TOURISM Malaysia will step up efforts in new markets and expand its traditional markets through its three-year integrated promotional plan that runs up to 2017.

New markets on the agenda includes North Africa, Russia, CIS countries, Argentina and Brazil.

The NTO will also continue to expand its presence in traditional markets such as ASEAN, North Asia and South Asia, including second- and third-tier cities in China and India.

While tourist arrivals from January to August 2014 grew 10.3 per cent year-on-year, the minister of tourism and culture Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz is not confident Malaysia that would meet its 2014 target, citing that arrivals might be short by 600,000.

Tourist receipts might also be less than the targeted RM76 billion (US$23.4 billion), “but they would be better than 2013”, he said, adding that the air tragedies last year and the kidnappings in Sabah certainly impacted visitor arrivals to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, he said details of the visa fee waiver for Chinese tourists would be released following confirmation of the Cabinet’s minutes of meeting, hopefully in time to leverage the Chinese New Year holidays.

“Last year, we lost 540,000 tourists from China last year – otherwise we could have reached our target of 28 million tourists easily.”

TRAVELPORT and Vistara today jointly announced a new distribution and merchandising agreement which will see the new Indian carrier distribute all its fares and offerings through Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform.

As part of the agreement, Vistara will participate in Travelport’s suite of airline merchandising solutions via its Travelport Merchandising Platform, and will become the 85^th carrier to leverage Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding technology to establish and increase its brand presence across the globe.

Vistara CCO, Giam Ming Toh, said: “Travelport’s flexible approach to distributing content means that we will be able to customise the way we communicate our unique offering to travel consultants worldwide, enabling the seamless servicing of Vistara customers.”

Travelport vice president for global distribution sales and services Asia-Pacific, Damian Hickey, said: “Vistara will undoubtedly become one of the key carriers in the India region; we look forward to assisting them showcase their brand and products to our 67,000 travel agency subscribers worldwide, growing their bookings on a global scale.”

NEW hotels are opening in China at breakneck speed but the development of human resources has not kept pace, found the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research, a division of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University, in a new white paper that details the labour situation in China’s hospitality scene.

Titled Managing Growing Pains of China’s Relentless Hotel Development Pipeline, the white paper acknowledged the shortage of skilled talent in China’s vast labour pool, the perception of work within the service industry as a menial job among the Chinese, and that Chinese hotel owners do not necessarily make enough investments in talent acquisition and development.

Firstly, the paper recommended that a different approach be taken towards education and training through the implementation of mentoring and coaching programmes.

Mentoring would ensure future leaders receive enough training to ensure they move up the organisation, while coaching programmes would teach them how to handle conflicts and develop coping skills.

Next, public perception of a hospitality career could be improved by building a good reputation and industry image for prospective students, college applicants and their parents, and college recruiters.

This could be done by highlighting possible career paths for front and back of house tracks, and putting in place incentive plans and showing potential hires pay scale increments for skill enhancements.

Another key element, as hotel chains continue to expand in China, is the relationship between general managers and hotel owners.

The paper stated that the average hotel owner in China is a first-timer to the hotel business who gains knowledge and values through direct involvement in the businesses. Hence, owners could be educated on all operational issues through a certification process in company philosophy, systems and procedures, and related concepts. This would also improve communications with general managers.

TOUR operators expecting rates to come down in Singapore this year may have that dream dashed following Cushman & Wakefield’s assessment of an optimistic outlook despite a challenging 2014 and a stream of 2,100 new rooms opening in 2015.

Cushman & Wakefield expects Singapore hotels to close 2014 at 84.3 per cent occupancy, down from 86 per cent in 2013, due to more rooms coming on line and a decline in tourist arrivals spurred by massively fewer Chinese visitors. Despite this, the ADR held steady, at S$260 (US$195), compared with S$258 in 2013.

Said Cushman & Wakefield’s regional director, Akshay Kulkarni: “Let us not forget that the current drop seems to be only driven by increased supply and not so much a drop in arrivals. It is estimated that (2015) marketwide occupancy and ARR will be marginally, say three to five per cent, higher than 2014 figures.”

In his opinion, recovery for Singapore’s hotel industry will come in the 2H “due to higher inbound traffic from an overall settling of economies around the region and an increase in the number of attractions and events in Singapore”.

Asked if a stream of 6,400 rooms expected to enter the market between 2015 and 2018 would derail recovery, he pointed out that, of this, just over 2,100 new rooms are planned to open over the course of 2015 and can be filled with the forecasted increase in inbound arrivals.

However, he warned that continued focus on establishing Singapore as a corporate hub, leisure destination and MICE centre is necessary to propel growth.

