TRAFALGAR is looking to set itself apart from the competition through a new range of guided holidays promising ‘unique experiences, moments and insights that (guests) would never be able to discover on their own’.

The group’s new The Insider range of products comprises three key elements: Be My Guest dining experiences where customers are taken to family-run or unique establishments, using Local Experts to conduct tours, and a Hidden Treasures programme—where customers are led off the beaten track to places only locals know.

One of the new products to be introduced under The Insider banner is At Leisure, a collection of flexible trips targeted at customers who desire more time and freedom to explore destinations. First started in North America and Australia this year, At Leisure will be rolled out worldwide in 2012.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily at the launch of Trafalgar’s regional headquarters in Singapore, Trafalgar CEO Gavin Tollman said: “We developed a brand preposition which is not just a marketing message, and have restructured how we deliver our products, giving clients more immersive experiences, and offering individuals the opportunity to discover a lot more about a destination than what they can gain travelling on their own.”

With the establishment of its Singapore office, Trafalgar intends to nurture direct relationships with new travel agents and tour operators in Asia, while strengthening existing ties.

Singapore and Malaysia are its strongest source markets, but there is “huge potential throughout Asia”, according to Tollman.

“I am optimistic about Asia,” he said. “Growth in Asia, even though this is still a small market for us, has been exponential. It has been greater than that in Europe and the US, where growth has stabilised.”

Italy, France and the UK are the three-top selling destinations for Trafalgar’s Asian clientele, said Tollman, who hinted that Trafalgar was looking to add other Asian destinations in the future.

“I’ve just visited Japan and Hong Kong. But you will have to wait until May or June next year to find out exactly what’s on the cards in 2013,” he said.

HONG KONG agents have finally reached a consensus with airlines over IATA’s plan to increase the remittance and reporting frequency of the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 14, 2010).

Originally scheduled to start from 2012, the new agreement, which will boost the BSP frequency from bi-weekly to weekly, will now be introduced in two phases from mid-2013 onwards.

Starting July 2013, the reporting frequency will be hiked from bi-weekly to weekly. Remittance will follow suit beginning January 2015.

The new measures were adopted by agent representatives to the Agency Programme Joint Council (APJC) in August, and were approved at the IATA Passenger Agency Conference in Geneva last month.

Newly elected APJC chairman, Tommy Tam, said: “It was the best result we could get…what we have negotiated is the ultimate deadline and agents have to prepare for it.”

LUXURY Travel Vietnam (LTV) and The Cape Club (TCC), a division of Australia’s More Collection, have established a joint venture, Cape Lux Travels, to provide fully escorted travel concierge services across Indochina, Thailand and Myanmar.

LTV will function as the tour operator while TCC will operate as the tour manager in this relationship.

LTV founder and CEO Pham Ha said the joint venture would not only allow LTV to expand its services in South-east Asia, but also widen its market coverage in Australia, on top of heightened exposure through sales offices in California, Paris and Melbourne.

Some tour products already on the drawing board include: Revive, Restore – Re-awaken Escapes, Golfing, Meet the Photographer Tours, Cookery and Wine Tasting Across South-east Asia, Art and Antique Appreciation Tours, High-end Rail Journeys, The Makeover & Pamper Girls-only Trip, A Concierge for the Connoisseur, and Retracing French Colonial Charms, among others.

Jean Wethmar, TCC co-founder, said Cape Lux Travels would kick off its first tour series with a 15-day Reawaken Senses Tour in Vietnam from March 1-15, covering top-notch products in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and Halong Bay.

By Sirima Eamtako

A RECENT TTG Asia Online poll asking our readers whether Thailand’s move to raise visa fees for Indian nationals (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 6) would benefit its tourism industry returned a majority ‘No’ verdict.

As of 15.00 today, out of 68 respondents to the poll, 65 per cent said ‘No’, 25 per cent said ‘Yes’, and 10 per cent said ‘Don’t Know’.

