Author: Pappu

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Asia TRAVEL DESTINATION NEWS

Koh Samui faces immense water shortage

Inadequate rainfall and a rise in demand have caused water crisis in Koh Samui, Thailand’s exotic resort island.


In many water bodies in and around Koh Samui have experienced drastically reduced water levels which have impacted the amount of fresh water available to create more clean water for everyone in the island.


As per the reports in the Bangkok Post, for residents, the island is said to have sufficient fresh water supplies for the locals for less than 30 days.


This crisis situation has encouraged Mr. Sutham Samthong, a deputy mayor of Koh Samui, to support the public to use water supplies carefully.


He has also stated that water is now being brought in from different areas as well as private reservoirs.


Mr. Sutham also said that the next two months, cautious management of resources would let the island to find a way, after which it’s hoping for rain. Koh Samui is well-known for its white expansive beaches, along with luxury resorts and temples.


Between March and May, it often fights with fresh water dearth during these dry seasons. However, there are anxieties that the phenomenon of El Nino is associated with less amount of rain, would denote even more harsh water deficiencies this year.


The present shortage has by now impacted the lives of locals. Residents have reported uneven tap water flows, which have compelled them to pay between 250 baht and 300.

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TOURISM NEWS TRAVEL NEWS

Taking care of stress for tourism workers

Regrettably, quite often, travel, both for business and leisureliness, appears to uphold stress instead of de-
stressing us. 


Anyone ever traveling knows why ‘travel’ in English has come from the French word ‘travail’, which means hard work. Travel, particularly in peak time, is work. In the complex world of today, we often have to tackle overbookings and airline terminations, power cuts and weather situations.


Safety and pandemic worries added additional pressure to the travel experiences in the 21 st century. Many customers tend to suffer from travel stress, and anyone going on vacation knows that they deal with taxing quest for pleasure. Travel specialists are often able to take care of their clients’ demanding circumstances.  


In contrast, few people reflect that tourism specialists and particularly forefront workers frequently suffer and how effortlessly this pressure can become types of destructive employee conduct. 


Therefore, there are numerous notions regarding how tourism experts can lessen their anxiety levels, advance facilities and how we can identify hostile or unhelpful behavior.

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EUROPE HOTEL NEWS

Hotel Indigo makes brand debut in Romania with new signing

IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies, today announces the signing of Hotel Indigo Satu Mare, a brand debut in Romania. This latest signing delivers the lifestyle brand’s market debut in the Balkan nation and strengthens the brand’s presence in Eastern Europe.

Located in one of the area’s best-known Art Nouveau building in Satu Mare, the hotel will celebrate the neighbourhood’s individuality through a reimagined upscale boutique-design – creating a gateway to discover the local culture.

Satu Mare is a city located in Romania’s northern borderlands and is known as a gateway to some of the country’s most picturesque landscapes, has some of the oldest architecture in the region and excellent rail links to the rest of the country. The Old Town is famed for its quaint ‘village-like’ feel and archaeological heritage dating back to the Bronze and Middle Ages. The hotel’s façade is one of the most iconic aspects of the city’s skyline, with architecture dating back to 1902.

Slated to open in 2025, Hotel Indigo Satu Mare joins IHG’s three other properties in Romania; Intercontinental Athénée Palace Bucharest, Crowne Plaza Bucharest, and Holiday Inn Bucharest-Times – with other properties such as Crowne Plaza Constanta Mamaia Beach in the pipeline – further strengthening IHG’s footprint across the emerging market and overall growth momentum in Europe. Romania is one of the fastest growing economies in the CEE, presenting plentiful opportunity for hotel development and investment.

Comprising of 62 design-led rooms and suites, Hotel Indigo Satu Mare will feature a locally inspired restaurant, stylish cocktail bar and a spa. Signed under a franchise agreement with Dacia SRL, a subsidiary of Manevi ZRT, the hotel also ushers in a new era of collaboration between IHG and a new, ambitious owner group. The hotel will be operated by Hotel & More, a Hungarian hotel Operator with a vast experience in the hotel sector and in the region.

Willemijn Geels, VP Development, Europe, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said: “This new signing marks the beginning of a new partnership in Romania; to have introduced another brand to this growing market is an exciting milestone and we are so proud to be redeveloping one of the country’s most iconic hotels. Hotel Indigo Satu Mare will bring a defined lifestyle presence to the city and paves the way for further development in Romania.”

