27 Jun, 2011
U.S.Mayors Seek to Plug Tax Evasion By Online Travel Companies
Mayors of U.S. cities have passed a resolution that highlights alleged tax evasion by online travel companies (OTC) and calls on the U.S. Congress not to block legal action to get them to pay up.
more…2 Jun, 2011
Southern Laos Border Town Comes of Age by Hosting Mekong Tourism Forum
PAKSE, LAOS – The southernmost Laotian province of Champassak raised its profile on the tourism map of the Greater Mekong Subregion by holding a successful 12th Mekong Tourism Forum between May 27-28. The first international tourism event to be held here, the MTF will boost traffic along the East-West and North-South corridors of the Asian [...]
more…27 Feb, 2011
Upmarket U.S. Hotels Worst Hit by Two Big Shocks of Last Decade: Cornell Study
A study released last week by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University concludes that upscale hotels in the U.S. were worst affected by the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis, widely considered to be the two most important “external shocks” of the last decade.
more…9 Feb, 2011
Egypt’s Prescient Tourism Slogan: “Where It All Begins”
Egypt’s tourism campaign marketing slogan may turn out to be more prescient than the tourism industry had bargained for.
more…4 Oct, 2010
Turkey’s Iran Arrivals Up, Israelis Down
ISTANBUL — In an era when a country’s foreign policy is set to have a greater impact on visitor arrivals than its tourism policy, Turkey is witnessing significant increases in visitors from Iran and significant decreases in arrivals from Israel, largely as a result of geopolitical shifts.
more…18 Jan, 2010
Domestic Indian Hotel Chains Will Challenge Foreign Ones, HVS Report
International hotel chain brands now rushing into India will find themselves under competitive pressure from domestic hotel chains and an increasingly demanding, well-informed, well-travelled Indian consumer, according to a forecast for the next decade released by the consultancy company HVS Hospitality Services India last week. Entitled “Indian Hospitality – Game Changers in the last decade…and [...]
more…11 Jan, 2010
After “Crotch-bomber” Attack, Racial and Ethnic Profiling Under Fire
New security policies implemented by the US government in the aftermath of the botched attack attempt by the “crotch-bomber” on Christmas Day 2009 are coming under fire from travellers, airlines and civil liberty rights groups worldwide. On January 8, a coalition of more than 25 Civil and Human Rights organizations in the United States issued [...]
more…4 Jan, 2010
“Crotch-bomber” Attack Means Windfall for Security Apparatus
The foiled bid by a Nigerian to blow up a U.S. airliner has given security authorities the excuse they needed to get governments and the aviation industry to spend billions more on security, including body-scanners. The incident has also triggered renewed fears of racial profiling by visa officers and immigration authorities. According to the International [...]
more…28 Dec, 2009
Last Minute Surge Props Up Thai Tourism in 2009
Thanks to a surge in tourism arrivals in the last quarter of 2009, the Thai tourism industry is projecting to close this year with a total of 14 million arrivals, down just 4% over 2008. In 2010, the forecast is for a 7-10 percent increase to 15 – 15.5 million visitors, “if no serious incidents [...]
more…14 Dec, 2009
Climate Justice Panel Fails To Find The Right Balance
COPENHAGEN: An energetic two-hour discussion on the issue of climate justice and tourism on the sidelines of the Copenhagen summit ended with yet another deadlock over some of the long-standing questions about how to make travel & tourism both economically and ecologically sustainable. However, representatives of academia, civil society groups and the UN World Tourism [...]
more…30 Nov, 2009
UN Conf In Takayama Aspires To Boost Tourism For People With Disabilities
The Japanese city of Takayama in Gifu Prefecture, which has reinvented itself as model city for people with disabilities (PwDs), was the venue of a 24-26 November conference designed to showcase how Asia-Pacific cities can promote tourism, mobility and employment for a rapidly-growing part of the world’s population. The congress was organised by the Social [...]
more…23 Nov, 2009
Congress Organisers Say Less Business Travel Won’t Help Cut Global Warming
The meetings and conventions industry is calling upon environmental regulatory authorities to think long and hard before pushing for curbs on travel for business and MICE purposes as part of efforts to reduce global warming. In a statement last week, the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) said that while limiting such forms of [...]
more…16 Nov, 2009
S. Africa Hosts Summit To Strengthen Sports<>Tourism Links
LONDON — The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the South African Government are to jointly organise what is claimed to be the world’s first international Tourism, Sport and Mega-events Summit in Sandton, South Africa during February 24 – 26, 2010. The summit reflects the importance of major sporting, business and cultural events as a [...]
