MYANMAR citizens intending to travel to Indonesia are still required to obtain a visa in advance, despite recent reports to the contrary (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 12).

D Jumara Supriyadi, third secretary at the Indonesian embassy in Yangon, explained that the proposed bilateral visa-free system would only come into effect if the Myanmar government introduced similar concessions for Indonesian nationals travelling to Myanmar.

“As of now both Myanmar and Indonesian citizens still need a visa to travel between the two countries,” said Supriyadi. “The operation of this regulation needs very much the same commitment from the Myanmar government, which we believe they will do.”

According to Supriyadi, the visa-free initiative was launched in July “in an effort to contribute positively in pushing forward the implementation of the ASEAN vision to establish the ASEAN Community in 2015”.

“The Myanmar government will be ready to discuss and decide the matter at the next bilateral meeting during the next second Indonesia-Myanmar Joint Commission, which we plan to hold at the end of this year in Myanmar,” Supriyadi added.

CHINA Airlines (CAL) will join the SkyTeam airline alliance on September 28, having signed the official Adherence Agreement last September.

Through joining SkyTeam, the Taiwan flag carrier will expand its international coverage 10-fold via codesharing to 926 destinations in 169 countries. CAL passengers will also be able to redeem miles on qualifying flights through the alliance’s frequent flyer programme, as well as use SkyTeam airport lounges.

SkyTeam spokesperson Marisca Kensenhuis said: “Taipei is one of Asia’s strongest economies. China Airlines’ membership adds value to SkyTeam for both passengers and cargo customers, thanks to a leading position in Taiwan and excellent links to a number of existing SkyTeam hubs throughout the wider Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe.”

“The airline’s network also compliments those of our existing members China Southern and China Eastern,” she added.

David Chambers, regional vice president Asia Pacific, Sabre Airline Solutions, said: “It bodes well for China Airlines to be included in the SkyTeam alliance. Joining an alliance immediately broadens the airlines’ reach to new customers outside their traditional network – a solid differentiator to low-cost carriers.”

By Glenn Smith

SINGAPORE Cruise Centre (SCC) has partnered five maritime players to form Asia’s first structured network of cruise resource suppliers, Cruise 360, which promises to help new and existing cruise lines achieve greater operational ease when they call at Singapore.

SCC CEO Christina Siaw said: “The purpose of Cruise 360 is to help cruise companies get in touch with vendors they need, and to make sure that all the services and support needed by the ship are lined up when it arrives in Singapore, so no time is wasted.”

Apart from SCC, Cruise 360’s first batch of members include cruise crew and crewing services supplier Magsaysay Maritime Corp; consumables and logistic solutions provider HMS Far East; Sembawang Shipyard, which has been repairing and refurbishing cruise ships since the 1970s; InterCruises Shoreside & Port Services, which specialises in shore excursions, tour arrangements, passenger check-ins and transfers; and Shell Marine Products.

Cruise 360 members have also pledged to offer perks to cruise operators who tap into the new resource network. These perks, which are usually only available to regular clients, include HMS’s waiver of the usual two-day advance order to provide cruise operators with same-day order and delivery, Intercruises’ concierge-style counter services at the pier for passengers, and Magsaysay’s new crew-handling processes.

Cruise 360 members are not required to pay a membership fee and competing suppliers can join the network. However, Siaw said vendors who wished to join Cruise 360 must “bring value” to cruise operators.

“Members must be of international standing and be best-in-class suppliers,” she said.

As the newly elected chairman of the Asian Cruise Terminal Association, SCC plans on introducing the Cruise 360 concept to member ports in the region, which will comprise the strongest vendors in the respective local markets.

Magsaysay president, Marlon Rono, told TTG Asia e-Daily that such trade partnerships would propel the company’s business forward and help shape Singapore into a cruise gateway to Asia.

“Some 30 to 40 per cent of Asian cruise crew turnover is handled by us, and being in this partnership will help us grow that pie,” Rono said. “At the same time, Magsaysay will raise Singapore’s current status as an important crewing city to one that is seen as the key crewing capital of Asia.”

THE UNITED Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA) recommended at a board meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week that membership to the association be extended to individual travel agencies.

With membership only open to national travel agents’ associations since UFTAA was set up in 1966, the decision marks a major shift in policy.

The recommendation will become a reality when endorsed by the 45th UFTAA Congress in Venice from November 19-24, which will be held onboard a cruise ship for the first time.

