PROVIDER of airport lounge, limousine and concierge services DragonPass has recently opened a Singapore office to better serve its South-east Asian business partnerships and clients.

The new premise also serves as the operational hub for the company’s Asian business development outside of China.

Located in Capital Tower in the Singapore CBD, the Asia-Pacific hub is the second office to open outside of China, the first being the European headquarters located in the UK.

DragonPass offers an extensive global suite of products on its online platform. These include airport lounge access, exclusive airport restaurant programmes, limousine and concierge services (including VIP terminal access), and airport valet parking, among others.

“DragonPass is very excited to invest in providing regionalised support and solutions to our current and future clients based in Asia-Pacific,” said Mark Koch, Dragonpass’ global CEO.

“Singapore is a key strategic location for our ongoing commitment to delivering market leading customer service and innovation across the travel services industry.”

Pacific Eden 

P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Eden will be homeporting from Singapore’s HarbourFront Cruise and Ferry Terminal in August, a decade since its last homeport in the city-state in 2006.

Its itineraries will include five departures from Singapore this year, consisting four roundtrip cruises to other destinations in South-east Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Pacific Eden will also have four departures in 2017, including two roundtrip cruises.

The 1,500-guest ship offers 15 F&B options including Italian restaurant Angelo’s, Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill and The Pantry, a marketplace of international food outlets which replaces the traditional ship buffet.

Other features of the cruise ship include four great kids’ clubs, two pools, a child-free oasis with private cabanas, and the P&O Edge Adventure Park, which offers a range of activities including a flying fox.

P&O president Sture Myrmell said the cruise line’s Singapore season follows the expansion of its fleet with the addition of Pacific Eden and sister ship Pacific Aria in November last year.

“Singapore offers a great port experience for our guests and is the ideal hub for our two exciting Asian itineraries, which will include many maiden calls for P&O,” he said.

Credit: Travel Expert

THE launch of Pokémon Go in Hong Kong last week has prompted tourism stakeholders to leverage on the craze for more business opportunities.

FIT specialist Travel Expert took the lead by giving away 2,000 travel coupons each valued at HK$100 (US$13) from July 27 onwards.

“As we have over 60 retail stores in town, we hope to lure Pokémon hunters to drop by and redeem the coupons by showing us a screenshot of them catching Pokémon with any of our brand logos (in the picture),” explained a spokesman on how it works.

Meanwhile, Morning Star Travel Service has indicated interest in launching Pokémon Go travel products in the near future. Said Wilson, the agency’s director of marketing: “Details will be announced soon and we hope to target younger travellers.

“Frankly, we find (such trends) practical for business only in the short term because the life cycle tends to be short and no one knows how long it will last. Moreover, there is no exclusive ownership as competitors can easily join in.”

Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong Sha Tin has also joined in the fray by attracting Pokémon Go players to the property with announcements of Pokémons spotted in the hotel and its vicinity.

“We have put up Facebook posts on Pokémons spotted in the hotel to encourage fans to visit the property. In the past week, we have seen increasing number of guests wandering into our hotel area playing the game while dining or staying in our hotel,” said a hotel spokesperson.

“We are in the middle of planning some game or competition to get our guests involved later. In terms of revenue, we haven’t seen any major increment as a direct result from this Pokémon craze as the trend has only just started.”

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has also promoted the launch of the game via its social media channels and visitor information centres, highlighting that Hong Kong is the second destination in Asia to get the game.

“We will continue to evaluate the public response and ongoing Pokémon Go launches in other destinations to explore future possible promotion opportunities,” said a HKTB spokesperson.

Speakers at the PATA Travel Mart 2016 press conference

INDONESIA has picked South Tangerang in Banten Province as the host city for this year’s PATA Travel Mart (PTM) in an effort to show off the country’s newest and biggest meeting space, the Indonesia Convention and Exhibition (ICE) centre, and its surroundings as a tourism and MICE destination.

Said president and CEO of PATA Indonesia Chapter Poernomo Siswoprasetijo: “Indonesia hosted PTM the last time in 2007 in Bali.

“We are bringing the event back (to Indonesia) after almost a decade later to show the international travel community that Indonesia in general has developed so much (since then), and Banten Province, south of Jakarta, is an example of that.”

ICE, located in Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) City within South Tangerang, is the country’s largest venue with 50,000m² of exhibition space, including a 4,000m² convention hall and 33 meeting rooms.

There are also 2,000 keys available within a 10km radius of ICE, ranging from budget offerings to four-star properties.

Peornomo said: “We will showcase tourist attractions in Banten and the surrounding areas through pre- and post-show tours to Karatau, Tanjung Lengsung and Badui, apart from the usual attractions in Jakarta like Old Jakarta and Mini Indonesia.”

Delegates staying in the hotels around the venue would also have a chance to see the growth of the satellite cities like BSD City, Alam Sutra and Summarecon Serpong.

