GARUDA Indonesia and Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration have renewed their Immigration on Board service, expanding it with a new Immigration at the Lounge feature and a Fast Track Immigration lane at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The Immigration at the Lounge service allows business class passengers and Garuda Frequent Flyer Platinum members to have their immigration documents cleared at the airline’s executive lounge. They can also zip through immigration via a fast track lane at the airport.

Garuda’s two new services augment its existing Immigration on Board service. Passengers who obtain a visa on arrival (VOA) voucher at Garuda offices or their airports of origin for US$25 will receive their VOAs and have their documents checked on board, allowing them to bypass the queues at immigration upon arrival at their destination.

The airline has signed an agreement with Bank BRI to issue the VOA vouchers.

Immigration on Board is available on selected Garuda routes: Tokyo (Narita)-Jakarta, Seoul-Jakarta, Sydney-Jakarta, Tokyo (Narita)-Denpasar, Osaka-Denpasar and Sydney-Denpasar.

Said Garuda president and CEO, Emirsyah Satar: “(These) services have given Garuda Indonesia a competitive advantage since the beginning (of the joint agreement with the Directorate General of Immigration), and now with BRI as well.”

DOMESTIC ferry operator 2GO in the Philippines is working to attract value-conscious leisure travellers from overseas, as well as event bookings.

Stephen Rey Tagud, 2GO vice president and chief commercial officer, explained that there were a lot of Indians who wanted to travel around Asia and the Philippines with their families, but were on a tight budget.

The company has been pursuing leads from India and Taiwan obtained at PATA Travel Mart in Manila last September.

Amy G Leyes, assistant vice president for passage group sales, said: “We’re partnering a Taiwanese party organiser (with networks in the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia) to sell Boracay as a party destination.”

She added that leisure enquiries were also streaming in from Latvia, Scotland and South Korea.

2GO has also secured a pink market group for 1Q2013, and some 500 to 600 participants are expected. Theme parties on board and in Boracay will be offered in the five-day/four-night programme, as well as bundled packages that include buffet meals, airport transfers, day tours to Intramuros and Tagaytay for early morning arrivals, shuttle services from Manila to Batangas port, and land and boat transfers to Caticlan. A cruise-fly option is also offered to travellers planning on extending their visit in Boracay or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, 2GO is marketing its Batangas-Boracay and Manila-Cebu overnight ferry trips to overseas MICE markets, offering corporate groups on option to host themed meetings and events on board its vessels.

Seminars can be conducted on vessels plying the Cebu route, with setups available for 200 pax in theatre style. Boracay-bound vessels offer converted space in the cafe and an open deck. Ships on both routes can be used for deck parties with band performances, karaoke nights and teambuilding sessions. Free Wi-Fi would be offered from this year and on board e-gaming facilities were being considered, said Tagud.

Top local companies are being targeted, and 2GO is looking to build ties with the Philippine travel trade too. Corporate rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

KEMPINSKI Ambience Hotel Delhi has cancelled its official opening celebrations planned for January 18, citing ongoing unrest in the city as a reason.

Vella Ramaswamy, general manager of the property which had soft opened last October, denies that the move was due to cancellation of bookings from leisure and business clients as a result of the anti-rape protests that have been held in the city since mid-December.

Ramaswamy told TTG Asia e-Daily: “The Kempinski Ambience Delhi is located in the heart of the city and therefore has to respect the ongoing sentiment of the capital. The city is (concerned about) the safety of its citizens and we would like to contribute in our own way by not celebrating the grand opening of the hotel.”

He added: “The entire political and administrative leadership is pensive over the current situation. New Year celebrations in the city were also curtailed in most of the places.

That said, Ramaswamy is confident of “hosting substantially big events in the first quarter of 2013”.

The hotel is still open for reservations, although no definite date has been set of the official opening.

INDONESIAN outbound travel consultants are expecting stronger demand to the US this year with the recent formation of the Visit USA Committee by the US embassy in Jakarta.

Panorama Tours Indonesia managing director – corporate incentive management, Vidya Hermanto, said: “There have been no tourism marketing and promotional activities between Indonesia and the US in the last 10 years or so, and obtaining a visa has been difficult due to security reasons.

“The Visit USA committee has shown interest in enticing the Indonesian outbound travellers to the US again, not only from the leisure sector, but also from corporates and students.”

The US was one of Indonesians’ favourite destinations in the 1990s, connected with direct air services, including Garuda Indonesia. However, the market declined in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and Garuda’s suspension of its US services.

According to WITA Tour director of sales, Rudiana, the US embassy had recently eased the visa application process, such as waiving interviews for travellers who had been previously granted a US visa.

Smailing Tour vice president MICE, Lucky Albertinus, said: “The interest to travel to the US has never been totally dead for us – there are FITs, families or small groups. These are mostly (travellers) who already hold a multiple visa, so they just need to book a flight and go.

“There may not be a drastic change in visa application requirements in the short term, but we can generate more interest from Indonesian travellers with new products (in the US). Honestly, the products we have been selling are the same old ones, so we would like the trade in the US to introduce and promote new destinations and products here,” he urged.

“The Visit USA committee opens up (opportunities) to develop the market, not only for outbound but also inbound traffic from the US as well.”

