Pelago curates on-ground experiences led by SIA’s cabin crew
Pelago, a travel experiences platform owned by Singapore Airlines (SIA), has launched two exclusive experiences led by the airline’s cabin crew.
These include a nostalgic coffee workshop and private museum tour titled Travel Back to 1970s Singapore, as well as a Peranakan museum tour dubbed A Nyonya’s Journey.
The pilot project is a collaboration among Pelago, Tradewinds Tours & Travel, SIA’s tour-operating arm; KrisLab, SIA’s digital innovation lab; as well as SIA’s cabin crew division.
As part of this collaboration, SIA’s cabin crew can sign up as tour ambassadors, and go through structured training sessions before taking consumers through these experiences. The project resulted from KrisLab’s Demo Day, where SIA employees pitched innovative ideas to extend SIA’s service offerings beyond flight by leveraging the airline’s cabin crew talent.
The Travel Back to 1970s Singapore experience transports consumers back to Singapore in the ‘70s, with a private tour of old-school set-ups including a barbershop, coffee shop and tailor shop, in a museum owned by David Wee, a vintage collector. The experience also includes a nostalgic workshop, bringing consumers through Singapore’s unique coffee culture.
The second experience, A Nyonya’s Journey, features a tour of a private Peranakan museum where guests can enjoy glimpses of a wealthy Peranakan home and learn more about Peranakan cultures.
Participants can also discover how the history of the sarong kebaya is linked with the SQ Girl’s uniform, and dress up in a traditional Peranakan outfit to take photos for keepsake.
Both exclusive tours will run from November 26 to March 2022.
SIA, Malaysia Airlines expand codeshare
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysia Airlines will reactivate their codeshare arrangement between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and expand it to include 15 domestic points in Malaysia, seven destinations in Europe, and two cities in South Africa.
This follows the announcement that Singapore and Malaysia will launch a vaccinated travel lane arrangement beginning November 29, said the airlines in a joint statement on Friday (November 19).
They added that the substantial expansion of the codeshare arrangements comes amid the gradual reopening of international borders and an increase in the demand for air travel.
From November 29, SIA customers will be able to progressively connect on Malaysia Airlines services out of Kuala Lumpur as the carrier adds 15 new codeshare destinations in Malaysia. These are Alor Setar, Bintulu, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Kuching, Labuan, Langkawi, Miri, Penang, Sandakan, Sibu, and Tawau.
From January 1, Malaysia Airlines customers will be able to connect on SIA flights from Singapore to seven points in Europe – Barcelona, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Moscow, Munich, Rome, and Zurich – as well as Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa.
Other points in the SIA or Malaysia Airlines network will be progressively added to the codeshare arrangements.
This significant expansion of the codeshare arrangements is the first phase of a wide-ranging commercial agreement that Malaysia Airlines and SIA signed in 2019.
Under the agreement, the airlines plan to undertake a joint business arrangement between Malaysia and Singapore, subject to regulatory approvals. This would allow the partners to coordinate flight schedules, offer joint fare products, align corporate programmes, and explore tie-ups between the KrisFlyer and Enrich frequent flyer programmes.
Both carriers will also explore joint tourism marketing initiatives and multi-stop itineraries, which would enable customers to travel to more destinations in Malaysia through Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Booking.com highlights sustainable stays
Booking.com is making it easier for travellers to search for sustainable accommodation with the launch of its Travel Sustainable badge, which recognises any kind of properties that has implemented a combination of sustainable practices that meet the requisite impact threshold for their destination.
The goal of the badge is to make credible recognition of impactful sustainability efforts attainable for more properties worldwide and to provide travellers with a transparent, consistent and easy-to-understand way to identify a wider range of more sustainable stays.
According to a new study by EY Parthenon and Booking.com, 81 per cent of global travellers and 98 per cent of Thai travellers want to stay in a sustainable accommodation in the upcoming year.
In addition, 73 per cent of global travellers and 83 per cent of Thai travellers indicate that they would be more likely to choose a specific accommodation if they knew it was implementing sustainable practices.
As such, the Travel Sustainable badge and programme helps reward and further encourage all accommodation providers to take the next steps on their individual sustainability journeys, ultimately increasing the overall amount of sustainable accommodation options available.
During this first phase of launch, the Travel Sustainable badge and an overview of individual property sustainability efforts will initially be visible to travellers on property pages across the Booking.com app and website globally.
