THE Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), in collaboration with Malaysia’s tourism ministry and Tourism Malaysia, will organise the World Islamic Tourism Mart 2012 (WITM 2012) from May 31 to June 1 in Kuala Lumpur.

The event is projected to enhance the potential of the Muslim tourism sector within the context of a global population of 1.6 billion Muslims and their growing affluence.

MATTA president, Khalid Harun said: “WITM 2012 is (being) organised to cater to the vast untapped Muslim tourism market.”

Added international trade and industry deputy minister Mukhriz Mahathir, “WITM 2012 is a one-stop platform or event in Malaysia for all sectors of the tourism industry to meet, network, promote, showcase, market and sell their products and services to the Muslim tourism market.”

The mart will incorporate three components – a business-to-business networking session where buyers meet sellers, a consumer exhibition and a one-day conference. An estimated 500 quality buyers from the global Muslim tourism diaspora, including Malaysia, are expected to attend.

The mart is set to be annual feature in Malaysia.

“WITM is here to stay and will be a yearly event. This is the commitment of MATTA to the tourism industry,” Khalid said.

Reporting by N. Nithiyananthan

THE Lufthansa Group expects to incur additional expenses of 130 million euros (US$166 million) this year from having to buy emission rights. It will pass this on to consumers.

From the start of this year, aviation is included in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and all airlines are required to hold emission rights in the form of CO2 certificates for flights to and from Europe.

In 2012, 82 per cent of the necessary certificates will be awarded to airlines free. Airlines will have to buy another 15 per cent of the certificates, with three per cent being reserved for new airlines.

“As these allocations are based on average emissions for the years 2004 to 2006, the Lufthansa Group will have to buy at least 35 per cent of the certificates it needs to represent its growth in recent years.

“As competition is tough – especially from non-EU companies, whose operations are only subject to limited emissions trading rules – Lufthansa will have to pass on the costs via higher ticket prices, as recommended by the EU. Lufthansa will therefore include the cost of purchasing the certificates in its existing fuel surcharge as of the beginning of 2012. However, it has no immediate plans to increase this surcharge,” said a statement from the group.

GOVERNMENT regulations on airport security, emissions and taxes are a key issue negatively impacting global airlines’ revenues over the next 18 months, according to a bi-annual Sabre Airline Solutions survey of executives at nearly 80 regional and global airlines worldwide who were asked to rank what positively and negatively impacts airline revenue.

This is the first time that government regulations has ranked in the top three challenges that will negatively impact an airline’s business revenues. The top three negative issues are, in order, fuel prices (81 per cent), government regulations (72 per cent) and airport/passenger security (59 per cent).

Some 43 per cent of Asia Pacific airlines who took part in the survey identified government regulations a key challenge their airline will face over the next 18 months.

Many airlines from around the world are opposed to the recently launched EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which requires airlines flying into European airspace to pay for carbon emissions.

A number of airlines worldwide have also faced a string of proposed or new airline taxes which threaten to increase the cost of air travel considerably, depressing travel demand in an already unstable economic environment.

“Airlines already invest significantly to reduce their carbon emissions, so rather than imposing one-off taxes and compliance schemes that hamper this investment, governments would be better placed having more sustainable policies, such as incentives for the research and development of alternative fuels, and adopting policies around NextGen air traffic control,” said Sam Gilliland, chairman and CEO of Sabre.

On the flipside, the areas having the greatest positive impact on airline revenues are, in order, revenue/yield (81 per cent), customer loyalty and retention (81 per cent) and IT investment (76 per cent).

JAPAN Travel Bureau (JTB) Foundation is forecasting a 2.7 per cent growth in outbound demand this year to 17.4 million travellers, based on a full-year 2011 estimated result of 16.95 million.

For inbound, it is forecasting a 26.5 per cent increase in arrivals to Japan to 7.9 million this year, although this is still way below the peak in 2010 of 8.61 million.

“Japan will need a little more time to surpass the pre-quake arrivals,” JTB Foundation said in a statement.

In contrast to the sound recovery of outbound, inbound demand to Japan marked the worst
performance among past major crises.

