The secret to success
What trends are you seeing in the needs of international visitors and how are you accommodating them?
The way travellers around the world think about luxury is changing. Things like quality time and rare experiences now define luxury travel more than luxurious spaces. Ecotourism, which aims to allow travellers to experience and learn about the natural environment, culture and history of a region, is now attracting attention. In this case, luxury tourism could be described as encountering nature that only exists there and experiencing food that can only be eaten there.
We believe that by offering these real experiences (unique to) each local area, we can meet the needs and trends for our luxury customers.
What are your growth plans in Japan?
We are trying out new initiatives such as operating a hotel near Kansai International Airport. (Surveys show that the) criteria for choosing an airport hotel were price, access and cleanliness, and airport hotels were mostly used only for sleeping. I want to create an airport hotel that can offer a fun stay as a hotel concept.
Also, we opened Risonare Osaka at Hyatt Regency Osaka in December 2022. This hotel is a new initiative for us as it is part of a “hotel-in-hotel” structure. When Hyatt Regency Osaka was built, it had a decent market size so 300 rooms were created to match that demand. However, due to the pandemic, market demand is changing. Tourists will become more numerous than business travellers. Osaka is oversupplied by accommodation and hotel competition is tough. Filling up 300 rooms became the issue, so we came up with the idea of two brands collaborating. While Hyatt Regency Osaka is strong in some markets, Risonare is strong in others, particularly among families with children. I wanted to try filling the entire 300 rooms by bringing together these two hotel brands.
How about your growth plans for overseas?
Our vision for the future is not only to operate in Japan, but also to become a globally competitive hotel management company. The Japanese are originally famous for their hospitality so I want to do something to change the fact that Japan cannot compete globally in the hospitality-focused industry of tourism. Now, we are targeting the US because it is the launching pad for the global hotel industry.
One of our ongoing plans is to open a Japanese-style hot spring inn (ryokan) within three to five years in the US. If we are recognised there, we will have more opportunities to expand in other regions. I believe the hot spring inn is a unique accommodation and has elements of a Japanese cultural theme park. There are about 1,200 hot spring spots in the US, such as (in) California and Colorado. As the number of foreign visitors to Japan from the US has increased in recent years, the level of understanding of (the) Japanese culture has also increased. Japanese-style hot spring inns in the US, therefore, are likely to be both desirable and successful.
Hoshino Resorts’ history goes back to 1914, when its first ryokan hot spring inn was established – so what is your secret to success?
In order to operate all Hoshino Resorts properties equally, the culture must be flat, and not the organisation itself. This is not an idea we came up with, but is based on American author Kenneth Blanchard’s theory of organisational management. This theory is the guiding principle for creating a flat culture and solving various onsite problems at Hoshino Resorts.
Our staff are always aware and discovering something new while serving customers, and without this awareness and discovery, it is difficult for hotels to function properly. Therefore, the most important element of management is that the employees think for themselves. Problems come up onsite and solutions should be decided immediately. Carrying out the decision-making process onsite, rather than at our headquarters in Tokyo, is our essence. Our job at the headquarters is to provide the right environment and invest in the system. It is important to create an organisation where each resort acts independently.
Belmond names new VP and divisional leader
Iain Langridge has been appointed as vice president and divisional leader of Northern Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
In his new role, Langridge will be responsible for the operations and management of the newly created Northern Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific division, which consists of properties in those regions.
He joined Belmond in 2020 as divisional managing director for Asia-Pacific where he has since led the company’s Asian hotels through the pandemic, developing and implementing plans of ambition as well as playing an active role in multiple steering committees that have led to the rollout of strategic initiatives across the company.
Keio Plaza Hotel Hachioji brings Sanrio characters to life this summer
Keio Plaza Hotel Hachioji will be the new home to Sanrio-themed rooms featuring popular characters like Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Kuromi come summer 2023.
It will take over from the success of similar themed rooms at Keio Plaza Hotel Tama, which had been popular since opening in 2014 but has since ceased operations on January 15.
With a total of four new theme rooms, there will be two rooms in each theme and even the introduction of two new characters: New Princess Kitty and Princess Kitty, exclusively designed for Keio Plaza Hotel Hachioji. The rooms will present the character’s concept and are facilitated with a space that is a little higher than the floor, one of the Japanese traditional architectural styles.
The hotel will work with the local community for the opening of the new themed rooms, and hopes to attract Sanrio character fans from all around the world.