Over the coming weeks, the Travel Sustainable icon will also start to appear on property listings on the search results page, along with a Travel Sustainable filter to help travellers identify more sustainable options from the beginning of their search experience on Booking.com.
More detailed information on how individual properties around the world have achieved the badge is available here.
TTG Conversations: Five Questions with Laura Houldsworth, Booking.com
Booking.com’s latest global Travel Predictions study has shown an intense desire among consumers to relax and recharge with travel come 2022, but conflicts in respondents’ travel desires and realities have also surfaced, notes the company’s managing director & vice president of Asia Pacific, Laura Houldsworth.
In the final episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions video series for 2021, Houldsworth discusses key findings and surprises from the Travel Predictions study and shares her views on how economic woes will impact travel and tourism rebound.
Mitsubishi Estate taps Trip.com to spur regional tourism in Japan
Trip.com has teamed up with Mitsubishi Estate, one of Japan’s biggest property developers, to help regional tourism in Japan recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chinese OTA and the Tokyo-based company will work together to support the areas served by Mitsubishi Estate-owned airports in Japan. Under a joint agreement, efforts will include publishing, developing new travel products and encouraging new airlines to use the airports.
Since its launch of airport operations in 2018, Mitsubishi Estate has expanded its portfolio to run 10 airports. These include Mt Fuji Shizuoka Airport in Shizuoka Prefecture; Miyako Shimojishima Airport in Okinawa Prefecture; Takamatsu Airport in Kagawa Prefecture (on Shikoku); and seven airports in Hokkaido (New Chitose, Obihiro, Asashikawa, Memanbetsu, Hakodate, Wakkanai and Kushiro).
Trip.com Group’s online platforms will feature information on special promotions and sightseeing spots in and around those areas, which include Mount Fuji and the scenic Fuji Five Lakes; the famous Ritsurin Park, one of Japan’s finest gardens; the “art islands” in the Seto Inland Sea; the sandy beaches and water sports of Miyakojima; as well as some of the wildest, most untouched parts of Hokkaido, including Akan Mashu National Park and Daisetsuzan National Park.
Mitsubishi Estate, meanwhile, will use digital signage at its facilities to outline and promote the various services of the Trip.com Group.
Both companies are also exploring the possibility of a cross-border e-commerce service selling the specialty products of the regions concerned on Trip.com Group’s e-commerce sites. They are also considering how to develop travel products, such as tours, to attract inbound tourists to Mitsubishi Estate-related regions of Japan.
Vietnam’s Phu Quoc welcomes first foreign visitors in 20 months
More than two hundred vaccinated international tourists arrived in Vietnam’s resort island of Phu Quoc on Saturday (November 20), the first batch of visitors to the country after nearly two years of border closure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Vietjet Air flight brought 204 South Korean tourists to Phu Quoc to experience a five-day, four-night vacation at Phu Quoc United Center.
A welcome ceremony was held at Phu Quoc International Airport, attended by Nguyen Trung Khanh, chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT); Vo Huy Cuong, deputy director of Vietnam Civil Aviation Department; leaders of Kien Giang Province and ministries; as well as representatives of Vietjet Air, Vinpearl Joint Stock Company and Marketing Highland Travel Company.
Passengers aboard the flight were welcomed with a special performance showcasing Ao Dai, Vietnam’s traditional dress; as well as a water salute cannon upon their arrival at the airport.
Speaking at the event, Khanh said the inaugural flight to Phu Quoc marked “an advance in the country’s efforts to revive its tourism industry while reopening and developing the economy step by step under a new normalcy context”.
He added that the country’s Covid-19 safety measures coupled with its high-quality tourism products “will again affirm Vietnam’s attractiveness and abilities to meet high-class tourism demand” post-Covid.
Vaccinated tourists will not have to undergo quarantine, but are subject to Covid-19 testing on the first and last day of their vacation. They are also required to spend their entire stay within the Phu Quoc United Center, a 1,044ha mega complex housing attractions like Vinpearl Golf, VinWonders theme park, Vinpearl Safari, Corona Casino and the Grand World Phu Quoc.
All tourists will stay at Vinpearl Resort & Spa Phu Quoc, which has been allowed to welcome international guests in separated zones.
