DUBAI’S Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) is conducting its biggest fam trip to date for 430 Indian tour operators from December 6-9.

The trip will include day-long business presentations by the NTO and key inbound stakeholders, as well as direct interface with several popular tourism attractions.

It will also comprise city tours; a desert dining experience at Bab al Shams; tented lunch at Atlantis, the Palm; al fresco dinner on the lawns of Jumeirah Beach Hotel; dhow cruise and dinner at Dubai Marina; as well as a visit to Lost Chamber aquarium and Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates, among others.

Tour operators from 14 Indian cities are participating in the fam. The hotels hosting them include Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Waldorf Astoria and the Atlantis, all located at the Palm, the premier hospitality area of Dubai.

P P Khanna, director, Diplomatic Travel Point, said: “Dubai is growing as a destination for Indians and its positioning as a family leisure destination has swelled considerably, reflecting growth of 10 per cent, year-on-year.

“I expect the destination to grow by 15-20 per cent if the prices are rationalised, in keeping with other competing destinations that Indians frequently travel to.”

Marc Bennett, senior vice president, international operations of DTCM, said: “This is the right time to intensify our promotional efforts in India. We are planning training programmes in 20 Indian languages, other than English, to educate our partners in the Indian travel trade about new products, venues and attractions that Dubai believes will be interesting to the Indian traveller.”

A roadshow to promote cruise tourism, encouraged by the new 90-day multiple-entry visas and 386,083 cruise tourists in 2013, will be held in four Indian cities next week.

Sanjay Maniar, managing director, Travelaid, said: “The shopping and food festivals are big draws for Indians, while family entertainment is already working well for our outbound market. New experiences, like the three imminent theme parks, will enhance our itineraries for Dubai.”

India is the second largest source market for Dubai, clocking 888,835 visitors in 2013.

CHANGI Airport Group (CAG) last Friday broke ground for the construction of Jewel Changi Airport, a mixed-use complex featuring attractions, retail offerings, a hotel and facilities for airport operations.

Jewel is a result of the joint venture, Jewel Changi Airport Trustee, between CAG and CapitaMalls Asia. It will be developed in front of Terminal 1 (T1).

It will dedicate about 22,000m² of indoor space for plants, comprising the five-storey garden Forest Valley, four different gateway Gardens each featuring unique landscaping elements, and the 40m high indoor waterfall Rain Vortex.

Additionally, the top level will feature 13,000m² of park space comprising gardens, walking trails, playgrounds and dining outlets.

The ground-breaking ceremony also marked the start of expansion works for T1, which will be carried out alongside Jewel’s construction.

INTERNATIONAL arrivals in Europe has increased compared to the previous year, helped by the growth in longhaul markets, according to the Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer produced by European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys.

In 3Q2014, all international source markets grew five per cent year-on-year, mostly driven by longhaul travellers (up nine per cent), while the intra-European market (standing for 62 per cent of all arrivals in Europe) grew a modest two per cent.

Outstanding performers were China and the Middle East. While Ramadan’s end was the key trigger for arrivals from the Middle East, the Chinese increase had been constant in the quarter.

Specifically, Asia and the Oceania regions grew a collective 14 per cent, while the Middle East grew an astounding 21 per cent.

The top three cities in terms of volume remained London, Paris and Istanbul, while four Spanish cities jumped to the top 10 in terms: Valencia, Seville, Palma de Mallorca and Madrid.

SINGAPORE, Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong have very high smartphone and mobile internet penetration, according to the JAPAC Traveller Report 2014 released by location intelligence company AdNear.

Based on a survey conducted with more than one million users across 12 airports in nine countries during the months of April, May and June, the report shows Singapore travellers as the most active mobile users, ranking first at 87 per cent for smartphone and 64 per cent for mobile Internet penetration, followed by Malaysia at 80 per cent and 58 per cent), Australia at 75 per cent and 59 per cent) and Hong Kong at 62 per cent and 67 per cent.

Singapore travellers also spent an average of 97 minutes on their mobile devices at Changi Airport – the highest across Japan and Asia-Pacific, along with recording the highest percentage of repeat travellers.

Other key findings of the survey include:
– Australia has the highest per user engagement at the airports while India has the lowest;
– India, Malaysia and Indonesia have the highest percentage of user engagement at airports;
– India has the highest percentage of one-time travellers and the lowest for female traveller engagement; and
– Japan has the highest percentage engagement in 16-24 age group travellers.

