BRUNEI has recorded a 40 per cent increase in cruise throughput in 2013 over the previous year, translating into 45,560 foreign arrivals from 24 port calls.

An even better performance is expected from the sultanate’s cruise tourism sector this year, with an estimated 37 port calls and 77,029 cruise arrivals predicted, said Noraini Haji Tersad, special duties officer at Brunei Tourism.

The latest cruise ship to call on Brunei is Star Cruises’ SuperStar Aquarius which homeports in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The 756-cabin ship offers 4D3N cruises from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei’s Bandar Seri Begawan and Sarawak’s Bintulu on a weekly basis from November 6, 2013 to March 30, 2014. It is capable of carrying 1, 511 passengers, based on lower berths.

To further encourage the development of cruise tourism, Brunei’s Cruise Ship Centre underwent minor renovations recently to upgrade its tourist information counters.

“This year Brunei Tourism is also considering holding welcome receptions at the cruise terminal for cruise ships that call for the first time.

“Tour operators in Brunei are also encouraged to tap this market further and offer more packages for shore excursions,” said Noraini.

Read more from ATF 2014 in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014

ENHANCED content and a more attractive layout will greet readers of TTG Asia and TTGmice in the first half of 2014 as TTG Asia Media celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

These initiatives are among many others that the company will roll out throughout the year, and they include a more engaging and mobile-optimised ttgasia.com, an additional issue of TTG Asia Luxury – out in July and December – and the debut of TTGassociations, a quarterly publication catering to association secretariats and association event planners.

TTG Asia Media will also extend its reach in the online sphere with Travel Trade e-Space, a virtual B2B travel mart. Roomonger, a B2B e-commerce portal offering real-time room bookings with instant confirmation, will also be revived.

As with all celebrations, there will be plenty of activities throughout the year for travel trade friends to partake in, from parties and fun runs to charity drives.

Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media, will spill details on these anniversary activities today (January 22) at 12.00 during the company’s hosted lunch for all TRAVEX buyers and media at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, Room 12 to 14.

FOR a destination that has traditionally been reliant on its immediate neighbours for visitor arrivals, Laos is steadily emerging as a tourism force on its own, driven by the country’s growing direct air links in the region.

Rising air connectivity has allowed the landlocked country to cushion impacts of adverse situations in neighbouring gateway cities better than previous years too.

Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, director general, tourism marketing department, Saly Phimphinith, said: “Based on feedback from industry members, the current Bangkok crisis has affected longhaul arrivals from Europe and the US as they usually fly into Laos via Bangkok. But source markets in Asia-Pacific like China, Japan and South Korea have not been affected as tourists from these countries can fly direct into Laos from Kunming, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.”

Saly added: “Our Asian markets are growing faster than European markets. Regional arrivals, especially from Thailand and Vietnam, are still increasing to reach around 20 per cent growth over last year.”

The top three source markets for Laos are currently Thailand, Vietnam and China respectively.

Japan is an “emerging market” for Laos, despite there being no direct flights between the two countries, according to Saly.

South Korean arrivals have surged 50 per cent from 2012 to 2013, fostered by direct air links provided by national carrier Lao Airlines and South Korean LCC Jin Air, plus higher investment in Laos by South Korean companies, he commented.

The rising Korean tide has propelled Lao Airlines to turn chartered services between Vientiane and Incheon into a regular route in October 2013, with daily flights operated on an Airbus A320 aircraft, according to Manivone Ratanavong, deputy director of the airline’s commercial department.

Manivone said: “For South Korea, we have other chartered flights to Busan and Jeju, usually during the January/February and May-July period.”

She added: “Hong Kong and Japan are the next cities on our network development strategy, but route expansion is currently limited until new aircraft arrives.”

Read more in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014

INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) has launched Jakarta’s first Holiday Inn Express hotel, the 101-room Holiday Inn Express Jakarta Thamrin.

The hotel is located in Jakarta’s central business district, a one-hour drive from Soekarno Hatta International Airport and minutes away from major MNC headquarters, banks, embassies and government offices. It is also within walking distance of famous shopping malls such as Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia.

Clarence Tan, COO, South-east Asia and Resorts, IHG, said: “The New Year has kicked-off to a great start with the opening of Holiday Inn Express Jakarta, making it the second Holiday Inn Express to open in Indonesia in the last three months. With 12 more Holiday Inn Express hotels in the pipeline, Indonesia will continue to be an important growth market for us over the next few years.

“Jakarta sees more than two million visitors each year and is known as one of the region’s top shopping destinations. With the new hotel situated on the city’s busiest road, this makes it the smart choice for travellers wanting to stay close to major business hubs and tourist attractions.”

Guests can expect free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, a free Express Start Breakfast or Grab & Go option, and a self-service business centre and laundry room.

Holiday Inn Express Jakarta Thamrin is the fifth Holiday Inn Express in the region after openings in Semarang (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 11, 2013), Bangkok (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 19, 2013), Phuket (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 19, 2013) and Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 17, 2013).

To mark the opening, Holiday Inn Express Jakarta Thamrin is dangling special rates from US$54++ per night for bookings between now and June 30, 2014. Visit www.holidayinnexpress.com.

ACCOR will ramp up its portfolio in Malaysia from eight properties to 25 hotels in 2017, making it the country’s leading international hotel operator.

By 2017, there will be a Pullman in Port Dickson and one Novotel each in Malacca, Taiping and Klang; one Ibis in Kuala Lumpur’s city centre and nine Ibis Styles across Malaysia; as well as Mercures in Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

In this year alone, Accor expects to open at least four hotels in Peninsular and East Malaysia. These include Novotel Melaka, Mercure Kota Kinabalu Eton, Ibis Styles Sandakan Waterfront and Ibis Styles Ipoh. The last is the latest addition to the Accor family in Malaysia, soft opening this month with 113 rooms.

Gerard Guillouet, senior vice president for Accor Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, toldTTG Asia e-Daily: “The mix of hotel segments in our pipeline indicates that we will continue to have a well-balanced network in 2015 with a total of 20 hotels, of which 15 per cent will be upscale, 40 per cent midscale and 45 per cent economy. The network will also be geographically balanced.”

Read more from ATF 2014 in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014

DESPITE a rocky start to 2014, several Thailand-based DMCs are reporting stable bookings for the longhaul leisure market.

Go Vacation Thailand’s director of business development, Tobias Fischer, said: “We’ve hardly seen any cancellations for Bangkok…The longhaul leisure markets usually book their trips long in advance. For them, Bangkok is just a stopover destination as part of an itinerary with beach extensions or round trips in the country, so the capital can be easily bypassed.”

“Phuket, Koh Samui and northern Thailand are still strong for the leisure market. Cancellations have been minimal this time (compared with past crises in Thailand in recent years), and our 1Q2014 bookings have been stronger than the first quarter last year,” commented James Ramage, group managing director, sales and marketing, Diethelm Travel Group.

Likewise, bookings are holding up quite well for Exotissimo Travel Group. Hamish Keith, COO and co-owner, said: “Although we have received cancellations for leisure travellers to Thailand, we are not really seeing a slowdown in new enquiries, and February and March bookings are still looking positive.”

However, some inbound players expressed concerns about the lingering effects of a prolonged political crisis.

Go Vacation Thailand’s Fischer said forward bookings are fewer compared with the same period last year although he pointed out that the reasons are hard to tell.

Claudio Kellenberger, deputy managing director, Asian Trails, also revealed that while there has been very few cancellations from Europe and business is rather stable, bookings for February and March are fewer than usual. “Overall, despite the current situation, we’re still expecting growth for 2014,” he said

Read more in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014