Private pleasures
Wild wild wet
Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne is the second location of Centara Hotels & Resorts’ family-themed resort brand, after Thailand. Located a few hours’ drive from Ho Chi Minh City, the Spanish Mediterranean-themed waterpark resort has 984 keys across rooms and villas. The 603 standalone villas are ideal for groups and multigenerational holidays. The resort’s waterpark features a lazy river, water slides, splash pad, cliff jumping pool and kids’ pool. Other facilities include diverse dining, a 100m observation deck, sports club, indoor entertainment centre, teenager zone, family lounge, spa, and the kid-focused Spa Candy.
Luxury meets nature
Avana Retreat in Vietnam boasts forty-one bungalows, suites and private pool villas perched on the mountainside, backdropped by terraced rice fields, dense forest and a waterfall. Spanning 15ha, the luxury retreat also features a spa and four heated infinity pools. Each living space opens to a mountain landscape, and has been designed to ensure privacy. Inspired by ethnic stilt houses, the villas boast rattan ceilings, earth walls and thatched roofs. The 229m2 Hilltop Pool Villa, which sleeps up to eight guests, features two separate bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom; a lounge and deck; and a two-level infinity pool – the first and only private heated pool in Vietnam. F&B venues Green Chili Restaurant and Cloud Pool Bar source local, seasonal produce to create one-of-a-kind menus.
Fun for the whole family
Located on the Fari Islands, an archipelago on the north-eastern tip of North Malé Atoll, The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands features 100 one- to three-bedroom villas, each offering spacious living spaces, and a sun deck with a private infinity pool. Seven culinary venues are on offer, ranging from high-end dining to wellness-centered menus; in addition to a spa, salon and boutique. Ideal for guests seeking a holiday of discovery or exploration for the whole family, the property offers an array of culturally immersive activities, including a family cooking class, a bike safari around the resort, and a Wonders of Water ocean mystery programme facilitated by a resident naturalist.
Beach paradise
Nestled on the Bang Muang Beach, north of Phang Nga province, Pullman Khao Lak Resort features 253 rooms, suites and villas, all of which boast high-speed Wi-Fi, a sofa bed, balcony and an oversized shower. The Family Suites come complete with bunk beds, while the Beachfront Pool Villas feature private plunge pools. Resort facilities include four F&B outlets, a beach club, spa, 24-hour fitness centre, kids club, and a lagoon-style swimming pool. Beachfront platforms can be used for outdoor activities such as yoga, while cycling trails allow guests to explore their surroundings. For teambuilding activities, social soirées and weddings, the resort also has a 260m2 ballroom and two breakout rooms.
Buy out an entire hotel floor
As part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ Where Next? global campaign promoting hotel buyout experiences, the 288-key Hotel Metropolitan Premier Taipei is offering a full-floor buyout option where guests can book all accommodations on a specific level of the property. Centrally located in Taiwan’s capital, the hotel offers seven F&B options, including all-day dining, a Japanese restaurant, a cigar bar and patisserie. Other facilities are a spa, fitness centre, indoor pool, hot tub and sauna.
Amadeus highlights six travel trends for 2022
As travel begins to resume, data from travel technology company Amadeus has shown substantial increases in searches for trips to once-in-a-lifetime destinations as people begin to release their pent-up passion for travel.
Some interesting new search and flight locations are emerging: from flight searches up by one third to Tanzania, a country famous for safaris; to flights doubling to cities close to the home of the Incas, Machu Picchu, Amadeus is seeing a boom in demand for statement tourism.
The Amadeus 2022 Travel Trends identify six new developments which will shape the future of the market.
Travellers will look to make that trip of a lifetime, with Amadeus seeing substantial increases in searches for travel to epic destinations or experiences. Searches for Tanzania – where travellers can see the Big Five in the wild – are up by 36 per cent. Bookings to the Peruvian cities of Lima and Cusco, near Machu Picchu, are up by nearly 50 per cent, and flights to Petra in Jordan – of Indiana Jones fame – are up by 22 per cent.
According to Amadeus, 2022 will be the year of grand reunions, with friendcations and group holidays to see loved ones on the rise.
Amadeus data showed that searches for travel to Cancun, Mexico, and Cartagena, Colombia – both popular destination for groups of friends – have more than doubled year-on-year, and Hawaii has seen a similar spike in interest. Meanwhile, searches for Las Vegas trips are up 61 per cent; and in Europe, Barcelona and Ibiza have seen healthy double-digit increases.
