Hilton hires new SVP for APAC
Hilton has appointed Clarence Tan as senior vice president, development – Asia Pacific.
In his new role, Tan is in charge of leading the company’s development strategy in the region, deploying Hilton’s brands across Asia-Pacific and continuing to deliver best in class financial returns for owners.
With more than 20 years’ industry experience, Tan joins Hilton from international hotel management and development company, Valor Hospitality, where he served as the principal and corporate advisor.
Prior to this, he was group CEO at Millennium & Copthorne after serving at IHG in several senior leadership positions.
A Singaporean by birth, Tan is based in Hilton’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, reporting to both Alan Watts, president, Hilton Asia Pacific, and Kevin Jacobs, CFO and president, global development for Hilton.
Majority of Singaporean travellers desire to travel more sustainably
The pandemic has pushed the concept of sustainable tourism to the forefront of travellers’ minds, with new research released by Booking.com showing that 74 per cent of Singaporean travellers believe that immediate action is required to save the planet for future generations.
As the world of travel starts to open up again, Booking.com’s 2021 Sustainable Travel Report revealed that Singaporean travellers are more committed than ever to do so in a mindful way, with over two thirds (70 per cent) stating that the pandemic has influenced them to want to travel more sustainably in the future.
This research comes at a time where Singapore is doubling down on sustainable tourism. As travellers become more conscious about the environment and discerning in their choice of service providers, Singapore is preparing itself to seize these opportunities by pumping in S$68.5 million (US$51.7 million) into its Tourism Development Fund, for travel businesses looking to test-bed sustainable tourism offerings.
According to the findings, Singaporean travellers’ day-to-day sustainable commitments are consistent with their intentions for future trips, with 83 per cent wanting to reduce general waste, 81 per cent wanting to reduce their energy consumption (e.g. by turning off air conditioning and lights when they are not in a room) and 77 per cent wanting to use more environmentally-friendly modes of transport.
Respect for the local community is also high on the list as almost three quarters (73 per cent) want to have authentic experiences that are representative of the local culture when they travel, 84 per cent believe increasing cultural understanding and preservation of cultural heritage is crucial, and 78 per cent want to ensure the economic impact of the industry is spread equally in all levels of society.
Furthermore, 70 per cent of Singaporean travellers will go as far as avoiding popular destinations and attractions to ensure they aren’t contributing to overcrowding challenges and helping do their part to disperse the positive benefits of travel to less frequently visited destinations and communities.
These good intentions are inspiring action too. Many of these sustainable pledges are coming to fruition, with Singaporean travellers revealing that while on vacation in the past 12 months, 47 per cent made a conscious decision to turn off their air conditioning/heater in their accommodation when they weren’t there, 43 per cent took their own reusable water bottle rather than buying bottled water while on vacation, and 30 per cent did activities to support the local community.
In fact, over half (55 per cent) have admitted that they get annoyed if somewhere they are staying stops them from being sustainable, for example, by not offering recycling facilities. However, there is still room for improvement as more than half of travellers are not yet thinking about the local community during their trips or taking these small steps to minimise their impact.
While a vast majority (90 per cent) of Singaporean travellers say they want to stay in a sustainable accommodation in the upcoming year, 59 per cent still believe that in 2021, there simply aren’t enough sustainable travel options available. In fact, 77 per cent of Singaporean travellers would be more likely to choose an accommodation if it has implemented sustainability practices, with a similar amount (75 per cent) thinking travel companies should offer more sustainable choices.
In terms of awareness and intentions, travellers and properties do appear to be on the same page, with new research revealing that 82 per cent of Booking.com’s accommodation partners surveyed view sustainability in the hospitality industry as being important. This mirrors the 84 per cent of Singaporean travellers who also believe sustainable travel is an important issue.
However, although three out of four accommodation partners say they have implemented sustainable steps at their property, only one-third (31 per cent) actively communicate about their efforts proactively to potential guests, with this mostly happening at the time of check-in (59 per cent), indicating that significant challenges remain to making sustainability information easy to access for travellers at earlier stages of the booking process.
To make sustainable choices easier for travellers, Booking.com is rolling out a programme to better support properties on their green journey. This includes sharing guidance, insights and best practices with properties via various educational opportunities, including handbooks and dedicated content, all available via the Booking.com Partner Hub.
In connection, Booking.com is also currently displaying over 30 certifications officially approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, Green Tourism and the EU Ecolabel, as well as multiple hotel chain sustainability programmes. The company is sourcing this information directly from the certification bodies and displaying it on the property pages of partners who hold one of these established third-party certifications. To complement this, Booking.com is also encouraging its accommodation partners to update their sustainability information.
