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Thai AirAsia anticipates Krabi revival
No frills carrier Thai AirAsia will launch a daily
service to Krabi in March in response to an expected tourist traffic revival
to the tsunami-battered Andaman Coast province. The carrier will start
flying once a week between Bangkok and Krabi on March 1, before adding an
additional daily flight two weeks later. Thai AirAsia is expected to use
Boeing 737-400 aircraft on the route.
A promotional one-way fare excluding taxes and fuel surcharge on the route
will be as low as 499 baht (US$12.60) and will go as high as 2,200 baht
(US$55.60), compared with Thai Airways International’s all-inclusive fare of
3,200 baht (US$81). (TTG Asia)
Ministers make breakthrough
This year’s ASEAN ministerial and NTO meetings have
resulted in concrete policy and implementation measures with representatives
coming with “greater commitment, more exchange of ideas, and more solutions
offered”. Integration and joint marketing dominated the agenda of the
meetings.
The ASEAN tourism ministers have:
• Endorsed the ASEAN Crisis Communications Manual (ACCM) presented by the
ASEAN Crisis Communications Team (ACCT);
• Agreed to look into establishing a mechanism modeled after the ASEAN-Japan
Centre for the joint marketing of ASEAN as a single destination;
• Inched closer to the possibility of a common visa for ASEAN; and
• Brought forward deadlines for integration measures to bring the region
closer to the EU model, among others. The ASEAN Secretariat will come up
with the terms of reference for a dedicated agency to promote ASEAN as a
single destination.
First-time attendee Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports Vice-Minister,
Thavatchai Sajakul, said while he initially thought the agenda was not very
strong, the ministerial meeting resulted in several definite measures. “No
one takes anything for granted. For every issue, there is a timeframe to do
it.”
The ASEAN ministers and NTOs, however, did not touch on issues facing the
market such as the impact of negative publicity on avian flu and security on
the tourism industry of some ASEAN countries. (TTG Asia)
Thailand gets tough on tourist guide requirements
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Pracha Maleenond
has told relevant public agencies to step up measures on guide registration
to raise the standards of local tourist guides to the international level.
He said the new rules and regulations, to be in effect by February, would
reinforce tougher screening of local guides especially in the areas of
educational qualifications and foreign language efficiency. Prerequisites
for license applications will include a bachelor’s degree and fluency in a
foreign language.
Maleenond said: “In the past, local guides have easily obtained their
licenses by specifying their foreign language efficiency. However, most of
them are just primary or secondary graduates and do not have tour guiding
skills.”
The new rules will continue to allow foreign guides to be employed on a
short-term basis. They must be experts in languages such as Chinese,
Russian, Korean and Japanese. This is to make up for the shortfall in local
guides who can speak these languages. (TTG Asia)
Laos promotes south, targets Europe
Laos is seeking more long haul visitors from Europe and
intends to introduce its southern region to international tourists.
It received 900,000 tourists from January to October 2005, and Lao National
Tourism Administration (LNTA) Tourism Marketing and Promotion Department
acting Director-General Saly Phimphinith estimated that total arrivals last
year reached 1.1 million. ASEAN accounted for 40 percent of visitor arrivals
and Europe for 15 percent.
Laos is targeting 1.3 million tourists this year. LNTA Vice-Chairman Vang
Rattanavong said, “We want to focus on promoting culture, nature and
history.”
Laos aims to increase European arrivals by 20 percent this year. Its biggest
European source markets are France, the UK and Germany, with Scandinavia
showing great potential.
LNTA representative in Sweden, Willy Hsieh, said Europeans usually stay in
Laos from four to ten days as part of an Indochina circuit.
Hsieh also said, “The north is already very well known so we are pushing the
south, specifically the Champasak region.” Champasak is home to the Vat Phou
temple complex, a World Heritage site said to be older than Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.
Other attractions include the Mekong Falls of Khone Phapeng, South-east
Asia’s largest waterfall by volume; and the Four Thousand Islands or Si Phan
Don, where Irrawaddy dolphins can be spotted. According to Hsieh, the new
airport in Pakse has direct flights to Siem Reap, hence, it can serve as
another international gateway to Laos. (TTG Asia)
LCCs help to open up Indochina
Guided by new low-cost carrier (LCC) routes in the
region, Singapore buyers are looking to contract a large number of rooms in
Indochina destinations such as Cambodia and Vietnam, aside from the other
traditional countries. They are also seeking inventory in the Philippines.
Having experienced a boom in demand to the early LCC destinations such as
Bangkok, buyers are confident a similar wave of tourists will flow into the
new regional gateways Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia are connecting to
Singapore.
Hong Thai Travel Services Director and General Manager Alex Chan said,
“Because of budget airlines, Thailand and Indonesia have picked up well. We
are looking at Vietnam and Cambodia hotels to tie-in with the budget
carriers.”
EDS Travel Solutions’ Business Development Manager Aris Latiff added, “We
have developed Indonesia and Thailand and are now looking to promote
Philippines and Vietnam.”
The buyers interviewed also identified the emergence of the weekend
traveler. Latiff added: “There are about 17 long weekends this year and
regional destinations are ideal places to go to . Budget carriers have
helped us tremendously, providing Singaporeans an avenue to travel to nearer
destinations.”