The five major source markets for Japan, namely, South Korea, China, Taiwan, the US and Hong Kong, comprise more than 70 per cent of the total inbound, but while monthly growth rates from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were back to positive in October 2011, the other major source markets have stayed in negative, as of November 2011.

The foundation said China would lead the inbound recovery. “The Japanese government has gradually been easing its visa policy for China to boost the number of visitors to Japan. Although Japan lost approximately a fourth of its Chinese arrivals in 2011, the relaxation of visa policy together with significant growth potential of the Chinese outbound market will lead to a strong recovery in 2012, surpassing the number of arrivals in 2010.

“Taiwan is another market which is expected to see more arrivals in 2012 than 2010. But arrivals for other major source markets will not reach the pre-quake level in 2012, although they will all show double-digit growths due to the bounce back effect,” it said.

GARUDA Indonesia has appointed TransViet Promotion as its local representative to manage its sales, marketing and reservation activities in Vietnam, reinforcing the airline’s commitment and growing confidence in the market.

Through this partnership, passengers travelling to Indonesia can benefit from the code-share flights offered by TransViet Promotion to Garuda’s domestic hubs in Jakarta, Denpasar and Makassar for connections to other destinations within the country and beyond.

“Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing travel destinations and is becoming an increasingly important market for us,” said Risnandi, Garuda’s senior general manager, Asia.

TRAVEL agencies and TMCs can now access a new set of services and technologies that will raise business competitiveness, improve access to relevant hotel content and save time for travel consultants.

The Amadeus Hotel Optimisation Package portfolio of solutions has two main draws: profit optimisation and content optimisation.

One of its prominent solutions is the multi-GDS Business Intelligence solution Amadeus Hotel Dynamic Saver, which helps travel agencies and corporate travel managers maintain high savings standards and ensure hotel contract compliance. Key capabilities of the Amadeus Hotel Dynamic Saver include Last Room Availability, identification of rate squatters and automatic future comparison of negotiated and public rates to ensure the best deals for buyers.

According to Amadeus, this tool has “consistently identified average achievable savings of 10 per cent on total hotel spend for travel agencies and corporations”, which translates into annual savings of up to US$1.6 million on hotel spend for a typical Fortune 500 company.

The package is also able to integrate content from specific hotels and hotel aggregators at the point of sale.

As well, the package includes the Amadeus LinkHotel customised service, which enables seamless integration of specific hotels that are requested but not bookable on the GDS, and a tool to drive contract compliance.

AIRASIA will launch a new daily flight between Bangkok and Colombo, Sri Lanka, from March 1.

Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld said the new service was part of the airline’s ongoing expansion plan, and this would offer Thai travellers an alternative destination, while drawing visitors from South Asia to the kingdom.

“Business travellers and tourists will now be able to affordably access this destination,” he said in reference to AirAsia’s promotional offer of 1,490 baht (US$47) for a one-way fare on the new route.

The Bangkok-Colombo service, which is receiving reservations now, will operate with the newly-acquired Airbus A320 aircraft with 180 seats.

Reporting by Sirima Eamtako

AN AGREEMENT inked between InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and RB Capital Group will give Kuala Lumpur its first Holiday Inn Express hotel by 2015.

The 200-room Holiday Inn Express Bukit Bintang, to be built by Amsterling Hotels, a subsidiary of RB Capital Group, will be located in one of the Malaysian capital city’s busiest retail and entertainment belts, and within close proximity to key business areas.

Complimentary breakfast and Wi-Fi connection will be offered along with access to hotel facilities such as a business centre, gym and the Holiday Inn Express’ signature Great Room, a social space that combines a lounge and bar.

Kishin R K, CEO and founder of RB Capital Group, which is also building Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay in Singapore, due early 2013, said: “The Holiday Inn Express brand resonates well with the rising number of mid-tier business and leisure travellers visiting this part of the world. We see Kuala Lumpur as a particularly strong market, especially now that Malaysia has placed tourism high up on its policy agenda.”

Jan Smits, chief executive for Asia, Middle East and Africa at IHG, noted that the Holiday Inn Express brand has a development pipeline of over 50 hotels and more than 11,000 rooms in Asia-Pacific alone. These will join the brand’s current 31 hotels in the region.