CHENGDU Cultural Tourism Group (CDCTG) has signed a three-year strategic memorandum for cooperation with Ctrip, Visa Worldwide and TripAdvisor to promote the Chinese city on various platforms.

Under the agreement, Ctrip will take over international promotion efforts for Chengdu, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jennifer Lan, deputy general manager for Ctrip, said: “We have been working with CDCTG before, but this official partnership symbolises a long-term strategic partnership.

“We have established a special expert group to conduct multiple field research and come up with the first (themed) travel routes characterised by cultural features.”

Visa will bank on China’s new policies for 72-hour visa-free transits for international tourists in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai to roll out a marketing campaign with themed activities.

Meanwhile, TripAdvisor will launch a dedicated destination marketing organisation page on its website for Chengdu.

THE ailing Spanish economy, which has been in the doldrums for the past five years, has taken a toll on outbound business to Asia.

Teresa Sans, manager of Sol D’or, a Barcelona-based travel agency where corporate and incentives comprise 75-80 per cent of its business, said: “Outbound leisure and incentive segments have been quiet this year, although the corporate segment is still good. Our incentive business has dropped 15 per cent since two years ago, while leisure business went down by 20 per cent during the same period.”

According to Emily Bong, Asia Pacific contract manager for transHotel, the global B2B travel services provider headquartered in Madrid has also seen business volume originating from Spain dip by 20 per cent since 2012.

Meanwhile, repercussions of the Spanish economic slump are felt by South-east Asian sellers.

“Since last year, the Spanish market has gone down by a third during the low season of July to September (the peak outbound travel season for Spanish nationals). While the Spanish market used to make up five to 10 per cent of our business, it is now less than five per cent,” said Sabine Widmann, chief sales officer, ICS Travel Group, a regional tour operator based in Bangkok.

Ray Clark, general manager of The Samaya Bali, commented: “The Spanish market used to represent about 18 per cent of our European business, but it is now down to one to two per cent. We have since turned to Germany, the UK, France and Switzerland to pick up the slack from Spain.”

As Spaniards’ buying power erodes, Spain has inevitably evolved to become a very price-sensitive market, trade players observed.

Clark has observed shorter length of stay among his Spanish guests, from 21 days in the past to the current average of seven days.

Budget-conscious Spaniards who are now drawn to last-minute, discounted offers from travel agencies, are also booking only one to two months ahead, instead of six months in advance, according to Sans.

With Spain’s unemployment at a crippling 27 per cent despite the government’s continued austerity measures to rein in public debt, it looks unlikely that outbound travel from Spain will change dramatically anytime soon.

EGYPT, whose tourism trade has suffered in the hands of political instability in 2010 and again in August this year, is stepping up destination promotions to regain the confidence and interest of travellers and tour operators.

Egypt Tourism Office director for Asia, Adel El Masry, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the situation in the historical destination had stabilised and more budget would be set aside for upcoming promotions. He has, however, declined to reveal the amount of funds allotted to campaigns in Asia.

According to Masry, arrivals to Egypt had improved after the 2010 revolution, although it was a shadow of pre-crisis tourism performance. Prior to the revolution, the country welcomed 14.7 million tourists annually. In 2012, arrivals was around 11 million.

Widely reported riots in August that followed the crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi had caused arrivals to dip by some 20 per cent.

“Tourism contributes to Egypt’s economy in a big way, providing direct and indirect employment to 12.6 per cent of the workforce and it is the country’s second largest source of foreign revenue.Therefore, it is critical that our tourism offices around the world…address the concerns of prospective travellers to the country,” said Masry.

Commenting on Egypt’s tourism recovery efforts, Masry said: “We are planning media campaigns, familiarisation trips for the media and tour operators, as well as working with tour operators to produce brochures.

“(Our efforts) will start in the next couple of weeks until the end of the year, and we will increase our budget for 2014 too. Our goal is not only to (restore) confidence but also to increase the number and (demographic) profile of travellers from Asia.”

The NTO also aims to broaden its network of tour operator partners through participation in travel trade shows.

Meanwhile, Egypt Tourism has started raising the awareness of attractions beyond the pyramids and Nile cruises, which are traditional favourites. “We are introducing new products such as golf, adventures and religious tours. We are also trying to attract MICE groups,” said Masry, adding that the mass market would be targeted.

India, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore have been identified as key Asian source markets, and visa-on-arrival for some Asian nationalities was offered recently.

CHINA, a destination traditionally more popular with the silver-haired crowd, is striking gold with young Singapore travellers as growing LCC services into the country vamp up the appeal of secondary cities.

Eileen Oh, marketing and communications head at ASA holidays, said: “Five years ago, most of our travellers to China were aged 40 and above. But today, as more LCCs start to ply routes to and from China, we are seeing more customers below 35 years old travelling to China, be it by themselves or with their families.”

Chan Brothers Travel marketing and communications manager, Jane Chang, observed: “While travellers over the age of 55 constitute over 60 per cent of our bookings to China, market trends also hint at the growing appeal of China to younger independent travellers below 35.”

But demographics are not the only thing to have changed for Singapore’s outbound market to China, with more heading to previously less accessible destinations such as Nanjing, Qingdao, Shenyang and Tianjin with cheaper flights by budget carriers, Chang pointed out.

Singapore Airlines’ subsidiary, Scoot, debuted thrice-weekly direct flights to its fourth Chinese destination, Nanjing, in June. Scoot also flies to Tianjin, Qingdao and Shenyang.

Earlier this month, Singapore-based Jetstar Asia announced additional direct flights to Shantou and Hangzhou, raising frequencies of the services to four- and five-times-weekly respectively.

“LCCs help to introduce second- and third-tier cities that will appeal to youngsters who are more adventurous as they want to learn more about the food, culture and history in China,” said Alex Tan, head of sourcing (Asia), Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA).

“Also, with the high-speed rail system, it becomes much easier to connect to different cities that are less heard of.”

Chan Brothers’ Chang concurred, saying: “Younger independent travellers want to earn ‘street cred’ for uncovering the quaintest village off the beaten track, while others just want to soak up the one-of-a-kind experiences in exotic destinations.”

Alicia Seah, senior vice president of marketing and PR, CTC Travel, said LCCs have helped to push down ticket prices by full-fledged carriers.

“LCCs not only generate interest in new (destination) cities, they have also helped to drive competitive pricing among full-service airlines which do not want to lose out on this emerging market,” she explained.

– Read more in TTG Show Daily – PATA Travel Mart 2013

THE growing number of mid- to up-market overland tours in Indonesia are lighting up cities beyond Bali this year, assisted by growing tourism infrastructure in tertiary locales.

Umberto Cadamuro, COO of Pacto, said that while Thailand is posing strong competition in the volume-driven mass-market tier, Indonesia is coasting along in the overland and customised tours segment.

“European operators specialising in customised tours are doing very well, venturing off the beaten track, with Komodo taking the lion’s share (of visitors) together with a very much in-demand Kalimantan,” he shared.

Likewise, Destination Asia Indonesia’s managing director, Sediya Yasa, has also seen more travellers venture to Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and East and West Nusa Tenggara.

Demand for upmarket overland tours has been so strong that Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts’ general manager, corporate sales and marketing, Guido Adriano, stated: “We have seen our luxury collection’s performance in Bali growing better than the other brands in the group this year.”

More significantly, bookings are also picking up outside of Bali. “It is interesting to note that we have got business for our hotels in Tasikmalaya and Purwokerto (which is something new),” he commented.

Having witnessed a pickup in reservations from tour operators running overland tours, Guido said the company is optimistic that US and European demand for such programmes would continue strongly into 2014.

“We have signed a contract with (an overland operator) for stays in our hotels in Bandung, Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Malang and Bali. We have at the moment secured 10 groups for next year,” he revealed.

Ellies Halim, group director of sales and marketing for Jayakarta Hotels & Resorts, also said her hotel in Labuan Bajo has seen an increase in bookings, thanks to growing interest in Komodo. “Overland tour series feature our hotels in Bandung, Jakarta, Bali and Labuan Bajo, a destination which has been growing in popularity,” she said.

Although Java’s Tasikmalaya, Purwokerto and Malang are along the Java-Bali overland route, tour operators did not consider overnight stays at these destinations previously due to a lack of good accommodation options.

But with local hotel chains such as Santika, Harris Hotels and Archipelago International establishing properties in these destinations, not to mention Best Western’s recent entry into Malang and Accor’s Ibis impending Malang debut, the situation is changing.

– Read more in TTG Show Daily – PATA Travel Mart 2013