INTERNATIONAL tourism hit a new record end-2014 with over 1.1 billion international tourists in a single year, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

From January to October 2014, the number of overnight international tourists grew about five per cent, reaching 978 million – 45 million more than in the same period of 2013 – and well above the long-term trend projected by UNWTO for the period 2010-2020 (3.8 per cent).

As such, 2014 is set to post a record number of over 1.1 million international tourists.

By region, the strongest growth was registered in the Americas (eight per cent), followed by Asia-Pacific (five per cent) and Europe (four per cent).

By subregion, North America (nine per cent) and South Asia (eight per cent, led by India at seven per cent) were the star performers, as well as Southern and Mediterranean Europe, North-East Asia and Northern Europe (all seven per cent).

Said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai: “These are remarkable results considering that different parts of the world continue to face significant geopolitical and health challenges, while the global economic recovery remains rather fragile and uneven.

“More importantly, we see a growing political commitment to the tourism sector in many countries. This is encouraging, not in the least because tourism is one of the sectors that is best able to deliver on employment at a moment when job creation needs to be a priority to all.”

UNWTO will release the preliminary 2014 full-year results by January 27.

THE Indonesia Ministry of Transportation has retracted its decision to freeze TransNusa Air Services and Garuda Indonesia, two of five operators sanctioned last week for flying without route permits.

Ignasius Jonan, minister of transportation had last Friday announced the termination of 61 flights operated by Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Wings Air, TransNusa Air Services and Susi Air for the breach.

Jonan revealed: “Garuda (has) four (affected flights), Lion Air 35, Wings Air 18, TransNusa one, and Susi Air three.”

He added that sanctions have also been applied to officials involved in the violation.

In response, Bayu Sutanto, managing director, TransNusa, issued a statement to clarify that the airline has a full seven-day service between Denpasar and Labuan Bajo under two permits issued on September 10 and October 6, 2014 respectively.

“With the valid route permit issued by the civil aviation authority, TransNusa has the right to fly daily, therefore, the accusation that TransNusa flights are operated on different days than what is stated in the route permit is nonsense…the audit process was not done thoroughly and carefully,” he said in the statement, adding that this would impact the airline’s reputation.

“We expect the Ministry of Transportation to be brave to make corrections on its inaccurate decision or announcement made (earlier),” he said.

Garuda Indonesia also issued a statement that the affected route is Makassar-Jeddah via Medan and its return flight.

Garuda’s vice president for corporate communications, Pujobroto, said: “We do have the route permits on the domestic and international sectors, but the flights used two different flight numbers for Makassar-Medan (GA626) and Medan-Makassar (GA986).

“Garuda has submitted a revision to change to use one flight number GA988 (on the outbound flight) and 987 (on the inbound) effective January 1.”

However, the aviation authority found the airline still operating with two flight numbers.

Julius Barata, spokesperson of the Ministry of Transportation was quoted by Tempo.com as having confirmed that TransNusa’s clarification has been investigated by the Flight Route Operation Audit and Evaluation Team and that the airline’s operation is legitimate.

He added that Garuda has finalised its permit and corrected its flight number.

Meanwhile, in their respective statements Lion Air Group and Susi Air have said they would study the said violated flights and would reapply for the permits accordingly.

Jonan had also said that flight slots and route permits would be tracked through an online system expected to start running this month. “An online system will eliminate direct interactions between the aviation regulation authority and the airline operators,” he said.

The Ministry of Transport’s crack down on airlines running foul of aviation regulations comes in the wake of Indonesia AirAsia’s QZ8501 which had disappeared in bad weather on December 28 with some 162 people on board. It was found that the carrier did not have a permit to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route.

Meanwhile, the BBC has reported that Indonesian divers have retrieved the flight data recorder of the ill-fated plane. The cockpit voice recorder, the second part of the black box, has also been identified but not retrieved as yet.

FRASERS Hospitality is eyeing a bigger share of the China market with the addition of 10 more serviced residences in the second-tier cities of Tianjin, Nanchang, Hefei, Dalian, Kunming, Wuxi and Chengdu, and two more in the key cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Following the openings of Modena Zhuankou Wuhan and Modena New District Wuxi last year, the securing of these new serviced residences involve the addition of more than 2,400 new apartment units, almost doubling Frasers’ China portfolio to 26 properties in 14 key cities and second-tier cities.

This makes China one of the fastest-growing markets for Frasers Hospitality, which together with South Korea and Japan, currently make up one-third of its total revenue.

