GUIDED holidays company Trafalgar is considering running a Singapore programme in 2014.

Gavin Tollman, Trafalgar’s CEO, revealed this when asked which new Asian destinations he was looking at, having launched Japan recently.

“You may see Trafalgar coaches in Singapore one of these days, 2014 maybe.

“Singapore is not difficult to sell – it’s how it relates to what we’re trying to do,” said Tollman, referring to Trafalgar’s repositioning as “the insider”, offering passengers new components such as Be My Guest, Hidden Treasures and Unique Insights.

Meanwhile, he said Japan was selling “okay”.

“It’s an expensive destination. We don’t have a lot of departures, just 11 or 12 (a year). We went to Japan because we have a large outbound programme and it’s a small way of us giving back to it (after the tsunami),” said Tollman.

As a source, business from Singapore has “more than doubled” since Trafalgar opened a regional office in the city in late 2011. The office, led by regional director Nick Lim, was Trafalgar’s sales office of the year for 2012.

Previously, Trafalgar was represented by Holiday Tours. Tollman said opening its own office gave Trafalgar the ability to communicate its new repositioning directly and retrain consultants to sell experiences rather than “the nuts and bolts”.

Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines remain key source markets where Trafalgar will put its focus, while the company will start to harness potential markets such as China, with Mandarin-speaking itineraries running soon.

Tollman said 2013 would be a mixed year. “The industry is still facing challenging times. I don’t believe we are about to enter a sustained growth period.

“But we’re seeing green shoots, no doubt, around the world. For Trafalgar, it’ll be a year of the sun peeking out from time to time. By no means perfect blue skies with no humidity, but a good year nevertheless.”

Some two million passengers travel with The Travel Corporation annually, with Trafalgar as the largest brand in the family of 20-plus brands.

– Read more in View from the Top, TTG Asia January 25 issue

SRI LANKA’S upmarket hotels are registering lacklustre occupancies despite the country’s tourism boom because of demand for cheaper accommodation options.

For the first time, Sri Lanka recorded a million tourist arrivals in 2012, up from 855,000 in 2011.

Most five-star hotels in capital Colombo, which now charge US$180 nett per night, averaged 60-65 per cent occupancy, while hotels within the one- to three-star categories registered over 80 per cent occupancy. These hotels charge US$80 per night, the same rates five-star properties commanded three years ago.

However, staff at another five-star hotel in Colombo who declined to be named said even though occupancies were at 65 per cent, the increased yields due to higher room rates made up for the shortfall.

Rohan Karr, general manager of five-star Cinnamon Grand Colombo, said the high-end segment had seen flat growth over the last year. “We did well because there were major MICE events, including cricket world tournaments…not because of leisure travel.”

He noted that more mid-range hotels were also sprouting in Colombo.

Meanwhile, Gamini Mathew, managing director of the one-star Colombo City Hotel said the property was doing extremely well, with a 15 per cent increase in profits and 86 per cent occupancy.

“We are planning to invest Rs100 million (US$790,000) to add capacity,” he said. The hotel will add 30 more rooms to its existing 50 and upgrade to three-star status.

Industry members said Sri Lanka is the most expensive destination for hotels in South Asia due to high power and food costs, and wages.

“At these rates, we have to offer superior service to attract customers, which we are doing,” said Anura Lokuhetty, CEO/deputy chairman of Serene Pavilions, a top-end boutique hotel south of the capital.

THE Philippines will get a larger slice of the European cruise market when four of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ ships from Germany call at the country’s various ports this year.

These are namely Europa in February, Columbus 2 in March, Bremen in May and Hanseatic in October. Europa has been an annual visitor for three years, while Hanseatic last came in 2010.

The luxury, 450-pax Europa is scheduled to arrive in February, staying for seven days and covering Manila, Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, Boracay and various points in Cebu and Palawan.

In March, first-time visitor Columbus 2 will spend six days in the country, bringing 698 guests. It will stop at Manila, Boracay, Cebu, Bohol and Palawan.

Bremen will island-hop between destinations in Palawan, Cebu, Bohol and Mindoro for 11 days in May, with under 500 cruisers.

Finally, expedition ship Hanseatic will sail from the Antarctic to the Philippines in October, calling at the ports of Manila, Subic, Basco in Batanes and Bohol with about 400 passengers over four days.

Marilyn Tunguia, inbound tour supervisor, Sharp Travel Service, noted that more cruise ships were coming to the Philippines, staying for a longer period and including more destinations. Sharp is the groundhandler for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.

She added that another new ship, Europa 2, would visit the Philippines in January, February and March next year. Spending four days each visit, it will bring different groups of passengers on itineraries including Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, Manila, Palawan, Boracay and Bohol.

