INDIA’S tourism business has taken a 25 per cent hit over the last three months, while the number of female foreign visitors is estimated to have dropped by 35 per cent due to the perception of deteriorating safety levels and ongoing global economic woes.

According to a poll by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) of 1,200 tour operators from different Indian cities, travel has fallen by as much as 25 per cent.

Travel advisories issued by the West have also impacted tourist numbers (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 22, 2013) following a spate of high-profile rape cases. Some 72 per cent of tour operators said cancellations by women tourists in the last three months came mostly from the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

While the Delhi NCR region has taken the brunt of the blow, tier two and tier three cities such as Goa, Agra and Jaipur have also not been spared as tourists turned to other Asian destinations such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam, according to ASSOCHAM’s press release.

ASSOCHAM secretary general, D S Rawat, said the rash of attacks on women “has raised concerns about the safety of female travellers to the country.” He also added inbound tourism could be affected in the long run, and urged stronger security in tourist areas, as well as a programme to educate locals on the importance of tourism and encourage respect for tourists.

However, ASSOCHAM’s findings are at odds with the tourism ministry’s monthly estimates, which reported February arrivals to be 1.6 per cent higher year-on-year. This is nevertheless a far cry from the 7.9 per cent growth posted in February last year.

About 6.6 million international tourists visited India last year, spending US$17.7 billion. The country’s tourism authority aims to grow foreign tourist arrivals by 12 per cent a year to double foreign exchange earnings by 2016.

WORK has begun on the National Museum of Natural History, which will come up in the neo-colonial Department of Tourism building in old Manila at Rizal Park.

Slated for a soft opening in October 2014, the new museum will feature national science collections and be home to permanent research programmes of the National Museum of the Philippines in the area of natural history.

Exhibitions include a gallery dedicated to the Puerto Princesa Underground River, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as a 13.7m-long skeleton of a sperm whale recovered from Marinduque.

The National Museum of Natural history is the last part of the National Museum Complex comprising the National Museum of the Filipino People, the National Planetarium and the National Art Gallery, which was opened last year.

Ana Labrador, assistant director of the National Museum of the Philippines, the group that manages and develops the complex, said the natural history museum had been part of plans for the complex since 1998 but was not “aggressively pursued” until now.

Travel trade players such as Sharp Travel Services’ inbound tour supervisor, Marilyn Tungia, welcomed the new attraction, saying it would help boost tourism in the Philippine capital and beyond, since it is also meant to be “a hub and springboard for ecotourism around the country”.

“As Manila has limited attractions, the museum will have a big impact in attracting more tourists. Cruise passengers, especially the Europeans, prefer historical attractions. It will also be good for educational tours and for domestic tourists, especially for today’s youth who don’t know much about our history,” she said.

Earlier this year, it was reported that a project was underway to redevelop and conserve Manila’s historical walled city of Intramuros, which would also see the development of museums (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 30, 2013). However, plans are for these museums to focus on religious and American colonial period history.

THE Indian state of Gujarat will dedicate a war chest of US$100 million to tourism infrastructure development and promotion this year, a marked increase since its budget of US$6 million in 2006.

Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, said: “Gujarat has numerous natural advantages that will now be packaged, and we will offer a new product for every different tourist preference.”

With the enhanced budget, plans are afoot to promote Gujarat’s 2,575km coastline. New beaches have been identified for development, while the construction of a cruise terminal and dolphin-sighting trips are on the anvil.

Vipul Mittra, principal secretary – tourism, Gujarat, said: “We will target children with a new campaign, educating them about our attractions and creating destinations and activities that are exciting for them.”

Previous promotions by the state have included signing Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan as a brand ambassador in 2010, whose 16 commercial films have featured attractions in Gujarat as part of the deal, as well as efforts to push the state’s religious, cultural, medical and nature tourism.

In 2012, Gujarat’s number of domestic and international arrivals leapt 5.4 million to 22 million, a 16 per cent year-on-year increase.

