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Thai agents face industry-wide clean-up
Bangkok - Upon receiving numerous complaints in recent
months from agents and consumers concerning e-ticket fraud - wholesalers
acting as retail agents and airlines dealing directly with corporations -
the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) wants to “clean up” the industry
with regulations requiring outbound agents to get certified.
TTAA president, Anake Srishevachart, said the TTAA wanted to work with the
Tourism Authority of Thailand to set up the regulations to certify outbound
agents as well as solve unethical issues in the travel sector.
He said: “There are many outbound agents. Some are qualified and some are
not so qualified. We get so many complaints from agents and consumers. Some
agents are cheating. Some agents don’t have a licence. We must clean up this
problem.”
In a bid to halt malpractice, the TTAA plans to reinforce the registration
initiative by asking computer reservations system owners to co-operate by
disclosing distribution legacy system installation points.
The association said some agents were guilty of issuing e-tickets without
creating a genuine PNR.
The TTAA is also considering surveying members so it can set a standardised,
industry-wide service and consultancy fee in preparation for zero
commission. The service and consultancy fee would be modelled on the one in
place in Singapore.
TTAA vice-president, Charoen Wangananont, told members during the
associations’ recent monthly meeting even familiarisation trips would come
under scrutiny.
He said the association would scan people who wanted to participate in such
trips to ensure they were “travel business partners and not cousins or
friends”.
World Travel Service tours manager, Viraj Chimprasert, supported the TTAA
proposals. “At the moment it is very easy for anyone to become a travel
agent or tour operator because of the (lax) rules and regulations. When
these agents have no business, do you know what they do? They contact
wholesalers and other people and undercut them.
“What will happen in the end is the whole industry will plunge into
disarray. Now is the time to consider this (the TTAA’s proposals). We have
to screen people coming into the industry.” (TTG)
Mauritius, good will and friendship
A report on the 35th Skål Asian Area Assembly
(L to R) Horst Hornung,
president Skål International-Samui, Bob Lee, Skål AA secretary,
Christine le Clezio, Skål International-Mauritius president, Jan Sunde,
Skål International president, Earl Wieman Skål AA president, Malai
Sakolviphak, Skål national president, and Andrew J Wood, Skål
international councillor Thailand are “all chained up and ready for
Pattaya”.
Andrew J Wood
Following last year’s successful assembly in Phuket, there had been
much excitement in the build up to last week’s Skål Asian Area Assembly
(AAA) in Mauritius.
For the Asian Area Skål executive committee there was a real sense that
the region was becoming much more cohesive following their earlier
meetings. In Mauritius, top of the agenda was to persuade Hong Kong and
Singapore, two dynamic Skål Clubs who were still on the fence, to
re-join the Asian Area. These two powerful Asian dragons were slowly
being teased into recognizing the benefits of a coordinated and focused
group within the region. For Singapore the message received was not “if”
but “when”.
Next on the “big-smile” list was the hopes to have South Africa join the
region to further strengthen ties. Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar,
largely unexplored and therefore ripe for development, were also on
their development hit-list.
Initial forays into Vietnam by active globe trotting Skålleague, Bob
Lee, had also reported favorable sentiments from potential members. So
here on the table was the opportunity to add over 400 members from Hong
Kong and Singapore, 200 members from Africa and potentially another 30
brand new members each from Vietnam, Bohol and Subic Bay in the
Philippines, Hua Hin, Saipai, Reunion, Rodriquez, Madagascar and
Hualien. The Asian Area would then boast close to 2,500 members. No-one
believes it would be easy; however, I am personally convinced that we
have a number of committed and dedicated individuals with the energy and
drive of a “Can Do” mentality to assist Skål International’s goal for
membership development and retention.
During the presentation of the AA president’s report, Earl Wieman also
addressed the subject of organic growth within the region, expressing
the need to develop the existing clubs in order to flourish and provide
real long term growth.
The 4 day, 3 nights Mauritius Assembly was set to launch a number of
extremely important precedents. Firstly, the appointment of a director
of development. Secondly, the setting of deadlines and goals with
regards to audited financial management, and thirdly the approval of
Assembly bids including the possible appointment of a director of
assemblies.
Not that the Asian Area Assembly was at all about achieving MOU’s or
bilateral regional agreements. We leave all of that serious stuff to the
UN and their ambassadors. We are after all an association of travel and
tourism professionals - “Doing Business among Friends”.
The Mauritius Club under the guiding leadership of Christine le Clezio
did an excellent job in organizing a memorable congress.
During his dinner presentation, Jan Sunde, world president Skål
International, who had just completed a South and North American Skål
visit, spoke lovingly of his native Norway and of the history and
traditions of the association. Presenting the Mauritius organising
committee with presidential banners and gifts (troll dolls from Bergen -
which should certainly scare the children), he finished by reminding us
of his presidential theme of “Tourism Through Friendship and Peace” and
in particular the rather unique story of the formulation of a new club
in the Red Sea area, bringing three nations together, doing what many
politicians had failed to do in over half a century.
I was particularly delighted to learn of the Asian Area president’s
special lifetime award of Honorary AA President being presented to Malai
Sakolviphak of Thailand and former SI president, Richard Hawkins. In
Thailand, Malai has been a Skålleague for more than we can remember,
holding positions of club president, international councillor and
national president, all with great success and heaps of quiet diplomacy.
Both awards are very well deserved in my mind.
