INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has reduced its arrivals target for 2014, while the country’s tourism budget for next year is also set to almost halve.

Almost all government agencies are to receive smaller budgets next year as the government earmarks funds for the country’s general and presidential elections scheduled to take place in 2014, said Nia Niscaya, director of international promotions.

She commented: “There (will be) a significant slash in the marketing budget and we need to (prioritise).

“We will be refocusing on travel marts to maintain our presence at big, international promotional events. It is crucial for us to be present at such events to keep up (Indonesia’s positive image) and push for growth.”

Niscaya’s marketing department alone is due to receive Rp88 billion (US$8 million), nearly half of 2013’s Rp160 billion.

In the meantime, Antara news agency quoted Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, as saying that her office would revise its arrivals target for 2014 downwards from 10 million from 9.5 million.

She said: “We need to be realistic in setting targets, taking into account the condition in the field.”

Pangestu added that current projections indicated that the global economic crisis and slowdown would likely continue into the future as well, dampening travel.

MANDALAY will get its first hot-air balloon flights during the coming peak season in October.

The newly-launched Oriental Ballooning Company will run balloon flights every morning between October 25, 2013 to March 31, 2014. Subject to suitable weather conditions, flights take off just before sunrise and will cost US$320 per person.

Ma Ni Ni Khaing, operations manager from Oriental Ballooning, said the hot-air balloons were made by the UK’s largest and longest-running balloon manufacturer, Cameron Balloons, and are maintained by certified balloon inspectors working according to standards set by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

The company hires experienced UK commercial balloon pilot licence holders to operate the rides, and international insurance is included for passengers.

“We have a total of six balloons, among which two can carry four passengers each and the remaining four can carry eight passengers each,” she said. “Demand is really high from the European and Asian markets.”

Ma Ni Ni Khaing added that the company was awaiting approval from the Department of Civil Aviation to expand its services to Bagan and Inle Lake, and was also looking into other destinations such as Pindaya in Shan state.

Oriental Ballooning Company is a subsidiary of Amata Group, which is currently developing Amata Resort and Spa in Ngapali beach and Amata Garden Resort in Inle Lake.

QATAR Airways will up its game to remain on a par with rivals Etihad Airways and Emirates by giving its passengers more baggage allowance from September 1.

Economy-class passengers will be able to check in up to 30kg of baggage on most international flights, business-class travellers will get 40kg instead of 30kg, while first-class travellers will can take with them 50kg of luggage instead of 40kg, reported Bloomberg.

Most European, Asian and US airlines allow each economy-class passenger 23kg of luggage.

PHILIPPINE carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) is lobbying for an open skies agreement to be sealed between the Philippines and Japan, in order to penetrate deeper into the Japanese market.

CEB vice president for marketing and distribution, Candice Iyog, said the airline planned to “aggressively expand into Japan in the future”.

“Aside from Japan being one of the Philippines’ biggest trading partners, it is also home to 350,000 global Filipinos. CEB’s expansion in Japan will allow us to…boost business and leisure traffic,” she added.

The airline, in a position paper submitted to the Philippine Air Consultation Panel in August, attributed the negative two per cent compounded decrease in Japanese foreign arrivals between 2006 and 2011 to the lack of additional seat entitlements.

“An open skies agreement with Japan will benefit local tourism and trade, especially since we believe Japan can rival South Korea when it comes to foreign tourist arrivals,” Iyog said.

The CEB paper said such an agreement would speed up the acquisition of seat entitlements and allow CEB to immediately expand its Japan operations. The airline currently runs a thrice-weekly service from Manila to Osaka.

Japan has signed open skies agreements with Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Air consultation talks between the two countries will be held from September 11-13.

FORMER Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts’ joint managing director and senior vice president marketing, Edwin Yeow, died this morning after battling cancer.

A ferocious marketeer who helped put the Banyan Tree brand on the map in its early years through his professional relationship with international tour operators and the media, Yeow fought as tenaciously for his life as he went through bone, brain and lung treatments in the last few years.

Ho Kwon Ping, founder and executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, said: “Edwin was truly at the creation of Banyan Tree, and helmed the sales and marketing team, the brand positioning and marketing communications for more than a dozen years, until he retired to return home to Kuala Lumpur.  He was an excellent marketeer but behind the very charming and articulate exterior was a very shy and deeply private man. His profound faith in his Christian beliefs and his loving family sustained him through the multiple cancers which should have taken his life years earlier, but gave him some bonus years.

“Edwin helped to establish the DNA of Banyan Tree and all of us remember him with great affection. He was a mentor to many, and a close friend and fellow traveller on the Banyan Tree journey. I shall miss him deeply.”

Yeow’s former team members at Banyan Tree also expressed their sadness.

Maisy Koh paid tribute to Yeow’s legendary fighting spirit, quirky humour, big vision and equally big heart. “Thank you for the wonderful memories, for being the person we were so proud to call our boss and showing us that despite the steely exterior, you have a heart of gold.

