GREATER international attention has fallen upon Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province, since the Xi’an Silk Road International Tourism Expo (XSRITE) – taking place from August 26-28 this year – was launched in 2014.

This year some 38 countries and 150 international exhibitors are participating in XSRITE with 600 local and international co-exhibitors, up from last year’s figure of 300-plus.

Sri Lanka, which crosses the Silk Road, is this year’s partner country, while Indonesia, whose sea lanes were part of the maritime route, is the event’s gold sponsor.

Edward Liu, group managing director of Conference & Exhibition Management Services (CEMS), a co-organiser of XSRITE, said a high-level pre-event reception will be held and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism and other regional tourism dignitaries will be attending.

New destinations will be showcased there and the China National Tourism Administration is supporting the event by inviting between 60 and 80 international buyers.

“Another 300 local buyers, 200 from Shaanxi and the others from elsewhere in China are expected to attend,” said Liu.

“XSRITE will take up two halls and 25,000m² of space this year with some 20,000 products on sale. It will also include the new co-located 5,000m² Spa Week event, being organised by the Shaanxi Province Spa Tourism Association, which was set up last year.

“Xi’an has witnessed a lot of international tourism growth and one major development is the launch of direct flights on United Airlines from San Francisco,” he added.

Launched in May, the thrice-weekly flight is the first nonstop trans-Pacific service for Xi’an. The flight is also expected to boost trade and collaboration opportunities between China and the US.

Phnom Penh

CAMBODIAN tourism officials have pledged to better cater to Japanese tourists in hopes to lure more arrivals from its growing source market.

At the Tourism Destination Japan seminar held yesterday, Cambodia’s minister of tourism Thong Khon said change is essential if the country is to hit its target of 300,000 Japanese visitors by 2020.

“To achieve this vision, we need to develop our tourism services, offer quality human resources and have more Japanese-speaking guides,” he said.

More four- and five-star hotels offering high market-driven standards are also necessary, added Lor Thoura, Ministry of Tourism director. “We must develop our products and standards. We need more public toilets, better infrastructure and tourism information centres,” he said.

With Japan currently Cambodia’s seventh largest market, – more than 90,000 Japanese visited Cambodia between January and June – the government has already set in motion a series of steps to boost figures.

A scheme offering Japanese travellers one-, two- and three-year, multiple entry visas was launched earlier this year, and high hopes are pinned on All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) direct flight between Tokyo and Phnom Penh from September 1.

A direct flight with Yangon in Myanmar in 2012 saw figures soar from 47,000 to 83,000 in two years.

However, Japanese ambassador Kumamaru Yuji said: “The launch of a direct flight in itself does not automatically increase the number of tourists dramatically. It is necessary for Cambodian people in the tourism industry to better understand the needs of Japanese tourists, and to cater to them.”

Fluent Japanese speaker Sambo Nov, executive assistant manager at Sun and Moon Urban Hotel in Phnom Penh, said the hotel has seen a rise in the number of Japanese business travellers – an area she predicts will increase, especially in the capital, as investment from the country continues to flood in.

Osamu Tokairin, MD, Travelport Japan

TRAVELPORT has hired travel industry veteran Osamu Tokairin to head the company’s Japanese operations.

As managing director, he will lead the expansion of Travelport’s presence in Japan, taking into account as well the recent acquisition of the GDS’s third party distributor in April, Galileo Japan.

Tokairin has over 25 years of experience working for both regional and global travel companies. Prior to joining Travelport, he has held various senior level management positions such as CEO of Kuoni Japan, managing director for Gulliver’s Travel Agency Japan and general manager of Toptour Corporation’s office in Los Angeles.

He takes over leadership of Travelport Japan from director and general manager Yoshinobu Aoyama, who will be retiring later this month.

“Japan is a highly strategic country for Travelport as we continue to invest in the region. We are delighted that Tokairin has joined us to lead the team to grow Travelport Japan’s presence,” said Mark Meehan, Travelport’s managing director, Asia-Pacific.

“In the meantime, I would like to thank Aoyama for his remarkable leadership of Galileo Japan over the past 30 years, and wish him all the best for his retirement. He will be missed by all of us here at Travelport.”

Ovation of the Seas

THREE of Royal Caribbean’s largest cruise ships, the Ovation of the Seas, Mariner of the Seasand Voyager of the Seas, will be homeporting from Singapore starting October.

This marks the cruise operator’s longest homeport season from the city-state yet, which will run for eight months totalling 55 cruises and is expected to bring an estimated 200,000 guests to ports in South-east Asia.

The deployment of these three ships will increase Royal Caribbean’s South-east Asia capacity by 30 per cent in 2017 over 2016.

Initiating the season is Mariner of the Seas starting October till March next year with 39 sailings that range from three- to seven-night itineraries to destinations like Penang, Langkawi, Port Klang, Phuket, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

This Mariner of the Seas season sees the introduction of a three-night Penang Weekend Cruise and a four-night Phuket Cruise. Other highlights include festive Christmas and New Year cruises and themed cruises featuring salsa and cosplay themes.

