Agoda introduces shopping cart function for travel bookings
Agoda has launched a shopping cart feature on its digital travel platform, enabling travellers to bundle their accommodation bookings, creating a seamless, one-stop travel booking experience for customers.
As one of the first online travel agencies to offer this functionality for its travel products, Agoda hopes to optimise trip planning and offer greater value to its customers.
Customers now have the flexibility to compare prices and availability and enjoy further bundle deal savings – the shopping cart allows travellers to add a selection of properties with the option to either check out more than one reservation at once or leave them in the cart until next time.
Currently available on the web and mobile app for accommodation only, Agoda customers will soon also be able to add flights, tours, attractions and more.
Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda said: “We believe travellers want the ease and convenience of booking full itineraries, rather than individual elements. They want their trip to be cheaper, and they want one trusted source to take responsibility for the entire journey. We aim to be that reliable partner for all.”
Accor bolsters soft brands offering with new midscale Handwritten Collection
Adding another brand to its portfolio of more than 40 brands, Accor has introduced the Handwritten Collection, which will plug its midscale gap.
Handwritten Collection joins the luxury Emblems Collection, which Accor launched in November 2021 to complement its upscale MGallery Collection.
The chain said it has secured 12 signings globally, among them three hotels in Asia-Pacific that will open in the next two months as part of the collection, namely, Hotel Shanghai Sheshan Oriental, Wonil Hotel Perth and Hotel Morris Sydney.
Accor expects Handwritten to reach more than 250 hotels by 2030. It said it has over 110 leads globally totalling more than 11,500 rooms.
Handwritten targets franchising and conversions, a high-growth area as it enables owners to attach a brand and chain distribution to assets quickly and with little capital expenditure. Covid-19 has only increased the popularity of collections due to this.
Accor’s global chief development officer, premium, midscale, economy, Camil Yazbeck, said at a media launch on January 19 that there were three times more signings for collections than for classic brands over the last two years.
“Collections will grow a lot more in the future,” he said, adding that 70 per cent of independent hotels worldwide are unbranded. They want to retain their identity and personality but also need the strength of distribution afforded by chains.
As its name suggests, the brand’s emphasis is on providing personal touches, quirkiness and authenticity – just like a handwritten note.
Accor promises that Handwritten hotels will be so distinct that “it’s as if each local hotelier were inviting guests into their charming and stylish homes”.
Alex Schellenberger, Accor’s chief marketing officer, premium, midscale, economy brands, said: “The hotels we will feature in Handwritten Collection are those sought out by travellers who appreciate heartwarming travel experiences and a twist on traditional hospitality, as well as by hoteliers who cherish the unique personality of their properties while desiring the benefits that come with a leading global partner.”
Handwritten has been in the works for more than a year.
Accor’s move into soft brands started with MGallery in 2008. It was not until November 2021, a gap of 13 years, that it launched Emblems, and now Handwritten, joining all hotel chains in the race to sign up more independent hotels for management and/or franchise fees.
EHL’s new customised programme to address talent challenges in hospitality
EHL Hospitality Business School has piloted a customised training programme designed to help companies address evolving talent needs across the entire organisational structure.
The pilot was conducted on its Lausanne campus in Switzerland, with Lausanne University Hospital, where the programme was designed to “infuse a mindset of hospitality and service in both technical and medical aspects, and to develop training courses for different teams”, revealed Stephane Haddad, academic director graduate school and senior lecturer with EHL in an interview with TTG Asia. Training for the hospital focused on conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and more.
This customised training programme is conceptualised and designed by a new division under Haddad’s remit.
He explained that the division was formed following a strong push from the school itself and growing demand from both hospitality and non-hospitality companies for customised, ongoing upskilling and reskilling programmes.
While the pilot was conducted on the other side of the globe, interest from Asian hospitality companies is strong. Haddad said there are ongoing discussions with a number of Singapore-based firms for similar, customised programmes, and these are likely to take off soon.
