Malaysia’s largest Escape theme park to rise in Cameron Highlands
A new theme park and the first one in Cameron Highlands will be constructed across a 24ha valley at an elevation of 220m.
This will be the largest Escape park in Malaysia, and the third addition to the Escape brand of theme parks after Escape Penang and Escape Challenge in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
When phase one opens in 2023, one its unique attractions will be its artificial ski slope, where guests can ‘ski’ without natural snow.
The investment of phase one is expected to be around RM15 million (US$3.5 million); while the entire project, comprising three or four phases, is expected to be completed within a decade and is conservatively estimated to exceed RM100 million, said Sim Leisure Group founder and CEO, Sim Choo Kheng. Sim Leisure Group will design, build and manage Escape Cameron Highlands.
Sim added: “Unlike other theme parks, Escape adopts the strategy of development in multiple phases to continuously add the novelty factor by introducing new attractions every year. As such, the project will continuously morph to evolve into something bigger and better, while still retaining the flavour and ethos for which the Escape brand is known.”
Escape Cameron Highlands will bring the brand’s signature Gravityplay and Adventureplay games to new heights, capitalising on the site’s overall 220m height difference. The theme park will be themed into five different European villages at varying elevations – starting with the Iberian village at the bottom, followed by the British, Balkan and Nordic villages moving up, before finally peaking at the Alpine village at the top.
These themed villages will also feature accommodation and rental offerings, in addition to hosting traditional European pastimes and activities, shared Sim.
With sustainability being at Escape’s core, Escape Cameron Highlands will preserve the natural habitat, setting the trend for sustainable theme park development. The attraction is built in collaboration with the site’s landowner, Hektar Muda Assets, led by Jimmy Doh.
Speaking at the virtual signing ceremony between Sim Leisure and Hektar Muda Assets, minister of tourism, arts and culture, Nancy Shukri, shared: “Escape Cameron Highlands will literally and figuratively be a breath of fresh air, as far as the tourism industry is concerned. This novel destination stands to offer something truly unique: reconnecting us with nature.
“The future of global tourism will be about family fun in the form of wellness. I predict an exponential growth in demand for nature-based tourism worldwide. Malaysia will set itself apart from its regional neighbours by promoting clean, healthy, family-oriented tourism. We will capitalise on our abundant natural beauty heading towards this new direction.
“Escape Cameron Highlands will do so much more than revitalise Cameron Highlands as a major tourism hub. This timely development will kickstart the revival of Malaysia’s domestic tourism industry, as a whole, which has been greatly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic since last year.”
Genting Dream restarts services in Hong Kong
Dream Cruises’ Genting Dream is the first cruise ship to restart operations in Hong Kong with her maiden Super Seacation voyage on July 30.
More than 1,000 guests took part in the historic inaugural voyage on Genting Dream which departed from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.
To celebrate the occasion, an official ceremony was held, which was attended by Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development Edward Yau Tang-wah, Hong Kong Tourism Board’s chairman Pang Yiukai, and Genting Cruise Lines’ president Kent Zhu.
“We are extremely proud that Genting Dream will be the first cruise ship to restart operations in Hong Kong and we are grateful for the support we have received from the Hong Kong government, authorities and trade partners for their trust in Dream Cruises,” said Zhu.
“We have also been very encouraged by the response to our Super Seacation Cruises with sold out and very strong bookings throughout the month of August. With the increase in the rate of vaccinations in the city, we are confident that our Super Seacation cruises will become one of the most popular vacation options for the residents of Hong Kong in the near future.”
In preparation for welcoming its first passengers on board, since her arrival into Hong Kong in early June, the crew of Genting Dream has been implementing new health, hygiene and operating protocols.
All crew members have been fully vaccinated 14 days prior to the cruise. Guests must also be fully vaccinated 14 days before their departure date and must pass a Covid-19 PCR test 48 hours prior to sailing.
Genting Dream will offer two and three-night Super Seacation itineraries, with three weekly sailings. Highlights of the July 30 cruise included a magic show by local magician Louis Yan, while the August 1 sailing features yoga classes led by Coffee Lam, a certified yoga instructor.