Star Holiday Mart’s Managing Director Dennis Law added, “The budget carriers
have made ASEAN countries more affordable. In the past, even if it was
accessible, it was very costly.”
LCCs did not only benefit Singapore travelers but also made it easier for
international travelers to transit in Singapore and move around the region.
Although riding on the low LCC fares, buyers said they were looking for a
good spread of hotels.
Star Holiday’s Law said, “It does not mean that travelers who take budget
carriers are not big spenders. Some will spend more on eating and travel
expenses.” (TTG Asia)
No backlash from UK: Thailand takes tough stand
UK buyers are confident that two internationally
publicized rape incidents involving single British female tourists in Thai
resorts this month would not hurt tourism flows. Thai authorities at the
highest level have taken pains to address the situation, with Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra calling for the murderers in the first case to receive
the “hardest punishment”. He said it had hurt the country’s image and could
harm the tourism industry.
London-based Political Risk Managers Director Glyn Abbot said: “I don’t
think there will be a strong backlash from UK travellers. These things
happen everywhere. It is a risk young people bear when they go off the
beaten trail.”
Staffordshire-based Complete India & Asia Travel Consultant, Margaret
Miller, said: “Anybody with any sense would realize this could have happened
anywhere. Therefore, I don’t expect UK tourists to avoid these places. But
the country will have to act to give confidence to markets and show that
they are handling the problem.”
Thai Ministry of Sports and Tourism Vice-Minister, Thavatchai Sajakul, told
TTG Asia Official ATF Daily, “We took it very seriously on the government
side,” adding, “We’ll try our best to make security better…” (TTG Asia)
Flu fears hit tourism
While an avian influenza pandemic remains a specter for
health authorities, a genuine crisis is hobbling ASEAN’s tourism industry -
ignorant travelers frightened by bad press and health advisories are
avoiding the region, costing it hundreds of thousands in tourism revenue.
For example, Amway Corporation called off plans to send 11,000 convention
delegates from China to Singapore over three weekends in January. The
notification it would postpone came only in December, with avian influenza
stated as the reason. Ironically, Singapore is free of bird flu while China
has reported cases.
Also hard hit is Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism Deputy
Director, La Quoc Khanh, said: “We experienced up to 40 percent
cancellations a couple of months ago when the World Health Organization
(WHO) reported cases. But affected areas are remote, and no tourist has ever
caught the virus. When WHO stated we had the situation under control,
arrivals began to recover. ASEAN must keep putting things in perspective for
buyers and media, so they can tell travelers the situation is not dangerous
for them.”
Much of ASEAN is free of bird flu and chances of catching avian influenza on
holiday in Asia are almost non-existent. (TTG Asia)
Vietnam visa offices to close during Tet
Tourists expecting to receive their visas-on-arrival in
Vietnam will be out of luck during the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, in
Vietnam. Government immigration offices in Vietnam will be closed from
January 28 to February 5. Offices will reopen on February 6, but processing
will take at least one week longer because of a government slowdown during
Tet, tour agencies report.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government has fully booked four five-star hotels
in Hanoi in preparation for the upcoming APEC summit November 10-20, leading
to a possible hotel room shortage in peak season, according to local tour
operator Phoenix Voyages.
The hotels, which were forced to release rooms already confirmed, reportedly
include the Sofitel Metropole, Sofitel Plaza, Hilton Opera and Melia. The
government has booked the rooms from October 1 until November 30, the tour
operator said. (TTG Asia)
THAI will not raise
fares despite rising fuel costs
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI),
the national flag carrier, has no plan to raise its airfares at the moment
despite rising fuel costs.
Acting THAI President Somchainuk Engtrakul, who is also a member of the THAI
board, told journalists that the rising fuel costs in early 2006 had not yet
affected the company’s cost management. Therefore, the national airline
currently has no plans to increase its air fares through fuel surcharges.
Somchainuk conceded, however, that the company’s gross revenues in the first
quarter of the 2006 fiscal year, October 1-December 31 2005, were lower than
earlier targeted. The company’s gross revenues of Bt43 billion during the
period were also lower than the Bt46 billion in the same period of the
previous fiscal year, he stated.
The national airline, nonetheless, gained a net profit of Bt5.72 billion in
the first quarter of this fiscal year.
The number of passengers per flight has also grown 78-80 percent on the
average, which is satisfactory, according to the acting THAI president.
(TNA)
Agents fail to elect
new FATA leaders
The Federation of ASEAN Travel Agents (FATA) was unable
to elect a new president, vice-president and treasurer. The positions are
rotated each year and are to be filled by the head of the travel agency
association in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos respectively. However, they were
not present.
FATA members approved that henceforth, the presidency would be on an
election rather than rotation basis, a move already taken by the ASEAN
Tourism Association (ASEANTA) and ASEAN Hotel & Restaurant Association.
Former ASEANTA President, Tunku Iskandar, observed that the chief advantages
of an elected president over a rotated president were greater commitment and
continuity (two years compared with one with rotation). This is more crucial
in light of the challenges facing agents today. National Association of
Travel Agents Singapore President, William Tan, will continue as FATA
president until a new president is elected, which is expected to be at the
end of April. (TTG Asia)
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