MELIÁ Hotels International will open the 249-key Gran Meliá Bintan in 2017, which will comprise a resort and residences.

The hotel company last week signed a contract with owning company Berakit Resorts in Jakarta to operate the property, which will be the first to open in Berakit, eastern Bintan. It marks the second Gran Meliá hotel in Indonesia after Gran Meliá Jakarta that was launched 20 years ago.

Berakit is a new coastal resort enclave, which will see other international brand luxury hotels joining Gran Meliá Bintan in future.

On the timing and choice of destination, Meliá Hotels International CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, said: “(While) Indonesia has a lot of potential as a high-end destination among destinations worldwide, to have a Gran Meliá there is not something easy because you need to find the right location with ready infrastructure, and the right partner. We have found both now.

“Bintan has a lot to offer. It has the proximity to Singapore, Malaysia, China, some the key feeder markets, and the potential to grow the European arrivals is there.”

Michael Yong, COO of Berakit Resorts, said: “A new Berakit Ferry Terminal is under construction near the property and will open in 2016 for direct services from Singapore.

“Bintan’s airport is also under construction and will open in 2016. The airport will be able to accommodate Boeing 747 aircraft and the terminal will be able to accommodate 3.5 million passengers a year.

“(By the time the hotel opens), Bintan will be more accessible to domestic and international travellers,” he added.

Escarrer said Meliá is accustomed to opening up properties in new destinations such as the opening of Melia Bali 30 years ago in Nusa Dua, the first five-star international hotel in the area.

“Customers and tour operators are always looking for new destinations and I am sure Bintan will be on the radar in the next three years as a top luxury destination,” Escarrer said.

Apart from the Bintan property, Meliá International will also manage the 131-room Sol Legian, 300-room Meliá Surabaya, 258-room Innside Yogyakarta and 130-room Innside Makassar, all to open in 2016.

Escarrer said the company’s next priority was to manage a property in Lombok.

THE Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) is lobbying the government to implement an immediate short-term visa exemption for Chinese visitors during next year’s Lunar New Year period, in order to shore up arrivals from the market.

Hamzah Rahmat, president of MATTA, said in a statement: “Visa waivers and exemptions are an effective way of encouraging tourists to visit and spend time in a particular location.

“An immediate six-month visa exemption for China tourists, especially with the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, will help boost tourist arrivals and provide much needed stimulus to the local economy. We must not miss this opportunity.”

He raised the examples of Japan and Thailand, which both saw tourism arrivals increase substantially after visa regulations were scrapped.

According to Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of tourism and culture, arrivals from China shrank by 11.8 per cent from January to July following the loss of Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines MH370 and kidnappings in Sabah.

Reactions from the trade to MATTA’s call have been mixed.

Yap Sook Ling, managing director, Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel welcomed the move and predicted it would stimulate the Chinese leisure market to Malaysia.

“Future bookings are soft, we cannot just wait and hope clients will come. This will entice Chinese travellers to come to Malaysia,” she said.

However, Adam Kamal, deputy president 2, Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, said: “I don’t know if this will make a big improvement in arrivals as many Chinese travellers would already have made their holiday plans for the Lunar New Year period.”

DUETTO, which specialises in hotel profit optimisation software, has opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, appointing Patrick Andres and Amanda See as regional vice president and vice president of sales respectively.

Lee Pillsbury, Duetto board member, founder of Thayer Ventures and Thayer Lodging, said: “Duetto’s entry into the Asia-Pacific markets could not be better timed, or more urgently needed.

“As hotel owners in the region continue to build out their business operations and create pricing strategies, they are interested in adopting best-in-class solutions in revenue strategy and related areas of marketing and distribution. Duetto’s breakthrough technologies will accelerate this process and help hotels keep up with the urgent need for innovation and forward-looking solutions,” Pillsbury added.

Duetto announced the opening of its EMEA headquarters office in London last week and its expansion into key markets around the globe with a US$21 million funding led by Accel Partners.

Andres brings with him extensive knowledge of the Asia-Pacific hospitality technology space and was last with Travelport as Asia-Pacific vice president and managing director. Prior to that, Andres built and ran regional operations for Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

Amanda See has almost two decades of experience in channel distribution, marketing, revenue strategy, event and conference sales and hotel operations and will lead business development intiatives in the Asia-Pacific region.