Aage Hansen, president director of Deutsche Messe Venue Operations, which runs ICE, said: “I have always believed in the importance of a complete integration of the MICE and tourism industries and PTM is a perfect example of the integration of the two portfolios. Both will cause (positive) economic spin-off for the region and (induce) job creation.”

Poernomo added that future Indonesian travel professionals from different universities would take part in the PATA Youth Forum happening during PTM from September 7-9.

PTM this year is expected to attract 1,000 delegates from 60 countries. Some 100 Indonesian travel companies and organisations are expected to take part as sellers.

Anthony Chan, group managing director, Chan Brothers

SINGAPORE-based Chan Brothers Group will incubate and fund startups that are related to travel and tourism, lifestyle and hospitality, with strong growth potential across international markets, under its accelerator programme launched today.

It has partnered Singapore-based venture capital and incubation firm, TNB Ventures, which is said to have accelerated the growth of some 80 startups in the past three years. Together, they will start identifying these startups or accepting pitches in the next six to nine months.

Those accepted will be incubated in Chan Brothers Lab, an area up to 186m² in one of the group’s properties which it is currently converting into a modern workspace equipped with a kitchenette, meeting rooms, Internet, etc, where startups can work and interact with one another, attend symposiums and talks organised by the partnership, have the support of admin staff and gain access to Chan Brothers Group key advisors and mentors who will share their experience and industry insights – one area which travel startups often lack.

Veteran travel professional Allen Leng, who has held senior positions with Singapore Airlines, UOB Travel and BCD Travel, has been hired as director of Chan Brothers Lab and a director at the corporate office.

The partnership with TNB aims to raise S$1 million (US$745,629) in capital funding for investment in the startups and operations, with both partners prepared to be angel investors themselves.

Chan Brothers group managing director, Anthony Chan, in a phone interview with TTG Asia e-Daily, said: “If we can incubate five to 10 startups in the first quarter of 2017, that would be a good start.” He expects most of the startups to be from the region.

When asked why he decided to launch the programme, Chan said: “The fear of being disrupted is the biggest motivation. If we don’t get involved in the new economy, we will be out.

“As a corporate, we always have to be forward-looking…We realise that in the new era, it’s not just about booking engines or OTAs, or just the pure booking of air tickets or hotels. There are a lot more elements (to travel) and a lot more can and are being done. So we want to know what the trends are, also to look and borrow the experiences of other industries on how they embrace technology and the new economy.”

Chan said: “We want to shift the global axis of travel innovations and disruptive ideas to Asia. It is better for us to disrupt our own business than have others disrupt us.”

When asked what expertise/mentorship a traditional agency can bring to emerging travel startups, Leng said: “We are a licensed travel agent – there are things that startups may require an umbrella to operate within. We bring to the table our network of suppliers and we can give them access to inventory systems for them to remould as part of their proprietary programmes depending on what they think is the next big thing.”

Chan gives the example of a startup that wants to promote travel to Chinese travellers through WeChat and has the technology but does not have the suppliers. In another example, a startup based in London has amassed great lodges in 40 countries, yet has no distribution.

Chan Brothers Group celebrated its 50th anniversary last November, with Chan at a gala dinner packed with industry supporters hinting of the accelerator programme.

“…I can’t help feeling excited when I listen to young people, many times my children and their friends talking about a new concept or startup ideas, so we must continue to improve, upgrade, reinvent and transform ourselves. In this aspect, we have already established a road map for the future and have started implementing some of the initiatives,” he had said.

To join Chan Brothers’ accelerator programme, email lab@chanbrothers.com.sg

An aerial view of Colombo

AUTHORITIES in Sri Lanka decided yesterday to terminate the controversial minimum hotel room rates policy enforced many years ago to curb price cutting in Colombo city.

The decision came from tourism development, lands and Christian religious affairs minister John Amaratunga, who wants to abolish the policy by March 31, 2017.

The scheme was first brought into force after the May 2009 end of the civil war, after smaller hotels complained of excessive price cuts by larger properties.

The policy dictates that five-star hotels have to charge at minimum US$125 per night plus taxes, which works out to be US$185, while three-star rates have to be at minimum US$80-85 per night inclusive of taxes.

Hoteliers responded to the decision with mixed feelings. Those at five-star properties were elated while those at two- and three-star hotels were in anguish.

“Small and medium scale hotels will suffer enormously since five-star properties will start charging the same rates,” said a senior manager at a four-star property, who wished to remain anonymous.

Amaratunga said almost all the hotels have been calling for the abolition of the policy and to allow market forces to decide prices. “By sticking to the minimum rates we have been pricing ourselves out of the lucrative MICE market and losing out to our regional competitors,” he stated.

In defence, an executive at a luxury hotel in Colombo, said: “We are not opposed to minimum rates. Our concern was that there is no monitoring mechanism and the price war still continued (while we followed the rules).”