Hong Kong’s zero-Covid stance and Omicron restrictions continue to batter tourism players
Banyan Tree Krabi appoints new GM
Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts has announced that Nigel Fisher, has been appointed general manager of its Banyan Tree Krabi, which opened in October 2020.
The Australian national possesses some 37 years’ experience in luxury hotel management across Asia and Australia.
After graduating from Switzerland’s École hôtelière de Lausanne in 1985, Fisher returned to Australia to join Hyatt International Hotels, where he would spend the next 15 years. In the 2000s, he was resident manager at the Four Seasons Sydney and at the Great Barrier Reef’s Hayman Island.
He then took on the role of general manager at leading hotels in Malaysia and the Philippines before moving to Banyan Tree in 2015. From his first post at Banyan Tree Huangshan in China, he stepped up as area general manager for Lijiang and Ringha. Fisher then oversaw the opening of the Angsana Penang, before being lured across the border to Thailand.
TTG brings on second edition of The Great ASEAN Travel Fest
In support of South-east Asian travel and tourism recovery, TTG Asia Media will host a six-month long B2B exhibition showcase from June to November this year.
Presented as The Great ASEAN Travel Fest Plus 2022, the event will feature interactive booths with 3D booth imaging and sales enablement capabilities, unlimited Walk-in Meets throughout 180 days, and monthly engagement activities to bring buyers and sellers together.
A highlight of the online event is the two Open Houses, once in June and the other in November, where there will be themed streaming to highlight specific destinations as well as travel and hospitality brands.
Buyers will earn incentives and training certificates from their participation, while sellers will benefit from wider exposure beyond the travel trade industry.
Commenting on the event, Cheryl Tan, head of TTG Events, said: “This year’s event expands the benefits of a B2B tradeshow beyond just two to three days, by offering six months of unlimited exposure and traffic to destinations and brands.
“The show’s unique formula combines a variety of monthly engagement activities to provide valuable opportunities for buyers to engage with exhibitors through one-on-one meetings, streaming content, brand festival showcases, training videos, mission-to-win interactive games and more throughout the half-year duration. Buyers are also generously rewarded for their time with the show’s incentive scheme.
“As reflected with the Plus extension in the event name, the 2022 edition will also welcome suppliers beyond ASEAN, and looks forward to a diversified representation of destinations and brands.”
The Great ASEAN Travel Fest Plus 2022 is supported by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
TTG Asia Media’s inaugural The Great ASEAN Travel Fest, launched in May 2021, featured a plethora of hotels and resorts, tour specialists and destination marketers and NTOs, such as Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road; Sarawak Tourism Board, Malaysia; Panorama Destination; and Santika Indonesia Hotels and Resorts.
Marina Bay Sands begins US$1 billion transformation, delays expansion for a year
Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has begun a major renovation of its existing infrastructure, in addition to its expansion project that is now expected to be completed in 2026, one year after the original projection of 2025.
The US$1 billion reinvestment will span hotel rooms and suites, new F&B offerings and other enhancements to the integrated resort – the biggest upgrade expenditure to be made since the integrated resort’s opening in 2010. Works will be completed in phases over 2022 and 2023, transforming the design and significantly elevating the hospitality experience in the luxury travel segment, which is predicted to lead the tourism recovery.
According to a press statement, the renovation investment demonstrates parent company Las Vegas Sands’ confidence in Singapore and ongoing commitment to the country’s tourism industry.
“We are firmly of the view that Asia will continue to lead as a primary driver of growth in travel, and Singapore will remain a top destination of choice. Our reinvestment as well as our planned multi-billion-dollar expansion that we announced in 2019 represent a further demonstration of our long-term support for Singapore. It reaffirms our confidence in the future and our commitment to offering industry-leading luxury products and hospitality experiences to our guests,” said Robert G Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands’ chairman and CEO.
The renewed features across the property will be joined by new hardware from the expansion project, such as a performance arena, a fourth tower featuring about 1,000 hotel rooms, a sky roof with a swimming pool and a restaurant, as well as new ballrooms, exhibition halls and luxury retailers.
Singapore takes top spot in APAC in GainingEdge’s Competitive Index
Singapore has taken the Asia-Pacific (APAC) crown in GainingEdge’s fourth annual Competitive Index of international convention destinations, where the 2021 edition ranks the world’s top cities in terms of key draw factors for meeting planners.
