COMO Hotels and Resorts will open a new hotel in Perth, its first property Down Under, on October 15, 2015.

Situated within a heritage building on Cathedral Avenue as part of the new Cathedral Square Development artisanal precinct, Como The Treasury will provide access to the state capital and business hub of Perth, as well as popular destination Margaret River and the wider region of Western Australia.

Como The Treasury will comprise 48 elegant rooms and suites averaging 70 m2 each. En-suite bathrooms feature German Kaldewei Duo freestanding oval bathtubs, twin vanities, Travertine stone tiles and heated floors, alongside room amenities such as Como Shambhala toiletries, minibars and Wi-Fi.

A fine-dining restaurant on the rooftop offers views across the Swan River while a more casual restaurant on the ground-floor serves modern Australian dishes.

Other facilities will include a spacious lounge bar, meeting rooms, gym, heated indoor swimming pool and a Como Shambhala Urban Escape spa.

This venture is in conjunction with FJM Property, an Australian property development and investment company.

THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has appointed Journeys under a three-year contract to operate and manage Haw Par Villa since August 1, 2015, with an option to renew for two further terms of three years each. The company will take charge of the attraction’s programming as well as the management of future F&B spaces within the park.

Ranita Sundramoorthy, director of attractions, dining and retail at STB, said: “We believe that (Journeys) will be able to enliven Haw Par Villa with interesting concepts that will appeal to both locals and tourists, while conserving the integrity of the park.”

Chan Ying-Loone, director of Journeys, said they are aiming “to return the park to its former glory and more”. He added: “We look forward to working closely with the community to organise more activities to breathe new life to this historical and cultural gem of Singapore.”

The park will remain opened daily to all visitors and admission is free.

THE upcoming Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) will be held at the Venetian Macao from 12 to 14 October, 2015 under the theme of Belt and Road Initiative – Unleashing the New Dynamics of Cultural Tourism.

Building upon the premise of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road which represents open and inclusive regional and international cooperation, GTEF 2015 will explore subject matters like connectivity, public-private partnership, Chinese consumers behaviour, overseas investment trends and cultural heritage.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Peter Wong, vice chairman of GTEF and the executive chairman of China Chamber of Tourism, said: “China is already well known to be the largest outbound tourism market, and it will grow to be the largest inbound market as well.

“So anything that happens in China is going to deeply affect the world because of its extent and influence,” said Wong.

Pointing out how GTEF stands out from the other tradeshows, he said: “What makes us different is that we are the only platform that feature official channels sharing about the latest China policies, as well as key players from the private sector.”

Programme highlights this year will include direct dialogue sessions between tourism ministers from The Pacific Alliance partners like the nations of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Selected Asian countries and private sector CEOs will also be attending and examining tourism’s role in the area of cross-regional cooperation.

For panel discussions, understanding Chinese consumer behaviour and the impact of cultural tourism will take the spotlight.

Since its launch in 2012, the GTEF has attracted over 3,000 participants from 45 countries and regions. It has also welcomed 49 provincial and municipal delegations from China. Wong said they are looking forward to welcome more than 1,000 international participants in this coming forum.

MALAYSIA’s Ministry of Finance will be reviewing Tourism Malaysia’s promotional and advertising budget, which had been slashed by 25 per cent or RM50 million (US$12 million) from an initial budget of RM200 million earlier this year.

The budget cut was the result of tumbling oil prices which had forced the government to trim its spending and operating expenditure.

According to a report on the Sunday Star, Chua Tee Yong, Malaysia’s deputy finance minister had said: “We will look into the issue, but we need to take into consideration the fiscal demands on the government.”

When contacted by TTG Asia e-Daily, Hamzah Rahmat, president of the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents, said: “When the promotional and advertising budget is cut, it means less tourists will visit Malaysia. As tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner, agencies that bring revenue such as Tourism Malaysia should not have its budget cut.”

Last year, tourism receipts rose by 10 per cent to RM72 billion from RM65.4 billion in 2013. The Malaysia Year of Festivals 2015 campaign is expected to help the country achieve the target of 29.4 million arrivals and RM89 billion in tourism receipts this year.

However, with the budget cut as well as dismal 1Q arrival figures for 2015, which saw a drop of 8.6 per cent year-on-year from seven million arrivals in 1Q2014, trade members have expressed doubts that this year’s target will be met.

Mint Leong, secretary-general of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, said: “To maximise yield with a reduced budget, Tourism Malaysia should target key markets that can bring revenue to the country, such as China and India. We should implement visa-free travel for tourists from both countries as these are good markets with a big population of middle and high net income individuals.”

Arokia Das, senior manager at Luxury Tours Malaysia advocates Tourism Malaysia to have dialogues with the travel trade on what will sell. “With inputs from industry players, there can be a more holistic approach for promotions going forward,” he said.

Ally Bhoonee, executive director at World Avenues, meanwhile, urges the Malaysian NTO to conduct more B2B roadshows in key markets while adopting a more stringent approach with mega fam trips to optimise funds.

He remarked: “What’s happening now is that agency bosses are extending the invitations to junior staff instead. Some of them do not speak English and they don’t know the product. How will they go back and sell Malaysia? We need to bring in decision makers and product managers who can feature the destination in their brochures and websites.”

GLOBAL research agency GFK and the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) have struck a partnership together to introduce a uniformed reporting currency to the travel industry.

With the agreement in place, participating AFTA members will now contribute to a weekly, consolidated, forward-bookings measurement using the GfK Travelscan business tool.

“We’re delighted to be working with AFTA to introduce a new travel industry market currency to Australia”, said Gwenno Hopkin, general manager of Gfk Australia. “The Gfk Travelscan product is already established in Europe and is being rolled-out throughout APAC,” added Hopkin.

Jayson Westbury, CEO of AFTA, believes that “as the travel agency community becomes more self-sufficient and less reliant on government in this industry-regulated environment”, travel data will be important to help sustain and establish good travel agents across Australia.

“I encourage all travel agency owners to get involved in this industry-wide initiative and to be part of sharing data with Gfk”, he said.