Kevin Bowler, CEO, TNZ

AFTER almost seven years helming Tourism New Zealand (TNZ), its chief executive Kevin Bowler has decided to leave the national tourism promotion agency.

His last day at TNZ takes place on October 28. He will then move on to head Auckland-based Frucor Beverages in November.

Prior to joining TNZ in 2010, Bowler filled various non-tourism roles. He was CEO of Yahoo!, general manager consumer marketing at Telecom, and was also in the food and dairy industries.

Under his leadership, tourism in New Zealand has seen strong growth. The country’s prime minister John Key said traffic had been rising rapidly with total international arrivals to New Zealand in the year ending May 2016 standing at 3.3 million, with Australia and China the top source markets. This number is expected to rise to four million within four years.

TNZ most recently in July launched a global marketing campaign with acclaimed Hollywood director James Cameron to further leverage the country’s successes with film tourism.

An executive recruitment agency will be hired to search for Bowler’s replacement.

CHINA’s leading private car hire service Didi Chuxing has partnered with business travel expenses solutions provider Concur to integrate ride transactions with the platform’s payment processes.

With this, Didi Chuxing users can connect their account with Concur. Once travellers arrive at their destination, an e-receipt will automatically be sent to the linked Concur account, where they can then manage ride expenses and submit for reimbursements.

“China is the third largest international market when it comes to Concur business traveller spend, and we’re seeing a dramatic increase in Didi Chuxing usage which is contributing to that spend,” said Mike Eberhard, president of global distribution at Concur.

“This integration not only simplifies the expense reporting process for the growing number of Concur users booking rides with Didi, but also helps travel managers and administrators effortlessly keep track of employee spend.”

Users can choose to integrate Didi Chuxing from the Concur App Center.

SPANISH operator Riu Hotels & Resorts has made its foray into Asia with a Sri Lankan property, the first in a pipeline of resorts to open in Maldives and the United Arab Emirates.

The 501-room Riu Sri Lanka is a beachfront property located in the small coastal town of Ahungalla. It offers 24-hour all-inclusive services and opened earlier this month.

Facilities include three adult pools and one for children, a spa, health centre, a range of Asian and European restaurants, and one of Spain’s leading discotheques, Pacha.

“It’s the first stone in the company’s future expansion in the continent. This includes three more hotels; two in the Maldives and one in the UAE,” said a Riu spokesperson.

“After studying various proposals, Riu sees this as the ideal opportunity for starting its Asian operations. Sri Lanka is a tourist destination that attracts not only European clients, but also from markets like India, China and Australia.”

The Maldivian properties, namely the Riu Palace and Riu Classic, will open in 2018. They will be located in the Dhaalu Atoll offering 422 rooms together.

Its UAE property is scheduled to open the following year on the Deira Islands in Dubai. “With its 750 rooms it will be the biggest built there and the first to offer 24-hour all-inclusive service,” stated Riu in a release.

From left: Michael Ungerer, COO, Carnival Asia; Felix Eichhorn, president, AIDA Cruises; Michael Thamm, CEO, Costa Group; Christine Duffy, president, Carnival Cruise Line; and Buhdy Bok, president, Costa Group Asia President, at the Aida launch in China

COSTA Asia has begun a marketing offensive in China in anticipation of the launch of its Aida Cruises brand there come April 2017.

The AidaBella will be deployed year-round in China after a dockyard refit of the cruise ship in spring next year. According to a statement by Costa, the ship will be customised to the needs of Chinese guests while at the same time feature authentic German hospitality.

For instance, a spicy hot pot restaurant and Oktoberfest beer festival will both be introduced on the ship. New on board as well are German retail brands Rimowa, Fissler and Hugo Boss.

“With our Costa Asia brand, we have pioneered the way into China since 2006 and were the first international shipping company to develop the cruise market there,” said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group.

“The expansion of our product portfolio to include an Aida Cruises ship in the fastest-growing market in the world is a strategic step for the further successful development of Costa and Aida.”

FLIGHT bookings to the UK rose significantly in the aftermath of Britain’s referendum vote to leave the EU, according to research data released by ForwardKeys.

In the 28 days before the June 23 poll, flight reservations were running 2.8 per cent behind the same period last year. In the month after the Brexit decision, bookings were up 4.3 per cent, resulting in a 7.1 per cent increase in the period under observation.

Most of the traffic is driven by demand coming from the US and Asia-Pacific, buoyed by the pound’s fall against the Euro following the referendum.

Bookings from Europe were up 5 per cent while non-European arrivals were up by 8.7 per cent on average.

Hong Kong bookings to the UK rose most by 30.1 per cent while flights from the US was up 9.2 per cent. Meanwhile, traffic from Canada was up 7.4 per cent and from the UAE by 7 per cent.

Flights from China to the UK remained steady however, likely due to the need for visas to travel to the UK.

“It’s now confirmed that Brexit had an immediate, positive impact on inbound tourism to the UK, which is converting into better than anticipated arrivals,” said Olivier Jager, ForwardKeys co-founder and CEO.

“In the months ahead, our data will show whether this post-Brexit bounce is sustained.”

THE average booking values derived from hotel websites are nearly double that found on third-party booking channels such as OTAs and metasearch engines.

Research conducted by hotel booking solutions provider SiteMinder revealed that the average reservation made on indirect channels amounted to US$340 over a 12-month period ending June 2016. Over the same period, the average cost of bookings made on direct sites was US$600.

According to Mike Ford, managing director of SiteMinder, the finding means that hotels should be investing heavily in ensuring they have a balanced approach to distribution with a focus on direct booking strategies in order to maximise direct conversions and therefore profit.

“Our data shows that hotels globally are achieving 1.8 times more, on average, for accommodation booked via their own direct website than via OTAs and other third-party channels,” said Ford.

“While we can’t forget the reach these third-party sites provide to hotels, it’s important to note that direct bookings are not only achieving higher value overall but there is no commission payable on them so they are very much more profitable.”

He added that “hotels need to ensure that they are at least at parity with OTAs and other third-party channels in order to compete effectively. Too many hoteliers are giving OTAs better rates than their own websites which is not smart given the profitability of direct bookings”.

SiteMinder’s finding is based on 43.5 million reservations that passed through the company’s Channel Manager and TheBookingButton solutions between June 2015 to June 2016.