THE steep depreciation of the rupee has started to pinch the outbound leisure market with the resulting rise in tour package prices, according to Indian travel consultants.

The currency crashed by 11.6 per cent year-on-year last month, reaching an all-time low of 60.73 against the US dollar on June 26.

Vikas Khanduri, managing director and CEO, Viva Voyages, said: “The depreciation of the Indian rupee doesn’t augur well for the outbound leisure market. The price of outbound tour packages has gone up by 15 per cent.”

Rajji Rai, chairman of Swift Group of Companies and advisor of Travel Agents Association of India, estimates a 15 per cent drop in outbound travel because of the rupee’s depreciation.

“The segment that is hit most is the (upper) middle-class travellers who have started to cut down on their travel days to fit their (shrinking) budget,” he said.

The current low season of Indian outbound travel only adds to the woes.

Yet, for major travel company Cox & Kings, there was in fact a five to seven per cent increase in tour package bookings, according to Karan Anand, head of relationships.

“India experienced a similar cycle of uncertainty in 2008 when the world was engulfed in a crisis. However, this did not dampen the Indians’ spirits and they continued to travel overseas. For Indians, travelling overseas is an aspiration and they will not give it up just because of the rupee depreciation,” he said.

India’s hospitality sector too, has not been spared from the free-falling currency and sluggish economy, as the country’s hotels report weaker average occupancy and average room rates (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 2, 2013).

THE depreciation of the Indian rupee against the Malaysian ringgit coupled with AirAsia’s current promotions to India are expected to boost outbound travel to India, especially during the August school holidays, which coincide with the upcoming Hari Raya festive period.

Hidden Asia Travel & Tours managing director, Nanda Kumar, anticipates a 40 per cent increase in outbound leisure travel to India.

He said demand was strong for tours combining Kolkata with the Golden Triangle and Chennai with Delhi, while tour packages combining Kerala backwaters with Ayurvedic treatments were also especially popular with couples on honeymoon.

Stephen Thomas, managing director of Topaz Travel & Tours, anticipates a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in leisure travel during the upcoming school holiday period.

Beyond the school holidays, he said Malaysia Airlines’ new daily services to Kochi beginning September 1 would also boost demand for packages to Kerala, especially from the middle- and upper-middle-income brackets who would not mind paying more for service and comfort.

“We have also received bookings for the year-end school holidays and anticipate a 20 to 25 per cent increase compared to last year. This is partly because of the depreciation of the rupee, the general elections being over, and airline deals.”

N Rajan, an outbound consultant at Dhesu Travel & Tours, expects tour packages to South India to sell better than North India during the school holidays next month, as was the case last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 13, 2012). Many Malaysian Indians have their roots in the south.

MORE international airlines are flying into Colombo to take advantage of Sri Lanka’s booming tourism, while new local operators are also emerging for internal travel.

Malaysia’s AirAsia is making a comeback to Colombo, after having suspended operations in February this year, citing commercial reasons relating to flight operations and aircraft availability. It hopes to restart flights through AirAsia X possibly in August.

According to Ranjeewa Senaratne, AirAsia’s sales and marketing manager in Colombo, the airline has applied for permission to resume flights and is awaiting a response from the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.

Similarly, Maldivian Airlines, the Maldives’ main domestic carrier with few international flights, will start thrice-weekly flights to Colombo effective August 7 from Gan International Airport.

Maldives’ economic development minister, Ahmed Mohamed, said increasing trade and tourism ties between the two countries led to the decision for the national carrier to have flights to Colombo. The airline now flies to local islands as well as Chennai, Dhaka and Trivandrum on the international sector.

New Sri Lankan domestic carrier, Cinnamon Air, has begun daily flights to several inland destinations since last week (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 14, 2013) while some other new domestic carriers have applied for licenses.

However, Singapore-based budget carrier Tigerair is pulling out of Colombo next month, citing low yields after operating to the Sri Lankan capital a little more than a year (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 23, 2012).

Airline officials said although the load factors were good at 85 per cent, yield (per flight) was not enough to make operations economically viable.

Tigerair had begun thrice-weekly flights to Colombo on May 31 last year and increased the service to four-times weekly in September, due to rising demand.

Many travel companies said Tiger might be discontinuing operations because the Colombo-Singapore route was overcrowded with competition.

