Robert Kunkler
MINOR Hotel Group (MHG) has appointed Robert Kunkler as senior vice president, hotel operations.
In his new role, Kunkler will oversee the operation of all Anantara and Avani properties worldwide.
He joins MHG from Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, where he held the position of regional vice president, operations in Dubai.
Graham Black
ASCOTT has appointed Graham Black as country general manager for Vietnam. He will oversee Ascott’s operations and manage its serviced residence business in the country.
Black was previously Ascott’s general manager for Sydney from 2003-2007. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Stamford Hotels and Resorts, Park Hyatt, and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts.
Ascott currently operates two serviced residences in Ho Chi Minh City and three in Hanoi. The company is set to open Somerset Central TD Hai Phong City in 2013 and Somerset Danang Bay in 2014.
Tony Hopwood
Director
Hopwood TMC Consulting
WITH the ever-changing travel industry landscape, the need for your business to keep up with the pace of change is essential to future profitability.
As your customers get savvier, it is key that your staff have access to the right tools that allow them to “sell” their expertise to “win” new business (and in many cases retain your existing business). This principle applies equally to both retail and corporate travel agencies. Obviously, the more equipped your staff are, the more advantage you have to increase your sales and revenue opportunities.
However, revenue is not the only element in driving a profitable business. It is also essential that you understand your key cost drivers and develop business plans, or project initiatives, to continue to reduce, or at a minimum do more with the same level of cost. It is important for you to identify each of your key cost drivers, and develop a plan that will deliver either cost reduction or productivity improvements to drive cost savings. These plans should be reviewed and refined, at a minimum, every year.
As an example, how often do you review the booking process of your staff? Do you work with your technology partner to leverage their desktop and mid-office products? By automating processes and removing duplication, storing data that is “re-usable” for the next booking, and integrating third party content within the desktop, you will drive efficiencies, promote time savings for basic booking processes and deliver enhanced content. Ultimately, this enables your staff to focus more on the customer experience and selling opportunities.
It is a fact that some of the initiatives you will consider may require some level of investment, either as a one-off project or potentially as an ongoing cost. However, each initiative can be carefully examined to ensure it delivers a return on investment. This could be in terms of “hard” dollar costs savings, or by improving the level of staff productivity and enabling you to produce higher sales volumes with the same cost base.
One simple option is to work closer with your technology partner. Leverage the tools and products already in place and evaluate other investment initiatives that deliver cost savings, with the goal to driving a more profitable business. For instance, have you considered the new wave of graphical user interface powered solutions or thought about building basic booking scripts within your existing desktop? In many cases, travel agencies are not fully utilising the features and benefits available to them within their existing desktop products. One simple change can bring about a world of new opportunities.
Hopwood is an independent consultant, specialising in productivity initiatives for the travel industry. He is the headline speaker at Travelport’s upcoming industry roadshows across Asia from May 7-11. For more information, visit tiny.cc/travelportroadshow
By Tony Hopwood, director, Hopwood TMC Consulting
ABU Dhabi is attempting to tap a larger slice of the growing Chinese outbound market by staging roadshows to raise its profile in Greater China.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (ADTCA) organised its inaugural Chinese roadshow from April 9 – 17 across five major cities: Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
According to Mubarak Rashed Al Nuaimi, international promotion manager, ADTCA, the nine-day roadshow served as a platform to drive business interactions between Chinese outbound travel consultants and hotels, airlines, attractions and destination management companies based in Abu Dhabi.
A total of 11 Abu Dhabi tourism stakeholders and nearly 800 Chinese travel consultants participated in the roadshow, which will become an annual affair, said Al Nuaimi.
“The Chinese market is growing and the world’s first Ferrari World theme park (in Abu Dhabi) has been a big draw. In 2011, the number of Chinese visitors to Abu Dhabi increased by 29.6 per cent compared to the same (period) in 2010. We expect similar growth for this year given new flight connections,” he said.
Last December, Etihad Airways commenced four direct weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Chengdu. In March this year, the national carrier launched a Shanghai (Pudong)-Abu Dhabi route with five-weekly flights, which has been boosted to a daily service from April 16.
STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is set to grow its presence in China further, after surpassing its 100th hotel milestone in the country following recent openings in Ningo, Sanya, Yangzhou and Xian.
“About 70 per cent of our hotel openings in Asia this year are in China,” said Simon Turner, president of global development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. The hospitality giant plans to open 15 more properties in China by year-end, in addition to the eight hotels already opened in 1Q2012.
The 3,863-room Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central – the largest Starwood hotel in the world – will be unveiled in mid-September, while Westin properties will be added to China’s second- and third-tier cities, including Ningbo, Xiamen, Changbaishan and Taiyuan. Starwood will also debut two hotels under its Luxury Collection brand – Twelve at Hengshan in Shanghai and The Royal Begonia on Hainan Island.