Haddad said for such training programmes to be successful, the company must make a longhual commitment to continued education. Breaking down the process of conceptualising the programme, Haddad explained that the EHL team would first work with the company to identify pain points, areas for improvements and required skills. Following the gap assessment, both EHL and the company will collaborate on the production of learning materials and standards used to address the gaps.
“Only after that comes training. And even so, training is not the end of the process,” said Haddad. “There needs to be ongoing assessment of that training, so that the whole organisation benefits and not just one department or segment of people.”
While this is a lengthy process, Haddad said most hospitality companies now acknowledge “this real need” for education investment.
Hospitality companies have emerged from the pandemic with an intense talent challenge that is aggravated by other industries fighting for the same profiles of people with valuable hospitality experience, he explained.
At the same time, companies are having to adapt to an altered employer/employee relationship, where leaders have to manage much younger employees who hold different views about their job. They expect a work environment that not only offers satisfactory compensation, but also flexible and agile working conditions, development opportunities with clear career pathways, as well as rapid progression.
Furthermore, there is a shortage of experienced staff, forcing some hospitality companies to “take in the first one who applies, even if he has no experience”. In such instances, access to immediate training is crucial.
Hospitality companies are also finding the need to catch up with digitalisation, as there is a “vast majority of people in this industry who are not digitally literate”, explained Haddad. Companies have to “upgrade” their staff to “match operating capability with the systems the companies want to deploy”.
Customised courses would range widely, from imparting digital knowledge to people management skills. Haddad shared that work is underway for a course on identifying, addressing and shifting toxic management.
Besides the customised training programme, EHL continues to offer standardised programmes that are more flexible to take on. These include a suite of online certificates for hard and soft hospitality skills, which employers can choose to fund for their staff.
Thai Vietjet launches Chiang Mai-Osaka service
Thai Vietjet will commence direct flights between Chiang Mai and Osaka on February 16.
The airline currently operates a daily direct flight between Bangkok and Fukuoka.
The new direct service between Chiang Mai International Airport and Kansai International Airport will be a five-hour flight, operated by A321 aircraft. It will start with three weekly round-trip flights, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Sri Lankan hoteliers commit to rebuilding tourism responsibly
Despite tourism challenges, two Sri Lankan hotel players have remained firm in their efforts to uplift local communities as they rebuild their business.
Homegrown Teardrop Hotels, which has seven hotels across the country, maintains at least nine community projects, according to Manoj Devaraj, group head – sales and marketing.
Each hotel has an adopted charity organisation, while the head office supports two others – Teardrop Care Centre for Children with Disabilities, where the company is the main sponsor for Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities’ Welimada centre, scheduled to open this year; and a collaboration with the Tea Leaf Trust, where the company provides employment opportunities for impoverished young people raised on tea estates as well as organises field trips and workshops to expose these youths to personal growth opportunities in the tourism industry.
The team at Fort Bazaar, a hotel set within the historic port city of Galle, supports Sambodiya Home with regular infrastructural refurbishment and maintenance.
Recalling the progress of the hotel’s work with Sambodiya Home, Devaraj said efforts initially were not structured. It took a partnership with Travelife in 2020 to realise that a guided approach was needed for work to be meaningful.
“Travelife also led us to scrutinise our use of resources and cut down on imported items,” added Devaraj. As a result, Teardrop Hotels has improved the conditions of its four fruit and vegetable gardens across the country so that more produce could be harvested for use in hotel kitchens. Today, 30 per cent of its fruit and vegetable supplies are from these gardens.
Seafood, meats and other ingredients are also obtained from local producers “as much as possible”.
Close to 85 per cent of ingredients used in Teardrop Hotels kitchens are now locally sourced – up from about 60 per cent pre-pandemic.
“We have even looked at how suppliers work with us,” he added. To encourage local producers to deliver orders more sustainably, the company supplied reusable, stackable crates.
