PATA Loves ASEAN campaign to hit global screens

January 21, 2014

PATA has announced a new TV campaign entitled PATA Loves ASEAN which will be aired in June across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The US$300,000 advertising campaign on the Travel Channel will promote responsible tourism experiences under the following categories: nature tourism, culture and heritage tourism, community-based tourism, cruise and river tourism, and health and wellness tourism.

Some 210 60-second clips featuring all 10 ASEAN member states will be facilitated by PATA. PATA’s Love logo and ASEAN’s consumer tourism slogan Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth will also be highlighted.

Owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, London-based Travel Channel is a leading international travel broadcaster, transmitting 24 hours a day in 21 languages to 130 countries.

PATA CEO, Martin Craigs, said: “ASEAN has emerged as a global leader of sophisticated niche tourism products that have a caring and community touch. The PATA Loves ASEAN campaign will promote those products, which are also part of ASEAN’s strategic tourism plan for 2012-2015.”

“The PATA Loves ASEAN campaign will illustrate the benefits to host and guest by embracing responsible tourism as part of South-east Asia’s connected visitor economy,” added Ivy Chee, regional director – East Asia, who initiated the campaign.

In the presentation sessions to ministers and NTOs at the ASEAN Tourism Forum, PATA also previewed its new five-year tourism arrivals forecasts. The predictions are based on an econometric model known as auto-regressive distributed lag and error correction model, said to be a new cutting-edge tool developed by PATA with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and Tourism Management.

Read more from ATF 2014 in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 201420

SpiceJet rejigs international flight schedule

By Shekhar Niyogi

January 20, 2014

SPICEJET has announced the latest adjustments to its international flight routes and introduced a slew of passenger benefits in order to remain competitive.

According to the airline’s news release last week, SpiceJet is set to launch new routes out of Kolkata to Guangzhou and Hong Kong by end-February, while a new Dhaka service is expected to be introduced in the near future.

SpiceJet will also axe flights on a number of routes to optimise resource allocation: Pune-Bangkok, Varanasi-Sharjah and New Delhi-Guangzhou.

In January, the carrier rolled out SpiceMAX for passengers who purchase premium seats, giving them priority handling, check-in and 10kg extra in baggage allowance. A frequent flier programme was also launched at the same time, offering one free ticket for every six flights and two tickets for every 10 flights rather than mileage.

SpiceJet is further targeting business-class travellers by reconfiguring its Boeing 737 aircraft for more legroom and offering more value-added services. It will also consolidate and expand the existing alliance with Tigerair.

Rajendra Chruiwala, director-eastern region, IATA Agents Association of India, said high fuel costs and airport charges were forcing airlines to optimise aircraft deployment and route operations.

“(Indian carriers) have to strike a balance and constantly rejig their routes in a market that will see increased competition from AirAsia India and Tata-SIA Airlines in the near future,” he commented.

Far East experiments with new Rendezvous concept

By Raini Hamdi

January 20, 2014

FAR East Hospitality (FEH) has relaunched the Rendezvous Hotel Singapore, removing the ‘Grand’ from its name pre-acquisition and injecting a new art-inspired concept to differentiate the brand from others in its portfolio.

FEH now counts nine brands following its joint venture with Australia’s Toga Group which operates Adina Apartment Hotels, Medina Service Apartments, Rendezvous Hotels, Vibe Hotels and Travelodge Hotels (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 3, 2013).

Far East Hospitality Management CEO, Arthur Kiong, interviewed by TTG Asia e-Daily on the sideline of the relaunch last Friday, described the repositioning as “an experiment” to see if the brand could appeal to the cultured cosmopolitan market.

Being art-inspired, the hotel will offer dedicated spaces to showcase local art, technology to facilitate art and design-related exhibitions and special entry rates to museums in its vicinity, among others.

“We bought a hotel with an existing product, so we needed to rationalise how it’s going to compete with other brands, but also how it would sit within our brand. This (relaunch) is an experiment; we spent a modest amount in renovating the lobby, function rooms, club and club lounge and (in the repositioning) to see if it could appeal to the cultured cosmopolitan market,” said Kiong.