Royal Caribbean’s newest and largest ship, Ovation of the Seas, will then homeport from Singapore in the months of March and April 2017, as announced earlier.

It will make 10 sailings comprising three- to five-night itineraries to Penang, Phuket and Bangkok as well as a 12-night one-way cruise to Tianjin with port calls at Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Hong Kong and Seoul.

Following this will be Voyager of the Seas making six sailings of between three to five nights from May 2017.

Itineraries include calls at Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket, plus one eight-night one-way cruise to Hong Kong with stopovers at Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang.

Credit: TAT

FOLLOWING the recent bombing incidents in Thailand, a raft of initiatives were put together by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in an effort to assure travellers that the nation remains safe and welcoming of visitors.

A Situation Monitoring Centre was immediately opened on August 12, the second day of the attacks, so that government officials could maintain timely and accurate communications. The centre monitors local and international news, collects statistics on tourist arrivals, bookings and cancellations as well as data from airline and tourism-related companies.

A campaign was also launched to galvanize local communities to host tourists and to encourage everyone working in the field of tourism to wear special white-yellow ribbons as symbols of peace and unity.

“We want to show that Thailand and the Thai people genuinely care for the well-being of all tourists. And we want tourists to know that by visiting Thailand, they’ll make memorable travel memories and enjoy experiences that will entice them to return time after time,” said TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn.

Going forward, TAT is also hoping to boost travel arrivals and spending for the rest of the year through several events and festivities.

While the tourism industry in Thailand has proven resilient post-disaster in the past, Yuthasak said in a statement that approximately 100,000 to 200,000 travel cancellations could be resulted due to the incident. “That would cost about 5.08 billion baht (US$146.6 million) to 10.16 billion baht,” he said.

However, Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports remains confident in reaching its target of 2.4 trillion baht (US$69.3 billion) of tourism revenue in 2016.

Currently, TAT is seeking cabinet approval for a special long-holiday weekend in September to coincide with World Tourism Day held in Bangkok. The ministry hopes that the actual celebration day on September 27 will be declared a public holiday and for the Monday prior on September 26 to be an extra day off.

According to TAT, a four-day break would encourage travel and spending nationwide while boosting confidence among travellers.

In addition, a number of mega events and special tourism promotional campaigns will take place. The Jazz Run Cycling Hua Hin Festival is scheduled for the first week of September, and will comprise a jazz music festival, food fair, marathon, and cycling event. A major golf tournament will also be held, featuring Thailand’s lady golf ambassadors Pornanong Phatlum and Ariya Jutanugarn.

Another large-scale event, titled Magnificent Thailand, will be held in Bangkok, possibly in Lumphini Park, from October 1-7. It will comprise a street food festival, local food fair, city street light decorations, mapping shows, and shopping street.

As well, there will be an ExpatFest held at the end of September to showcase unique Thai culture, traditions, cuisine and tourist attractions to the expatriate community in Thailand with an aim to encourage them to travel more domestically.

TAT has also scheduled to launch a new domestic tourism promotional campaign to encourage locals to travel in Thailand’s southern regions. Named the Cross Regional Travel Challenge, the initiative will start on October 1 featuring the attractions in southern Thailand such as beaches, islands and rainforests.

Also making a return is the Thailand’s Luckiest Visitor campaign which rewards each millionth traveller who enters the country from June to December.

“We believe that all these special measures and initiatives will help stimulate travel during the rest of the year, and allow Thailand to reach the 2016’s revenue target of 2.41 trillion baht,” Yuthasak assured.

HONG Kong tourism authorities are set to introduce food trucks at attractions around the city with an aim to add vibrancy to the destinations.

The initiative first started as part of Hong Kong’s 2015-16 Budget Speech and will finally come into fruition by end-2016.

The eight designated tourist spots to feature food trucks include the Golden Bauhinia Square; Central Harbourfront Event Space; Ocean Park; Tsim Sha Tsui Salisbury Garden; Tsim Sha Tsui Art Square; Energizing Kowloon East Venue 1; Wong Tai Sin Square; and Hong Kong Disneyland.

From a pool of over a hundred applicants, 16 managed to obtain the licences to operate the food trucks. The licensees were determined from a cook-off challenge.

“We trust that food trucks will enrich tourists’ experience when visiting these attractions. We will launch a series of promotional activities for the food trucks and will explore opportunities to collaborate with the tourist industry to use this new initiative to boost tourism,” said an official spokesperson.

“We are also planning to have them operating at major tourism events organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, such as the Dragon Boat Carnival, the Hong Kong Cyclothon and the New Year Countdown. Moreover, a mobile app for tourists and locals to track the locations of food trucks will be developed.”

Henry Lo, director and general manager of Lantau Tours believes the initiative is ideal for FITs. “(However), we organise day tours for leisure groups and will not purposely promote or include it in our itinerary because of limited free time.”

Managing director of Sincere International Travel Service, Charles Ng, welcomed the move and said: “Our local food culture definitely draws visitors. It’s vital to drum up noise for this new offer from the outset. But it’s hard to assess its immediate benefit to arrival figures as it’s a long-term investment.”