BWH’s Aiden makes Australian debut in Sydney
BWH Hotel Group will debut its lifestyle brand, Aiden by Best Western, in the Australian market in the form of a boutique property located in the Pyrmont precinct of Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Slated to open in September 2021, Aiden Darling Harbour will be housed in a remodelled 1930s Art Deco building and will feature a collection of 88 luxe and compact rooms, in addition to a combined lobby, cafe and bar.
The property overlooks Pyrmont Bridge and Darling Harbour. Rooms will offer a pillow menu, a meditation channel, double-glazed windows and blackout blinds, and adjustable lighting.
The Aiden brand entered the market in 2018, representing a new lifestyle offering for the mid and upscale segments. Since then, Aiden has expanded to 14 properties located in the US, Germany, Austria, South Korea, France and Italy.
Wyndham hires development director for Indonesia and Philippines
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has appointed Pamudji Slamet as director of development, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Pamudji joins Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Asia Pacific division, which has a portfolio of over 1,500 hotels across 20 markets and territories. He reports directly to Matt Holmes, head of development, South-east Asia & Pacific Rim.
In his new role, Pamudji will be responsible for growing the company’s portfolio through new development and conversion opportunities across franchise and management agreements in Indonesia and the Philippines. Pamudji will focus on establishing new relationships and partnering with key owners and property developers to drive the continued growth of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts presence in both markets.
The Indonesian possesses than 30 years’ experience in the hospitality sector, which includes both operational and development roles where he managed conversions, mergers, acquisitions, rebranding of hotels through franchise, management, hotel lease, as well as manchise agreements. He is also adept at property development across a wide range of segments from luxury to economy hotels to condotels and branded residences.
Prior to joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, he was director of development, Indonesia, with Accor. His decades-long experience also included stints at GHM Hotels, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Discovery Hotels & Resorts, Horwath Asia Pacific, and JLL.
Thai airlines cut domestic flights through July
Airlines in Thailand have suspended or reduced domestic services through end of the month, in a bid to reduce travel to stem the spread of Covid-19.
The move is in keeping with the night curfew that the government has imposed on Bangkok and nine provinces, which come into effect today (July 12).
Budget airline Thai AirAsia announced in a statement on Saturday that it was suspending all its domestic flights between July 12 and July 31 due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.
Bangkok Airways has also cancelled some domestic flights from July 13 to July 31. Cancelled routes are those from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sukhothai, Lampang and Trat.
Other operating Bangkok Airways services – including Bangkok-Samui, Samui-Phuket, and Samui-Singapore – will remain unchanged.
Difficult start for Thailand’s tourism reopening
Thailand has finally put the Phuket Sandbox into play, but hopes and reality seem to continue to be at odds.
Two weeks on, Phuket’s high profile tourism reopening has yet to yield much profit, as there have only been a small number of tourists taking a bite at the opportunity to holiday on the Thai island without quarantine – provided the traveller is vaccinated and satisfies a long list of requirements.
This, along with the current surge in Covid-19 Delta cases across Thailand, has dampened the hopes of nine other Thai tourist destinations that are set to adopt the Sandbox tourism reopening initiative this month.
A night curfew and other movement restrictions have just been imposed – starting July 12 – on Bangkok and nine provinces, resulting in Thai AirAsia freezing all domestic services from now until the end of this month and Bangkok Airways calling off some routes including Bangkok-Phuket from July 13 to 31. Major mall operator Central is also shutting many stores for weeks in anticipation of poor traffic.
It seems that the Thai government and tourism operators will have to be bold and decide whether to carry on with the Phuket Sandbox plan to save businesses and thousands of workers who have been suffering from a devastated travel and tourism industry, or pull the brakes on some activities to prevent further damage to the destination.
Analysts have warned that Thailand is still not ready to reopen to tourists from many high-risk countries, especially major source markets such as India, Malaysia and the UK. Furthermore, the continued volatility of global infections means that Thailand’s list of approved countries for the Sandbox programme would change at any time, bringing even more complexity and uncertainty to the arrangement.
The Phuket Sandbox’s entry requirements have attracted extensive criticism. While data from airlines had shown nearly 8,000 travellers applying for immigration certificates before the start of the Phuket Sandbox, many have ultimately cancelled flights and hotel reservations due to delays in securing immigration certificates and other processes.
At the same time, many countries are maintaining their travel advisories against trips to Thailand – such as Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, the UK and the US.