He said FEH’s brands are all geared for mid/upscale market, however, as this market is huge, there has to be different products to suit its different psychographics, not demographics.

“Rendezvous is located in areas that have museums, art, where the local community could display its art and vibrancy, while Oasia is for the road warriors, who are here to work but want serenity and functionality at the same time. Quincy is for the jet-set crowd who wants glamour while Village is more in the bohemian, fringe neighbourhoods.

“You can’t divide people by their demographics – i.e., females or males, Malays or Indians, young or old – rather, by their psychographics.”

Kiong said with a string of brands, the group would look into expanding into gateway cities which are directly connected to Singapore. “Our strategy is to have many brands so when we go into these gateway cities, we could have a Quincy, a Rendezvous, an Oasia, etc, which does not compete with each other, unlike having six brand X hotels in one city.”

These gateway cities are also already a huge source market for FEH, for example Australia or Europe. “Australia contributes about nine per cent to our business. Europe is significant too. So I could see a Rendezvous in, say, Berlin, if there’s an opportunity, as we already have Adina there,” said Kiong.

Indonesia’s Plataran Hotels branches into management

By Xinyi Liang-Pholsena

January 20, 2014

INDONESIAN boutique hospitality firm Plataran Hotels & Resorts is expanding eastwards, having already secured a presence in Bali.

Established in 2008, the company had only recently forayed into hotel management in 2012 when it took over Plataran Canggu Bali, which it owned since 2010, according to Iwan Sitompul, corporate director of sales and marketing.

This property is currently undergoing refurbishment, which will be completed next month.

“Our development strategy is to open new properties in exotic destinations in Indonesia,” said Iwan. “We are not building city hotels, but focusing on developing low-rise, boutique properties in traditional Javanese houses.”

Following the recent openings of the nine-villa Plataran Komodo and the 51-room Plataran Ubud in December 2013, several new properties will be rolled out in the next two years, according to Iwan. The 30-room Plataran Bromo will launch in 3Q2015 while the 20-room Plataran Sumba will debut in 1Q2016.

In Borobudur, Plataran is building a 61-room hotel whose meeting and wedding facilities will augment its existing all-villa property nearby. This is slated for 1Q2016.

The company is also adding a six-pax yacht in February to its existing four phinisi boats to “offer an even more upmarket experience for guests”, Iwan shared. All five vessels will be based in Labuan Bajo, located in west Flores in Nusa Tenggara, an hour’s flight from Bali.

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

ASEAN-Japan Centre imparts art of heritage, culture seduction

By Mimi Hudoyo

January 20, 2014

THE ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, has set in motion an exchange programme to help Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos sharpen their cultural and heritage appeal in a bid to encourage greater Japanese traveller interest in these ASEAN destinations.

The programme is the first of many aimed at developing products these destinations are rich in, noted AJC’s director of Tourism & Exchange Division, Dananjaya Axioma.

“We have taken a group consisting of tourism academicians and heritage management (personnel) from the three countries on a fam trip to Japan in November last year,” Axioma said, adding that participants attended a workshop and training seminar in Tokyo and site inspections of cultural and heritage attractions in Nara.

The activities are also expected to guide Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos in managing attractions with cultural and historical value.

“Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are already major destinations for Japanese outbound to ASEAN (so) we have to work with stakeholders of these three countries to find ways to increase Japanese arrivals,” said Axioma.

Following these activities, participants are expected to develop and implement relevant programmes for selected cultural and heritage sites.

However, AJC has yet to meet with the working groups of Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos to obtain updates and discuss the next step forward.

Expressing support for the initiative, Union of Myanmar Travel Association chairman, Aung Myat Kyaw, told the TTG Asia e-Daily: “Japan is one of the main markets Myanmar is keen to develop.”

Although Japanese arrivals to Myanmar is still a minute figure, it grew 123 per cent between 2011 and 2012. Aung believes that product improvements will raise traveller interest.

In 2012, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar welcomed 179,000, 42,000 and 47,600 Japanese respectively.

