WITH an aim to help Myanmar’s tourism service providers create new and innovative products in order to compete with other destinations, the UK-funded Business Innovation Facility (BIF), with the support of Union of Myanmar Travel Association, recently held a seminar in Yangon offering related training and funding.

Two key activities required to enhance the competitiveness of the sector in Myanmar were announced at the seminar.

The first was a training programme in innovative product development that BIF will offer in May, covering innovative product design, marketing, finance and pricing, conflict sensitivity results management.

The second announcement pertained to a funding opportunity – up to US$450,000 over 2015 and 2016 – through the Package and Product Innovation Competition scheduled for June and July.

Companies can apply for up to US$20,000 to be spent within the tourist seasons, with the maximum award up to half the project cost for a new product that meets BIF’s criteria.

Winners will be expected to continue to offer and expand the product on a commercial basis following the piloting, and to provide sufficient information for BIF to be able to stimulate the market for others to develop innovative products.

MALAYSIA is stepping up promotional activities in other South Asian markets beyond India to increase tourist arrivals from the region.

As per the latest statistics of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, arrivals from Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan are growing, albeit from a small base.

Between January and October 2014, arrivals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal recorded a year-on-year increase of 54.1 per, 18.7 per cent and 12.7 per cent respectively, although Sri Lanka slipped a marginal 2.2 per cent. Indian tourist arrivals grew 20.7 per cent year-on-year to reach 643,335.

The NTO is targeting 1.2 million tourists from South Asia, including 800,000 tourist arrivals from India, this year.

On the sidelines of a press conference to promote Malaysia Year of Festivals (MYFest 2015) yesterday, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board deputy director general (promotion), Azizan Noordin, revealed: “We will step up our trade and consumer promotional activities in these markets this year through tactical advertising with travel consultants and airlines as well as fam trips for the consultants and media.”

The board’s director, Manoharan Periasamy, added: “We are recording a good incentive movement from Pakistan. Our plan is to participate in all the tradeshows in markets like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We will intensify our joint marketing campaigns with travel consultants to showcase Malaysia as a family and business destination.”

Meanwhile, the board is also looking to organise a luxury travel mart in India in 2H2015 to promote the concept of affordable luxury in Malaysia among Indian travellers. About 25 suppliers from Malaysia are expected to participate in the travel mart.

The board has embarked on a sales mission since yesterday covering New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad until February 17, to create awareness for MyFest2015. Twelve to 14 activities under MyFest2015, pertaining to shopping, sports and culture are being promoted.

QATAR Airways is reportedly considering halting its daily services from Doha to three airports in Japan in a dispute over the timing of its arrival and departure slots.

A source claimed the airline is in “the final stages of deliberations” on withdrawing its flights to Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, as well as its service to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, Reuters reported.

“This is due to the restrictive policies over slot timings and runway limitations that prohibit the airline from operating at timings that provide economic benefits and optimal connectivity for passengers,” said the source.

When contacted by TTG Asia e-Daily in Tokyo and Doha, the airline declined to comment on the reports.

Restrictions on airlines’ access to slots at Japanese airports have long been a concern for the industry, even after the massive expansion of Haneda Airport.

“There are very strict regulations on airport slots here, with part of the problem the capacity of air traffic control to handle flights in and out of Japanese airports,” Geoffrey Tudor, an analyst for Japan Aviation Management Research, told TTG Asia e-Daily.

“Qatar Airlines is a fairly recent addition to the airlines serving Japan and there is substantial competition with other Middle Eastern airlines coming here,” he said, adding that airlines in the region have become increasingly popular as transit hubs for passengers travelling between the Far East and Europe.

Other airlines have long been calling for improved access to the most convenient – and therefore most popular and lucrative – slots at Japanese airports, which they claim are preferentially allocated to domestic giants Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways to a degree that is unfair.

“The majority of airport slots are allocated very conservatively and are subject to a lot of local pressure,” said Tudor, pointing out that Tokyo’s Narita Airport is subject to a curfew between 23.00 and 6.00 due to concerns over noise pollution affecting nearby residents.

CEBU Pacific has been given the go-ahead to serve its first longhaul destination, Rome, and the travel trade hopes its transition from a budget to hybrid carrier will lure the much-coveted European tourists into the Philippines.

Said Gigi Barcia, general manager, TravelSerivces: “Initially, a majority of the passengers will be overseas Filipino workers, but eventually if its performance is good, it will pick up for foreign tourists as well.”

Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board, told TTG Asia e-Daily today: “Yes, Cebu Pacific is given the authority to fly to Rome, subject to compliance with all requirements.”

The board had originally intended to decide at its February 23 board meeting whether to grant the airline’s application to take seven of the 14 weekly flights to Italy that were given to, but not being used, by Philippine Airlines (PAL).

PAL’s new management had earlier said it will hold plans to fly to Rome and Milan. PAL’s Manila-London service, which started in November 2013, is currently the only direct flight to Europe from Manila.

Kristine Mariano, sales and marketing supervisor, Amkor Travel and Tours, said the advantage of having a longhaul LCC is the reasonable airfares, especially as “not all European foreigners can afford to travel longhaul to the Philippines”.

