THE Malaysian travel trade is optimistic about Lufthansa’s new Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur service and believe the flights will increase interest in Malaysia as a destination.

Lufthansa will kick off five-times-weekly flights from Franfkurt to Kuala Lumpur and onward to Jakarta from March 30. Presently, the airline flies to Kuala Lumpur four times a week via Bangkok, thus sharing seat allocation with Bangkok-bound passengers.

Cherry Lee, executive director at World Express Tours Malaysia, commented: “The increased seat capacity is good for travel consultants handling German inbound travel, as it will allow for more people to travel non-stop from Frankfurt to Kuala Lumpur.”

She added: “We will promote eco and nature tours in Borneo, Taman Negara National Park and the islands off Terengganu.”

Manfred Kurz, managing director of Diethelm Travel Malaysia, said that with signs of a recovering European economy, he anticipated a 10 to 20 per cent increase from German-speaking markets for 2014.

This year, Kurz said the company would place emphasis on destinations such as Langkawi and the islands on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia such as Redang, Perhentian and Tioman, through newly created itineraries.

GARUDA Indonesia is partnering Singapore-based investment company Gallant Venture to turn Bintan Island into an international tourism destination with its own airport and centre for aircraft maintenance.

The two companies inked an MoU earlier this week to collaborate on the project, which will see the development of one runway and one terminal in the first phase. The terminal will be linked to a ferry terminal to serve ferry services to and from Singapore and Bintan.

An aircraft maintenance centre will also come up as part of the 177-hectare Bintan Aerospace Industry Park in the existing Bintan Industrial Estate, comprising maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity for aircraft and components, manufacturing and assembly of aircraft engines and components, an aviation training and academy, and research and development.

A township will also be built to house employees and provide sports and wellness facilities.

Garuda Indonesia’s subsidiary, Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia, will establish a joint venture company with Gallant Venture for the operations of MRO of aircraft and components at the Bintan Aerospace Industry Park.

Eugene Park, CEO of Gallant Venture, said the island’s infrastructure would be beefed up to support growing tourism. “We are extending our road network, power, potable water and telecom facilities to the new airport and its adjacent aerospace park.”

Garuda Indonesia’ president and CEO, Emirsyah Satar, said: “The new operation out of Bintan will help strengthen Garuda’s network development, with a potential to connect East Indonesia with West Indonesia and become the meeting point for our international flights to Europe and the Far East.”

“With our regional fleet stationed in Bintan, Garuda will be able to more competitively service second-tier tourist and business destination cities within ASEAN,” he added.

Bintan, located in the Riau archipelago in Indonesia and close to Singapore, has already been earmarked for a host of tourism developments including luxury resort The Sanchaya (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 14, 2012) and Far East Hospitality’s Quincy hotel (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 20, 2013). Both form part of the Lagoi Bay Bintan (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 30, 2013) development.

Last month, Indonesia’s Lion Air announced it is making Bintan’s next door neighbour, Batam, its second major hub for operations with plans to launch more domestic and international services from the island (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 28, 2014). The group has also been building up an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility on Bintan.

BELT-TIGHTENING by corporates and high weekend hotel rates have resulted in Singapore contributing less traffic to Hong Kong and Macau last year.

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), traffic from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2013 fell 3.9 per cent to 700,065 arrivals, while across all markets overnight business dropped five per cent though total leisure visitor numbers grew two per cent.

The number of Singaporean travellers to Macau last year decreased by eight per cent to 189,751, but the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) said Singapore remained one of its top 10 source markets.

Both NTOs are reaching out to the trade for better visitorship figures.

Simon Wong, regional director, South-east Asia, HKTB, said: “In the pipeline for 2H2014 is a B2B platform called Partnernet, which will be rolled out in South-east Asia to allow local travel consultants to engage directly with trade partners in Hong Kong.”

Along with the Hong Kong Specialists Programme that has yet to be launched, travel consultants can access the latest news on Hong Kong and HKTB’s various statistical reports to keep up-to-date, he added.

Macau is targeting new segments such as seniors and office ladies to improve arrivals, said Charles Leong, general manager, MGTO representative in Singapore.

Grace Tong, marketing manager, MGTO representative in Singapore, added plans were afoot to offer Hong Kong-Macau twinning programmes in the second- or third-quarter of 2014.

NOK Air has sealed a deal for 15 new Boeing 737 aircraft worth a total of US$1.5 billion, with the first to be delivered in July.