For more information, visit Keio Plaza Hotel Hachioji.
Indonesian budget lodging on a prosperous roll
Improving Covid-19 situation and stronger travel confidence have resulted in an exceptional year of growth for budget lodgings in Indonesia.
OYO’s bookings rose 90 per cent between May and November 2022, compared to the previous year in the same period, while RedDoorz’s bookings have surpassed 2019’s performance by 90 per cent, particularly in popular cities like Yogyakarta and Bandung.
Ankit Tandon, OYO’s global CBO and CEO of Southeast Asia and the Middle East, noted that the Lebaran holidays in May 2022 alone pushed lodging bookings up by 82 per cent compared against 2021. Bookings spiked again during the long Independence Day holiday in August, with a 72 per cent increment over 2021.
Hendro Tan, country stock and flow head of OYO Indonesia, told TTG Asia that Indonesia has shown the greatest growth rate for the company, with demand stemming from leisure and business travel.
Bookings from Bandung, Bali, Yogyakarta, Malang and Lampung soared 114 per cent from May to November 2022, while commercials cities Jakarta, Tangerang, Surabaya, Bekasi and Medan recorded an average growth of 52 per cent in the same period.
“Entering its fourth year of operation in Indonesia, OYO has achieved 15 times positive business growth and attracted more than 13 million customers,” continued Hendro.
Adil Mubarak, vice president of multi brand RedDoorz Indonesia, is optimistic that RedDoorz would continue to experience good growth in 2023, especially on the back of expansion through its multi-brand strategy.
RedDoorz Indonesia is working with property owners to establish properties in several areas. There are plans for more SANS Hotels branded properties in east and west Indonesia, and the company is readying for the launch of Lavana Bali, a new product line featuring luxury villas.
Emirates establishes return to Hong Kong market
Emirates is ramping up flights to and from Hong Kong and boosting its manpower and sales channel there, keen to make up for lost time now that travel to and from the North Asian market has resumed.
It deployed an A380 to replace the B700-300 for its Hong Kong-Bangkok-Dubai daily flight last October, and will add a daily non-stop service from its Dubai hub, starting March 29. When the latter commences, Emirates will operate up to 14 weekly flights for Hong Kong.
Newly-appointed area manager Hong Kong, Nasser Bahlooq, said the airline has seen “very fast” progress in the market. December seat factor was well over 88 per cent, reaching 100 per cent for a few days leading up to Christmas.
“It was our best months (in the last) two years. Similar trend is observed for the upcoming Chinese New Year as well,” he added.
As it works to “strengthen the carrier’s position as well as revenue and profitability of (the) business”, Emirates will continue to collaborate with travel trade partners. Bahlooq has been engaging with Hong Kong’s top five travel consolidators, such as Lotus Travel, Four Seas Travel and Nan Hwa Express Travel Service which have strong access to smaller retail agents.
It is also planning to reintroduce its retail office this year to complement other sales channels, and will reopen its revamped lounge at Hong Kong International Airport by the end of 2023.
While Emirates did not make any staff redundant in the Hong Kong office throughout the pandemic, Bahlooq said global recruitment efforts are facing some challenges. The airline is looking to attract more pilots through its Accelerated Command programme, as well as more cabin crew and IT specialists.
“We are the biggest operator of A380 aircraft, with 119 in operations now, and we are still working hard to resume service step by step,” he added.
Emirates’ ongoing Fly Better campaign aims to retrofit 120 aircraft with Premium Economy seats. The plan is for 67 earmarked A380s to be refreshed and put back into service before starting work on 53 B777 aircraft progressively from 2024.
Editor’s note: This has been updated with information on Emirates’ Dubai-Hong Kong direct service, which was announced the afternoon of January 17.
China travel bookings boosted by Lunar New Year demand: Trip.com Group
Trip.com Group has seen mainland Chinese demand for travel continue to surge in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday season.
This comes after the decision last month by China to officially abolish all quarantine restrictions for inbound visitors from January 8, 2023. Since the announcement, Trip.com Group has seen a huge increase in searches and the volume of travel bookings.
On Trip.com Group’s leading Chinese language travel service platform Ctrip, between December 26, 2022 and January 5, 2023, search interest for outbound flights from China increased by 83% compared to the two-week period prior, with outbound flight bookings increasing by 59% over the same period.
Bookings show the most popular cross-border destinations include: Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, the US, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.