UFTAA president, Dr Mario Bevacqua, said: “UFTAA is the only global association of national associations of travel agents. Opening up membership directly to agents will enable the board to know better what their needs are.”

“Opening up membership will also enable us to harness the power of our network,” he added.

A white book listing various issues faced by agents, with solutions provided by experts, will be released at the 45th congress. “The white book will cover all issues which are part of an agent’s daily work ranging from visas to IATA, and provide solutions to them,” Bevacqua said.

Meanwhile, UFTAA’s board of directors has approved the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents’ (MATTA) bid to host the 46th UFTAA Congress in Kuala Lumpur from November 17-22, 2012.

This would be Malaysia’s second time hosting the congress since 2002, when it was attended by about 250 travel agents.

Participation next year is expected to be open to all travel agents given the proposed changes in membership criteria. “We will be doing it on a bigger scale next year. We are targeting for about 1,000 agents to attend,” said MATTA president, Mohd Khalid Harun.

MATTA will form a team with Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau and the Malaysia Association of Hotels to plan the event. “Hosting the congress in Malaysia will provide an ideal opportunity to create awareness among travel agents on Visit Malaysia Year 2013,” Khalid said.

By N. Nithiyananthan

PATA has called for a paradigm shift among its local community network, nudging chapters in Asia, which have traditionally been inbound-oriented, to put on their outbound cap.

Prompted by the growing importance of visitor outflows from Asia into the rest of the world and dwindling membership, outbound-centric chapters in the Americas and Europe have also been urged to take interest in inbound travel.

The recent two-way tourism session at the PATA Global Chapter Meeting in New Delhi yielded several proposals, including bringing outbound operators from Asia into contact with US- and UK-based outbound players through networking events.

PATA Thailand chapter chairman Bert van Walbeek explained that he had spent one-and-a-half years trying to recruit Thai members interested in outbound travel, but gotten only one taker.

“We don’t have that kind of image and we are not being looked at (for outbound tourism from Asia),” he said.

Van Walbeek suggested using the Thailand chapter as a test case to kickstart a collaboration with the New York chapter, for example, in order to demonstrate business benefits to potential outbound members from both sides.

Such an exercise would also help revive PATA’s popularity among the aviation sector, as some airline members had fallen off the radar in recent years due to their outbound focus, he added.

Other points raised were appointing a designated person within the chapter to oversee outbound initiatives and having the PATA HQ conduct focus groups with Asian outbound operators to understand their needs.

A proposal would be submitted to the head office, said van Walbeek.

PATA is on a drive to beef up its chapter network, with 39 chapters already in the bag, including new ones such as Cambodia and Chiang Rai. At the meeting, a proposal for a Himalayan chapter was also presented.

IN A BID to attract talent and clarify the role that meetings play in the tourism industry, the International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA) hosted students from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and University of Las Vegas, Nevada – Singapore Campus at a dialogue session last Friday.

ICCA president Arnaldo Nardone told TTG Asia e-Daily that the session acted as a platform to showcase “the power of the meetings industry worldwide”.

Nardone explained that students tend to be “very confused about the meetings industry”. “They tend to lump the meetings and tourism industries together. It is just not right,” he said.

Invited students had the opportunity to interact with major MICE industry players, including Pieter Idenburg, CEO of Suntec Singapore, Juan José Garcia, director of sales and marketing for Viajes Iberia Congresos, as well as Nardone, to find out how they entered the MICE sector and managed to thrive.

Nadone said the meetings sector’s long-term success depended on the quality of its human resources.

“Students need an opportunity to explore their career options, and see for themselves if the meetings industry is indeed for them,” he said. “All they need is someone to instil them with the confidence to make their own decisions, and to steer them towards realising their full potential.”

MACAO Dragon, which runs regular scheduled ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau, has abruptly revealed liquidation of its assets and termination of all services from yesterday.

Having just celebrated its first anniversary in July, the ferry services company has ceased operations of its 10 daily sailings between Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal and Taipa, using two 1,152-pax vessels.

Macao Dragon in a press statement blamed its collapse on the Macau government having capped its passenger capacity to 600-750 pax per trip. By late August, Macao Dragon owed Macau’s Marine Administration about HK$1.8 million (US$231,000) in passenger embarkation and docking fees.

An agent who declined to be named said: “It’s hard to survive by filling up the ship by half. I used it for MICE groups as various decks provide privacy.”

The Maritime Administration defended the restrictions, explaining that its hand was forced by the maximum capacity of Taipa Ferry Terminal.