With the 67th Skål World Congress in Pattaya on everyone’s thoughts,
there was an opportunity to make a heartfelt plea for Skålleagues
throughout the Asian Region to support, attend and participate in the
most important event in the annual Skål calendar. I am delighted to say
that the response to join Skål Thailand’s Silver Jubilee celebrations
for HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Skål Thailand’s Golden Anniversary,
were overwhelming.
To add icing to the cake, an amusing and singularly unique presentation
by Samui club president, Horst Hornung, utilizing dramatic photographs
by Claudio Cerquetti, received loud applause and a unanimous vote for
Koh Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand, to host in 2008, the 37th Skål Asian
Area Assembly.
Macau, which won the bid during the 2005 AAA, will be the host in 2007.
If there was one underlying feeling at the end of a very successful 35th
AAA, it was that of friendship, both initiated and in many cases
renewed, with a good helping of bon homerie and good will, which lie at
the very foundation of the world’s largest association of tourism
professionals.
Cambodia goes for seaside airport
Cambodia has approved plans for an international airport in the coastal city
of Sihanoukville. The initiative is part of a plan to propel tourism within
the country.
Like Cambodia’s other smaller airports that were once part of an extensive
domestic network, the facility in Sihanoukville, 230 kilometers southwest of
Phnom Penh, is currently closed. The government however, hopes to reopen it
to domestic flights by the end of the year and later introduce international
routes.
Soy Sokhan, an official with the state for civil aviation, said that the
rebuilt airport would be able to facilitate direct flights from neighboring
countries, allowing visitors to head for the country’s beaches and also have
a quick link to the Angkor temple town of Siem Reap.
There are also future plans to reopen the airport in the north eastern town
of Kratie, near a stretch of the Mekong river home to endangered Irrawaddy
dolphins that Cambodia hopes to preserve as a tourist attraction.
Almost 1.5 million tourist arrivals were recorded in 2005, mostly from Asian
countries, and the hope is for three million annually by 2010. As per the
information available, last year, tourism earned Cambodia US$ 1 billion, of
which 15 percent went to the state and the rest to the private sector. (eTN
Asia)
Further delays expected
for Airbus 380
AS many as 10 airlines including Singapore Airlines
(SIA), Qantas, Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France will be affected by
Airbus’ announcement of a further delay of up to seven months in the A380’s
delivery schedule.
This was blamed on “production ramp-up issues” and comes on top of a
six-month delay previously announced in late 2005. Airbus will now deliver
only nine aircraft in 2007 instead of the 20 to 25 originally scheduled and
the delivery shortfall will carry into 2008 and 2009.
It will impact plans by airlines to inject capacity on high-demand services
into airports that are faced with severe slot constraints. These include
airports in London, Tokyo, Sydney and Los Angeles.
By operating an A380 on one of its three daily services into Sydney or
London, SIA could offer an increase in capacity of up to 8.8 per cent
without utilising any additional slots - a valuable gain given the high
year-round demand on these routes and high fuel cost.
An SIA spokesperson told TTG Daily News: “We are disappointed with the news
of further delays but will work with Airbus to minimise the delays and their
impact.”
SIA still expects to receive its first A380 by the end of 2006 and this
latest delay will not impact on its “First to Fly the A380” status. However
it will probably defer SIA’s planned phased decommissioning of its older
Boeing 747-400s (TTG).
Austrian gets passengers flat on their backs
Austrian Airlines will retrofit its Boeing 777 fleet
flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Vienna and Sydney with
lie-flat sleeper seats in stages beginning July 16. The airline is also
adding wireless Internet access on its long-haul fleet.
The airlines’ Boeing 767 aircraft will also undergo similar product
upgrading in the last quarter of this year.
The airlines operates 12 weekly flights to Malaysia. There are six weekly
flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Vienna and another
six flights from KLIA to Sydney. (TTG)
World Cup costs Thailand US$60 million in lost tourism revenue
The number of European tourists visiting Thailand is
projected to decline about 22 per cent during this year’s World Cup football
playoffs being held in Germany and the kingdom is expected to lose
approximately Bt2 billion (US$60 million) in tourism revenue, according to a
report issued last week by the Kasikorn Research Center (KRC).
The report said the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand would
decline during the World Cup, which began on June 9 and ends on July 9, as
football fans would prefer to watch the tournament from television in their
home countries or even travel to Germany to see their nation’s teams in
action.
Using Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) data, KRC analysts determined that
as Europeans account for 22 per cent of total foreign tourists visiting
Thailand, ranking second in number after tourists from East Asia, the
economic loss during June-July from the reduced European arrivals would make
a significant dent in local tourism revenues.
On average a European tourist stays for approx. two weeks in Thailand and
spends about Bt50,000 (US$1,300) during his or her stay in the kingdom.
Along with the current summer season in Europe now, it is projected that the
number of European tourists visiting Thailand during the 4 weeks of the
World Cup will be about 40,000 down from the same period of 2005.
It has been calculated that this expected fall in the number of European
tourists coming to Thailand during the one-month period, will cost the
country approx. Bt2 billion in overall tourism revenue. (TNA)
Tiger links Singapore
to Udon Thani
Tiger Airways will become the first carrier on July 1 to
offer direct scheduled flights from outside Thailand to Udon Thani.
Local aviation authorities have given Tiger permission to operate three
direct flights a week from Singapore to Udon Thani using 180-seat Airbus 320
aircraft.
Udon Thani airport, a front-line facility for the US Air Force during the
Vietnam War, has a new 194-million-baht ($US5 million) passenger terminal.
Its 3,048-metre runway can even accommodate jumbo jets.
Meanwhile, Tiger will add another two flights per week between Singapore and
Phuket, increasing the current frequency from seven to nine flights. (TTG)
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