INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has embarked on a quest to have four cities – Bandung in west Java, Solo and Pekalongan in central Java, and Yogyakarta – declared as UNESCO creative cities.

According to a report in Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times, the ministry has already filed a proposal to UNESCO. While Bandung and Solo are styling themselves as design hubs, Yogyakarta and batik-manufacturing base Pekalongan have applied to be recognised as cities for crafts and folk art.

Tourism and creative economy minister, Mari Elka Pangestu, said in The Jakarta Post: “We are teaming up with respective city governments to complete all requirements demanded by UNESCO to include these cities in the UNESCO creative cities network. We hope that the UNESCO team will give the announcement (approving creative city status) this year so that we can launch these creative cities programmes next year.”

Mari added that she was optimistic about Indonesia’s chances of securing UNESCO status as all four cities were already famous for their creative industries including batik, fashion, crafts and art.

The UNESCO creative cities network was established in 2004 and cities must specialise in a particular creative field to be admitted, whether art, music, gastronomy or literature.

Currently with a strength of 34 members and including cities such as Nagoya and Montreal, UNESCO creative cities share ideas and best practices.

TRAVEL agency TUI and Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) have launched their first joint consumer-facing campaign in New Delhi to further bolster the number of Indian travellers to the Middle East city.

Known as Abu Dhabi Month, the campaign runs throughout August in TUI’s flagship store in New Delhi and will consist of a number of marketing and online activities such as in-store branding and collateral, as well as Abu Dhabi banners on the TUI website and a joint e-marketing campaign.

This latest effort is TCA Abu Dhabi’s first large-scale, consumer-facing event since the NTO opened a dedicated promotions office in the Indian capital earlier this year.

India is the largest source market for Abu Dhabi, with some 80,179 Indian nationals staying in Abu Dhabi’s hotels in 1H2013, a 22 per cent year-on-year rise (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 31, 2013).

Sunil Hasija, executive director, TUI India, said in a media statement that the strong growth in outbound travel from India to Abu Dhabi was proof of the emirate’s rapidly evolving leisure and business tourism offerings.

Similarly, Bejan Dinshaw, country manager – India, TCA Abu Dhabi, commented: “With much more to see and do in Abu Dhabi as well as increased air access from the country following Etihad Airway’s equity stake in Jet Airways (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 4, 2012), we expect to see strong growth in the number of Indian guests choosing the emirate as their preferred holiday destination.”

HOTEL occupancy on Koh Samui rose to 75 per cent in 1H2013, driven by rising international arrivals and mounting demand from the domestic market.

Some 874,824 visitors arrived on the Gulf of Thailand island from January to June, causing occupancy to grow seven percentage points to 75 per cent year-on-year, according to C9 Hotelworks’ Samui Hotel Market Update.

RevPAR increased 18 per cent year-on-year to just over US$100, outpacing the market-wide seven per cent growth in average room rates (ARR).

Thailand was the island’s second largest source market, accounting for more than 100,000 visitors, most of whom travelled overland due to costly Samui flights. Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, said the growth in Thai arrivals was positive while price barriers helped stem overdevelopment.

“At the end of day, the lack of low-cost access does mute broad growth but is this necessarily a bad thing?” he said. “Samui’s growth is much more pragmatic and points towards a more sustainable model than the hyper-tourist markets of the two-P’s – Pattaya and Phuket.”

Budget and economy hotels posted the highest growth in occupancy (12 per cent). The segment also posted the strongest RevPAR growth at 23 per cent, followed by luxury (20 per cent), midscale (18 per cent) and upscale (14 per cent).

There was marginal difference in occupancy rates between branded and non-branded properties, but branded resorts recorded 34 per cent higher ARR figures than independent operators.

International arrivals by air, which accounted for more than half of the island’s visitors, climbed 61 per cent to 490,572 passengers while domestic arrivals rose three per cent. Some 70 per cent of air travellers came through international gateways in Singapore and Hong Kong, the latter of which has posted CAGR of 18 per cent over the past five years.

Germany remains the number one source market, accounting for 12 per cent of arrivals, followed by Thailand (11 per cent) and Russia (nine per cent), which moved up two places from the same period last year.

India and Austria both posted strong double-digit growth while the British and Italian legacy markets declined significantly. Russia and China are emerging as key source markets for Thailand (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 30, 2013).

MALAYSIA Airlines subsidiary Firefly will increase the number of flights on its services to Kota Bharu and Penang between August 19 and October 25, to further tap the strong demand for travel on these routes.

The carrier will add 11 more flights weekly between Subang and Kota Bharu and two more flights a week for the Subang-Penang service.

Firefly’s CEO, Ignatius Ong, pointed out that Kota Bharu was one of the airline’s “hot seat states”.

“We are increasing our services to these two routes mainly to provide our business customers the ease of travelling without having to wait too long for the next flight out. We intend to provide tourists and more importantly, businessmen, the convenience they need,” he said.

“The main point is to change consumers’ negative perception of air travel where long lead time is normally required when using an airport and an airline.”

Tickets for the additional flights are now available for sale on Firefly’s website.

BEST Western International has made inroads to a key area within South-east Asia with the signing of the Best Western Royal Hotel in Buriram, which is slated to open later this year.

Explaining the company’s decision to establish a presence in Buriram, Best Western International’s vice president international operations – Asia and the Middle East, Glenn de Souza, said: “With the onset of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, eastern Thailand sits at the crossroads of one of the world’s biggest growth zones.

“Located close to the border with Cambodia and on the key route between Bangkok, Laos and Vietnam, Buriram is at the heart of ASEAN. The relaxing of visa policies, along with the development of the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian Railway networks, means both business and leisure travellers will soon be able to travel across the ASEAN region faster, and in greater numbers.”

Best Western Royal Hotel in Buriram features 81 guestrooms and suites, free Wi-Fi, a restaurant serving both Asian and international cuisine, an Internet corner and outdoor swimming pool.

The hotel marks Best Western’s 17^th property in Thailand and Buriram will become its ninth destination in the kingdom.

A NEW B2C website, Ministry of Villas, offering direct, real-time luxury villa bookings made its debut at the end of last month.

Produced by entrepreneurs Alastair Loxton and Sara O’Shea, Ministry of Villas allows users to browse and make reservations for luxury villas in Bali at www.ministryofvillas.com.

Each listing comes with photographs, a complete description and other relevant information regarding the property.

A press release stated that while the Ministry of Villas is now up and running, the full, 300 plus inventory of villas in Bali will only be available by year-end.