THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has released its report on the city-state’s performance for 1H2014, which saw international visitor arrivals dropping three per cent year-on-year to 7.5 million.

Despite this, the market achieved two per cent growth year-on-year in tourism receipts to generate S$11.8 billion (US$9.3 billion), fuelled by an increase in expenditure in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming.

The STB report stated that the decline in visitor numbers was likely due to China’s new tourism law implemented in October 2013. The high-profile incidents of Malaysia Airlines’ MH370, kidnappings in Sabah and political unrest in Thailand, also took a toll on inbound Chinese traffic into the region.

But discounting Chinese tourists, visitor arrivals from other markets grew two per cent between January and June.

Meanwhile, gazetted hotel room revenue posted 9.1 per cent year-on-year growth during the same period, hitting S$1.6 billion.

As for Q2 results, tourism receipts fell three per cent year-on-year to S$5.6 billion and international visitor arrivals dropped six per cent to 3.6 million.

The shrinking in tourism receipts was attributed to lower shopping expenditure from the key markets of China, Indonesia and Malaysia. However, this was offset by growth in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming spend.

Gazetted hotel room revenue posted S$0.8 billion or 5.2 per cent growth in the same quarter.

BANDA Aceh, the capital of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Aceh) will host the 20^th Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) 2014, through which it hopes to further raise its profile on the international stage.

The show will take place from October 23- 26 at Hermes Palace Hotel Banda Aceh.

Esthy Reko Astuti, director general of tourism marketing, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, said: “Aceh has the potential to become a tourist destination, not only because of its proximity to Medan (as a major airline hub for Western Indonesia), but also due to its rich in nature, culture and culinary delights.”

Reza Fahlevi, head of Banda Aceh Culture and Tourism Office, commented: “We expect TIME 2014 to be an important moment for Aceh to develop tourism in the province, and an opportunity for the people of Aceh to get involved in developing the province as an international tourist destination.”

He said that following the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh after the devastating tsunami in 2004, tourism has been growing between 10 and 15 per cent in the last couple of years. Arrivals reached 42,000 last year, with Malaysia, Europe and the US as major source markets.

“With the growing interest in travelling to Aceh, we hope investors will also inject funds for the development of hotels and other tourism-supporting facilities,” Reza added.

Meity Robot, chairman of TIME 2014’s organising committee, said: “So far there are 66 confirmed buyers from 17 countries coming to meet with 60 sellers.”

One-third, or 22, of the sellers are from Aceh.

Attendance is smaller than last year’s event held in Padang, West Sumatra, which saw 83 buyers from 27 countries and 81 sellers.

Ketut Salam, managing director of Pacto Convex, the appointed PCO for TIME 2014, said: “The limited access to Banda Aceh has been an issue for sellers. For example, there is no direct service from (Palembang) to Banda Aceh, so the trade in South Sumatra needs to fly to Jakarta to catch a flight to Aceh.

“Based on the number of sellers, we also limited our number of hosted buyers so that the show maintains its balance between buyers and sellers at a 1.2:1 ratio.”

CHINESE women will have no more reason to fear ‘Big Aunty’ – a euphemism for menstruation – when planning hot spring trips, thanks to a new insurance service offered by the Chinese OTA.

Jointly launched this week by Ctrip.com and women’s health management app Big Aunty, the “women’s care service” insures female travellers who have booked trips to China’s hot springs, allowing them to amend these self-drive itineraries without penalty should their periods coincide with the trip.

Travellers pay a token fee to make a reservation at the hot spring and can choose to buy a standard service for RMB1 (US$0.16) that guarantees refunds for unused admission tickets to the hot spring, while the deluxe edition at RMB2 will ensure a full return of accommodation and hot spring entrance costs, among others.

Consumers need only present a screenshot of the Big Aunty app, which is the sole authentication platform for this service, for verification and refunds.

The service covers more than 1,000 self-drive hot spring itineraries currently, and Ctrip expects the insurance programme to attract even more women to buy hot spring travel in the autumn and winter months via its online portal.

Ctrip’s tourism department marketing director, Dai Yu, said that the service is a first in China, following its insurance on cancellations due to pregnancy and visa issues. It is considering extending the insurance scheme to other activities such as island-hopping, skiing, and diving, and aims to launch special care programmes for senior and child travellers.

Article by Yvonne Chang. Translated by Ong Yanchun from the original TTG China e-Daily, October 15, 2014 article.

UNDER India’s aggressive attempt to regain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) category 1 status, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has commenced the recertification of all Indian carriers prior to the FAA audit scheduled for December.

Air India and Jet Airways, both of which currently fly to the US, are the first to be recertified to ensure they meet standards set by the Air Operators Certification Manual.

This will be followed by the remaining Indian carriers except AirAsia India that was certified in July according to the upgraded norms.

Each airline must submit all manuals and conduct a ‘proving flight’ to demonstrate complete compliance.

The FAA downgraded India to Category 2 in January, barring the country’s airlines from adding new flights to the US or entering new codeshare agreements with US airlines.

DGCA has since beefed up aviation standards to recapture Category 1 status, and now has 35 full-time flight operation inspectors to supervise the 500 aircraft flying in India.

