THAI outbound agents are lobbying airlines and the Japanese embassy in Bangkok to refund tickets and visas in full after mass cancellations of tours to Japan.

With 70 per cent of tours to Japan already cancelled until May, TTAA (Thai Travel Agents Association) members reached a consensus yesterday to offer a full refund for cancelled trips.

TTAA president Charoen Wangananont told TTG Asia e-Daily that concerns over safety in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear emergency in Japan has sent a wave of panic among Thai travellers planning to visit the destination during the long summer school holidays from March to May.

Thai outbound agents normally handle about 100,000 tourists from Thailand to Japan during the three-month vacation break. On average, outbound Thais spend 50,000 baht (US$1,641) per person on a five-day/four-night trip there.

So far, only Thai Airways International has agreed to waive cancellation charges for tickets booked to Japan until April 30. Charoen said TTAA would urge Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and some Chinese carriers to follow suit.

He said the association would also ask the Japanese embassy in Bangkok to offer a full refund on visa fees.

By Sirima Eamtako

A NUMBER of Asian destinations will be at least five to 10 per cent more expensive in the coming season, as currency appreciation, fuel surcharges and in some cases, new taxes, inflate price tags of programmes.

Marintur Indonesia executive director Ismail Ali expected rates in Bali to increase by 18 to 25 per cent. With other parts of the country also poised for slight increases and fuel prices ballooning airfares, overall tariffs of Indonesian programmes would be around 15 per cent higher than last season, he said.

Panorama Tours Indonesia managing director Rocky Praputranto’s estimate was a 10 per cent increase in package prices, which he noted was still “value for money, especially for Bali”.

In-demand Myanmar is seeing an average hotel rate increase of 20 to 25 per cent, but Exotissimo Myanmar general manager Richard Moreau still expects a 30 to 35 per cent gain in business this year.

Tour operators in India report moderate hotel rate increases, if any, but are more concerned about the proposed service taxes on hotel rooms and air travel.

Tourism India Management Enterprises managing director M K Chatterjee said: “Taxes and oil prices will make programmes three to five per cent more expensive.”

By Ollie Quiniquini

WITH this period being low season for leisure travel to Malaysia, inbound operators have not seen many cancellations or postponements from Japan following the recent earthquake and tsunami there.

Sabah-based Tabin Wildlife Holidays’ marketing manager, Alixon Hoo, said she has only had one cancellation so far – from a Japanese couple from Tokyo – for which the company would provide a full refund.

Hoo said she was still waiting for her outbound tour operators from Japan to confirm whether two groups scheduled to arrive this month would wish to continue with their travel plans.

“Both tour operators have told me they are not sure whether the tours will proceed. They are checking with customers whether they want to continue,” she explained. “If there are not enough people, the tours will be cancelled.”

YTL Hotels & Properties’ director of sales, MG Menon, has received one cancellation from two Japanese travellers to Pangkor Laut Resort.

Nexus Resort Karambunai’s assistant director of sales, Sheron Nizam, said there has been no cancellations from Japanese tourists so far.

Nizam said the resort would give those who choose to postpone their trips six months to make a new booking, adding that further extensions would be granted if guests write in.

ENQUIRIES and new bookings for Japan have stopped at two of Singapore’s largest travel agencies following the natural disaster and ongoing nuclear crisis in the country.

There were also cancellations and postponements from travellers scheduled to leave for Japan from now until April, which is a popular travel period for Singaporeans because of the March school holidays and Japan’s cherry blossom season.

CTC Travel’s senior vice president, marketing & PR, Alicia Seah, told TTG Asia e-Daily that 80 per cent of the 1,000 clients scheduled to travel to Japan until mid-April have chosen to postpone their trips or switch to Hong Kong and other nearby destinations.

Chan Brothers has chosen to cancel all tour groups departing for Japan until April 10 and has taken the destination off its promotions.

The move follows a Ministry of Foreign Affairs advisory released on Monday that “strongly urged Singaporeans to defer non-essential travel to Japan”.

A spokesperson for Chan Brothers said the company was projecting a 20 per cent drop in sales from April to June: “The current situation will certainly take a toll on bookings with departure from April to June, although this is also highly dependent on the pace of containment and recovery of the current situation.”

EUROPEAN travellers remain unfazed by the spikes in flight prices due to the oil crisis.

Despite raising its fuel surcharge last week for the third time in four months, Singapore Airlines general manager of Germany, Austria, Central & Eastern Europe, Leslie Thng, said there had not been any significant drop in demand for travel during the popular June and July summer period.

In fact, sales figures for its Singapore Stopover Holiday packages for January to March had increased compared to the same period last year, he added.

Thailand’s Exotissimo Travel general manager for Germany, Pantanida Jantsakool, said: “Germans might complain about the increase in price but they know that a holiday in Asia is still cheaper than in Europe.”

Myanmar-based Golden Trip Travels & Tours director Tilly Sand added that the increases of between 20 euros (US$27.80) to 35 euros were still a small percentage of the total airfare into Asia from Europe, which is an average of 1,000 euros or more.

