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TTG Conversations: Five Questions with Liz Ortiguera, PATA
Vaccine inequity is an issue for all humanity and for global recovery, including that of the tourism industry, and the imbalance in a vaccinated global population leaves the world vulnerable to new variants, say Liz Ortiguera, CEO of PATA.
In this episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions, Ortiguera explains why the travel and tourism industry needs to back the fight against vaccine inequity and how PATA is leading the effort, and offers examples of how industry players have contributed to vaccination efforts.
Indonesia calls for G20’s focus on tourism recovery
Leader of Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (MoTCE), Sandiaga Uno, has called on members of the G20 countries to work towards post-lockdown recovery in the tourism and creative economy sectors.
Speaking at the opening of the G20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) in Jakarta, Sandiaga highlighted G20’s Recover Together, Recover Stronger theme, stating that it was important to strengthen the tourism and economic sectors collectively, and make sure no one country is left behind.
He expects that G20 TWG will be able to develop a concrete solution based on best practices, which can be agreed upon by all members. Under the Indonesian presidency, G20 TWG has chosen to focus on the revival of the tourism sectors by promoting resilience.
TWG has identified strengthening the community as one of the key efforts in transforming the tourism sector.
“As such, G20 TWG will focus on empowering communities through the further development of SMEs and Community Based Tourism, and develop tourism villages, creative villages and programmes,” Sandiaga elaborated.
He added that support from other G20 member countries, World Tourism Organization, and private stakeholders were very much welcome.
Coordinating minister for the economy, Airliangga Hartarto, also voiced his hope that Indonesia’s G20 presidency would help to kickstart the revival of tourism and business events in the country.
“With 400 events set to take place in 25 cities across the country (this year), I expect MoTCE to become the engine that will drive the recovery of the tourism and MICE sectors,” Airliangga stated, adding that the sectors would contribute some 7.4 trillion Indonesian rupiah (US$517.5 million) to the country’s GDP, and generate 33,000 jobs.
UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili said solidarity in such challenging times is important.
“The G20 theme of Recover Together, Recover Stronger is in line with the UN spirit. The UN is ready to coordinate and collaborate in all levels,” he stated.
To discuss tourism recovery initiatives further, MoTCE as the leader of the TWG, has planned a series of meetings later this year. The NTO meeting will take place from May 10-11 in Labuan Bajo in a hybrid format, followed by an in-person meeting in Bali on September 23, and finally, a ministerial-level meeting on September 26.
Starlux takes delivery of first A330neo
Taipei-headquartered Starlux Airlines has taken delivery of its first A330neo B-58301 in France – the first of eight that will be leased as the airline expands its fleet.
The aircraft will be put into service after the approval process and required crew training is completed in May. Three more will be added to the fleet this year, and they will operate additional routes to major cities within Asia-Pacific, including Macau, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Bangkok and Tokyo.
Starlux’s A330neo features 297 seats – 28 in business class and 269 in economy class, a larger overhead storage, and state-of-the-art LED lighting that can set the right ambience throughout all phases of a flight and even reduce jetlag.
Cabin interiors will adopt a “Pure Tea” colour theme, featuring natural tones, warm fabric and leather, along with a Polaris ceiling panel to create a relaxing atmosphere.
Privacy in business class is offered with a 1-2-1 seating layout, ensuring a private entrance for every passenger. Every seat can fold down into a flat bed, and comes with a side cubby for storing personal belongings, a reading light with three brightness levels, and a wireless charger.
Over in economy class, passengers can find comfort in additional leg room and high-quality leather headrests that can be adjusted six ways to provide head and neck support for various postures. Seats are also fitted with a tablet holder and a cup holder.
The A330neo inflight entertainment system is upgraded to offer a 17.3-inch 4K screen in business class and a 13.3-inch 4K screen in economy class. Bluetooth audio connectivity is available for passengers to use their own headphones onboard. 3D interactive “Kid’s map” is added for little passengers.
Company chairman K W Chang said the acquisition of the A330neo aircraft “marks a key milestone in our growth”.
“With the addition of the A330neo, Starlux can deploy our fleet more flexibly and provide our service to more passengers over regional routes,” he said.
Starlux is commencing a full upgrade of its fleet, which will include delivery of 18 A350 XWBs beginning 3Q2022.
Travelport Delivers New Modern Retailing Tools on Travelport+
Travelport, a global technology company that powers bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, introduced the latest update to its next-generation platform, Travelport+. Now available, these enhanced, modern retailing tools are paving the way to revolutionize travel retail, modernize the booking experience, and make it easier for agents to offer more choice and deliver better service to their travelers.
“As part of our mission to revolutionize the travel industry’s retail experience, we continue to evolve, simplify, and automate the most critical technology tools. Today’s enhanced features empower travel agents to offer more choice, enable greater self-service capabilities for travelers, and simplify the most complex servicing processes. All Travelport+ customers enjoy a more modern, digital-first retail experience when connecting through our platform. That includes our desktop customers, who have said that the latest version of Smartpoint has managed to transform mundane travel management tasks into superior servicing opportunities.”