Comments criticising the visa fee hike ranged from “Why single out Indians for such treatment” and “This is a retrograde step and will affect MICE & leisure movement to Thailand, especially at a time when Thailand is plagued by floods”, to “…many first-time (Indian) travellers will seek other destinations as they are cost-conscious” and Hong Kong & Macau will gain at Thailand’s expense”.

Mumbai-based Kesari Tours director, Sudhir Patil, said it would have been better if the visa fee hike were introduced after the current high season had ended.

“This came at a wrong time as many of our clients had already bought packages for Diwali and Christmas season,” he said. “We’ll have to re-collect the fee difference from clients. This would have been avoidable if the announcement could wait till December.”

Patil said the increase in visa fee would impact Indian families in particular, as “their tour budget will go up in totality”.

However, he added that Thailand was “still highly affordable compared to other competitive countries in Asia”.

New Delhi-based Inter Skylinks India managing director, Jagdeep Rikhy, agreed that Thailand was still an attractive destination for Indians.

“The hike in fee will not affect as Thailand is a great value-for-money destination that offers everything that an Indian traveller is looking for,” he said. “The demand is constantly growing as Thailand NTO has been keeping the destination alive through regular promotions and marketing initiatives.”

SILKAIR started on Monday direct scheduled air services between Singapore and Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province in China.

The service operates thrice-weekly out of Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

SilkAir’s chief executive, Marvin Tan, said the new route would strengthen the airline’s presence in China.

“Changsha is a major port as well as commercial and industrial centre, and is known as one of China’s top 20 economically advanced cities,” he said. “It is also rich in historical and cultural attractions, being the place where Mao Zedong grew up in.”

Changsha is the sixth destination served by SilkAir in China, after Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Shenzhen and Xiamen, and the 38th in the airline’s network.

ALREADY reeling from a spate of travel advisories and cancelled events (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 25) brought on by massive floods, Bangkok is now facing flight cancellations by a number of international carriers from North and South-east Asia.

Air China has halted one of two daily Beijing-Bangkok services till November 10, while China Southern has reduced its Guangzhou-Bangkok frequency from four- to three-daily over the same period.

Hainan Airlines has shut down its thrice-weekly Hangzhou-Bangkok services till November 22, while China Eastern Airlines cancelled its Shanghai-Bangkok flight on November 2, and its Kunming-Bangkok flight on November 4.

Other North Asian carriers cutting air services include Cathay Pacific Airways, which will operate four-daily instead of five-daily Hong Kong-Bangkok services till November 2, and China Airlines, which will operate two instead of three daily Taipei-Bangkok services till November 3.

China Airlines had also dropped its Kaohsiung-Bangkok flight on November 2, while Asiana Airlines cancelled a Seoul-Bangkok flight scheduled for yesterday.

In South-east Asia, Singapore Airlines will operate four instead of five daily Bangkok-Singapore flights till November 3. Vietnam Airlines will drop a daily Hanoi-Bangkok service till November 2, as well as one daily Ho Chi Minh City-Bangkok service till November 3.

Meanwhile, a TAT statement warned that the rising water level in the Chao Phraya River had caused some flooding at nearby tourist attractions, including some parts of Chinatown. Water-related tourist activities on the river have also been suspended.

MALAYSIA’s Transport Ministry has finally approved the implementation of increased airport taxes for passengers travelling to international destinations, originally slated to begin on September 15 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 18).

Starting November 15, passengers departing from the country’s international airports will pay RM65 (US$23) as passenger service charge – an increase of RM14 (28 per cent).

Passengers leaving from the low-cost carrier terminals in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu will pay RM32, a rise of RM7 (28 per cent).

Airport taxes for passengers on domestic flights remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, new aircraft landing and parking charges imposed on airlines will be implemented in three stages, by nine per cent and 18 per cent a year respectively, in January 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The decision to raise airport fees – first made in 2009 – had not been implemented earlier because of the need for review and to gather feedback from stakeholders, said transport minister Kong Cho Ha, adding that the delay had cost the government RM100 million a year.

