Resorts World Cruises has announced that from April 11, Resorts World One will call on Penghu, a collective name for nearly 90 islands, in Taiwan.
The ship will now offer vacationers a convenient alternative to visit the island county of Taiwan every Tuesday during the four-day/three-night cruise, which features two destinations as part of the itinerary for sailings departing from Kaohsiung and Hong Kong.
Resorts World One will call on Penghu, the island county of Taiwan, from April 11
Activities at Penghu include the beaches, snorkelling, fishing and island-hopping boat tours. Guests can also savour the seafood delicacies, shop for local dried seafood, and explore the historic Magong city renowned for its rich heritage and culture with natural scenery.
In addition, shore excursions can be made to Baisha Island, famous for the Baoan Temple, where a 200-year-old Banyan Tree covers 660m² of land and beaches such as Shili and Sanshui.
Michael Goh, president, Resorts World Cruises, said: “Resorts World One will grow and increase the inbound and outbound tourism, which will enhance and create new economic opportunities for Kaohsiung, Penghu and across Taiwan.”
Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) has signed Radisson Red Phuket Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, slated to open later this year.
A conversion of an existing property owned by Destination Group, Radisson Red Phuket Patong Beach will mark the debut of the Radisson Red brand in the country. Destination Group also recently partnered with RHG for Radisson Resort & Spa Hua Hin and Radisson Resort & Suites Phuket.
Radisson Red Phuket Patong Beach marks the debut of the Radisson Red brand in Thailand
The 390-key hotel will feature a rooftop beach club, rooftop pool, restaurants, lounge, grab-go kiosk gym, spa, movie theatre, video arcade, and kids’ club. At the lobby, guests will be greeted by the hotel’s mascot – a life-sized sculpture of a red lacquered elephant wearing earphones – and a red tuk-tuk, a nod to Thailand’s most prominent national icons.
The property is also nearby the beach and surrounded by retail malls, restaurants and nightlife.
Ramzy Fenianos, chief development officer, Asia-Pacific, RHG, said: “With its striking design, upbeat vibe and the flexibility to let guests seamlessly switch between business and leisure, Radisson Red has the power to inject new life into hotels and destinations. This makes it the perfect fit for Patong Beach, one of Thailand’s most dynamic tourism hubs.”
“This is the first hotel to be designed to meet the desires of (post-lockdown) travellers to Phuket. We are not just selling a room, but more so, we are selling an amazing Instagrammable experience in our resorts,” added Gary Murray, founder & CEO, Destination Group.
RHG currently operates six hotels in Thailand across four brands in Bangkok, Phuket and Hua Hin, with further expansion plans in the pipeline.
Starting April 16, operations at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the Philippines for Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Japan will be relocated from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.
Jetstar’s flight schedule, ground handler, check-in facilities and check-in timings will remain unchanged.
Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Japan’s operations will relocate to Manila’s international airport Terminal 3 from April 16
Jetstar passengers booked to travel to/from NAIA from April 16 will receive an updated email itinerary to reflect the new terminal.
The airport will provide a complimentary shuttle bus service for passengers needing to access other terminals.
TFE Hotels has launched a new global leadership structure which comprises three new global officer roles.
Amanda Hoolihan takes on the role of global revenue officer and will work to enhance TFE’s revenue management practices and drive innovation and results for the group.
From left: Amanda Hoolihan, Katia Giurtalis, and Shahnaz Bakhshay
Katia Giurtalis has been named the new global marketing officer and will be responsible for steering the global growth of TFE’s brands, and ensuring guest experiences are enhanced through digital technology.
Shahnaz Bakhshay is the new global sales officer, and will focus on developing and implementing global (and local) sales strategies and driving cross pollination of client coverage.
The youth travel segment is growing and has the potential to support tourism’s positive impact on cultural longevity, sustainability and local businesses – yet it is often overlooked, said tourism players.
Many assume that youths lack disposable income, explained Wendy Morrill, head of research & education, WYSE Travel Confederation.
Youths are a segment to watch as they prioritise meaningful connections that support local communities
In 2019, youths – loosely defined as a segment aged 18 to 29 – made up about 23 per cent of international arrivals, translating to 336 million travellers. This is equivalent to US$333 billion in tourism receipts, where 60 per cent of their travel budget is spent in the destination.
Travel with meaning and purpose
According to Morrill, this segment does not travel for weekends and short holidays. Instead, they seek “educational” experiences and “some form of cultural exchange”. Trips are “purposeful and meaningful, both economically and socially”, and can be formal, such as a study programme at a university, or informal like a working holiday.
Pedro Lucena, partnerships manager with accommodation specialist Selina, told TTG Asia that young travellers at its properties have opportunities to make “meaningful connections”.
“For example, in our Lisbon hotel, we have a meetup every Thursday, where locals come to the hotel to network with guests from all over the world,” he said.
Lucena added that such connections can lead to enriching local experiences. For instance, the same property offers a workshop with a local craftswoman, where participants can paint a tile using a traditional Portuguese method dating back to the 17th century. They get to fire their tile and take it home as a souvenir.
