Thailand-based Narai Hospitality Group has debuted Marasca Hotels & Resorts, a new luxury accommodation brand, with the opening of Marasca Khao Yai set to be its first flag bearer.
Marasca Hotels & Resorts is described as a collection of intimate, casual and luxurious escapes in unique locations, with properties that promise ‘cherry-on-top’ moments and experiential stays.
Marasca Khao Yai offers luxurious glamping tents surrounded by greenery
Marasca Khao Yai will offer a range of accommodation types, from villas to luxurious glamping tents and glamper vans, all with stunning mountain views, private outdoor tubs and a personal fire pit. The surrounding greenery, large trees and natural terrain will be preserved so that guests can enjoy nature as it is.
Marasca Koh Samui will follow suit in 2023.
Narai Hospitality Group’s director Nithida Nithivasin said: “Marasca is named after a type of cherry, which shaped the essence of our brand. We want to create ‘cherry-on-top’ moments for our guests through stylish designs and high-quality amenities, while offering welcoming experiences to make them feel truly at home – a space where you can spend time to reset while traveling and rediscovering yourself.”
The company is now recruiting for both properties. To apply, visit https://bit.ly/MarascaTeam
The Malaysian government has commenced Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) with Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia as part of joint efforts to reopen international borders.
The quarantine-free travel arrangement for fully vaccinated travellers will come into effect on March 15.
Fully vaccinated travellers from Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia can look forward to the quarantine-free travel arrangement
Malaysian transport minister Wee Ka Siong, said: “These routes are expected to aid our mutual economic recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in reviving the ailing tourism industry.”
For the VTL with Thailand, designated airlines from both countries will be allowed to mount up to six flights daily for the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route, and up to four flights daily for the Kuala Lumpur-Phuket route. Additional routes may be added, subject to mutual agreement by both countries.
For the VTL with Cambodia, designated airlines from both countries will be allowed to operate up to two flights daily on the Kuala Lumpur-Phnom Penh route, while additional routes may be added should demand dictates.
Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association’s president Uzaidi Udanis stated that the “VTLs are a privilege to tourists, who cannot visit Malaysia otherwise”, and urged the government to make it compulsory for VTL travellers to use the services of travel agents to ensure compliance of Covid-19 standard operating procedures. This policy is implemented with the Langkawi International Travel Bubble model.
KL Tan, president of Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, opined that the Malaysian VTLs were lagging behind the initiatives of other governments, as many have announced full border reopening.
With the current global practices of countries transiting away from VTLs in favour of welcoming vaccinated travellers from all countries, Tan said Malaysia should follow suit while making the necessary modifications based on country of origin, travel history and negative Covid-19 status.
Currently, Malaysia only has an air and land VTL arrangement with Singapore, which was implemented on November 29, 2021. An air VTL for Penang-Singapore would commence on March 16.
Since its inception in 1990, Ping Anchorage Travel & Tours has fashioned its tours in Malaysia to channel income to local women, by way of community tourism.
Tours around its home state of Terengganu, as well as Kelantan and Pahang, feature village visits, during which guests can experience the rustic environment and interact with villagers to learn about their lifestyle.
Lee supports local village women by retailing their handicraft in his craft shop, Terradala
Managing director, Alex Lee, said most of the hosts are local women, who will take guests around and serve them delicacies made by fellow villagers.
“We pay the villagers a fee for hosting the guests. It is also an opportunity for the village women, who make beautiful handicraft such as mats, baskets and handbags, to showcase their craft. Foreigners love purchasing authentic products to take home as souvenirs,” said Lee.
Lee also buys handicraft from the villagers and resell them at the company’s craft shop, Terradala.
“This is our way of supporting the local women, many of whom due to personal commitments, such as having to care for their family, are unable to work outside their homes. We offer them the flexibility to produce lovely handicraft from the comfort of their homes, and the guests we take to the villages are their potential buyers.”
Lee said the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting disruption of travel and business events have impacted the income of these women. However, he is confident that the industry will gradually recover, and bring about more orders and jobs for the women.
