OVERSEAS visitors to Sri Lanka during the first 10 months of 2011 surged to 667,569, overtaking the 654,476 recorded for the whole of last year.

India, Sri Lanka’s largest source market, topped the list with 138,445 visitors, a 44.8 per cent jump over the corresponding period last year.

The UK was the second largest market with 86,430 visitors, a 1.0 per cent increase. Germany contributed 43,369 arrivals, a gain of 19.2 per cent; while there were 40,345 arrivals from France, a 62.3 per cent hike.

Sri Lanka is targeting 750,000-800,000 foreign visitors for the whole of 2011, and industry experts are expecting it to fulfill its aims despite some hiccups over new visa regulations a short while back.

Some travel trade members, however, cautioned against complacency.

Anura Lokuhetty, a local hotel owner and president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, said: “Yes, we have a record number. However, we need to resort to aggressive marketing as the UK, our biggest market in Western Europe, has dropped and we need to get a larger slice from there.”

EDDY Leong, CEO of Firefly and COO of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) shorthaul operations, submitted his letter of resignation yesterday.

Leong, responsible for Firefly’s turboprop operations and the new shorthaul division of MAS, is reportedly working out a date he can leave after handing over his duties.

He becomes the fourth MAS senior executive to resign in recent times, after senior general manager of marketing Bernard Francis in July, managing director Tengku Azmil Zahruddin on August 9, and CFO Mohd Azha Abdul Jalil earlier this month.

Reasons for Leong’s resignation are unclear at press time.

Firefly had been on aggressive expansion mode right up to the point when MAS and AirAsia signed a comprehensive collaboration framework on August 9.

The expansion strategy included plans to launch new domestic and regional routes, taking over selected routes from MAS, and sourcing for new destinations.

Developments that have subsequently taken place instead, are Firefly’s dropping of its Johor Bahru hub, and the handing over of its jet operations to MAS.

By N. Nithiyananthan

SPANISH hotel chain Meliá Hotels International had added two properties in Xian and Danang to its portfolio of new hotel projects in Asia.

The Gran Meliá Xi’an Hotel, the group’s second property in China after the opening of the Gran Meliá Shanghai Hotel in 2009, will open in 2013 and will offer 419 rooms, three F&B outlets, a spa, and a convention centre.

The Meliá Danang Hotel, opening in December 2012, will provide 150 rooms including 10 villas, two F&B outlets, a spa, and an executive floor.

Gabriel Escarrer, vice president & CEO of Meliá Hotels International, said the new projects “will help us lay the foundations for achieving a much larger presence on the continent”.

Meliá Hotels International’s footprint in Asia currently consists of one hotel in China, one in Vietnam, one in Malaysia, four in Indonesia, and one more due to open in Indonesia (Meliá Surabaya).

MAJOR Japanese outbound travel group H.I.S. Co. is aggressively building its inbound business, having recently acquired key land operator Japan Holiday Travel and created an inbound division.

H.I.S. inbound division-headquarters, team leader, Shunichiro Shimmyo, told TTG Asia e-Daily the company had just completed its acquisition of Japan Holiday Travel in July, with full details to be announced in its financial statement next week.

“Japan Holiday Travel is one of the top agencies in Japan and it mainly handles the Chinese market,” he said, adding that it brings some 100,000 Chinese travellers into Japan a year. Japan Holiday Travel will continue to oversee the China market as a H.I.S. subsidiary.

As for its inbound division, set up last December, Shimmyo explained that H.I.S. was now working on remodelling its 118 overseas retail outlets, going beyond catering to Japanese travelling abroad, and growing local demand for Japan. They would also begin to conduct B2B sales.

Shimmyo shared that in H.I.S. inbound’s first year of operation, it had managed to attract 10,000 tourists from Asia, where most of its business originates. He estimates that the figure will swell to 30,000 next year, once demand for Japan recovers after the sakura season.

He added that he had recently returned from managing the Thai branch for five years, where he was tasked with developing the local market for Japan inbound.

“Thailand is one of our main focuses,” said Shimmyo, pointing out that there was an absence of a huge outbound travel company there, unlike in Singapore and South Korea, for example, where there are strong competitors. Indonesia and Malaysia are also on its radar.