Long-weekend travel falls out of favour, while tourism villages gain popularity among Indonesian travellers
A national vaccine rollout has boosted Indonesians’ confidence to travel domestically in the second half of the year, but the majority will shun long-weekend travel to avoid the tourist crowd on their getaways.
That is among the findings of Inventure-Advira’s new report titled Indonesia Industry Outlook 2nd Semester, 2021: Consumer Megashifts Post Vaccine.
The report conducted in mid-June to find out trends across 10 major industries, including tourism, hospitality and F&B, in the country also showed that more Indonesian travellers were seeking out CHSE-certified facilities and that the demand for tourism villages is on the rise. CHSE certification is given to destinations that have fulfilled standards of cleanliness, health, safety and environmental sustainability.
Yuswohady, managing partner of Inventure, said: “Before the pandemic, the people’s interest in spending long weekends travelling was very high. The situation has changed post-pandemic. Our survey showed that 71 per cent of respondents would avoid travelling during such period, even if they have been vaccinated, for health and safety reasons.”
He said that the shift towards remote working and learning means that holidays don’t have to be reserved for long weekends as employees can work from anywhere and children can learn from anywhere. Besides, the government has come up with the Work from Bali programme to encourage government staff to work remotely from Bali, while also promoting workations at destinations such as Yogyakarta, Lombok and Labuan Bajo.
The survey also revealed that 83 per cent of respondents would opt to holiday at tourism villages, which boast nature, eco, wellness and adventure offerings.
“Travellers (prefer to) visit destinations (with) nature offerings (in the wake of the pandemic). That’s why hotels located in green areas such as Labuan Bajo have become more interesting,” Maulana Yusran, secretary general of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association, said at a conference to launch the e-book containing the survey findings.
Resultantly, city hotels are suffering and have had to resort to offering staycation and self-isolation packages to keep their businesses going, according to Maulana.
He urged the government to allow meeting spaces to continue operating amid the current social restrictions as business events contributed 30-40 per cent to city hotels’ revenue. Moreover, the Inventure-Advira survey showed that 60 per cent of respondents wanted business events to be held in-person in the post-vaccination period.
Maulana said: “Having received CHSE certificates mean that hotels have implemented all the required protocols to run an event, so there is no need for the government to bar events (as part of Covid-19 restrictions).” He also noted that traditional markets, which tend to be crowded and adhere less to protocols, are allowed to remain open during this period.
When it comes to F&B establishments, CHSE certified (79 per cent) and outdoor restaurants (77 per cent) serving healthy menus (72 per cent) will be top picks among customers, according to the survey.
Yuswohadi said that restaurants will be competing over the next few months to offer new operational models in response to hygiene and safe distancing concerns alongside greater demand for low-touch options.
The survey also noted that consumers who had become used to ordering F&B online during the social restrictions would continue this habit (71 per cent) even when restrictions ease.
Rex Marindo, founder of Foodizz, projected rising demand for food delivery services will attract more restaurants to adopt cloud-kitchen models, focused on serving customers online without providing dine-in facilities.
Raffles Udaipur makes two pre-opening appointments
Raffles Udaipur, the brand’s first hotel in India, has made two new appointments – Abhishek Sharma as general manager, and Rajan Malhotra as director of sales and marketing.
Abhishek has over two decades of outstanding experience in luxury hospitality, and joins Raffles Udaipur with over nine years of leading teams in the role of general manager, throughout luxury hotels and resorts, including The Oberoi Group in India and Soneva Fushi Resort in The Maldives.
Prior to that, Abhishek worked as head of F&B with renowned hotels in India, Maldives, Mauritius and Egypt. His journey in F&B and hotel management includes various pre-opening and opening roles.
Meanwhile, Rajan will take charge of introducing the Raffles brand experience in India, as well as planning and implementing strategies to support the hotel’s positioning. He will be leading the sales and marketing team, exploring business opportunities and will be responsible for the budgeting, forecasting and achieving the hotel’s commercial objectives.