Due to increasing competition and with more users now shifting towards smartphones, the penetration is expected to grow, which is in turn expected to increase the mobile ad spend over the coming years.

More comprehensive information on the report findings is available at www.adnear.com.

THE Asia Pacific Network on Accessible Tourism (APNAT) will soon see the establishment of country chapters, which would help champion barrier-free travel for all people with disabilities in the region.

Agreed upon at the recently concluded 5th International Conference on Accessible Tourism, APNAT itself was initiated in response to recommendations from participants who attended the first South-east Asia Conference on Accessible Tourism in 2012.

It is in the process of being registered as an association and will be headquartered in Malaysia.

Sia Siew Chin, protem committee chairman of APNAT, said: “Through APNAT, we would like to be able to reach out to governments, people in the tourism industry and service providers to provide for the access needs of everyone in society, in particular people with disabilities.”

Saowalak Thongkuay, regional coordinator for Abilis Foundation Mekong, said: “APNAT gives us a strong and collective voice to negotiate with governments to include accessible tourism into their development agenda.

“For example, under the ASEAN Economic Community, accessible tourism is not included in the agenda.”

Speakers at the conference also urged governments and private sectors to woo seniors and tourists with disabilities through an unbroken chain of accessibility from arrival to departure.

Annagrazia Laura, president of European Network for Accessible Tourism, stressed that providing barrier-free environment means that from arrival to departure, the visitor must be guaranteed an unbroken and seamless chain of accessibility.

She said: “If just one link in the chain is broken, such as inaccessible monuments and tourist attractions, the holiday experience will be spoilt.”

The four essentials in the tourism value chain include information to make bookings, transportation, infrastructure at tourism attractions and services such as tech-aids and special assistance.

According to the World Health Organisation report in 2011, 15 per cent of the world’s population have a disability, more than one million have special needs and about 80 per cent of such people live in developing countries.

Joseph Kwan, chair, International Commission on Technology & Accessibility, Rehabilitation International, said: “Once governments realise that people with disabilities and the senior market are a sizable population with disposable incomes to spend and can contribute significantly to foreign exchange earnings, employment generation and social inclusion, they will be more willing to act, to create barrier-free travel for all.”

Kwan stressed the importance of governments to do audits on the current status of tourism accessibility in order to develop policies and plans regarding accessibility and human rights.

THE travel trade is optimistic that ailing national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will turn around under the leadership of the newly appointed CEO-designate for MAS NewCo, Christoph R Mueller.

While Mueller’s contract with Ireland’s Aer Lingus ends May 1, 2015, discussions are ongoing for Mueller to assume the post of CEO prior to that date, but no earlier than March 1, 2015. MAS NewCo plans to commence operations on July 1, 2015.

Mueller’s role will be challenging, given that MAS were dealt two back-to-back blows earlier this year – one flight’s disappearance and another’s downing over Ukraine. The airline also posted net losses of RM576.1 million (US$165.98 million) in Q3.

Adam Kamal, deputy president 2 of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, said: “Mueller is the first foreign CEO at the helm. I think we need someone with an international perspective. Hopefully the government will give him a free hand to perform his duties and turn the airline around.

“Industry players are still comfortable using our national carrier due to its all-inclusive fares and wide network. The airline will have no problem getting support from travel consultants.”

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president, Hamzah Rahmat, said: “We expect our national carrier to turn around with Mueller’s vast experience. We want the airline to return to its glory days as soon as possible.”

Malaysian Indian Tour and Travel Association president, K Thangavelu, also said the government and politicians ought to give Mueller a free hand to revamp the airline, “otherwise it will be back to square one.”

Thangavelu pointed out that managing an Asian airline could be very different from Mueller’s current experience because of “differences in tradition, politics and cultures. “He has to adapt very quickly.”

Justifying the choice of candidate, Khazanah said in a statement that Mueller was the best candidate with a strong record of transformation and turnarounds in the aviation industry.

Among his key accomplishments, Mueller has demonstrated particular strength in strategic and financial planning, as well as structural repositioning of companies in difficulties, including implementing change programmes and adopting new technology, distribution and retail solutions decisively.

The line-up of key leadership in NewCo will also include Malaysia Airport Holdings advisor, Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid, as chairman of the Corporate Reskilling Centre scheduled to be launched on April 1, 2015.

VIETJET has announced plans to launch flights connecting Russia’s Vladivostok with Vietnam’s Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Danang, Hue and Phu Quoc.

