Airlines have responded to border reopening decisions across Asia-Pacific with ramped up operations, although pace of reinstating capacity and routes has differed based on their extent of hibernation during the pandemic, financial strength and ability to stimulate demand, observed Brendan Sobie, analyst and consultant with Singapore-based Sobie Aviation.
In this episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions, Sobie also speaks to TTG Asia Media’s group editor Karen Yue about the likely slow and gradual return to travel; change in traveller mix; and the limitations of Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lanes.
Travel platform KKday has partnered Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore to launch the Sotong Game Staycation – a Squid Game-inspired stay experience featuring the ‘Red Light, Green Light’ doll, Dalgona candies and red jumpsuits.
Retaining the elements of the Netflix series with a local twist, players can challenge themselves at five old-school local game stations – five stones, goli, ring toss water game, hopscotch and pick-up sticks – held at the heritage hotel’s Tudor Courtyard.
The ultimate winner of the Sotong Game Challenge will walk away with one million Grab Rewards points
The top 10 winners each week will get to enjoy a three-course steak dinner for two persons at Coffee Lounge in Goodwood Park Hotel, while the ultimate winner will walk away with the grand prize of one million Grab Rewards points.
There is also a photo booth to capture snippets of the gameplay experience as well as photo opportunities with a three-metre ‘Red Light, Green Light’ doll inspired by the series.
Priced at S$360 (US$267) nett a night, the Sotong Game staycation includes a night’s stay for two persons in Goodwood Park Hotel’s Deluxe Mayfair Room, a pair of entrance tickets to the Sotong Game Challenge at the Tudor Courtyard, and two sets of the Sotong Game Curated Experience Box which include a set of outfits (red guard jumpsuit and green player tracksuit), Dalgona candies and chocolate milk.
The Sotong Game staycation package is available for booking here from now till November 22, 2021.
Those who prefer to go for just the Sotong Game without the staycation can also purchase entrance tickets here at S$30.
Trip.com Group has launched the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) Star Hub Flagship Store on its Ctrip platform to serve as a one-stop online portal for users to make bookings with the travel guidance, food recommendations, and business travel and conference information available on the same platform at their fingertips.
The portal allows RWS to “better meet increasing demand from China’s emerging mass affluent segment and new millennials for more customised and personalised experiences”, said Trip.com Group in a release.
RWS’ partnership with Trip.com will allow Chinese travellers to make online bookings with greater convenience
The Star Hub travel marketing hub was unveiled by the group earlier this year to allow its partners to expand and enhance marketing activities on its Ctrip platform.
Bo Sun, CMO of Trip.com Group, said: “Since the introduction of the Star Hub channel earlier this year, we have seen active participation from hundreds of valuable partners as they seek to adapt to new and unique ways of connecting with their target customers. We will continuously seek to work with our partners to innovate and tackle new frontiers as we strive towards the recovery of the travel industry.”
As Asia’s leading lifestyle integrated resort situated at the gateway of Sentosa Island, RWS is one of the most popular travel destinations for Chinese tourists and business travellers. It is home to several attractions including Universal Studios Singapore and the S.E.A. Aquarium, six luxury hotels, the Resorts World Convention Centre, as well as a plethora of restaurants and boutique brands.
This latest partnership with Trip.com Group enables RWS to further enhance its destination marketing campaign in anticipation of greater demand when global tourism returns. Leveraging Trip.com Group’s rich marketing solutions, RWS can showcase its full suite of diverse product offerings, strengthen customer loyalty and improve the convenience of making online bookings.
In future, the two brands will also deepen partnership in international marketing to increase RWS’s social media presence across South-east Asia and global destination markets.
The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) in Indonesia has officially formed a state-owned holding company for aviation and tourism-related enterprises, in a bid to revive those pandemic-ravaged sectors.
Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Aviata), the holding company, in this initial stage, consists of Angkasa Pura I and II airport authorities, Hotel Indonesia Natour, department store Sarinah, tourist attraction Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, as well as Prambanan and Ratu Boko temple parks.
Indonesia’s government merges Garuda along with several other tourism businesses to form a holding company
According to BUMN secretary Susyanto, the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation is set to become a holding member by the end of this year, while national airline Garuda Indonesia is expected to become a member in 2023, pending its restructuring process. “As such, the whole process (is expected) to be finalised in 2023,” he said.