“The pandemic and import disruptions made us realise that relying on local producers is more reliable, offers greater value, and enables us to support our own people,” Devaraj said.
The slow return of tourism business has not dampened the company’s community commitment. Devaraj said: “Some of them were initiated during the pandemic, and we continue to do whatever we can with the manpower and resources we currently have.”
Over at Shangri-La’s Hambantota Golf Resort & Spa, efforts have been ongoing the past three months to raise the digital literacy of the teachers at a local village school. The effort is a long-term investment to build a more tech-savvy pool of young people that the hotel and other businesses could eventually hire.
General manager Refhan Razeen told TTG Asia: “Tourism will return to Sri Lanka, and we need to be prepared for that. One way is to work on local human resources.”
Next on Razeen’s to-do list is the establishment of a hotel school in Hambantota, “which will give locals a chance for employment at both Shangri-La hotels here and in Colombo”.
He said the “plans are drawn up” and awaiting approval from the top.
Besides investing in education, the hotel will soon launch the Green Passport, a hotel-wide sustainability programme with a goal of 15 Rs – Respect, Rethink, Responsible, Resource, Restore, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Reclaim, Replace, Refill, Refocus, Recycle, Refuse and Reward.
Fleshing out the objectives of some of the Rs, he said Rethink would involve reviewing daily practices towards a sustainable future, while Restore would mean fixing damaged items so that they could continue to be used and not simply thrown away.
Razeen acknowledged that the Green Passport is “an ambitious project”, but it provides a clear structure for all staff to follow through on their sustainable journey.
A green champion will be appointed to lead topical efforts, such as water conservation, and come up with an action plan to bring ideas to fruition.
Razeen is hopeful that achievements could be used as case studies for other Shangri-La hotels as well as for local university students specialising in sustainability.
To further support the local community, Razeen is looking to engage a village near Yala to produce and supply the hotel with vegetables.
“This community is dependent on wildlife safari, which is seasonal. By having them grow and supply food to our hotel, they can earn income during the off-season,” he explained.
UNWTO anticipates strong tourism recovery in 2023
After stronger than expected recovery in 2022, this year could see international tourism arrivals return to pre-pandemic levels in Europe and the Middle East.
Based on UNWTO’s forward-looking scenarios for 2023, global international tourist arrivals could reach 80 per cent to 95 per cent of pre-pandemic levels this year, depending on the extent of the economic slowdown, the ongoing recovery of travel in Asia-Pacific and the evolution of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, among other factors.
Meanwhile, tourists are expected to increasingly seek value for money and travel closer to home in response to the challenging economic climate.
All regions bouncing back
According to UNWTO’s new data, more than 900 million tourists travelled internationally in 2022 – double the number recorded in 2021 though still 63 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Every global region recorded notable increases in international tourist numbers. Arrivals in the Middle East climbed to 83 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers, while Europe reached nearly 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels as it welcomed 585 million arrivals in 2022. Africa and the Americas both recovered about 65 per cent of their pre-pandemic visitors, while Asia-Pacific reached only 23 per cent, due to stronger pandemic-related restrictions which have started to be removed only in recent months.
The first UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of 2023 also analyses performance by region and looks at top performers in 2022, including several destinations which have already recovered 2019 levels.
UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili said: “A new year brings more reason for optimism for global tourism. UNWTO anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty. Economic factors may influence how people travel in 2023 and UNWTO expects demand for domestic and regional travel to remain strong and help drive the sector’s wider recovery.”
Chinese tourists set to return
UNWTO foresees the recovery to continue throughout 2023 even as the sector faces up to economic, health and geopolitical challenges. The recent lifting of Covid-19 related travel restrictions in China, the world’s largest outbound market in 2019, is a significant step for the recovery of the tourism sector in Asia-Pacific and worldwide.
