THE TOURISM Council of Thailand (TCT) will be lobbying for flood relief measures to help Thai tourism-related operators affected by floods in the central provinces and parts of Bangkok.

TCT president Piyaman Techapaiboon said that since the flooding had caused widespread damage to tourism as a whole, including establishments and operations in unaffected regions, the aid should not only be limited to areas affected by the floods.

The council is calling for a 500 million baht (US$16.1 million) funding to restore establishments affected by the floods, as well as special loan schemes and a relaxation in paying off existing debts for operators of tourism-related establishments and operations.

For tourism-related operators and establishments directly affected by the flood, it will broker for reduction in payments for electricity consumption and social security fund during and two months post-floods. It will also urge the government to help shoulder wages for staff during the flood period.

According to Piyaman, the TCT estimates the floods to have caused Thailand one million foreign arrivals and 50 billion baht in revenue, bringing the figures down to 18.5 million tourists and 700 billion baht in earnings.

Data by the Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, showed that in the first 10 months of this year, Thailand recorded 15.79 million foreign arrivals, up 25.01 per cent year-on-year.

The TCT assessed that visitor numbers in November would likely drop by 30 per cent year-on-year due to the decline in bookings from China and Russia. The situation is expected to improve in December, with visitor numbers expected to fall by just 10 per cent year-on-year.

PULLMAN Jakarta Central Park (PJCP), the second Pullman property in Indonesia after Bali, officially opened yesterday.

Initially operating with 212 of its total 317 rooms and with a ballroom that can fit 5,000, the hotel is the first upscale property in the West Jakarta area. The hotel is attached to the upmarket Central Park Mall and the offices and leisure entertainment of the Podomoro City Super Block.

Accor vice president Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Gerard Guillouet, said: “The opening of the PJCP is very important for us, as the Pullman brand is at the core of our upscale portfolio and the fastest growing upscale brand in Asia-Pacific.”

The hotel is targeting the business traveller, MICE and family markets, with 35 per cent of this expected from overseas.

PJCP general manager, Fabrice Mini, said: “Accor Asia Pacific Business Traveller Research 2011 surveyed more than 10,000 respondents who made business trips in the first semester of 2011.

“Jakarta and Bali are the two Indonesian destinations mostly visited by Asia-Pacific business travellers, with 73 per cent and 32 per cent of respondents having visited for business. Meanwhile, almost three quarters of domestic business travel was to Jakarta.”

The hotel, which has a contemporary, urban art-style design, has Collage, an all-day restaurant, Bunk, a two-storey lounge and café, swimming pool and sunbathe terrace, Fit & Spa Lounge and roof-top Sky Terrace Garden.

Apart from the ballroom, which can be divided into two, there are six other meeting and board rooms.

The hotel’s opening rate starts from 888,140 rupiah (US$98.20) and is valid until December 30.

THE FIRST Global Tourism Mart India, which aims to unite the diverse Indian travel trade under one event, will be held in either New Delhi or Hyderabad on December 12 next year, according to India tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai.

Concurrently, a conference of about 40 tourism ministers, will also be held at the mart.

P. P. Khanna, director of Delhi-based Diplomatic Travel Point, said: “We need to have this impetus from the ministry for a world-class tourism event so that serious buyers are able to focus on India at large and not just a few regional and popular destination routes, as what is happening now.”

Ashwini Gupta, managing partner of Amritsar-based Dove Travels, said: “When we go as hosted buyers to international travel marts, we are often asked what event in India would encapsulate all buying options and present the largest cross-section of products, and we are at a loss, because there was no definitive trade show like that until now.

“This event, if organised well and targeted at the right buyer community, will be able to showcase Indian tourism very effectively and could help India achieve its target of 10 million inbound tourist arrivals by 2016.”

Sahai previously announced the event, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, at PATA mart in Delhi. Currently, some large shows like SATTE and the Great Indian Travel Bazaar are organised by tour operator associations or by the state tourism boards.

