THE Philippines Department of Tourism (DoT) will roll out a pilot programme to audit more than 800 hotels in the Philippines and confer them a star rating using the department’s newly-adopted accreditation standard for hotels and resorts in the country.

The audit will be rolled out in two parts. The first part will operate with technical assistance from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenabeit, running six months beginning 4Q2013. According to DoT director for tourism standards and regulations, Rica Bueno, 737 hotels nationwide have been invited and have up to July 15 to join the audit, the results of which would be valid for two years instead of the usual one under DoT’s current accreditation process.

Following soon would be a parallel programme funded with a technical assistance grant DoT received last April from Asian Development Bank and Canadian International Development Agency (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 12, 2013), in which another 100 hotels from Cebu, Boracay, Bohol, and Palawan will be invited to join the audit.

In both programmes, the audit will confer ratings based on the Qualmark points-based system from New Zealand. Bueno said a consultant who had worked as Qualmark’s director previously was tapped to oversee the process.

Travel consultants who welcomed the measure said this would do more to improve the image of the department, which currently undertook the process itself.

“I’m all for it,” said Paul So, managing director, Great Sights Travel & Tours, adding this would help eliminate “grey areas” in the current rating system.

Emy Malate, vice president for marketing at Image Travel and Tours, said DoT was doing well to “select a standard” and “follow a common procedure” for rating hotel and resort establishments, although travel consultants who understood their clients’ requirements and recommended hotels following client budgets would not have a problem either way.

“It’s not a really a problem; we know the properties and what is of interest to the client. It’s a matter of having a good relationship with your tour operator abroad,” Malate said.

OUTBOUND travel consultants in Malaysia have seen demand for Egypt tumble in the face of political protests sweeping Cairo and other major cities including Faiyoum, Mansoura and Alexandria.

Insight Vacations’ sales manager-Malaysia, Mani Vannan, said: “There has been a big slowdown in demand as Malaysians are concerned over their safety while on holiday.

“However, it is too early to predict demand for the destination during the upcoming school holidays in August. It would largely depend on the situation in Egypt then.”

He added that Malaysians considered Egypt a “historical country and an exotic destination”.

Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel CEO, Cooper Huang, said the company had stopped running tours to Egypt temporarily as there had been no enquiries.

“There is no point pushing this destination when there is no response. Once there is stability in the country, we will start promoting Egypt again,” he explained.

However, Sedunia Travel Services is still going ahead with a group tour to Egypt in the third week of August. Business development manager, Gary Oh, said: “It is still too early to predict whether there will be cancellations. Presently, there is a wait-and-see attitude.”

Malaysia’s government on Saturday issued an advisory against travel to Egypt, urging Malaysians to postpone and reschedule trips to the country as “uncertainty of the situation continues to increase”.

THE integrated resort (IR) model would benefit multiple industries across South Korea, but government opposition to the construction of tourism facilities still posed a hurdle, said Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) president, Charm Lee.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily at the Korea MICE Expo 2013 last week, Lee said: “In terms of tourism, we see Singapore as a role model. An example we are following is Singapore’s courtship of international associations, encouraging them to base their Asian offices there, which in turn drives more association meetings to the city. Our most recent achievement in this direction is the Green Climate Fund’s establishment of its headquarters in Incheon’s Songdo City.

“Singapore’s success with the IR model is also something we can emulate. A single IR, through its MICE facilities, gaming, theme park, shopping outlets and accommodation, will supply the destination with large infrastructure to capture mega events, and that in turn brings business to the taxi companies, retailers, medical specialists when travellers have their health checked, and IT companies when delegates purchase the latest local gadgets.

“If Singapore, with its limited land, can work this model so well, South Korea can do even better because we have lots of land to support the required scale of such infrastructure and we enjoy a more central location on the world map,” he explained.

What is lacking, acccording to Lee, is a favourable licensing environment.

“It isn’t just gaming that some authorities are objecting (to). Hotels are also regarded by some as frivolous, as a place to play (in), so building permits are difficult to obtain and taxes are prohibitive for developers. It is far easier to secure a permit to build a department store than a hotel,” said Lee.

He added that KTO had been working hard to change the mindset of government agencies through regular open dialogues and hosting the annual Korea MICE Expo.

Although the tourism sector lacked the lobbying muscle of major industries, there had been progress, as “evident in the government’s recognition that tourism is one of the key economic pillars”, Lee pointed out.

VIETNAM Airlines today commences two new direct flights to Danang, one from Seoul, South Korea and another from Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The Seoul service will be operated thrice weekly, while Siem Reap flights will be a daily service, and together bring Vietnam Airlines’ total number of international routes to 28.

Round-trip tickets for Seoul are priced at 5.9 million Vietnamese dong (US$281), while Siem Reap-Danang tickets cost 1.7 million Vietnamese dong.

Despite the room boom in Danang over recent months, hotel managers and investors in the area have remained resolutely upbeat, believing that new flights will bring with them bigger demand.

In January this year, hoteliers, resort and golf course owners, and travel operators came together to set up the Central Coast Vietnam Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO), to promote the region as a competitior against established beach destinations such as Bali (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 29, 2013).

The DMO’s chairman, Louk Lennaerts, predicts more international flights would come on line in the coming months.

“Vietnam Airlines is also considering direct flights from Japan to Danang, while Thai Airways is still looking at flights from Bangkok with its sister airline, THAI Smile,” he said.

By David Lloyd Buglar

ANANTARA Hotels, Resorts & Spas will unfurl its banner in India through the opening of eight new properties by 2018.

