OUTBOUND travel to Asia from Spain is likely to take a beating after the European nation’s largest vertically integrated travel group, Globalia, revealed plans to axe up to 175 of its travel agencies.

Globalia’s travel agencies have been a major source of clients for its longhaul tour operator, Latitudes.

Group president Juan José Hidalgo’s announcement came after reports of a further 10 per cent drop in overall turnover for the crucial summer holiday period.

The cutbacks announced at the group’s agencies, Halcon Viajes and Ecuador Viajes, represent around 13 per cent of its total network in Spain, although they fall below original estimates of up to 400 closures.

Spain’s Unión General de Trabajadores, or General Union of Workers (UGT), said it expects the first round of shutter-downs to begin by late October.

A UGT tourism sector official said that so far Globalia has only talked of cutting back on travel agencies, but added: “They have told us they are in a process of analysing after the summer campaign and have yet to totally define their restructuring.”

Much of Globalia’s packages to Asia were initially built on the back of flights operated by its carrier Air Europa, Spain’s third-biggest airline and now a member of Star Alliance.

But pre-crisis services to Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai have since been dropped, leaving the group’s longhaul tour operations – rebranded under Latitudes – to rely on other carriers to serve its Asia holiday destinations.

Spain’s economic woes had already vanquished another leading travel group, Orizonia, early this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 5, 2013).

PRINCESS Cruises, a cruise line brand under Carnival Corporation, will be sailing to Indonesia for a new season of cruise trips, offering a wide array of itineraries.

To tap the vast South-east Asian cruise market, Carnival is due to deploy Sapphire Princess to the region for a four-month season from November 2014 to February 2015, homeporting the vessel in Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 9, 2013). Carrying up to 2,670 passengers, the ship features a large number of staterooms with private balconies, the Lotus Spa, an Italian restaurant, a steakhouse, a wine bar, boutiques and more.

At the launch of the programme in Jakarta yesterday, Princess Cruises director for South-east Asia, Farriek Tawfik, said: “The number of cruise passengers to Indonesia has increased significantly.

“According to the Ministry for Tourism and Creative Economy, 112,882 visitors came to Indonesia by 214 cruise calls in 2012. This year, the ministry is expecting a jump in cruise calls and passenger numbers to 308 and 147,134 respectively, and these numbers are forecast to increase in the future.”

Princess’ itineraries are said to have been customised for the Asia vacation market, offering more destinations than any other cruise line. Its ship will call at seven countries and 16 ports in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Brunei.

Cruise lengths will run from three to 11 days, and the highlight for Indonesia is a 10-day sailing, visiting Jakarta, Bali, Komodo Island and Lombok.

Approximately 40,000 passengers are expected to sail during this first season, hailing from Asia, as well as international markets including North America, the UK and Australia.

Tawfik said: “Indonesians are familiar with Princess Cruises as many have sailed with us in Alaska. In fact, we have heard Indonesian passengers asking us when we would come to this part of the world. We listened to them and here we are.”

He expects the Indonesian itinerary will attract international and Asian passengers, such as the Japanese and well-travelled Indonesians, who want to travel within the country in a more relaxed way.

In conjunction with this new programme, Princess Cruises has launched a version of the on-demand, online training programme called Princess Academy for travel consultants.

TOURISM Malaysia is making its first concerted effort to woo volunteer tourists, namely travellers who wish to contribute to the community or to the preservation of wildlife in a destination through volunteer activities.

The NTO has put together 20 voluntourism packages developed by seven local tour operators that offer travellers volunteer opportunities at places such as turtle conservation centres, orang utan rehabilitation centres, children’s homes and national parks.

Introductory offerings vary in length, from the 4D3N Sea Turtle Adoption Programme in Sarawak priced at RM1,200 (US$368) per pax, to the 28D27N Borneo Native Programme in Penampang, Sabah at RM2,980 per pax.

While volunteer tourism itself is not new and has been promoted by inbound tour operators for years, this marks the NTO’s first proactive promotion of this segment.

Tourism Malaysia director-general, Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, said offerings would be expanded further in future to showcase more packages from more tour operators.

The NTO is targeting Malaysia’s local expatriate community; researchers from around the world; and international schools, especially those in Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

A total of 10,000 voluntourism brochures have been produced and will be distributed to the trade and consumers from key markets.

Said Mirza: “We’ll be happy to have 500 takers within the first six months.”

