DMC Asia World is hoping to capture a larger slice of the luxury travel market through the release of its The Ultimate To Do List South East Asia and Beyond online publication, which can be white labelled for market distribution.

Designed by Asia World to present clients with a selection of luxurious experiences coupled with suggested itineraries in South-east Asia, product selection was driven by the high-end market and features popular destinations with proven demand rather new products.

“This is a chance for tour companies around the world to white label a unique deluxe products brochure,” remarked Stephen McEvoy, managing director of Asia World Enterprise.

Alongside the publication will be supporting online content and access to tablet applications. A key element of the campaign is the ability for clients to white label the marketing collateral and online content for their own market distribution.

Asia World is hoping the new technology will connect with high-end travellers and convert bookings.

The services have been provided by Australian company Koolivoo, which aims to connect suppliers targeting travellers through niche trade channels where luxury services are an essential requirement in the purchasing cycle.

“The significant presentation drives new revenues and better yields through targeting traveller’s aspirations rather than commodity groupings where prices are driven down,” said Matt McKinley, managing director of Koolivoo.

FIJI’S growing tourism industry will receive a boost in the form of Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE), a new major international tourism industry event.

Slated to take place at Sheraton Conference Centre in Denarau from May 5 to 8, 2014, the trade event will showcase local tourism operators, Fijian-made products and Fijian culture.

Rick Hamilton, CEO of Tourism Fiji, said: “It is the role of Tourism Fiji to provide a platform for our local industry to market itself to the world…Our focus will be to more effectively engage the Australian and New Zealand markets and to attract quality longhaul buyers from Asia, UK, Europe and the US.

“The FTE programme will be tailored to cater for the needs of local industry and deliver a unique Fijian experience. We will look after all service providers, big and small, and provide a more effective way of promoting Fiji as an international visitor destination of choice.”

The NTO has also appointed Sally Coopers as Tourism Fiji’s events and MICE director. One of her primary responsibilities will be to organise and run FTE.

SMOOTHING out visa policies for inbound tourists could pave the way for up to 2.6 million additional jobs by 2016, 57 million more inbound travellers and an extra US$89 billion in international tourism receipts for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies.

These findings are presented in The Impact of Visa Facilitation in APEC Economies study jointly produced by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

According to the report, although countries have successfully collaborated and improved visa policies regionally, 21 per cent of expected arrivals to the region between 2014 and 2016 will still need to obtain a traditional visa.

The following have been singled out as areas to work on: the delivery of information, facilitating current processes to obtain visas, differentiated treatment to facilitate tourist travel, instituting eVisa programmes and establishing regional agreements for visa facilitation.

Addressing the APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Travel Facilitation, UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai, said that “placing visa facilitation as a national priority can translate into significant socio-economic benefits in terms of income and jobs generated by the growth of tourism demand”.

“APEC has been a leading organisation in terms of regional integration and we believe that visa facilitation can contribute significantly to advance APEC’s objectives and the balanced growth of its economies,” he shared.

Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy and host of the meeting, Mari Elka Pangestu, said: “The challenge now is to establish cooperation between officials working in tourism, finance, customs, immigration, security, transportation and airport authorities which are in different working groups.

“In 2013, through this High Level Policy Dialogue on Travel Facilitation held in Bali, for the first time, there is an attempt of coordination across fora and we hope to end up with some action plans on visa and travel facilitation.”

CENTRAL Vietnam’s hotels and resorts have already bounced back in the wake of Typhoon Wutip, which hit Vietnam on Monday with sustained winds of up to 117kmh.

The typhoon killed at least three, left dozens of fishermen missing and damaged thousands of houses as it swept over Vietnam this week, according to AFP. It also caused minor floods in many of the streets around the Thu Bon River in Hoi An, although the main tourist districts were not affected.

Seafront hotels in the area advised guests from going outside due to the risk of falling tree limbs and reduced visibility from airborne sand.

Shyn Rose, client services manager at Golden Sand Resort and Spa in Hoi An reported a number of guests leaving early on September 28-29 to avoid the typhoon, but there are no cancellations of present bookings.