Maldives invites bids for development of tourist resorts
The Maldives has invited bids to operate tourist resorts in 16 uninhabited islands, with the offer closing on June 24.
Tourism deputy minister Assad Riza said that local authorities are confident of garnering some positive response for the 16 islands which allows for the construction of resorts with a minimum total of 3,120 beds. Currently, the Maldives has over 50,000 beds in operation at 152 resorts, 12 hotels and 618 guest houses across more than 150 resort islands.
According to the bid document, the government is hoping to raise a total of US$15.4 million from the leasehold rental of the 16 islands, with the lease period being 50 years and construction to be completed within 36 months after the signing of the leasehold agreement.
Among the stipulated conditions in the bid offer is that 70 per cent of the resort staff must be local Maldivians with a minimum of 5 per cent being local females, and that up to 70 per cent of power generation should come from renewable energy. It also entails the discouragement of unsustainable practices including the removal of natural vegetation on the islands.
The Maldives is home to more than 1,100 islands, many of which remain uninhabited.
Tourism in the country has been on the mend, after the pandemic forced a brief closure of its borders last year. According to officials, arrivals have slowed down due to various outbound restrictions placed in key source markets in the west.
“This is not a problem as this is the traditional off-season,” said Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation managing director Thoyyib Mohamed. “The main thing is that we are open for tourism.”
Arrivals up to May this year were 454,383, an increase from the 382,816 arrivals in the year-ago period, but a significant drop from the 749,114 arrivals in January-May 2019. Arrivals dropped to 64,613 in May 2021, from 91,200 in April. Russia, India, Germany and Ukraine were the top source markets.
As of June 5, the Maldives has reported 64,396 Covid-19 infections, with 161 deaths.
WebBeds rolls out travel restrictions tool for travel trade
B2B accommodation provider WebBeds has launched an interactive tool enabling its travel trade clients to access the latest Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The tool is powered by Sherpa and consolidates information from thousands of official data sources to display international travel restrictions for over 180 countries, as well as domestic travel restrictions for the US, the UK, Canada and Australia.
When users input the origin, destination (country, city, or airport) and departure date, the tool generates a comprehensive list of the inbound and outbound travel restrictions and requirements, as well as rules for quarantine, masks/PPE, testing, and health documents. This information also includes links to official sites for governments, regional authorities, and health bodies.
WebBeds clients can access the tool on webbeds.com, or via the trading platforms; Destinations of the World, FIT Ruums, Lots of Hotels, Sunhotels and totalstay. The tool is available in English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic, with Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese to be added in early July.
CEB kicks off seat sale as leisure travel resumes
Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) has launched a special all-domestic seat sale, following the government’s recent announcement on the resumption of commercial flights for leisure travel.
Passengers can now make bookings to any domestic destination on sale for a one-way base fare for as low as PHP 88 (US$1.84). The ongoing promo is until June 11, 2021, with travel period until March 26, 2022.
“We welcome this development and hope that this will continue as we all look forward to safely restart domestic tourism again. We are especially happy to resume our daily flights to Boracay, which solely cater to tourists,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience.
Since June 4, CEB has begun flying twice daily between Manila and Boracay. Apart from this route, CEB also operates regular flights to Bacolod, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, and more local destinations.
In March, CEB permanently removed change fees, allowing passengers to rebook whenever and as many times as they need to.
Philippines to invest in upskilling, reskilling tourism workforce
Developing skilled local tourism professionals through the education system is at the core of the Philippine Department of Tourism’s (DOT) five-year industry manpower development plan.
DOT secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat virtually launched The Philippine Tourism Human Capital Development Plan (PTHCD) for 2021-2025, designed to ensure the steady supply of trained manpower and to address challenges facing tourism human capital development.
“We aim to develop competent, world-class Filipino tourism professionals through a harmonised education system and strong tourism industry linkages and collaboration. Together, these factors will lead us toward attaining sustainable and inclusive national socio-economic development,” Romulo-Puyat said.
The Republic Act 9593, also known as the Tourism Act of 2009, mandates the DOT to draft an industry manpower development plan every five years. PTHCD is the continuation of the Philippine Tourism Human Resource Development Strategy and Action Plan for 2015-2020.
In the previous months, DOT conducted a national consultation, situational analysis, and focus group discussions across the country with participants from different tourism industry sub-sectors, local government units, government agencies and the academe.
The discussions covered Education Tourism as a tourism product offering, industry linkages and partnerships, research and innovation, standards review and development, implementation of the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangements for Tourism Professionals, and other programmes.