With so many existing obstacles, the Phuket Sandbox may not bring the immediate help Thailand’s beleaguered travel and tourism industry is desperately seeking.
Despite the rocky start, hoteliers are reporting a different story. Paul Mulcahy, managing director of RCI, APAC India and EMEA, said clients have been scheduling advanced vacations, all ready to travel once border restrictions are lifted and flights resume.
Anantara Vacation Club Mai Khao Phuket has also seen its average length of stay for July rise to 6.5 days, up from the usual 3.5 days. The majority of its guests are from the Middle East and Europe, with domestic travellers making up just 25 per cent of bookings.
Wyndham Kalim Bay has been seeing bookings from Israel, the UAE, parts of Europe, and the US.
Between July 1 and 9, 3,287 international tourists have travelled into Phuket and more than 155,700 room-nights have been booked for 3Q2021.
Having seen Phuket’s strong tourism appeal pre-pandemic, the Tourism Authority of Thailand remains optimistic that more than 100,000 tourists will return to Phuket within the first three months of the Sandbox initiative.
Bearing in mind current challenges, CBRE Thailand is projecting 9.9 million tourist arrivals to Thailand in 2022, still a far cry from 2019’s 39.9 million.
For Thailand’s tourism reopening dreams to come true at a much quicker pace, the country will need to successfully contain Delta’s spread and rebuild travellers’ confidence.
Suchat Sritama is correspondent, Thailand for TTG Asia Media. He reports for the company’s stable of travel trade titles, including TTG Asia and TTGmice.
Langkawi eyed as launchpad for Malaysia’s tourism comeback
Langkawi is planning to reopen its doors to foreign travellers soon and be promoted as a Covid-free destination, under a pilot project by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC) to kickstart the country’s tourism recovery.
Once successful, the pilot project will be extended to other localities and islands across the country, Noor Zari Hamat, MOTAC secretary-general, said at the Islamic Tourism Centre Corporate forum held last week.
While Noor Zari did not specify a start date for the pilot project, he stated that 80 per cent of the population had to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity before the pilot project could take off.
In a report by Bernama last month, Kedah chief minister, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, said he was hoping the project could take off in September or October, with Langkawi welcoming fully vaccinated foreign tourists.
Anthony Wong, president of Langkawi Business Association, opined that to date, between 35 to 45 per cent of the population in Langkawi had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and that at least 20 per cent of the population had received both doses.
Wong added that he has been talking with senior officers at Tourism Malaysia who told him they were trying to get international and regional airlines to resume their services to Langkawi.
He said some stakeholders in Langkawi, such as boat operators, hotels and tour operators, are preparing for the reopening of the island by “getting their house in order”, while others are taking a wait-and see approach.
Uzaidi Udanis, president, Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA), pointed out that tourism activities in Langkawi has been at a standstill since March, when inter-district and interstate travel was banned by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19. However, even before March, Langkawi had seen a drop in the number of domestic tourists.
He shared that the main task of MITA currently is to prepare members for the reopening and to ensure stakeholders are ready to receive international tourists.
Uzaidi said that following discussions with stakeholders, three key issues have been identified: first, the lack of human resources as many locals who had been working in Langkawi have since returned to their hometowns; two, the maintenance of tourism products which have been neglected due to the temporary ban on domestic tourism; and three, product readiness.
“We need to ensure we have very good products and local storytellers to ensure international guests have a very good experience when they visit. We are competing with the likes of the Maldives, Bali and Phuket,” he said.
Adam Kamal, head of contracting & domestic market at Ice Holidays, shared that authorities in Langkawi should also ensure that the health facilities are adequate to handle international travellers, who might be infected with Covid-19.
“We should take heed of what had happened in Phuket”, he said, referring to the incident where Phuket reported its first Covid-19 case from overseas on July 7 after reopening to international tourists.
Maldives reopens for Indian tourists from July 15
The Maldives will reopen its borders to travellers from South Asian countries including India from July 15.
International passengers will be required to present a negative PCR test result taken within 96 hours before departure, said the Ministry of Tourism in Male in a tweet last month.
The announcement has come as a massive relief to tourism stakeholders across the island nation whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism.
The Maldives had suspended the issuance of tourist visas for visitors from South Asian countries, since May 13. Besides India, the countries included under the ban were Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
India has emerged the second largest source market for the Maldives this year, accounting for 21 per cent of all arrivals, according to media reports.
