JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong welcomes new GM
JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong, the flagship hotel of the JW Marriott brand in Asia Pacific, has appointed GP Yeow as its new general manager.
A seasoned hotelier with almost 30 years of experience, Yeow began his hospitality career in Perth Australia, and worked in both F&B as well as rooms divisions before moving up the ranks to become hotel manager.
With his extensive operational experience in Australia, Malaysia and China, the Malaysian was appointed as area director of operations overseeing Marriott hotels in north-east Asia and northern China in 2010 and 2012 respectively.
Prior to his move to Hong Kong, GP held the role of general manager at JW Marriott Beijing for more than five years, as well as general manager at W Hong Kong for two years.
Maldives mulls vaccine tourism to boost arrivals
The Maldives is contemplating the introduction of vaccine tourism across its collection of over 200 resort islands, as tourist arrivals begin to grow in the post-pandemic era.
The proposal was made by tourism minister Abdulla Mausoom during a recent meeting of the country’s legislature, where he said that the government is considering promoting the Maldives as a working vacation destination under the tagline ‘Visit, Vaccine and Vacation’.
He added that the currently available Covid-19 vaccines require two doses of the vaccine to be received within a 10-week period – meaning, there is a significant window of time between the inoculation of the two doses in which tourists could stay in the Maldives.
According to Mausoom, the Maldives is likely to become one of the first countries to have vaccinated its entire population, making it one of the safest destinations to visit. As of March 8, more than 157,000 of the island country’s 531,000 population have received the Covid-19 vaccination. So far, the Maldives has imported 200,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca and produced by the Serum Institute of India. It has ordered 700,000 more doses.
As of March 4 this year, the Maldives has received 200,871 tourists, down however by 41.2 per cent from the number of visitors during the same period last year, according to official data. The daily average stands at over 3,000 visitors.
Meanwhile, the Maldives will be sending its first delegation headed by Mausoom to attend trade fairs and roadshows in Russia and India. Accompanying him will be 13 companies and 19 participants, said Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation managing director Thoyyib Mohamed, who will also be attending these events.
They will participate in the MITT trade show in Moscow, a B2B and B2C event taking place from March 16-18; followed by India’s South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange on March 22 along with a roadshow. The Russian event will coincide with roadshows in Moscow, Kazakhstan, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
Malaysia restarts interstate travel between RMCO states
Following a nearly two-month ban, domestic travel has been given the green light to resume with the Malaysian government lifting its ban on interstate travel from today (March 10), albeit under certain restrictions.
For the time being, interstate travel is only allowed between states that are under the recovery movement control order (RMCO). These states are Perlis, Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah as well as the Federal Territories of Putrajaya and Labuan.
The rest of the country is under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).
Those travelling between RMCO states must use a registered tour agency and the company must obtain approval from the police prior to travel. Interstate travel on a personal capacity is still not allowed.
While travelling from one state to another, tour vehicles are not allowed to make a stop at states which are still under CMCO. This includes the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Sarawak.
Yap Sook Ling, managing director, Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, said the lifting of the interstate travel ban is a good beginning and her agency stands ready to accept tour bookings as vehicles have been kept well-maintained and in running order, even amid the travel lull.
She expects FIT travel, made up of families travelling together, to take off. Sit-in coach tours may also make a comeback, provided the number of new Covid-19 cases continue to dip, and attractive rates are offered to domestic travellers, she added.
Yap, however, stressed that inbound tour operators cannot rely solely on domestic tourists as the rates are low. She said: “We need the borders to reopen soon and for the government to implement travel bubble arrangements with other countries. The government should also look at welcoming foreign tourists who have already taken their Covid-19 vaccinations.”
Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president, KL Tan, expressed uncertainty about travel demand in the short-term as the main markets for domestic travel are residents living in areas that are still under CMCO. He also hopes that, eventually, the need to get police approvals ahead of travel would be lifted.
To help speed up recovery, Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) president, N Subramaniam, proposed for the government to allow travel between RMCO states via flight with confirmed hotel bookings. He said: “Hotels are ready with their SOPs, especially those certified ‘Clean & Safe’, which is MAH’s very own hygiene and safety label supported by Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.”
DOT works to boost resiliency of El Nido
The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) will endeavour to ensure the tourism resiliency of the country’s prime destination, El Nido in Palawan, through the full implementation of the Sustainable Tourism Development Project (STDP) this year.
The announcement was made by tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat during a visit to El Nido on Friday (March 5). The project is a collaboration between the DOT, the Provincial Government of Palawan, the Municipalities of Coron and El Nido, and the Asian Development Bank.