Eugene Tamesis, director of sales and marketing, Fairmont Makati and Raffles Makati, agreed: “Even if this is a budget airline connection, it still is a direct flight which can only benefit the Philippines as a destination, and pave the way for other airlines to follow, depending on the success of Cebu Pacific.

“With very limited direct flights to and from Europe, this will open up new potential source markets for the Philippines.”

He added that the service will be a good springboard from Europe to Manila, as observed through Cebu Pacific’s connectivity in Asia that made it easier for European travellers to visit the Philippine islands.

However, industry sources also hope that Cebu Pacific will not be overbooked, as it did during the high Christmas season last year, causing flight delays and cancellations that forced the government to slap the carrier with a 52 million pesos (US$1.2 million) penalty.

Also on their wishlist is that transit passengers to Rome will be allowed to embark even for a few hours without a transit visa. Cebu Pacific had encountered problems with its new Australian flight because the Philippines has no internal agreement with Australia that allows transit passengers at Sydney’s airport.

This story was updated on February 10, 2015 upon our receipt of the confirmation that Cebu Pacific has indeed been granted permission to fly to Rome.

CHINA’S north-eastern city of Nanchang yesterday welcomed the launch of a new Shangri-La property.

Located on the west bank of the Ganjiang River in Honggutan, the new central business district, the 473-room Shangri-La Hotel, Nanchang is a five-minute stroll from Qiushui Square and within 30 minutes’ drive to the train station and Changbei International Airport.

The guestrooms and suites, ranging from 45m² to 149m², are equipped with in-room entertainment and free Wi-Fi, while the Horizon Club Lounge offers express check-in and check-out, complimentary breakfast buffet and evening cocktails, and full concierge service.

The private space on level 32 is designed with commanding 180-degree vistas and an airy outdoor terrace.

F&B outlets include the all-day dining Café Hong, Chinese restaurant Zi Yu Xuan offering eight separate dining rooms for private functions, and the Lobby Lounge featuring sweet and savoury options, as well as live entertainment for informal meetings.

Recreational facilities span a multi-purpose gym, 25m indoor pool, Jacuzzi, steam and sauna room, beauty salon and spa.

The 3,880m² of event space for up to 1,800 guests includes a pillarless grand ballroom attached to an expansive foyer with a river view, a junior ballroom and five other function rooms.

WYNDHAM Worldwide Hotel Group has officially entered Myanmar following the inking of an MoU early this month with Asia Myanmar Shining Star Company, a joint company of Yangon-based Asia Myanmar Consortium Development Company and Hong Kong-based Shining Star Investment Company.

Under the agreement, the five-star Wyndham Grand Yangon Royal Lake Hotel will be part of the US$157 million mixed-use Kantharyar Centre Project at the southern fringe of Kandawgyi Lake, said Kyaw Khaing, managing director of Asia Myanmar Consortium Development Company.

Apart from the 258-room hotel, the project also includes a 132-room residence tower, 168-room office tower, serviced apartments and retail centre.

Wyndham Worldwide will be operating the hotel as well as the serviced apartments, said Kyaw Khaing.

He added: “We believe in the management experience of Wyndham Worldwide Hotel Group. We will invest about US$70 million in the hotel. So far, the ground work for Phase 1 is completed and we hope to complete the whole project by 2017.”

Phase 1 includes the completion of the office tower, Phase 2 will include the retail centre and serviced apartments, and Phase 3 will include the hotel and residence tower, he revealed.

MYANMAR’S Ministry of Hotels and Tourism is targeting 2015 arrivals to surpass last year’s over three million visitors, but the trade is urging for a tourism development approach that focuses more on sustainability than numbers.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Nay Pyi Taw last month, tourism minister Htay Aung had said that Myanmar hopes to attract 4.5 to five million tourists this year.

Calling the focus on generating numbers an old-fashioned approach to tourism development, Andrea Valentin, director of Yangon-based NGO Tourism Transparency, said: “The authorities should focus on what they said they would do when they passed the Responsible Tourism Policy in 2012 and the Community-Involved Tourism Policy in 2013.”

Referring to the government’s recent announcement on the construction of 20 new hotel zones nationwide, she said: “Creating high-end luxury hotel zones without meaningful stakeholder consultations with the affected people who will have to make way for such developments stand in direct contrast to the responsible tourism pledge.

“Also, are the tourism infrastructure needs being defined according to what’s needed? Of course we need more and better hotels, but we also need small guesthouses.”

She added that such a development not only benefits merely a small tourism elite, neglecting the needs of people on the ground, but may also lead to over-capacity, which in turn could cause a price war, affecting Myanmar’s image as a unique tourism destination.

“The voices of those directly affected by hotel constructions absolutely need to be taken into account,” she opined.

Concurred Marek Lenarcik, general manager of Thahara: “Focusing on increasing tourism numbers is never a sustainable approach, especially as it seems last year’s three million visitors included all border crossings, even if the visitor spent less than 24 hours in the country.”

He suggested: “The more sustainable approach would include promoting parts of Myanmar as year-round destinations, extending an average length of stay and encouraging investors to develop hospitality services beyond the major destinations.”