Despite the travel disruption, destinations that set shining examples of Halal travel development pre-pandemic have continued to engage Muslim travellers and trade partners as well as build up their Halal tourism capacity and capability, observes Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating and HalalTrip.
In this new episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions, Fazal also shares his views on how the Muslim travel growth trajectory will look as travel begins to resume, travel intentions for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, post-pandemic travel motivations, as well as the many things CrescentRating and HalalTrip are keeping busy with.
Singapore-headquartered Agoda has signed a partnership agreement with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for an integrated marketing campaign that targets South-east Asia travellers.
Utilising Agoda’s technology and travel expertise, data insights and integrated marketing capabilities to showcase Singapore as a destination, the partnership will help to drive more affinity for travel experiences to Singapore and stimulate the tourism economy.
(From left) Agoda’s Crystal Koh, Enric Casals and Ollala Rey; STB’s John Gregory Conceicao and Nicholas Lim
John Gregory Conceicao, STB’s executive director, said: “As borders gradually re-open, it is important for the industry to collaborate and drive our travel sector forward. Through this partnership, we can reach a wider audience and invite them to rediscover Singapore and our vibrant neighbourhoods, variety of delicious food and unique attractions.”
Singapore will roll out two new vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) for Vietnam and Greece, and extend quarantine-free arrangements to more cities in Malaysia, Indonesia and India, from March 16.
Travellers from Vietnam and Greece may enter Singapore under the VTL on or after March 16. VTL applications will open on March 13 at 10.00. This is required for eligible short-term visitors and work permit holders.
Access to Singapore has improved with a new Vaccinated Travel Lane with Greece and more Asian destinations
With the addition of the VTL with Greece, Singapore now has two-way quarantine-free travel with all countries in Europe that have direct flights to the city-state.
The European Economic Area, which comprises 27 EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, allows the free movement of people between these countries.
Travellers who have been in any country in the European Economic Area, including transit stops, within the last seven consecutive days before departure to Singapore, may count their stay in those countries towards fulfilling the seven-day VTL travel history requirement.
Meanwhile, the air VTL for Malaysia will extend beyond Kuala Lumpur to include Penang, starting with four daily flights each way between Singapore and Penang.
The air VTL for Indonesia will also extend beyond Jakarta to include Bali, starting with two daily flights from Bali-Denpasar to Singapore. Indonesia has also voiced plans to launch a trial to allow vaccinated travellers to enter Bali from mid-March.
Lastly, the VTL for India will include all cities; previously it only covered Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.
After putting its Productive Muslim Retreats on pause because of Covid-19, HalalTrip will conduct its first post-lockdown programme this May, with more in the pipeline for the rest of the year.
The May tour will head to Uzbekistan for a week, where participants will be joined by personal development coach Mohammed Faris, founder and CEO of The Productive Muslim Company, and historian Hassam Munir, founder of iHistory.
The Productive Muslim Retreat to Uzbekistan will visit iconic cities and sites rich in Muslim heritage; Mausoleum of Ismail Samani pictured
While trekking through and learning about the iconic cities of Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, participants will also connect with other like-minded Muslims and discover what it means to live a meaningful life.
The tour, which offers 40 seats, was sold out by March 1. It attracted more than 200 applicants from around the world within a month of advertisement.
Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip, told TTG Asia: “This is the way forward for (post-lockdown) tourism. There will always be people who want to travel for shopping, dining and fun, but there is also a growing segment that wants travel to be meaningful.
“Our first attempt to resume travel services shows that huge appetite for meaningful travel. And this is despite us pricing the tour higher than your usual Uzbekistan tour, only because we have to pay for the specialists who will be leading the programme and the itinerary is not your usual tour.”
The Productive Muslim Retreat to Uzbekistan continues from HalalTrip’s pre-pandemic programmes, which were conducted in Bintan, Indonesia. They were also led by Mohammed Faris, and attracted participants from all over the world.
“We wanted the retreats going forward to be different, to be more than participants attending workshops in a destination and staying in a single place,” he said.