WHILE 2014 may be still a year away, both the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism Malaysia are already making preparations for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, vowing to look into areas such as tourism infrastructure, security and next year’s event line-up.

A target of 28 million tourists has been set for the VMY campaign, two million more than this year’s goal of 26 million, revealed tourism minister Ng Yen Yen during a press conference today.

Having received the green light from the Cabinet for the VYM 2014 since July 2012, it was not until October that a secretariat for the campaign was set up.

Ng said: “We don’t want to rush into things. We want to do it well and prepare the country to welcome the world. Hence, this whole year, we will be preparing the nation for Visit Malaysia next year. Areas we will look at include tourism infrastructure, security, and introducing new events in 2014 and hyping up existing events.”

From January 18, a three-day carnival will take place at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur to create awareness of the economic importance of Visit Malaysia.

The promotional campaign, together with its logo and theme song, will be officially launched by Malaysian prime minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak on January 19.

A PERSISTENTLY weak euro and improved consumer confidence at the start of this year have led to stronger forward bookings for Insight Vacations’ European tours.

Sheryl Lim, regional director of Asia, Insight Vacations, told TTG Asia e-Daily that year-to-date forward bookings out of Singapore had risen some 30 per cent, compared to the start of 2012.

“Our forward bookings suffered early last year because the government had advised a possible recession in 2012, causing Singaporeans to think twice about spending. We saw Singaporeans holding back on their mid-year holidays. Fortunately, as the year-end approached, travel bookings came forth strongly. Perhaps Singaporeans realised that if they did not take any holidays by the year-end, they would not have had a proper rest for the whole year,” said Lim.

She added: “It helps that the euro’s exchange rate against the Singapore dollar is still very attractive, making tours much cheaper than before and shopping opportunities in Europe most appealing.”

Lim said as much as 30 per cent of travellers who had booked Insight Vacations tour packages were repeat clients.

“Some travel with Insight Vacations on an annual basis, while others return on a three- to five-year cycle,” she said.

Lim expects a clearer picture of bookings out of Singapore to form after the NATAS Travel sales fair on February 22-24.

“We hope to end 2013 with a 15 per cent increment in bookings out of Singapore – and that is a conservative expectation. Singapore is in fact Insight Vacations’ largest market in Asia, and if the euro continues to stay down, the year could turn out to be very good for us,” she said.

PAN Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG) is fielding a Parkroyal “collection”, the Parkroyal on Pickering, Singapore, which will soft open on January 16.

PPHG’s CEO, Patrick Imbardelli, said this was not a new brand but a new title tagged to a “special child”.

Asked if this would be the start of a Parkroyal collection, he said: “Not necessarily. A lot of consumer brands bring out something that’s a special edition, a collectible, a collection.”

The 367-room Parkroyal on Pickering has a hotel-in-a-garden concept, with gardens constituting twice the hotel’s land area. It also has zero-energy sky gardens powered by solar energy cells.

Facilities include a contemporary open-kitchen concept restaurant, a wellness floor featuring an infinity pool overlooking the city, cabanas to chill out and a 300m garden walk, and ballrooms and meeting spaces of flexible configurations.

The opening promotion rate is S$278 (US$227) ++ for a superior room, inclusive of breakfast for two, valid till March 31.

The new hotel is now the flagship of the brand and sets the stage for its future development. It is owned by the group.

Though Parkroyal has existed since 1962, with roots in Australia, it remains a small brand with 11 in operation and two opening soon. After the new Singapore opening next week, a Parkroyal Serviced Suites Green City Shanghai will open in May.

Imbardelli said the brand’s development was on track. “I don’t see 500 Parkroyals – that’s not our style. We grow when it is the right fit, location, etc. There’s always a place for Parkroyal in Australia, China and South-east Asia, particularly Thailand and Indonesia, which we’re working on.”

MALAYSIA Airports Holdings has launched its new airport hotel brand, Sama-Sama, marking its entry into airport accommodation sector.

The airport operator will own and operate the five-star full-service Sama-Sama KL International Airport hotel adjacent to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as well as the existing transit hotel – which will be rebranded as Sama-Sama Express KLIA. With the completion of KLIA2, Malaysia Airports will also operate its transit hotel, Sama-Sama Express KLIA2.

Said tourism minister, Ng Yen Yen, at the hotel launch yesterday: “It is heartening to note that Malaysia Airports is expanding on its repertoire of airport services to include hospitality with its Sama-Sama brand. It is always a proud moment to see a Malaysian brand grow from strength to strength and achieve success on the world stage.”

Malaysia Airports chairman, Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, said: “Not content with just providing world-class, award-winning airport services, Malaysia Airports had the vision to offer every passenger who lands at KLIA a seamless travel experience – from the aircraft to the airport and to the hotel room. We will provide the connectivity, the convenience, the facilities and our unique Malaysian hospitality to welcome them. And so the Sama-Sama brand is born.”

Malaysia Airports aims to launch the Sama-Sama brand in other markets where it plans to operate airport hotels, according to Wan Abdul Aziz. Malaysia Airports manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia, and also has operations in India and Turkey.

In the Malay language, sama-sama means “togetherness” and “you’re welcome”.