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

Region-wide MICE standards under MRA in the works

By Mimi Hudoyo

January 20, 2014

INDONESIA has proposed the creation of a MICE professional certification within the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals, according to the chair of the ASEAN Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee (ATPMC).

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily in an interview, Souhn Manivong, director general, tourism development department of Laos’ Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism – who represents Laos as ATPMC chair – said: “Indonesia is leading the development of this project (through a working group). Currently, it is preparing the competency units which will later be compiled with what other member countries have and be developed into a common ASEAN standard. (So far) we’ve learnt that Thailand has its own (MICE competency standards).”

Ani Insani, head of competency centre, resource development agency for tourism and creative economy, Indonesia Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, said: “(The ministry and the MICE industry in) Indonesia feel it is important to have such standards as the industry is growing in the region.”

Wisnu Budi Sulaeman, board member of Indonesia Congress and Convention Association, who leads the Indonesia contingent in the MICE competency working group, said: “On the conference side, Indonesia has established competency units for bidding, venue, registration and liaison specialists. On the exhibition side, we have existing standards for stand contractors and logistic specialists.”

Supervisory level standards are currently implemented across Indonesia, and managerial level standards are set to follow soon, according to Wisnu.

Meanwhile, preparation towards the full implementation of MRA by end-2015 is on track, said Manivong, who is also project director of the Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Tourism Development Project.

MRA’s successful implementation would facilitate mobility of tourism professionals within ASEAN, and he estimates that some 2,000 regional professionals will hold ASEAN-recognised certificates by then.

Rebranded Citadines St Georges Terrace launched in Perth

By TTG Asia

January 20, 2014

THE Ascott has opened Citadines St Georges Terrace Perth after a five-month, multimillion dollar refurbishment and rebranding.

Formerly the Somerset St Georges Terrace Perth, the Citadines St Georges Terrace Perth has undergone a A$5.1 million (US$4.5 million) facelift. Its lobby now boasts of contemporary art pieces by local artists and a colour scheme of dark grey with pops of crimson or yellow.

The 85-unit property sits in the heart of Perth’s business district and is only a street away from the Esplanade overlooking the Swan River.

Citadines St Georges Terrace Perth offers studio and one-bedroom apartments complete with fully equipped kitchens or kitchenettes, free Wi-Fi and home entertainment systems.

The serviced residence is the second Citadines brand property and fifth Ascott residence in Australia.

Kenneth Rogers, regional general manager for Australia and Indonesia, The Ascott, said: “We have rebranded Somerset St Georges Terrace Perth to a Citadines to cater to the growing demand from savvy independent travellers in Australia who value the flexibility to choose the services they require to personalise their stay.

“Our Citadines on Bourke in Melbourne which is popular among these travellers has been performing well with occupancy of over 80 per cent. Bringing Citadines to Perth will enable us to strengthen our foothold in the city as demand for serviced residences remain strong from the resource and mining sectors.”

ASEAN maps out home-stay standards

By S Puvaneswary

January 20, 2014

NEW standards for home-stays in South-east Asia will be adopted as part of moves to create a single, quality tourism destination and to assist local communities in earning a living from tourism.

Agreed on by ASEAN tourism ministers at this year’s meetings, the standards are based on input from their respective NTOs. They cover areas such as accommodation, cleanliness in food preparation, eco-friendliness and involvement of visitors in local activities.

In addition, prerequisites are that home-stay operators be free of criminal records and in good health, while home-stays must be in operation for at least two years at the time of application. There must also be at least five registered home-stays in a village.

Pilot testing for the standards will begin this year followed by full implementation from next year.

Mohd Daud Mohd Arif, director of Industry Development Division at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, said the standards are valid for three years, after which it will be reassessed by ASEAN ministers and further enhanced if necessary. Malaysia is the lead coordinator for the home-stay standards.

“Successful home-stays will receive a certificate and a plaque issued by ASEAN, which they can use for branding and marketing purposes,” explained Ong Hong Peng, secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, who is chairing the ASEAN NTO meetings.

The certification is offered free of charge to all home-stay operators. Home-stays must score at least 75 per cent during the assessment process to qualify.