more…2 Nov, 2009
Victory In Anti-Muslim Racial Profiling Case
In a move that should be a learning experience for aviation security, immigration and security authorities worldwide, U.S. Airways last month (on October 20 2009) agreed to an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed by six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, who were arrested after being removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota in [...]
more…26 Oct, 2009
Germany Steps Up Push For Visitors From Asia
SINGAPORE: The City of Berlin will be using next month’s 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall to launch its first TV advertising campaign in Asia, based on a powerful brand message, “City of Freedom.” At the same time, Lufthansa German Airlines will mark the 50th anniversary of its flights to Bangkok. In [...]
more…21 Oct, 2009
In Asia, France Promotes Spiritual Tourism to Lourdes
France is known more for its wine, fashion and shopping but one of its key destinations is slowly gaining popularity in Asia for a somewhat unlikely niche-market — spiritual and religious tourism. Located 812 kilometres south of Paris, the city of Lourdes is being frequented by Christian pilgrims largely from the Philippines but also increasingly [...]
more…12 Oct, 2009
UNWTO Joins Bandwagon Of Global Restructuring Groups
Astana, Kazakhstan: The restructuring “bug” sweeping through international travel industry associations last week spread to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) which is set to undergo a complete internal and external overhaul following the election of a new secretary-general. Former Jordanian tourism minister Dr Taleb Rifai, the first Arab to run the 154-member body of [...]
more…5 Oct, 2009
UNWTO Survey Shows Tourism Prominent In Economic Stimulus Packages
Astana, Kazakhstan — More than 70 countries included travel & tourism in the economic stimulus packages they enacted to mitigate the impact of the global economic crisis, according to a report to be presented to the UN World Tourism Organisation General Assembly here this week. Entitled “Roadmap to Recovery,” the report is a survey of [...]
more…28 Sep, 2009
PATA New Business Plan Hopes To Stop Membership Slide
Hangzhou, China — The membership of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) was holding an extraordinary session here this past weekend to approve a revolutionary business plan for 2010-2012 designed to replace its elitist, top-down structure with a grassroots approach focussing on its rapidly diminishing ranks of small- and medium-sized members. Seeking to “get the [...]
more…21 Sep, 2009
Tourism NGOs Mobilise For Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
Travel & tourism watchdog groups are mobilising to get their voices heard at the last two rounds of the upcoming climate change conferences in Bangkok and Copenhagen. The effort is being spearheaded by two church-backed groups, the Chiang Mai-based Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism and the German-based Tourism Watch which will be coordinating a series of [...]
more…14 Sep, 2009
Videoconferencing Sector Steps Up Marketing Drive
The release of a White Paper earlier this month outlining the “Top Five Benefits of Video Conferencing” further underscores the onrushing competitive pressure that the travel & tourism, especially the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector, will have to deal with in the years ahead. Released by Polycom, a U.S. telepresence, video and voice [...]
more…7 Sep, 2009
Civil Liberties Group Blasts Racial Profiling In U.S. Travel
A major report published by the American Civil Liberties Union last month has criticised the continued prevalence of alleged racial profiling at U.S. airports and border crossings as well as the treatment of those wearing Sikh turbans and Muslim head coverings. “Since September 11, 2001, new forms of racial profiling have affected a growing number [...]
more…31 Aug, 2009
Telecom Union Toolkit Boosts Travel Access For The Disabled
The revolution in Information Technology has transformed the travel & tourism industry like never before, and is now well placed to push forward into a new domain – making its products and services more user-friendly for the world’s estimated 650 million people with disabilities (PwDs). The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) last week released a toolkit [...]
more…17 Aug, 2009
MICE Industry Undergoing Shakeout, But Still Optimistic
Like other arms of the travel & tourism industry, meeting planners and incentive organisers are undergoing a shakeout due to the ongoing business slump but see themselves re-emerging as a “leaner, smarter, more cost-effective, and additionally creative” sector in 2010. Results of a survey of more than 1,000 buyers in the meetings and incentive travel [...]
more…10 Aug, 2009
Turkish Airlines Seeks Stronger Bangkok Links, Eyes Australia Traffic
One of the major objectives of last week’s visit to Bangkok by Turkish Airlines CEO Dr Temel KOTIL was to boost the joint market share of his carrier and Thai Airways International on the Australia-Turkey sector, using Bangkok as a transit point. Turkish Airlines officials said that in the 12-month period July 2008 – June [...]