Singapore-based Star Holiday Mart managing director Dennis Law said there might be an “overall minimal impact of a few percentage loss” on Asia as the problems in the Middle East meant that the region was also gaining some diverted business.

Tour operators, however, pointed out that escalating fuel surcharges were likely to derail longhaul demand if the currency situation in Europe worsened and the inflation rates in Asia continued to climb.

AUSTRALIA-based hospitality human resource specialist, Hostec, has opened a regional office in Singapore to tap the Asian market and address the pressing need for talent in the region.

Kerry Healy, Hostec’s general manager – Asia, said the biggest challenge for hospitality human resource in Asia was the lack of quality staff.

She said: “Massive (hospitality) developments in China are sucking all the talents. The inflated cost of living in Singapore has pushed talents to destinations such as Macau and China, where expatriate packages are attractive.”

The Singapore office, led by Healy, will boost Hostec’s headhunting and human resource training capabilities in Asia, with its Sydney office providing support for education programmes. Two more staff are expected to join Healy’s team by April.

Hostec’s headquarters is in Sydney and the company has satellite operations in Melbourne, the Gold Coast and London.

HUA HIN will be getting more hotel rooms, even as local hoteliers complain the destination is facing oversupply.

The Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported that Hua Hin had 233 hotels and 7,015 rooms last year, up from 169 hotels and 5,805 rooms the year before.

Paul Stevens, Accor’s operations director for Thailand, believes there is room for growth for mid-scale and upper mid-scale brands.

Accor will be opening the 210-room Ibis Hua Hin in the third quarter and rebranding the 118-room Veranda Resort and Spa Hua Hin-Cha Am under its MGallery collection on April 1.

InterContinental Hua Hin Resort owner Suwat Liptapanlop is reportedly in talks with InterContinental Hotels Group to develop a Crowne Plaza convention resort with more than 300 rooms in Hua Hin.

A 74-room Centara resort and a 63-key Best Western resort are facing delays and opening dates for both remain uncertain.

– Full report in TTG Asia, March 25

By Sirima Eamtako

GERMAN-based Kempinski Hotels will grow its portfolio in China from nine to 30 hotels by 2015, with six five-star properties scheduled to open this year.

Kempinski’s vice president – sales & marketing for China, Bobby Ong, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “This year, we’ll select and identify certain strategic cities for expansion, including major and secondary ones. We won’t overextend ourselves, as we have a policy of one Kempinski hotel for each city.“

Aside from Kempinski Hotel Huizhou, Kempinski Hotel Guiyang, The ONE Executive Suites Shanghai, Kempinski Hotel Xiamen, Kempinski Hotel Qingdao and Kempinski Hotel Haitang Bay Sanya—all of which are scheduled to open by end 2011— the group will branch out into Chongqing and Taiyuan next year. This will be followed by Yixing and Sanya in 2013.

According to Ong, the group performed better than expected last year, with the strong growth of China’s economy. Though hotels are set to increase their rates, Ong said the change would be gradual.

INDONESIAN outbound agents are postponing group tours to Japan scheduled this month due to concerns over the recent earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear emergency, but have yet to see cancellations to the destination.

Bayu Buana Travel Services, which had two 28-pax groups scheduled for seven-day Japan tours this month, postponed travel for a group that was supposed to leave yesterday, according to product and pricing manager Henky Dharmawan.

Dharmawan said: “They will now travel on March 27, but the trip may have to be postponed again if the situation is not conducive. We are communicating with our partner in Japan for further updates.”

Panorama Tours Indonesia, which has more than six groups scheduled on its Japan Classic Tours this month and next, has postponed travel for a group scheduled to leave on March 18. These tours include Tokyo Disneyland and Odaiba, both of which have been affected by the tsunami.

Panorama’s managing director Leisure Travel Management, Meity Monica Lukito, said: “We are combining the group with the one scheduled for March 26-27.”

“Should any of our clients want to cancel their booking, we will not charge any cancellation fee,” she added.

FOLLOWING the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, industry players in Bali sought to reassure tourists that they were well-prepared for similar emergency situations.

Bali Hotels Association (BHA) chairman Jean-Charles Le Coz said: “The ties between Bali and Japan are strong. The Japanese people have long visited Bali and we have always warmly welcomed them on the island. The news has been devastating to us.

“Bali is still safe to travel to, especially given the measures we have taken to ensure visitor safety in the event of a disaster like this.”

Le Coz explained that BHA runs its own targeted tsunami early-warning system, receiving data directly from the geophysics agency in Jakarta. It has also been conducting tsunami-ready training for its member hotels for the past three years.

While not widely reported, an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale also hit some parts of Central Indonesia on Friday. The epicentre was 165km north-west of Sumbawa Island to the east of Bali, but was too deep to cause a tsunami, according to the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency.

Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia reported that their flights to Japan were now running normally. Garuda corporate secretary Pujobroto said: “Narita airport was closed following the earthquake, but it was reopened by 7.00 pm Tokyo time, enabling our flights from Jakarta and Bali to depart as per normal.”