Lionel Yeo

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) yesterday launched a bond-free study grant for early- to mid-career Singaporeans looking to develop skills in the hotel, MICE, travel agent and tourist guide industries.

Successful applicants of the SkillsFuture Study Awards will each receive S$5,000 (US$3,588). Applications for the awards are open from now to March 2017.

The grant can be used to defray course fees and out-of-pocket training expenses for tourism sector courses, which may include Higher National ITE Certificate, diploma and degree programmes offered by local tertiary institutions, relevant Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications courses, professional certification, and advanced language courses, depending on the industry focus.

“This is another tool in STB’s arsenal of industry assistance that includes funding support for employee upgrading, talent and leadership development for the tourism sector, said Lionel Yeo, chief executive, STB.

Devinder Ohri, president, National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS), said: “The launch is more than timely as it will help encourage continuous upskilling of travel professionals and addresses certain manpower gaps within our industry.

“Having a dynamic and competent workforce aligned to the needs of our businesses (is) paramount to achieving sectoral excellence in the long run.”

Syariah Hotel Fujisan

Halal tourism is seeing a boom across Japan as businesses better cater to the lucrative travel segment.

Japan was ranked eighth out of 130 countries in the Global Muslim Travel Index 2016, which rates nations according to their halal-friendliness.

According to CrescentRating, which produced the index, the average annual growth rate for Muslim visitors to Japan is expected to hit 18.7 per cent over the 2013-2020 period, reaching one million yearly arrivals by 2020.

In July this year, Syariah Hotel Fujisan, a hotel built specifically for Muslims, opened near Mount Fuji. Aside from a halal menu, features include a prayer room and guest rooms with arrows pointing to Mecca.

While interest has been minimal, Shigeru Yamashita, president of the hotel operator, said that he set up the hotel in anticipation of a boom in Muslim visitors years from now.

Miyako International Tourist Co., which offers halal tours to about 450 people a year, also expects dramatic growth. “We started halal tours in 2012 because many Muslims had difficulty visiting Japan due to the lack of information on halal meals and prayer places,” said the travel agency’s spokesman Ryoma Miyoshi.

He expects further growth in halal travel demand in Japan as information on Muslim-friendly places become more readily available.

Meanwhile, Takeshi Sakamoto, chief executive of tour operator Trip Designer Inc, is hoping to target Muslim travellers by offering off-the-beaten-path excursions.

“Most local agencies sell Muslim-friendly package tours visiting only major sightseeing spots,” he said. “This gives us the chance to sell more local tours and activities.”

The company has provided Muslim-friendly tours to tourists from 27 countries since launching in 2015. Arrivals are up month on month, according to Sakamoto, with a 35 per cent majority of demand coming from the US, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Budget carrier Scoot’s new direct connections from Singapore to Chennai, Amritsar and Jaipur, launched earlier this year, have given travel agents selling Singapore high business hopes of growing numbers out of these emerging Indian cities.

Prior to Scoot’s move, there were no direct flights from Singapore to Amritsar and Jaipur.

Welcoming the new air links, Ajambar Basnet, director of Chariot Travels in Singapore, said: “Travellers from those cities no longer need to get to tier-one gateways to catch an international flight to Singapore. This saves time and money, and (eliminates) long overland journeys.”

Basnet added that Scoot’s new services are likely to grow Indian arrivals, as travellers who have never visited Singapore before will now be able to do so. Moreover, the LCC services would encourage budget conscious travellers to make the trip.

“We are hopeful that these travellers can even extend their stay in Singapore by another night or opt for an additional tour due to the savings they make from the airfare,” Basnet added.

Likewise, Ramesh Travel Service Singapore’s general manager Ram Samtani is confident that the improved air links will enable Singapore to “tap into new markets”. He said: “The (flights) provide greater convenience and more travel options for the increasingly demanding passengers.”

According to Kumara Guru, executive director of India-based Aaya Journeys, Singapore is already one of his top-selling destinations and these new flights will help to cement the city-state’s position.

Meanwhile, Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Lionel Yeo has named Ahmedabad and Hyderabad as high-growth source markets, and revealed that trade engagement and marketing efforts there would be intensified.

