GRAND Hyatt Macau has launched two mobile apps to enhance communication with leisure and corporate guests alike.

Presented on a slim-line tablet available from the concierge counter, the Digital Calendar app offers users up-to-date information, exclusive offers and special events in Macau such as the Macau Grand Prix, International Fireworks Festival and Macau Arts Festival. There is also a weather feature showcasing 60 cities around the world.

“We like to stay a step ahead of the curve. Our Digital Calendar allows us to communicate with regular guests and clients in real time and share our intuitive service to help enhance their busy lives,” said Paul Kwok, general manager of Grand Hyatt Macau.

The Events App, on the other hand, is an innovative, value-added communications tool for event organisers and delegates hosting and attending events, seminars or conferences at the hotel.

By downloading the mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android devices, organisers and delegates can log-in to specific events to securely access daily agendas.

Attendees are able to browse organiser, speaker or exhibitor profiles, frequently asked questions, session requirements and other background information such as detailed venue floor plans and directions. They can also view event photos, video content and uploaded documents, interact via private inbox messaging and social media, and discover what’s happening around the hotel and the City of Dreams.

Meanwhile, organisers can manage live delegate polling of each session and receive real-time results in graph format, communicate with delegates via instant push notifications, and conduct post-event surveys to evaluate ratings and feedback from participants.

IT&CM India is partnering KW Conferences, the country’s first accredited professional conference organiser, to deliver the show’s inaugural Association Day and Corporate Performance Forums scheduled on August 20 and 21.

IT&CM India will take place from August 19 to 21 at Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi.

Expert speakers from various industries will present on educational topics such as The Importance of Professionalising Association Management, Best Practices – Developing Middle Level Association Professionals and Benefits of Attracting International Meetings to India, to provide attendees with an in-depth understanding of association management in India.

The PCO will also be leading a delegation of 50 Indian buyers from across the MICE, luxury, corporate and association market segments.

For more information on the show, visit www.itcmindia.com.

TOURISTS from Asia-Pacific, Middle East and South Africa (APMEA) to the UK increased seven per cent last year from 2012 to reach a record level of 4.3 million visits.

The top five markets from APMEA in 2013 were respectively Australia (1.07 million visitors, up 7.7 per cent); India (375,000 visitors, up 10.6 per cent); Gulf Commonwealth countries combined (590,000 visitors, up 11.3 per cent); Japan (221,000 visitors, down 9.1 per cent); and China (196,000 visitors, up 9.7 per cent).

Revealing these figures during Destination Britain APMEA – VisitBritain’s annual trade mission to Asia-Pacific – in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night, Helen Grant, British minister for sport, tourism and equalities, attributed last year’s record arrivals to strong visitor interest built on the back of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In total, the UK attracted a record number of 32.8 million visitors in 2013, while overseas visitor spend also surged to a new high of £21.01 billion (US$35.4 billion), up from £19.11 billion in 2012.

Keith Beecham, overseas network director of VisitBritain, stressed that APMEA is an important region as visitors tend to be long-staying and spend from this region account for 30 per cent, or £6.3 billion, of all inbound tourism revenue in Britain.

Now into its 11th consecutive year, Destination Britain APMEA this year facilitated the meeting of 64 UK companies with 90 key buyers from across 20 APMEA markets.

AIRPORT and cruise terminal services provider SATS has terminated plans to acquire Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC), citing “market developments in Asia”.

Subsidiaries SATS Airport Services and SATS-Creuers Cruise Services first entered into an agreement in September 2013 to buy over the terminal operator from Temasek Holdings unit Hazeltree Holdings (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 27, 2013).

The agreement withdrawal is not expected to have a material financial impact on SATS, according to the firm in a media statement on Monday.

“This announcement does not in any way alter SATS’ commitment to grow our successful operations at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS) and to promote Singapore as a homeport, nor our ambition to pursue regional cruise opportunities,” said Alex Hungate, president and CEO of SATS.

“We remain confident about the prospects for the Asian cruise market and will continue to actively pursue value-creating opportunities to implement our strategy of growing scale and enhancing connectivity.”

SATS already operates MBCCS, while SCC manages and operates the international cruise and regional ferry terminals at HabourFront Centre, as well as Tanah Merah and Pasir Panjang ferry terminals in Singapore.

Although the proposed acqusition would minimise competition between the two cruise terminals, Asia Cruise Association general manager, Kevin Leong, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the rise of regional ports like Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal would already challenge Singapore’s status as a hub.

“To face this common regional threat, the two terminals (MBCCS and SCC) will be better off with a strategy of coordination in berth allocation, differential pricing, cost savings in overheads, efficiency from common protocols, de-duplication, deployment of services like CIQ, etc. If savings are passed on to the cruise lines, Singapore will remain a very cost-competitive and effective cruise hub,” said Leong.

INDONESIA and Myanmar have reached an agreement to allow reciprocal 30-day, visa-free travel for citizens of both countries, with the new policy expected to be effective this month.

The visa exemption agreement was signed between Indonesian minister of foreign affairs Marty Natalegawa and his Myanmar counterpart Wunna Muang Lwin on the sidelines of the 24th ASEAN Summit in Naypyidaw.

In a media announcement, Marty said: “The agreement is expected to tighten the connectivity between the two countries in the tourism sector, people-to-people contact, and the economic and investment cooperation.”

Wunna Muang Lwin also expected the agreement to grow bilateral trade between Indonesia and Myanmar to a target of US$1 billion by 2016.

The visa waiver policy reflects ASEAN’s plans to introduce a common visa for the whole region with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 21, 2014).

Myanmar has already signed visa-free agreements with Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and is currently in talks with Malaysia and Singapore.

INDIA’S Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week granted AirAsia India its air operator permit, paving way for the new carrier to commence flights soon and increase competition in the country’s aviation sector.

Having started its aircraft acquisition, the Chennai-based airline is expected to begin flights by 4Q2014, with its first scheduled domestic routes likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

The entry of AirAsia India has received opposition from existing Indian carriers against the government’s liberalisation policy for foreign carriers (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 14, 2014) and concerns that the new entrant’s low-cost pricing policy will wreak havoc in a market already squeezed by high fuel prices and taxes.

AirAsia India’s earlier plans to commence flights in October 2013 were delayed (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 4, 2013), despite having received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India in April 2013 and a no-objection certificate from DGCA in September 2013.

Meanwhile, IATA Agents Association of India’s director-eastern region, Rajendra Churiwala, said that “consumers will benefit from AirAsia India’s truly low-cost model”.