TOURISM Malaysia is going deeper into cyberspace with the recent launch of its integrated digital marketing programme, intended to complement existing marketing efforts for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014.

Said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of tourism and culture: “Global media consumption is rapidly shifting towards the digital world, thus it is apt that Tourism Malaysia follows suit and goes where the future lies.

“Social media and social networking are on a steady rise, reaching out to nearly one in four people around the world. The number of social media users are expected to rise from 1.5 billion in 2012 to 1.7 billion this year, which is an increase of 18 per cent.”

The integrated digital marketing programme was designed to support VMY 2014 promotions and includes video content on YouTube and TrulyAsia.TV, the ShareMy initiative to encourage tourists to explore Malaysia virtually in the online social realm, as well as Facebook and Twitter presences, the Tourism Malaysia website and a mobile travel app, known as The Malaysia Trip Planner.

The Malaysian government has allocated a budget of RM1.2 billion (US$374.2 million) over a two-year period starting this year for the implementation of VMY 2014 programmes, as well as advertising and promotional expenditure.

VMY 2014 will be officially launched on January 4, 2014 at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. With over 200 tourism events scheduled throughout the whole of next year, the government is targeting 28 million tourist arrivals and RM76 billion in tourism receipts.

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) is making a comeback to the Saudi Arabian cities of Riyadh and Dammam after years of absence on these routes.

Beginning today, PAL will commence four-times-weekly flights to Riyadh. Flying every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, PAL flights leave Manila at 08.15 and arrive in Riyadh at 13.30. PAL suspended Riyadh services in March 2011.

From December 3, the carrier will restart thrice-weekly services to Dammam after a 12-year hiatus. Flights out of Manila will operate every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, leaving at 13.35 and arriving in Dammam at 18.00.

The airline will deploy Airbus A330-300 aircraft on these routes.

The restarted direct services are expected to be a boon to the 1.8 million Filipino expatriates in Saudi Arabia alone.

Last month, PAL resumed flights to London after being struck off the European Union’s aviation blacklist (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 18, 2013).

JW MARRIOTT Hanoi is aiming to take the second spot in the Vietnamese capital’s hospitality market and pioneer a new wave of development for the city’s MICE sector.

The 450-room five-star hotel, which soft-opened in October, is the JW Marriott brand’s first property in Vietnam and the first five-star branded hotel to open in Hanoi for seven years. Its 17 meetings rooms with a combined total space of 3,600m² and location next to the Vietnam National Convention Center is aimed at catalysing the city’s nascent MICE industry which has suffered from a lack of space, said Nelson Chow, director of sales and marketing at the hotel.

“We are aiming to be recognised as the new landmark MICE hotel in Hanoi,” he said, adding the property has the second largest events space in the city after the Meliá Hanoi, with the largest space on a single floor.

In a city where most properties are low- to mid-range local hotels, there is little competition at the top end. Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi leads the market, with its 112-year old heritage architecture and history, followed by Hilton, InterContinental, Sheraton and Sofitel Plaza.

“Previously nothing came close to the Metropole,” said Chow. “We’ve opened now and we’re looking to create and occupy that number two position in Hanoi.”

PEACE and quiet rank high on the Indian traveller’s wish list, with 73 per cent of Indians in favour of child-free zones on flights, according to a Skyscanner survey.

Children below the age of 12 should be banned from certain areas of the plane, said a majority of respondents.

However, men came out as stronger supporters of child-free zones than women. Two out of five male respondents said they would pay up to 10 per cent more to ensure they would not be sitting next to passengers with children. The ratio of men to women backing child-free zones is 4:3.

This is in line with the finding that 70 per cent of men rated peace and quiet as very important to them during flights, slightly higher than 66 per cent for women.

Kavitha Gnanamurthy, marketing manager India, Skyscanner, said: “An unpertubed travel experience is important for most of us. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Indian travellers would like to see child-free zones on planes, particularly men, who are less patient and hassled by noisy children.

“Our survey highlights the fact that women, in contrast, were against banning children on certain sections of aircraft as they felt that it was impractical to expect children to remain quiet throughout the flight.”

LCCs such as AirAsia X and Scoot are considering implementing quiet zones where children are not allowed.

HILTON Worldwide and drinks company Diageo are joining hands to launch a tourism and hospitality conference in Singapore next year, focusing on industry topics for women.

Celebrating Opportunities for Women in Tourism and Hospitality in Asia will take place at Hilton Singapore on March 7, 2014, coinciding with International Women’s Day.

Organised in collaboration with knowledge parter the Singapore Committee for UN Women, the conference will feature a line-up of topics with insights into the benefits of investing in skills and training for women, gender discrimination and diversity in the workplace.

Attendees can expect to discuss and debate the opportunities, challenges and issues facing women in the industry in Asia-Pacific and globally, to provide a platform for engagement and share best practices in training, empowering, employing and promoting women.

The conference is part of Diageo’s Plan W programme that aims to empower women through learning.

For more information and registration details, visit www.womenhospitalityconference.com.

SYDNEY-BASED StayWell Hospitality Group has been denied permission to register its Park Regis hotel trademark in Singapore by a court ruling last Friday, which legal experts have said could lead to a name change for the hotel.

According to local broadsheet The Straits Times, StayWell’s attempt to register its Park Regis hotel trademark was opposed by US-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts and subsidiary Sheraton International, which owns the similarly named St Regis in Singapore.

Singapore’s Court of Appeal last week ruled that the Park Regis name resembled Starwood’s St Regis, and the naming could suggest that the two hotels are affiliated.

The Straits Times quoted Richard Doyle, executive director and corporate counsel for StayWell Hospitality Group, as saying that the company is “seeking legal advice relating to the court decision”.

He noted that earlier cases the group had faced over the same issue had been shot down in Indonesia and Britain.

Park Regis Singapore had opened here in 2010, while St Regis Singapore was registered in Singapore in 1995 ahead of the opening of hotel in 2008.