Shangri-La Hotel Paris

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and Mumbai-based Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces are joining hands to form a new strategic alliance to broaden their global reach.

The hospitality alliance will officially launch in March 2017 with the introduction of the Warmer Welcomes programme, which will integrate Taj InnerCircle and Shangri-La’s Golden Circle guest loyalty programmes to provide reciprocal and seamless benefits for the combined six million members.

Under the Warmer Welcomes programme, members will be able to enjoy the perks of their elite status when they stay at any Shangri-La or Taj hotel with top-tier status matching; earn award points in their preferred programme across 200 hotels, 27 countries and 131 destinations; and convert points to redeem awards between both programmes.

Rakesh Sarna, managing director and CEO of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, said: “Over time, our valued guests and loyalty members had shared their desire for a wider selection of world-class hotels in key destinations. This alliance will help drive deeper engagement for our most valuable guests and members as they will now be recognized seamlessly at some of the world’s finest hotels across multiple geographies.”

Shangri-La’s acting president Madhu Rao, said: “As hotel owner-operators who share similar values and service philosophies but have minimal overlap of properties, Taj and Shangri-La are in a unique position to establish a seamless alliance that goes beyond a marketing partnership or multi-hotel distribution platform.”

Shangri-La’s Golden Circle has rolled out an array of new member benefits and partnerships, the most recent being Infinite Journeys with Singapore Airlines, as well as programmes such as Event Planner Rewards and The Table by Golden Circle, the group’s first global dining loyalty programme.

Meanwhile, Taj relaunched InnerCircle globally in 2015 with revamped features, including no blackout dates, an easy redemption process with opportunities ranging from accommodation, restaurants and spas, and no expiry of points for active members. Taj InnerCircle also recently redesigned its Epicure programme to feature global offers.

Canberra, Australia

Qatar Airways will fly to eight more destinations in 2017/2018, adding Canberra, Medan, Dublin, Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, and Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk and Yanbu to its global flight network.

This announcement comes on the back of seven previously announced destinations for 2017, two of which are the Asia-Pacific cities of Auckland (commencing February 5, 2017) and Chiang Mai. In total, the airline will fly to 15 new destinations over the next two years.

This year, Qatar Airways has launched 12 new destinations, three of which are in the Asia-Pacific. It will begin service to Krabi, its third Thailand destination, on December 6, 2016.

Qatar Airways flies to more than 150 destinations around the world.

Beruwela

Club Med will soon join a growing roster of international resort brands to foray into Sri Lanka.

Club Mediterranee, France last week signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s LOLC Group to open the first Club Med branded property in Sri Lanka in 2018.

A leading diversified conglomerate in Sri Lanka with resorts in the country and the Maldives, the LOLC Group will brand, market and manage the existing Riverina Resort in Beruwela in southern Sri Lanka. The resort will undergo a re-construction to offer 363 rooms.

Recent openings in Sri Lanka include Hotel Riu Sri Lanka and Shangri-La’s Hambantota Resort & Spa.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) has embarked on targeted sales missions to India in a bid to reverse declining arrivals from the market.

Following its earlier sales mission to Bengaluru and Chennai in August, MATTA inbound vice president, Tan Kok Liang, will lead a delegation of 10 agents in the upcoming mission to Kochi and Colombo from November 30 to December 3.

The association is planning more roadshows in 2017, starting with Nepal and Delhi in February, then Calcutta and Mumbai in June, Chennai and Bengaluru in August, before ending in Cochin and Colombo in December, according to exco member for India, Ganneesh Ramaa.

Ganneesh commented: “India has always been among the top 10 (feeder) markets for Malaysia. However, with growing competition from other countries, we have to work hard and cannot merely rely on Tourism Malaysia (to) reverse the negative trend.

Shanti Devi, operation manager at Asian World Holidays, said the earlier sales mission in August had proven useful for acquiring sales leads from new agents and offered more focused opportunities to seek out Indian agents with an interest in selling the destination.

Gopalan Mariappan, director and owner at Sanbury Travel, who will be participating in the upcoming mission to Cochin and Colombo, also sees value in face-to-face meetings with agents. “It is also an opportunity for us to update agents on new attractions and packages, which will help them promote the destination better to their clients,” he elaborated.

According to statistics from Tourism Malaysia, arrivals from India dropped 6.2 per cent to 722,141 in 2015. The decline continued into 1H2016 with a five per cent fall in visitors from the corresponding period in 2015.

MA Privileges last week launched Happyfun.Asia, Malaysia’s first dedicated amusement park ticketing site with an instalment payment plan.