Triawan Munaf and Dony Oskaria, two former Garuda Indonesia top brass, will serve as Aviata’s president commissioner and president director, respectively.
With the formation of Aviata, Endra Gunawan, acting assistant deputy for tourism and supporting services at the BUMN, expressed hope that the holding company could benefit tourism-related businesses.
“(Aviata) is an ecosystem to integrate various functions (to become) a driving force that will (create a) positive impact on the tourism industry,” he said in a written statement.
Aviata is mandated to carry out investment and management consulting activities in the transportation, tourism, retail and other sectors related to business activities. In the long-term, the holding company is expected to develop an integrated tourism strategy to boost international arrivals and make Indonesia a world-class tourism destination.
Endra explained that the mechanism for establishing a holding company was carried out through the transfer of state-owned Series B shares in five state-owned companies as an additional state equity participation to the share capital of Aviata.
Commenting on the formation of Aviata, Budijanto Ardiansjah, director of My Duta Tour, believed that the holding company will encourage tourism development and benefit the community, consumers, and other businesses.
“This establishment can make the development of tourism destinations and marketing more focused and integrated,” he said. “However, the government, through the state-owned holding company, needs to continue to collaborate with associations and other industry players, especially in terms of marketing, (to foster growth).”
Fully vaccinated travellers from Australia and Switzerland will be able to enter Singapore without quarantine from November 8, under the latest expansion of the city-state’s vaccinated travel lane (VTL) scheme.
For Australia, the VTL will facilitate two-way quarantine-free travel between the two countries for fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
Singapore’s vaccinated travel lane scheme allows travellers to enter the city-state without quarantine
CAAS said it expects student and business pass holders from Singapore to be able to enter Australia, after Australia has finalised the arrangement for their entry. “Other travellers from Singapore would not be able to travel to Australia until a later stage,” it added.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison last week said that the country was in the final stages of concluding an arrangement which will see Australia opening up to more visa-class holders from Singapore, with details to be announced later.
CAAS noted that both Australia and Switzerland are in Category II of the Ministry of Health’s country/region classification for border measures, with similar or lower Covid-19 incidence rates than Singapore.
With the commencement of the VTLs for Australia and Switzerland, the current quota for the scheme will be increased from 3,000 to 4,000 travellers daily, said CAAS. “We will monitor the progress of the scheme closely before deciding on any further increases in capacity,” it added.
Under the VTL, fully vaccinated travellers from these countries may enter Singapore without quarantine and just need to undergo two Covid-19 PCR tests – one within 48 hours before departure and another upon arrival at Changi Airport. Children aged 12 years and below who are not vaccinated will be allowed to travel under the VTL into Singapore if they are accompanied by a traveller who meets all the requirements.
The VTL was launched on September 8 for Brunei and Germany, and was later extended to nine other countries – Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, the US, and South Korea.
CAAS said that the “successful implementation of the VTL scheme” has given it “the experience and confidence to extend it to more countries”. It added that it will continue to do so “in a cautious and step-by-step manner without compromising public health”.
Domestic tourism in the Philippines has reopened – and looks like it can be sustained to meet the pent-up demand after a long pandemic hiatus.
At least 16 local destinations including Boracay, Baguio, Bohol, Cebu City, Mandaue City and Roxas are foregoing PCR swab tests and quarantine for fully vaccinated tourists, as the number of infections decrease drastically and more residents and tourism frontliners are vaccinated.
Filipinos hit the road again as the Philippines restarts domestic tourism engine; domestic tourists throng a beach in Calayo, Batangas, Philippines during the pandemic pictured
“More local government units (LGUs) are simplifying their travel requirements as we see more of the country open up… and we look forward to more destinations applying a risk-based approach to travel, as we work together to instil safe and convenient travel within the Philippines,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience.
Residents are starting to travel again in time for the long All Saints’ Day holiday weekend and in the run up to the Christmas holidays. “I have movements already to the beach destinations of Siargao and Boracay and to the cooler clime of Baguio,” said Kasel Travel Solutions president, Eric George Papa.
“There has definitely been an uptick in domestic travel, but still a long way to go from where we were pre-pandemic. As more destinations ease access and continue to offer affordable rates, we might be able to sustain it,” said Tourism Congress of the Philippines president, Jojo Clemente.
“The only issue we anticipate is whether the VaxVertPh website is up to date as this will be the Covid-19 vaccination certification that will be accepted by LGUs,” Clemente shared.