Rajan brings along with him 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry, with successful stints at Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Services India, The Zuri Group of Hotels & Resorts, Le Méridien Jaipur Resort & Spa, Taj Palace, New Delhi and The Grand New Delhi.
Thailand extends lockdown, expands enhanced restrictions to more provinces
Thailand will extend lockdown restrictions in Bangkok and 12 other dark-red zone provinces for another two weeks starting Tuesday (August 3), with 16 more provinces to come under the curbs, amid a Covid-19 surge.
Provinces marked as a dark-red zone are placed under the strictest of restrictions which includes a night curfew, a ban on dine-in services, and curbs on inter-provincial travel.
The restrictions will be evaluated after two weeks, said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). If the situation does not improve, the restriction period may be extended until August 31, with more areas expected to be added.
The 16 provinces which have been added to the dark-red zone are: Kanchanaburi, Tak, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Prachin Buri, Phetchabun, Rayong, Ratchaburi, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Samut Songkhram, Saraburi, Suphan Buri, Ang Thong and Phetchaburi.
With the new additions, a total of 29 areas in Thailand – or more than one-third of the country – will be under the tightest restrictions.
In the meantime, 37 provinces have been declared as red-zone or maximum controlled places, while 11 provinces are in orange or controlled areas.
Thailand has been listed as among the top 10 countries last week for recording the highest daily Covid-19 infections. On August 1, the country reported 18,027 infections and 133 deaths, bringing the cumulative total to 615,314 cases and 4,990 fatalities.
Due to the severity of the situation, Thai AirAsia has announced that it will temporarily suspend all business operations in Thailand until the end of August, but hopes to resume services in September.
Meanwhile, some hotel operators and travel companies in Phuket said that the ongoing semi-lockdown has taken a further toll on tourism businesses. They also claimed that the Phuket Sandbox programme has yielded no benefit for small operators as most returnees to the island are regular guests of big hotel chains.
Local media reported that more hotels have decided to pause operations amid the Covid surge.
Manila to return to rigid lockdown as the Philippines struggles to contain Delta variant
In yet another setback for the Philippines’ tourism industry, the government has announced that metro Manila will be placed under the most restrictive enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20 to stave off a surge of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19.
Under the ECQ, only essential industries are allowed to operate and public transportation either suspended or limited.
This comes after authorities extended the general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened and additional restrictions in metro Manila, from July 30 to August 5, with leisure and business travel being prohibited.
Various destinations throughout the Philippines are in varying levels of lockdown.
Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific have cancelled a number of domestic flights following the immediate suspension of point-to-point flights for leisure. Returning flights are for tourists residing in the NCR Plus (metro Manila plus Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal).
Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat had informed the travel and tourism sector that from July 30, hotels are not allowed to accept leisure or staycation guests. Staycation guests residing in areas outside metro Manila have to shorten their stay and return to their place of residence.
Essential meetings and social events are prohibited and dining is not allowed in restaurants in metro Manila during the GCQ with heightened restrictions and ECQ.
Indoor tourist attractions have already been closed, and while outdoor attractions may operate at 30 per cent of maximum venue capacity, they will have to suspend operations by August 6.
Since July 30, point-to-point travel for leisure from NCR Plus areas has been banned. Accredited establishments outside NCR Plus areas are not allowed to accept leisure guests coming from NCR Plus areas, regardless of the date of the booking.
On August 1, the Philippines recorded 8,735 new Covid-19 cases, and 127 deaths. The country has reported 216 cases of the Delta variant, but health experts say the real number could be higher.
This is the third time metro Manila has entered ECQ, including the first at the onset of Covid-19 in March last year.
Orchid Haven opens at Gardens by the Bay’s Cloud Forest
Orchid Haven, a new 280m² space to host changing orchid displays as well as permanent orchid exhibits, has opened within Gardens by the Bay’s Cloud Forest cooled conservatory.
