TTG Asia will be taking a break on Monday, October 24, for the Deepavali/Diwali holiday.
The online news bulletin will resume on Tuesday, October 25.
Here’s wishing all our Hindu readers a happy Festival of Lights!
COMO’s Chan Bee Hong named Mentor of the Year
ACI HR Solutions has named Chan Bee Hong, vice president finance at COMO Hotels and Resorts recipient of its 2022 Mentor of the Year, an annual award that recognises individuals in the travel and tourism industry who lead the way in mentorship.
Commenting on her win, Chan told TTG Asia that she has a deep belief in “wanting to help others to make a difference and to be able to inspire them to live a fuller life”.
She said COMO Hotels & Resorts supports mentorship, which allows her to transform and guide her team towards excellence.
When asked about her mentorship style and how it has helped her mentees, Chan said: “I have been blessed with a number of mentors who have helped me shape and develop various mentorships styles.
“A number of my former mentees have excelled in different areas of their lives and I have been fortunate to work for companies that have allowed me the space to mentor. I am most grateful that we are all on a path that enables each of us to reach our dreams or visions together and impacting those around us.”
Looking ahead, Chan hopes the travel and tourism industry would “provide creative and conducive environments to drive the passion in each and every individual to perform at a higher level”.
“Having platforms from partners like ACI HR Solutions to recognise individuals and their contributions helps too,” said.
She added that “as every moment spent together is precious for anyone’s life, let’s treasure each other, dream big and do things differently as greatness is around the corner”.
The Anam Group announces three senior recruitments
The Anam Group has appointed Laurent Myter as group general manager to lead and oversee the company’s growing number of properties.
Myter has almost three decades’ experience managing luxury hotels and resorts, and joins the group after working at YTL Hotels for 26 years. He has also been an executive director and the president of Small Luxury Hotels of the World’s International Advisory Board of Hoteliers for three years and two years respectively.
Martin Koerner is the group commercial director and returns to the Anam Group after previously working for about four years as the group’s director of sales, marketing and distribution.
Ye Chang Sheng has been promoted to resort manager of the group’s second property, Anam Mui Ne after having worked for the group’s first resort Anam Cam Ranh since its 2017 debut.
Philippines replaces One Health Pass with e-Arrival Card
The Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) has introduced the electronic arrival card on October 21, which provides a more convenient and stress-free experience for Filipino and foreign travellers arriving in the Philippines.
The e-Arrival Card replaces the existing One Health Pass (OHP) entry requirement for travellers as a bid to ease the country’s remaining stringent entry protocols so as to attract more travellers and boost the country’s tourism recovery.
The decision to remove the OHP was a result of numerous complaints from inbound travellers, as well as a means of benchmarking more convenient arrival protocols in South-east Asia such as Singapore.
Prior to the adoption of the new e-Arrival Card, travellers were required to register for the OHP a few days before their travel, and accomplish the electronic Health Declaration Checklist on the day of departure.
Compared to the previous OHP system, the e-Arrival Card also removes unnecessary information fields, making it easier and faster to complete the traveller registration process. It will also eventually eliminate the need for physical arrival cards.
Upon providing their travel details, personal information, health declaration and vaccination details on the e-Arrival Card, travellers will be issued with a unique QR code which they must then capture a screenshot of the QR code on their mobile device and present it to the Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) officers at their destination airport in the Philippines.
In the event that a traveller is unable to complete their e-Arrival Card, the BoQ has staff stationed at the airport to assist in the registration.
Lachlan Hoswell leads Radisson Hotel Group, Australasia
Radisson Hotel Group has appointed Lachlan Hoswell as managing director, Australasia.
With over 20 years of hospitality experience, Hoswell will be supporting his team and driving the growth of the group’s portfolio across major towns, cities and upcoming destinations across Australia and New Zealand. He will also lead operations and be responsible for all strategic initiatives in the region, working closely with key business partners to strengthen Radisson Hotel Group’s branding in-market.
Prior to joining the group, Hoswell held the position of company director, general counsel and commercial officer of Minor Hotels Australia and New Zealand.
