WEGO, which finalised and signed the contract yesterday with the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) to operate Southeastasia.org, the website belonging to the regional private sector tourism body, will start by focusing on driving traffic to and making enhancements on the site.

“Initially, we will do some work to better optimise it for search engine rankings, so if people are looking for South-east Asia travel information, they will come to the site through organic search. We’ll (Wego) spend money – more in paid-search, cost-per-click type, to kick this off,” said Wego CEO Martin Symes. “Like any web business, it all begins with traffic.”

The site is attracting “small but steady” traffic, the biggest being the US market, followed by Europe and Australia, who arrive via Google and other search on “South-east Asia”. Symes said using the “South-east Asia” tourism branding rather than “ASEAN” was more pragmatic. “If we want to be up in the Google search engine rankings, South-east Asia is what people are searching for, not ASEAN,” he said, adding that the website’s tagline, Feel the Warmth, would also be kept.

A new feature Wego is soon adding to the site is a referral to offline travel agents. “At the moment, those looking to fulfil travel on the site are online travel agents, but we are also going to add a referral system to send enquiries to the offline agents,” he said.

SoutheastAsia.org is crucial to the ASEAN tourism leaders’ dream of promoting the region as one destination despite limited resources. The United States Agency for International Development had provided the funding to set up the site and it is now in the hands of ASEANTA to make it self-sustaining.

“These are very early days,” said Symes when asked about targets. “Competing for eyeballs in the Internet space is tough, but we’ll give it a go. We think it is a great product – ASEAN is still the best region in the world to travel to and there is plenty of demand to come here.”

Symes and ASEANTA members were at the inaugural ASEAN eTravel Mart in Bangkok yesterday. ASEAN secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan, in a video address to mart delegates, said a target of 85 million tourists coming in and out of ASEAN had been set for 2015, when the region would be a single community. This represents a 25 per cent increase from 2009.

“For that to happen, we have to make sure products and services can be accessed by markets easier, quicker and more accurately. Now, most of the access is through traditional means – phone calls, faxes, emails,” he said. “There’s a need for one integrated website…”

OPPORTUNITIES abound for traditional travel agents in ASEAN to be the online leader in their respective markets, but they need to change their approach, several panelists at yesterday’s ASEAN eTravel Mart in Bangkok said.

With travel e-commerce poised to increase in ASEAN as infrastructure that supports online transactions – from broadband to payment regulations – improves, the space will remain fragmented and not at all saturated, with lots of opportunities for everyone.

“No traditional agency has become a big online travel agency in ASEAN – not in Indonesia, not in the Philippines. In Singapore, there’s ZUJI or Asiatravel (both did not emerge from traditional agencies), or in the hotel space, there’s Agoda, Asiarooms, etc, but in the OTA space, there’s nobody (from the traditional agencies). A lot of agents are dipping their toes into the water, but to me, the effort is half-hearted,” observed Wego CEO, Martin Symes.

“Yet, traditional agencies could leverage their product and supplier relationship, which is critical in this part of the world where it’s not a free market and you can’t get it all from the GDS. For God’s sake, set up a separate team (to do the online business) because the metrics measured are completely different, the way you look at the business is completely different, the way you want to interact with your customers is completely different, so you just need to have dedicated people who are passionate about the Internet and live and breathe it,” he said.

But Alexander Rayner, e-Business advisor to PATA, said that the traditional agent should not be underestimated. “A whole range of tools is now available to them to make them more effective. Technology is enabling agents and they are becoming more clever, effective and efficient,” Rayner said.

Christian Lukey, COO and director of sales of Web Sawasdee, said the barrier to entry for online was low and in the end, it was still about people and delivering reliable travel. “Anyone can set up a website easily, but at the the end of the day, it can be lost in space. What makes a difference is ensuring the customers are comfortable and confident about your ability to deliver reliable travel.”

THE BALI Hotels Association (BHA) is reporting an influx of new bookings that has somewhat offset cancellations at hotels that usually cater to Japanese travellers.

Chairman Jean-Charles Le Coz said in BHA’s newsletter published yesterday: “Some of our member hotels have reported that they are seeing a ‘balancing out’ effect with the Japanese market.”

Le Coz also noted that independent of the recent crisis in Japan, arrivals to Bali from there had already begun to decrease in 2009 due to its economic difficulties.

“Given the encouraging results to date from the Australian, Singaporean, Malaysian and Middle Eastern markets, we’re confident that Bali arrivals will continue to surge,” he added.

AUSTRALIA-based Strategic Airlines has reported strong demand for its recently launched direct flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Phuket (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 14).

The carrier introduced its twice-weekly Melbourne-Phuket service on February 22 and its twice-weekly Brisbane-Phuket service on February 24. Both flights are serviced by an Airbus A330 aircraft with 274 business- and economy-class seats.

Strategic Airlines founder Michael James said the carrier has been growing its operations within Queensland and Western Australia over the past 12 months and that Melbourne was its third Australian hub after Brisbane and Perth.

