SPURRED by the EU’s recent decision to lift its ban on Philippine carriers, the Philippines is now keen to court travellers from France and Spain.

The Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) will be bidding for a marketing representative for France and Spain as part of its programme to intensify marketing and promotions in these small but fast-growing European source markets.

“They are important markets for us, with France the third biggest European market (after the UK and Germany),” said Verna Buensuceso, officer in charge of the DoT’s market development group.

Arrivals from France grew 21.7 per cent year-on-year to 22,814 in January-May this year, now comprising one per cent of total arrivals.

Neighbouring Spain also grew impressively by 28 per cent to 9,305 arrivals during the same period to account for a 0.4 per cent market share, riding high on the success of the first-ever Madrid Fusion Manila in April, which will again be hosted by the Philippine capital next year.

Buensuceso said that after participating in Spain’s FITUR early this year, the Philippines will also join IFTM Top Resa, France’s biggest travel fair, in September.

MALAYSIA Airports Holdings (MAB) has given its assurance that klia2’s terminal, apron and taxiways are safe for operations, in light of differential settlement issues affecting the airport’s foundation.

“Safety is of utmost priority for us at MAB and we adhere to a very stringent regulatory regime by the Department of Civil Aviation, in accordance to the ICAO standards and recommended practices,” Malaysia Airports said in a statement yesterday.

According to the release, klia2’s apron and taxiway is experiencing differential settlement, which can cause ponding and depression issues. However, of the airport’s total 1,480,000m2 space, only 2.3 per cent of it is affected, said the statement.

MAB was responding to Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s group CEO’s earlier remarks that the airport needed to be fixed.

“We should have let the ground settle, fix it and then moved,” said Fernandes in a report by New Straits Times on July 28.

In the same report, Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia, had said: “It is a struggle to operate from klia2. The best thing is really to find a permanent solution that will address all the issues that we are facing. From what we understand, the issues will continue to be there for the next few years…maybe another 10 years or so.”

But MAB said it had received all required safety certifications prior to the opening of klia2, and that “a Joint Inspection Committee is the proper platform for the airport stakeholders to raise and resolve any operational issues including the update on the rectification works”.

TRAVEL commerce service provider Travelport has signed an exclusive deal with Radius Travel, a global TMC whose 70 members span the likes of India’s Cox & King, China’s Ctrip and the UK’s Portman Travel.

The partnership is established to boost mutual sales growth and to better serve the global corporate travel market, according to a joint statement.

As part of the agreement with Travelport, Radius Travel members will have access to productivity tool Travelport Smartpoint, merchandising system Travelport Rich Content and Branding, as well as application programming interface Universal API.

In addition, Radius members will be able to utilise Travelport Booking Feed, a corporate data source management solution; eNett Virtual Account Numbers, Travelport’s automated electronic payment solution; and Travelport’s exclusive hotel content.

DESPITE levelling global airfare prices, increased business travel demand is driving significant airfare increases in six hotspots, among which four are in Asia-Pacific.

These findings come from the 2016 Global Travel Price Outlook, a study from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), and travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT).

While airline fees are set to be nearly flat on a global basis due to significantly lower energy prices, steady increases in capacity and stable demand, Singapore, India, China and Australia are seeing a projected growth in price.

Singapore is projected to see a gain of three per cent, the highest in Asia-Pacific, due to lower energy prices and a less restrictive monetary policy. Following closely behind would be China, Australia and India with 2.8 per cent, 2.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent increases respectively.

Other hotspots projected to see price increases are Colombia and Mexico.

Asia-Pacific will also see hotel prices rise by three per cent — led by Singapore, Japan and Australia.

Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific is expected see a five per cent increase in cost per attendee per day and an 11 per cent increase in group size, driven by strong demand from China and India.

THAILAND’S flagship carrier, Thai Airways International (THAI), will be undergoing further overhaul as operations continue to get streamlined, according to a report from the Bangkok Post.

Loss-making flights from Bangkok to Los Angeles and Rome will be suspended while frequency on the highly competitive Bangkok-Kolkata route will be halved to one daily. More than 1,400 jobs will also undergo voluntary retirement this year.

Meanwhile, routes to Hyderabad, Changsha and Luang Prabang will be relegated to its THAI Smile unit, a LCC which operates smaller-body aircraft.

However, THAI will be doubling frequencies to London and Frankfurt, each to twice daily, in an attempt to capitalise on its more popular routes.

The 55-year-old national carrier had suffered losses of 15.6 billion baht (US$4.5 billion) last year, but has since managed to make a comeback, posting profits of 4.5 billion baht in the first quarter of 2015.

INDIA and Russia have been highlighted as the two markets with the strongest growth potential for Vietnam’s tourism sector, according to Hoang Tuan Anh, Vietnam’s culture, sports and tourism minister.

The ministry had organised an Indian fam trip to Vietnam and welcomed a Bollywood film crew. Vietnam also had a presence at the GES Trade and Services Exhibition and will be attending the upcoming PATA Travel Mart 2015 in India.

As for Russia, Vietnam will continue to participate in the main international travel marts such as MITT and Intour Market, as well as organise familiarisation and press trips.

Danang has also been identified as an emerging destination in Vietnam and policies have been implemented to boost infrastructural development, construction of high-end luxury hotels and the cultivation of new tourism products.

“Vietnam has been strengthening investment attraction into tourism development with a variety of projects related to infrastructures, facilities, human resources and sustainable tourism,” said Hoang.

“All projects are strictly oriented to sustainability development and community benefits,” he added.

The Vietnamese government is also taking action to redress the country’s strict visa rules. Visa exemptions currently apply to 13 countries, including Russia, Belarus, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain, as well as for all ASEAN countries.

It has also implemented a visa exemption for international tourists to Phu Quoc Island for a period of 30 days.