The first, a 130-key resort, is currently under construction and is likely to be commissioned in Mahabalipuram, on the Bay of Bengal coast, by 2014. Other destinations the group has identified for setting up and managing new properties in are Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala.

Marion Walsh-Hedouin, group director-PR and communications, Anantara, said in a media statement: “Investing in India is a key move that will reap excellent results in future. Setting up Anantara hotels in India will also help target Indian outbound travellers for leisure and MICE (and encourage them to stay at) our other Asian properties.”

Of the group’s properties, Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa and Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort & Spa are already popular with Indian nationals and have hosted Indian weddings.

Ashwani Gupta, managing director, Amritsar-based Dove Travels, said: “Anantara’s brand needs to be established in India and the opening of (Anantara) resorts in India will certainly help with that. It will also fulfil a growing need for true luxury hospitality in India. Anantara is popular with a select niche of luxury clients among those who travel overseas frequently.”

MEETING facilities at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas are undergoing major refurbishment that will give the hotel a brand new ballroom from the first week of February 2014.

The new 1,500m² pillarless space will be able to accommodate 1,200 guests banquet-style or 1,100, classroom-style. Event organisers can also utilise a 656.8m² pre-function area adjoining the ballroom.

According to Darren Morrish, general manager of both the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas and the InterContinental Seoul COEX, the current ballroom will be demolished to make space for a new commercial tower.

Morrish revealed that the new commercial tower would also house a hotel, although it would not be a brand under the InterContinental Hotels Group.

“The new ballroom, along with the rest of our meeting facilities which will be refurbished, and the event spaces within the InterContinental Seoul COEX, will allow us to continue catering to large corporate groups. Between the two hotels we have 1,200 guestrooms.”

Besides refurbishing the event venues, the hotel is also remodelling its dining establishments, fitness club and business centre. Works will complete progressively throughout 2014.

THE recent surge of last-minute booking apps in an increasingly competitive online marketplace has triggered a wave of interest among the Asian travel trade, who debated over the potential and challenges of same-day apps during the No Vacancy Southeast Asia 2013 conference in Bangkok.

Increased mobile usage and Asian travellers’ inclination towards last-minute vacations spells potential for mobile-dedicated solutions, according to Tomas Laboutka, CEO and co-founder of HotelQuickly, a same-day, mobile-only booking app (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 3, 2013).

Laboutka remarked: “HotelQuickly would enable hotels to optimise occupancy real-time and RevPar while protecting their branding and fostering loyalty among customers.

“Unlike travel flash sites which train travellers to wait for a certain brand to offer hugely discounted rates, we rotate the inventory in real time every day, so users won’t know which specific brand will be available on a particular day.”

However, same-day booking apps drew mixed reviews from hospitality industry members that TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to.

“Last-minute apps are unlikely to work with the big chains due to the higher commission rates of 20-25 per cent versus 15 per cent for OTAs,” said Shade Shah, revenue and yield manager of Park Regis Singapore. “Unlike boutique hotels, our brand awareness is already there, so we don’t really need such apps (to boost branding).”

On the other hand, a hospitality industry leader who declined to be named, said: “The OTA scene is very competitive and mature now as many hotels are already participating there. Our hotel is now playing it wide, tapping new channels such as Agoda, Groupon, HotelQuickly, social media, etc, to utilise all partnerships since we always play rate parity.”

When asked if last-minute booking apps are revolutionising the travel landscape, Agoda CEO, Robert Rosenstein, replied: “We view them as competitors, but it’s up to consumers. We also work closely with hotels. We could also sell rooms at huge discounts, but do hotels want that?”

EUROPEAN hotel portal Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) has announced the opening of a regional sales office in Singapore.

Aimed at servicing business and private travellers, HRS runs a portfolio of more than 250,000 hotels across 180 countries and offers online hotel booking and travel management solutions.

HRS services are available on multiple platforms, from desktop to mobile, and are free for corporate clients. Reservations are made direct and come with immediate confirmation. The HRS solution is also set up to comply with the client corporation’s travel policies and provides detailed reporting.

Furthermore, HRS is looking to expand its distribution model by strategically integrating with GDSs.

“Asia-Pacific is a high growth area and an important region for HRS to offer corporate travellers more choices and better service. We want to help companies here maximise profitability by cutting corporate travel costs through an efficient travel management system,” said HRS CEO, Tobias Ragge.

“Asia is experiencing strong economic growth and an unprecedented rise in the consumption of travel services. With the world’s biggest, youngest and most tech-friendly consumer group working and living in this region, it is a promising market to be in,” said HRS commercial director of Asia-Pacific, Christian Lukey.

TO ENCOURAGE more group travel out of India into the Philippines, the local government is working on a new policy granting group visas to segments such as MICE and family travellers.

“We are working closely with the office of consular affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs to encourage them to come out with a policy on group visas, which includes incentive groups, conference groups and family groups. They are considering this and will come up with a new policy soon,” said Glen Agustin, team India head, market development group, Department of Tourism.

Should such a scheme come to pass, groups with bona fide and accredited tour operators will be given a group visa. This erases the need for individual visas and travellers will not be required to show money.

“For FITs, they (will still be) required to apply (for individual visas), pay the necessary processing fees and fulfil all requirements, including show money,” he added.

“However, since the market development group seeks to reduce barriers to entry for tourists, we are exerting all efforts to encourage our partner government agencies to ease the granting of visas to legitimate tourists,” Agustin explained.

He said the Philippines is “moving forward” when it comes to attracting arrivals from India, for instance, the country began allowing Indian nationals who had visa-free entry to AJACS SUK countries (Australia, Japan, Canada, Singapore, the US and UK) to enter the Philippines without a visa for 14 days, extendable to 21 days.