Launched by minister for national development Desmond Lee on Friday (July 30), the dedicated space will feature more than 1,000 orchids at any one time.
This is the first time since 2017 that a major area has been revamped in Cloud Forest, whose changing orchid displays have featured a plethora of orchids from Central and South America to East Asia. The new Orchid Haven is about three times the size of the original space.
While development works of Orchid Haven began last year, they were put on hold because of the pandemic.
The first changing orchid display to be showcased in Orchid Haven has been dubbed Flight of the Moth Orchid, and launches fortuitously just before Singapore’s National Day. The exhibit is a tribute to the Phalaenopsis orchid, a diverse genus whose floral form resembles that of a moth in flight. In this display, more than 800 Phalaenopsis orchids of 17 taxa are showcased in a breathtaking “waterfall” of cascading blooms.
Gardens by the Bay’s CEO Felix Loh said: “Our latest creation Orchid Haven is a way for our horticulturists to pay tribute to the nation on its 56th birthday, and amidst the current setback, the Flight of the Moth Orchid display expresses our confidence that Singapore will soar again in our battle against the pandemic.”
Qantas to require digital health pass for international flights
The Qantas Group will work with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to roll out a digital health pass when international flights resume.
The IATA Travel Pass connects customers to certified testing labs so that their Covid test results and vaccination information can be uploaded to the platform, allowing customers to verify their health status securely with border or health officials and airline staff before boarding their flights.
The app also matches a customer’s health information against a specific flight; checks the entry requirements for the country they are travelling to; and provides clearance to travel on that flight, to both the customer and airline.
Final development work is now underway to ensure the app is ready for use on Qantas and Jetstar international flights when they resume, the airline said in a press release.
Qantas Group CCO, Stephanie Tully, said: “We want to get our international flights back in the air and our people back to work and a digital health pass will be a key part of that.
“Many governments are already requiring proof of vaccine or a negative Covid test result for international travel. Even if it wasn’t a government requirement, Qantas has always been a leader in safety and we have a responsibility to our customers and crew.
“A digital health pass will connect customers with Covid testing facilities, health authorities and airlines, and ultimately enable the opening of more travel bubbles and borders.”
Zipair to launch Tokyo-Singapore service
Japan Airlines’ low-cost carrier, Zipair Tokyo, will be expanding its international network with the launch of a weekly service between Tokyo and Singapore on September 7.
Singapore will be the airline’s four destination, alongside Bangkok, Seoul, and Honolulu. The two-way service will be operated on Tuesdays using a Boeing 787 configured aircraft, initially as a weekly service which will be increased to twice weekly from late October.
Flight ZG53 will depart Tokyo Narita at 14.00, and arrive at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 20.25. Return flight ZG54 will take off from Changi at 21.55 and land at Tokyo Narita at 06.05 the next day.
Shingo Nishida, president of Zipair Tokyo, said: “Due to the impact of Covid-19, restrictions on entry into both countries are still in effect, but we hope that our new service to Singapore will provide a new convenient option for those who need to travel to and from Japan for business or pleasure.”
Airports Council International (ACI) World has published updated guidance for airports to aid in their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the industry prepares to sustain a long-term recovery, the third edition of Airport Operations Business Restart and Recovery has been retitled to Airport Operations and Covid-19: Business Recovery.
The guidance includes updates on the practical and efficient health and operational measures that can be introduced to support safe travel. ACI has also expanded the guidance to include information on health passes and vaccinations, as well as risk management when returning to operations, with a particular focus on human factors during recovery.
ACI World director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said: “With the roll out of vaccines worldwide and the loosening of travel restrictions, the time for airport business recovery is here. The updated guidance will help airports to seize the moment. It covers all aspects of airport management and operation to help airport operators choose and implement measures that might be appropriate according to local circumstances.
“ACI continues to advocate the importance of governments policy support and assistance to pursue a coordinated and risk-based approach to combining testing and vaccination to promote travel when the epidemiological situation allows.”
The third edition of this publication has been sponsored by Honeywell, which have contributed new chapters on technological solutions for healthy airports.