Inaugural flights between Hanoi and Vladivostok will begin in May 2015, with three round trips per week. The flight duration is approximately four hours.

Passengers travelling from Singapore will also be able to connect to Vladivostok via Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Vietjet offers daily flights from Singapore to HCMC where travellers can easily connect to other cities within Vietnam via the airline’s network of domestic flights.

Daily flights to HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport depart Changi International Airport at 12.40 (local time).

In the near future, Vietjet also plans to expand its flight network from Vietnam to other regions within Russia.

Since Vietjet started operations three years ago, the airline has doubled its commercial fleet, currently operating 25 domestic and international routes.

INSIGHT Vacations has appointed Signature Tours by Creative Travel the general sales agent for its Europe and US escorted tours.

Signature Tours, established in 2009, is the outbound holidays division of India-based DMC Creative Travel. With its appointment, Indian customers will have access to Insight’s luxury travel journeys across 40 European countries.

Insight CEO, John Boulding, said: “We are excited that Signature Tours will come on board as our GSA to help us spread the word for our luxury tours and exciting itineraries for Europe, the Mediterranean, North America and Canada.

Sandeep Kapur, senior vice president, Signature Tours by Creative Travel, said: “The Indian market has many fine players in the outbound space, however Insight Vacations will create a new segment of premium & luxury group travel across Europe and the US, something that is missing from the Indian market so far.

“From Insight’s collection of Gold itineraries, for those looking for a step up in luxury and refinement, to their in-depth regional tours, off-the beaten track Country Road journeys, special interest or gastronomic holidays, we are excited to introduce such a wide range of itineraries and travel styles for our customers who seek authenticity and expert knowledge in their travel experiences.”

Additionally, Bollywood star Lisa Ray, who has Indian and European ancestry, has been appointed the new global brand ambassador for Insight’s Exotics and Gold Collections.

Earlier in October, Insight released its 2015 Europe, Britain, Eastern Mediterranean and Morocco brochure including a luxury collection of Insight Gold escorted journeys. The programme includes four new European Gold itineraries that are, for the first time, all-inclusive of evening dining, sightseeing excursions and Signature experiences.

Early bookers are offered discounts of up to 10 per cent when booking before February 12, 2015.

HOTEL companies are taking a bolder approach in applying new technologies to enhance the guest experience but the industry needs to also stay true to its roots as a service provider, said speakers at this week’s PATAcademy Human Capital Development programme.

Justin Malcolm, general manager of Aloft Bangkok-Sukhumvit 11, shared that the brand has literally rolled out robot butlers at the Cupertino property in Silicon Valley in August this year, and parent company Starwood Hotels and Resorts has begun introducing keyless entry to its W Hotels and Aloft hotels in the region.

Thirty out of 300 rooms at Malcolm’s hotel are categorised as Touch Rooms, coming with Fingi devices that allow keyless entry, control of in-room amenities, connection to guest services, and acts as a local phone number and free wireless hotspot for the traveller who wants to be connected all the time.

PATAcademy, which concluded yesterday, saw a host of speakers talking about possible technologies that could come into play in the next few years, from Beacon technology to wearables to artificial intelligence.

“If you go back 10 years, Starwood was not a technology leader. Most of our hotels were still registering people with hard keys and paper,” said Malcolm.

“But as a company we formed a global centre of excellence two years ago, filled with academics, IT experts, project leaders, and we have a huge stream of project plans in the making, SPG Keyless being one of them. Tech within the hospitality industry has not been tapped. We’re only starting to see what’s coming up.”

However, he cautioned: “We should never get to the stage where we replace human interaction. Technology should enable and make processes that have taken too much effort become seamless, or connect us globally to make us better service providers.”

Sudhir Abdul Rahman, senior vice president, information services, SilverNeedle Hospitality, said the recently opened Next Brisbane hotel also uses the affordable Fingi system to allow express check-ins alongside traditional check-ins and self-service check-in kiosks.

“The variation of business travellers cannot be narrowed down and we cater to all of them,” he said. While SilverNeedle is considering technologies such as facial recognition, Sudhir said hotels have to be tactical about technology and its use.

“We’re active on social media right now but are we getting the mileage out of it? Are we just reacting or are we really engaging with our target audience?”

Other hotels have employed technology to go green. Prasanna Welangoda, senior events and media executive, Jetwing Hotels Sri Lanka, said: “Jetwing Yalla, which opened in January this year, draws 40 per cent of its electricity from solar energy. We focus a lot on going green.”