Romulo-Puyat added: “In view of the challenges and opportunities brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, this updated PTHCD comes at a most critical time. The retooling, reskilling, and upskilling of the tourism workforce will all be crucial as the industry prepares to reopen and recover, and will be among the most important steps in our journey towards the better normal.”
Singapore Grand Prix canned for second year in a row
The Singapore Formula One Grand Prix has been called off for the second year in a row due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The cancellation was announced by race promoter Singapore GP in a statement on Friday (June 4), citing “ongoing safety and logistic concerns” amid the pandemic.
Tickets for this year’s race, originally slated for October 3, had not been released for sale, pending the decision on the event’s feasibility. Singapore GP said that ticket holders who deferred their 2020 tickets to the 2021 race will be fully refunded, and that it will be in touch with them directly.
“We understand that our fans were looking forward to another edition of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. To cancel the event for a second year is an incredibly difficult decision, but a necessary one in light of the prevailing restrictions for live events in Singapore,” said Colin Syn, deputy chairman of Singapore GP.
“We would not be able to deliver a full event experience fans have come to expect over the years, while safeguarding the health and safety of our fans, contractors, volunteers and staff. Ultimately, we have to be responsible, cautious and prudent as safety is our number one concern.”
Ong Ling Lee, director, sports, Singapore Tourism Board, said that the agency is working closely with Singapore GP, Formula 1 and other government agencies to “determine the future of the race”.
Singapore GP said that it is in discussions with the government and Formula 1 on the issue of hosting the FIA Formula 1 World Championship going forward, with details to be announced “in due course”.
Natural beauty beckons
Brought to you by Sabah Tourism Board
The Malaysian state of Sabah, located in the heart of South-east Asia and the northern region of Borneo Island, enjoys excellent accessibility through direct flights from major cities, especially those in North Asia. Pre-Covid-19, Sabah received more than 250 flights weekly.
Sabah is a well sought-after destination for her thriving natural environment, and is loved for her blend of nature, adventure and culture activities under one roof.
Sabah’s blues
Boasting one of the world’s top eight sunsets, Tanjung Aru Beach draws visitors eager to capture nature’s golden glory. However, Sabah offers many more coastal destinations, all lined up along the West Coast to Kudat, the Tip of Borneo.
Islands are also spread from coast to coast. In Sabah, it is possible to get to a cluster of islands just 15 minutes from the city centre. Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, which houses Borneo’s longest island-to-island zipline, is most conveniently accessible from the city.
Sabah’s many islands and beaches also present ideal locations for stargazing.
Sabah’s culture
Sabah is home to more than 30 ethnic groups. The rich local culture and traditional practices can be appreciated in the rural areas or in households that welcome visitors with homestay programmes and community-based tourism activities. For a memorable and insightful cultural immersion, make a beeline for cultural villages such as Mari Mari Cultural Village, Linangkit Cultural Village, Walai Tobilung and Monsopiad Cultural Village.
Sabah’s iconic longhouses can be experienced in Kota Marudu, Kudat and Long Pasia – all of which welcome tourists with open arms.
Sabah’s nature and adventure
Hikers from the world over hold Mount Kinabalu in high regard. The mountain is the highest in Borneo, and owns bragging rights to being the world’s highest Via Ferrata and Asia’s first. Mount Kinabalu also sits within Malaysia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides Mount Kinabalu, Sabah offers other unique hiking trails such as Maragang Hill and Mount Trus Madi.
Nature enthusiasts will appreciate the Sabah Agriculture Park or the Rainforest Discovery Centre. Pair these activities with an authentic farm stay at Padas Farmstay and Sabah Tea Garden for an outdoor holiday to remember.
Sabah’s wildlife
Sabah is a dream come true for wildlife conservationists, as the state boasts numerous conservation flagships such as Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and Turtle Islands Park – all located in Sandakan.
The local wildlife also leads a protected and free existence in areas such as Danum Valley Conservation Centre, Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah’s Lost World the Maliau Basin, Imbak Canyon and Deramakot.
Elsewhere, the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary along the Lower Kinabatangan river is an ideal spot for wildlife sightings.
Sabah also has several important birding areas with 33 endemic species.
Sabah’s seas
Regarded among the world’s top 10 world-class diving destinations, Sipadan Island is a magnet for leisure divers as well as niche visitors like marine biologists and underwater photographers. But beyond Sipadan Island and its popular Ligitan Reef, Sabah’s sparkling seas offer many a treasure trove for divers to explore. The Layang Layang Island is an interesting man-made atoll with 30m to 60m visibility all year round. The area also seems to be a migratory lane for sea life such as orcas and whale sharks.