more…3 Aug, 2009
Thailand At Forefront Of Tourism Slump
As statistics on the tourism industry from all sectors begin to flow in for the first half of 2009, Thailand appears to be at the forefront of the slump, reporting some of the worst industry declines in arrivals and hotel occupancies. Hotel statistics released last week by Smith Travel Research indicated that Bangkok and Phuket [...]
more…27 Jul, 2009
Europe Sees Bleak Travel Outlook in 2009
Thanks to the economic slowdown, European travel & tourism is expected this year to slide back to 2006 levels, and the impact of the swine flu virus could make it worse, according to the second quarter report of the European Travel Commission released late last week. The ETC tracks travel trends to and within Europe, [...]
more…13 Jul, 2009
Indian Railways to Link Country’s Four Mega-cities
India’s four major megapolis cities are to be linked for the first time by non-stop, point-to-point train services under the new Railways Budget proposal for 2009-10 presented to the Indian Parliament last week. The proposed services covering Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are part of an ongoing upgrade of one of the world’s largest [...]
more…6 Jul, 2009
Abacus, Amadeus Chart Out Target Markets
New product announcements by two of the Asia Pacific region’s leading travel technology companies indicate how they are seeking out new opportunities in times of total flux in the travel & tourism industry. Singapore-based Abacus is targeting small & medium sized travel agents while Madrid-based Amadeus, which has a regional office in Bangkok, is targeting [...]
more…29 Jun, 2009
Hotel Occupancies Falling Worldwide
With a few exceptions, hotels worldwide are reporting significant decreases in occupancies, average daily rates (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) with major tourism destinations like Bangkok, Phuket, Dubai and New York among the worst hit, according to STR Global, a lodging industry benchmarking and research company. The company’s statistical comparative analysis figures for [...]
more…22 Jun, 2009
Melbourne Set To Give Sydney A Run For The Money
MELBOURNE: Barely a few months after the February 2009 bushfires, and in spite of reports of a swine flu outbreak, Melbourne has hosted a highly successful Australian Tourism Exchange and announced a slew of new developments designed to help it overtake key rival Sydney as Australia’s Number One city. The early June 2009 opening of [...]
more…15 Jun, 2009
Kuala Lumpur Hotel “Converts” to Sharia Compliance
KUALA LUMPUR – After 15 years of being run by conventional rules of management and hospitality, the De Palma Hotel in Kuala Lumpur has “converted” to Islamic sharia compliance, and business is booming. The bar is gone. One of the function rooms is now a prayer hall. Prayer mats are available in all rooms, and [...]
more…8 Jun, 2009
First Global Road Safety Conference to Convene in Moscow
The First Global Ministerial Conference on road safety is to convene in Moscow on November 19-20, 2009 in an attempt to find ways to reduce the thousands of deaths and injuries occurring on roads and highways every day.
more…1 Jun, 2009
PATA Financial Clean Up Continues
Facing another tough financial year in 2009, the Pacific Asia Travel Association is pushing ahead with internal financial clean-up and administrative overhaul in preparation for formal approval of the changes at the next board meeting in Hangzhou, China, this September. Also under way is a re-writing of the by-laws that will change the structure, role [...]
more…25 May, 2009
European Business Travel Faces Tough Times
European business travel is expected to take the hardest hit as a result of the ongoing financial crisis, according to a market intelligence report issued by the European Travel Commission (ETC) last week. Although Europe is world’s biggest inbound/outbound travel region, the report painted a bleak picture of the industry prospects, pointing to sharp declines [...]
more…4 May, 2009
A Crisis A Day Keeps Visitors Away
A crisis a day keeps visitors away. That was the cry of despair in the global travel & tourism industry as it rushed last week to salvage what was left of its tattered and rapidly deteriorating situation. Even as the industry was dealing with short-term issues like the financial crisis, long-term issues like climate change, [...]
more…27 Apr, 2009
“Better To Be Lucky Than Good,” Says Air Astana CEO
ALMATY — Bad bets made on hedging the price of fuel have cost many global airlines dearly but the Kazakhstan national airline, Air Astana freely credits the “luck” of bureaucratic, tax and legal considerations for staving off what would have been a financial disaster. “It’s better to be lucky than good,” says the airline’s President [...]
more…20 Apr, 2009
Air Astana Flights To Bangkok Unaffected by Thai Crisis
Almaty, Kazakhstan: If Thailand is looking for ways to prop up the moribund travel & tourism industry in these difficult times, it may need to venture into countries where the troubles in Thailand get little media coverage, where governments don’t issue travel advisories and where the people have the money and the means to travel, [...]
