In light of the unprecedented global pandemic, TTG Asia Media will move its IT&CM China and CTW China tradeshow and exhibition online.
International and Chinese professionals in the business travel, and corporate and associations events industries will meet online this August
The dates remain the same for this year, August 3-5, and will stay true to its value proposition of delivering business, learning and networking opportunities between international and Chinese suppliers, buyers and professionals in the business travel, and corporate and associations events industries, albeit online.
Meetings, peer-sharing, and collaboration are more vital than ever before in leading this industry on its road to recovery.
Details on the virtual event will be released by June. Organisers will be in touch with confirmed and interested participants to support their transition to this year’s virtual show format, as well as the 2021 event.
Next year’s physical event is scheduled to take place from March 23 to 25, at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.
The IT&CM China and CTW China events are part of the larger IT&CM and CTW series delivered by the TTG Events business unit of TTG Asia Media.
New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel has launched a Stay & Savour room package, priced from HK$1,600 (US$210), which includes a stay in a Deluxe City View or higher category room as well as food and beverage credits.
New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel’s Stay & Savour package comes with F&B credits
Food and beverage credits valued at HK$1,000 nett per room per night are cumulative throughout the stay and can be used at any of the hotel’s seven dining outlets, including Chinese restaurant Tao Li; Japanese restaurants Sagano and Ranzan; and all-day dining venue Café East.
Guests also enjoy an additional 20 per cent food and beverage discount and complimentary Wi-Fi throughout their stay.
To protect the health and well-being of all guests, the hotel is enforcing strict precautionary measures, including a body temperature check for all guests at the hotel entrance, health and travel history declaration for all in-house guests upon arrival, as well as frequent disinfection and hand sanitisers available in the public areas of the hotel.
Anaruk Community Lodge at Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand has initiated a Rainforest Rising tree planting project that ropes in guests as active supporters.
For a small fee of 300 baht (US$10), guests will get to plant a sapling tree as part of the lodge’s forest regeneration project, and opt to stay updated on the progress of their tree and the project via email, besides taking home a Rainforest Rising t-shirt as a souvenir.
Guests of Thailand’s Anaruk Community Lodge will get to be part of an ambitious forest regenerating project
The Rainforest Rising tree planting project extends to a new information centre that educates guests on the importance of biodiversity and practical considerations when regenerating forest cover.
“By planting trees, absorbing all the information, talking to our gardeners and joining our ecotourism activities, guests get a very rewarding and insightful back to nature experience,” said George Newling-Ward, manager of the lodge.
“They also contribute to the long-term ecological well being of the area.”
Anaruk Community Lodge has set a target of transforming 0.8 acres of nearby land into indigenous lowland evergreen forest by 2023. Its eventual aim is to regenerate another four acres of land in its proximity, and have the two plots be on par with the nearby national park in terms of biodiversity.
To ensure that the replanting process takes the conditions of the plot’s location into account, the lodge is partnering with the Forest Restoration and Research Unit (FORRU) at Chiang Mai University to execute the project.
Saplings planted by guests will be given a location according to the plan outlined by FORRU.
The two plots of land that the project attempts to regenerate were cleared of forest more than 50 years ago. They were last planted with oil palm trees in 2007.
According to the lodge, the palm oil plantations were unsuitable habitats for indigenous wildlife such as the Javan mongoose, pangolins, tapirs and loris.
Newling-Ward reckons that the project would attract school and college groups post Covid-19.
With the temporary closure of Gayana Marine Resort, Bunga Raya Island Resort and Borneo Eagle Resort due to Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO), Sabah-based Echo Resorts has directed 50 of its hotel staff to render support to other parts of its business, specifically Green-Os (an organic vegetable farm), Borneo Eco Fish Farm by Bayu Aquaculture and Alu Alu Kitchen.
The move is believe to provide staff an opportunity to gain deeper insight into the group’s holistic approach, said the company in a press statement.
Resort staff at affected Echo Resorts’ properties in Malaysia are moved to support other business units such as Green Os organic vegetable farm
Emphasising that “employee welfare and well-being remain the very core of our business” and that nobody has been made redundant, Gillian Tan, Echo Resorts’ owner representative, also revealed that the company is also making available training opportunities for all employees, including arranging for department heads to take Cornell Online Education Programs.
“We understand it may take time for travel to return to a semi-normal state and have decided that this is the perfect time to go back to basics and reinvest in education and training,” commented Tan.
Community support has also become a key focus during the MCO downtime, with staff volunteering their time to produce 800 reusable masks for colleagues in the company and packing 2,000 meals for affected families in Pulau Gaya, the island on which Gayana Marine Resorts sits.