SPANISH charter airlines are cashing in on a lack of regional aircraft to meet the heavy seasonal demand of Muslim pilgrims wanting to fly to the holy cites of Saudi Arabia from eastern Asia.

One of the biggest is Orbest, part of the Orizonia travel group, which is scheduled to carry about 65,000 passengers out of Indonesia alone in the last quarter of the year. Last year, the company handled 14,000 passengers.

“It’s proving to be a good business, and one which doesn’t go away,” said a spokeswoman for the Palma-based group, formerly known as Iberworld.

The routes started when the Indonesian national carrier Garuda realised it did not have enough aircraft capacity to handle passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia between October and December.

Conveniently for Spanish airlines, “those dates coincide with the low season in the European holiday market,” said the spokeswoman.

The tie-up with Garuda gives Orbest access to Indonesia, the country with the world’s biggest Muslim population.

This year, the company has scheduled 217 flights with two 388-seat Airbus A330 aircraft flying out of Adi Sumarmo in central Java and Pandang in Sumatra. Their destination is Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia.

At least two other Spanish airlines, Pullmantur Air and Mint Airways, are involved in Muslim pilgrimage flights from Asia, a market estimated to have been worth around 40 million euros (US$53.8 million) in 2010.

Last year, Pullmantur was the leader, handling some 25,000 Muslim pilgrims from Indonesia and Bangladesh, while Mint carried around 5,000 from India.

It is estimated that up to five million pilgrims travel to Mecca each year.

JEJU province needs more MICE-friendly hotels and venues and more direct international flight access, as well as raise MICE practitioner standards if it wants to become a stronger MICE destination, said the island’s industry players.

Jeju Tourism Organisation president, Yang Young-Keun, said the resort island has 12,000 rooms from tourist hotels, motels and inns, and 35,000 rooms from bed-and-breakfast establishments.

“With Jeju stepping up destination promotions and welcoming an increasing number of visitors, more hotel rooms are needed. And Jeju’s biggest problem today is the lack of five-star hotels, especially those of international hotel brands. This shortage of five-star hotel rooms led room rates to be very high, at US$300 per night.”

Yang pointed at that Jeju’s main convention centre, ICC Jeju, is located in Seogwipo city, which makes Jeju city lacking a dedicated MICE facility. Conventions in Jeju city are supported by hotels with function rooms.

“Jeju city needs at least 15,000 hotel rooms and a convention centre that can accommodate at least 10,000 delegates. The city needs also a 1,000-room hotel that can cater to mega MICE groups,” said Yang.

Guk Moon-Gyeong, producer, MICE, of Jeju-based PCO WinPlusWin, agreed, saying that the island’s existing infrastructure cannot support mega events. “Most of our clients are drawn to Seoul and Busan, which have facilities and logistics support for large events, as well as supporting appeal such as shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment.”

Guk also identified direct international air access as a stumbling block for Jeju’s MICE ambition.

Jang Sung-woo, director and professor at Jeju National University’s Tourism & Leisure Education Centre, also said Jeju’s shortage of MICE talent was also an obstacle in the destination’s quest to become a world-class MICE city.

He said: “There are 150 PCOs in Jeju this year, which is a poor number, and there is a lack of experienced MICE practitioners to staff these PCOs. Fortunately, the Korean government recognises this weakness and has invested US$2 million per year over the last two to three years on the university’s MICE programme. We have 600 students to date.”

Despite these limitations, Jeju has been hosting some large MICE groups, including a 10,000-pax Baozhen Group incentive and 8,000-pax Amway Korea incentive. It will also welcome the 10,000-pax World Conservation Congress next September.

FACED with fierce competition for Asian visitors from cities such as Singapore, Macau and Melbourne, Sydney is fielding The Star, an A$870 million (US$876 million) makeover of Star City – New South Wales’ only casino – into a leisure and MICE destination which happens to have a casino.