more…6 Apr, 2009
Thailand Roadshow Targets Secondary Indian Cities
The Tourism Authority of Thailand last month held its first marketing roadshow in two of India’s key secondary cities, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, as part of a strategy to diversify the sources of its visitor arrivals beyond the main Indian gateways. A total of about 230 travel agents turned up in the two cities for what [...]
more…23 Mar, 2009
Uncompromising Aviation “Safety Standards” Should Be Applied In the Financial World, Too
A brilliant analysis of the global financial crisis by the UN Conference on Trade & Development suggests that world financial regulators can learn a lot from the stringent safety rules rigorously applied by the aviation industry — arguably the first time that a clear linkage has been made between a financial crash and an aircraft [...]
more…16 Mar, 2009
Hotels Fear Slew of Bankruptcies in 2009
Berlin – A survey of 261 European hotel executives has revealed a worse-than-expected outlook for the hospitality industry with 79% of respondents predicting hotel chain bankruptcies in the next twelve months. Four in ten hotel executives anticipate that more than five chains will go into administration in the next year. In the United States, a [...]
more…2 Mar, 2009
Asean Summit To Help Lift Intra-Regional Travel
Last week’s ASEAN summit is to set to give a major lift to intra-regional travel and tourism, from both a quality and quantity perspective. While the process of ASEAN integration will drive travel for leisure, business, conventions, and many other sectors, the industry can also expect to come under rigorous check-and-balance qualitative scrutiny from civil [...]
more…9 Feb, 2009
New PATA Chief Outlines Future Roadmap
(TTR Weekly Editor Don Ross contributed to this report) The Pacific Asia Travel Association has dumped its much-hyped CEO Challenge conference as part of a sweeping revamp of internal and external activities being enacted by President and CEO Greg Duffell following his official takeover last week. “It’s a tough year for holding events,” Mr Duffell [...]
more…26 Jan, 2009
ASEAN Cross-Border Travel To Boom
Faced with the ongoing international financial crunch and a projected flattening of arrivals from long-haul international markets, ASEAN national tourism organisations are set to give a long-overdue boost to cross-border and intra-ASEAN travel, according to presentations made at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Hanoi earlier this month. ASEAN countries have long been their own best [...]
more…12 Jan, 2009
ASEAN To Jettison Tourism Brand
HANOI — Just a few weeks before the ASEAN summit in Thailand in February, ASEAN tourism industry officials have signed off on a plan to jettison the ASEAN brand name in their tourism campaigns and make it a co-brand to new tagline built on the name “Southeast Asia.” At the ASEAN Tourism Forum here last [...]
more…29 Dec, 2008
Low-Cost Airlines Help Aviation End 2008 With “Small Growth”
Scheduled airline passenger traffic in 2008 attained a “small overall growth” in 2008 largely thanks to a “significant increase” in the performance of low cost carriers, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The UN-affiliated global aviation regulatory agency reported that although passengers carried on scheduled air services worldwide increased by around 0.8 % in [...]
more…15 Dec, 2008
Bangkok Airport Reopens, But Industry Braces for Backlash
The Thai tourism industry has begun to downsize big-time as visitor arrivals plunge in the aftermath of the airport closure . Even as promotional packages are rolled out to entice visitors, staff, operations and marketing budgets are beginning to feel the cost-cutting knife. Hotels are being most affected. Staff are being asked to take unpaid [...]
more…8 Dec, 2008
Short-term Drop in U.S. Business Travel to India Seen After Mumbai Attack
The attack in Mumbai will prompt short-term cancellations in business travel to India and Pakistan, and initiate long-term interest in hotel security and guest safety on the part of corporate consumers, according to a survey conducted by the Alexandria, Virginia-based Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE). ACTE represents a membership of senior business travel industry [...]
more…1 Dec, 2008
Under Seige, Tourism Sector Needs to Ask Hard Questions
The twin debacles in Bangkok and Mumbai last week have opened a new chapter in the history of the crises-ridden travel & tourism industry and will require some radical new thinking amongst the new generation of emerging leaders. The tourism promotion campaigns of both “Incredible !ndia” and “Amazing Thailand Amazing Wonders” have been shot to [...]
more…24 Nov, 2008
Exhibitions Sector Faces Turbulence in 2009
Chief executives of the global exhibition industry are preparing for a downturn next year but feel that larger events, as well as those in the so-called Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), will be less impacted than others. These were among the upcoming trends identified at a break-out “CEO Think Tank” session during the [...]
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