IN AN abrupt about-turn, the Indian High Commission has ruled that Malaysians cannot stay for more than 30 days at a time in India, a move that has dismayed tour operators.

It also flies in the face of an earlier policy change which saw the mandatory two-month gap between tourists’ visits to India scrapped just weeks ago (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 7, 2012).

Malaysian Indian Travel and Tour Association president, K Thangavelu, said the change would affect Malaysians planning to stay more than a month in India, especially those who go for yoga and meditation, Ayurvedic treatments and pilgrimage tours.

“We feel the new ruling is unfair as it is only implemented for Malaysia and not worldwide. We have written to the deputy high commissioner, Aseem R Mahajan, to express our concerns on the matter and are awaiting a response,” he opined.

M Nantha Gopal, managing director, Nantha Travel & Tours, said he had seen a group of 30 Malaysians planning a three-month visit to Bengaluru in March defer their plans.

Johnson Francis, managing director of Oscar Holidays, added that he had yet to decide whether he would shorten his pilgrimage itinerary – which stretches beyond 30 days, starting from Varanasi and ending at Tamil Nadu – or break it into two tours. The peak period for such pilgrimage tours is from November to February.

THE Society of Incentive and Travel Executives (SITE) officially launched its 29^th chapter in India in late December, comprising 22 members from the region, including three members from Nepal.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in Gurgaon, Anup Nair, president of SITE India chapter, said: “The (launch) is a big boost to incentive travel professionals in the country as it will provide members an enormous opportunity to network and learn on a global platform.

“Apart from increasing our membership we will work towards bringing the SITE International Conference to India by 2016.”

Membership is open to all MICE professionals at an annual fee of US$445. An admission fee of US$50 applies.

Rajeev Kohli, director on the SITE Global Board and the 2013 vice president of SITE International, said that the new chapter would offer members a joint platform where they could share ways to maximise their revenues and work with airline and hotel partners for mutual benefits.

“With SITE India we plan to collectively market our products. Competition is good, but this is an era of cooperation. A few of us have been working together on joint initiatives and the formation of the India chapter will give us a formal umbrella branding when we talk to the world. We expect to be taken more seriously,” he added.

AUSTRALIA’S StayWell Hospitality Group will debut its first Indian property in Hyderabad come May. The 82-room Leisure Inn hotel will be located in the city centre, the company’s first step in an ambitious US$50 million expansion plan.

StayWell – which operates the four-star Park Regis and three-star Leisure Inn brands – wants to establish 50 hotels in India by 2017, with 60 per cent under Park Regis and the rest, Leisure Inn.

Following Hyderabad, the Group will launch properties in Greater Noida, Raipur and Goa by mid-2014. StayWell also intends to expand its footprint to Chandigarh, Pune, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai.

All StayWell hotels will be a mix of three business models that the company employs in other global markets – a third will be management contracts, a third, lease agreements and a third, with equity involved.

Rohit Vig, managing director for India, StayWell Hospitality Group, said: “India has a growing annual travelling population of 650 million, and one of the largest, growing middle classes in the world, meaning opportunities for accommodation providers are very apparent.

“StayWell offers recognised brands in the three- and four-star hotel space with established systems and hotel networks – something that is lacking in the Indian market.”

Arun Anand, managing director, Midtown Travels, welcomed StayWell’s entry into the Indian market. “Even though there are many hotels in the mid-market segment, StayWell’s entry into the market will provide one more international option to travellers who are looking for value for money propositions.”

StayWell Hospitality Group currently has 35 hotels with 4,000 rooms under its umbrella in Australia, Asia-Pacific, the UK and the Middle East.

THE Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) will strengthen its marketing efforts in new markets this year, which include China, India, South Korea, the Middle East and Australia.

The tourism body aims to do this through digital channels, travel tradeshows and fam trips for travel consultants, while sustaining efforts in its traditional UK and European markets.

Khalid Ramli, CEO of LADA, said: “This year we will also intensify our efforts to get more charter flights from Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan. We hope to attract at least 51 charter flights in 2013.”

Between January 2012 and end-March 2013, Langkawi will see 36 charter services to Langkawi from South Korea, Sweden, Finland, Kazakhstan and Vladivostok.