Family matters at The Travel Corporation

By Raini Hamdi

January 17, 2014

He built a travel empire from a hotel business, but the biggest achievement of Stanley Tollman, founder/chairman of The Travel Corporation, may well be in keeping the family in business together. As Asian families start to hand over to sons and daughters, Raini Hamdi asks Tollman (second from left below) how he does it

How did you manage to get your children and nephews to be in the business?
I had always hoped the business would grow and develop into something that Brett (son, now president/CEO of The Travel Corporation) could take over. At the time, we were running a hotel and restaurant business. From a little boy, he’s shown an aptitude for the hotel business. So we sent him to Cornell (University).

In the mid of my career, in the late 60s, I bought Trafalgar Tours and, through different life times and places, the business grew organically: retail travel, wholesale travel, bus companies, river cruising, all the various aspects.

We bought Contiki 20-odd years ago, needed a captain for it and offered Michael (nephew, now executive chairman, Cullinan Holding, which owns Thompson Gateway Africa) the job. He had just graduated. Then Gavin (nephew, now president, Trafalgar) came in when his father retired and we offered him Trafalgar. My wife (Beatrice Tollman) developed a hotel company, Red Carnation Hotels. It just happened. As I grew older, I didn’t even contemplate succession. You think you live forever.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having family members holding all the top jobs?
I suppose the advantage is total commitment. It’s not a job; it’s a lifestyle, a passion. One has an attitude that it’s your life and soul, it’s everything you breathe, it’s everything you do. Nothing is too much trouble – if you walk into a restaurant and see a dirty cup, you pick it.

The next generation, generally, if they come from a successful base, they become more ‘ivory tower’. But the service business is hands-on.

Brett, Gavin and Mike also grew up seeing my wife and I washing plates, waiting on tables, cooking. They all showed the attitude that no job is too big for them or too small.

I think our business is in better hands. They’ve taken it to different levels. They’ve had more education than we had, they’ve applied it better in a now technocrat world – social media, IT, all these things.

What are the disadvantages?
You have to tread softly, not hurt feelings. In normal business, you say what you want to say.

When things go wrong – sibling rivalry and all that – they can go on awfully and destroy business. We’re fortunate our business is big enough that everyone has lots of space. Our two daughters are also in the business, one’s doing design, the other sales & marketing, but they all work together and do their own thing.

When I talk to all of them, I would give the example of a box of matches. Put matches together and try and break them. They won’t. But if you separate them, each is easily broken. The biggest thing is when the founder passes on, families have to learn that the most important thing is sticking together and not allowing feelings to destroy the business.

The children’s attitude of nothing is too small or too big for them – how much of that is nature, how much of it is nurture?
All of them had a kind of an upbringing that nothing was given to them. I don’t think any of them were over-spoilt. They grew up watching us work. So all of them grew up with strong work ethics.

I don’t think you can teach them. What you can do is to be a strong ‘steering committee’, show them the pitfalls, set the rules, create well-rounded people that have a sense of responsibility. Part of our business is dedication to foundation (conservation, charity) and our family motto is the pursuit of excellence.

How hard is it to let go? How much are you still involved in business?
I haven’t let go. Everyone said to me they’re surprised. It’s gratifying that everyone comes to me all the time for ideas. I still am involved in any purchase. Because we are in so many countries and we’re always building or acquiring new companies, there is just so much to do. So I’m fully employed, but no longer in the day to day.

But it is not hard at all, because I’ve been teaching Brett, Michael and Gavin over 20-25 years and in that long process, I’ve made them all do more and more.

How do you get together as a family?
We all get together three to four times a year, because Brett lives in the US, we live in three to four places, Gavin is in Geneva, Michael in Cape Town. And the joke always is, let’s try and have a meal and talk about other things than business. But the business is so intertwined with our lives!

But we also make business fun. If I look back on 60 years in business, besides the normal things – application, dedication, devotion to your business – the most important ingredient is enjoying what you do. I remember the first restaurant my wife and I opened when we were married. I was in the front, she in the kitchen, and the wonderful thing about the service industry is this pure enjoyment in making things happen. I’ve always said, our business is pure theatre. If you create the stage for what you doing, you will create a great play.

