AN INCREASING number of young adults from Singapore are heading to the Kansai region for free-and-easy holidays, according to Japan National Tourism Organisation executive director Singapore office, Motonari Adachi.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of the Kansai Diamond Route Promotion roadshow in Singapore yesterday, Adachi said: “FIT arrivals from Singapore have been increasing steadily over the past few years.”

Adachi said FIT travellers made up 70 per cent of overall Singapore arrivals to the Kansai region last year, up from 60 per cent two years ago. “We are certain that this segment will exceed 80 per cent by the end of this year,” he added.

Travel agents at the roadshow, which highlighted tourism products in various cities including Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka and Sakai, shared the positive expectations. Most attributed the rising interest to greater awareness of Kansai, as well as the appeal of the Universal Studios Japan theme park and shopping opportunities in Osaka.

According to Asia-Euro Holidays senior tour executive, head office, Peter Lee, air access is not an issue despite there being only two carriers connecting Singapore to Kansai.

“Singapore Airlines flies twice daily services to Osaka, and offers excellent promotional rates,” he said. “Jetstar Asia’s daily service on the Singapore-Taipei-Osaka route is also popular because travellers can do a shopping stopover in Taipei.”

Adachi added that the rapid rise in young FIT travellers to Kansai was most prominent from Singapore, compared to other Asian source markets.

He said: “Hong Kong already has a strong segment of FIT travellers, so growth is not so prominent. Thais require travel visas to Japan, so group tours are preferred. Malaysia is only starting to see some growth in the FIT segment, but we believe a growth spurt will occur once AirAsia commences direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Osaka in November.”

STAR Cruises’ SuperStar Aquarius will be deployed to Sanya in November, where it will be homeported for the coming season.

The five-month deployment will see SuperStar Aquarius offering two- and three-night cruises to Vietnam’s Danang, Halong Bay and Hue, operating out of Sanya.

Michael Goh, Star Cruises senior vice president, sales, said: “Star Cruises’ Sanya-homeported itineraries and diverse shore excursions will appeal to the mainland Chinese, as well as regional and international holidaymakers.”

“We believe that most of our passengers will come from the mainland, but we also expect strong demand from markets such as India, Japan, Russia, South-east Asia and Chinese Taipei.”

Goh added that the company had seen an increase in mainland Chinese customers, “as most of our ships call at destinations that they like, such as Thailand and Malaysia”.

THE ASIAN travel industry is set to continue growing, albeit at a slower pace, despite the turbulent economic conditions in Europe and the US threatening to spread to the region.

Speaking at Abacus Asia Travel Insights 2011 in Singapore earlier today, Robert Bailey, president and CEO, Abacus International, said: “Even though the climate of uncertainty caused by the financial crisis in Europe has affected travel to a degree, this has not translated into a big downturn in travel bookings.”

Market growth from Asia for 2011, anticipated by Abacus at the start of the year to reach four to eight per cent, has been revised downwards to two to four per cent. On the other hand, 2010 was a record year, with Abacus claiming that booking volumes from Asia swelled by 12 per cent.

“Hong Kong, Singapore, China and India remain the main engines of growth for the Asian travel industry, which is being powered by the strong economic growth within these markets,” said Bailey. “Travel remains reasonably resilient.”

A survey conducted by Abacus prior to the European economic crisis found that 75 per cent of travel companies interviewed anticipated business from Asia to expand by more than 10 per cent in the next 12 months, while 25.8 per cent projected growth to exceed 20 per cent.

“We acknowledge that the figures may not be as strong currently,” said Bailey, adding that there was a “clear risk that business sentiment would eventually soften by year-end”.

“Looking forward to 2012, we will probably adopt a more conservative outlook,” he added.

THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) says it is too early to determine the impact of ongoing floods on the country’s tourism industry, even as rising water levels threaten to reach Bangkok and reports emerge that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered government agencies to prepare to evacuate people.

According to TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni, Ayuthaya has been the only key tourist destination to be affected thus far, with sightseeing tours of the ancient capital diverted to the Ancient City outdoor museum in Samut Prakan, and the TAT Ayuthaya office relocated to TAT headquarters in Bangkok.

Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui, as well as Suvarnabhumi and other major airports remain accessible, he added.

Suraphon said: “The TAT overseas offices have reported no cancellations in the short-term, and forward bookings and charter flights scheduled for the high season starting November remain intact.”

Suraphon added that there had been enquiries on the flood situation from the French and German markets, which are key contributors to Ayuthaya, staying one night on average during the high season.

Meanwhile, the flood has prompted 15 source markets – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US – to issue travel advisories ranging from level one to four, one rung below the maximum level five.

By Sirima Eamtako

PERTH Convention Bureau (PCB) is riding on the organic growth of business events from Indonesia to build long-term relationships and boost inbound MICE traffic to the Western Australia capital.

Speaking at PCB’s inaugural marketing campaign and roadshow to Indonesia, the bureau’s CEO, Paul Beeson, said: “There have been about 60,000 business event visits (from Indonesia to Perth) in the last eight to 12 months, representing an increase of 26 per cent over the same period last year. Our long-term goal is to have an annual six per cent increase of the market.”