TO TAP the burgeoning hotel market in Asia, international real estate management firm Savills has set up Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, specialising in hotel sales and investments, consultancy, asset management and valuation.

Savills Hotels established its Singapore headquarters last September, followed by Japan and Australia offices.

Explaining why these three countries were chosen, Nathalia Wilson, associate director, Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, said: “We have been actively receiving the most interest and leads from operational hotel assets in these three established markets.”

Since then, Savills Hotels has been responding to a growing number of enquiries from the region, which includes countries like Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.

Wilson highlighted consulting and asset management as one of their key business lines. “Our goal is to provide our clients with professional and high-quality personalised service to maximise value of their hotel assets throughout their investment cycle from development, acquisition and holding period to disposition.”

Savills’ portfolio comprises commercial, residential, service apartments, mixed-use developments, with over 500 offices and associates around the world today, of which 46 are in Asia-Pacific.

Wilson said: “Our hotel team may be formed overnight, but we can leverage the existing robust Savills platform, knowledge and experience to service our clients’ different investment strategies and needs.”

She added that her team of six had diverse skill sets ranging from hotel operations to investment, which would help the company come up against competitors such as Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE and Horwath HTL.

Savills already has hotel teams in the UK and US, overseeing the two regions.

TAUZIA Hotel Management has officially opened Harris Hotel and Conventions Malang, the second-largest city in East Java after Surabaya.

The 229-room midscale hotel is located within Riverside residential complex, 15 minutes from the city centre, 20 minutes from the Abdul Rahman Saleh Airport and 30 minutes from tourist spot Batu.

Said to be one of the biggest hotels in Malang, the property offers three swimming pools, a kids club, a wedding chapel, a fitness centre with a sauna and a 1,500-pax ballroom.

Tauzia currently has 12 Harris Hotels in Indonesia, with 26 more to open by end-2015.

LOW-cost carrier Golden Myanmar Airlines will launch its first international route on April 5, connecting Singapore to Yangon and Mandalay with daily flights. It is also eyeing Bangkok, New Delhi and Hong Kong.

“Currently we have only one Airbus A320 aircraft, but we will add one more aircraft very soon before launching the Singapore route. We will also fly to Bangkok at the end of April. As originally planned, we will add more aircraft very soon and will fly to New Delhi and Hong Kong in the near future,” revealed U Aung Gyi, managing director, Golden Myanmar Airlines.

Golden Myanmar started operations in January with flights between Yangon and Mandalay (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 4, 2013), and the new Singapore flights will be Mandalay’s first connection with the city-state.

While Yangon accounted for nearly all of the country’s international passengers in 2012, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported growing interest in Mandalay, Myanmar’s last royal capital, and predicted the trend would continue.

It is a dramatic turnaround for a city that had only one international route, a China Eastern Airlines service to Kunming in China, prior to Thai AirAsia launching Bangkok-Mandalay flights in October 2012 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 15, 2012).

TTG Asia e-Daily understands that Golden Myanmar Airlines is launching the route with promotion fares of US$45 one-way for April 5-8. Regular fares are priced US$100 one-way, or about half of what other carriers on the route charge, according to Golden Myanmar.

VISITENGLAND wants to grow its MICE business from India and will leverage its Asia-Pacific office in New Delhi to broaden its network of trade partners.

Alex Mawer, director of marketing, VisitEngland, said: “Our focus in India will be business tourism and the MICE market.”

The NTO is focusing on business from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune.

Reem Khokhar, regional manager – Asia-Pacific, VisitEngland, said: “We intend to showcase several destinations and venues in England as ideal for MICE events. We will participate in MICE events in India to familiarise the trade with our products.”

“Initially, we will hold MICE networking events in Mumbai and New Delhi, and also organise fam trips to promote our destinations,” added Khokhar.