The redevelopment is now 80 per cent completed and work is well underway for the “severely missing” jigsaw, said The Star’s managing director, Sid Vaikunta, referring to a A$100 million Events Centre that aims to grab MICE with its 2,200 square metre column-free space that can seat 3,000 pax and 4,000 pax standing when it is completed in early 2013. The centre complements its existing 2,000-seat Lyric Theatre.

The Star, which reopened in September, has reoriented itself to take in views of Sydney Harbour, features a new five-star boutique hotel, The Darling, a slew of signature restaurants and bars including David Chang’s Momofuku Seiobo, a 16-room spa and a new retail collection of leading brands.

When asked by TTG Asia e-Daily if competition from the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore motivated the redevelopment, Vaikunta said: “The Sands model happened 20 years before Marina Bay Sands opened. It started on the Las Vegas strip with The Mirage in 1989 opening with eight new restaurants, beautiful spas, gaming and so on. In Marina Bay Sands, we see it in its largest form as a singular destination in Singapore and what we’re doing is not dissimilar – we’re just doing it in a way that it’s Sydney and it fits our location.”

He said The Star would work on “a city approach”, with Business Events Sydney and Tourism Australia to secure more MICE, adding while there was pretty healthy demand from the domestic market, the real engine of growth was international.

– Full report in the next issue of TTGmice

ASIA’s popularity as a cruise destination is on the rise, with a number of international cruise liners scheduled to embark on their maiden Asian voyages in 2012, in addition to existing ships calling at new ports in the region.

Royal Caribbean International’s regional capacity will more than double when the 3,840-pax Voyager of the Seas joins Legend of the Seas in Asia next year.

Voyager of the Seas, homeported at Singapore’s new International Cruise Terminal, will kickstart a series of South-east Asian cruises in May. She will then move to Shanghai and Tianjin and offer North Asian cruises from June-October. Legend of the Seas, meanwhile, will feature new ports-of-call such as Ishigaki and Toyama for its 2012 summer season.

Also debuting in Asia is Royal Caribbean’s sister premium brand Celebrity Cruises. The 2,034-pax (pending refurbishment) Celebrity Millennium’s inaugural season will feature a series of 14-night open-jaw cruises between Singapore and Hong Kong from end-2012.

Costa Cruises’ capacity within Asia will also increase by 40 per cent with the deployment of its 2,394-pax Costa Victoria to replace the 1,680-pax Costa Classica. Costa Victoria will make its way to Singapore in early May, before heading north on a 17-night cruise, stopping in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China.

Meanwhile, sister brand AIDA Cruises will bring the 2500-pax AIDAdiva into Asia this coming season (2011/12), a huge jump in capacity over the 1,300-pax AIDAaura and 1,200-pax AIDAcara used in 2010/2011 and 2009/2010, respectively. AIDAdiva will conduct turnarounds in Singapore as well as Bangkok, whereas in previous seasons the turnaround was only in Bangkok.

Richard Meadows, executive vice president of marketing, sales & guest programs, Holland America Line and president, Seabourn, said: “Being here (at the inaugural Cruise Shipping Asia) is an indication that we understand the value and importance of the Asian market. We are extremely optimistic that this sector will continue to evolve and grow.”

Holland America Line and Seabourn will see an increase in Asian activity next year. Holland America Line’s three ships deployed in Asia – Volendam, Amsterdam and Rotterdam – will have six unique itineraries and 10 departures, up from three departures this year.

Seabourn’s deployment of Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Legend, and Seabourn Odyssey will see an expansion in the range of destinations covered. Itineraries to Vietnam/Thailand will now have Cambodia added on, while Indonesian programmes will go beyond Bali to Sumba, Komodo, Sulawesi, Flores and Timor.