Other APAC destinations that have made top 10 include Beijing, Tokyo, and Bangkok. Same as in 2020, Paris tops the list, while New York comes in at number two.
As in previous years, the report covers the top 101 destinations with the largest number of international association meetings, according to ICCA, held in the last recorded three-year series (2017-2019). It also took into account the effect of Covid-19 since its onset in early 2020, and points out challenges international convention destinations have faced.
The report further identifies four key areas that all destinations should focus on as it recovers from the pandemic:
- Intellectual Engagement – Building relationships with local leaders and leveraging on their international reputation;
- Flexible Approach – Providing more flexible product offerings and maintaining an agile market approach;
- Technological Advancement – Embracing new technologies in meetings and events to cater for live and remote participants;
- Regional Focus – Increasing short-term focus on national and regional markets which will provide more near-term yield.
In addition, six cities – Beijing, Istanbul, Moscow, Budapest, Florence, and Ghent – that best show what can be achieved by different combinations of products and a focus on the international meetings market were also highlighted.
GainingEdge Analysis & Research (GEAR) head, Milos Milovanovic, said the main purpose of the Destination Competitive Index is to develop methodologies and quantitative tools for destination comparison which can help users speed up their post-Covid recovery.
“Our key focus this year was to provide a market analysis that would help people identify strategies and activities they can use to recover faster. The Index provides quantitative indicators that can facilitate conversations between the meetings industry and policymakers, be they government or city authorities. If they have facts-based data their proposals for industry support and other recovery assistance are more likely to be successful.”
GainingEdge CEO, Jon Sivertson, added that the key for all destinations is to analyse their competitiveness, within the correct set of competing cities, in order to better understand their current challenges. Armed with that perspective, they can develop effective strategies to speed up their recovery from the pandemic.
The full report can be found here.
Traveller confidence and sustainability take front row seats in corporate travel agendas: AMEX GBT
American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has published a whitepaper setting out key trends that travel and meetings & events managers should keep an eye on for 2022.
Along with specific sector trends across hotel, air and ground travel, GBT highlights four specific trends:
- New ways of working and living that are transforming the travel manager’s role
- Traveller confidence and trust: the keys to keeping travel moving
- How sustainability will continue to drive corporate travel agendas, raising demand for greener options
- Why travel and meetings programmes and policies are positioned play key roles in driving progress in diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Travel and meetings managers will be increasingly visible in 2022. Their responsibilities will be more integrated with other departments as mobility becomes central to the culture of organizations that need to bring distributed teams together,” said Drew Crawley GBT’s chief commercial officer.
“They’re also helping to set the agenda for sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion and will be instrumental in helping organisations understand and adapt to cultural evolution,” he added.
Some of the key points in the whitepaper are as follows:
A seat at the table: new ways of working and living are transforming the travel and meetings & events managers’ roles
The role of travel and meetings and events managers are set to evolve. Traditional patterns of work and travel are shifting, professional and personal lives are blurring, and travel and mobility are becoming more central to ‘traditional’ HR issues. This could see these roles become pivotal: heading up wider employee mobility and interaction policies, budgets and programmes that support overall company culture and strategies. Ultimately, this would result in a stronger voice and a seat at the C-suite table.
Traveller confidence: the key to keep people moving
Communication and safety are driving travellers’ decisions on flights and accommodations. While timely and targeted messages to engage with travellers are important, effective communications are two-way. Travellers need to be empowered to get advice and give feedback on their experiences. These insights are vital in increasing employee engagement and can ensure travel programmes and policies align with people’s expectations.
Sustainability will continue to drive corporate agendas, raising demand for greener travel options
Business leaders are under pressure to demonstrate their commitment to emissions targets, not just with investors but with employees and the broader community. This puts travel and meetings programmes under new scrutiny. Data will be key, and managers will need to work closely with suppliers to analyse data, implement and measure the impact of sustainability levers.
Travel and meetings can drive progress in diversity, equity and inclusion
Corporate travel professionals are in a prime position to play a pivotal role in their organisation’s DE&I strategy. Corporate travel managers are using policy to support all employees and to demonstrate that inclusiveness is integral to company culture.
Air
Global aviation should be on the recovery track – but capacity, schedule and price will remain unpredictable well into 2022. Cost pressures due to the availability of fewer flights and reduced route coverage mean travel managers need to be at the ready to recalibrate expectations and help their travellers adjust to the new normal.