Meanwhile, the authority has activated a contingency plan and requested other ferry companies to make up for the shortfall in capacity if necessary.

China Travel Service (Hong Kong), general manager of sales for Hongkong and Macau, Ng Hi-on said the impact of the service stop would be minimal. “We don’t use Macao Dragon as it has limited frequency and there are no night sailings,” he said. “Its low fare strategy does have market potential, but only a small segment.”

Ng added: “I don’t think there will be any access problems as Turbojet (another ferry operator) departs every 15 minutes and seats are always available.”

TAIWAN and Japan are expected to sign an open skies agreement by the end of the month, facilitating the inauguration of new routes and flights as early as the start of winter schedule.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) planning director, Betty Cheng, said: “The Executive Yuan (the executive branch of the Taiwan government) is expected to approve the draft proposal and arrange diplomatic channels for its signing before the end of the month.”

Existing bilateral treaties allow each side to operate only two airlines for points between the two countries. For Taiwan, China Airlines and EVA Airways have been allocated the rights, and for Japan: Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

Under the open skies deal, Tokyo’s Haneda Airport will allow flights from Taiwan from 22.00 to 7.00 daily, while Tokyo’s Narita Airport will boost allotted weekly flights from 36 to 38. All Taiwan airports will be open to new carriers except Taipei Songshan Airport. Flights between all other points will also be allowed.

Japanese low-cost carriers Peach Aviation, founded earlier this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 10) and Skymark Airlines intend to develop new routes to Taiwan, while TransAsia Airways, UNI Air and Mandarin Airlines will convert existing charter flights into regular scheduled services.

Cheng expects the changes to greatly increase traffic between the two countries. “Having more carriers will bring down prices and stimulate more consumers to travel between the two countries,” she said.

WITH Hainan looking to cement its position as a premium leisure and MICE destination, a high-level tourism delegation from the island visited Spain at the start of September.

The delegation were keen to explore development and cooperation prospects with the European leader for overseas beach holidays, and to look at facilities that have put Spain at the forefront of Europe’s MICE sector in recent years.

Among the ideas Hainan will be studying after the tour is the possibility of developing a hotel chain similar to Spain’s state-run Paradores.

Another will be to promote tourism in rural areas, according to Chen Yao, vice president of both the Tourism Association of Hainan Province and Tourism Marketing Association of China, and head of the 19-strong delegation.

“Spain is a very established tourism destination and we need to learn from them,” Chen told TTG Asia e-Daily.

Building up rural tourism, especially where it links in with hot springs and activity visits to tropical forests – which cover around 60 per cent of Hainan – is among the new initiatives lined up for expanding the island’s tourism sector.

Hainan is also seeking to grow its cruise and medical tourism sectors, in addition to its traditional beach holiday base.

While further tourism development will continue in the main resort city of Sanya, other areas to be cultivated include Lingshui, Wanning, Qionghai and Wengchang – all on the east coast – and around the capital of Haikou in the north.

A new conference centre in Haikou is scheduled to open before year-end, adding to those in Sanya and Boao. “We are also going to build 70 more hotels over the next five years, all of them in the four- or five-star category,” Chen said.

Nearly all of Hainan’s 25.6 million visitors last year came from the Chinese mainland. Describing Hainan as a “window and bridge for Chinese tourism”, Chen said they would keep their focus on the high-end domestic market, which has proven lucrative so far.

With foreigners accounting for around five per cent of total arrivals, the main overseas source market, Russia, contributes about a quarter of these, and “looks to have continuing good prospects” for both leisure and MICE inbound traffic, according to Chen.

Hainan’s three leading source markets in Western Europe – Germany, France and the UK – are expected to remain in that order.

PARIS-based Louvre Hotels Group has set its sights firmly on the emerging economies of Asia.

Speaking at a panel session during Economy Hotels World Asia 2011, Mark van Ogtrop, managing director, Golden Tulip South-east Asia, said Louvre intends to expand to Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia, in addition to ongoing growth in India, China and Thailand (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 23).

India remains the hotel chain’s priority market owing to the country’s booming economic development, and plans are underway to build 50 more hotels in the country by 2016, on top of the existing eight.

The hotel chain – the second largest in Europe and eighth largest in the world – has so far expanded its presence in Asia through private funding or co-investments with domestic players.

“We need locals who understand how their respective markets work,” Ogtrop said. “Moreover, there’s little appetite for institutional lending at the moment, especially for developing budget properties.”