“It is an organic growth so we know the market is there,” Beeson added. “We know it is coming and we just have to facilitate it.”

According to Beeson, PCB will organise an annual roadshow to Indonesia to facilitate meetings with travel trade members and business events planners.

Tourism Western Australia marketing manager Indonesia, Faridah Ibrahim, has also been tasked to visit multiple Indonesian cities every three months to garner leads and build business opportunities.

Beeson added: “We will invite the decision-makers to come and visit Perth. We have noticed that people tend to be reluctant to come, but when they do come, they enjoy it. So if we can get the decision-makers down, we hope they will bring their events to Perth.”

Only four-hours’ flight from Jakarta, Perth is not new to Indonesians. However, there has been a lack of marketing activities targeting Indonesians since the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, until Tourism Western Australia resumed promotions recently.

HAINAN Airlines has seemingly shelved its plans for expansion into South Asia, with the termination of flights to Kolkata, Mumbai and Colombo effectively wiping out its regional footprint.

The airline halted its thrice-weekly Shenzhen-Kolkata services (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 9) in view of dismal forward bookings, after having operated only four flights.

The carrier’s twice-weekly Shanghai-Shenzhen-Mumbai service was cancelled less than a month before the intended September 20 launch, while its four-weekly Beijing–Bangkok–Colombo services using a B737-800 aircraft, scheduled for launch on October 18, have also been dropped.

Hainan Airlines’ general manager Colombo, David Yang, was bullish about the Beijing–Bangkok–Colombo route when it was first announced in June this year, having been given full traffic rights to ferry passengers between Bangkok and Colombo.

Yang speculated at the time that the larger Airbus A330, A340 or B787 Dreamliner aircraft might be deployed to handle the influx of travellers, and was even planning to provide Chinese language training to Sri Lankan tour guides to boost traffic further.

Hainan Airlines also had expectations of strong bookings from Indian travellers headed to Hong Kong via its Shanghai-Shenzhen-Mumbai service.

However, the need to clear Chinese customs on arrival in Shenzhen, Hong Kong customs at the border, and thereafter arrange one’s own transportation to downtown Hong Kong, has proven to be a major stumbling block.

THAILAND will continue with its international tourism marketing activities despite the current flood crisis in the country, but the launch of its Miracle Thailand campaign (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 6) has been postponed from this month to December.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Suraphon Svetasreni said the country would continue to be represented at ITB Asia in Singapore next week, China International Travel Mart in Kunming from October to 27 to 30, and World Travel Market in London from November 5 to 7.

According to Suraphon, Loy Krathong Festival activities in 10 key locations nationwide, scheduled for November 10, would continue as planned.

By Sirima Eamtako

THE WESTIN brand is returning to Singapore with a planned opening in 2013.

The Westin Singapore Marina Bay will occupy the 32nd to 46th floors of Asia Square Tower 2, featuring 305 rooms and the highest hotel lobby in the citystate.

Westin was in Singapore until 2002, in the form of The Westin Stamford and The Westin Plaza at the Raffles City complex, now Swissotel the Stamford and Fairmont Singapore respectively.

THAI Airways International (THAI) is adding new services to Brussels, Copenhagen and Seoul, and will ramp up frequencies on existing routes for its upcoming winter programme.

Besides launching thrice-weekly Bangkok-Brussels flights on November 17 (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 28), THAI will start Phuket-Seoul (Incheon) and Bangkok-Copenhagen-Phuket flights – both thrice-weekly – on October 30 and November 11, respectively.

The flag carrier will also be converting its Bangkok-Phuket-Perth route to thrice-weekly Phuket-Perth, and its Bangkok-Narita-Phuket-Bangkok route to daily Bangkok-Narita.

Meanwhile, THAI is planning to boost frequencies on popular routes for the upcoming winter season, which starts on October 30.

Its five-weekly Bangkok-Oslo flights will be hiked to daily services, while Bangkok-Moscow and Bangkok-Perth will each be bumped up from three-weekly to four-weekly.

In Asia, Bangkok-Singapore will be boosted from 28 to 35 flights per week; Bangkok-Osaka from 14 to 17 flights a week; Bangkok-Chengdu from four-weekly to five-weekly; and Bangkok-Mumbai from five to six flights per week.

Bangkok-Nagoya, Bangkok-Xiamen and Bangkok-Beijing services will each be increased from three to four flights a week.

SINGAPORE and Taiwan signed an open skies agreement in February this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 18) which will be rolled out progressively in four phases till 2018.

“Beyond 2018, all flights between the two countries that are intercontinental and beyond – fifth freedom rights – will be liberalised,” said a source at Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).

Under the current first phase, nine flights frequencies per week are allowed for flights between Singapore and Taiwan’s Taipei or Kaohsiung. The second phase, effective 2013, will raise the allocation to 14-weekly. This will be followed by increases to 21-weekly in 2016, and unlimited flights after 2018.

The CAA source confirmed that only one additional carrier, TransAsia Airways, had begun new services between Taiwan and Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 5) since the open skies deal was struck.

By Glenn Smith