Hotel
The global hospitality recovery will build momentum in 2022. This is good news for hoteliers but a challenging sourcing environment for travel and events buyers. Global labour shortages are also impacting hotel pricing and with rates trending upwards, buyers may need to move quickly to avoid or contain rising costs.
Ground
Scarcity will be a critical issue for car rentals in 2022. There simply aren’t enough cars to meet demand. The ongoing mismatch between constrained supply and growing demand means car rental prices are set to rise. It’s time for travel managers to have conversations with car rental partners about the needs of their travellers and the ability to supply the programme.
The full version of the GBT Trends 2022 whitepaper can be found here.
Australia to fully reopen to vaccinated travellers from February
Australia will fully reopen her borders to all vaccinated visa holders from February 21, after almost two years of restricted entry since March 2020.
Although the country has put in a place a staggered border reopening since late last year to allow skilled immigrants and international students to enter the country, as well as quarantine-free travel arrangements with select countries like New Zealand and Singapore, all remaining restrictions will finally be lifted come February 21.
Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated travellers will still require an exemption and be subject to the relevant state and territory quarantine requirements.
With this announcement, internationally-focused Australian tourism businesses can breathe a sigh of relief and rebuild their markets.
Australian Tourism Export Council’s managing director Peter Shelley said that this positive news is a “clear target to work towards” to start to rebuild the once-burgeoning industry.
“With close to two years with our borders closed, our industry has lost tens of billions of dollars in export revenue and we welcome the border reopening as an opportunity to regain some of Australia’s tourism market share,” he said.
He believes that there is a “significant pent-up demand” as Australia has been off the global destination list for nearly two years now.
“But the challenge for our industry is to meet this demand successfully and that will involve tourism businesses rebuilding their lost capacity, product, service skills and supply chains.
“Given the tourism industry has taken a devastating hit to its skills base, experience, expertise and global sales networks, we urge the government to outline a significant funding commitment to our industry in next month’s budget as a sign of its support for what has been a hugely valuable economic contributor for more than a decade.”
American Express Global Business Travel’s Jo Sully, vice president and regional general manager, Asia Pacific, similarly welcomed the reopening.
“Business travel is the backbone of our global economy – the engine room of commerce and a vital connector of cultures. Reopening the border signals Australia’s return to the world stage. We are open for international business, ready to help clients, colleagues, partners and suppliers re-connect across the global community,” she said.
AIME reveals speaker line-up for 2022 Knowledge Program
Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) has unveiled the speaker line-up and official themes behind its 2022 Knowledge Program.
Delivered in partnership with Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and Meetings & Events Australia (MEA), the AIME Knowledge Program is a curated mix of keynote and breakout sessions. The three core themes behind this year’s programme are Business Innovation, Driving Engagement and Human Connection organised by PCMA, and Fostering Collaboration by MEA.
The Knowledge Program will be hosted Australian broadcast journalist and former news anchor Mimi Kwa. Confirmed speakers include Simon Griffiths and Steve Sammartino – Griffiths is the co-founder and CEO of Who Gives A Crap, a profit-for-purpose toilet paper company that uses 50 per cent of its profits to build toilets in the developing world, while Sammartino is Australia’s leading futurist, tech entrepreneur and growth hacker. He is also the host of TV Program The Rebound.
Sammartino shared: “The past 23 months have led to dramatic shifts in the way organisations operate. In a climate of constant disruptions, effective leaders have to embrace and thrive within uncertainty, possessing the foresight to transform their organisation to capitalise on new business growth.”
PCMA’s managing director (APAC) Florence Chua added: “The Knowledge Program will deliver a balance of future-ready thinking, priceless peer-sharing and focused discussions around business and social responsibility of our community. I am cautiously optimistic we, as an industry, are ready to build momentum for 2022.”
AIME’s Knowledge Program will commence in person March 21 and continue with the Ideas Academy on March 22-23. AIME will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on March 21-23 in person and March 28 to April 1 online.
Oakwood opens new property in Tokyo
Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Azabu Tokyo marks the first of 20 new openings scheduled for the hospitality brand for 2022.
This is the brand’s 13th property in Japan, and caters to both short- and long-stay business travellers, as well as leisure guests.
Anchored in Tokyo’s Azabu-Juban embassy district, Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Azabu Tokyo offers 171 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom spaces, all of which boast a private balcony, washer, dryer, and a fully-equipped kitchen. There is also a fitness centre onsite.