“We have closed the swimming pool due to sand being blown into our garden area from the beach, however all the rooms are okay and we are still operating as normal,” Rose commented.

There was also partial flooding along Highway No. 1 linking north and south Vietnam in the Ky Anh district of Vietnam’s central Ha Tinh Province.

Le Tat Thuong, operations manager at Destination Asia said the disruptions had been minimal owing to the fact it is the low season and the main affected area of Hoi An was easy to bypass. “Some guests decided to leave early on September 28, choosing to head north to Hanoi or simply stay in Danang.”

Lang Co Town in the Phu Loc district of Thua Thien – Hue Province, where Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts operates the Laguna Lang Co integrated development, was also lashed by the typhoon.

Said a Banyan Tree spokesperson: “On September 30, Typhoon Wutip passed through the area where Banyan Tree Lang Co and Angsana Lang Co are situated. The property implemented the typhoon procedure and made all the necessary precautions to manage the impact of the storm.

“The safety of our guests and associates was our primary concern and we are happy to report that everyone is safe. There has been minimal damage and the resort has resumed full operations. The typhoon has passed by the resort and the weather is now clear.”

ABACUS today unveiled the results of a new study detailing trends in the business travel scene, namely: tighter corporate travel policies, growing preference for LCCs, polarised CBT adoption rates, increasing use of mobile devices for travel and rising concern of secondary expenses.

Abacus’ Five Major Trends in Corporate Travel Practices in Asia Pacific surveyed a representative cross-section of corporate travel organisations across the region on their business practices.

According to the study, companies are clamping down on travel spend with 97 per cent of companies increasing corporate travel policy enforcement and 73 per cent reducing the number of business trips. Cost cutting is also achieved through policies that force travellers to stay in lower star-level lodging (47 per cent) or fly economy rather than business class (60 per cent).

In a further step, companies are opting to fly their travellers on LCCs (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 1, 2013). Some 77 per cent of companies polled said the lowest fare rates were the biggest draw in using LCCs, followed by flight times (40 per cent) and data capture (40 per cent).

While corporate booking tools have been widely implemented in companies at 73 per cent, adoption rates show users were divided into two distinct groups – those who self-book and those who delegate travel management.

Abacus International CEO, Robert Bailey, commented: “(Agencies) may in some cases want to reposition corporate booking tools as serving more the personal assistants (who handle travel arrangements), with mobile apps appealing to the travellers. Adoption is never uniform.”

Furthermore, despite 83 per cent of TMCs agreeing that smartphones would have a moderate to significant impact on their business, only 33 per cent have a mobile web or native application for mobile devices.

Lastly, secondary expenses that account for between 10 and 14 per cent of trip expenses on average in the Asia-Pacific are a growing concern for companies. Presently 30 per cent of travel agencies now provide electronic expense management systems to corporate clients to capture payments.

THE largest owner-operator hotel company in London, GLH, yesterday debuted new luxury hotel and private residences brand Clermont, which will see hotels opening in London, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Clermont London will open next year following the rebranding of The Royal Horseguards, a five-star property situated on the north bank of the River Thames between Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament.

Clermont Singapore will be located within the 290m Tanjong Pagar Centre, a mixed-use development, and open in 2016. There will also be a residential component offering 200 luxury apartments under the Clermont Residence brand as well as four private amenity decks for residents’ exclusive use.

In Malaysia, Clermont Kuala Lumpur will take its place within Damansara City, part of a mixed development project that also encompasses two office towers, luxury residential towers and a lifestyle mall. It is scheduled to open in 2016.

Like its Singapore counterpart, Clermont will offer 370 residential apartments in Kuala Lumpur. Residents can enjoy an Olympic-length pool, aqua gymnasium, function rooms and private dining rooms.

Said Mike DeNoma, CEO of GLH: “Clermont is a vibrant entrant to the global luxury hotel market and we are thrilled to announce today iconic new hotels and residences in a number of globally significant locations.

“The GLH ambition is to open hotels in all of the top 30 global cities, and today’s announcement reinforces the scale of this ambition.”

London-based GLH is a global hotel subsidiary of Singapore-listed GuocoLeisure Group.