From the West with Love

by themselves because the Dutch are well informed about what From the west Thailand and Indonesia have to offer,” he added. Ekaterina Milosh, deputy director of Tour Prestige Club, with love Russia also finds Asia becoming more attractive for rich Russians. Savings from weaker Asian currencies, She said: “The weak rouble has affected the middle-income attractive products keep South-east Asia market. The upmarket travellers, however, are still travelling. For cities hot for longhaul travellers them, Asia is becoming more in- teresting because airfares to that By S Puvaneswary and tion, Qatar Airways and Emirates region are sometimes cheaper Mimi Hudoyo Airlines are also offering attrac- than Europe.” THE appeal of South-east Asia tive rates. Milosh identified Thailand, SETTING THE STAGE FOR continues to hold strong in the “Next year we have three in- Vietnam and Bali as being most hearts of longhaul travellers, said centive groups combining Bang- popular among her travellers. A SUCCESSFUL SH0W buyers at this year’s PATA Travel kok and Bali. Each group will These destinations have luxu- Government of India’s Mahesh Sharma extended a warm Mart, who added that the region have around 20 people.” ry hotels and coaches, private jet welcome to delegates of PATA Travel Mart 2015 on Sunday’s is now more enticing due to new He added that Thailand, Indo- services, many attractions and opening ceremony at the Bangalore International Exhibition Cen- products and cheaper rates re- nesia and Malaysia hold particu- excellent airlinks from Russia, tre. Guests were treated to an evening of enthralling traditional sulting from weaker Asian cur- lar appeal to his clients as they are she explained. dances and music, as well as a sumptuous buffet dinner. rencies. “very new destinations”. “Russians like to fly to destina- For longhaul travellers from He urged the NTOs of these tions that require only two tran- This year, the mart saw representation from 456 sellers from countries whose economies have destinations to do more market- sits at most,” she added. As such, 28 destinations, and 242 keen buyers from 233 organisations. yet to recover from the global ing in Brazil, especially in pro- Bali is the best selling destination financial crisis, Indonesia, Ma- moting their value-for-money in Indonesia, while little attention laysia and Thailand are top fa- packages. is paid to other less accessible vourites. Ben Gosman, managing direc- destinations in the country. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS United Tours Brazil’s director of FreeStyle Incentives based However, not all longhaul tor, Jorge Barbosa Elias, told the in Amsterdam, has observed a 10 travellers are drawn to the South- Daily that the Brazilian real has per cent year-on-year increase in east Asia because of the favour- PTM Talks PTM Talks devalued drastically against the leisure traffic to Indonesia and able currency exchange. Lessons learned from community Social innovation in re- US dollar in the past year, forc- Thailand, while the growth in Although the Mexican peso engagement. By Amy McLoughlin sponsible tourism. By Amy ing Brazilians to look for cheaper corporate incentives to the two had fallen in the past year, Reu- (Wild Asia) and Chananya McLoughlin (Wild Asia) & Yurie alternatives to the US for their destinations is just under 10 per ven Sagi, president of RAS Inter- Phataraprasit (Asian Oasis) Nagashima (Kinyei/Soksabike) holidays. cent. national Tours in Mexico, said 11.10-11.30 15.30-15.50 The real had fallen an as- Gosman said both Thailand demand for Bali is still good as Hall 1, BIEC Hall 1, BIEC tounding 62.7 per cent against and Indonesia are seen as value- “honeymooners are less price- the greenback from a year ago for-money destinations and the sensitive because it is a special 2015 PATA Gold Awards PTM 2016 (Indonesia) and 14 per cent over the past six devaluation of the local curren- occasion (for them).” Hosted by Macau Government Dinner Reception months. cies have helped drive demand. Jeff Roberts, founder of Glob- Tourist Office Hosted by Ministry of Elias said: “Hotel rates in “The euro had devalued ear- al Pursuits Services in the US, 12.45-14.15 Tourism, Indonesia Bangkok and Bali are very good. lier so Thailand and Indonesia said young Americans who are Jacaranda and Gulmohar, 19.00-21.30 They are at least 40 per cent were very expensive to us, but travelling to Asia for the first Conference Center, BIEC Vivanta by Taj – Yeshwantpur cheaper than rates of similar not anymore. Demand is good time are keeping demand strong class hotels in the US. In addi- and the destinations are selling for Thailand. 