Some said the industry, which has grown so much, is not a lot of fun.
Yes, good point. Everything is all mechanised now, everything is a system, that it destroys an awful lot of entrepreneurial spirit and individuality.

Look at the airline business, since deregulation, there’s no airline service. Getting on a plane used to be an adventure.

That’s why we stick to niche businesses, not regimented ones, where we can still be creative. Customers are a lot more demanding, but it’s a lot easier to deal with smart people because they understand effort you are making.

There was a period when inclusive tours were disappearing. Everyone came up with the idea you buy an airline ticket, hire a car, find a room and off you go. Now they are coming back all over to inclusive, because the world became insecure after 9/11. Inclusive is security and it’s gone to a much higher level now; it’s not about eating rubbish for seven nights but taking people to different restaurants and trying to bring the adventure back to travel. That requires us to be innovative and creative. That’s where the fun is.

Our outlook on Asian tourism – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia

By TTG Asia

January 17, 2014

Travel companies in the region share their projections

Inbound
The political uncertainties looming over the upcoming elections in India and Thailand are casting a shadow on inbound business.

Luxury Tours & Travel Singapore’s director, Michael Lee, foresees a slowdown for inbound traffic in Singapore for 1Q2014. He said: “(Arrivals) from these two countries (India and Thailand) will likely slow down as they may be less likely to travel but it will pick up later in the year.”

For Samson Tan, CEO of GTMC Travel, factors like the European economic crisis and political unrest in Thailand have already adversely impacted inbound travel to Singapore in 2013. In 2014, he intends to grow his number of bookings by 50 per cent, focusing on the online business.

“We want to concentrate on our website and increase our spending on search engine marketing,” Tan said. “The benefits of going online is we are available 24/7 with instant confirmation and we can reach out to more markets.”

Meanwhile, the launch of more midscale hotels this year will spell an opportunity for Luxury Tours to market Singapore as a less pricey destination. He said: “It is not new that Singapore is an expensive place so hopefully the cheaper accommodation costs can fight this.”

Outbound
Singaporeans’ penchant for overseas travel will continue to stay strong this year, buoying the business outlook for outbound firms.

“We have also quite successfully increased traveller yield year-on-year by about four to seven per cent,” said Chan Brothers Travel’s group managing director, Anthony Chan, who forecasts 10 per cent year-on-year growth for the company this year.

“We constantly seek to move consumers up the value chain and reap higher-yield travellers through continual product innovation and service differentiation,” he added.

As Singapore is a mature travel market, Chan admitted that a key challenge is keeping pace with customer demands. He said: “Our focus for 2014 will be on business process reengineering, which will see a fundamental rethink of workflow and processes to dramatically improve customer service and operating efficiency.” – Paige Lee Pei Qi

Inbound
The Malaysian travel trade is adopting a cautious outlook this year as business costs surge in the country.

Yap Sook Ling, managing director of Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel (AOS), said: “Business volume and yield are anticipated to be the same as 2013 or even less. Our profit margins are squeezed due to rising petrol, toll and electricity rates, and increasing staff salaries to make up for inflation.”

On the other hand, Luxury Tours Malaysia’s senior manager, Arokia Das, projects an increase of 35-40 per cent in business volume and 18 per cent in yield, driven by traditional markets such as India and the Philippines while Eastern Europe is a growing market.

Both Arokia and Yap see Visit Malaysia Year 2014 as a good platform to generate greater awareness of Malaysia and boost business from non-traditional markets like South Africa and CIS countries.

Luxury Tours – a strong player in the Indian inbound market – also foresees the Malaysian government’s impending move to introduce visa on arrival facility for Indian nationals visiting Malaysia through a third country (namely Singapore and Thailand) will help to create interest among Indian tourists.

Rising air connectivity between Malaysia and India brings further opportunities too, especially as Malindo Air’s new daily Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi services and upcoming daily Kuala Lumpur-Mumbai services (commencing February 15) will raise seat capacity and provide a low-cost alternative to Malaysia Airlines, said Arokia.