The 40 staycation hotels in metro Manila are fully opened, tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said at the launch last Sunday of It’s More Fun With You video, part of the domestic tourism campaign Have A Safe Trip, Philippines.
Under the alert level system of the granular lockdown which places the metro on Alert Level 3, staycation hotels can only open if all of their staff are fully vaccinated, said Romulo-Puyat.
Ritchie Tuano, immediate past president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said: “Some of the agents are really happy with these developments and are keeping fingers crossed that this really is the start of the reopening. Safety is still of paramount consideration.”
Tourist attractions including museums and amusement parks have reopened with due consideration for carrying capacity and other safety guidelines while interzonal travel is now also allowed for kids and fully vaccinated seniors, allowing families to travel together safely and encouraging more Filipinos to secure their vaccination jabs, said Romulo-Puyat.
She expects more destinations to open in the run up to the holidays, and said that “as restrictions are lifted, more tourism workers and stakeholders will get back the jobs and livelihoods they lost due to the pandemic”.
The ability to be agile and adapt to evolving travel demands is crucial for the thrivability of tourism businesses in a post-vaccine era, as countries reopen to international tourists and domestic travel picks up steam.
That was the common refrain from the speakers at this morning’s ITB Asia’s C-Suite talks.
Agoda has seen a growing trend of more people using mobile devices for travel bookings during the pandemic
John Brown, Agoda CEO, shared that the pandemic has led to many travel companies having to become more agile and be swift to adapt to new market demands and trends in order to survive.
He opined that the requirement for quarantine while travelling in Asia is going to stay “for quite some time” and OTAs and hotels that are quick to respond to government requirements will stay ahead of the curve.
He believed that eventually, it will come to a point where quarantine requirements will only be overnight, and tourism players that have lined up innovative tour packages that meet new consumer demands will be well poised to tap that pent-up thirst for travel.
The digitisation of booking processes will also help accelerate the sector’s recovery. Brown shared that Agoda has seen an increase in the use of mobile devices to book travel accommodation in Asia amid the pandemic, contributing to more than half the number of bookings on the platform. He expects that figure to rise further, especially among Gen Y and Gen X who are eager to travel again as border restrictions ease across Asia.
He advised tourism players to invest in good mobile apps that can give customers a great experience, as that would help with brand loyalty.
While the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation, DMCs have been slow to adopt and have remained largely offline, with interactions with travel agents and tour operators largely executed over email and bookings managed in separate unconnected systems, shared Hamish Keith, CEO of Exo Travel Group, in a separate presentation.
He said: “This is not surprising as the DMC business is all about people and human interaction, and each programme contains multiple moving parts that are very difficult to automate.”
Customisation of the travel programme to suit the varying needs of clients makes it difficult to digitalise the booking process, he added.
However, Keith stressed on the importance for DMCs to have a digital interface that will enable agents to select and book specific customised products online in real-time. He also shared that Exo Travel Group is currently working on creating a system that can cater to fully digitised dynamic pricing for complex tailor-made tour itineraries.
Based on the company’s digitalisation experience, Keith shared that DMCs embarking on their digitalisation journey should only automate what makes sense to them, and their IT system should incorporate an option for taking a booking offline.
Carlos Muñoz, Hotelbeds CCO, shared that with the foreseeable expansion of international travel as destinations reopen and allow their citizens to travel abroad, the company is in a good position to provide value to hoteliers who want access to difficult-to-reach customer segments such as travel agencies and airline loyalty schemes.
He added: “We have invested a lot in terms of technology and processes as well as partnerships. We also provide access to non-competing distribution channels, so we do not compete with hoteliers for the end consumer.”
Quest Apartment Hotels’ local business owners will take centre stage in its new brand platform being brought to market with a multi-million dollar omni-channel campaign.
Named As Local As You Like It and responding to consumer appetite for authentic local experiences, Quest will invite guests to check in and check out the heart of the local scene, with local insider tips from the company’s network of owners who live and work in the communities they operate.
Quest unveils As Local As You Like It brand platform in response to growing appetite for authentic local experiences
CMO Jeff Baars said the new brand platform is the outcome of over 12 months of work involving extensive brand health and market research, which revealed white space within the sector in line with shifting consumer desires.