VisitEngland is pushing the cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Brighton, and activities such as visiting the Formula One Silverstone Circuit, Beatles-themed tours, hot air ballooning, English Premier League soccer matches, horseracing at Royal Ascot or events at the country’s numerous castles.

Sushil Wadhwa, chairman, Platinum World Group, remarked: “England does have interesting high-end MICE venues and activities. We are looking beyond London to create interesting itineraries for our meeting and incentive clients. More destinations will create a larger window of opportunity and allow us greater choice.”

VisitEngland has budgeted 24 million pounds (US$36.4 million) for its three-year international marketing blitz, and aims to stimulate an additional 5.3 million room nights in short stays in England and 480 million pounds more in tourist spend by 2015.

In 2012, 95,000 Indian business visitors travelled to England.

INTERSTATE China Hotels & Resorts is looking to expand across China into secondary cities like Chengdu and Xiamen, by banking on its “highly flexible relationship” with owners.

Roger Fung, executive vice-president of operations at Interstate China said: “Owners have the flexibility of using their own brand name, but they can still be managed by Interstate…This will help those who want to have their own identity or retain their family name.”

Fung said Interstate’s offerings would also be ideal for secondary cities with its shorter management contract terms of five to eight years, in contrast to the average of 15 years by more established market players.

He said: “Such a flexible management model worked very well in the US in the past. Although this is something new in Asia, I believe this model will work and time will tell.”

Established in 2010, Interstate China is a joint venture between Interstate Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest independent US-based global hotel management companies, and one of China’s leading hotel operators and developers, Jin Jiang International Hotels Company.

Interstate China currently manages 10 hotels, which include Jin Jiang-branded hotels, and five-star hotels, like the Shanghai JC Mandarin Hotel and the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Shanghai-Pudong. It has also been appointed to manage the luxury J Hotel Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest hotel, scheduled to open in 2015 TTG Asia e-Daily, December 20, 2010.

The company aims to add at least 20 to 30 more hotels to its management portfolio in China over the next two years. While there were plans to move into the luxury hotel segment, Fung said the timing was “not right now”.

“We are not aiming to court the big brands now and will be expanding our infrastructure and developing our own Interstate brand first,” he said.

IN A bid to tap the growing global popularity of cycling tourism, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is holding the inaugural Bangkok Bike Expo 2013 in collaboration with NCC Exhibition Organisers.

The four-day free event will take place at Impact Muang Thong Thani’s Hall 4 from May 2-5. TAT sees huge potential for bike tours to attract both Thai and international tourists, as well as support provincial communities.

TAT deputy governor for tourism products and business, Vilaiwan Twichasri, said: “Bangkok Bike 2013 is one way to stimulate the market by providing a one-stop shop for interested consumers and businesses to get all the information they want, as well as to exchange ideas on how to further grow the (bike tourism) market.”

Visitors will be able to attend a seminar on bike tourism and meet with tour operators, hotels and resorts. TAT has also allocated a 500m² space for bike riders, and will highlight six suggested bicycle routes covering five regions in Thailand.

Welcoming the initiative, Patricia Weismantel, product manager of SpiceRoads, said: “Bike tourism is already big among the international market. Each year, we get about 7,000 customers. They are mostly from Europe, the US, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The interest among Thais has just started to pick up, so we hope the interest will grow even more with the expo.”

Grasshopper Adventures sales executive, Natbenyarat Noysuwan, added: “Demand for cycling tours in Thailand has been growing; we are now seeing demand all year round although our clientele is still mostly foreign.”

She urged the authorities to seek feedback from end-users as well as tour operators in order to develop bike tourism in Thailand more effectively. “Narrow roads in Bangkok and upcountry should be widened to accommodate the cyclists, while the media should also educate drivers on sharing the roads with cyclists.”

Weismantel agreed. “There are a few bike trails already in existence along the eastern seaboard, so more of such initiatives across Thailand would be good – it helps to keep the momentum going,” she said.