Khalid also revealed that Langkawi had recently picked up the slogan Naturally Langkawi to capture the essence of the destination, which lies in its natural attractions such as forests and 500 million-year-old rock formations.

The branding exercise will spearhead LADA’s plan to meet the targeted RM3.8 million (US$1.3 million) in tourism revenue and three million arrivals in 2015. The goal is for 2.6 million tourists this year.

Said Khalid: “By 2015, we want Langkawi to be among the top 10 island destinations in the world.”

BORACAY’S sunny shores have been voted as the best for unwinding on and the third best for night owls, according to a survey conducted by OTA Agoda.com.

Based on feedback from over 113,000 customers, Boracay was the “clear top choice” for relaxation, stated the press release, trouncing the ever-popular Bali. The destination also ranked third for nightlife destinations, becoming the sole Philippine destination to make top 10 for both categories.

Thailand was a heavyweight in the relaxation category, occupying five spots among the top 10. Koh Samui and Chiang Mai came in third and fourth after Bali, while Krabi was sixth, Hua Hin, eighth and Phuket, ninth.

For the nightlife category, Bangkok took top honours, followed by Dubai.

KUALA Lumpur-based DMC Panorama Tours Malaysia has expanded its portfolio to include outbound leisure business to the US and China.

Panorama’s managing director, Richard Vuilleumier, said: “We see US outbound as a big potential market with the depreciation of the US currency. (The US) is a slightly more affordable destination compared to Europe but the advantage it has over Europe is that everybody speaks English. After September 11, demand from Malaysians for a US holiday dropped but it started to pick up again (in 2012).”

China is also another destination the DMC is hoping to push for, commencing sales of series tours last September.

“Our sister company Panorama Tours Beijing recently opened in November, and we plan to leverage on the company to build our network and to handle tours and groundarrangements to Beijing and other parts of China,” he added.

In 2012, Panorama Tours Malaysia recorded a 50 per cent year-on-year growth in its overall business from the previous year, and Vuilleumier believes business will pick up further after the Malaysian general elections this year.

The company, set up in 2009 as a subsidiary of Panorama Tours International, recently moved to its new five-storey office and now boasts a a staff strength of 25.

FOLLOWING a US$50 million renovation (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 6, 2012), the newly refurbished SuperStar Gemini was launched at the Singapore Cruise Centre on December 28.

Formerly known as Norwegian Dream, SuperStar Gemini joins Star Cruises’ stable of four other cruise ships, boasting a capacity of 1,532 passengers, 766 cabins and 557m² of retail space, including a range of luxury items from China Duty Free.

The ship is today scheduled to embark on a series of inaugural cruises from Penang around South-east Asia and Hong Kong. From April to October, the ship will homeport at Shanghai, where it will offer itineraries to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the last pending approval. Shanghai marks the cruise operator’s second Chinese destination, following Sanya last year.

When asked how Star Cruises was dealing with increased competition within the Asian cruise market, David Chua, president of Genting Hong Kong, replied: “Rather than (targeting) a bigger slice of the pie, there is a need for cruise lines to come together and enlarge the pie.”

While declining to reveal Star Cruises’ marketing strategy and training programmes for travel consultants for the coming year, he added that the company would leverage its experience as an Asian cruise operator to set itself apart.

Chua also pinpointed the MICE market as one sector to focus on, as cruises were viable alternatives in the light of rising hotel rates. Star Cruises is also looking to target weddings.

As for Resorts World Manila – also operated by Genting Hong Kong – he remarked that the integrated resort had its “hands full” managing the 2,000 rooms expected to come online with the opening of Hilton Manila in December 2012, as well as the planned debuts of Westin Manila Bayshore in mid-2016 and Sheraton Manila Hotel in early 2017.

Emphasising the untapped potential within the intra-ASEAN market, Chua said: “The Philippines has the second highest GDP growth after China within the region, and Filipinos are a common sight at Universal Studios Singapore.”

A NEW luxury hostel has sprung up in the heart of Singapore’s Chinatown, a product that its young owner expects will create a new standard for accommodation of its kind.