A DGCA spokesperson added: “Aircraft makers and airlines will have to train our officials on any new type of aircraft they bring into the country.”

Rajendra Churiwala, director-eastern region, IATA Agents Association of India, said: “Indian carriers need to resume longhaul flights to US cities and codeshares to be financially viable.”

VIETNAM-BASED carrier VietJet will begin five-times-weekly flights to Taipei on December 12 out of Ho Chi Minh City.

The new service will operate on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Flights depart Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 14.30 local time and touch down in Taipei Songshan Airport three hours and 25 minutes later.

Return flights leave Taipei Songshan Airport at 20.00.

The airline is offering special flights with zero-dollar basic fares for bookings made from October 20-22, for travel from December 12, 2014 to March 27, 2015. Visit www.vietjetair.com.

VietJet started Ho Chi Minh City-Singapore services in May. It also announced earlier this week it would be starting Hanoi-Siem Reap services in November.

A YEAR after its successful transformation to an LCC, Hong Kong Express has grown passenger numbers by 123 per cent and is charting an aggressive expansion strategy.

The airline will add 12 new destinations for 30 in total, while building its fleet from eight to 15 aircraft by end-2015. Daily flights to Tokyo (Narita) will start from December 8.

Deputy CEO Andrew Cowen declined to name the new destinations but explained the airline’s network balances on “three legs” – Greater China, South-east Asia and North Asia. He also mentioned that HK Express prefers to fly to secondary Chinese cities with no existing LCC competition.

Explaining the rationale for the new Tokyo (Narita) service, Cowen said: “Japan has risen as a top destination for Hong Kongers. Our fares are 70 per cent lower than a full-service carrier’s. We have also observed more business travel demand from SMEs in Hong Kong, Macau and cities in the Pearl River Delta. They couldn’t afford to fly to Japan before but our fare enables them to do that.”

He added that the airline’s new initiatives including priority check-ins and pre-booked meals could attract this segment.

Cowen said a new method of payment for customers who do not use credit cards will also come into play before year-end, which allows payments to be automatically deducted from bank accounts.

ACCOR has opened the 266-room Novotel Tangerang, the group’s first Novotel branded property in the Banten area.

Located on top of Tangcity Superblock in Tangerang City, the hotel is expected to cater to family, business and MICE travellers.

Gerard Guillouet, COO, Accor Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said: “Tangerang is the third largest urban centre in the Jabodetabek (Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi) region after Jakarta and Bekasi. The development of Tangerang City and its surrounding infrastructure has brought a positive impact to the hospitality industry.

“Strategically located, only 25 minutes from the airport and providing easy access to Jakarta, the hotel offers (a choice of) accommodation… for all types of travellers visiting the area.”

Guillouet said since the hotel’s soft opening in March with 150 rooms, increasing to the total of 266 rooms recently, Novotel Tangerang has been well accepted in the market. Average occupancy for October is 70 per cent.

“This is in line with the other hotels we operate in Banten, which are running around 80 per cent occupancy,” he said.

Novotel Tangerang joins other Accor hotels in Banten, including Mercure Serpong Alam Sutera, ibis Style Jakarta Airport and ibis Gading Serpong. Ibis Budget Jakarta Airport will be built adjacent to the existing airport hotel and is scheduled to open early 2015.

Meanwhile in Myanmar, Accor also opened the third international brand hotel in the capital, The Lake Garden Nay Pyi Taw, last month.

Part of the MGallery Collection, the hotel is five minutes away from the Myanmar International Convention Centre and 20 minutes from the international airport. It offers 165 rooms, a 250-pax conference room, six meeting rooms and two boardrooms.

THE ASEAN Tourism Security and Safety Resource Centre will be launched next year to provide information on matters concerning disaster management, safety and security.

The online portal, to debut during the ASEAN Tourism Forum held in Naypyidaw in January, will be managed by the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta and will contain standard operating procedures and resources on safety and security such as managing bomb threats, pandemics and natural disasters.

Alexander Kesper, team leader ASEAN – EU Emergency Management Programme, said the materials were a collection of knowledge from ASEAN NTOs and the private sector.

“The information will be available for free on the website to tourism industry players and is meant to be a living project (to be continuously improved upon).”

Explaining that the new ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) brings opportunities as well as risks, Kesper said that when natural disasters occur in one country, it will have an impact on arrivals to other member countries, as South-east Asia is seen as a single region rather than individual countries.

Kesper was speaking yesterday at the one-day PATA Hub City Forum in Kuala Lumpur, which discussed the impact of AEC on regional tourism.

AEC2015 will transform the region into a single market and production base and, by 2016, open labour flows of skilled tourism professionals within South-east Asia under the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals initiative.

ASEAN authorities, however, are still working on concerns regarding the MRA.

Ong Hong Peng, secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia, said a framework has to be put in place before the MRA is introduced.

The MRA comprises 32 job titles under six divisions (housekeeping, front office, food production, F&B services, travel consultants and tour operators) but ASEAN NTOs are still discussing “what levels will be open”, said Ong.

Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of tourism and culture, Malaysia, said in his keynote address: “Measures to enhance the capacity and capability of tourism industry players are being implemented to address the risk of brain drain.”

Meanwhile, the regional secretariat for the implementation of MRA will be established in Indonesia next year.