The tourism chief shared that the STDP, an initiative under the DOT’s Transforming Communities Towards Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Tourism (TouRIST) programme, aims to make El Nido’s tourism development more sustainable and inclusive.
Projects will focus on making improvements to the town’s drainage; solid waste (landfill development); ecosystem-based tourism site management; as well as enterprise and skills development from 2021 to 2026.
With the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country, Romulo-Puyat said that the DOT is optimistic that tourism workers in destinations like El Nido, Palawan will be prioritised in the government’s vaccination programme, after medical frontliners and senior citizens.
Google abolishes fees for hotel booking links
Hotels can now have booking links listed on Google at no charge, as the search giant announces that it is eschewing paid links in favour of “organic” price comparison – a development that strengthens Google’s standing in the metasearch space.
Prior to this update – announced by Google’s vice president, product management, Richard Holden – hotels and OTAs had to pay to list bookable room rates on its price-comparison metasearch platform, Google Travel.
Starting this week, hospitality players will be given two new slots for booking links under the “Overview” tab in Google Travel, in addition to a maximum of four paid ad slots. These paid links will also appear under the “Prices” tab, in addition to an unlimited number of organic and free booking links from eligible partners. The organic links are based on pricing and availability information fed from the hotel.
Holden explained that this change will give consumers “more confidence in making decisions about booking”. He explained: “Users will find that they’ll have more confidence in the product over time, because they believe that they’re seeing all the offers (available). That, in turn, will benefit our partners, from small hotels to large OTAs.”
This development joins another change in Google’s metasearch product made in January last year, when it stopped charging airlines for direct booking links within the Google Flights price-comparison feature. The same update was made to the listing of shopping products this year.
“We’re going to see a strong need for the industry to connect with consumers, going forward. We see this as a great opportunity to make it available to any player in the ecosystem (who are) looking for ways to efficiently reach consumers coming out of a very trying period,” expressed Holden.
Last December, Google also rolled out its Travel Insights platform, which provides data-driven analytics about travel demand and consumer booking trends. This serves as a fountain of knowledge that hotels, travel companies and governments can tap on to understand where the potential for travel is re-emerging, said Holden.
HKTB preps tourism recovery plan
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has committed HK$1.138 billion (US$146.6 million) to a series of short-term, as well as medium- to long-term plans, over the next financial year to prepare for the recovery of tourism and the resumption of international travel.
The short-term strategy will focus on encouraging back international visitors to Hong Kong as soon as possible. When borders reopen and global travel resumes, HKTB will launch Open House Hong Kong, a campaign designed to restore visitor arrivals through tactical offers and exclusive experiences.
In the medium- to long-term, HKTB is conducting a holistic review of Hong Kong’s tourism brand and positioning. Following the resumption of travel, HKTB will launch large-scale promotions through multiple channels including digital platforms in key source markets, as well as media and tour operator co-ops to present Hong Kong’s reinvented tourism image.
In addition, HKTB will develop multi-destination partnerships with cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), such as Macau and Guangzhou, to enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as the gateway into mainland China and build on the GBA tourism brand.
The two-phased approach to the plan will complement the ongoing initiatives to support the travel trade, cruise and MICE industries, as well as maintain Hong Kong’s international exposure.
HKTB executive director, Dane Cheng, said: “Despite the start of vaccinations against Covid-19 worldwide, the pandemic situation remains volatile and unpredictable. We consider it unlikely Hong Kong will see a full resumption of cross-border travel in the next three to six months.
“However, we do expect it to be possible for Hong Kong to welcome tourists from selected markets.”
He added: “In formulating our strategies for 2021/22, we focused on two major areas. Firstly, we saw a need to offer support to the trade and boost the ambience in Hong Kong, while ensuring the city’s continued exposure on the international stage ahead of the resumption of international travel.
“Secondly, we anticipate competition for tourists will be intense once the pandemic is over, with rival markets going to great lengths to bring visitors back. The HKTB is therefore setting aside resources for large-scale promotions so that Hong Kong will stand out against competing destinations.”
One-third of destinations globally shut to tourism: UNWTO
The emergence of new Covid-19 variants has prompted many governments to reverse efforts to ease travel restrictions, with recent data from the UNWTO showing that one in three destinations worldwide are now completely closed to international tourism.
Total closures to tourists are most prevalent in Asia and the Pacific and Europe.
The UNWTO Travel Restrictions Report provides a comprehensive overview of the regulations in place in 217 destinations worldwide. While previous editions had shown a movement towards easing or lifting restrictions on travel, the latest report shows that the persistent seriousness of the epidemiological situation has caused governments to adopt a more cautious approach.