Noted Sundaram Paramanathan, a top travel consultant and president of the IATA Agents Association of Sri Lanka: “There are too many flights from airlines such as Singapore Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Emirates.”

GERMAN hotel search and price comparison site Trivago launched its Singapore website last month in a bid to penetrate the Asia-Pacific market.

Trivago, which was founded in 2005, operates 32 international country platforms in 23 languages. Singapore is the latest addition to its Asian portfolio, in addition to its existing platforms in India, Japan and China.

Robin Harries, head of corporate development and Asia-Pacific, Trivago, said: “Asia is a high-growth potential market (while) Singapore is a fast-growing market that is no stranger to both local and international OTAs.

“Singapore is an interesting market with one of the highest online penetration rates in the world.”

With the growing clutter of similar search engines in the online realm, Harries said: “Trivago distinguishes itself from other metasearch engines by being highly specialised in its hotel-only search function via an intuitive website.”

He said Trivago’s establishment since 2005 had allowed it to amass a large inventory of nearly 700,000 hotels with over 190 booking sites.

According to Harries, Trivago has over 30 million unique visitors per month internationally and he is optimistic about its “promising performance” in Singapore.

In an apparent move to boost revenues, Trivago has attained backing from Expedia, which completed its acquisition of a 61.6 per cent equity stake in Trivago in March this year, for approximately 434 million euros (US$564 million).

Insisting that Trivago would not veer away from hotels, Harries said: “Our global focus is to continuously optimise our core product (hotels) so we are able to better serve our users’ needs.”

VIETNAM-BASED tour operator Luxury Travel will showcase Vietnam as a new luxury destination to Latin Americans with the addition of a representative office in Argentina.

Bielka Representations has been appointed the tour operator’s representative in Argentina and throughout Latin America.

Luxury Travel founder and CEO, Pham Ha, said: “Latin America is in a strong financial position at the moment, so we have stressed the importance of diversifying markets by participating in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets.”

According to the tour operator, travellers from Latin America are looking for a more authentic experience and a deeper understanding of Vietnam’s culture, food, history and everyday life.

Vietnam received 6.8 million international arrivals last year and the number of travellers from Latin America has been increasing over the last three years.

Pham added: “We have great traffic and high demand from the Uruguay market. With our representatives, we will expand and expect to stay strong in Latin America. We will take part in more tradeshows, revamp our website to include a Spanish language (option), and launch Spanish brochures online and offline.

“We will attract more discerning Spanish-speaking (luxury) travellers and we are targeting 100 per cent growth from this market for 2014.”

ASIA and its growing middle-class consumer segment continue to drive the growth behind Starwood Hotels & Resorts as the group readies to open 160 new properties in the continent within the next three to five years.

Chuck Abbott, regional vice president, South-east Asia, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, said: “The growth of the middle-class in Asia-Pacific is driving a great change in demand from both a leisure and business travel standpoint.

“We believe our brands are relevant and attractive to this new customer (segment).”

Highlighting China, India and Indonesia as key markets, he added: “These are the three most populous countries in the world, and along with their growing middle-class, these markets will grow at a faster pace.”

China ranks as Starwood’s fastest-expanding hotel market, with 120 operating hotels and more than 100 in the pipeline. This makes China the group’s second largest market, after the US.

As part of the group’s expansion plans in Asia-Pacific, Starwood will be bringing the Westin brand back to Singapore after a 10-year absence through a 305-key hotel in Marina Bay, set to open in November (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 18, 2011).

The hotel will occupy the 32^nd to 46^th floors of Asia Square Tower 2. It will have four F&B outlets and a 480m² banquet hall.

Abbott said: “The reputation and culture that the Westin had built in Singapore in the past, is still present today. The brand has a very loyal and significant following in Singapore and we are fortunate to have (it back in) the market.”

THE European Union has struck Philippine Airlines (PAL) off its latest update on the European safety list of banned airlines – carriers deemed non-compliant with EU air safety regulations.

This represents a partial lift of the EU ban on the Philippines since March 30, 2010. The statement said the ban remained for all other carriers in the Philippines.

Philippine president and CEO, Ramon S Ang, said: “Credit goes to the Philippine government for its effort and hard work in addressing this significant concern hounding our aviation industry for years.