Jen Catto,
Chief Marketing Officer, Travelport
More Choice, Richer Content, Better Servicing
The evolution of Travelport+ tools and agency capabilities continues with simplified access to enriched travel content from multiple sources, including NDC (New Distribution Capability) standard content. Travelport is the first and only global distribution system (GDS) to sign NDC content distribution deals with all three major European airline groups (Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group (IAG), and Lufthansa Group). The company continues to expand its NDC connections with more than 16 airlines worldwide, including American Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines.
“Together Emirates and Travelport are starting their journey to deliver the future of travel retail; kicking off with our first-ever GDS joint agreement that is inclusive of NDC content; that will enable the flexibility to innovate Emirates’ products and deliver more dynamic and personalized offers.”
Adrian Kazim,
Chief Operating Officer, Emirates
Travelport continues to add more servicing capabilities to improve airline connectivity and empower agents to better service travelers with less back-end work. Travelport’s hotel content distribution is also seeing an upgrade with richer room, rate and rules details as a result of upgraded connectivity with Hilton.
Simplified Trip Management for Agencies and Travelers
Customers using the latest version of Travelport’s desktop tool, Smartpoint, can access a suite of features aimed at simplifying everyday tasks. Enhancements include more customized itinerary quotes in Trip Quote as well as faster Assisted Ticketing capabilities that streamline complex ticketing and exchange tasks for agents.
“Thank you Travelport+ for making our lives so much easier. The improved trip quote capabilities within Smartpoint means we are much faster at providing travellers with highly customized itineraries that better meet their needs.”
Rachael Keller,
Operations Manager, Globetrotter
Travelport has also launched a new Trip Manager portal on Travelport+, offering travelers the ability to service their own trip, and carry out fast, easy transactions on the go. The self-service option for travelers using the new portal allows agencies to preserve resources while providing travelers an improved experience with the ability to easily add extras to their trip.
“Trip Manager provides everything our customers need to self-serve on tailoring their trip – all in one place. From adding meals, bags, selecting seats and automatically checking into their flight it simplifies the travel process, allowing our customers to enjoy the experience.”
Lenka Nemcova,
>Head of Business Travel, OK Tours
Intelligent Storefront and Self-Service Tools
Travelport continues its Intelligent Storefront mission with Travelport+. Enhanced APIs make it easier for agents to understand offers and compare brands with similar attributes on a like-for-like basis. Travelport customers will also be able to easily identify upsell offers with NDC and ATPCO fares, for a simpler, more modern browsing and shopping experience.
Agencies can better manage the hotel bookings they sell with a simple self-service rules engine, the Content Optimizer. This tool compliments previous improvements to fare management tools so that agencies can easily create and customize their own content rules. This will help travel agents maximize revenue across every trip they sell.
Western Australia to remove barriers on March 3
Western Australia will finally permit interstate and international entry from March 3, 2022, announced premier Mark McGowan today.
Triple-vaccinated interstate travellers will be allowed into Western Australia without the need for quarantine, while international arrivals will be permitted if they meet the Commonwealth requirements to enter Australia, and take an ART within 12 hours of arrival. Positive results must be reported.
Unvaccinated returning Australians to the state will have to undergo seven days of hotel quarantine.
McGowan conceded that “the virus is already here and we cannot stop its spread”. According to news reports, the state set to reach a peak of 10,000 new cases a day by the end of March.
McGowan had earlier in January cancelled intended border reopening on February 5 due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.
He confirms that the March 3 reopening is final, and a further change is unlikely.
HK govt calls on hotels to pitch in for quarantine room inventory
With the latest surge in Covid-19 infections paralysing Hong Kong’s healthcare system, the government has turned to the hotel sector for help in supplementing isolation facilities.
In a February 16 webinar with key representatives from the Real Estate Developers Association, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam sought provision of at least 10,000 additional rooms as community isolation facility (CIF).
The government currently has some 4,400 rooms in the CIF inventory, of which 1,700 will be utilised by the end of this week and the rest before the end of next week.
The government’s CIF hotel scheme caters to people who test positive for Covid-19 but have no or mild symptoms. Participating hotels must meet specific criteria, and will be reimbursed by the government for their service.
Regal Hotels Group, a member of the Real Estate Developers Association, will respond to the call by converting several of its hotels into CIF. A spokesperson said arrangements are now being made for this conversion.
Fellow member Chinachem Group, which owns and runs key hotel chains across the destination, has designated Nina Hotel Causeway Bay and Nina Hotel Kowloon as CIF from late February and March respectively.
Michael Li, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, said the industry is in full support of the scheme, and the Federation has shared the call for help with members.
He told TTG Asia that more than 10 hotels with an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 guestrooms were likely to respond to the request.
The opportunity to participate in the CIF hotel scheme acts as a lifeline for Hong Kong hotels stricken by reduced tourist arrivals as a result of the fifth – and latest – Covid-19 surge, according to Li.
“Designated quarantine hotels in town are suffering a lot, as many international flights are banned. Their average occupancy stands at about 30 40 per cent. So, some of them have switched to become CIF,” said Li.