Meanwhile, H.I.S. Experience Japan, a subsidiary focusing on experiential holidays for the Europe and US markets, also ceased operations last year, with customers now absorbed into H.I.S.’s inbound division.

AIDADIVA, one of eight ships operated by AIDA Cruises, made its inaugural call to Singapore on Wednesday, with approximately 2,000 passengers on board.

AIDAdiva docked in Singapore for eight hours before sailing on to Ho Chi Minh City and Laem Chabang in Chonburi province, Thailand. The ship is scheduled for a turnaround in Singapore on December 5, and will make a total of nine return calls till March next year.

About 95 per cent of the passengers on AIDAdiva are from Germany, with the remainder coming from other German-speaking markets such as Austria and Switzerland. The passengers are around 54 years old on average.

The 2,500-pax AIDAdiva is the third AIDA ship to call at Singapore in the last three years, and the largest by far. AIDA cruises deployed the 1,300-pax AIDAaura and 1,200-pax AIDAcara in Asian waters in 2010/2011 and 2009/2010, respectively.

Christina Siaw, CEO of Singapore Cruise Centre, welcomed the capacity hike by AIDA to the region, but emphasised that “there was a need to create awareness among travel professionals as well as consumers about the cruise ships and brands that call into Singapore”.

Meanwhile, AIDA signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in August for the construction of two 3,250-pax ships.

The ships are scheduled for delivery in March 2015 and March 2016, but there are no indications at press time where they will be mobilised.

FEELING the heat from fierce Asian competition for MICE business, Japan is taking this challenge seriously, with plans to renew a focus on the market next year.

Explaining that a government review resulted in the elimination of a MICE-specific budget for its 2011 fiscal year, Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) director, international tourism promotion division, Shuichi Kameyama, said the country was not able to compete effectively for MICE in the past year, as it could only afford to attend a few tradeshows.

Kameyama added that between March and June, 60 international conferences were cancelled as a result of the double disasters, even though some were scheduled to be held as far ahead as 2013.

“I was quite shocked. Why cancel meetings to be held in two years’ time? We need to convince them that Japan is okay,” he said.

Kameyama said JTA would lobby the government for a dedicated budget of around 300 million yen (US$3.9 million) for 2012, which it would use to host key players, develop a market strategy and build an ecosystem that supports MICE, in addition to participating in international trade fairs.

Japan National Tourism Organization executive director, marketing and promotion department, Mamoru Kobori, added: “If this budget is gone, our international competitiveness will weaken.”

However, Kobori was optimistic that 2012 would be a positive year for MICE, pointing out that Japan would host three huge important meetings: the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, which would see 2,000 participants in Tokyo; Sibos, a 8,000-pax meeting by SWIFT in Osaka; and the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit attended by over 1,000 delegates, to be held in both Tokyo and Sendai.

“If all the meetings are successful, we’ll be able to announce that there is no problem of meeting in Japan…It’s a symbolic series of events,” he said.

THE THAILAND Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is working on a three-stage strategy to battle the impact from the flood crisis, which is expected to cost the country’s MICE industry up to 3.32 billion baht (US106.5 million) in revenue and 250,860 foreign visitors in 2012.

TCEB president Akapol Sorasuchart said the strategy would last from now till March 2012, and would involve immediate measures to handle MICE visitors during the ongoing crisis.

Between this month and next, TCEB will be working to maintain market confidence, and will pump in financial subsidies for events that have been postponed or relocated, including 25 international trade fairs scheduled to take place between November this year and June next year.

A rehabilitation initiative has been planned for January to March next year. This will include tax incentives for companies organising events during the period, updates on the situation in Thailand through marketing and publicity activities, and financial support to stimulate domestic meetings and seminars and international trade shows.

Akapol said the strategy would hopefully enable TCEB to maintain its initial targets for next year –750,000 foreign MICE visitors and 60.12 billion baht in revenue – including numbers from the Rotary International Convention scheduled to take place in Bangkok next May, with about 30,000 delegates from 20 countries in attendance.

INDONESIA’s Sriwijaya Air and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) have introduced the Sriwijaya BNI Travelling card, a virtual credit card designed to replace the cash deposit that the airline’s travel trade partners usually have to make.

