THE FIRST ASEAN e-Travel Mart, to be held in Bangkok from March 23 to 25, has attracted more than 500 buyers, including big names from the online travel market. This is almost double its initial target of 300 buyers.

Organiser Tourism Technology Association (TTA) president, Apichai Sakulsureeyadej, said that over 300 buyers were tourism players from Thailand while the rest were from other ASEAN countries. They will be trading with some 40 sellers comprising mainly tourism-related software and technology providers and regional hotel chains.

He noted that even in its inaugural year, the event had drawn major online travel players, such as Agoda, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Google, AirAsia, Wego, Web Sawadee and Asian Trails. Some are participating as both buyer and seller and/or speaker.

Registration will be on March 23. There will be a B2B show on March 24 and 25, when buyers and sellers will trade and discuss issues concerning online tourism business.

Apichai said TTA expected the event to result in a trading value of 300 to 400 million baht (US$9.8 to 13.1 million) and the purchasing of tourism software and technology of between 60 and 80 million baht.

By Sirima Eamtako

HONG KONG’s inbound and outbound travel to and from Japan have been severely affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in the country.

Based on Travel Industry Council statistics, there were 238 cancelled tour groups with 2,853 travellers scheduled to depart for Japan before March 25. About 51 tour groups with 1,251 travellers will continue to unaffected regions like Okinawa and Hokkaido.

EGL Tours executive director Steve Huen said the company had cancelled all Japan tours departing before March 20, which involves some 47 groups and about 1,200 travellers. All tours until the end of the month to Sendai and other disaster-affected areas have been cancelled.

Worldwide Package Travel Service has received zero bookings for Japan tours since the tsunami struck. The company has decided to cancel all tours to north-east Japan and departing this month to Tokyo. General manager Frankie Wong said: “March is not usually a busy period, but we have to be prepared for the worst during the four-day Easter holiday next month if the nuclear issue remains.”

Japanese inbound travel specialist Towa Tours’ director and general manager, Gianna Wong, is expecting at least a 40 per cent drop in inbound traffic. “If the nuclear crisis can be contained, the impact will last for three months. Otherwise it’ll be at least six months.”

THE INDIAN Ministry of Tourism is taking up the cudgels for the industry in the battle against the proposed new service taxes on hotel rooms (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 11).

Anand Kumar, joint secretary of the Government of India’s Ministry of Tourism, said Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay was in talks with the Ministry of Finance to “rationalise the tax and be considerate to the trade”.

Kumar said: “We’re still in discussion (with the Ministry of Finance) and have asked them to take the national picture into consideration.”

In reaction, Dipak Deva, Kuoni Destination Management’s CEO Destination Management, India & South Asia, said: “The industry has made the proper representation to the government and (we) hope it takes our plea into consideration.”

Saying he was not against taxes, Deva believed the industry should be given time to adjust to the new tax regime, should it be passed. Since business is contracted 10 to 12 months in advance, tour operators need 12 months’ lead time to meet their contractual obligations, he said.

But Sanjeev Joshi, ICS India director, said: “The tourism lobby is so poor. There is not much we can do about these taxes.”

– Full report in TTG India

By Ollie Quiniquini

ALILA Hotels and Resorts’ management agreements for Alila Villas Hadahaa in Maldives, Alila Cha-Am in Thailand and Alila Luang Prabang and 3 Nagas Luang Prabang in Laos will end on April 1.

In a letter sent last week to travel agents, the chain’s sales and marketing vice president, Doris Goh, said: “Our colleagues at the properties will continue to provide services until March 31 and will ensure a smooth transfer of operations to the new management team, of which you will be notified in due course.”

Goh added that there should be no changes to confirmed bookings.

Thailand-based KS Resort and Spa, which owns the four properties, is reportedly in talks with several international hotel chains to take over the management.

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.