Southeast Asia’s travel and lifestyle platform, Traveloka has rolled out a new GOverseas campaign that packs in special deals on international flights and hotel stays in popular destinations such as Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the US and the Maldives.
Sweetening these deals are hotel and flight coupons, worth up to S$150 (US$106.70), that travellers can apply to their purchases for additional savings.
Traveloka’s users can look forward to Weekly GOverseas Travel Flash Sale from Monday to Wednesday, exclusive deals with bank partners, and peace of mind when booking ahead with EasyReschedule, the platform’s proprietary flight and hotel rescheduling service.
Pascal Gekko, vice president of international accommodation, Traveloka, said: “International travel has increased as a result of pent-up demand during the pandemic and in response to remote working and digital nomadism. As a travel and lifestyle platform, we understand the concerns of travellers and are focused on providing the best value and reliability with our products and services. Traveloka will continue to work with our partners and other industry players to ensure we meet the evolving needs of consumers in a post pandemic world, for reliable flight and hotel booking services.”
Six top-performing wholesale product managers from Australia, a key source market for Singapore, went on a five-day action-packed fam trip around the Lion City recently in a programme crafted by WebBeds and the Singapore Tourism Board.
He has rich experience in launching new hotels with Okura Nikko Hotels, having joined several pre-opening offices where he set up a sales channel and IT system for Room Division such as OTA, wholesaler, metasearch, PMS, and more.
In her new role, she will champion an inclusive culture of growth and create a sustainable workforce by emphasising team building, colleague development, succession planning and improving overall employee welfare.
Japan’s move to allow international travellers in without booking a guided package tour since September 7 has injected fresh optimism in tour operators.
Visitors to Japan now require a local sponsor, such as a travel agency, who can track their whereabouts on any given day.
The move is designed to stimulate greater inbound tourism, whose rebound has been slow since tourists were allowed to return on June 10 after more than two years. Only guided tours have been permitted since then, resulting in about 16,000 tourism arrivals between June 10 and the end of August, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.
Jeff Aasgaard, president of Rediscover Japan and Rediscover Tours, described the move as “a step in the right direction.”
“This is great news for us as a specialist whose business is 80 per cent self-guided tailored travel,” said Simon King, co-founder of InsideJapan, adding that the easing of restrictions “in time for Japan’s peak autumn departures is such a relief for us and all our partners on the ground that rely on our customers’ business”.
Geoff Day, COO of Japan Travel, said the move will be “a boon for travel agencies” as independent travellers will need “to book and plan their travel through an accredited travel agency”.
Still, many agents say tourism rules need to be relaxed further for the industry to see a full recovery.
The September 7 development is “not perfect, but progress,” remarked Aasgaard.