“Uzbekistan has such a rich Muslim history. With a regular tour guide, participants may not hear of detailed backstories of the cities. That is why we brought in a historian familiar with Uzbekistan.”
Fazal said the Uzbekistan retreat saw a quicker take-up than earlier editions in Bintan.
“There are probably a few reasons for that intense demand. People are fed up with staying home; the destination is really popular right now; more people are now familiar with our Productive Muslim Retreats and want to be part of it; and lastly, the programme satisfies the desire for meaningful travel,” he said.
HalalTrip intends to conduct more Productive Muslim Retreats to Uzbekistan to cater to customers who failed to join the inaugural programme.
Fazal hopes to soon develop HalalTrip’s own portfolio of meaningful tours to other destinations, such as Bosnia, where participants could help to build houses or teach children in school.
“There is huge interest in travel with opportunities to do something for the local community,” he said.
Established in 2015, Womenwise is Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) effort to inspire women across the company to develop their leadership potential, and it comes with numerous women-led events that are committed to the agenda.
In 2018, FCTG became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Its own Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addresses 12 of the 17 SDGs set out by the United Nations, including Gender Equality.
Wong: FCM Asia staff have greatly benefitted from the opportunity to ask FCTG female leaders questions and learn from them
“Initiatives such as Womenwise play a critical role in ensuring we remain accountable to achieving this,” remarked Anna Wong, HR director for Asia with FCM, the flagship business travel division of FCTG.
“Key to the momentum our Womenwise movement is gaining has been the creation of an accessible platform for all of our women across brands or support roles to engage with,” Wong told TTG Asia.
Prior to the pandemic, FCTG organised annual events that enabled thousands of women to take their place on the leadership pathway. One highlight was the Womenwise annual incentive, an internal one-day all-expenses paid programme that saw the company fly in and accommodate attendees in the host city. It was a coveted event that drew more than 1,000 applicants every year.
The Womenwise Leadership Summit was another valued event, where FCTG’s senior female leaders shared tried and tested methods harnessed to develop the company’s own leaders.
Womenwise expanded into Asia in 2019, and today there are Womenwise chapters in Australia, Asia, India, the Americas and Africa. These chapters ran customer events, blending business networking with opportunities for attendees to share vulnerable stories and form authentic connections.
Wong said: “Just as Womenwise has played a big role in leadership development at FCTG, Womenwise customer events enable us to take all we have learnt and gathered over the years, and start to rally behind the women we work with across organisations.”
Initiatives differ across region. In Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China have their own chapter that drives local initiatives and activities.
“Despite the ongoing pandemic, in 2021, the local chapters organised fundraising activities and were able to raise A$13,157 (US$9,646) for Solar Buddy, a FCTG-supported charity dedicated to illuminating the future of those living in energy poverty,” shared Wong, adding that the usual quarterly regional workshops were able to continue online.
“During these workshops, our people were able to hear and learn from inspirational women leaders within the FCTG family. Senior female leaders such as Melanie Waters-Ryan, CEO for leisure at FCTG and Suyin Lee, managing director of Discova shared their stories – how they have raised a family, navigated major businesses changes, and defined their own unique leadership styles within multiple roles at FCTG.
“Our FCM Asia staff have greatly benefitted from the opportunity to ask questions, interact and learn,” she said.
When asked to detail successes FCM has achieved through Womenwise Asia’s goals, Wong said: “Asia has made good progress in creating gender parity and ensuring there is representation of women in leadership teams over the last two years. Thirty per cent of our regional senior management team are women and within the local markets, females make up 40 per cent or more of the local management team.
“Under the company’s Brightness of Future philosophy, we have proactively discussed career development with all staff. In the last two years, 70 per cent of role changes were female staff, with 20 per cent going into leadership roles. Female staff on maternity leave have all returned to work after their leave, and retention is high (90 per cent and up) in this group as their leaders proactively support them to balance their commitments at work and at home.”
