THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Jakarta Office has come up with a number of programmes to entice Indonesians back to the country following a nationwide rescinding of the curfew two weeks ago.

Nithee Seeprae, director of TAT Jakarta Office, noted that some 600,000 Indonesian travellers visited Thailand last year. “This year up to May, there were around 200,000 arrivals. When martial law was imposed last month, some cancelled their visits, but those who decided to still come have returned to Indonesia saying they enjoyed their stay, felt safe and enjoyed good shopping bargains.”

Nithee targets a 15 per cent increase in arrivals for 2014. “With good promotion, hard work and help from Indonesian outbound operators and media, we are confident of achieving the target of 750,000 arrivals this year.”

To that end, TAT has launched the Yuk ke Thailand lagi or Let’s go back to Thailand campaign, highlighting the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2014, halal tours, golfing and festivals.

The fasting month of Ramadan this year coincides with Indonesia’s school holidays and TAT’s Halal Tour, which includes stays in certified halal hotels and visits to the Java Mosque.

Indra Nugraha, marketing manager, TAT Jakarta Office said: “Travellers can practise fasting, and the hotels can provide (breakfast before dawn) and iftar.”

Indra added: “We invite outbound operators to discuss with us on programmes. We are working with Siam Paragon, for example, to give welcome packs and souvenirs (for groups).”

TAT is also introducing new products for repeat visitors, such as Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall and Cartoon Network Amazone theme park, which will open in July in Pattaya. The NTO continues to promote destinations beyond Bangkok like Hua Hin, Hat Yai, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

Furthermore, TAT Jakarta office will invite tour operators and the media to visit Thailand as part of TAT’s big Welcome Party for Best Friends, a mega fam trip from July 22-26.

Paskorn Siriyaphan, ambassador of Thailand to Indonesia said: “The situation in Thailand now has returned to normal. The curfew has been fully lifted nationwide, so tourists can freely explore Thailand. Shopping complexes, restaurants and other attractions operate normally and (are already) packed with tourists.”

TAT is going all out with promotions in its source markets such as India (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 20, 2014) to make up for revenue lost during a tumultuous 1H2014.

TRAVEL suppliers from the Philippines this week conducted a sales mission to Hong Kong to regain market share after the lifting of the travel ban in April (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 25, 2014).

Cebu Pacific Air’s general manager for Hong Kong regional office and China operations, Joe Kwok, said travel agencies like Hong Thai Travel remain conservative and have not resumed tours to the Philippines, but Sunflower Travel has already sent its first group to Cebu.

Wing On Travel, assistant general manager for South-east Asia & longhaul operations, Simon Ma, observed: “While other neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia woo visitors with new offerings, Manila doesn’t have any new tourism initiatives.”

Furthermore, the shortage of Cantonese-speaking tour guides is another concern. Said Ma: “After the four-year travel ban, we need to reassess hotels, tour guide, coach companies etc, before relaunching a tour to the Philippines. Frankly, there aren’t many enquiries and the response is not good.”

Philippine Department of Tourism secretary, Ramon R Jimenez, Jr said: “We have to improve our offer to win traffic back, including substantial discount for group tour and FIT packages.”

The current campaign will promote specific destinations in the Philippines such as Davao, Cebu and Boracay, with more locales to have their turn in the spotlight eventually.

Some 40 travel trade suppliers arrived in Hong Kong for a sales mission, networking lunch and gala dinner that saw a turnout of over 550 attendees. The Asia mission also covers Japan, South Korea and other South-east Asian destinations.

AMADEUS rolled out three new travel agency solutions during its annual Shaping the Future of Travel in Taiwan forum: Amadeus All-Fares Plus, Amadeus e-Faresheet and Amadeus Auto Ticketing.

The Amadeus All-Fares Plus is a web-based, low-fare search and comparison solution integrated into the Amadeus Selling Platform, allowing travel consultants to see all GDS and non-GDS content within a single display.

Meanwhile the Amadeus e-Faresheet works with the Amadeus All-Fares Plus by providing a complete view of all the fares filed by a single airline, and enables airlines to electronically distribute fares to travel agencies complete with multilingual support.

The third solution is Amadeus Auto Ticketing: a web-based ticketing solution enabling travel agencies to standardise and simplify ticket issuing with greater flexibility thanks to 24/7 ticket issuance and quality-checking.

The Amadeus e-Faresheet is a locally developed solution for Taiwan, according to an Amadeus spokesperson speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily.

However, Amadeus All Fares Plus and Auto-Ticketing solutions will be launched across Asia-Pacific in the coming months.

MALAYSIA’S new low-cost carrier (LCC) terminal klia2, which can handle three times the capacity of the previous LCCT, has been built to support projected air travel growth for the next 10 to 15 years.

Expected to receive 25 million passengers by year-end, klia2 has the capacity to handle up to 45 million passengers annually.

At the official launch of klia2 yesterday, prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Abdul Razak, said: “This purpose-built terminal, a mega-structure in its own right, will provide the needed impetus for the continued growth of our economy.

He added that the aviation industry is a focus area in the 2014 national budget and that the government has allocated RM1 billion (US$311.2 million), of which RM700 million will be for the development of a new air traffic management centre at KLIA to facilitate traffic increase from 68 to 108 movements per hour on three runways.

The remaining RM300 million has been allocated for nationwide airport upgrades.

At the launch, klia2 was officially inducted into the Malaysia Book of Records for its “biggest purpose-built terminal for LCCs and first airport terminal sky bridge”.

The 257,000m² terminal 2km from KLIA’s main terminal building features easy inter-terminal transfers and better connectivity for full-service and low-cost airlines operating from the two terminals. 

GERMAN travel giant TUI has increased its ownership share in Le Passage to India for a controlling stake in the DMC in a bid to fend off other major international players in the Indian market where TUI is a relatively late entrant.

News of the move surfaced earlier this week, but no details have been released on the size of TUI’s new stake, and Le Passage to India’s managing director Arjun Sharma was unavailable for comment at press time.

Vishal Sinha, COO of Le Passage to India, was reported to have confirmed the transaction and did not rule out further acquisitions in future.

TUI owns six retail shops in Mumbai and Delhi NCR, while Le Passage to India is present in all major Indian cities.

TUI is consolidating its position in the Indian market, which is expected to grow 7.3 per cent in 2014 and is now dominated by international travel companies such as Thomas Cook, Kuoni and Cox & Kings which are also jostling for positions through acquisitions.

Balmer Lawrie, another such player, bought out Vacations Exotica in February this year.