Lunar New Year trends
With millions set to be on the move during the Lunar New Year holiday in China, also known as Spring Festival, which takes place from January 21 to 27, 2023 and the first major holiday following the liberalisation of border policies, outbound bookings for trips have grown significantly.
Analysis of Ctrip data shows overseas travel for the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday surged by 540% compared to last year’s Spring Festival; and the average cost of bookings was revealed to have risen by 32% year-on-year.
Ctrip data also shows airline bookings from China to Hong Kong increased by 18 times compared with the previous year, following the announcement to ease restrictions. The number of airline bookings to Hong Kong has also increased by 36% month-on-month. Similarly, the search popularity of Hong Kong on the platform was more than double that and increased by 85% month-on-month.
Taking a deeper look, the top ten most popular domestic destinations for the Spring festival are Shanghai, Beijing, Sanya, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming, Hangzhou, Chongqing and Haikou.
South-east Asia shines as top outbound destination
As of January 12, 2023, overall travel bookings of mainland tourists to South-east Asian countries increased by 1,026% compared with the same period last year. The number of air ticket bookings from China to South-east Asia increased by 864% year-on-year, and the top five most popular destination countries for mainland tourists traveling to South-east Asia during the Lunar New Year holiday are: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
According to Ctrip’s data, from December 27 to January 11, Thailand stands out as a top destination for mainland tourists during the Spring Festival holiday on the platform. During the same period, inbound travel bookings from Thailand to China increased by 101% year-on-year.
In addition to this, as of January 12, the number of mainland tourists traveling to Singapore for the Lunar New Year holiday increased by 499% year-on-year, Malaysia saw an increase of 584% year-on-year, with Cambodia and Indonesia each increasing by more than 10 times year-on-year.
A welcoming return for Chinese tourists
With the adjustment of China’s entry and exit policy, the cross-border travel market is also picking up with embassies and tourism boards across the world targeting Chinese tourists aiming to attract them back to visit their countries.
One example is the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) China is back campaign, to welcome the return of Chinese tourists. It expects more than 300,000 Chinese tourists to visit Thailand in the first three months of 2023 alone.
Trip.com Group’s first livestream broadcast targeting the outbound mainland audience recorded sales of more than 20,000 room nights, amounting to a Gross Merchandise Value of over RMB 40 million (US$5.97 million). The livestream session was supported by TAT, with its governor Yuthasak Supasorn joining the broadcast to interact with viewers.
Hosted by Trip.com Group’s vice president Sun Tianxu and presenter Xiao Yu, the livestream session featured almost 60 products, including attractions tickets and staycation packages at hotels across Thailand, such as The Peninsula Bangkok, Capella Bangkok, InterContinental Pattaya Resort, and Banyan Tree Krabi.
Resorts World Cruises set for Hong Kong return this March
Resorts World Cruises will commence Hong Kong cruises with Resorts World One from March 10 this year, offering travellers two- and three-night high-seas sailings departing every Friday, Sunday and Wednesday.
Resorts World One, previously Explorer Dream, is a 13-storey-high cruise ship that packs in 928 rooms and world-class cruise facilities. It has capacity for more than 1,856 guests.
Resorts World One is chartered by Resorts World Cruises, and she will replace Genting Dream’s regular two- and three-night itineraries from February 17 until March 1, as the latter goes into dry-dock for regular maintenance.
Departing on March 3, Resorts World One will offer a special five-night repositioning cruise from Singapore, calling at Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, prior to arriving in Hong Kong on March 8. Passengers can also embark from Kuala Lumpur (via Port Klang) for this repositioning cruise on March 2, making it a six-night cruise calling at Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang before arriving in Hong Kong.
The ship will berth at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.
Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Resorts World Cruises, said: “We are pleased that Resorts World Cruises will have the first cruise ship to homeport in Hong Kong after the resumption of normal travel with the mainland and overseas. We hope to support the growth of the Hong Kong tourism as we had done for both Singapore and Malaysia.”
Michael Goh, president of Resorts World Cruises, added that Resorts World One‘s call in Hong Kong will “increase tourist arrivals and generate economic benefits to the hotels, transport, suppliers and other service sectors” in the destination.
PAL steps up China flights
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has resumed Manila-Xiamen services on January 13, and launched a new flight to Guangzhou the following day.
Both services are operated once a week for a start.