In the short term, the resumption of travel from China is likely to benefit Asian destinations in particular, shaped by the availability and cost of air travel, visa regulations and Covid-19-related restrictions in the destinations. By mid-January a total of 32 countries had imposed specific travel restrictions related to travel from China, mostly in Asia and Europe.
At the same time, strong demand from the US, backed by a strong US dollar, will continue to benefit destinations in the region and beyond. Europe will continue to enjoy strong travel flows from the US, partly due to a weaker euro versus the US dollar.
Notable increases in international tourism receipts have been recorded across most destinations, in several cases higher than their growth in arrivals. This has been supported by the increase in average spending per trip due to longer periods of stay, the willingness by travellers to spend more in their destination and higher travel costs due to inflation.
However, the economic situation could translate into tourists adopting a more cautious attitude in 2023, with reduced spending, shorter trips and travel closer to home.
Furthermore, continued uncertainty caused by the Ukraine-Russian conflict and other mounting geopolitical tensions, as well as health challenges related to Covid-19, also represent downside risks and could weigh on tourism’s recovery in the months ahead.
The latest UNWTO Confidence Index shows cautious optimism for January-April, higher than the same period in 2022. This optimism is backed by the opening up in Asia and strong spending numbers in 2022 from both traditional and emerging tourism source markets, with France, Germany and Italy, as well as Qatar, India and Saudi Arabia, all posting strong results.
Banyan Tree Samui rebuilds education centre devastated by storm
Banyan Tree has completed its latest project of rebuilding the canteen at the Wat Santi Wanaram Child Development Centre after it was destroyed by a tropical storm in January 2019.
The company’s Banyan Tree Global Foundation has sponsored hundreds of causes and projects worldwide, and for this project, Banyan Tree Samui not only funded the cost of reconstruction but the hotel staff even rolled up their sleeves and helped out with landscaping and other labour-intensive tasks.
After over a year of construction work, the canteen at the Wat Santi Wanaram Child Development Centre has been completed. The 103 children and their teachers will have a fresh and safe environment for lunch, activities and play.
Other initiatives implemented successfully by Banyan Tree Samui in recent years include a blood drive campaign, and the ongoing “Seedlings Mentorship” project aimed at nurturing young Samui students by providing them with vocational and life skills and education, and offering scholarships and financial support.
Muslim Gen Z Travellers seek culture and sustainability in travel: Mastercard-CrescentRating
The inaugural Mastercard-CrescentRating Muslim Gen Z: The Next Generation of Travelers report revealed that the Muslim Gen Z population is actively looking to travel, with 69% planning to take two or more trips in the next 12 months, and 32% wanting to stay at their destinations between one and two weeks.
Two thirds are looking for cultural immersion in their chosen destinations, while nature excursions are prioritised just as highly as more conventional “leisure seeking” pursuits, such as shopping and events. They are also developing financial independency with 32% paying for trips from their own pockets as opposed to 16% who rely solely on their parents.
Almost half of the respondents (45%) identify themselves as environmental enthusiasts. Nearly a third are willing to minimise flying, while 11% will pay for carbon offsets and 14% will take holidays closer to home to avoid longhaul flights.
Muslim Gen Z are known as intentional spenders where 77% are willing to spend more on sustainable practices such as reducing air travel, participating in voluntourism (or volunteer tourism), and supporting local businesses. When it comes to payment methods overseas, 73% are more inclined to use a debit or credit card while 57% prefer to use cash.
“Being the first generation born in the digital age, Gen Z are often considered the true digital natives with exposure to the internet, social networks, and mobile devices from a very early age. Gen Z are actively redefining what it means to travel. This report presents clear, actionable findings for tourism operators around the world that can help them to capture this incredibly important demographic,” said Fazal Bahardeen, founder and CEO, CrescentRating and HalalTrip.