The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents, among other organisations, had protested the tax hike as an impediment to travel.

World Discovery Travel (M), business development manager, Joseph Xavier, said: “The tax hike is minimal and negligible. It is not a factor which is going to affect the decision to travel.”

By N. Nithiyananthan

AUSTRALIAN flag carrier Qantas’ decision to ground its entire fleet over the weekend, in response to months of strikes by baggage handlers, engineers and pilots, should not dent its long-term reputation or financial liquidity, said Brendan Sorbie, chief representative South-east Asia, Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation.

“(Qantas) has bounced back from prior labour disputes and disruptions. Temporarily, their brand may be damaged, but customers will likely soon forget the turmoil of the last couple of days,” said Sorbie, adding that the carrier’s robust brand name and strong frequent flier programme should see it through the crisis.

Even though he acknowledged that the full-scale grounding would likely result in some short-term financial injury, Sorbie was of the opinion that Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s bold move would eventually offset any losses.

“From a medium and long-term perspective, the financial impact could actually be positive,” he explained.

“The grounding prompted intervention from the Australian government (TTG Asia e-daily, October 31), leading to binding arbitration if the sides cannot come to an agreement over the next 21 days, and removing any threat of a strike during the busier travel periods of later in the year.”

Qantas had already seen forward bookings drop by about 10 per cent for the peak Christmas period due to uncertainty caused by the labour dispute. “With this uncertainty now removed, Qantas faces the prospect of a stronger level of bookings for the peak period,” said Sorbie.

Singapore-based travel agents whom TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to were also unperturbed by Qantas’ actions.

Jenny Loh, marketing manager for Qantas Holidays in Singapore, revealed that the grounding had little impact on her company’s operations.

“Most of the bookings we hold (for Qantas) are for the end of the year, coinciding with the Singapore school holidays. Only a handful of our FITs were affected by Qantas’s sudden action,” she explained.

“The airline made sure affected passengers were well taken care of, and so far we’ve yet to receive any complaints, though we do anticipate a small number of re-bookings.”

A spokesperson for Chan Brothers, one of Singapore’s largest outbound operators, said: “Consumer confidence for Qantas will definitely be affected in the short run.

“However, being one of the trusted airline brands and the national carrier of Australia, Qantas should be able to regain consumers’ confidence in time to come, especially if they have managed passengers affected by the grounding well.”

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) new low-cost carrier (LCC), Scoot, will operate on medium and longhaul routes, including to Australasia and China, with longer term plans to fly to India, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The airline, which will operate from Changi Airport Terminal 2, will begin services from mid-2012 with a single Boeing 777-200 aircraft, before expanding its fleet to four 777-200s within three months and 14 by mid-2016 (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 12).

Flights will be available for booking in the early part of 2012, and airfares will be up to 40 per cent cheaper than legacy carriers.

Scoot is expected to compete with AirAsia X, the longhaul subsidiary of budget carrier AirAsia, which recently entered into a partnership with Malaysia Airlines (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 10).

SIA already has a shorthaul, full-service arm called SilkAir, which operates to regional destinations and has a stake in another LCC, Tiger Airways.

TO BOOST occupancies for international branded hotels in Shanghai during the Golden Week in early October, the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration (SMTA) started this year an initiative to highlight the various promotions offered by city hotels.

“A lot of overseas visitors usually avoid Shanghai during the Golden Week,” explained SMTA vice chairman, Connie Cheng. “They have the (wrong) impression that because of the deluge of domestic tourists, hotels must be more expensive.”

The initiative grew occupancy from 40 per cent during last year’s Golden Week to 56 per cent this year.

According to Cheng, Shanghai received a bumper 8.5 million overseas and 240 million domestic visitors last year, when the city played host to the World Expo.

However, there has been a year-to-date decrease of eight per cent in foreign arrivals over the same period in 2010.

Cheng said international visitors spend an average of RMB2,000 (US$315) over 2.7 days in Shanghai, a figure the SMTA is looking to extend.