Additional reporting from Brian Higgs and Linda Hade

THE JEJU Tourism Organisation (JTO) is eyeing the youth traveller segment in its goal to grow international arrivals, with plans to hold a lengthy K-Pop music and dance festival on the resort island in 2012.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, JTO president, Yang Young-Kuen, said the festival would run for at least 15 days up to a month, and feature several South Korean performers. While the key target market would be young people in Europe, the event would also be promoted among Asian youth.

Yang said: “Korean pop culture has a strong following in Europe and Asia, hence we decided to create this festival. We also intend to market cultural tours around Jeju to allow the youth to see and learn about the destination and its people while they are here.”

Yang explained that it was more beneficial to target young travellers, as the market offered “far more opportunities for repeat visits than the silver market (senior citizens)” and they are opinion leaders who would “lead others to visit a destination they like”.

The festival is one of the items on JTO’s action plan to reach out to youth travellers. It also includes harnessing online platforms like YouTube for destination marketing.

DESPITE the flooding in Thailand’s central provinces and parts of Bangkok, many upcoming tourism events and activities are still scheduled for other parts of the country.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Suraphon Svetasreni said Chiang Mai was confirmed for a 6,000-pax incentive from Amway South Korea from November 15 to December 13, as well as for a preparation camp for 20 Miss Belgium finalists from November 17 to 26.

An Indian couple will also be celebrating their wedding in Hua Hin from November 19-23, with 250 guests to be flown in from India.

Suraphon said TAT was making sure that it was sending the message across that most of Thailand is unaffected by flooding.

TAT’s 25 international offices are also conducting various activities in maintaining the country’s tourism markets. For example, from China, it has brokered charter flights from Xian to Phuket every six days, from Tai Yuan and Zheng Zhao twice a week each to Bangkok, and is cooperating with China Eastern Airlines to expand the Beijing-Kunming-Phuket route.

From January to September, Thailand’s main gateway Suvarnabhumi Airport recorded 14.4 million foreign visitors, up 27 per cent year on year. Suvarnabhumi recorded a 6.7 per cent year-on-year growth in October arrivals and a 27.25 per cent year-on-year drop between November 1 and 12.

By Sirima Eamtako

A NEW international cruise terminal in South Korea’s Yeosu City, due to be ready by next March, is expected to give the destination an edge in courting foreign visitors.

Located in Yeosu New Port and in the heart of the World Expo 2012 site, the EXPO Site Terminal will be divided into three separate sections.

The International Passenger Terminal and International Ferry Terminal, contributing a combined 3,274m2 of floor space, will be capable of handling up to 80,000 tonnes and 15,000 tonnes of ship hardware, respectively.

The Costa Ferry Terminal, meanwhile, will be able to cater to three to four ships of 300-2,500 tonnes each.

According to Kang Seung-won, director of Tourism, Yeosu City, the EXPO Site Terminal has already attracted attention from several cruise operators.

“Although Yeosu is a maritime city, with many islands (317 islands) and a national marine park, its cruise industry is not yet well-developed,” he said.

“The good news is, Star Cruises and Royal Caribbean, as well as five cruise companies in China and Japan, have shown interest in making Yeosu one of the ports of call in their itineraries next year.”

“We expect international arrivals to grow substantially once cruises start calling at Yeosu,” Kang added.

During the Expo season from May 12 to August 12 next year, the new cruise terminal is expected to handle 50,000 arrivals from China, 10,000 from Japan and the rest of Asia, and 10,000 from the US and Europe.

Kang noted that these inbound cruise arrivals would be able to avail of convenient connections to the rest of the country, such as the KTX rail transportation system. The KTX system links the cruise terminal to Seoul in approximately three hours, while a ride to Yeosu Airport takes 30 minutes.

To raise awareness of Yeosu as a potential destination for cruises, Yeosu City tourism representatives, in partnership with Korea Tourism Organization, are participating in the three-day Cruise Shipping Asia trade show and conference at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Additional reporting from Brian Higgs