As of the beginning of February, 32 per cent of all destinations worldwide (69 in total) are completely closed for international tourism. Of these, around just over half (38 destinations) have been closed for at least 40 weeks. At the same time, 34 per cent of worldwide destinations are now partially closed to international tourists.
UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Polilikashvili said: “Travel restrictions have been widely used to restrict the spread of the virus. Now, as we work to restart tourism, we must recognise that restrictions are just one part of the solution. Their use must be based on the latest data and analysis and consistently reviewed so as to allow for the safe and responsible restart of a sector upon which many millions of businesses and jobs depend.”
The ninth edition of the UNWTO Travel Restrictions Report shows that regional differences with regards to travel restrictions remain. Of the 69 destinations where borders are completely closed to tourists, 30 are in Asia and the Pacific, 15 are in Europe, 11 are in Africa, 10 are in the Americas, and three are in the Middle East.
At the same time, the UNWTO research also indicates a trend towards adopting a more nuanced, evidence and risk-based approach to implementing travel restrictions. Growing numbers of destinations worldwide now require international tourists to present a negative PCR or antigen test upon arrival and also provide contact details for tracing purposes. Indeed, 32 per cent of all worldwide destinations now have the presentation of such tests as their main requirement for international arrivals often combined with quarantine, while the same amount have made tests a secondary or tertiary measure.
The Travel Restrictions Report also notes how different governments are issuing advice to their own citizens. Analysis of the top ten tourism source markets currently advising against non-essential travel abroad found they generated 44 per cent of all international arrivals in 2018. UNWTO notes that advice issued by governments will play a crucial role in the restart and recovery of tourism in the weeks and months ahead.
Tokyo 2020 may be closed to overseas spectators
There may not be any overseas spectators at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games when the high-profile sporting event takes place this year in the Japanese capital, as fresh Covid-19 cases continue to present themselves and anti-hosting sentiment grows among the Japanese public.
Games organisers are now mulling the tough decision, and a conclusion is expected by March 25 ahead of the start of the Japanese leg of the torch relay. However, officials with knowledge of the planning have told domestic media that “practically, the course has already been set”.
Speaking anonymously, they reported that organisers are unlikely to admit overseas spectators, citing difficulties globally in suppressing Covid-19.
The new chief of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, Seiko Hashimoto, added to speculation that the Games might be open only to Japan residents with her comments at a news conference.
She said: “We would really like people from around the world to come to a full stadium, but unless we are prepared to accept them and the medical situation in Japan is perfect, it will cause a great deal of trouble, including for visitors from overseas.”
The prospect of welcoming international visitors to Tokyo to the opening ceremony in four months’ time has become more troublesome in recent days, with the slowdown in the decline of Covid-19 cases in the capital. The number of new daily infections has showed little change since February 21, with an average of 200 to 300 reported cases each day.
In response, the government has extended a state of emergency for the greater Tokyo metropolitan area until March 21. The order was initially placed on the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures on January 7 for one month, before being extended to March 7.
Announcing the extension, prime minister Yoshihide Suga said: “I believe a two-week extension is necessary to protect the lives and livelihoods of the people.”
Athletes participating in the Games will be allowed to enter Japan this month following the lifting of the state of emergency. They will not be required to undergo quarantine but must restrict themselves to their accommodation and sports venues.
Trip.com, Shangri-La expand product offering for customers
Trip.com Group and Shangri-La Group have extended their partnership, bringing in more diversified products, services and benefits for travellers.
The agreement is said to be a new milestone for both companies, as they continue to work together to grow international business as well as cementing their presence in regional markets.
Both companies have laid out plans to benefit mutual guests through enriched offerings and rewards, with one of the initiatives being the granting of Shangri-La Golden Circle Programme access to 300 million-plus Ctrip high-end members.
Shangri-La customers will also benefit from Trip.com Group’s rich range of services, from transportation ticketing to corporate travel management.
To mark the end of this year’s camel calving season, which runs from October to February, Qatar National Tourism Council has released photos of some of the country’s cutest new arrivals.
Camels have graced the Qatari deserts for centuries, having been introduced to the country by the nomadic Bedouin tribes, and are an important part of Qatar’s culture and heritage.
The animals can be spotted in large herds in the desert around Khor Al Adaid, also known as The Inland Sea, which is a tourist attraction in Qatar.
For active holidaymakers wanting to visit Qatar’s camels when borders reopen, there are many opportunities to sit astride the animals with Q-Explorer Tourism or 365 Adventures. Culture enthusiasts can get a taste of the nomadic life of the Bedouin tribes through a camel tour of Mesaieed, while those looking for a more luxurious experience can spend the night glamping under the stars following a desert camel ride.