Visa struggles continue for Indonesians
Indonesian outbound travel companies looking to reap a good year-end harvest since the easing of travel restrictions are hitting visa roadblocks.
While many travel agencies are reporting intense demand for European holidays, some even seeing record-breaking requests and bookings, trip fulfilment has been marred by slow and delayed visa applications.
Edhi Sutadarma, tour director of Golden Rama Tours & Travel, said: “Although countries are open to visitors, not all are open to groups, like Italy and Germany. And those that welcome groups have limited capacity for visa processing. In fact, applications to some countries have been halted until January 2023.”
Agents also complain of changes to visa processing duration, with some being alerted only at the last minute.
Hellen Xu, CEO of Panorama JTB Travel, shared that a group of 28 travellers to Switzerland last week risked missing their flight due to such a change. After applications were submitted, her agency was informed that 21 days were needed for the procedure instead of 14.
“We were unsure if the group could go even on departure day. Our travellers were due to fly out at 18.20 and their passports were only returned to us at 16.00. Luckily, the airline was cooperative and the group was able to fly in the end,” she recalled.
Edhi noted that appointments for biometric clearance were also tricky to secure due to limited slots, making it difficult for his team to schedule visa applications.
Pauline Suharno, president of the Association of the Travel Agencies in Indonesia, said the visa problem has resulted in business losses for travel companies.
“They have to give full refunds to travellers if (the trip cannot be fulfilled). They have to pay cancellation fees to airlines and ground operators,” she said.
In July, TTG Asia reported that losses from cancellation charges and forfeited fees ran as high as US$500,000 for a single travel company.
To minimise losses, some agencies are rerouting their programmes to easier points of entry in Europe, according to Pauline. Others are pooling passengers with agencies holding group visas but have yet to meet minimum traveller numbers for departures.
Indonesian agents are also offering tours to destinations with friendlier visa systems, like Turkey, where visas are not needed.
NYC extends warm welcome to Muslim travellers
New York City has restarted its promotions in South-east Asia, and this time the iconic American city is looking to work its way into the hearts of Muslim travellers.
It has published the New York City Halal Travel Guide and is communicating the fact that the city is home to around one million Muslims.
Makiko Matsuda Healy, managing director of tourism development, NYC & Company, said: “The pandemic had us rethink how we want to present the city (to the market). We don’t want to just go back to where we were; we want to show that there is more to offer in New York City.”
As a melting pot of cultures, New York City is home to Asians, Latinos, Mexicans and others, which might not have been highlighted enough in the past, opined Healy.
“(Muslims) are actually one of the oldest communities in New York City. We have (halal) facilities ready as we have been serving the Muslim community (for so long),” she added.
Besides the Muslim traveller focus, NYC & Company is also encouraging visitors to “travel like the New Yorkers” and discover hidden spots throughout the five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island) where they can engage with the local community and take home unique experiences. Visitors can look forward to food cart-hopping tours, food and fashion tours, vintage clothing shopping, as well as dining at restaurants that practice sustainable sourcing.
Healy said that companies offering these experiences work closely with the local communities.
Healy said New York City is on track to welcome 56.7 million visitors this year – 85 per cent of 2019’s performance. In 2019, South-east Asia contributed 220,000 arrivals.
“South-east Asia is important because it is a long-haul market that stays long and has high spending power,” she said, adding that Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia are especially valuable.
Saudi fires up tourism pursuit
The Asia-Pacific market has been identified as a shiny target for Saudi Arabia as it reopens its borders and sets out to fulfil its ambitious Vision 2030 to grow tourist arrivals to 100 million.
Malaysia and India are particularly important, said Alhasan A Aldabbagh, chief markets officer, Asia Pacific with Saudi Tourism Authority (STA).
In an interview with TTG Asia, Alhasan revealed that the Kingdom is targeting 500,000 tourists from Malaysia. It is working closely with trade partners to nurture the nascent Malaysian leisure segment, with its latest move being an MoU with the Malaysia Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) to provide members with destination training and promotional tools. Saudi Arabia has also committed to being a destination partner for MATTA Fair in March 2023 in Kuala Lumpur.
On October 17, STA pulled off its first roadshow in Kuala Lumpur, introducing more than 100 Malaysian outbound agents to the kingdom’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, soft adventures, architecture and marine life.