He added that the airline was planning to expand its Melbourne and Brisbane services in the near future.

AIR Bagan will launch on April 11 a twice-weekly direct regional service between Yangon and Phuket, the airline’s second route between Myanmar and Thailand.

The carrier will use a Fokker aircraft that can accommodate about 100 passengers on the route scheduled every Monday and Friday.

Air Bagan currently operates a twice-weekly regional flight between Yangon and Chiang Mai, as well as 18 domestic routes.

The airline is also planning to launch flights to Cambodia, Thailand (Bangkok), China (Kunming), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Singapore soon.

THE TRADE in the region is bracing itself for a dramatic slash in Japanese clients this year, following the tragic earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11.

As expected, bookings from Japan, mainly for the March-April period, have been wiped out since the event, which occurred during the low season for Japanese travel to most South-east Asian countries. Further losses are expected from refunds and waiving of cancellation fees for Japanese bookings.

For H.I.S. International Travel Singapore though, March is the high season for top market Japan. Noting that most cancellations were emotional in nature due to the somber mood, inbound general manager Christina Chiang said: “We’ll be in trouble if the Japanese don’t travel for the rest of the year, but I don’t think this will happen. Once the (nuclear plant) problem is solved, business will return.”

Others are less than hopeful of a full recovery of the Japanese market within the year and are already cutting their losses.

– Full story in TTG Asia, March 25

WALK Japan, an agency that specialises in walking tours led by guides familiar with Japan’s history, nature and current affairs, has halted all operations following the natural disasters and nuclear crisis in the country.

Its star product, the Nakasendo Way tour that takes participants from Kyoto to Tokyo, has been discontinued together with all other tours until May 4.

Paul Christie, Walk Japan ‘s managing director and CEO, said the decision to stop the tours was made to ensure the safety of clients and staff, although the walking routes are far from affected locations.

Clients impacted by the cancellations have been contacted and fully reimbursed.

Christie said the company would take this non-operational period to “review all current tours, with the aim to improve them and create new, shorter tours, especially for clients from Singapore and Hong Kong”.

Prior to the crisis, Walk Japan was looking to launch new walking tours around Okinawa, themed around legendary Haiku poet Matsuo Basho’s own walking experiences.

JETSTAR launched its four-times-weekly service to Hangzhou yesterday, becoming the first carrier to offer direct flights between Singapore and the Chinese city south of Shanghai.

Flights using an Airbus A320 depart from Singapore every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

This brings the airline’s Greater China network to seven destinations, including four to the mainland. It also flies to Guilin, Haikou, Shantou, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei.

CEO Chong Phit Lian said: “Jetstar’s strategy for China has consistently been to create new direct-from-Singapore flights to Chinese cities that have high tourism potential.”

Aside from the new flight connection, Jetstar has also teamed up with a ground partner to provide a two-way bus service between Hangzhou International Airport and Shanghai Huangpu bus station.

WITH Japan being one of Singapore’s top markets, the NTO said that recent events would have repercussions on the city-state, although “the real impact” was still uncertain.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Tourism Industry Conference yesterday, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) chief executive Aw Kah Peng said: “It may take weeks, it may take longer…We believe that there will be an impact. How large that impact will be, we cannot be certain at this point.”

When asked if STB would move its marketing focus from Japan to other destinations, Aw said decisions were not based on short-term incidents.

“It’s way too early to tell. For us, being in the market, engaging our customers and potential visitors, it’s a long-term decision,” she added.

In 2010, Japan contributed 529,000 out of 11.6 million arrivals, making it the seventh-largest source market. This represented a growth of eight per cent over the previous year.

A MIXED-use island development, with residential, commercial and tourism infrastructure between Indonesia’s Batam and Singapore, will begin construction on April 1.

Comprising six Indonesian islets, Funtasy Island Resort will be home to an eco-park with nature trails, 350 villas, three four-star hotels – two of which are modelled after mega cruise ships – and an immigration facility. A highlight is the heart-shaped islet, Love Island, which will have a 1,000-pax banquet hall, a wedding chapel and themed landscaping.

The project is being undertaken by Singapore-registered Funtasy Island Development (FID), owner and/or developer of several commercial properties in Asia, such as Malaysia’s Carlton Holiday, Jakarta’s Pluit Mega Mall and Bali’s Novus Gawana Resort.

FID director Michael Yong expects the island to draw 2,000 tourists a day, with Singapore being the main gateway. “Funtasy Island’s success is dependent on Singapore. We will not compete with Singapore, but complement it with our eco-resort focus.”

The company is in talks with international hotel management companies, as well as the Singapore Cruise Centre and a ferry operator to establish services connecting Singapore with the island in under 30 minutes.

Phase one of the resort, which includes the two cruise-ship hotels, villas and the wedding chapel, will be completed in 2013. The entire project will span 15 years.