Among the theme parks that have come onboard are Legoland Malaysia, Kidzania Malaysia, Puteri Harbour, A’Famosa, Angry Birds Activity Park, Flip Out, according to CA Ngoh, director of HappyFun.Asia.

Meanwhile, HappyFun.Asia has appointed Gem Travel and Tours as agent to provide front-end support for its customers.

The site offers a 12-month zero per cent instalment plan for CIMB credit card holders, requiring customers only to pay for 11 months. The company is in talks with other major banks to make the instalment plan available to more cardholders.

The unexpected closure of Taiwan’s struggling TransAsia Airways on November 23 were met with mixed reaction across the industry, ranging from shock to dismay.

In the first three quarters of 2016, the 65-year-old company ran up losses of more than NT$2.2 billion (US$69.2 million), with problems mainly attributed to the two plane crashes the carrier suffered in 2014 and 2016.

Said chairman, Vincent Lin: “We tried to look for domestic and international professional bodies, partners or even a new operational team to help TransAsia. It’s a pity that the hope was not fulfilled.”

Given the short notice given by TransAsia’s immediate termination, William Lu, general manager of Best Travel, had to cancel the reservations of overseas clients booked on the carrier.

Lu elaborated: “While the refund process is ongoing, they may not travel to Taiwan and choose other destinations instead. We try to downplay the impact and waive the cancellation, which affects our business.”

On the other hand, Swire International Travel Services general manager Norman Meng is less perturbed as TransAsia is not a choice carrier among his clients. He said: “We seldom use TransAsia as it operates mostly to secondary routes. This does not appeal to TMCs, and as a non-alliance member the only mileage that can be accumulated is with the airline itself.

“Only specific domestic destinations such as Penghu and Hualien are affected as TransAsia is the only airline that operates these routes. Other flight routes and time slots will soon be replaced by other Taiwan Airlines such as China Airlines and Eva Air,” he added.

Maya Bay, Phi Phi Island, Thailand

The Thai trade is raising expectations for the Russian tourist market this year, as the sector has shown strong signs of recovery following a stabilising rouble.

Pegas Select (Thailand), a major inbound tour operator in the Russian market, expects sales of Thailand tour packages to surge 25-50 per cent during the period from October 2016 to October 2017.

Nikorn Yatinunt, director and advisor of Pegas, said: “I believe the situation will be better in winter 2017. Thailand can beat Vietnam and become one of our clients’ two most popular destinations if the Thai government amends some regulations to facilitate tour business.”

At present, Pegas’ three most popular destinations are Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand respectively, a change from the previous order of Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, Nikorn shared.

Sathirapong Na Takuatoong, president of the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA), said the stabilising rouble exchange rate at around 60 rubles per US dollar since early this year has driven Russians’ confidence in travelling and spending.

The bounce back is apparent in the number of charter flights from Russia to Phuket this high season, and PTA expects the figure to reach more than 20 weekly charter flights from October 2016 to March 2017, he added.

Furthermore, Thai Airways International’s resume Moscow-Bangkok flights in mid-December is expected to aid the Russian inbound market in 2017.

Tanes Petsuwan, Tourism Authority of Thailand’s deputy governor for international markets, revised the projected arrivals of Russians upward from 1.1 million to 1.3 million in 2017, following the strong recovery of the market since August. Thailand is likely to receive at least 1.1 million Russian travellers in 2016, he said.

To keep up the momentum, TAT has joined hands with six major travel agents in the Russian market such as Pegas and Tez Tour for marketing promotions. The NTO is training its sights on Russia’s major cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Belarus to increase the number of FITs.

Beach area at Cox’s Bazar

Bangladesh is making aggressive plans to bolster the tourism sector, including drawing up its first investment-focused tourism master plan and developing the beach destination of Cox’s Bazar.

“We expect a full comprehensive master plan for tourism will be ready by end next year. If will focus on investment opportunities available to develop various tourism spots across the country,” said Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, CEO, Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), during the PATA New Tourism Frontiers Forum 2016 in Cox’s Bazar last week.

The master plan will also advise the tourism ministry on potential new destinations and attractions in the country, help frame policy guidelines and human resources training, elaborated Kabir. The BTB has already floated a tender inviting expression of interest from firms.

Meanwhile, tourism investment opportunities are being planned for Cox’s Bazar, including an exclusive 445ha tourist zone that will house hotels, restaurants, amusement parks and other facilities.

The existing airport will undergo expansion to meet the growing number of flights, as international airlines like China Eastern have expressed interest to operate flights to the city.

“China is one of our main international source markets. Direct connectivity from China to Cox’s Bazar will help to attract Chinese tourists to the region,” said Taufiq Rahman, chief executive, Journey Plus.

Bangladesh registered 0.6 million international tourist arrivals in 2015.