“When we fly back to Europe after an absence of 15 years, we can boast of a newer fleet of aircraft and top quality customer service.”

PAL has disclosed it will relaunch flights to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome and Madrid.

Department of Tourism (DoT) secretary, Ramon R Jimenez, cited the event as an “excellent opportunity” for PAL to augment existing services provided by foreign carriers, noting the UK, Germany and France as “key European markets with stable influx to the country”.

As per DoT figures, a total of 213,598 European visitors came to the Philippines between January and May, an 8.5 per cent increase over the same period last year.

“As we work towards our goal of 10 million foreign tourists by 2016, we need our international air seats and connectivity greatly enhanced, in addition to our ongoing internal development work on infrastructure, destination and facilities,” the secretary added.

Cesar Cruz, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association, said: “The lifting of the EU ban is one of the most important developments in Philippine tourism today. With this, we will be able to sustain double-digit increases in arrivals, especially from Europe.

“This is in time for the winter season, from November to March, which is peak (season for the country’s longhaul markets).”

Cruz estimates about 400,000 visitors will arrive during this period, a development that will be facilitated by the upcoming implementation of longer-stay visas for foreigners.

John Paul Cabalza, president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said: “We are enthusiastic and bullish about the programmes launched by our travel consultants for Europe(ans), who can book resorts in time for the winter season. More packages will aggressively be built around Europe.”

THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is promoting six experiential and creative travel themes as part of the implementation of the ASEAN Tourism Strategy 2012-2015, to encourage multi-country itineraries across South-east Asia.

The six themes include The Taste of South-east Asia; ASEAN, a Tropical Paradise; World-Class Cities; Experience Diverse Traditions; Sport and Relaxation; and Diverse Contemporary Creativity.

An initial list of 20 tour operators offering the themes in multi-country itineraries can be found on ASEAN’s official website.

The ASEAN Tourism Product Development Working Group chairman, Aung Zaw Win, said: “Our new focus is on experiential and creative tourism that respects environment and culture.

“An authentic travel experience involves meaningful engagement with the heritage, arts and special character of our ASEAN destinations.”

To inspire and cater to the specific interest of travellers, a series of features has also been compiled and made available on the website, such as beach nature and wildlife; cruise tour and rail; culture and heritage; education and volunteering; food and nightlife; fun and leisure; health and spa; outdoor and water sports; and pilgrimage tourism.

Aung urged tour operators in ASEAN countries to develop more multi-country packages highlighting experiential and creative tourism, which, he noted, was a rising trend among consumers who wanted ‘authentic’ travel.

“Our role is to therefore support multi-country experiential travel within ASEAN member states,” he said.

NETHERLAND-BASED Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) has expanded into Asia with the opening a regional head office in Hong Kong.

SXC Asia is looking for partners for sales and marketing initiatives in the region, particularly for the burgeoning China market.

SXC Asia CEO, Alex Tang, said: “More Asians are pursuing novel and exciting experiences. Space travel meets their needs. China is our first stop in Asia for space travel.

“We target to test flights in early 2014 and Lynx Mark I (to soar 60km above sea level) will be operational in mid 2014. Meanwhile, Mark II will commence in mid 2015 taking travellers 100km above sea level. Apart from travel consultants, we will also look into (partnering) private flying clubs, large corporations and even automobile associations.”

Tang declined to disclose any names of potential partners but SXC marketing director, Cees Faes, tipped: “The business model is similar to what we are doing in our New York office. So far, we have global partners like Unilever and KLM.”

The SXC Asia Founder Astronaut Package, priced at US$220,000, is set to woo the first 100 participants in the Asian market to travel on fighter aircraft Mark II. This eight-day, tailor-made package includes perks like a 25-hour Hong Kong-Curacao spaceport private jet transfer; special welcome pack, gala dinner and award ceremony.

So far, 250 people across the world have signed up for the hour-long space journey, with 99 per cent having passed the medical examination, according to SXC, CEO Michiel Mol.

“At this moment, we hardly have any participants from Hong Kong and China. However, as the US government changed regulations at the beginning of this year making it possible for Chinese people to travel to space on US spaceships, we decided to open an office here. In future, we think Greater China might generate at least 30-35 per cent of our total sales.”