Dr Orsolya Pacsay-Tomassich, Director General of Foundation for Preserving Built Heritage in Central Europe, said, “We are proud to be partnering with IHG Hotels & Resorts to bring the first Hotel Indigo property to Romania. Given the rich history of the building and Hotel Indigo’s famed appreciation for the unique details of individual neighbourhoods, it is set to be a perfect pairing and one which will transform the city of Satu Mare. This deal marks the start of a partnership with IHG that will bring new and exciting projects to Romania.”

Mr Balazs Klemm, CEO, Hotel & More Holding, “We are excited to be taking on the operation of the first Hotel Indigo property in Romania. The lifestyle brand is renowned worldwide and we’re confident we can deliver exceptional stays for guests coming to explore Satu Mare.”

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Asia TOURISM NEWS

Philippines ad agency apologizes for using stock footage

A Filipino ad agency has recently being severely criticized for a promotional video where they made use of footage of other countries for their country’s latest tourism campaign with the name -Love the Philippines.


The Department of Tourism said that it was looking into the allegations that the video had several shots of other countries than the Philippines, days after the campaign was launched on June 27, 2023.


The department said that on the uniqueness and rights of the materials used in the campaign video, they looked for verification many times and repeatedly assured by the agency that everything was done rightly.


The department had contracted DDB Philippines ad agency to assist the launching of the new campaign, however, Ina Zara-Loyola, DOT public affairs and advocacy director, informed the reporters that the video was not part of the agreement with DDB Philippines, as per the regional affiliate CNN Philippines.
Zara-Loyola said that the DOT did not reimburse, and will not do the same for this material. It can be attributed to the DDB.


DDB Philippines issued a report on Sunday, by saying that it’s immensely apologizing for the extremely unsuitable employment of foreign stock footage which in the video has been taken down since that time.


In this sector, in mood videos, using stock footage is a common practice, the use of foreign stock footage was an unlucky mistake on the part of the agency.

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Asia TOURISM NEWS

Chinese tourists set afoot in Brunei, after 3 years

The tourism department of Brunei, along with the Chinese embassy had conducted a cordial welcome ceremony at the international airport in Brunei, as they witnessed the arrival of tourists coming from China. Their arrival not only brought a breath of fresh air to Brunei tourism, but it also re-established
the flight connection between the two countries that had been severed three years back.


Dayang Salinah from Brunei’s Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, has reportedly stated that the arrival of tourists will provide the much needed boost to the tourism industry in Brunei. Hence, the arrival of tourists marks an onset of tourism as well as revenue boost. As per the reports from Tourism Development Department, China is one of the top five placeholders whose resident’s frequent Brunei.


Data records of overall tourist visits from the past years have shown a substantial portion of the visitors to be coming from China. The arrival of tourists after three years should therefore have a promising impact on tourism, and in turn, uplift the generation of tourism revenue in Brunei. Both China and Brunei are looking forward to strengthening their collaboration and thereby overcoming the tourism drawbacks
that Brunei had faced in the past years.

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Asia TOURISM NEWS

Tiong’s action on immigration gains support from multiple corporations

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing have garnered full support from ten associations from tourism and retail domain, on his latest action to confront the problems being faced by tourists at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.


According to them, the minister’s approach in directly procuring information on issues that are impacting tourism, and in experiencing the practices which are being faced by tourists when they arrive in Malaysia, is a decision that should be unequivocally supported.


They have also praised Tiong in his fast approach in detecting the problem and coming up with required solutions which are instrumental in re- establishing Malaysia’s global reputation in tourism industry.


Tiong was recently subject to a controversy where he had allegedly crossed his boundaries in his attempt in ‘freeing’ a female tourist who had been held up by immigration officers. Tiong had retorted back, stating that traits of malpractices are prevailing among some of the officers of the immigration department.


The tourism and retail corporations have also claimed that the tourism industry is being affected by several problems, especially centered around arrival of tourists in Malaysia airport.


Tiong’s suggestion on implementing the Visa-On-Arrival method is also widely welcomed, hinting that it can be a steppingstone in improving the downfall of Malaysia’s image as a tourist-friendly country.

Categories
Asia Destination News TOURISM NEWS

For Vietnam, Cambodia-India is the fastest reviving markets

At present, Cambodia is the fastest-reviving tourism market of Vietnam with a rise of almost 338% in the first half of 2023 in opposition to the levels of pre-pandemic times, followed by India at almost 236%.