Active ecotourism is another rising trend. Today’s travellers are interested in taking action, with a growing demand for trips supporting diverse global communities.
A recent Amadeus-commissioned survey found that two-thirds of consumers consider sustainable travel a priority, and 37 per cent of respondents think opportunities for travellers to be involved in the preservation of tourist destinations will help the industry to become more sustainable in the long-term.
According to data from the company, searches for travel from the US to the eco-paradise of Costa Rica are up by 234 per cent year-on-year; and in Europe, visitors to carbon-neutral Iceland are up by a healthy 11 per cent.
Business travel is set to return in 2022, with Amadeus data showing that 72 per cent of business travellers are eager to travel in the next year. Changes are on the way for the business sector, with technology ushering in expense-free mobile travel payments, according to the company.
Wanderlust streaming is another growing trend, as travellers dream of going to new destinations, inspired by their viewing habits. Meanwhile, technology is transforming these dreams into real-life transactions, noted Amadeus.
Finally, the return of supersonic flights and hyperloop travel links, leveraging vacuum technology, will make lightning-quick travel accessible to an increasing number of people.
Dan Batchelor, vice president, global corporate communications & social responsibility, Amadeus, said: “As the travel sector recovers, we are seeing some truly exciting trends emerge that will shape the industry. Imagine a world where you finish watching an amazing Netflix series and your smart speaker immediately recommends a trip to visit those locations in real life. That technology is available now.
“Not only are the new industry technologies exciting, but they also give us the power to travel in a sustainable way, revolutionise the way we travel for business, and travel long distances in lightning-quick time. Supersonic flights are going to happen, almost two decades after Concorde dropped its nose for the final time. It is an incredibly exciting time for the industry.”
The full report can be read here.
Trip.com strengthens partnership with Wyndham
Trip.com Group has signed a strategic global agreement with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, a move that will see the hotel group’s portfolio of over 9,000 hotels listed on the OTA’s platforms, boosting global distribution and leveraging innovative live-streaming capabilities for specific markets.
The agreement builds upon the two companies’ long-standing relationship through corporate travel partnerships as well as a host of distribution campaigns.
Through the expanded agreement, both companies will increase their collaboration on travel marketing initiatives and an array of tactical campaigns, such as 618 Sales, Ctrip Member Day, 99 Hotel Festival and 1028 Trip.com Group Anniversary. Data insights from Trip.com Group’s transaction platforms will also further optimise the booking experience for Chinese travellers.
In addition, hotels can leverage the Trip.com Group network and interactive live-streaming capabilities. A series of marketing activities will also be made available on Trip.com Group’s new travel marketing hub, Star Hub, that will enable hotels to utilise its channel traffic management toolkit to drive traffic to their products and content offerings.
Joon Aun Ooi, president, Asia Pacific of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said the partnership “will enable our hotels to expand their global distribution capabilities, and provide them with innovative and interactive solutions to drive bookings”.
Ray Chen, CEO of accommodation business at Trip.com Group, added: “This agreement will enrich our accommodation inventory for travellers and ensure that we remain their go-to travel companion as regional and global travel recovers. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has an extensive portfolio of hotels in key destinations that overlap with Trip.com Group’s key markets in Asia-Pacific and beyond.”
The agreement will strengthen Trip.com Group and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ alliance in Greater China to support the increasing demands from Chinese guests booking inbound, outbound and domestically, as the travel industry makes monumental steps towards recovery and reopening.
Singapore’s move to further ease border controls as well as social restrictions have led to an uptick in hotel enquires and bookings from countries with a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) with the city-state.
To date, Singapore has launched VTLs with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the US and will be commencing with Malaysia, Finland, Sweden, Indonesia and India from November 29. There are intentions to do the same with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates from December 6 – bringing the total VTL countries to an eventual 21.
According to a Marina Bay Sands spokesperson, the integrated resort saw an overall increase in bookings from overseas travellers from VTL countries, particularly Australia, the US, Malaysia, the UK and South Korea, with most of them staying over the peak period of November and December. The bulk of these bookings was made by FIT travellers, and many came through OTAs.
Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s properties in Singapore also saw a slight growth in reservations by inbound travellers, revealed Cinn Tan, chief sales & marketing officer.
“As of October 2021, international travellers from the VTL markets contribute between five to eight per cent of our total room nights booked. The top markets we are receiving bookings from are the US, Germany, the UK and South Korea,” Tan said.