The Brightness of Future philosophy states that people have the right to belong to a team that will provide them with a supportive working community, and the right to a clear career pathway. Promotion and transfers from within reign as the first choice.
According to Wong, Womenwise Asia’s goals for FCM are: Celebrating the success and contributions of our female staff; Introducing flexibility to FCM Asia offices; and Providing initiatives to encourage women in leadership.
“We are constantly making conscious efforts to drive this transformation in female leadership parity. It is important to recognise the influence and contribution of FCM’s women who are passionately contributing to the workplace and ensure they have equal and fair opportunities in leadership development,” she added.
Following the launch of FCTG’s renewed Diversity & Inclusion programme Come As You Are in mid-2021, Womenwise now comes under the Gender Equality pillar, one of six pillars to the programme. The other pillars are LGBTQI+, Mental Health, Accessibility, Age, and Heritage/Race/Religion.
This story is part of an International Women’s Day series published by TTG Asia, TTGmice and TTGassociations, where we highlight organisations in our industry that are committed to supporting gender parity in the workplace and beyond as well as uplifting the quality of life for womenfolk in the communities they interact with through their operations.
Thailand’s tourism leaders have come together to sign the Thailand Tourism Pledge towards charting a strong and sustainable path out of the global pandemic.
Together, these leaders committed to forging a new strategic direction for Thailand, including placing tourism at the forefront of the national economy, putting the service sector back to work, achieving sustainable growth, and making international visitors feel safe and secure.
(From left) C9 Hotelworks’ Bill Barnett; Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau’s Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya; Minor International’s Bill Heinecke; Asset World Corporation’s Stephan Vanden Auweele; Proud Group’s Proudputh Liptapanlop; Dusit International’s Boon Kwee Lim; S Hotels & Resorts’ Dirk De Cuyper; Hilton Asia Pacific’s Clarence Tan; and Thailand Hotel Association’s Marisa Sukosol
The Thailand Tourism Pledge will lay the foundations upon which Thai tourism can be rebuilt from the ground up, following the travel freeze and pandemic.
The Pledge materialised at the 11th Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF 2022) on March 1, an event that ran under the theme #ThaiTourismUnited.
There was a clear call by all leaders at the event that it was time the country fully reopen to tourism.
Proudputh Liptapanlop, executive director of Proud Group, which owns numerous tourism assets including two InterContinental branded hotels in Hua Hin and Phuket, said: “We need to open up. We need everyone to understand that we need to open up the country for their good and for the benefit of the country.”
Bill Heinecke, chairman/founder of Minor International, said: “If we don’t open up, we can’t be competitive. Currently the rules are just too complicated. We are not even 10 per cent of where we were pre-Covid and Thailand will not reach her target of 10 million arrivals in 2022. We are falling behind. We are not even keeping up with our neighbours.”
Marisa Sukosol, president of Thailand Hotels Association, emphasised that reopening Thailand was no longer a choice. She urged the government to quit the Test & Go programme and “move our mentality from a pandemic to an endemic”.
TTF 2022 kicked off with a series of addresses, debates and discussions to help attendees devise strategies to survive and thrive in the post-pandemic era.
Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, said the in-person TTF 2022 at Conrad Bangkok was a signal for travel and tourism to restart.
Finnair will reinstate flights from March 9 to Japan’s Tokyo Narita airport four times a week out of Helsinki, with the service taking a new route that avoids the Russian airspace.
The Helsinki-Tokyo Narita service departs on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while the Tokyo-Helsinki flight operates on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The flight time is approximately 13 hours.
Finnair will reinstate flights from March 9 to Japan’s Tokyo Narita airport four times a week out of Helsinki
“Japan is one of our most important markets, and we want to continue offering safe and reliable connections between Helsinki and Tokyo also in this situation”, said Ole Orvér, chief commercial officer, Finnair.
Finnair continues to fly to Bangkok, Delhi, Phuket and Singapore, with a longer routing that avoids Russian airspace.
It has cancelled flights to China, Japan and South Korea until March 6, as it evaluates possible alternative routings for these services.