Laos was positioned third with a rise of 117%, followed almost 108% Thailand and Singapore 107%, as per the records of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.


For countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia, visa-free entry stay for 30 days is there and made Vietnam quite famous among Southeast Asia tourists.


In recent years, the launch of a series of direct routes has made Vietnam a top choice among travelers from India.


The United States at 95% and Australia at 92% are two markets that revived close to the levels of pre-pandemic times. The U.K. 79%, Germany at 84%, and South Korea 77% are some other markets which have been seeing major recovery.


China, which used to be the biggest tourist senders of Vietnam before covid recuperated over 22% after the government of China on March 15 th , re-started group tours to Vietnam.


Vietnam welcomed over 5.5 million visitors, in the first half of 2023, 69% of eight-million target of this year.


To Vietnam, South Korea has sent the highest number of tourists with over 1.6 million visitors, accounting for 28% of the total. China was positioned second with 557,000, followed by 374,000 United States.

Categories
TOURISM NEWS TRAVEL NEWS

Tourism in Fiji means big business

All tourism sector stakeholders would require to work stiffer with Fiji now at a competitive standard with other nations depending profoundly on the tourism division.


Fantasha Lockington, the Chief Executive of Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, said that the sector has come a long way after the pandemic. However, the struggle is getting tougher.


Lockington said that Fiji has once again affirmed its position as one of the best options when it comes to
vacations. However, they cannot become satisfied.


Lockington added that it is important to keep working on the point variances. How is it possible to ensure that they have the competitive advantage going? Hence, it would be the trial in the future not only for tourism but for every business and industry. Thus, the budget helps back the sureness that things can be done.


The Fiji Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation received a sum of $52.3m according to the new financial plan. Lockington said that the stakeholders would be happy that the administration has not burdened them with extra levies in the financial plan.


Tourism is a very yielding sector as said by the tax people. They do what they are thought to do. However, to be fair, it needs to be made certain that if you bring in taxes, you are getting the backing to do further
business to pay more levies.”


Fiji has also made provisions for tourism-related expansion in Vanua Levu.

Categories
Asia TOURISM NEWS

Nepal tourism revival

In the first half of 2023, Nepal has seen a rebirth in tourism as over 476,000 international tourists rushed to the country. This marked an important revival of 83 percent compared to 2019, as per the Nepal Tourism Board.


The inflow of tourists from abroad had been on a descending trajectory since the pandemic started spreading worldwide in early 2020. But in this trend, this year has seen a hopeful turnaround, showcasing a distinguished tourism rebound.


A total of 536,058 tourists from abroad, in the period between January and June 2019, entered the country. Reasonably, the corresponding period in 2020 saw a rush of 220,815 tourists, in 2021 almost 580,058 tourists and in 2022 around 240,911 tourists came to Nepal.


In Nepal, the number of tourists from abroad coming to the country during the first half of 2023 showed an extraordinary rise of 97.79 percent compared to the same time year before, as it registered a small drop of 16.93 percent when compared to the figures of 2019.


On the monthly invasion of tourists from abroad, NTB provided comprehensive statistics. Around 55,074 visitors arrived in January, followed by February with 73,244 arrivals, 99,426 in the month of March, 98,773 in April, and 77,773 in the month of May. Furthermore, Nepal, in June welcomed 72,250 international tourists.


Particularly, arrivals in June saw 38,845 individuals from India.

Categories
Asia Destination News TOURISM NEWS

Albay lawmaker annoyed with new tourism campaign

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda was not happy with the government’s new tourism campaign of P250-million
and also the catchphrase and emblem since he said that they did not emphasize the province’s treasured
Mayon Volcano, which is one of the iconic and best tourist magnetisms of the Philippines.


Salceda said that such disrespect could see funding difficulties in Congress.


In online outbursts, Salceda urged Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco from the Department of Tourism (DOT) to clarify the oversight of an appearance of the volcano in the ‘LOVE the Philippines’ promotional video.


Salceda said that he is upset with Frasco for eliminating Mayon from this promotional video and for signifying it as a minute pixel in the emblem.


Salceda said that he is more frustrated with the reaction that he should not bring up this issue because
Mayon is comprised in the 50 key volcanoes and peaks signified by a pixel in the approved tourism emblem and catchphrase.


He said that Mayon is worthy of better treatment than a pixel in the logo where one finds it really difficult to actually see it. Mayon has been a nationwide emblem and a countrywide pearl and is among only three
UNESCO-declared biosphere assets in the Philippines.