Under the terms of an MoU signed between Sriwijaya Air, the Association of Indonesian Airlines Ticketing Agencies (ASTINDO) and the Association of the Indonesia Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Jakarta chapter, ASTINDO and ASITA members will be able to use the virtual credit card to issue the airline’s tickets.

The credit limit per travel firm is decided by both BNI and Sriwijaya Air based on the travel consultant’s sales volume, while the credit is protected by Raya Insurance—which will cover payment in case of default by the airline.

ASTINDO deputy chairman Rudiana said: “This is the breakthrough our members have been waiting for. Most airlines in Indonesia use cash top up system of ticket deposits payable to the airline’s individual bank. The problem with this is that when the airline defaults the deposit is gone, just like in the case of Adam Air and Mandala Air.

“With the credit card system, travel consultants need to pay 1.5 per cent of the ticket value for merchant fee and insurance, but we don’t need cash top up for deposits and get credit up to 45 days. In case the airline stops operations, the insurance will pay back all tickets not flown in full.”

ASITA Jakarta chairman Herna Danuningrat said: “Sriwijaya Air has led the way, we hope that other Indonesia National Air Carrier Association members will follow suit.”

STARWOOD Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts has reported that MICE recovery initiatives implemented in Japan since April have netted more than US$6 million in meetings-related sales for its 15 properties in the country.

Through the collective efforts of sales associates in 25 Starwood Sales Organization Offices (SSOs), hotel occupancy at the group’s properties in Japan quickly picked up again, after falling to the lowest ever as international arrivals plunged by 50.3 per cent following the earthquake and tsunami in March.

“MICE is an important segment for Starwood’s Japan properties. Post crisis, there were significant cancellations from MICE groups across our 15 hotels in Japan,” said Starwood’s chairman and president, Asia Pacific, Miguel Ko.

“Since the disaster, our SSOs all over the world have stepped up efforts to inform guests that it is now time to consider travel to Japan. We have also responded to the feedback from key clients by implementing their suggestions to help in the recovery.”

As part of a business recovery campaign, Starwood organised fam trips for more than 20 MICE buyers from China and South-east Asia after the disaster, and rolled out MICE–specific promotions at all its Japan properties.

In August, 120 Japan-based corporate clients were invited to the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay to discuss further opportunities, and were provided with a showcase of Starwood’s Japan portfolio.

Other recovery initiatives for both the leisure and MICE segments include a Starwood Expo in Tokyo and Osaka that netted more than 6,000 roomnights, and A Japan Recovery Microsite that contributed 5,000 roomnights.

Starwood’s portfolio in Japan consists of 15 properties in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Sendai, Sapporo, Kobe, Nagoya, Hiroshima and Awaji Island under the Westin, Sheraton and St. Regis brands.

INDONESIA is intent on growing its cruise industry, with a chain of infrastructural and policy developments, particularly in Benoa on Bali, scheduled to take shape over the next three years.

Captain Ali Sodikin, terminal manager, Port of Benoa, said dredging work to turn Benoa into a turnaround port had already begun, with the second phase set to start in 2012.

“Currently, larger cruise ships have to dock three miles out to sea,” he said. “By 2013, this is set to change, and (bigger) ships will be able to sail up alongside the terminal.”

According to Sodikin, Benoa was in a strategic location as “we are the halfway point for cruise ships sailing between Singapore and Australia”. “We also have the advantage of being close to an international airport (Ngurah Rai International Airport), making fly-cruises a real possibility,” he said.

Sodikin added that several cruise ships carrying an average of 2,000 pax were expected to make a total of 34 calls to Benoa this year. Some 38 calls are predicted for 2012.

Speaking at the recently concluded Cruise Shipping Asia 2011, Sapta Nirwandar, Indonesia’s vice minister of culture and tourism, said a target of 141,000 international cruise passengers had been set for 2012. Just over 94,000 foreign cruise passengers called on Indonesian ports last year.

Meanwhile, plans are underway to ensure that Indonesian ports comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, which prescribes responsibilities to governments, shipping companies, as well as onboard and port facility personnel to detect and take preventive measures against threats to security.