Agreeing that youths drive demand for purposeful travel, Chanjira Khadseesai, spokesperson for The Green Lion, said: “(On our programmes), these youths learn about themselves, learn how to support each other, learn how to share, and learn to respect other cultures. This is very important now.”
The B2B company works with travel agents to promote meaningful programmes filled with local culture and volunteerism. These programmes run from a week up to six months for travellers aged 18 to 25 in 32 destinations.
“Most of our travellers are from Europe on their gap year break, and their top three destinations are Indonesia, Thailand, and Costa Rica. Their average programme length is around four weeks,” shared Chanjira.
Growing independence
Youths obtain their travelling stipend from their parents, who are more open-minded these days about letting their children experience meaningful travel, she added.
While gap year breaks funded by parents are common in Australia, the UK, and parts of Western Europe, Michael Ebert, director of Tourism Adventure Group (TAG), said the rest of the world is slowly catching on.
TAG supports youth travellers visiting Australia and New Zealand with trip planning. The group also supplies accommodation and offers services to help working holidaymakers settle in.
Ebert elaborated: “We notice that these working holidaymakers would stick with one employer for six months, save up all their money, and (spend the remaining duration of their travel visa) travelling around the country. When they find a place they really like, they stay there for four or five months to experience what it’s like being a local.”
When asked whether Asian youths are doing the same, Ebert said the trend had weakened in recent years. He hopes that Asian demand will return soon.
For destinations and travel businesses keen to attract the youths, Carylann Assante, CEO of SYTA The Voice of Student & Youth Travel, said an even younger group – those aged 12 to 18 – is the one to watch now.
Assante said many of them travel to assess potential colleges and universities overseas, and will continue to explore destinations once they begin to study abroad.
This segment has strong spending potential too.
“We have a study that showed that while adults might spend US$500 in a week in New York City, students will spend US$1,000 because they will shop and buy gifts for friends and family,” she said.
Morrill concluded: “Youth travel is a stable segment that will only continue to grow. This group will also make more responsible (and sustainable) choices, which can become life-long habits.”
Khiri Travel has restarted offering tours to Myanmar in a bid to save livelihoods destroyed by a lack of international tourists.
“Tourism is a force for good and that’s our mission. While there’s definitely an issue with a very repressive government, it doesn’t involve tourism or tourism locations,” said Khiri Travel CEO and founder, Willem Niemeijer, who visited the country recently.
Niemeijer:Yangon and Inle Lake have had zero tourists since Covid
He said while there are many areas that are dangerous to visit, the main tourist destinations of Yangon, Inle Lake, Mandalay, Bago, Ngapali Beach and Mergui Archipelago are safe.
“I understand that for a lot of tour operators this might be an issue, but we know that some people want to travel to Myanmar. As long as it’s reasonably safe, and it’s more than reasonably safe if you stay in the highlights, then it’s fine. Of course, there are places you shouldn’t be going and we know where they are,” Niemeijer added.
He said during his visit to Yangon and Inle Lake, he met with tour guides and other tourism-related businesses, whose livelihoods have been destroyed due to lack of tourists.
“They’ve had zero tourists since Covid – it’s unfair and heart-breaking. Boat drivers depend on it, guides depend on it, so do small businesses that have set up over the 10-plus years (like) bike rentals, home cooking on the lake, all of these things,” he said.
Niemeijer added that while concerns may be made about tourism funding the regime, Khiri only deals with locally-owned businesses, including hotels, transport and guides.
He remarked that most of the money goes to visas and domestic flights, however, it would be better “if 80 per cent of the money goes to the locals” while the government, which has no issues with money, receives 20 per cent instead.
He added that Khiri has teams on the ground who are able to monitor the situation constantly.
According to BDEX, in October 2022, the average monthly salary in Myanmar for companies with fewer than 15 employees was US$117.
“They don’t ask for a massive number of tourists, just a few to keep morale going. Our strategy is not asking for everyone to put Myanmar back on their programme – that’s unrealistic. But we need specialist tour operators to keep this in mind.”
Sabah Tourism Board (STB) has rebranded its destination to Feel Sabah, North Borneo in a bid to emphasise the location of Sabah in the northern part of Borneo Island, and attract more European tourists.
Launching this rebranding exercise at ITB Berlin 2023, minister of tourism, culture and environment, Christina Liew, said: “The name ‘North Borneo’ (now Sabah) sounds exotic and evokes nostalgic feelings of yearning for this destination. It is also of historical significance as the state was then known as ‘North Borneo’ prior to gaining our independence in 1963.”
Sabah Tourism Board has rebranded the destination to emphasise its location in the northern part of Borneo Island
She explained that there are people around the world who have not heard about Sabah despite years of promoting the destination and its “diverse natural attractions and iconic wildlife”.