Choe Peng Sum, CEO, Frasers Hospitality, said: “China’s second- and third-tier cities are key growth areas for us and we will continue to extend our footprint in burgeoning cities where foreign direct investment and tourism are expected to increase exponentially in the coming years.

“Demand for our serviced residences has remained strong, with consistent occupancy of at least 80 per cent since we first set foot in 2005 with Fraser Place Shekou Shenzhen, and economic conditions are ripe for the ambitious doubling of Frasers Hospitality’s footprint over the next five years.”

Frasers’ new additions in China will be across all of its three brands: Gold Standard serviced residences, Modena by Fraser serviced residences, and Capri by Fraser hotel residences.

HOMEGROWN Tala Mon Company has been awarded a contract by the local government to develop a museum, hotel, park and other tourist facilities at the Death Railway site in Thanbyuzayat township in Mon state.

Min Banyar San, chairman, Tala Mon Company, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the work is expected to begin within the next month.

“We are looking to invest about US$3 million in the project and it will be carried out in three phases. Phase 1 will be the construction of the museum, Phase 2 will be for the hotel and Phase 3 will be for other tourist sites,” he added.

The Death Railway, also known as the Burma Railway, was a 415km railway that formed part of the Bangkok-Rangoon (now Yangon) railroad during World War Two.

Forced labour was used for its construction, and it is estimated that about half of the 300,000 Allied prisoners-of-war working on the railroad died.

“The Death Railway site in Mon State currently attracts a minimal number of tourists,” said Marcus Allender, Founder of Go-Myanmar.com. “As the Allied War Memorial cemetery is close to the Death Railway site, there is a clear opportunity to develop this area in a similar manner to what has been done at the other end, at Kanchanaburi.”

Thai authorities authorities have constructed a memorial and museums to commemorate the railway and its workers in Kanchanaburi.

“Indeed, if the Myanmar perspective on the Death Railway and the war itself is communicated effectively, then the two sites could complement each other perfectly,” Allender added.

WARM and relaxing South-east Asian destinations are preferred by Chinese outbound tourists for the upcoming Spring Festival Golden Week from February 18 to 24.

Outbound travel agencies across China are reportedly busy with reservations since mid-December, with many indicating that island destinations are the most attractive in South-east Asia.

Mao Sairong, assistant manager, Wuxi-based Jiangsu Kanghui Travel Service, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Bali (and the Maldives) are already sold out, but we still have plenty of Phuket tours to offer, because there are seasonal charter flights between Wuxi and Phuket.”

Bangkok is the leading South-east Asian destination for outbound China travels for Golden Week, according to ForwardKeys’ air reservation database as of January 3, 46 days ahead of the festival.

The Thai capital is also by far the only city among the top five enjoying year-on-year growth (19 per cent) in current bookings, followed by Singapore, Phuket, Bali, and Chiang Mai.

However, Bali is suffering a 24 per cent year-on-year decrease in early-bird bookings, unlike the year before.

“About 35 per cent of arrivals to Bali during 2014’s Chinese New Year Golden Week were booked within 45 days (ahead of the first travelling date), while destinations in Thailand saw way more cancellations than bookings,” said ForwardKeys CEO, Olivier Jager.

A NEW reloadable prepaid card that is accepted by MasterCard merchants worldwide has been launched with the Myanmar traveller in mind.

Developed by 2C2P, a Singapore-based payment services provider, and Myanmar Citizens Bank (MCB), the card comes with an optional smartphone app for both iOS and Android platforms that allow cardholders to manage transactions in real-time and get online support.

The Citizen Card will be limited to 5,000 units and can be obtained at any MCB branch in Myanmar or via the MCB website by filling out an online form.

Cardholders will also enjoy special benefits with merchant partners, in addition to waived sign-up fees. Existing cardholders can add value to their Citizen Card at any MCB outlet, with more top-up options to be released later in the year.

Aung Kyaw Moe, group CEO at 2C2P, said that the Citizen Card will benefit both physical and online shoppers, as well as users who go overseas. Cardholders are entitled to special benefits and privileges at destinations such as Thailand and Singapore.

Myint Win, managing director of MCB, said: “Myanmar is on course to boom over the subsequent years. Within the last two years, the country has seen its first ATM, the first debit card and the first internationally accepted card.”

According to McKinsey & Co, the size of Myanmar’s economy is expected to rise from US$45 billion to over US$200 billion by 2030, with per capita GDP growing from US$1,300 in 2010 to US$$5,100 by 2030.

“Myanmar is slowly moving to embrace cash-alternative solutions. The country is in need of various kinds of payment processing services. I believe 2C2P will find good opportunities here,” said Aung Kyaw Moe.