Tourism that benefits all
As Sabah Tourism began amplifying its community-based tourism projects to inject more cultural immersion opportunities into its tourism offerings, the local community found itself more involved in the thriving tourism industry. Locals have been able to preserve and share their unique culture and way of life with travellers as a result.
Built for business events
More than just a leisure destination, Sabah has made progress on the business events front. In February 2020, the state launched the Sabah International Convention Centre, a venue that can cater to 5,000 delegates per event. This dedicated facility boosts the state’s inventory of professional event venues available across hotels.
To find out more about enchanting Sabah, visit Sabah Tourism Board.
Princess Cruises unveils 2022/23 Asia itineraries
Princess Cruises has revealed its Asia cruises for the 2022-2023 season, sailing to 19 destinations across eight countries.
The season, which goes on sale on June 16, 2021, will be operated by Diamond Princess and will feature eight itineraries and 21 departures.
New for the 2022-2023 season, Diamond Princess sails a seven-day Southeast Asia with Malaysian Peninsula itinerary that includes the cruise line’s first call to Melaka in more than a decade, as well as visits to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi and Phuket.
Also featured are holiday voyages, sailing over Christmas and New Year’s, including a 10-day Southeast Asia with Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and a seven-day Southeast Asia with Malaysian Peninsula, that can be combined for a 17-day cruise.
There are also two repositioning cruises from Tokyo to Singapore and return, which include stops at Taipei (Keelung), Ishigaki, Okinawa, Shimizu (for Mt. Fuji), Kobe, Hong Kong, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My).
The itineraries are as follows:
• Southeast Asia with Malaysian Peninsula, seven days roundtrip from Singapore – Singapore, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Penang, Phuket, Langkawi, Singapore
Cruise dates: December 11, 28, 2022; January 14 and February 7, 24, 2023
• Southeast Asia with Thailand & Vietnam, seven days roundtrip from Singapore – Singapore, Ko Samui, Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Ho Chi Ming City (Phu My), Singapore
Cruise date: January 21, 2023
• Southeast Asia with Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia, 10 days, roundtrip from Singapore – Singapore, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Sihanoukville, Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Ko Samui, Singapore
Cruise dates: December 18, 2022; January 4, 28 and February 14, 2023
• Southeast Asia & Japan, 12 days, Singapore to Tokyo (or Tokyo to Singapore) – Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Nha Trang, Hong Kong, Taipei (Keelung), Kobe or Toba, Tokyo (Yokohama)
Cruise dates: November 29, 2022; March 3, 2023
• Southeast Asia with Malaysia, Thailand & Vietnam, 14 days roundtrip from Singapore – Singapore, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Penang, Phuket, Langkawi, Singapore, Ko Samui, Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Singapore
Cruise date: January 14, 2023
• Southeast Asia Explorer, 17 days roundtrip from Singapore – Singapore, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Penang, Phuket, Langkawi, Singapore, Ko Samui, Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Sihanoukville, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Nha Trang, Singapore
Cruise dates: December 11, 18, 28, 2022; January 4, 28 and February 7, 14, 2023
• Japan & Southeast Asia, 20 days from Tokyo to Singapore – Tokyo (Yokohama), Taipei (Keelung), Ishigaki, Okinawa, Tokyo (Yokohama), Shimizu (for Mt. Fuji), Kobe, Taipei (Keelung), Hong Kong, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Singapore
Cruise date: November 21, 2022
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has reduced its services by 85 per cent across its network during the nationwide movement control order, from June 1 to 14.
However, the airline will continue to facilitate essential domestic and international travels as well as cargo movement, it said in a statement.
MAS said due to travel uncertainty, it has also extended its rebooking travel flexibility by a year, offering customers longer ticket validity until December 31, 2022 with a one-time fare difference and service fee waiver.
Eligible customers can rebook their travels on or before June 30, 2022 for travel to be completed by December 31, 2022.
Previously, the airline offered customers the flexibility to rebook their travels on or before June 30, 2021 for travel to be completed by December 31, 2021.
Group CEO of Malaysia Aviation Group, Izham Ismail, said: “The recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia has moved us to prioritise further the safety and health of our passengers and employees. With customers being the centre of gravity, we hope the extended travel rebooking flexibility regardless of the class fare will provide the certainty and peace of mind that their tickets remain eligible for future travel with us.”
As Malaysia continues to impose quarantine order for international arrivals, MHholidays, the tour operating arm of MAS, has recently started offering quarantine packages at hotels approved by Malaysia’s Ministry of Health. These packages include complimentary transport from the airport.