There are plans for a second roadshow later this year, even more marketing campaigns, as well as engagements with influencers and celebrities as destination advocates.
Over in India, STA intends to charm travellers with Bollywood stars as well as football and cricket icons. It also wants a share of the lucrative Indian destination weddings market.
Elsewhere in the region, STA will open offices in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia next year. Alhasan said the organisation is keen to establish representative offices in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan too, but no time frame has been set. STA already has a physical presence in India, China, South Korea, Japan while its commercial office in Malaysia covers the South-east Asian region.
While Alhasan said Saudi Arabia is late to the tourism game, he does not feel that the kingdom is playing with a disadvantage against other tourism-focused Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) destinations.
“Each destination in the GCC has its own unique offering, and a lot of people would like to go to multiple destinations on a single trip. We see Saudi Arabia complementing rather than competing with other GCC destinations. We like to think of ourselves as having the unique positioning that we are the true home of Arabia. We offer a very authentic Arabian culture and have a lot of distinctions. We have over 10,000 archeological sites and we are bringing them out to the world,” he said.
Travel desire in India remains strong
Having restrained their wanderlust for more than two years, Indian consumers are leveraging every opportunity to leave home and explore new destinations, with travel demand surging over long weekends, festive holidays, and summer and winter breaks.
According to Indian travel specialists, this pent-up travel demand will fuel business recovery and growth through 2023.
While Indian travellers’ hunger for European holidays are met with visa application delays this year, travel consultants are certain that the region will remain a hot favourite.
Daniel D’Souza, president & country head – holidays with SOTC Travel, expects visa conditions to improve soon, allowing more Indians to travel to their favourite destinations in Europe and the UK.
Rajeev Kale, president & country head, Holidays, MICE, Visa with Thomas Cook (India), shared that his company’s 2023 pipeline indicates strong international travel demand, with Europe topping the charts. Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy are hot favourites, followed closely by Turkey, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
However, the world is truly every Indian traveller’s oyster, according to Kale, who said customers are also favouring “closer-to-home destinations” like Singapore and Thailand; Japan for its cherry blossom season; and more exotic options like Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.
When asked to identify key travel motivations, travel consultants offered TTG Asia a wide-ranging response.
D’Souza observes a “comeback of slow travel and immersive experiences”, with his customers favouring community-based activities.
Kale reports a “strong focus on celebration travel”, where his customers are marking special occasions, milestones and reunions with a precious travel memory.
“Travel desire for the unusual will also witness a healthy uptick, such as stays in Egypt’s white desert or Finland’s glass igloos, fissure snorkelling among the fjords in Iceland, and ice-breaker cruises in Antarctica, among others,” Kale added.
Agents also pointed to strong cruise interest among their customers.
Destination marketers around the world have been quick to spot India’s strong outbound travel potential – an especially important source market in the continued absence of Chinese travellers.
Several tourism boards have held roadshows in India this year – Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, Kyrgyz Republic, Tourism New Zealand, and Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Visit Iceland, which led a roadshow to Mumbai and New Delhi last month, is in talks with major production houses in India to promote Iceland for film shoots, and will refund up to 35 per cent of production cost if certain criteria are met.
Philippines hits 2022 target arrivals this month
The Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) has surpassed its 2022 arrival target as of October 17, with 1,767,791 foreign visitors on record.
The DoT’s target for the full year was 1.7 million.
Sharing the news at the Philippine Tourism Industry Reception, tourism secretary Christina Garcia Frasco vowed “to work relentlessly towards ushering the Philippines into a primary tourism position in the ASEAN and the world”.
Philippine president Ferdinand R Marcos, Jr expressed confidence in the country’s tourism recovery and cited the industry’s crucial role as a high potential driver for the transformation of the country’s economy.
“Very early on, even before I took office, in consultation with our economic managers, with private businessmen, it became very clear that as we transform our economy, one of the high potential drivers for the transformation of the economy is tourism.
“We must immediately do all that we can to make sure that this asset that the Philippines has, be used to bring good jobs to people and to once again re-introduce the Philippines to the world,” he said in his address.
