NEPAL is ramping up promotions and travel trade engagement this year in the face of negative arrivals growth from India.

According to Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded 103,568 arrivals by air from India between January and August 2013, an 18.1 per cent year-on-year decrease.

“India is our major source market and accounts for 33 per cent of our overall tourist arrivals. (In 2012) we witnessed 13 per cent growth from India. However, presently we are seeing a decline in numbers,” said Nandini Lahe Thapa, senior director of tourism products & resources development, Nepal Tourism Board.

To tackle this, the NTO will sell Nepal as an adventure, golf tourism and MICE destination, while continuing to promote less-travelled religious sites including Janaki Temple, Muktinath Temple, Damodar Kund lake, Jagatpur and Lumbini.

Nepal Tourism Board held an education session for over 100 Indian travel consultants in New Delhi last month and is partnering travel trade associations for wider awareness.

This includes the India Golf Tourism Association that is organising fam trips to Nepal for its members in February and March.

“Travelling to Nepal and staying two to three nights is still cheaper than going to Indian cities like Begaluru and Trivandrum,” said Rajan Sehgal, association president.

Nepal Tourism Board aims to welcome two million tourists by 2020, and will target South-east Asian markets as well.

GOLDEN Tulip Hospitality Group has launched its first property in Indonesia with the recent opening of a four-star hotel in Banjarmasin.

Located in the central business district of the South Kalimantan capital, Golden Tulip Galaxy Hotel is a newly built property with 138 deluxe rooms and suites.

It boasts of F&B facilities including the Galaxy Lobby Lounge, The Branche restaurant, The Duck King restaurant for Chinese fine-dining, and rooftop lounge Opio.

Mark van Ogtrop, managing director of Golden Tulip South East Asia, said: “This is a very important milestone as we enjoy strong growth in Indonesia. We are thrilled to be launching our brand in the country, which we anticipate to be one of the most important markets for us in the future.”

Commenting on the group’s choice of Banjarmasin for its first location in Indonesia, van Ogtrop said: “Banjarmasin as the capital city of South Kalimantan is one of the most important cities in Indonesia with a significant economic growth that has a good potential for MICE business market.”

The hotel caters to MICE visitors and banqueting guests with the largest ballroom in the city and a wide range of meetings rooms. In addition, there is a large entertainment and karaoke centre called the Peak International Executive Club.

Other facilities available include an outdoor pool with an open deck and bar area, a fitness centre, salon and the Dedari Spa.

Golden Tulip Galaxy Hotel is now dangling a special launch of Rp805,000 (US$66) per night including breakfast for two, valid until end-February.

Golden Tulip currently has 20 hotel projects in Indonesia, including developments in Bandung, Bali, Puncak, Bogor, Bekasi-Cikarang, Jakarta, Malang, Lampung and Makassar.

THE Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) today gave international airlines the go-ahead to use Amadeus for ticket distribution in the country under the new CRS regulations.

Among the first international airlines that have received permission are Air France, KLM and Lufthansa, whose tickets will be bookable via Amadeus through a pre-selected group of travel agencies in Beijing, said an Amadeus media release.

This group of travel agencies will eventually be expanded to include those in locations such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Bart Tompkins, managing director of Amadeus China, said: “Implementing a new market-wide policy is not without its challenges and we appreciate the CAAC’s efforts to progress the airline applications. In addition to the initial list of approved airlines and travel consultants, we have several more that have committed to working with us in the market.”

Amadeus is curently applying for IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan certification in China, which will give international airlines and travel consultants the ability to use Amadeus to settle ticket payments.

Update: CAAC has also granted Abacus’ travel consultant applicants licence to use the Abacus GDS system for international airline ticketing. Said an Abacus press release: “Abacus users will receive training on the new technology, learning how to present the brand attributes of each additional airline and share the multi-platform apps that their customers will also be able to adopt to make reservations for themselves.”

SILKAIR has revealed deployment plans for the Boeing 737-800 aircraft it has on order, the first of which will be delivered in February 2014.

The aircraft will have a two-class 162-seat configuration with 12 seats in business class and 150 seats in economy, and offers greater efficiency and longer range than SilkAir’s current fleet of Airbus 320s and 319s.

Starting April 28, the B737-800 will be deployed to Siem Reap and Danang.