Halfmoon Festival

Although Thailand’s Full Moon Party and Halfmoon Festival will return next month, to be held on November 14 and 22 respectively, the atmosphere is unlikely to bounce back in time, according to the president of Phangan Hotels Association (PHA).

Thanyah Phoolsawad said that foreign travellers will still come but domestic tourists, which account for 30 per cent of total visitors to the events, won’t be in a party mood.

Each year, the number of visitors to the Full Moon Party was estimated at around 200,000 and 60,000 for the Halfmoon Festival. That generated tourism income of more than one billion baht (US$28.4 million) yearly for businesses in Koh Phangan.

Pi Pattanasiri, director of Newmoon Phangan Co, which organises the Halfmoon Festival, said tourism operators and local people on Koh Phangan and Koh Samui would lose tourism receipts amounting 80 million baht due to booking cancellations during the 30-day mourning period.

“We want the government to clarify what we can do and what we cannot. They should promote the events overseas. For the Thai market, I think it must take a longer time for it to recover from the sorrow,” said Pi.

Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, will be home to a new US$100 million attraction, Clymb, developed by asset management company Miral, come 2018.

Clymb will feature the world’s widest flight chamber at 9.75m-wide, and the tallest indoor climbing wall at 43m-high. Guests to the flight chamber will be able to mimic the experience of skydiving while the climbing walls have four different walls of varying difficulty.

Clymb will also feature retailers, F&B outlets as well as an event space, and is linked to the nearby Yas Mall.

Mohammed Abdullah Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral, said: “With the world’s widest flight chamber and tallest indoor climbing wall coming to Abu Dhabi, we will offer visitors the opportunity to enjoy exceptional experiences that combine excitement and adventure together. This (will) contribute to the development of the tourism sector in Abu Dhabi, and the UAE as a whole.”

Construction work has begun since the start of October.

Developer Miral aims to make Yas Island one of the world’s top destinations for families and has its sights set on reaching 48 million arrivals annually by 2022.

China’s leading sharing economy provider of private accommodations, Tujia, has acquired the homestay business divisions of Chinese OTA Ctrip and its subsidiary metasearch engine Qunar.

With this, the homestay channels of both Ctrip’s and Qunar’s websites and apps, along with their operation teams and the entire business unit, will be merged into Tujia.

Justin Luo, CEO of Tujia said that the acquisition was executed mainly out of the sustained optimism of all stakeholders towards the market and that the objective is to deliver a better user experience. He adds that this acquisition basically enables Tujia to integrate the short-term rental space in China.

Tujia, known as the Airbnb of China, had also recently purchased Mayi.com in June, a short-term rental platform.

Alongside the acquisition, Luo also made known Tujia’s plans for the next five years – to continue building the private accommodations ecosystem and to better differentiate Tujia’s online and offline businesses.

Cebu Pacific (CEB) has voiced its preference for either Sangley Point in Cavite or the Manila Bay area as the location of Manila’s new international airport, which the Philippines authorities are expected to reveal by end-2016.

“We don’t mind where the airport will be located as long as it is near Manila,” said Alexander Lao, CEB’s vice president commercial sales, explaining that Clark in Pampanga, which is also being considered by the government, is too far even if it were linked by train.

The new airport has become imperative as the existing Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is at overcapacity and has no space to expand its single runway.

Lao, who is also president of subsidiary Cebgo, said the “capacity constraints in NAIA” is one of the key challenges in expanding CEB’s services. The carrier, Philippine’s largest airline in terms of passengers flown, started its first operations in Guam this year and will continue to study the possibility of flying to Honolulu, he added.

He further revealed plans to open services from Manila to Delhi, Perth and Hokkaido, as well as utilising other airports as hubs besides NAIA.

Cebgo will develop “inter-island services to meet the growing demand for local air travel” using the 16 78-seater ATR 72-600 aircraft, said Lao. For instance, Cebu may be used as a hub to Roxas City in Capiz, Calbayog in Samar, Ormoc in Leyte, Masbate province and Marinduque island.