“We’ve signed 12 new deals in the first three months of 2012 and Greater China accounts for 44 percent of our global pipeline driven by an ever-increasing Chinese domestic travel market, as well as the fast-growing international inbound market,” said Frits van Paasschen, president & CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
According to a press statement by the hotel group, China is now Starwood’s second largest market after the US, fuelled by the growth of its Sheraton and Westin brands.
SRI Lanka is keen to promote its indigenous tourism offerings as it gears up to welcome over a million visitors this year.
According to Rumy Jaufer, managing director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, new products under development include visits to ethnic communities such as the Veddahs, a forest-dwelling hunting community, and the Kaffirs, a group of South Africans brought into the country as labourers during British colonial times.
Traditional dance and art forms will be promoted as part of the strategy. Highlights include a southern dance ritual from Ambalangoda town, which was practiced in ancient times to treat ailments, and the catchy Carribbean-style dance rhythms of the Kaffirs.
DVDs showcasing the various dances will be distributed among travel consultants for promotion, said Jaufer.
S. Paramanathan, president, Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka said: “This is a good move and should have been done a long time ago. In places like Australia, tourists visit traditional settlements and learn about (local) cultures.”
INDIA is seeing a surge in Russian arrivals, catalysed by the easing of visa regulations last year.
Since June 2011, the Indian Embassy in Moscow has started issuing six-month multiple-entry visas for Russian tourists instead of one-month single entry visas, and reduced the issuance period from two weeks to three days.
The Indian Embassy in Moscow issued about 150,000 visas last year, a rise of 24 per cent from 2010, and a significant increase from 54,000 Russian visitors in 2006. The trend is set to continue this year, with Russian arrivals in January/February 2012 recording a 20 per cent year-on-year growth.
Arun Varma, managing director, Allways Travel New Delhi, said: “Russia and some of the CIS countries have emerged as a major source market for Indian inbound, and because of their disposable income, the volume and receipts from these markets will continue to grow.”
Goa, which is frequented by Russians, received 133,000 Russian visitors last year. Between January 1 and April 15 this year, 520 out of 910 charter flights to Goa were from Russia, bringing 95,000 tourists.
Other destinations popular with Russian tourists include the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur route, Kerala, Kulu-Manali and Haridwar-Rishikesh in north India, Odisha in the east, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the south.
To augment the growing Russian inbound market, the Indian government will open a tourism marketing office in Moscow later this year.
MANDALA Airlines started daily Medan-Singapore services on April 20, marking its first international route since its relaunch earlier this month.
The Indonesian LCC kick-started domestic operations on April 5 with 12-weekly Jakarta-Medan flights. Twice-daily Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur services will begin on May 4.
“Mandala Airlines is excited to serve the Indonesian community once again. (We are) committed to providing business and leisure travellers better connectivity on both domestic and international routes at attractive fares, so look out for upcoming announcements,” said Mandala Airlines’ president director, Mike Coltman.
Tickets for the Jakarta-Medan, Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta-Singapore routes are now available for booking via Tiger Airways’ website.
CARNIVAL Corporation has appointed Michael Thamm as the new CEO of Costa Group. He will take over from incumbent Pier Luigi Foschi, who will retire on July 1.
Thamm, currently serving as president of Germany-based AIDA Cruises, will relocate to Genoa, Italy, where he will oversee the operations of Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Ibero Cruises. He will also serve on Costa’s board of directors.
Foschi, who joined Costa Cruises in 1997 and was elected chairman of the board in 2000, will stay on as chairman and managing director of Costa Group, and will also remain on the board of directors of Carnival Corporation.
Meanwhile, AIDA senior executive Michael Ungerer has been promoted to president of AIDA Cruises, and Gianni Onorato will continue to head Costa Cruises as president.
SRI Lanka, where hotel rates have more than doubled in the past three years, is in danger of pricing itself out of the convention and corporate travel market, travel industry officials say.
“Some of the rates for cultural sites are among the priciest in the world, while five-star hotel rates which were US$55 to US$80 in 2009 are now going at US$170,” said Chaminda Dias, executive director, Luxe Asia, adding that visits to all key cultural sites now cost an average US$60 from US$30 earlier.
Nilmin Nanayakkara, managing director of Nkar Travels & Tours, said in an interview with TTG Asia e-Daily earlier this year that his company “could have attracted more MICE tourism from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, if not for the rates”.
Rates have risen sharply since the ethnic conflict ended in May 2009 and tourism numbers have surged with a million expected this year, from 450,000 in 2009.
Hoteliers, however, disagree with the pricing issue.
“When we were at war (conflict), people said we were priced too low. Now they are saying we are priced too high,” said Hiran Cooray, chairman of Jetwing Hotels.
Anura Lokuhetty, deputy chairman/CEO of Serene Pavilions boutique hotel, said hoteliers, unlike tour operators, had made huge investments in the post-war era to upgrade services. “Even if rates have gone up at cultural sites, they are still cheaper than those overseas,” he said.
Rumy Jaufer, managing director of state-run Sri Lanka Tourism, said the country needed to pursue high-end corporate travellers instead of cheaper (segments).