The direct flight between Manila and Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport offers travellers early morning departures. PR 382 departs Manila at 03.35 every Saturday, arriving in Guangzhou at 06.10, while PR 383 departs Guangzhou at 08.40 every Saturday, arriving in Manila at 11.10.
Timings will be adjusted from January 28, with PR 383 setting off at 7.10 instead.
For its calibrated and progressive resumption of flights to the Chinese mainland, PAL is working closely with Chinese and Philippine health and aviation authorities to ensure the highest level of health safety protections for travellers.
Prior to the pandemic, the flag carrier served Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Quanzhou (Jinjiang) and Xiamen with a total of 34 weekly flights.
InterContinental Danang unveils new musical spa
Named after the tones in the musical scale, the new Mi Sol Spa set within InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort applies sound therapy to its programmes to tune guests back to physical, mental and spiritual wellness.
According to its press statement, each tone in the musical scale has a specific vibration frequency and can enhance the flow of natural energy around the body. For example, mi – 528 hertz – can stimulate love and restore equilibrium, while sol – 741 hertz – cleanses the body of toxins.
Using tuning forks to harness these frequencies and blending them with ancient wisdom and modern science, this wellness centre promises to help every guest achieve complete relaxation and rejuvenation.
Mi Sol Spa offers eight treatment villas that are based on the tube shape of Quonset huts. These elegant suites are complemented by soothing saunas and steam rooms, hammam beds, Jacuzzis and marble bathtubs.
For more information and reservations, please contact reservations.icdanang@ihg.com.
Singapore tourism is expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 on the back of a strong recovery trajectory in 2022 and continued growth momentum this year, said Singapore Tourism Board (STB) officials at this morning’s Year-in-Review conference.
Exceeding STB’s forecast of four to six million visitors, the city-state’s international visitor arrivals (IVA) hit 6.3 million in 2022 – about 33 per cent of 2019’s IVA – with key source markets Indonesia (1.1 million), India (686,000) and Malaysia (591,000) leading the way.
Tourism receipts are estimated to reach S$13.8 billion (US$10.4 billion) to S$14.3 billion, about 50 to 52 per cent of 2019’s takings with top markets, Indonesia, India and Australia contributing S$1.1 billion, S$704 million, and S$633 million respectively.
The average length of stay in Singapore was about 4.81 days (post-quarantine period), compared to 3.36 days for the same period in 2019.
Arrivals were boosted by a number of marquee events in 2022, such as the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2022 that drew a record attendance of 302,000, and Singapore Fintech Festival, which attracted a record turnout from over 115 countries.
In tandem with the stronger demand for leisure and business travel, Singapore’s hotel industry posted an AOR of 79.1 per cent from April to December 2022, compared to 87.3 per cent in the same period in 2019. ARR during this period increased by 17 per cent to S$260, while RevPAR went up by 6.2 per cent to S$206.
In 2022, Singapore’s position as a regional cruise hub also strengthened with more than 230 ship calls and a passenger throughput of 1.2 million, about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
With increasing flight connectivity and capacity as well as China’s gradual reopening, STB expects the growth momentum to spill into 2023. IVA is expected to reach around 12 million to 14 million visitors, bringing in approximately S$18 billion to S$21 billion in tourism receipts – around two-thirds to three-quarters of 2019 levels.
STB chief executive Keith Tan said the IVA projections are impacted by China’s speed of recovery – “how fast they open and flights are restored”.
He expects to see Chinese arrivals returning to 30 to 60 per cent of 2019’s numbers by the end of 2023.
Moving into the new year, STB will continue to support the development of new and refreshed offerings, such as Bird Paradise @ Mandai Wildlife Reserve, and pump S$110 million into boosting business and leisure events over the next two years. The new year has kicked off strongly with some high-profile events, such as Art SG, South-east Asia’s largest art fair, and Sail GP, which made its Asian debut last week.
Destination marketing through the SingapoReimagine campaign will be intensified in all key markets while the SingapoReimagine Marketing Programme will help local tourism and lifestyle businesses promote Singapore.
To alleviate the manpower crunch, STB will continue to help the tourism sector ramp up hiring, support manpower needs and provide assistance for digital transformation industry-wide. As of September 2022, the total tourism workforce is around 65,000 – about 78 per cent of 2019 levels.
Summing up, Tan said: “To sustain our growth in 2023 and beyond, we will expand our partnerships, build up a rich year-round calendar of events, ramp up investment in new and refreshed products and experiences, and continue to support industry efforts to build the capabilities they need to meet consumer demands.”