Muslim Gen Z women also emerged in the study as important decision makers, with over 70% heavily involved in planning for family travel. Almost 70% prefer cultural immersion activities such as experiencing local traditions, heritage, and cuisine. In addition, 63% seek opportunities to learn something new in their travels. They are also drivers for change, with 76% indicating social causes to be important in their travel plans.
Faith-based services are also important for Muslim travellers, with Muslim Gen Z identifying Halal food services, prayer facilities, and washrooms fitted with water gadgets as “need-to-have” factors when considering destinations.
“We’ve seen that all over the world, consumers are making up for the lost time in travel due to the challenges over the last few years. They are enthusiastically wanting to visit new places and discover new experiences while keeping sustainability top of mind, and this demand will influence consumer choice and spend significantly in 2023,” said Safdar Khan, division president, South-east Asia, Mastercard.
Emirates ramps up European services
Emirates will scale up its A380 operations with a return to Scotland’s Glasgow (March 26), France’s Nice (June 1) and the UK’s Birmingham (July 1).
It will also resume its second daily service to London Stansted from May 1 this year, utilising the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft that is outfitted with the Game Changer First Class product.
With the return of the second daily flight to London Stansted, Emirates will operate 11 daily flights to London, including six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick.
Macau welcomed a travel trade familiarisation group from Hong Kong this week – the first since the pandemic upset inbound tourism.
The two-day visit reacquainted 40 attendees with Macau’s top attractions and reconnected them with local travel and tourism suppliers through a networking seminar on January 16.
According to Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Hong Kong remains the second most important source of tourist traffic for Macau, and MGTO is pushing a spate of promotional schemes and special offers to spur travel.
Starting January 13, Macau will roll out a three-month buy-one-get-one-free promotion for ferry and coach rides to Macau.
Access to Macau is improving, with two ferry operators commencing Hong Kong-Macau services. TurboJET is ready to ramp up its day and night sailings from January 19 when Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal reopens.
The Civil Aviation Authority has approved flight resumption and increased frequencies for Air Macau, as well as mainland and foreign operators. Air Asia’s thrice weekly services between Kuala Lumpur and Macau will commence in February, while Sky Shuttle has started operating eight daily flights to Hong Kong since January 16.
Avis Macau has also fully resumed its cross-border premium transfer service, and has been pushing private boutique tours using its seven-seater cars.
More promotions for the Hong Kong market will be announced after Chinese New Year.
Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Council’s (TIC) chairman, Gianna Hsu, praised MGTO’s swift action to rebuild Hong Kong traffic.
She believes that promotional offers will boost Hong Kong residents’ interest in Macau.
“It will take less than 10 days for Macau to hit 50 per cent of pre-Covid daily visitorship (from Hong Kong). This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said, adding that more collaboration between both cities would complement each other’s tourism promotions.
During a product presentation, MGTO’s deputy director, Cheng Wai Tong, urged attendees to work together to create travel bundles comprising premium car rental and authentic, tailor-made tour experiences.
Cheng added that an even larger travel trade familiarisation trip scheduled for February, involving 60 to 70 agents from Hong Kong.
Rutger Verschuren, general manager and area vice president, Macau operations, Artyzen Grand Lapa Macau, said: “It is magnificent seeing our friends in every sector of the tourism industry, MGTO and TIC shifting gear so fast.
“We are now on a U-turn towards a perfect recovery – anxiety by the gaming tenders has been wrapped up, Chinese New Year is around the corner, and zero-Covid put aside along with most restrictions. (It’s) green light all the way, it appears.”
However, international arrivals will take time to return, as flights are not fully recovered, opined MGTO’s Fernandes. “More flights from South-east Asia (will) be announced next month,” she said.
Macau registered more than 55,000 visitor arrivals across all markets on January 14 – the highest single-day record. For the whole of December 2022, Macau had a daily average of 12,909 visitors.
Fernandes said arrival numbers will continue to climb, with an average of 47,000 visitors expected during the upcoming seven-day Chinese New Year holidays.