Adler Hostel, which takes on a mix of modern and traditional Asian interior décor, features two sleeping chambers, each with 16 bed cabins that are fitted with a personal safe, universal power sockets and cove lightings. Superior beddings – a super single mattress, feather-down or foam pillows, and a quality quilt – are offered.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, the hostel’s owner, Adler Poh, said: “Adler Hostel is not your usual hostel, and it is our aim to create a niche that other hostels cannot replicate.

“Adler Hostel is deliberately kept small to offer a boutique feel. Differentiation also lies in our guest services. For instance, we have a concierge that will recommend off-the-beaten-track attractions and activities in Singapore, tailor travel itineraries and offer attraction tickets at discounted rates.”

Daily rates are S$60 (US$49) per night, which is higher than what other hostels in Singapore are charging, according to Poh.

“For instance, there’s a hostel in this area that charges S$50 per night. Despite the higher rate, occupancy has been very good. We welcomed our first guest on November 12, and up till (mid-December) the hostel is running at 70 per cent occupancy,” he said, adding that guests hail from all over the world, with the majority from Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Customers book direct with the property or through OTAs such as Agoda, Booking.com, Wotif and Hostelworld.

“Due to the demographic of our target market, it is natural that we work more closely with OTAs,” said Poh.

Poh has plans to add another sleeping chamber with six bed cabins soon, and the space will be dedicated to female guests.

HAVING benefitted from the raging Korean wave, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is looking for more ways to boost the leisure travel market from the city-state to South Korea by zooming in on niches such as golfing as well as medical and education tourism.

From January to November 2012, visitor arrivals from Singapore to South Korea leapt 27.7 per cent year-on-year from 96,653 to 124,426, according to statistics from KTO. For 2013, KTO has set a target of 10 per cent increase in visitor arrivals from Singapore.

Speaking with TTG Asia e-Daily, KTO’s senior marketing manager, Adeline Goh, said: “We are targeting the mass market but have plans to tap the premium traveller market as well.

Goh said KTO had begun working with travel agencies to promote golf tours to Jeju last year. “We have had more than 100 golfers going to South Korea so far. Other premium options that we would like to see take off in 2013 is luxury stays.”

Fam trips will be organised for teachers and trade players in the education and medical tourism sectors to garner more visibility for South Korea in those aspects.

“The use of K-pop and K-dramas to promote tourism in Singapore has been very successful as it provides South Korea with the hip factor, and visitors want to visit many new and interesting locations shown in Korean dramas,” said Goh, adding that the NTO aimed to develop more itineraries centred around Korean pop culture, such as a Gangnam Style itinerary.

KTO plans to work closer with the travel trade in the year ahead by holding more joint FIT campaigns with travel agencies and promoting provinces beyond Seoul, Jeju Island and Gangwon-do, especially since 2013 marks the Visit Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsangnam-do Year while the Suncheon Gardens Bay International Expo will run from April to October in Suncheon, an hour away from Yeosu.

Goh added: “Apart from regular province product presentations, we also intend to give FIT trainings to them on a bi-monthly basis.”

THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) is now eyeing 24.5 million arrivals for 2013, having surpassed the 21 million mark in tourist arrivals on December 28.

Presiding over a recent ceremony to welcome the 21^st million arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport, Suraphon Svetasreni, TAT governor, said: “We registered a 15 per cent increase in arrivals over 2011 and we are confident of generating at least 965,000 million baht (US$31.6 billion) for the country, a healthy 24 per cent rise over last year. Our statistics showed that Thailand welcomed 19.8 million international tourists from January to November (in 2012), which was an increase of 13.6 per cent.

“The top 10 countries that sent tourists to Thailand were China, Malaysia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, India, Laos, Australia, the UK and Singapore. The main growth markets are from Asia,” he revealed.

“Both Suvarnabhumi Airport and Phuket International Airport showed a good increase in the first half of December of 35 per cent and 47 per cent respectively. These figures bolster our confidence in achieving 22 million arrivals very soon.”

For 2013, TAT expects international arrivals to hit 24.5 million (11 per cent increase) and revenue generated to reach 1.2 trillion baht (19 per cent increase).