Other destinations that will be served using the B737-800 include Davao, Cebu and Kochi (May 26), Xiamen (August 25), Shenzhen (September 29), Phnom Penh (September 30), Chengdu (October 1), Darwin (October 2), Bengaluru (October 4) and Kolkata (October 21).

SilkAir will also launch thrice-weekly services to two destinations, Kalibo, starting May 27, followed by Mandalay starting June 10. Two of the services to Kalibo will be operated via Cebu on the outbound leg and one service will operate non-stop to Kalibo but transit Cebu on the return leg.

All three weekly services to Mandalay will be operated via Yangon on the outbound leg and return non-stop to Singapore. With this new route, the number of weekly services to Yangon will increase from the current seven to 10.

SilkAir has also ordered 31 of the more advanced B737-MAX 8s and the first of these will be delivered in 2017.

ASIAN cities have become more affordable over the last year according to HRS’ Hotel Rate Development 2013 price comparison, though Bangkok and Taipei bucked the trend.

Comparing the Asian cities of Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, Seoul, Mumbai and Taipei, HRS noted that most Asian cities saw a dip in hotel rates between 2012 and 2013.

New Delhi saw the largest fall of 26.6 per cent to 43.20 euros (US$58.90), followed by Tokyo which dropped 18.7 per cent to 134.40 euros. Kuala Lumpur rates dipped 8.6 per cent to 57.80 euros while Singapore registered a mere 0.01 per cent change to 144.50 euros.

In contrast, Bangkok’s room rates jumped by 11 per cent to 64.90 euros while Taipei rates crept up 3.7 per cent to 111.80 euros.

Globally, HRS stated that New York is the global frontrunner in room rates with average per night accommodation at 187 euros, a 8.9 per cent increase over last year.

In second place is Rio de Janeiro at 179 euros despite dipping 3.6 per cent, while Sydney stakes third place with 174 euros after a 1.1 per cent decrease in rates.

IN A move that has brought relief to Indian travel consultants, the High Court of Karnataka has issued an interim order to suspend IATA’s weekly Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) that came into effect on January 1.

The court had heard a writ petition filed by legal counsels of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), and its order signals a revert to the earlier payment cycle that grants 15-day credit periods.

“This is major relief for the travel consultant community in India. IATA now cannot implement its new payment system until a decision on our writ petition comes out. The court realised that travel consultants are under distress and gave us some breathing time,” said Iqbal Mulla, president of TAAI.

He added the association will hold discussions with concerned parties to reach a settlement favourable to all.

Anil Kalsi, managing director of Ambe World Travels, called IATA’s proposed weekly BSP a “negative step”.

“(The BSP) seems to be the marginalisation of the IATA travel agency distribution channel. The weekly BSP allows no breathing time for consultants and poses a cash crunch situation for them.”

The weekly BSP was previously scheduled to take effect in November 2012 but was deferred to December 31, 2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 13, 2012).

Implementation of the plan also met resistance in Sri Lanka (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 9, 2013), though IATA later clarified that while it “does not determine the remittance frequency”, the proposed credit cycle would reduce the financial burden on travel consultants (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 17, 2013).

THE Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has introduced a dedicated travel website in conjunction with the year-long Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 campaign.

The DiscoverMalaysia website (www.discoverMalaysia.com.my) currently features about 20 holiday packages, with another 20 to be uploaded in the near future.

The site will continue to be refreshed with new “innovative packages” throughout the year, said KL Tan, vice-president for inbound, MATTA.

Hamzah Rahmat, president of MATTA, explained that the website was built with the aim of heightening awareness of and interest in Malaysia as a must-visit destination.

He said: “(The website) highlights some of the most creative and innovative tour packages Malaysia has to offer in every state and is geared to both domestic and international audiences.”

Meanwhile, MATTA member A Aruldass, also managing director of Tourland Travel, said the website is an opportunity for members to showcase their innovative products, while providing a convenient way for travellers, especially FITs, to do their holiday research online.

The Malaysian government has set a target of 28 million international tourists and RM76 billion (US$23.2 billion) in tourism receipts for this year.

This year’s campaign, themed Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia, marks the fourth Visit Malaysia Year and will boast a range of festivities including cultural events, food festivals, sports, eco-adventures, music and arts festivals, shopping and heritage trails.