However, the lack of direct flights still limits access to secondary destinations such as Langkawi, Penang, Kuching and Johor Bahru, he pointed out.

This year, Luxury Tours will launch a booking engine with dynamic packaging on its website to enable direct bookings for both B2B and B2C clients, explained Arokia.

AOS will also roll out improved packaged tours as part of its new initiatives this year. Yap said: “We will create more unique overland packages so overseas (consultants) cannot compare our offerings with that of other tour operators and will be willing to pay a premium for our unique tour packages.”

Outbound
Higher living costs are curbing Malaysians’ spending, said Panorama Tours Malaysia managing director, Richard Vuilleumier.

He explained: “Prices have risen as the government has cut back on subsidies for sugar, petrol, electricity and toll, which in turn have an effect on outbound. As costs rise, Malaysians have less spending power and so may cut down on their holidays abroad. Natural calamities and unstable political situations abroad will also affect travel.

“The challenge will be to entice Malaysians to spend on travel, especially longhaul, as the ringgit has dipped against the US and European currencies,” he added.

Panorama Tours Malaysia is working towards branding itself as an ecotourism adventure specialist, with plans to introduce niche packages in four-wheel drive, cycling, biking and rock climbing tours.

The company is also keen to sell ground packages to coincide with airline promotions during low periods to entice Malaysians to travel overseas. “Another opportunity for us is to become a cruise specialist as consumer awareness about sea cruises are growing and (travellers) are willing to pay for all-inclusive cruises.” – S Puvaneswary

Inbound
The Indonesian inbound trade is stepping up efforts to woo more visitors from ASEAN.

“The launch of direct flights from Singapore to Makassar, Jogjakarta, Semarang, Surabaya and Bandung, plus the improved domestic flight network have opened up new product opportunities. For example, passengers can arrive in Jogjakarta, do overland to Surabaya and Bromo, then fly from Surabaya to Makassar to do the Toraja tour and fly out to Singapore,” said Adjie Wahjono, operations manager, Aneka Kartika Tours & Travel Services. The Surabaya-based operator expects revenue to increase by eight per cent this year.

“Singapore and Malaysia continue to grow, but (business from) the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand are also up,” said Adjie, who projects a revenue increase between seven and 10 per cent for the South-east Asian market this year. “Last year, the European versus South-east Asian market composition was 70:30; this year we are looking at 60:40.”

Likewise, Panorama Destination will also step up focus on regional markets like Malaysia, Vietnam and India, said COO, Achmad Sufyani, as European markets have yet to return to pre-crisis levels.

Said Achmad: “In 2013, the volume from Europe was down by 25-30 per cent from 2012, but our revenue was up fairly thanks to currency exchange. This year, we expect to maintain our performance in the Netherlands, and will put more efforts in Eastern Europe such as in Romania and Serbia, and the Scandinavian countries.”

Sharing similar observations, Adjie remarked: “We have seen (European) group series booked for summer, but FIT bookings for April onward are still slow. This year, we are looking at increasing revenue by introducing upmarket packages.”

However, the upcoming World Cup in Brazil, which falls during the summer peak season, may prove a more attractive destination than Indonesia for European travellers, opined Achmad.

Outbound
“Tremendous growth” is expected for the Indonesian outbound market, according to projections by Al Mulenga, director of G2 Travel.

“In 2014, we will grow our core business organically and take on more employees. This year, G2 will open offices in Beijing and Tel Aviv,” said Al. “We see huge potential for business into the Middle East. Our partnerships in Dubai and Amman will lead to growth into Dubai, Jordan and the Holy Land.”

He added: “Overall, we are looking to grow our revenue by 100 per cent compared with 2013, when our total sales grew by 150 per cent.”

However, the rupiah depreciation may erode Indonesians’ spending power, causing travellers to opt for domestic or shorthaul travel and shorter holidays instead. “The industry will have to come up with innovative products that are affordable in 2014,” he commented. – Mimi Hudoyo