A DESTINATION management plan for the greater Inle Lake region has been set in motion to ensure sustainable tourism, which also includes a proposal for establishing a permanent destination management organisation.

Backed by international NGOs and the Luxembourg government, the project is by the Institute for International Development (IID) and the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). So far, it has resulted in the creation of a committee representing both the public and private sector which is holding an open group discussion today with participants from the local tourism sector.

Other activities will include developing a visitor forecast model, preparation of guidelines for sustainable tourism development, training in tourism planning and conducting the first detailed survey of tourists in the region.

Inle Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in Myanmar, a listed ASEAN heritage area that is currently being assessed for qualification as a UNESCO International Biosphere Site.

Tourism at Inle Lake has expanded rapidly recently with a minimum of 200,000 domestic and international visitors annually.

Joern Kristensen, director, IID, said: “Through our research…we found people, the environment and infrastructure are quite unprepared for this rapid increase in tourism. So there should be more focus on providing training and employment for local people.”

INTERNATIONAL MICE event management company MCI last Friday launched its 11th branch in Asia with the opening of MCI Indonesia.

MCI Indonesia is a joint venture company owned equally by MCI Singapore and Indonesian travel management company Smailing Tour.

Robin Lokerman, president of MCI Asia-Pacific, said the set-up has been one-and-a-half years in the making in order to ensure a consistent quality in the events organised in Indonesia, given that half of MCI’s business comes from clients who work with MCI in multiple locations.

He added: “We see a growing number of our corporate clients who would like to do business in Indonesia. We are helping them by reaching new customers in Indonesia.”

Lokerman also noted that more Indonesians were coming on board in Asia-Pacific associations. “We want to be close to these leaders of Indonesia and help bring global conferences to the country,” he said, saying half of MCI’s business is made up of association events.

Asked if MCI Indonesia has a target, Lokerman elaborated: “We want to build programmes in Indonesia in the next two to three years to have 30 staff in Jakarta and they will be responsible for about 100 events a year, either taking place in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta or Bali, and outgoing.”

MCI Indonesia is also eyeing the domestic meetings market. “Domestic meetings alone is a big market here. Once the domestic market starts travelling more and attending global conferences, they will start demanding international standards for their domestic meetings.”

Smailing Tour is part owner of wholesale hotel distribution channel Raja Kamar and partner in Garuda Indonesia Holidays. Bernard Akili, group chief marketing officer at Smailing and managing director for MCI Indonesia, said: “(Smailing) has witnessed a growing demand from our clients (in Indonesia) for meetings, events and exhibitions (management). This has prompted us to look for an international player with an outstanding track record and that was when MCI came into the picture.”

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is gunning for 3.1 million tourists from Malaysia in 2014 through a number of initiatives designed to encourage visitors to stay longer and explore more of Thailand.

One of these initiatives sees Thailand working with Laos, Cambodia and China to promote overland tours using Thailand as a South-east Asian hub, said Suwat Kumwong, director, Malaysia & Brunei, TAT.

TAT is also promoting travel to other destinations such as Lampang, Lamphun, Trang, Satun, Lipe Island, Ayutthaya and Pak Chong beyond the traditional cities such as Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and Chiang Mai.

Raaj Navaratnaa, general manager of New Asia Holidays Kuala Lumpur, said TAT should also provide travel consultants with more brochure support and create more consumer awareness among Malaysians on the new destinations it is promoting.

He added: “It will create interest for repeat visitors to Thailand who wish to go off the beaten path. As a mature destination for Malaysians, TAT has to continuously come out with innovative ideas and packages to entice Malaysians, especially repeat visitors and the younger crowd, who love to explore and experience new things.”

In 2013, Thailand saw three million arrivals from Malaysia, which forms its second biggest market after China.

THE Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (HSH) and Myanmar’s Yoma Strategic Holdings signed a shareholders agreement on March 10 to convert the former Burma Railways headquarters building into Peninsula Hotel Yangon.

Yoma had, in November 2012, announced it would redevelop the company’s 4.1-hectare plot housing FMI Centre, Grand Mee Ya Hta Residence and a heritage-listed building into a mixed-use project at the heart of Yangon’s central business district, at a cost of about US$350 million.

“The former Myanmar Railways headquarters is an iconic building in Myanmar,” said Serge Pun, chairman of Yoma, adding its redevelopment will “bring to Yangon a new luxury experience”.

Clement Kwok, managing director and CEO of HSH, said the company sees good potential in Myanmar as a luxury travel and tourism destination.

Separately, Yoma is also partnering Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Estate for a business hotel, serviced apartments, high-end condominium, and retail and office space as part of the entire project.

PHILIPPINE property developer Roxaco Land Corp and Singapore-based Vanguard Hotels have formed a 50-50 joint venture that will invest in building a minimum of five Go Hotels.

Go Hotels is the limited-service hotel brand of the Robinsons Group of Companies affiliated with Cebu Pacific.