“What we know from our research is that guests value the effortless guest experience and consistency that big box hotel brands typically provide but relish the charisma and charm of boutique and independent operations where they feel like they’re able to authentically connect with the local soul. With that insight, we could see the opportunity within reach, and direction we ought to take to cultivate stronger brand preference,” he said.
“Under the new campaign, we will connect our guests with the ‘never-would-have-knowns’; the esoteric gems that every destination has, if you just know where to look.”
“Our local business owners with skin in the game are our greatest asset. The new platform is about highlighting and building upon the personable, customer-centric approach we have always had, and making it the brand’s focal point.”
While the Quest logo will remain, the new platform developed by The Core Agency will see Quest refresh its brand identity and make several enhancements to the guest experience.
The brand platform will be launched to market with a campaign developed by The Core Agency, which includes a television commercial shot on the Gold Coast by production house The Producers.
Full service global media agency, Initiative, which was awarded the Quest retainer in July 2021, devised the campaign’s media launch strategy in market from October 24.
The campaign will run across metropolitan and regional free to air, subscription and catch-up television, outdoor ads, catch-up TV, TrueView, paid social media, press, digital display and via content partnerships.
Accor is expanding its presence in Japan with the signing of two ibis Styles hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto, both slated to welcome guests from 4Q2021.
Centrally situated in Tokyo’s premier shopping and entertainment districts, the 224-key ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza is located within a five-minute walk from Ginza Station and seven-minute walk from Shimbashi JR Station.
ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza, situated in a prime location in Tokyo, is slated to open by 4Q2021
In Kyoto, the 281-room ibis Styles Kyoto Shijo is located within a five-minute walk from Karasuma Station and Shijo Station and a 10-minute drive from Kyoto JR station.
With this expansion, the hospitality group will operate 21 hotels and resorts across eight cities in Japan by the beginning of 2022.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has launched its new brand campaign titled We Look Forward to Seeing You in the Air Again, as it gears up to welcome customers back to the skies.
The campaign kicks off with a 30-second video, which follows a group of travellers at various stages of the trip from their home to the aircraft.
SIA’s video features travellers levitating as they make their way to the airport, embodying the ease with which they navigate the new and reimagined customer journey
The video is designed to assure customers that they can expect to continue enjoying an “enhanced travel experience” with the airline, “despite the myriad changes brought about by Covid-19”.
It highlights the suite of health and safety initiatives introduced by the airline to give passengers the confidence and peace of mind as they fly again, as well as efforts to provide a seamless traveller experience in the new normal.
The video was unveiled on SIA’s website, as well as its Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages. It also debuted to a global audience via online and international broadcast channels. The campaign will also be extended to print advertisements and out-of-home media.
Lau Hui Ling, general manager brand and marketing, SIA, said: “There is understandable excitement about the long-awaited reopening of international borders, and many of our customers have eagerly begun to make travel plans once again.
“We understand that during this time, some may still be concerned about the inflight and on-ground experience. With this video, we hope to reassure our customers that their well-being is our utmost priority, and that we significantly enhanced the travel journey with their comfort in mind.”
Travel platform KKday has partnered Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore to launch the Sotong Game Staycation – a Squid Game-inspired stay experience featuring the ‘Red Light, Green Light’ doll, Dalgona candies and red jumpsuits.
Retaining the elements of the Netflix series with a local twist, players can challenge themselves at five old-school local game stations – five stones, goli, ring toss water game, hopscotch and pick-up sticks – held at the heritage hotel’s Tudor Courtyard.
The top 10 winners each week will get to enjoy a three-course steak dinner for two persons at Coffee Lounge in Goodwood Park Hotel, while the ultimate winner will walk away with the grand prize of one million Grab Rewards points.
There is also a photo booth to capture snippets of the gameplay experience as well as photo opportunities with a three-metre ‘Red Light, Green Light’ doll inspired by the series.
Priced at S$360 (US$267) nett a night, the Sotong Game staycation includes a night’s stay for two persons in Goodwood Park Hotel’s Deluxe Mayfair Room, a pair of entrance tickets to the Sotong Game Challenge at the Tudor Courtyard, and two sets of the Sotong Game Curated Experience Box which include a set of outfits (red guard jumpsuit and green player tracksuit), Dalgona candies and chocolate milk.
The Sotong Game staycation package is available for booking here from now till November 22, 2021.
Those who prefer to go for just the Sotong Game without the staycation can also purchase entrance tickets here at S$30.