THE minister of tourism, culture and environment Sabah, Masidi Manjun has requested the federal government to rethink imposing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – enforced nationwide on April 1 at six per cent – on domestic flights in Sabah and Sarawak in order to encourage domestic tourism.

The move is supported by the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA). Its vice president (inbound) Tan Kok Liang, said in a release: “In particular, people in Sabah and Sarawak will feel the burden of the GST since air transportation is considered an essential mode of public transportation.

“In addition, East Malaysians travel to West Malaysia for essential travelling such as education, employment, medical purposes and on a need-to basis.”

He said subjecting students to GST for air travel between east and west Malaysia will be a burden to them as there is no alternative public mode of transportation.

“Domestic tourism will be affected, particularly for Sabah and Sarawak where more than 70 per cent of tourists arrive by air. Imposing six per cent GST on domestic flights will cause them to be more costly (on a per-kilometre basis) compared to international flights. Domestic travellers are arguably more price sensitive than international ones.

“This is a clear-cut case of policy makers implementing policies without appropriate consultation with stakeholders. We hope the formal request by the state government of Sabah will be considered positively.”

JAPAN’S civil aviation agency has provisionally lifted a ban preventing Thai airlines from making charter flights to Japan from April 11 to May 31, revealed Thai transport minister Prajin Junthong at a news conference last Friday.

An ICAO audit on the Thai aviation sector last month revealed “significant safety concerns” in the sector, spurring Japan and South Korea to bar new flights from a number of Thai airlines.

Airlines such as Thai Airways, NokScoot and Jet Asia Airways had been included in the ban, with some 120,000 Thai passengers expected to be affected.

With the temporary lifting of the ban, Thai airlines are not allowed to change the type of aircraft they have indicated they will operate. Scheduled flights to Japan will continue to run as normal, reported Reuters.

PLANS to open integrated resorts that bring together casinos, hotels and a range of other leisure facilities in Japan have been stalled after a bill to legalise gambling failed to gain sufficient backing in parliament.

Supporters of the proposal had planned to submit it to the Diet before the April 1 start of the new fiscal year, but disagreement within the ruling coalition led to its withdrawal.

Analysts say the withdrawal is a major blow to the gaming sector.

“The operators had set a target of opening the casinos before the Olympics (in Tokyo in 2020), but they needed to have the legislation passed in this session of the Diet,” Hiroshi Okubo, head of research at CBRE, told TTG Asia e-Daily.

“That chance has now gone and it does not look as if they are going to be able to meet that deadline.”

The Odaiba waterfront district of Tokyo, Okinawa and the Mishima area of Osaka have been mooted as development sites. The company behind the Las Vegas Sands casino has even made a mock-up of the planned property on Tokyo Bay.

Casinos are still illegal in Japan, but the central government has for some years been considering amending the relevant laws to promote gambling. The intention is to attract more foreign tourists and to create a new source of tax revenues.

Japan has set a target of 20 million visitors a year by 2020, with prime minister Shinzo Abe even going on record with an ambitious objective of 30 million a year by 2030, the key driver being casinos that would lure gamblers away from Macau and Singapore.

INDONESIA’S Ministry of Transportation has budgeted Rp71 trillion (US$5.4 billion) to develop airports around Indonesia over the next five years.

Targeting to open an annual average of 15 new airports, these airports will be located in natural disaster hazard areas, remote destinations, and bordering cities and towns.

There are also plans to upgrade existing airports and extend runways.

Speaking at the opening of Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair in Jakarta last Friday, director general of air transportation, Suprasetyo, said: “The number of Indonesian air passenger traffic between 2010 and 2014 totalled 335 million with an average annual growth of 15 per cent.”

“This is considered moderate compared to the potential size of the market. The lack of infrastructure has been identified as the hampering factor.”

This year alone, the government is allotting Rp11 trillion for airport development in hazard areas such as Sabang and Nias.

Suprasetyo added that the government is working on more G2G agreements to improve accessibility with regional and international destinations, and would open 217 pioneering routes in 28 provinces this year.

THE three-day Travel Revolution rivalling the well-established NATAS fair opened last Friday, welcoming 76,000 visitors and planning its second fair in 2H2015.

Travel Revolution was organised by 24 key outbound agencies including Chan Brothers Travel, CTC Travel, Dynasty Travel and SA Tours, which pulled out of the NATAS travel fairciting issues such as high booth rental costs and lacklustre publicity efforts.

Held at Marina Bay Sands, the inaugural free-entry fair brought together more than 70 exhibitors in a 17,000m² space. According to its spokesman Alicia Seah, the overall sales figure is expected to reach approximately S$100 million (US$74 million).

Seah told TTG Asia e-Daily: “This is definitely a boost of confidence, and moving forward we have strong interest to stage the next fair for the second half of the year. We will continue to provide free entrance and reduce rental and operating costs to exhibitors.”
The three-day NATAS fair held earlier last month at the Singapore Expo had offered 92 exhibitors and attracted 55,200 visitors.

While still hopeful for a one-fair resolution, NATAS spokesman Gregory Tan, said: “We are currently in discussions with them (Travel Revolution organising agencies). We hope that we can work together as a family again.”

SUSAN Teng, a veteran who helped nurture the Singapore outbound and wellness market, died last Friday, but her indomitable spirit lives as peers described how she continued to care for the industry while battling cancer to the end.