Also seeing brighter days for the upcoming holiday season is Charis Choi, director of sales and marketing at Grand Hyatt Singapore. “With the re-opening of international travel, there has been an increase in demand and a better pace than months prior,” she said, adding that bookings streamed in from the US, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea, Germany, and France.
Over at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore and The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, enquiries have climbed on the back of the VTL news, with guests being a mix of travellers and Singaporeans who are returning primarily from the UK and the US. General manager Giovanni Viterale expects bookings and enquiries to increase over the next few weeks, especially as travellers plan their year-end getaways.
Slow recovery
While the mood among Singapore hoteliers is more positive today, Singapore’s travel and tourism stakeholders agree that inbound improvements are still muted.
Allen Khoo, resident manager at Shangri-La Singapore, observed that while enquiries from VTL guests have gone up, there were no spikes in bookings. In fact, holiday season bookings are still dominated by domestic demand.
Potential for vast improvements in Singapore’s inbound arrivals is hampered by a current quota of 10,000 travellers daily for all VTL countries.
Another obstacle to inbound travel recovery, according to Steven Ler, president of National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, is that most of the VTLs involve long-haul travel – markets that typically package Singapore as a twin destination with another South-east Asian country.
With current cross-border restrictions remaining within South-east Asia, these long-haul travellers can only spend their time in Singapore, which makes the trip “a costly attempt”, explained Ler.
“However, the dynamics would be different when Australia and more neighbouring countries open up,” he added.
Association of Singapore Attractions’ chairman, Kevin Cheong, also believed that the first wave of VTL travellers will primarily consist of business travellers, returning expatriates and long-term pass holders and those visiting friends and relatives in Singapore.
“The usual leisure travellers could still be tentative due to the availability of seats and costs of travel, and may be holding off till more restrictions are lifted,” he said.
Indeed, Kwee Wei-Lin, president, Singapore Hotel Association, pointed out that Singapore’s safe management measures will need to return to pre-pandemic level so that tourists can enjoy authentic local experiences without restrictions.
“Relative to countries with less stringent public health protocols, such as mandatory wearing of face masks and dining restrictions, Singapore’s appeal as a travel destination is compromised. Many of the countries participating in the VTL scheme have less stringent controls, therefore we may not see significant arrivals until Singapore’s visitor experience improves.”
Pre-Christmas flight bookings at all-time-high
Flight ticketing data collected by ForwardKeys indicated a spike in booking momentum from late-October, peaking in mid-December to reach 18 per cent of 2019 levels.
“Arrivals in the week before Christmas are at an all-time-high since the pandemic. Arrivals from the US have reached 35 per cent of 2019 levels, with Europe trailing behind at 28 per cent”, Jameson Wong, ForwardKeys’ vice president clients & partnerships APAC, elaborated.
Arrivals from Australia and South Korea are at 26 per cent and 18 per cent of 2019 levels respectively.
Positive movements in demand for flights into Singapore were seen since August 19, 2021, when the first VTL announcement was made, with global inbound flight arrivals into Singapore hovering at five to 10 per cent of 2019 levels.
Nancy Dai, ForwardKeys insights expert, described the month-on-month uptake from August to October as “steady and encouraging”: inbound flight tickets issued for arrivals into Singapore in August were 107 per cent of July; September’s issues were 108 per cent of August; and October’s issues were 285 per cent of September.
Bookings from the US, the UK and Australia led the recovery, observed Dai. In October, flight arrivals from the US rose 13-fold, while the UK and Australia improved by 8.6 times and 3.6 times.
Further defining the inbound booking profile, ForwardKeys noted that 28 per cent of flight arrivals into Singapore in November and December are for single pax per booking, 31 per cent are for two pax, and 41 per cent are for more than three.
The leisure segment dominates the profile of travellers on flights on the books for the period of November and December, making up 67 per cent of the total – unchanged compared to pre-pandemic in 2019. However, the Visit Friends & Relatives and Expatriate segments have inflated to reach 14 per cent, compared to three per cent in the same period in 2019.
The average length of stay has increased from 6.5 days pre-pandemic to 11.7 days, with arrivals from Australia spending an average of 7.3 days and those from the US and Europe, 18 days.
The bulk of bookings was made directly with airlines, at 61 per cent, compared to 17 per cent in 2019. – Additional reporting by Karen Yue