The company has also chosen to take the opportunity to direct its attention to its sustainable project, Marine Ecology Research Centre at the Gayana Marine Resort, which works on reef generation, giant clam propagation and renewing seahorse populations.
As Indonesia moves to restart its tourism engine, industry stakeholders worry that talent shortage may pose a key threat to the country’s tourism recovery, as the pandemic has left massive furloughs and layoffs in its wake.
Those concerns come in response to the Indonesian government’s recent call for travel trade players to start laying the groundwork for their recovery now, as it anticipates a tourism boom once the pandemic blows over.
Udhi is concerned that the loss of tourism workers during the pandemic will hamper recovery efforts
Speaking on a virtual forum, Udhi Sudiyanto, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Yogyakarta chapter, said that many tourism workers had gone without pay or had their salaries cut, and many were forced to look for alternative jobs.
“Some of them have begun to work independently (in non-tourism-related industries). This will pose a problem when the industry rebounds,” said Udhi.
Fellow forum speaker, Diena Mutiara Lemy, dean of Faculty of Tourism, Pelita Harapan University, voiced her concerns about losing the younger generation interested in continuing their education in tourism or making a career in the industry.
“Companies which used to take in students for internship cannot (commit to hiring) an intern this year. Enthusiasm of new students to join this industry will decline (as a result). Our alumni has told us that it will be impossible to nail a job in the tourism industry this year. Meanwhile, to set up a new business independently in this industry is also unlikely,” she said.
Ary Suhandi, founder of the Indonesian Ecotourism Network (INDECON), said that while tourism will bounce back after the pandemic, the speed of its growth depends on how soon a vaccine is found.
Other challenges remain for tourism businesses during the rebound. Udhi warned that with a decline in the public’s purchasing power, travel agents will have to adjust to clients’ limited budget by shortening itineraries and offering affordable destinations nearby.
“(Travel agents) will likely also scrap longhaul destinations due to weak purchasing power (of Indonesian travellers). (Agents) will also be keener on South-east Asian countries (owing to their geographic proximity),” he added.
The pandemic may also trigger a change in the psychology of Indonesian travellers to be more watchful than before, according to Wiwik Mahdayani, founder of Desma Center, a research centre specialising in tourism.
She projected that Indonesian travellers would favour solo travel or small group tours as they would be deemed safer, and have a greater awareness of sanitary conditions in their surroundings as they would be accustomed to observing their personal hygiene during the outbreak.
Meanwhile Wishnutama Kusubandio, minister of tourism and creative economy, has urged travel agencies across the archipelago to start sprucing up tourist sites in a sustainable and responsible way.
Noting that offering unique local experiences would no longer be adequate in the post-Covid-19 era, Wishnutama said destination marketers must ensure that tourist sites are kept clean and enforce a good visitor management system to prevent overcrowding.
He has been coordinating with tourism stakeholders, such as Garuda Indonesia, to craft appealing packages for domestic and international promotions once the pandemic ends.
Tourists arriving in Sri Lanka in the future must be armed with Covid-19 health clearance certificates approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and be subjected to rapid testing at the airport, under a set of new proposals to revive tourism in the country.
Visitors must clear a WHO-designated health test two weeks prior to arrival and pass a rapid health test at the airport before they will be allowed to get to immigration counters.
Proposals for a new immigration process have been made to ensure arriving tourists have a clean bill of health
Under the proposed measures, future visitors will also need to book their accommodation in advance. Hotels will need to be certified as being Covid-19 prepared.
Detailing these measures in a webinar with other industry experts on Tuesday, Sri Lanka Tourism chairperson Kimarli Fernando added that a new visa process will also be implemented while visa-on-arrival will be terminated. The government is also deliberating the possibility of issuing five-year visas to encourage visitors to return.
Fellow speakers expressed hopes that Sri Lanka’s success in taming the viral spread – through a month-long countrywide lockdown and rigorous testing – will encourage travellers to regard Sri Lanka as a safe and healthy destination to visit once it is safe to do so.
So far, Sri Lanka has 309 cases, 100 recoveries and seven fatalities out of a population of 21.6 million people.
Porter & Sail, the New York-based mobile concierge app and e-commerce company, has created a Hotel Credits marketplace where customers can purchase credits now for future stays at independent hotels across the globe.
Caitlin Zaino, CEO of Porter & Sail, told TTG Asia that the credits can be used at a later date when it is safe to travel again, and higher credits purchased will attract greater savings.