According to Singapore’s The Business Times, the LCC has placed an order for eight B737-800s and seven B737-Max 8s. Half of the new fleet will be used to replace older aircraft in Nok Air’s stable.

The airline, which Thai Airways International owns a 39.2 per cent stake in, presently operates 14 leased B737s.

The same report quoted Patee Sarasin, CEO of Nok Air, as saying regional expansion to Vietnam and Myanmar is being planned.

Nok Air and fellow LCC Scoot announced plans in December last year to collaborate on a medium- to longhaul LCC based out of Bangkok. It is also diving into the travel agency market with the establishment of a travel agency arm, Nok Holiday (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 8, 2013).

NATIONAL flag carrier Maldivian is looking to begin charter services from capital Malé to New Delhi in the next two to three months, pending approval from India.

According to Hussain Lirar, deputy tourism minister of the Maldives: “Last year, 30,000 Indians visited the Maldives. We are targeting 50,000 Indian arrivals in 2014 and we hope that direct connectivity between New Delhi and Malé will help us to achieve this target.”

A trade source told TTG Asia e-Daily the airline has decided on a thrice-weekly frequency. Maldivian currently runs flights to Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai.

However travel consultants are sceptical of the likely impact on traffic. Riaz Munshi, vice president of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, said ticket prices were a key consideration.

“I think India is not ready for a charter service between the two countries,” he said.

Others felt destination awareness was a bigger obstacle. “There is a need to educate the trade about the various tourist offerings in the Maldives as they are the people who sell the destination. This, combined with roadshows and trade and media fam trips, will help to increase Indian tourist arrivals to the Maldives,” said Vineet Gopal, managing director, Engee Holidays.

Meanwhile, Lirar said the Maldives is inviting the Indian private sector to help develop its north and south regions for tourism.

DYNASTY Travel International staff are now able to make live online bookings for customers buying its packaged tours and promotional offers using iPad minis fitted with proprietary software.

Managing director, Clifford Neo, said the agency had spent two years and around S$500,000 (US$394,000) on the scheme, including proprietary front-, middle- and back-end software to drive the initiative. Some 50 iPad minis were first used at its roadshow at Suntec City shopping mall over the weekend. It has 100 iPad sets for its 110 staff members.

“I’ve not seen any travel agency with this sort of capability,” Neo said. “Dynasty is not only the first in Singapore to achieve this, I believe it is a world-first.”

“The end-goal is to go 100 per cent paperless, and to increase bookings, efficiency and productivity,” the agency boss noted.

Dynasty introduced iPads two years ago to improve productivity, increase marketing reach and cater to its technology-savvy mid- and high-end customers.

The agency continued with its long-term technology innovation commitment by setting up an IT arm to develop its own software.

TRAVEL agencies may soon have to take out insurance against sudden closures to protect their customers, if the Consumers Association of Singapore’s (CASE) push for such a measure is successful.

Following the abrupt closure of travel and coach company Five Stars Tours which left thousands of travellers in the lurch (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 10, 2014) last month, Case intends to first roll out the scheme to 16 CaseTrust accredited travel agencies before extending it to the rest of the industry, reported local broadsheet The Straits Times.

As of December last year, there were 1,154 licensed travel agencies here.

Ong Ling Lee, director, travel agents and tourist guides, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said: “As an industry-led initiative, the pre-payment protection scheme is one which we welcome as a possible solution for consumer protection…STB will study it more carefully as there are wider implications to be considered.”

Clifford Neo, managing director of Dynasty Travel, said: “This (insurance scheme) may not address the root of the problem as there is still a lack of proper audit by relevant regulatory authorities on what some travel consultants do with money they collect upfront.”

Chan Brothers Travel’s manager for marketing communications, Jane Chang, said: “Deposits or advance payments are not peculiar only to the travel industry because principal suppliers request for cash upfront from travel consultants to guarantee seats, rooms and tours before departures.”

Nevertheless, for travel consultants to attain credibility, Chang suggested STB could raise the bar of entry into the industry. For example, she said STB could increase the paid up capital from the current S$100,000 (US$79,000) to at least S$1 million as part of conditions for application of the Travel Agent (TA) licence, or perform an audit to ascertain financial health of all TAs before renewing the licence.

Robin Yap, managing director, The Travel Corporation Singapore, said: “This insurance will help restore confidence in buying travel products for consumers but there is also the need for insurance companies to offer affordable premiums for travel consultants.

“(Because) at the end of the day, it has to make business sense,” he added.