“Even when she was at her death bed, she was concerned about the NATAS Travel Fair. I have lost a dear friend in the battle against cancer. She will always be remembered by friends as a champion for the travel and spa industries,” said Patricia Auyeong, CEO, Tourism Management Institute of Singapore.

Teng worked for more than 20 years as managing director of Worldwide Honey Tours and was best remembered as a consultant who forayed into spa and wellness travel when the sector was up-and-coming. As president of Spa & Wellness Association Singapore since April 2012, she introduced the first spa insurance scheme for consumer protection, spa accreditation by Casetrust and sat on the advisory panel of Singapore Polytechnic to launch a diploma course on fitness and wellness.

She was also chairman of the outbound committee of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) for over 11 years from March 2003 to April 2014.

Said Robin Yap, president, Travel Corporation Asia: “Susan fought a courageous battle against her illness. We rallied each other in the past 10 years against cancer and l lost a strong pillar of strength in Susan Teng following her passing. The travel industry also lost a passionate leader who served as chairperson outbound NATAS for over 11 years and stepped down only in 2014. I visited her at Assisi Hospice recently and took comfort that she had fought a good battle and was no longer in pain.”

Auyeong agreed: “Susan was a fighter and she won’t give up without a good fight. She was also known for her determination and strength. Despite her pain and suffering when battling cancer, she continued to devote herself to her work and never complained or showed any sign of weakness. Susan didn’t lose hope when the doctors told her there was nothing much they could do for her. She then went to Taiwan and Hungary to seek alternative treatments.”

Former NATAS CEO, Renton de Alwis, said: “She was a good friend and stood by me with strong belief in a change process we drove in my NATAS days. She kept in touch all these years on Facebook and a true Spa Lady she was. I send my deepest condolences to her family from Sri Lanka.”

TTG Asia would like to extend our deepest condolences to the children and family of the late Susan Teng.

TTG Asia eDaily will be taking a break tomorrow, April 3. Have a Good Friday and Blessed Easter!

TRAVEL companies in Vietnam have been left in limbo after hearing news reports but no official confirmation that thousands of flights could be delayed in the coming months due to runway repairs at key airports.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) will proceed with repairs at key airports from April 10 to June 25, which could see around 80 flights cut and 10,000 passengers unable to fly each day at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City alone, local media reported.

Edouard Georges, president, Phoenix Voyages, said the authorities have neither consulted the trade on the issue nor made an official announcement. “We had to find out from the media,” he said. “It seems that the decision is not firm yet and is still under consideration by the CAAV.”

Andy Carroll, global head of sales and marketing, Exotic Voyages, confirmed the lack of official notification. “Until now, we have only received one confirmation that the airport in Pleiku in the Central Highlands will undergo comprehensive repair. Cat Bi airport (in Hai Phong) will also be upgraded to international standard; hopefully that will facilitate travellers to Halong Bay,” he said.

“We have not received any formal updates that maintenance at other airports will be done this summer. There are obviously concerns and uncertainties going on within the industry right now, but we will try to keep up with the latest news so that unwanted problems for our clients are avoided, or at least minimised.”

Georges said the closures are due to take place during low season, meaning the impact on inbound travel should not be overly significant. However, they will leave operators out of pocket.

He said: “If it happens, we will have to reorganise several trips and as usual it will be at our own cost. It (the overall impact) will depend on how fast the airlines react in reorganising their schedules.”

Update: The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has announced that it said it will not approve a proposal for the maintenance of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, according toThanh Nien News.

CRITERIA surrounding government meetings organised on non-government premises were finally clarified by the Indonesian government, which today issued official guidelines for such events.

The Ministry of State Apparatus and Bureaucratic Reform last November issued a circular that limited government agencies to holding meetings within government-owned spaces in a bid to reduce costs.

Hotels, a main beneficiary of this segment of meetings, saw business drop drastically in the immediate aftermath.

But in a press conference yesterday, Yuddy Chrisnandi, minister of state apparatus and bureaucratic reform, said: “Meetings outside government offices can be done selectively (but) they need to meet certain criteria based on effectiveness and efficiency.

“These meetings must be accounted for, monitored and controlled.”

The minister said meetings held at external venues must produce clear results, through transcripts of the meeting, reports and a list of all attendees, signed by the official in charge.

National and regional government agencies must also come up with further terms, conditions and standard operating procedures to perform such evaluations.

Yuddy expects the new guideline would address the grievances of the hotel industry, and hoteliers that TTG Asia e-Daily spoke have responded positively.

Don Tiganov, e-commerce marketing manager, Lombok Raya Hotel, lauded the move, saying: “We learned earlier that the government would revoke the regulation. As soon as it was in the news, we started to receive inquiries from government agencies for meetings in our hotels.”

Tiganov anticipates new bookings as a direct result.

Vivi Herlambang, director of sales, marketing & business development of Sahid International Hotel Management & Consultant, said: “We unofficially heard about the new directive last month and managed to convince some government agencies to book with our hotels.

“The official announcement has made us more confident of the business coming back, although not as big as it was before.”

She pointed out that besides the more stringent regulations, government offices have cut meeting budgets significantly for this year and all additional budget approvals would require time for parliament to clear.