For example, pre-purchasing US$1,000 credit will net US$1,500 to spend.
Nihi Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia is one of the properties on the Hotel Credits marketplace
The aim of Hotel Credits is to support independent local properties with a near-term revenue stream by driving volume and purchases, as these hotels are currently struggling to retain staff with closed doors and travel restrictions.
Currently, there are 24 hotels live on the platform, with more to come on board. Asia-Pacific properties include Bisma Eight and Nihi Sumba in Indonesia, and Aleenta Phuket Resort and Spa in Thailand.
Porter & Sail’s target is to list 50 to 100 properties by the end of this month.
“We’re also talking to our partners in Singapore about coming on board, and are looking at a potential partnership in Seoul. The majority of our energy remains in South-east Asia and North America,” Zaino elaborated.
When asked how these properties were chosen, Zaino shared that most of them were already existing clients of Porter & Sail pre-crisis.
Zaino revealed: “Porter & Sail is not taking any fees on Hotel Credits. All proceeds go to the hotel, so that’s capital coming in now, save for the merchant processing fees (3.9 per cent).”
Should the Hotel Credits platform continue to see success, what started out as a temporary fix may stick around for longer.
Zaino is also evaluating what this means for Porter & Sail, as the tourism industry braces for a new normal.
She elaborated: “The future of travel will change, (alongside) consumers’ behaviours. Perhaps there’s a way forward here that can redefine how travellers book their holidays. Does that mean more travellers want the flexibility of not having to pick a date right away, but banking a good deal and having that to use later when they’re ready to travel?
“Ultimate flexibility is provided to the consumer with Hotel Credits, which may reflect the changed landscape as users begin to think about travel in the future.”
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry is looking at ways of strengthening domestic tourism and restoring the travel confidence of locals, once it is safe to do so.
Speaking at a recent webinar organised by the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), entitled Protecting the Tourism Workforce, minister Nancy Shukri said domestic tourism will help to spur the local tourism industry which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister Nancy Shukri is seeking funding for online training courses for tourism frontliners
Nancy called on inbound tour operators to create innovative programmes in rural areas as well as areas that have been neglected by tourism stakeholders, while the ministry will help with promotions.
She added: “We are also looking at providing online training to further enhance the skills and quality of services for tourism frontliners.”
For this purpose, the ministry has proposed to the Economic Action Council for limited training allowances to run online training courses.
Nancy urged inbound tour operators to make use of the ministry’s grants for domestic marketing and promotions of domestic business events for 2020.
The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has created a 12-week Road to Recovery online tutorial series to arm tourism stakeholders with tools and knowledge that will help them with their rebound.
More than 1,200 people have registered for the free series, which is part of ATEC’s Build Back Better strategy
“ATEC is rolling out the Road to Recovery tourism tutorial series as a way of supporting our industry members and helping them use this time to work on their business,” said ATEC’s managing director, Peter Shelley.
Road to Recovery tutorials are 45 minutes long, and are hosted every Thursday at 14.00 (AEST)
Shelley added: “This is undoubtedly an unprecedented challenge for our industry and many people have lost their jobs or their entire business, but the tourism industry is full of passionate and committed people who will be there at the other end of this pandemic, looking to re-engage and find new opportunities.
“We are offering our Road to Recovery tutorials free to the tourism industry in order to help individuals use this time as an investment in their future, learning and building on their strengths and finding new paths.”
Over the past month ATEC has successfully delivered industry webinars to an audience of 3,000-plus registrants through its Build Back Better Leadership Webinars, where members gain insights from panellists discussing a range of industry-relevant topics and challenges.
Road to Recovery tutorials are 45 minutes long, and are hosted every Thursday at 14.00 (AEST).
Tutorial line-up and registration can be found here.
Airports Council International (ACI) announced a 95 per cent year-on-year decline in regional passenger traffic for the month of April, based on preliminary figures. Nevertheless, traffic seemed to show first hints of recovery with the resumption of domestic flights in China and to a lesser extent, South Korea.
In the statement announcing the figures, Stefano Baronci, director-general, ACI Asia-Pacific, called for a “new normal” where travellers continue to have freedom of movement amid Covid-19. He asked that a balance be found between restoring connectivity and ensuring a safe travelling experience for passengers.
Regional passenger traffic for April fell 95 per cent year-on-year
Baronci also urged governments, health authorities, regulators and aviation stakeholders to form partnerships that would ensure the implementation of “sustainable and effective health measures” in airports.
ACI’s preliminary figures were compiled based on traffic data from 18 airports across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, and reflect the status of regional passenger traffic as at mid-April.
