways’ international expansion and the emergence of Surat Thani as a secondary gateway are important factors in the China-led growth observed in Koh Samui, according to C9 Hotelworks’ latest Samui Hotel Market Update.

Airport arrivals pushed over 1.2 million in 2016, a 22 per cent year-on-year growth last year from seven per cent the previous year, while market-wide occupancy grew from 68 per cent to 72 per cent last year.

C9 reported that mainland Chinese travellers are now filling the gaps of a once highly seasonal destination. During the first nine months of last year, arrivals from the market surged 61 per cent compared with the same period the year before.

Much of the growth momentum can be attributed to Bangkok Airways’ expansion, which has shifted its focus from South-east Asia to North Asia. In 2Q2017, the carrier will increase flights from Samui to Chengdu to a daily frequency and is expected to add Chongqing at a later date.

The increased airlift is also supported by an additional gateway into the destination, with flight arrivals into the nearby Surat Thani Airport spiking 30 per cent last year and further growth forecasted for 2017. Passengers flying from mainland China to Surat Thani made up 71 per cent of direct overseas arrivals to the provincial airport.

While the trend of ‘Chinacation’ has not driven down average hotel rates, with the resort-led destination primarily attracting individual travellers, there are signs of a shift in demand.

The growth of airlift to Surat Thani Airport is expected to bring a broader market of midscale and upscale segments to Samui, and pipeline hotels too point towards the rise of these segments.

Looking ahead, C9’s report reflects positive market sentiment and a strong balance between supply and demand in upcoming hotel developments, with the 175-key Ritz-Carlton Koh Samui being one of the most anticipated openings this year.

Garuda Indonesia will launch direct thrice-weekly flights – operated with an Airbus A330-200 – from Jakarta to Moscow in August this year.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU in Jakarta, Russian ambassador to Indonesia, Mikhail Galuzyn, said: “Realisation of the direct flight plan between Russia and Indonesia has become one of our main priorities in the effort to increase the numbers of tourists who visit Russia.”

The new Moscow service is projected to increase the number of Indonesian citizens to Russia from 14,000 travellers in 2015.

At the same time, the direct flights are expected to improve Russian tourist visits into Indonesia to 100,000 in 2017. In 1H2016, the number of Russian tourist arrivals to Indonesia increased 14 per cent year-on-year.

Aside from Moscow, the Indonesian flag carrier will also launch a Jakarta-Los Angeles service via Tokyo in the middle of this year.

Japanese travel agency H.I.S. International Travel (H.I.S.) is adopting Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense to position itself as the preferred travel agency for corporations.

H.I.S. is first leveraging the tool in Singapore, where it anticipates a high and growing demand for business travel management services, before using it in other markets across the region.

With Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, business travellers will be able to plan and book their travel and compile and generate expense reports on their mobile devices, eliminating the need to manually account for costs incurred throughout their journey.

Corporations likewise will enjoy visibility into an employee’s travel expenses, increasing compliance with policies and streamlining financial processes.

Eddie Kheng, outbound manager (Singapore market), H.I.S., said: “Singapore as a business hub is where many corporations have established their regional headquarters. They have large populations of travelling employees and we see a huge opportunity to help these corporations get more out of their corporate travel programmes.”

Princess Cruises has launched online cruise booking services for consumers in South-east Asia, but its director for South-east Asia, Farriek Tawfik, insists that travel agents remain “the mainstay of business”.

When booking online, guests have the option of choosing the location of their cabins and view fares for the various categories of cabins. They have three payment options: to hold the booking with no deposit; book with a deposit; or make payment in full. Payment modes include via credit card.

“Since beginning homeport cruising from Singapore three years ago, we have seen an increase in the number of repeat cruisers and our website aims to attract these guests,” said Tawfik.

“The digital age has brought a surge in travel-related online activity and we believe Internet-savvy travellers in Asia are ready for a direct online booking capability.”

Guests in mature cruise markets such as North America, the UK and Australia are already able to book their cruises online.

Tawfik added: “This does not in any way, change the important role that travel agents play as they continue to provide valuable resources to our guests and remain the mainstay of our business.”

He stressed that guests still have the option of booking their cruises with their preferred travel agent and this channel is recommended for guests who have more complex itineraries such as those requiring airline bookings, pre- and post-hotel accommodation, ground transportation and visa applications. First-time cruisers are also recommended to go through travel agents who will be able to answer queries by phone or face to face.

According to a Princess Cruises statement, various sources estimate online cruise bookings to be less than 10 per cent of the market globally, and the percentage is lower for longer sailings.