BESPOKE luxury tour operator Asia to Africa Safaris has broadened its offerings to include expeditions to Latin America and Antarctica, and is reflecting this in a rebranding under the name A2A Safaris.

Helping Asian travellers heed the call of the wild for the last 13 years, A2A spent the last two years working on its Latin American offerings.

Recently appointed managing director of A2A Safaris, Kim Nixon, explained: “A2A started by specialising in tours to Africa and began having clients who would travel with us two to three times. A lot of them began to ask ‘Where else can we go? Where else can you take us?’ And that was the impetus for us to begin featuring Antarctica and Latin America.”

The company will be offering tailored itineraries to these two continents under the sub-brand A2A Journeys, which will be officially launched in Singapore next week.

A2A Journeys’ new website was unveiled on October 13, while a renewed A2A Safaris page is still on the way.

“Until now we didn’t actively try to build partnerships with other travel consultants because of the revenue dilution that comes with paying out a commission,” Nixon said.

“Furthermore retailers were not in a very good position to be reasonably informative about the destination before. But this has since changed and we are looking to establish relationships with specific, owner-run retail companies, those that are not mass market in approach.”

Making A2A Journeys possible is the company’s Latin America specialist, Steph Wetherell. “We’re currently focusing on seven destinations – Mexico, Ecuador, the Galapagos, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Antarctica,” she said.

A2A can arrange visits to iconic Latin American attractions such as the Iguazu Falls in Argentina, Machu Picchu in Peru, Argentina’s wine region Mendoza, Southern Patagonia, as well as expeditions on the Amazon River and round the Antarctic Peninsula via Chile.

A2A’s offices in Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore deliver one-third of the company’s businesses respectively, with a little traffic from Malaysia, Japan and Thailand as well.

Said Nixon: “It’s important to have new channels of revenue, but right now ours is segmented between B2B and B2C. What we are working on right now in Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila is specialised photographic expeditions, reaching top photographers with cult-like networks of supporters and then getting them to promote to their base.”

Asked if incentives are a market A2A is keen to pursue, Nixon added that the company is barely scratching the potential of leisure travel in the region and will thus continue to focus on this.

USE of social media platforms in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) is as diverse as the peoples that populate the region, found the second Social Media Monitor study by Accor Asia Pacific.

Social media has penetrated the holidays of APAC travellers at an average rate of 70 per cent, with China (84 per cent), Vietnam (83 per cent) and Indonesia (82 per cent) being the most active users.

On the other end of the spectrum are travellers from Australia, New Zealand and Japan, with roughly 40 per cent of tourists from these markets using social media on trips.

Across APAC, travellers spend an estimated 2.8 hours per day on social media platforms while tourists from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand interact on social media for about four hours a day.

While results show that social media has penetrated the holidays of APAC travellers, different markets displayed a preference for different types of social media.

Facebook remains the most widely used platform, followed by WhatsApp. Close to half of respondents use Facebook multiple times a day and the Philippines is Facebook’s most ardent supporter in the region.

WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and India, but its position is under threat from other messaging platforms developed in Asia.

WeChat has seen a 13 per cent surge in popularity since last year’s survey, dethroning Sina Weibo as the most used social platform in China where three out of four travellers said they use WeChat multiple times a day.

Line grew by 11 per cent over last year, having found favour in Thailand (71 per cent). It is among the top three most popular networks in Indonesia (33 per cent) and Japan (26 per cent).

Youtube is used by 23 per cent of APAC travellers and Instagram by 11 per cent.

The role of social media through the travel cycle also varies according to market. Travellers from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam use Facebook throughout.

But users from Singapore, Malaysia and India use it for pre-trip search and sharing of experiences post-trip, but turn to WhatsApp during the trip to keep in touch. This mirrors the experience of South Koreans, who use Kakaotalk instead of WhatsApp.

Hong Kong citizens research and plan trips on Facebook and use WhatsApp to share during and after the trip. In China, Sina Weibo is used for research, while WeChat is deployed for sharing purposes.

Accor Asia Pacific’s Social Media Monitor is the product of collaboration with ORC International, surveying over 6,500 travellers from 13 countries in the region.

LUXURY Travel and cruise company Huong Hai Ha Long launched Emperor Cruises last month, which will start first cruises in Nha Trang by mid-2015.

Emperor Cruises operates a fleet comprising of five 32-pax small cruise boats in the Nha Trang Bay vicinity. A Junk Boat will also start offering day cruises inclusive of cocktails and dinner, as well as charters from February.

From June, overnight luxury cruises will be launched on the first of Emperor Cruises’ five ships, accommodating 36 people in 18 en-suite cabins.

Nha Trang is renown for its scenic landscapes, clear waters and lush islets, and is steadily gaining tourist arrivals with international brands such as Marriott and Hyatt coming soon to the area.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Khanh Hoa Province, over three million tourists visited Nha Trang and its surrounding attractions in 2013, an increase of 29 per cent compared to 2012.

Emperor Cruises aims to own a fleet of 10 boats, and carry between 300 and 500 passengers a day.

It will make its first international appearance next week at ITB Asia.

WYNDHAM Hotel Group is honing in on the midscale segment in India, with 10 more hotels to open by mid-2017.

The new properties will be located in Gurgaon and Greater Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai, Darjeeling, Jaisalmer, Pali, Loneer, Dharmapuri and Trivandrum. This adds over 1,000 rooms across brands like Howard Johnson, Ramada Encore, Days Inn and Planet Hollywood.

Deepika Arora, regional vice president-Indian Ocean, Wyndham Hotel Group, explained: “There is certain improvement in the economic scenario; the midscale market is looking up after facing a prolonged period of financial instability.

“The hospitality segment is looking bullish with the new government and the list of incentives it has promised to provide to investors. Additionally, the commercial returns are faster in the mid-market level in India, so we’re venturing mainly to capitalise on this niche segment.”

Rakesh Lamba, New Dehli-based hospitality consultant, said: “Mid-market hotels in Tier 2 cities are ideal as they record higher ARR, and much better proportional RevPAR than most luxury hotels in metro cities.”

Wyndham currently has 24 hotels with 2,500 keys in India and 3,500 more rooms in the pipeline. It opened a Howard Johnson property in Bengaluru earlier this month.

AIRASIA has announced it would be pioneering the Kuala Lumpur-Naypyidaw route ahead of the 25^th ASEAN Summit next month.

Beginning November 10, the LCC will run daily flights to the Myanmar capital. its second destination in the country.

Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group, commented in a press statement: “As a ‘Truly ASEAN’ airline, we are committed to connecting communities in this region, and establishing direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to the burgeoning capital of Naypyidaw is apt as it grows as the capital, as well as a new destination for visitors to discover.”

He added that “we are proud to be the only airline that flies you direct to Naypyidaw from Kuala Lumpur, providing the ASEAN community with more options to travel to Naypyidaw”.

Flights depart Kuala Lumpur at 13.50 and touch down in Naypyidaw at 15.25. Return flights leave Naypyidaw at 15.55 and arrive in the Malaysian capital at 20.35.

In conjunction with the new flight, AirAsia has rolled out an offer for Kuala Lumpur-Naypyidaw flights starting from RM169 (US$51.50) including taxes and fees.

These special fares are open for booking from now until November 2, 2014 for travel between November 10 and December 7, 2014.