THE upcoming ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2014 will be held in Kuching, in Malaysia’s Sarawak state, from January 16 to 23.

Over 1,600 delegates are expected to attend, including some 150 ASEAN tourism ministers and officials, 500 ASEAN exhibitors, 500 international buyers, 100 international and local media as well as 100 tourism trade visitors.

Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, said in a press statement: “It is a timely platform to think and act on the implementation of innovative and sustainable energy initiatives that will ensure the preservation of our natural environment for future generations.”

Adopting the theme, ASEAN – Advancing Tourism Together, ATF will explore the sustainable development of tourism and look at how tourism initiatives and plans can further support this decade’s mantra of Tourism Conserves, Preserves and Protects.

Rashid Khan, CEO, Sarawak Tourism Board, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Having the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Sarawak is like being handed a gift on a golden plate. This is our golden opportunity to showcase to the trade what the destination has to offer. The economic spin-offs from ATF will be seen for at least three years.”

Rashid said the board will leverage the presence of international buyers and wholesalers through post-event tours and networking with identified buyers.

He added: “We have also developed customised product brochures with a listing of 13 anchor events that will be held in Sarawak next year for international buyers who will attend ATF to showcase new and existing products.”

The board is also planning with Kuching City Councils to create a lively ambience and hive of activities at ATF.

Adam Kamal, deputy president of Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, believes ATF is the best platform for inbound tour operators from Malaysia to sell packages designed for VMY 2014, as international buyers who come to this show are interested in selling packages to South-east Asia.

A RE-ORGANISATION of Toronto-based Fairmont Holdings, which now sprouts a freshly registered corporate entity and logo, FRHI Hotels & Resorts, sees Aiden McAuley rising as FRHI’s senior vice president-operations Europe, based in Zurich, and Wayne Buckingham joining as senior vice president-Asia, based in Singapore.

McAuley is now responsible for FRHI Hotels & Resorts’ 30 hotels in Europe across the three brands, Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel. McAuley, who assumed his role December 1, was managing director of Fairmont Singapore Swissôtel The Stamford Singapore and regional vice president-Asia/Pacific of Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts. His successor in Singapore, Tom Meyer, will be on board in January.

Buckingham, McAuley’s counterpart for the Asia region, is understood to be joining in January. He served as senior EVP at Thai Charoen Corp TCC Land Leisure and was a former long-time Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ senior executive.

The new organisation is understood to be region-driven than brand-driven, sharing the same system for sales, HR and IT, among others. Meinhard Huck, who championed Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts as president, based in Zurich, retired in October. It is not clear yet if the roles of president-Raffles Hotels & Resorts, held by Peter French, based in Singapore, and president, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, held by Jennifer Fox, officially based in Toronto, will continue in the future, given the move to operate the three brands under the single FRHI entity. FRHI is to issue an official statement soon.

SHANGRI-LA International Hotel Management on Saturday broke ground for its second hotel in Yangon, Myanmar.

Located on the banks of Kandawgyi Lake, the 350-room Lakeside Shangri-La slated for opening in 2017 is near the new Shangri-La Residences, Yangon, which is also managed by Shangri-La.

The property will feature three restaurants, two bars, meeting and convention space, a health club, and an outdoor swimming pool. Guests will also have access to Kandawgyi Nature Park and Yangon Zoological Gardens surrounding the lake.

The Hong Kong-based hotel group has been operating in Myanmar since 1996 when it opened the 334-room Traders Hotel, Yangon.

TOUR operators said business has not been affected by the heavy rains and resulting flooding that struck the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia and Johor since last week.

Raaj Navaratnaa, general manager of Johor-based New Asia Holiday Tours & Travel, said sightseeing tours are going on as usual. However, the number of outdoor activities such as camping had dropped due to the rain.

Similarly, Manfred Kurz, managing director of Diethelm Travel Malaysia, said tours to the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang are going on as usual.

“We divert and use another road when it is necessary, but we don’t miss out on any of the tourism spots. We have an action plan in place if the roads get closed due to floods. There have been no cancellations from guests,” said Kurz.

Alex Lee, CEO, Ping Anchorage Travel & Tours, also said there are no changes to his tours in the east coast, as main tourist sites such as the highlands and beach resorts are not affected by the floods.

“However, we did receive cancellations, from locals and foreign tourists, due to recent reports of the floods. Forward bookings for this month and January are a bit slow but we believe things will pick up again in February.”

Every year, the beach resorts off Terengganu such as Redang, Perhentian and Kapas are closed from November until February or early March.

POLAND Tourism is developing an online specialist programme for Indian travel consultants, set to launch in March 2014.

“The online specialist programme will educate Indian tour operators about the various highlights and attractions of our destination. It will also provide details of key tour operators in Poland which are already strong in the Asian markets,” said Emilia Kubik, project leader, department of marketing planning with the NTO.

“It will be a live platform so information on various tourism-related developments will be updated real-time and be connected to an online social platform,” Kubik added.

The programme will be followed by a series of roadshows scheduled in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in April 2014.

The NTO is also mulling the development of a special section on its global website dedicated to the Indian market by year-end.

“We will also start a series of print and online advertising campaigns this month through to June 2014. The campaign, Come and Find Your Story, will try to boost online traffic to our website. We have also planned a number of fam trips for tour operators, media and film producers,” said Kubik.

Additionally, a newsletter will be introduced to Indian travel trade partners focusing on Warsaw and Krakow.

Poland recorded 30,000 Indian overnights in 2012.

SINGAPORE will welcome the debut of wax museum Madame Tussauds at Sentosa’s Imbiah Lookout in the second half of 2014.

The attraction, according to local broadsheet The Straits Times, will be located next to the existing Images of Singapore (IOS) exhibit.

Madame Tussauds owner Merlin Entertainments said the two attractions will be packaged together to showcase Singapore’s history and culture. The global attractions operator will invest over S$20 million (US$16 million) into the project, which also covers a revamp of IOS.

Merlin’s divisional director, Meike Schulze, was quoted as saying: “Sentosa is such a vibrant place, and it’s a great implemented and embedded leisure attraction already. And that is just creating the perfect home for us.”

Apart from the wax figurines of famous singers and actresses like Katy Perry, Jay Chou and Kate Winslet, Sentosa Development Corp chief executive, Mike Barclay, was reported as saying that the museum will include famous people who “have had a hand in shaping Singapore” as well.

The ticket price for both attractions will be around S$30.