“In these couple of years since his diagnosis, he often gave us hope that miracles are possible. In typical Edwin fashion, he never gave up. His perseverance is nothing short of miraculous.”

“We had so many quirky, witty, animated and fond memories of Edwin,” said Jeannette Ho, now vice president revenue management and analytics at Fairmont Raffles Hotels International. “He will be remembered as larger than life.”

Yeow worked with Banyan Tree for 16 years and returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2008. He also joined YTL Hotels & Properties as executive vice president focusing on strategy and global marketing and was an advisor to Destination Resorts & Hotels.

THE United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has pegged its full-year projection for growth of international arrivals at four per cent or higher, following an unexpectedly strong 1H2013 led by Asia-Pacific and Europe.

International arrivals grew by five per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2013, logging 494 million, according to the advance edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

This surpasses the world tourism body’s three to four per cent growth forecast made at the beginning of the year, as well as the UNWTO long-term outlook that predicted 3.8 per cent annual growth.

Arrivals to the Asia-Pacific region expanded by six per cent year-on-year, spearheaded by 12 per cent growth in South-east Asia and seven per cent in South Asia.

Europe chalked a five per cent increase in arrivals despite woeful economic conditions. Central and Eastern Europe saw 10 per cent more arrivals, while Southern and Mediterranean Europe registered six per cent.

At the same time, outbound travellers from emerging economies continue to leave their mark on emerging and advanced economy destinations.

China and Russia drove growth in travel expenditure as two of the top 10 most important source markets in 1H2013, spending 31 per cent and 22 per cent more compared to the same period last year respectively. Brazil also bounced back into the top 10 with a 15 per cent rise in expenditure after a moderate 2012.

MYANMAR’S aviation sector is being given a boost, with the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) launching projects to build up the country’s airports. Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) also announced yesterday it would acquire a stake in Yangon-based Asian Wings Airways.

Win Swe Tun, deputy director general, DCA, said: “The projects will start in three months, but negotiations with the companies (that won the tender to upgrade or construct Myanmar’s airports) are continuing.”

He expressed hope that work on the airports would start before end-2013 or in early 2014.

Yangon International Airport will have its capacity increased from 2.7 million passengers to six million annually by 2015 (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 2, 2012), a task to be undertaken by Myanmar’s Pioneer Aerodrome Services with Singapore-based Yongnam-CAPE-JGC as the backup operator.

Development of Yangon’s mothballed Hanthawaddy International Airport is also slated to get back on track (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 4, 2012), with the appointment of South Korea’s Incheon Airport consortium to the task. Yongnam-CAPE-JGC was selected as a backup.

Said Win Swe Tun: “ As Yangon airport will be able to handle (only) six million passengers a year, the rest of the passengers will go through Hanthawaddy.”

Completion of the first phase in 2017 will give Hanthawaddy capacity for 12 million travellers annually, and 30 million after the second phase is finished.

Seven Star Tours Yangon’s managing director, Phyu Phyu Mar, said the development of Hanthawaddy was needed to cater for future growth in visitors, while Phyo Wai Yar Zar, managing director of All Asia Exclusive Travel Company, said such projects were very important for the direction of tourism in the country.

Separately, ANA announced in a release yesterday that it would buy a 49 per cent stake in Myanmar’s Asian Wings Airways for US$25 million, according to Bloomberg.

ANA relaunched flights linking Japan and Myanmar in October last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 12, 2012) and will increase Tokyo (Narita)-Yangon operations to a daily service from September 30 (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 26, 2013).

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Airports of Thailand have signed an MoU to increase the number of passengers passing through Thailand’s airports through marketing, promotional, research and human resource activities.

The signing is the first of its kind between two state-owned enterprises and will take effect from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2016.

Under the MoU, they will also promote domestic travel for the off-peak season and carry out other initiatives such as organising joint seminars, conducting research, holding information exchange and feedback, publicising travel news and working with respective partners.

Suraphon Svetasreni, governor, TAT, said in a statement that the MoU would bring significant benefits to airlines flying into Thailand, especially in the run up to the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. Air connectivity would be crucial in making the region’s gateway and secondary cities accessible.

Likewise, Airports of Thailand vice chairman and acting managing director, Pongsak Semson, commented: “Airports of Thailand and TAT are both linked by shared interests in facilitating the air transport sector and tourism promotion. Aviation linkages will be critical for the success of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and there is no doubt that we can be more effective by pooling our resources and expertise.”

Airports of Thailand, the largely government-owned airport operator, owns and runs six key international gateway airports of Thailand: Suvarnabhumi Airport, Don Mueang Airport, Phuket International Airport, Hat Yai International Airport, Chiang Mai International Airport and Chiang Rai International Airport.

More than 80 per cent of Thailand’s total visitor arrivals come by air via these gateways.