MALAYSIA Airlines has entered into a MoU with Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) to position Malaysia as a premier healthcare destination regionally and globally.

Under the agreement, Malaysia Airlines will be promoted as MHTC’s preferred healthcare tourism airline. Both parties are also exploring marketing initiatives.

As the official airline, Malaysia Airlines will support MHTC with sponsored tickets for fam trips to Malaysia, as well as offering discounted rates for guests travelling to Malaysia for medical tourism purposes.

The MoU, signed by Paul Simmons, CCO, Malaysia Airlines and Sherene Azli, CEO, MHTC, took place during the Malaysia Healthcare Media Week organised by MHTC.

KOH Samui’s tourism sector has been experiencing steady growth in 2015, with airport passenger arrivals growing by seven per cent to over one million, average daily rate (ADR) of hotels up by 12 per cent, and RevPAR increasing by 15 per cent, according to a report by consultancy C9 Hotelworks.

Favourable supply-and-demand conditions for hotels and the increase in passenger capacity from Bangkok Airways has largely contributed to the growth.

As well, despite concerns from industry players about Koh Samui’s Bangkok Airways-owned airport, the preventing of LCCs into the island has actually had a positive effect, serving to buffer Koh Samui’s tourism sector from mass market volatilities, the report explained.

Still, as tourists continue to visit in greater numbers, Koh Samui’s hotels are undergoing systematic improvements, with two of this year’s highlights including the completion of a US$20 million renovation of the Santiburi Beach Resort and the reopening of the overhauled Amari in Chaweng.

Samui International Airport is also in the early stages of a US$29.2 million expansion plan.

THERE was robust growth in international air passenger demand for Asia-Pacific carriers in January, according to preliminary traffic figures for the month released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

A total of 24.5 million passengers were carried by the region’s airlines in January, a strong 9.2 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

The availability of affordable airfares, coupled with the rise in leisure travel ahead of the Lunar New Year period, helped boost passenger demand, resulting in a 9.9 per cent surge in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK).

Growth in demand continued to exceed capacity expansion, with load factors climbing 2.1 percentage points higher to reach 79.6 per cent in January in spite of a relatively firm 7.1 per cent expansion in available seat capacity.

Andrew Herdman, APAA director general, said: “For the region’s carriers, the continued strong growth in passenger demand was a very welcome start to the year, against a backdrop of volatile markets and an increase in global economic risks.”

He added that while travel demand outlook remains broadly positive for the coming year, airlines are expected to be vigilant in closely monitoring regional economic developments and managing costs due to the highly competitive market conditions.

INDIA’s railway minister, Suresh Prabhu, announced in the 2016-2017 railway budget a slew of measures to modernise and improve India’s railway infrastructure and facilities.

Among the improvements put forward are the launch of Tejas, high-speed trains that will operate at speeds of 130 kmph and offer onboard services including entertainment and Wi-Fi connectivity, overnight double-decker trains to service busy routes, as well as a ‘Clean My Coach’ service for passengers on SMS request.

Train services will also be launched to connect the states of Mizoram and Manipur to the rest of the country and Wi-Fi will be extended to 400 railway stations. Within the next three months, e-ticketing facilities can be expected as well.

Agents interviewed expressed enthusiasm over some of the new plans. “We are delighted with strategic initiatives like Asha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres in the country, as well as the introduction of Tejas,” said Madhavan Menon, managing director, Thomas Cook India.

Subhash Goyal, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators, said: “We welcome the idea to adopt Japan’s high-speed bullet trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. We need such trains for all major tourist routes.”

INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group, in collaboration with design firm Fbeye International, has completed a major five-year renovation of InterContinental Singapore.

The redesign sees the enhancement and continuation of the hotel’s colonial and Peranakan heritage theme, with the hotel lobby, lobby lounge, all-day-dining restaurant Ash & Elm and the 316 tower rooms and suites overhauled.

Fbeye also previously redesigned the hotel’s executive club lounge, 67 ‘shophouse’ guestrooms and suites, as well as Cantonese restaurant Man Fu Yuan.

SOUTH Korea plans to develop an integrated resort at Incheon International Airport, with the government awarding the licence to US-based operator Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA), along with developer KCC Corporation and partner Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC).

MGTA, operator of the Mohegan Sun properties throughout the US, has named the multi-phase development Project Inspire, which will include the construction of a 1,350-key, three-tower luxury hotel complex. A 20,000m² retail and F&B space is also in the works, as well as a 4,500m² South Korean cosmetics and beauty hub.

Further plans include having a 100,000m² Paramount Studios Themed amusement park; a 33,000m² Eco Adventure Park featuring indoor rock climbing, zip lining, an indoor rainforest, and an archaeology experience; an entertainment arena with 15,000 capacity; and a 20,000m² casino with 250 tables and 1,500 slot machines. As well, an adjacent private air terminal is on the cards.

Phase one of Project Inspire is estimated to cost US$1.6 billion, with the total development projected at US$5 billion.

TRAVEL agents interviewed are unfazed by Nok Air’s pilot strike in February and are continuing to offer the LCC’s flights in their tour packages.

The cancellation of Nok Air flights have persisted since the strike, but Patee Sarasin, Nok Air’s CEO, said that “more than 90 per cent of problems are expected to be addressed by March 10.”

In the meantime, the airline is dealing with the crisis by offering 16 charter flights per day from VietJet Air and Lion Air and transferring passengers on cancelled flights to their alliance airlines such as Thai Airways, Thai Smile Airways and NokScoot Airlines.

A number of travel agencies in Thailand are continuing to offer Nok Air flights in their tour packages as well. Tangmo Tour for instance, is still offering Burmese tour packages with Nok Air flights included.

Kritchanat Meesamran, vice president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, who is also travel managing director of Sun Smile Holidays, expressed that the strike is a minor crisis that will not dampen the travel industry significantly and that travel agents are confident in Nok Air’s ability to handle the situation.

EVEN though total arrivals in Singapore increased 0.9 per cent to 15.2 million in 2015, tourist receipts declined 6.8 per cent to S$22 billion (US$15.6 billion), resulting in a “mixed tourism sector performance” last year, according to a statement by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

The decline in tourism receipts was largely due to a six per cent fall in BTMICE visitor arrivals, with a corresponding eight per cent drop in per capita expenditure.

According to STB’s chief executive Lionel Yeo, while 25 per cent of the total number of visitors to Singapore belong to the BTMICE pie, their expenditure can be double that of a leisure traveller.

Yeo said: “As the average BTMICE visitor spends about two times more than the average leisure visitor, the fall in BTMICE visitor arrivals and spending due to companies cutting back on both travel and trip budgets has had a significant impact on our tourism receipts.”

Nevertheless, Yeo said: “But we take heart that we are still attractive as a leisure destination as we saw an increase in leisure visitor arrivals.”

Indonesia once again emerged as Singapore’s largest source market with 2.7 million visitors, despite registering a year-on-year drop of 10 per cent.

Visitors from Malaysia, Japan and Australia also declined by five per cent, four per cent, and three per cent respectively, due to macroeconomic factors such as currency depreciation and an uncertain economic outlook.

On a positive note, China, which is Singapore’s second largest source market, brought in 2.1 million visitors – a 22 per cent jump from 2014.

Yeo: 2016 an uncertain year for Singapore tourism

Looking ahead, Yeo said: “For 2016, we will be cognizant of the uncertainty and volatility that lies ahead.”

STB expects tourism receipts to grow between 0 and 2 per cent in 2016, to reach between S$22 to S$24 billion. It also anticipates visitor arrivals to be in the range of 15.2 to 15.7 million, a growth of 0-3 per cent.