DUSIT International, which now has veteran hoteliers Giovanni Angelini, David Shackleton and Jeffrey Flowers on board the ship, is sailing into golden seas, with at least five hotels confirmed to open this year in diverse locations and each showcasing new brand standards.

The five hotels, all new-builds and management contracts, include a Dusit Thani in Guam, Hainan and Abu Dhabi; a Dusit Devarana in New Delhi; and a Dusit D2 in Pasadena (US).

In the pipeline are a Dusit Thani in Jeddah, a Dusit Devarana in Hainan and a Dusit D2 in New Delhi. This month, CEO, Chanin Donavanik, expects to sign a Dusit D2 in Nairobi and, in February, seal a JV in China with a local partner to manage and develop Dusit hotels in the country, as the group has done in India.

Last year, a Dusit Thani Maldives was opened.

“Now we can expect to open seven to 10 hotels every year,” said Chanin.

The group has development offices for China (in Hong Kong), India, Middle East and Europe (in Dubai) and North America (which is covered by Flowers, formerly with Marco Polo Hotels).

“We have people and offices in place, that’s why we are growing. As well, as a Thai brand, we are seen as neutral – not American, not European,” said Chanin.

He added: “We made a mistake of not pushing expansion in the past, but it was also because we weren’t sure what to do. We tried, for example, to do a JV in China, but it was difficult to get a good deal and it often kept changing. We couldn’t move much until we had people on the ground and it took time to get the talent and set it up.

“So when Giovanni (former CEO of Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts), Jeff and David (formerly with InterContinental Hotels Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts) left their jobs, we had the right talent, people with the experience and expertise, to help us expand.

“Our objective is to grow the brand so that in three to five years, we can be considered as one of the better hotel companies. To do that, we have to keep opening good hotels.”

Chanin stressed however that he remained committed to grow in Thailand, Dusit’s base for 63 years. It has a US$150-US$160 million property fund listed on the stock exchange and is actively seeking hotels to acquire and put into the fund.

But he said good assets were hard to come by as hotel prices were high and many were owned by wealthy families who did not want to sell.

“We are still positive about Thailand except for some locations like Bangkok, where the ARR is weak as there are so many hotels. But as a whole, the government is doing all the right things – moving the low-cost carriers to the old airport and going ahead to expand Suvarnabhumi, for example. With a third runway and maybe the expansion of the terminal, it will be double the size of Phuket airport,” said Chanin.

“Aside from the government’s moves, it’s also the wealth created in Asia and the number of people in the region. Two million Chinese and one million Russians visited Thailand last year; more Indians are also visiting. So, Thailand will continue to do well.”

– Full report in TTG Asia, January 25 issue

SRI LANKAN Aitken Spence Hotels has pulled out of an agreement to set up a resort in the country with Bangkok-based The Soneva Group.

“We are talking to international operators for a new partnership to set up resorts in two locations – a four-hectare and an 11-hectare site,” said Malin Hapugoda, managing director of Aitken Spence Hotels.

The agreement was originally sealed (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 17, 2011) between Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings, Six Senses Resorts & Spas – which was then managed by founder Sonu Shivdasani – and another local company, the Favourite Group.

However, when Pegasus Capital bought over the Six Senses and Evason brands last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 26, 2012), it did not acquire this particular project.

The project was to establish the country’s first Six Senses property in Ahungalla, as well as beachfront residential villas. Aitken Spence and Soneva were each expected to contribute US$10-12 million.

As Soneva did not meet some of their obligations under the agreement, the company decided to terminate the deal, said Hapugoda. Other industry sources revealed that Soneva had cash problems and was unable to raise the required equity.

The collaboration was one of many hotel projects that Sri Lankan hoteliers signed up for after the end of the country’s civil war in 2009. International hotel companies such as ITC Hotels, Minor Hotel Group, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Accor, Starwood Hotels & Resorts are among those setting up shop in Sri Lanka.

AMADEUS has launched the Amadeus Travel Office Manager Mobile, an extension of the Amadeus Travel Office Manager (ATOM) mid-office system, providing travel consultants with on-the-go access to booking data, pricing and management reports.

With the new app, travel consultants will be able to check task queues created in ATOM and take action on due or overdue tasks, access supplier and customer contact details, send emails and messages, and get an overview of the daily booking sales and payment reports from their mobile devices.

Bruno des Fontaines, vice president, customer solutions group at Amadeus Asia Pacific, said: “Amadeus Travel Office Manager Mobile enables efficiency and continuity of services wherever the travel consultants are. People are now used to working anytime, anywhere and on any device, and travel agencies need to ensure that their consultants can access information securely from systems such as Amadeus Travel Office Manager.

“We are proud to be the first travel technology company to release an application for mid-office systems and will be adding more functionalities in time to come.”

Amadeus Travel Office Manager Mobile is available to ATOM customers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore and Thailand. It can be downloaded for free on the Amadeus website or from Apple App Store.