Roxaco senior vice president, Santiago R Elizalde, said: “Go Hotels is an established brand. The relationship and cross-marketing possibilities with Cebu Pacific was also a major factor in our decision.”

Elizalde said: “Vanguard has an agreement in place with Robinsons Land to construct 20 hotels so we will have the option to continue opening hotels if the business performs as expected.”

He said the joint venture is now focusing on Metro Manila but is also exploring provincial locations.

“Right now, we have a property located near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (currently under construction) and we are looking to close the purchase of another in North EDSA. We are looking at approximately 180 to 200 keys per hotel.

“Robinsons Land will continue to construct Go Hotels as well but its priority will be to locate the hotels within their mall properties throughout the country.”

THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is casting a wider net to capture more Indonesian travellers, noting that tourism receipts have taken a hit from the depreciation of the rupiah last year.

The NTO has planned a series of marketing and promotional activities in the country for this year, with a “strategy to build a longer term proposition for Singapore as a choice of lifestyle destination”, according to Kenneth Lim, STB’s regional director for ASEAN (I) & Oceania.

Indonesia continued to rank first in arrivals to Singapore last year, with the January-September figure totalling 2.3 million, nine per cent higher than in 2012.

However, in terms of tourism receipts, Indonesia dropped three per cent to S$2.3 billion (US$1.8 billion) and its position as the number one contributor to the country was taken over by China.

Lim said: “As we all know, in all industries, China is growing very rapidly. Also, in the last six months or so, the rupiah had depreciated quite a lot against the Singapore dollar because of the US dollar, and this clearly affected travellers’ spending in the country.”

Michele Wooi, STB’s Indonesia area director, said: “Our focus will continue to be on the leisure market, encouraging travellers to try new things.

“We will also promote BT-MICE and experiential learning.”

Some of the “new things” are sports tourism with the opening of Singapore Sports Hub and the first WTA Championship in October, River Safari’s Amazon Boat Quest, Shark Encounter and Sea Trek at Marine Life Park, as well as cruising.

“We are not only promoting events but also Singapore’s precincts, where travellers can stroll along in their free time,” she said.

Wooi added that STB would explore new markets outside Jakarta this year, as accessibility improves.

While Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan continue to deliver the most numbers for Indonesia, Jogjakarta appeared, for the first time, in the fourth place as the city received additional services from SilkAir and Tigerair last year.

EVEN as the search and rescue operation of the missing Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) flight MH370 enters its seventh day today, there is still no sign of where the aircraft might possibly be.

Malaysia’s acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, dismissed several news reports yesterday, saying that stories suggesting the aircraft might have continued flying for some time after losing contact were inaccurate.

“The last transmission from the aircraft was at 01.07 (on March 8), which indicated that everything was normal.”

He said: “As far as Rolls-Royce and Boeing (which have been helping with the investigation) are concerned, those reports are inaccurate.

“Whenever there are new details, these must be corroborated. On the Chinese satellite imagery, a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency surveillance plane was despatched yesterday morning to investigate potential debris shown on Chinese satellite images.

“We deployed our assets but found nothing. We contacted the Chinese embassy who notified us that the images were released by mistake and did not show any debris from MH370.”

On reports that the aircraft might have passed over the Straits of Malacca, Hishammuddin said extra ships and aircraft have been dispatched to search the area over the Straits of Malacca, but main efforts have always been on the South China Sea.

He also dismissed the idea that the aircraft could have been hijacked by terrorists.

He added that the search has intensified for the missing aircraft and refuted claims that Malaysia had slowed down efforts.

“We have extended the search area because it is our duty to follow every lead and we owe it to the families. Trust me when I say we will not give up.”

SMALL- and medium-sized travel companies in India are defaulting on their payments to airlines since most carriers have reduced the credit period from 15 to seven days with effect from January 1.

Aerojet Travels, for example, has defaulted on Rs50 million (US$814,750) in payment to airlines last month.

Rakesh Lamba, managing director, Prakriti Holidays, said: “Small companies like us have to abide by IATA norms in terms of bank guarantees and also pay weekly to airlines on all sales while we receive payments from our clients much later, often between two to six weeks. How much cash can we keep to stay afloat, while income from sale of tickets is marginal?”

Under the current system, ticket issuers give bank and insurance guarantees to the airlines, upon which they are allotted limits for issuance of tickets.

Most travel companies issue the bulk of the tickets for corporate companies, which typically demand longer credit terms in a competitive market. As a result, most small- and medium-sized companies borrow heavily to make the payments on time.

While agreeing the short credit term will hurt travel consultants, Iqbal Mulla, president, Travel Agents Association of India, pointed out: “Airlines believe they can manage ticket sales only through a handful of big travel companies, but putting all your eggs in one basket can be risky.”

According to IATA, the weekly settlement is critical in minimising the risk exposure of airlines.