GBTA appoints SVP of sustainability
Delphine Millot has joined the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) in the newly-created role of senior vice president of sustainability.
In this new role, Millot will lead GBTA’s initiatives to create a strong industry focus and public “voice” by working together with members, policymakers and other stakeholders to chart a course toward a more sustainable future for business travel.
Areas of engagement include research and insights; industry and member programmes, policy and advocacy; and education and certification, as well as incubating solutions, tools, and supply chain initiatives to help travel buyers and travel suppliers put sustainability at the forefront of their travel programmes and operations.
Millot will work with the founding partners of GBTA’s newly-created sustainability programme which consists of sponsoring organisations and supporters from across the industry, first unveiled in November at the 2021 GBTA Convention.
Millot will also work with the GBTA Sustainability and Responsibility Committee which over the years has delivered sustainability tools and educational programmes to GBTA members. Among the 2022 initiatives for this established global committee led by current chairperson, Jenny Sabineu, are the relaunching of an updated GBTA Sustainability Toolkit and the development of a global industry standard Supplier Scorecard.
Mark Cuschieri, GBTA board vice president and executive sponsor of GBTA’s Sustainability initiative will also serve as chairperson for the GBTA Sustainability Leadership Council, and Sabineu as its vice-chair.
Millot’s professional background includes experience working between private, public and non-profit sectors, both in Europe and the US.
Most recently, she served as the head of the international public affairs division for Grayling, a global consulting firm specialising in strategic communications and government affairs. Her experience includes managing a European-wide campaign for the Environmental Defense Fund to reduce methane emissions, which are responsible for at least 25 per cent of today’s global warming. This resulted in the Global Methane Pledge adopted at COP26 in November 2021 as the single biggest political effort to date to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In previous roles, she worked closely with senior-level executives at leading multinationals in multiple business sectors, as well as with associations representing sectoral interests including business aviation, oil and gas, heating and cooling, construction equipment, aluminium, and bioenergy.
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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s reiteration of the region’s adherence to a “dynamic zero” regime on February 8 has added to the worries of local tourism players, who have had their business disrupted by Omicron infections since January 7.
All local tourism activities, such as Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Spend-to-Redeem Local Tours programme as well as cruises to nowhere, have been suspended.
Holiday World Tours, managing director, Paul Leung, told TTGmice that business had started to pick up in late-2021, thanks to the return of cruises. “Now, everything is halted. We are not sure what the future holds. Perhaps nothing will materialise before June,” Leung lamented.
While there is the Come2HK travel scheme that allows quarantine-free entry for non-Hong Kong residents coming from China’s Guangdong province or Macao, Leung said Hong Kong travel agents have benefited very little from it.
The situation would continue to be tough for tourism and MICE players well into 2023, even if all barriers were lifted tomorrow, opined Destination China, general manager and owner, Gunther Homerlein.
He said: “It is the perfect storm of all bad press Hong Kong received prior to Covid – during the political strife – and during the pandemic. Hong Kong has not yet had a chance to reposition herself.”
Arrivals to Hong Kong went from 55,912,609 in 2019, when the destination experienced social unrest, to 3.57 million and 91,000 in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Homerlein said local tour operators might have made some money, “but most of us who specialise in international business had little or nothing”.
“There is noting that has been done by the government or Hong Kong Tourism Board to help, support or give the industry hope,” he remarked.
Referencing the Rediscover Singapore voucher programme by the Singapore government and the Singapore Tourism Board, Homerlein said: “It was a well directed and managed programme that allowed the industry not only to thrive, but survive. It also encouraged the development of a lot of very good new products.”
Among hotels, Hong Kong’s stance on Omicron has resulted in banquet business losses. Dine-in services after 18.00 have been banned since mid-January.
A spokesperson with Hyatt Centric Victoria Harbour Hong Kong said the property has responded with a relaunch of its Dinner Box Buffet and In-room Safe Buffet, both of which have been popular with guests. These will remain available until March 4.
For now, Hong Kong’s SME agencies will continue to receive financial aid from the government. The fifth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, announced on January 14, commits about HK$3.6 billion (US$470.9 million) to supporting initiatives such as the Green Lifestyle Local Tour Incentive Scheme and payouts to eligible tour service coach drivers, travel agency staff and licensed agents.
The sixth round of subsidy, confirmed by chief executive Lam on February 8, will amount to HK$26 billion.