“However, we are aware that at the mention of Borneo or North Borneo, it rings a bell. Europeans in particular associate Sabah with Borneo. Hence, we are determined to rebrand this tourist destination with Feel Sabah, North Borneo to create a new identity in the travel marketplace,” stated Liew, adding that Sabah is home to natural wonders such as Mount Kinabalu, Maliau Basin and Tip of Borneo.
With the recent resumption of international direct flights, cruise tourism and optimism about mounting regular or chartered flights from new destinations, Liew said Sabah targets 2.2 million arrivals for 2023 and will work towards attaining 2.5 million arrivals.
“If we succeed in hitting the 2.5 million mark, this would indicate an increase by 45.35 per cent compared with 1.72 million arrivals in 2022.”
She shared that based on data from 2019, the top feeder markets comprised visitors from Taiwan, China, Brunei, Singapore and South Korea, while the top inbound tourism markets from Europe came from Germany, France, Netherlands and Italy.
Liew added that plans are afoot to explore prospects of luring tourists from new tourism markets in the US, Australia, Japan and India via tourism roadshows by STB.
While Asia’s Covid-19 recovery has been slower than the rest of the world, Accor is pinning hopes on the region driving the group’s development into 2024.
Jean-Jacques Morin, group deputy CEO, group CFO and premium, midscale and economy division CEO, said while Asia’s recovery from the pandemic lags behind other regions due to it being the last to reopen borders, he remains confident that full recovery will be met in 2024 – and growth will be exponential.
Morin: Asia has a very good story ahead
“I’m not sure Asia will have recovered as well as Europe or the US by the end of 2023 – there is a lag. But we will see the largest acceleration in Asia by early 2024,” he said, adding 50 per cent of Accor’s openings globally are within the region.
Morin said limitations on airlines – according to data from IATA, global airlines to Asia at the end of 2022 sat at 80 per cent capacity compared with 2019 levels – are one factor hampering recovery levels. “They’re still not at 100 per cent, but because of that, Asia has a nice path ahead,” he added.
In addition, the region is awaiting the “Chinese phenomenon”.
“Ninety percent of Chinese travellers stay in Asia,” Morin noted. “Once this Chinese phenomenon is unwrapped, it will flow throughout the continent. Asia has a very good story ahead.”
Another trend Morin has noticed in the region is that while occupancy rates hover below 2019 levels at an average of six per cent, pricing has risen.
“We’ve been able to push prices significantly,” he said. “People who have the money are really going overboard to get to where they want to go. The question these days isn’t, ‘do you have a room available?’ It’s, ‘give me your best room’.”
In addition, Asian travellers are now seeking experiential hotel stays, a trend Morin predicts will grow into the future.
“The way they look at a hotel is as an experience compared to other pleasures they used to have, which is to own something. I don’t need to own five cars but I want a vacation no one else can have,” he said.
“I believe the future for those with richness of (the) middle-class in Asia will continue to significantly grow, which is another very positive story.”
Hilton Garden Inn is set to triple its footprint in Greater China in the coming years with the opening of its 50th property in Greater China, Hilton Garden Inn Beijing Haidian Daoxiang Lake.
Building on the brand’s success in Greater China, Hilton will also ramp up expansion of Hilton Garden Inn across Asia-Pacific, including Thailand and Australia.
Hilton Garden Inn Beijing Haidian Daoxiang Lake marks the brand’s first hotel in China’s capital
For owners looking to capture demand from both business and leisure travellers, Hilton Garden Inn’s operating model makes it highly adaptable for mature and emerging hospitality destinations, as well as across city and resort locations.
Clarence Tan, senior vice president, development, Asia-Pacific, Hilton, shared: “Owners drawn to the profitable focused service segment gravitate towards Hilton Garden Inn for its efficient build, strong investment returns, greater flexibility through franchised and managed hotel agreement options, as well as the ability to leverage Hilton’s powerful commercial engine.
“Owners also value how we regionalise the brand for Asia-Pacific as that keeps us close to evolving guest preferences and positions us all for long term success.”
Hilton’s continued investment in Hilton Garden Inn has also driven a thoughtful and deeply researched regionalisation of the brand, such as innovating and optimising the guest experience.
“Travellers today have more exacting demands for quality, design, comfort, and value,” said Jenny Milos, vice president, brand management, suites & focused service, Asia-Pacific, Hilton.
Hilton Garden Inn has a global footprint of more than 970 hotels in 57 countries and territories, with 65 Hilton Garden Inn properties in operation, and over 100 in the pipeline in the Asia-Pacific.
PATA is set to organise two events this year – PATA Annual Summit and Mart 2023 in Pokhara, Nepal, as well as PATA Travel Mart 2023 in New Delhi, India.
Hosted by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the PATA Annual Summit will run from May 29 to June 1, and will include a travel mart component this year.
The PATA Travel Mart 2023 will be held in New Delhi from October 4 to 6
The PATA Travel Mart will be held later in the year from October 4 to 6, and will be hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
Both events were announced during ITB Berlin 2023.