08.09.2015 TTG Show Daily PATA Travel Mart 2 News Online bookings up Smarter use of TTG Travel Trade Publishing is a business group limited budget of TTG Asia Media But hoteliers say offline agencies are still valued partners EDITORIAL TOURISM Malaysia has restrategised its Karen Yue Group Editor By Rohit Kaul buying behaviour and growing share of advertising and promotional activities this Xinyi Liang-Pholsena INDIAN consumers are increasingly go- the online travel segment, believing that year due to a 25 per cent or RM50 mil- Assistant Editor, TTG Asia the market is big enough for everyone. lion (US$11.56 million) slash in budget, Dannon Har Assistant Editor, TTG Asia Online ing online to research and book travel, Paige Lee Pei Qi Assistant Editor and even more are expected to do so ac- Deepak Narula, managing director of a result of tumbling oil prices which had Rachel AJ Lee Sub Editor cording to a study by consultancy firm Aman Travel Group, said: “Indian travel forced the Malaysian government to trim S Puvaneswary Editor, Malaysia/Brunei Phocuswright. business is growing so there is room for its expenditure. Mimi Hudoyo Editor, Indonesia The research, which was published both online and offline agencies.I ndian Azizan Noordin, Tourism Malaysia’s Eugene Tang Photographer travellers want excellent services and com- deputy director-general (promotions), Redmond Sia, Goh Meng Yong earlier this year, involved 2,500 travel- Creative Designers lers from higher income groups across petitive prices. An offline consultant who told the Daily that a third of the NTO’s Samuel Ng Editorial Intern 25 cities in India. They were can provide these will survive.” activities had been affected. Lina Tan Editorial Assistant required to have taken at least Recognising that “online While advertising frequencies and ac- CONTRIBUTORS one overnight holiday. business is a reality that offline tivities will be cut, Azizan said Tourism Prudence Lui, Rohit Kaul, Greg Lowe, Speaking to the Daily on the consultants cannot ignore”, Ran- Malaysia will continue to promote in all Rosa Ocampo, Feizal Samath, Caroline Boey sidelines of the PATA Technol- jan Kumar Mishra, managing key markets. He added: “We will maintain our pres- SALES & MARKETING ogy Forum on Sunday, Pho- director of Odisha-based East- Michael Chow Group Publisher cuswright’s research analyst, ern Voyage, advised small-sized ence at main travel tradeshows but will go Karen Cheung Senior Business Manager Asia Pacific, Chetan Kapoor, tour operators to “focus on al- slow on consumer fairs. The money we Shirley Tan Senior Business Manager said, “Forty per cent of travel Kapoor: online ternative revenue streams such save will be used for tactical campaigns. Jonathan Yap Senior Business Manager bookings in India are now usage will rise as travel insurance to survive”. “We will also go for quick wins by or- Cheryl Lim Advertisement ganising B2B roadshows overseas and Administration Manager made online. Consumers have Some hoteliers have also told Cheryl Tan Corporate Marketing Manager become confident and are embracing the the Daily that offline agencies remain a invite the private sector to join us. Since Stephanie Toh Senior Marketing Executive Internet as a means to discover prices and key channel for their business and will June we have done roadshows in Singa- continue to be so in the coming years. pore, Indonesia, Beijing, Xi’an, Batam, PUBLISHING SERVICES information. We expect the share to reach Tony Yeo Division Manager 50 per cent in the next four years.” “We have tie-ups with many OTAs and Medan, Lombok and Bengaluru. We hope Kristy Lim Publishing Services Executive Sharing more details on the study, Ka- generate good business through them. things will get better by this year-end, and Lynn Lim Web Executive poor said online travel agencies (OTAs) However, offline agencies are giving us regain the budget that had been frozen.” Katherine Leong Circulation Executive are top choices for travel information and healthy MICE business. Furthermore, ho- The ongoing Year of Festivals campaign TTG ASIA MEDIA two out of three travellers are buying pre- tels must depend on different (channels),” is expected to help Malaysia achieve its Darren Ng Managing Director packaged tours online. said Debashis Dutta, associate director, 2015 target of 29.4 million arrivals and Raini Hamdi Senior Editor Offline travel consultants in India are sales & marketing with The Golden Palms RM89 billion in tourist receipts. – S Pu- however, not perturbed by the shift in Hotel & Spa, Bangalore. vaneswary A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR THE TRAVEL TRADE PATA’s Kevin Murphy, Government of Karnataka’s Sri R V Deshpande, Ministry of Tourism Indonesia’s I Gde Pitana, and Government of India’s Mahesh Sharma open the Mart on Monday with a lamp lighting ceremony IN BRIEF lavish tents that measure from 39m2 and be served by personal butlers. The Ulti- An energetic promotion mate Travelling Camp is now at Chamba Kazakhstan Tourism Department is at Camp in Thiksey, Ladakh until September PATA Travel Mart for the first time, de- 30, and will move to Kohima Camp in Na- termined to raise awareness of its tourism galand from Nov 29 to Dec 12.

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