INDONESIAN flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has named Bird Group as its general sales agent for India in the hopes of increasing the visibility of its products and services there.

The company is tasked with the management of Garuda’s marketing and sales activities in India, and will be responsible for all the airline’s sales, marketing and ticketing activities in India via its headquarters in New Delhi.

Nicodemus Lampe, vice president, area Asia, Garuda Indonesia, commented: “India’s tourism industry is expanding rapidly, and already we’re seeing a steady flow of leisure and business travellers flying between India and Indonesia.

“Bird Group is a veteran in air travel management, and we’re confident that their strength and capabilities will help strengthen our presence in India and enhance the quality of our services to better serve passengers between the two markets.”

JETSTAR Asia has unveiled a new link to Phuket from Australia, while also tweaking its flight frequencies on some routes ahead of the year-end travel season.

Beginning December 14, Jetstar will commence twice-weekly direct flights from Melbourne to Phuket. This will be upped to three times weekly in March 2014.

Jetstar Group CEO, David Koczkar, said: “We see a lot of customers booking flights to Phuket via Sydney or Singapore, so we’ve decided to add a non-stop flight for Victorians.”

The LCC’s Melbourne-Honolulu service will also receive a boost on December 19, with frequencies to rise from three to four times a week.

Singapore flights will also increase from five to six times a week on December 18.

Earlier in the week, Jetstar also announced that the first international flights out of Adelaide would take off on December 16 with the launch of a thrice-weekly service to Auckland.

On the other hand, Jetstar would be suspending its four weekly direct services between Singapore and Osaka on November 1 as well as its thrice-weekly Singapore-Beijing route from November 30.

However, the carrier would continue to serve Osaka from Singapore via 14 weekly flights to Taipei and four per week to Manila.

THAI AirAsia has announced it will begin daily direct flights between Bangkok (Don Mueang) and Kunming on November 15, making the south-western Chinese city its eighth destination in the country.

Operated with Airbus A320 aircraft, flights will depart Don Mueang Airport at 09.00 and land at 12.30 in Kunming. On the return leg, flights will leave Kunming at 13.20 and arrive in Bangkok at 14.50.

Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO, Thai AirAsia, said the LCC has continued to focus its efforts on China through the introduction of new routes, recognising the significant potential of China due to its large population and strong purchasing power.

Air traffic to China out of Thailand has also continued to grow relentlessly, and AirAsia’s two-and-a-half-hour flights to Kunming would allow travellers to make quick and convenient weekend trips, he commented. “Thai AirAsia currently operates up to 119 flights to China a week on 10 diferent routes. Annually, our flights to China average a passenger load of 85 per cent.”

Celebrating the impending launch of the new service, Thai AirAsia has begun accepting bookings on the flight with rates starting from 1,690 baht (US$53) per trip, including taxes and fees.

Three-day, two-night package deals including accommodation and roundtrip air tickets are also available from AirAsiaGo at 5,099 baht per person, based on twin-sharing and inclusive of all taxes and fees.

Both prices are available for bookings until September 22 for travel between November 15, 2013 and August 4, 2014.

LUXURY hotel group GHM is making its first foray in the Maldives with the opening of its first resort there in 2016.

Chedi Dhapparu inhabits a 55-hectare crescent-shaped atoll located 20 minutes away by speedboat from Hanimaadhoo International Airport.

When completed, the resort will offer 40 hotel suites, half of which will be over-water rooms. All 20 units of 90m² Chedi Club Suites also provide guests with private pools.

Also featured are 90 hotel-managed residential villas in one- to four-bedroom layouts, the largest unit covering 565m².

All 130 units will grant guests direct beach access as well as views of a coral reef lagoon or the open ocean.

To ensure the area’s ecosystem remains intact, GHM plans to launch a programme to maintain the ideal levels of coral in the lagoon, which is popular among dolphins and other marine species.

Guests can expect a sea-facing spa with 10 double treatment rooms, a health club with a tai chi terrace, a club lounge for guests staying in over-water suites, a beach club featuring a dive centre and a bar.

Other facilities to come up are a library, a cigar lounge, and four F&B outlets such as a Japanese restaurant and a dinner-only venue serving cuisine from the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka.

GHM had also announced in July an agreement with Taiwanese business development company, Elements Innovation, to launch three luxury hotels in Zhudong, Taiwan (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 10, 2013).