More cruise travellers are booking direct: GlobalData
Cruise bookings have shifted away from intermediaries and OTAs, with many travellers opting to book directly with the cruise line, according to GlobalData’s findings from its recent report, Key Trends in Cruises (Cruise), 2022 Update – Analysing Key Market Trends, Opportunities, Challenges, and Projects.
Industry revenue from cruise intermediaries in 2021 increased by 65% year-on-year (YoY) from US$11.8 billion to US$19.5 billion. However, cruise passengers have increased at a significantly higher rate. According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), cruise tourism had risen by 95% YoY from 7.1 million to 13.9 million people.
Craig Bradley, associate travel & tourism analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Unlike other sectors in travel and tourism, the percentage increase in revenue for specialist intermediaries is not correlative with cruise passenger growth in 2021, suggesting that cruise tourists now prefer to cut out the middle-man and book directly with the cruise line.”
Due to the pandemic, it is generally expected both passenger revenues and trips to be broadly similar in their growth rate, with only marginal differences. For example, if taking a look at global outbound travel in its entirety, total trips increased by 95% YoY in 2021 and outbound revenues increased by 99% YoY according to GlobalData’s Tourism Demands and Flows Database.
However, specifically for the cruise industry, it is clear that intermediaries are underperforming with revenue increases 30% lower than passenger growth.
On the other hand, further research from GlobalData reveals that this change in booking behaviour reflects the current consumer sentiment towards intermediaries. In a 3Q2019 Tourism Consumer Survey, 44% of respondents said they typically book via an intermediary such as an OTA. However, in a 4Q2021 survey, only 24% of respondents said they booked their last holiday via this booking method. In addition, respondents who said they booked directly with the provider increased from 32% to 36%.
Bradley added: “There is a whole list of reasons why travellers now prefer to go direct, all of which are a result of the pandemic. Some want more flexibility and peace of mind, while others have had their confidence damaged due to poor customer experience, particularly dealing with refunds.
“Furthermore, the skills shortages in the industry are also problematic, with many cruise sales agents laid-off during the pandemic and subsequently moving into different careers. However, these issues are all fixable, indicating that this may be just a temporary shift, but cruise intermediaries must act now to ensure they can capture demand in 2022.”
Mandarin Oriental signs first Maldives property
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will be managing a new resort on a private island in The Maldives that is scheduled to open in 2025.
Currently under development, the 34-hectare resort will stretch across three private islands on Bolidhuffaru Reef in South Male Atoll, and can be accessed by a 20-minute speedboat ride from Male’s Velana international airport. The Group is working with a number of international consultants to ensure sustainability best practices are followed in all stages of the development.
The accommodation will comprise 120 standalone villas, made up of 56 overwater villas and 64 beachfront villas, including 10 branded Residences at Mandarin Oriental. Villas will range in size from 200m2 to 1,000m2, and some will have private pools.
Guests will be able to choose from six dining outlets, including three speciality restaurants and a sunset bar. There will also be indoor and outdoor event spaces for corporate meetings or social gatherings.
Recreational activities include a watersports and dive centre, tennis courts, a kids and teens club, a swimming pool, and a spa comprising 12 treatment suites, vitality pools, sauna and steam rooms as well as a beauty salon.
Tamai Shimada joins Conrad Centennial Singapore as sales director
Conrad Centennial Singapore welcomes Tamai Shimada as the new director of sales.
In this role, she is responsible for the overall hotel sales performance and strategy of the hotel.
Tamai has a wealth of hospitality operation and management experience spanning over 10 years of which seven years were spent with Hilton.
The Japanese started her career as a Front Office Guest Service Agent in both Hilton Niseko Village Hokkaido and Hilton Surfers Paradise Hotel & Residences Gold Coast Australia, before taking up a sales position in Bali. She returned to her home country to join Hilton Tokyo in 2016 and was later promoted to assistant director of sales at Hilton Osaka.
Melbourne property developer, Beulah, has appointed Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to manage the hotel within its new STH BNK By Beulah development.
Four Seasons Hotel Melbourne will crown the western tower with 210 rooms, with guests arriving through the Sky Lobby on the 63rd floor. The hotel will also offer a world-class integrated health and wellness experience, a sprawling rooftop restaurant and bar, and multiple event spaces.
Hotel guests can also access myriad experiences across STH BNK By Beulah, such as art and culture programmes, coworking facilities, the STH BNK Market Hall, and more.
On track to become Australia’s tallest tower, STH BNK By Beulah is also set to become the tallest vertical garden in the world. The vertical garden will reach a total of 5.5km.
Envisioned as a vertical mini-metropolis, the development will comprise four distinct collections of private residences, public and green spaces, a rooftop sky garden, a 3,000-seat auditorium, commercial offices, and more.
Adelene Teh, Beulah executive director, said: “As STH BNK By Beulah continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the luxury, lifestyle and sustainability spaces, Four Seasons is aligned perfectly to our ethos and vision, offering unparalleled experiences, a bold commitment to innovation, and fantastic sustainability initiatives across its hotels and resorts.”
Bart Carnahan, president, global business development and portfolio management, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, said the project would “set a new standard for luxury in Melbourne”.
Construction is expected to begin late 2022 and will take approximately five years to complete.