FUELLED by a new breed of travellers seeking more exotic and enriching experiences, the Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) is now promoting community-based tourism to lend support to a fast-growing market segment.

PHILTOA president Cesar Cruz told TTG Asia e-Daily that community-based tourism includes reviving dying artisan crafts like pina and hablon cloth-weaving in Antique and Iloilo; river rafting and other soft adventure travel activities in Antique; and vegetable and flower farming in the Cordillera.

The association is promoting the tours with newly-formed G Eco Tours, which has developed 11 community-based tourism sites across the Philippines.

Mael Cabigao, manager, G Eco Tours, said the brand was formed in January this year under the non-profit organisation Bantay Kalikasan.

“There’s a market for these products for both foreign and Filipino travellers. There’s a lot of awareness now for ecotourism,” said Cabigao.

Non-profit Gawad Kalinga (Give Care) founder, Tony Meloto, expects more voluntourists when they embark on the second phase of their social entrepreneur projects in 25 more sites.

The first phase, Enchanted Farm in Angat, Bulacan, has foreign volunteers staying several years to develop, teach and guide the communities to form their own livelihood programmes.

“These are good examples of experiential tourism (and) community immersion,” said PHILTOA’s Cruz. “We’re still looking to include other community-based attractions but they have to pass our criteria involving safety and hygiene standards, especially in preparing and handling food.”

DESPITE the recent downturn in China’s economy, the Chinese are expected to remain the biggest spenders among all international visitors to Spain, revealed tourism shopping tax refund company Global Blue.

Luis Llorca, country manager for Spain at Global Blue, said: “Even if the economic deceleration currently affecting the Asian giant leads (the Chinese) to ease off with their spending, the average spend of a Chinese tourist will still be around 1,000 euros (US$1,130), so we can affirm they will continue to be the most profitable tourists.”

According to the Global Blue report, Chinese tourists increased their spending on luxury goods – mainly jewellery and watches – in Spain by 90 per cent for the year ending August.

On the heels of China is Argentina, boasting an 84 per cent increase in spending, followed by the North American market – the US and Canada – at 58 per cent.

The Russian market, however, fell 25 per cent due to the devaluation of the rouble and the ongoing confrontation between the country and the EU over Ukraine.

The report, which covers non-EU visitors who reclaim the European sales tax (VAT) on purchases, shows Barcelona as the most popular Spanish city for shopping with a 47 per cent share, followed by Madrid in second place with 38 per cent. These two cities also feature in the top five European cities – fifth and third respectively – for Chinese tourists for shopping, according to Global Blue.

MORE and more repeat Asian travellers to Switzerland are venturing beyond Interlaken/Jungfrau and Zermatt, which have long wooed them, into fresh fields such as Graubünden, St Moritz, Chur and Davos, which need them, according to Adrian Mueller, president of Romantik Hotels & Restaurants Switzerland.

Mueller, who owns and operates the 65-room Romantik Hotel Stern in Chur, is himself excited by the prospects of the Asian FIT market and is participating for the first time in the Switzerland Travel Mart in Zermatt this week to meet Asian buyers. The hotelier is no stranger to Asia, having spent 14 years of his career in the region, including as general manager of The Shangri-La Bangkok.

Places such as Graubünden, St Moritz, Chur and Davos have long been the playgrounds of European markets including Germany, Benelux and the UK.

“Unfortunately these are markets which reacted to the currency drop of the euro very sensitively and strongly. In Graubünden, we are talking about a drop over the past four years of between 12 per cent and 18 per cent depending on the hotel and location within the area,” said Mueller.

This is just the push factor needed for hotels, including some members of the Romantik alliance, to start tapping new markets. Many are noticing and watching the emergence of Asian FITs with interest.

Said Mueller: “Recently we had a family of 12 pax visiting us from Hong Kong. I asked them why they chose Chur and not Zermatt or Lucerne. The answer was quite simple, they had seen those already and, for the second time, wanted to see the real Switzerland. We had a fantastic evening. We explained to them all our local food specialities and they thoroughly enjoyed our local wines.”

He also had a young couple, corporate lawyers from Shanghai, who flew into Geneva and bought two bikes to explore Switzerland. “After a good meal in our 333-year-old (fully renovated) hotel, they moved on and sent me a postcard from the valley of Wallis Zermatt. That is the kind of business we would like to generate in Chur, Graubünden.

“Another newly-wed couple from India were happy when I cooked them our local specialities Indian-style, i.e. spicy. The next day I drove them in our vintage car – a Buick from 1933 – to the train station where they hopped onto the Glacier Express from Chur to Zermatt,” said Mueller.

Chur is Switzerland’s oldest city and is the starting point for the Berinan Express (train ride to Italy) and the Glacier Express from Chur to Zermatt.

“But we cannot compete with the economically run tour groups. Our goal is to excite the repeaters out of those markets to visit other parts of Switzerland as FITs. We are seeing a steady increase in the number of such clients, albeit not in big numbers yet, and want to capitalise on this segment. I am excited to be part of the Switzerland Travel Mart (September 22-23) for the first time this year. We have a good number of very interesting appointments with Asian buyers,” he said.

Asked how prepared his hotel was in catering to Asian FITs, Mueller said: “We can cater to individual Asian guests predominantly in the areas of food and, for the younger generation, services like free Wi-Fi. The hardware is ready (the hotel is fully renovated); in the long term, we need to work on the software, for example, translating guest information into Chinese, Japanese and Thai. With my 14 years of experience in Asia I will be able to train my staff and make them aware of the likes and dislikes of our guests from the Far East.”

– Read the full report in the next issue of TTG Asia Luxury, December 1

THE Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) has reactivated its membership with world body United Federation of Travel Agents’ Association (UFTAA).

Now that UFTAA is under the leadership of Joe Borg Olivier, PTAA president Michelle Victoria said that the PTAA Board has decided to reactivate its membership so that they “can be part of the activities and advocacies as they apply to our country (the Philippines)”.

These include dialogues and consultations with International Air Transport Association. Recently, PTAA supported UFTAA’s stance against Lufthansa Group charging 16 euro (US$18) for every ticket issued using the global distribution system.

Victoria told TTG Asia e-daily: “There is also a need for national associations (like PTAA) to have representations in regional as well as international federations of travel industry stakeholders.”

She added that she would be attending a UFTAA meeting – that will tackle how the federation is being revitalised – in November.

It’s understood that PTAA put its status as inactive about three years ago when UFTAA was assessing its direction due to funding problems.

QANTAS will operate a new direct seasonal service between Bali and Sydney to address increased demand for the route.

Starting from December 4, 2015 until January 29, 2016 inclusive, the airline will operate four services per week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, using a B737 aircraft.

Qantas International CEO Gareth Evans said the airline was pleased to expand its offering to customers wanting a full service, premium travel option direct from Bali to Sydney.

He said: “This gives customers more options to travel to Australia during the busy school break and New Year holiday season.”

This service follows on the heels of last week’s announcement where Qantas said they would add more flights from Australia to Hong Kong and Manila, and operate 140 additional services from Australia to Singapore, Jakarta and New Zealand to cater to the peak season.

Fares start from Rp11,411,000 (US$788) return and are available for sale at qantas.com.