The island nation has welcomed more than 400,000 tourists since the start of January until end-June. Russia has been the biggest source market, followed by India, Ukraine, Germany and Kazakhstan.
Singapore tightens border measures for travellers from Indonesia
Singapore has reduced entry approvals for travellers from Indonesia who are non-Singapore citizens or permanent residents.
The announcement was made on Saturday (July 10) by the Ministry of Health (MOH), who said that the tightened border measure for travellers from Indonesia will take place “with immediate effect” and comes amid the “worsening” Covid-19 situation there.
Entry approvals may be considered where additional safe management measures are taken, it added.
All travellers with travel history to Indonesia within the last 21 days will also not be allowed to transit through Singapore, starting July 12, 11.59.
With effect from July 12, 23.59, all travellers entering Singapore with recent travel history to Indonesia within the last 21 days will be required to present a valid negative Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result taken within 48 hours before departure for Singapore.
Currently, such travellers will need to present a valid negative Covid-19 PCR test result taken within 72 hours before departure for Singapore.
Travellers who arrive in Singapore without a valid negative PCR test result may be denied entry into Singapore, said MOH. Permanent residents and long-term pass holders who fail to comply with the new requirements may have their permit or pass cancelled, it added.
All travellers will continue to be subjected to a 14-day stay-home notice at dedicated facilities; an on-arrival PCR test and another test on day 14 of arrival; and an on-arrival antigen rapid test (ART) and self-administered ART test on day 3, 7 and 11 of arrival.
TTG Conversations: Five Questions with Anthony Lim, The Travel Corporation
Defying prediction by some travel and tourism industry observers that group tours will be a thing of the past post-pandemic, Anthony Lim, Asia president of The Travel Corporation, says escorted tours are in fact a safer and more convenient way for people to explore a destination.
In this new episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions video series, Lim discusses changes to touring operations and itineraries in a post-pandemic world, and how technology is enhancing customer service and interaction during the journey.
Thailand tightens restrictions in Bangkok and several provinces to curb Delta surge
Thailand will reimpose a nightly curfew for Bangkok and nine other provinces for 14 days, starting midnight Monday (July 12), as the country battles to contain an escalating Covid-19 outbreak.
The announcement was made following an urgent meeting between the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and medical personnel who called on the government to take urgent action to curb the virus spread.
Over the past nine days, daily new Covid-19 infections in Thailand has been on the rise, with 5,530 cases reported on July 1 and 9,276 cases today. Meanwhile, the death toll has also soared from 57 on July 1 to 72 today.
Under the new regulation, residents in the capital and its vicinities – namely, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Pathom – together with four provinces in the southern region – Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkhla – will not be allowed to leave their homes from 21.00 until 04.00 the next morning, except for essential reasons, said Apisamai Srirangsan, deputy spokesperson for CCSA.
Meanwhile, restrictions will also be tightened for all the 10 areas declared as dark-red zones, including the requirement for all convenience stores, shopping malls and restaurants to close latest 20.00.
In addition, activities that involve groups of more than five will also be banned, while public transport services will run until 19.30. Authorities have also urged people to stay home and work from home as much as possible.
JP Morgan has named Thailand as among five emerging economies that are most vulnerable to the Delta variant, with the other four being South Africa, Colombia, the Philippines, and Peru, according to a Reuters report.
Seek Sophie, a Singapore-based experiences booking platform, has launched a campaign to support small local travel businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, by inviting creatives based in Singapore to help these businesses grow and gain awareness through content creation.
Seek Sophie said that it has been offering free photography and content marketing to their partners throughout the pandemic, and through that, some have seen a 20 to 30 percent increase in booking enquiries, which helped them to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Hence, the team is now seeking to involve the wider community of creators, and is calling out to anyone based in Singapore who enjoys trying out new experiences and creating content.
Selected applicants can expect to go on these trips for free: yacht trips, kayaking adventures, pottery classes, yoga wellness classes, various creative workshops and more, valued up to S$1,500 (US$1,109).
All creators need to do is simply capture and share their experiences on Instagram via photos and/or videos. Depending on the experience, creators may also be able to bring along a friend for the ride.
Applicants will need to possess a passion for storytelling, photography and/or videography skills, and a keen eye for detail. They must also be comfortable on and off camera.
This Seek Sophie Creators campaign will be launched on July 15, 2021. Applications are open from July 15 to 29, with the actual campaign commencing in August 2021. Those who are interested will need to apply via the Seek Sophie Creators webpage. All applicants will be contacted via email within one week of the application end date.