She was previously senior director of business development for Sabre and worked with Andres to propel the growth of the company’s regional operations as well as to maintain customer relationships and partnerships.

ACEH has the potential to become a bigger tourism destination but must first improve service levels and accessibility, said tourism stakeholders attending Indonesia Tourism Mart and Expo (TIME) 2014 in Banda Aceh over the weekend.

Ben Gosman, managing director of Free Incentives, the Netherlands, said: “The people have been helpful, friendly and they accept differences, which is different from the perception of Aceh being a (strict) Muslim area.”

He said that Aceh could appeal to the Dutch market with its cultural and nature attractions. “We cater to travellers who want an off-the-beaten-track market, and Aceh is exactly that.” Gosman also noted that Aceh has better land infrastructure than some destinations in the country.

Sellers at TIME 2014 noted that the special interest travellers have been making their way to Aceh. Pulau Weh Dive Resort owner and director, Vincent Chong, said: “We received divers from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China. It took a lot of effort to get them to come to Aceh, but once they do, they come back.”

Anas Zulham Almansur, owner of Balrose Holiday, said: “We recently hosted a group of 12 golfers from Taiwan (to Aceh).”

The Indonesian province has been the subject of negative press over the decades – from the Free Aceh Movement between 1976 and 2005, to the Boxing Day tsunami and earthquake in 2004, and most recently, sharia law.

Rahmadhani, director of programming and planning, Aceh Culture and Tourism Office, said Aceh welcomes guests “regardless of their religious practices”. “If female travellers want to wear a scarf over their head while they are here, they are welcome to, but if not, that is okay too as long as they are dressed properly.”

Aceh is creating more events to attract visitors to come and experience the destination for themselves, said Rahmadhani. But restrictions still exist, such as the prohibition of alcohol consumption.

Buyers, however, pointed out there was still work to be done. “What Aceh and the Indonesian government need to do is promote Aceh internationally,” Gosman said, adding that improving air accessibility is also necessary.

Riek Vogler, director of Asia Way Amsterdam, said: “Hospitality is new to the destination, so locals still need to learn how to serve international travellers,” she said.

THE Myanmar Tourism Federation (MTF) is establishing Tourism Bank Public Company to provide small- and medium-size businesses with financial assistance to operate in the travel and tourism industry.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Hilton Hotel Nay Pyi Taw recently, minister for hotels and tourism Htay Aung, said that the bank will be used to improve the business prospects of companies.

A representative from MTF told TTG Asia e-Daily that detailed plans of the bank have not yet been established.

According to local reports, the privately owned bank will comprise about two dozen members of the federation – which includes hotel owners and businessmen in the tourism industry – and has been granted permission to operate by the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), which appraises proposed investments in Myanmar.

It is now awaiting a licence from DICA.

Thet Zin, director of travel agency Living Irrawaddy Travel Services, said that she was sceptical that the loans would help.

“I don’t think that financial help is the main issue that we need (as a travel company),” she said.

“After all, our main product is offering a service, so we only need a small investment to start a company. The main challenges are human resources, training and education. Maybe loans will be useful for starting up restaurants or souvenir shops,” she added.

TOURISM has been designated as a stand-alone ministry in the Working Cabinet line-up of Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), heralding a shift in the mindset towards the industry.

Announced yesterday, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy will now become the Ministry of Tourism. Arief Yahya, CEO of state-owned telecommunication company Telekomunasi Indonesia (Telkom), has been appointed to spearhead the ministry.

Arief graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology where he studied electronic technology, and obtained a master degree in telematics from Surrey University, UK. He subsequently built his career at Telkom.

Indonesia’s Cabinet ministers are sworn in today and will conduct their first meeting right after that, where Jokowi will outline the tasks and goals of each ministry for the next five years.

Speaking with local broadcast media after the announcement, Arief said that part of his assignment is to improve and expand Indonesian tourism marketing, especially through online media.

Tourism has never had a single ministry to itself, starting off as a directorate general in the 1970s and becoming the Department of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications in 1983. It changed to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1998, State Ministry of Tourism and Art in 1999, and Ministry of Culture and Tourism in again in 2000, before it became the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in 2011.

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.