MAS increases HCMC flightsSubang (2 May 2010):   Malaysia Airlines has added 5 flights from Kuala Lumpur to Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the total number of flights to 19 weekly non-stop flights to the largest city in Vietnam.

Malaysia Airlines’ Senior General Manager, Network & Revenue Management,      Dr Amin Khan said, “We are committed to the Vietnamese market. These additional frequencies will provide more options to our customers to suit their travel plans.”

“In addition, we offer daily flights to Hanoi, enabling our customers to connect to these 2 cities from Kuala Lumpur seamlessly and conveniently,” he added.

Malaysia Airlines has increased frequencies to Ho Chi Minh City due to an increase in demand. Passenger loads have been encouraging and the average load is 75%.

Malaysia Airlines offers 3 times daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City, and daily flights to Hanoi.

(Source : Travel Daily Asia)

Than Hai Thanh, general director of Ben Thanh Tourist, told the Daily that his company, Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and OnePay had inked the agreement to this effect.

The travel firm expects to sell tours and other services online via the website http://www.benthanhtourist.com in 2009, he said, adding his company would spend VND 1 billion to improve the website and boost the internet connection speed.

OnePay will provide technology solution and software for the company’s online tour selling website, while Vietcombank will help with customers’ payment.

“Two main problems that prevent travel firms from selling tours online are technology and online payment. The two partners will help us resolve the problems,” he said.

The tour operator expects a good start with e-commerce after the first quarter of next year. “We expect over 10% of our customers will buy tours online in the first year since the service launch,” Thanh said, explaining that “more and more people want to buy tours and travel services online. We should improve our service to catch up with the demand.”

Ben Thanh Tourist has in the year to date supplied services to nearly 130,000 travelers. These include over 58,350 international travelers, over 6,000 outbound travelers, and nearly 65,000 people buying domestic tours. The company obtained total revenue of VND 370 billion, up 2% against 2007.

Thanh said that 2009 would be more difficult for the tourism sector.

Therefore, apart from the above e-commerce solution to give better convenience to travelers, Ben Thanh Tourist is also expected to promote budget tours. It will also launch more regional tours that take in many destinations in the ASEAN region instead of tours to long-haul destinations.

He said that for the inbound sector, the tour prices next year would be discounted by around 10% to 15%.

Apart from travel service, the State-owned company also operates hotels, resorts and restaurants in HCMC and other cities in the country. It also holds stakes in some other hotels and building projects in HCMC such as the 35-story building at 5 Me Linh Square and the 19-story building at 172-174 Ky Con in

’s District 1, Tropicana in Long Hai Beach, and Park View in the ancient Hue City.

SINGAPORE, 11 May, 2010 — Early indications are that ITB Asia will grow strongly this year making it the largest ITB Asia since the event launched in Singapore in 2008.

Around 15% more floor space has been sold so far this year, compared to same period last year. Hundreds of exhibitors have booked early to secure preferred floor positions.

Demand from Asia is leading the global travel industry recovery. “That confidence and growth is manifesting itself in floor space requirements that are above our expectations,” said Nino Gruettke, the Executive Director of ITB Asia, which takes place at the Suntec Singapore Exhibition and Convention Centre 20-22 October.

Exhibitors that have greatly increased, or doubled, their space this year include: the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Nepal Tourism Board, the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Asian Connections Alliance, Booking.com, Frasers Hospitality (Singapore), La Flora Resort and Spa (Thailand), and Luxury Travel (Vietnam).

Around 70% of exhibitors who have booked so far are return sellers. Nearly 30% are first-time exhibitors. New sellers include the Moscow Exhibition & Convention Agency, Galextur – Galapagos Expedition Tours (Ecuador), TripAdvisor (USA), the J Team (Japan), the Beijing Overseas Tourism Corporation, and NaturCert (Greece).

Show organiser, Messe Berlin (Singapore), positions ITB Asia as “The Trade Show for the Asian Travel Market.” Some 700 buyers are expected to attend.

“With resurgent demand from exhibitors and a high quality buyer policy, we are confident that ITB Asia 2010 will create a lot of new business for the travel industry,” said Gruettke.

Pointers for a strong growth in 2010 were apparent in an independent survey conducted at the end of ITB Asia last year.

In the survey of 190 exhibitors, 262 trade visitors and 309 buyers, 74% of exhibitors reported a favourable impression of the show. Nearly 85% said they would recommend participation to other colleagues. Over 88% of exhibiting companies said they intended to participate at ITB Asia 2010.

Over 6,100 attendees including 553 invited buyers attended ITB Asia 2009. Exactly 84% told the survey company that they had a good overall impression of ITB Asia. Over 90% said they would recommend it to industry colleagues. Slightly more than 85% said they would visit ITB Asia 2010.

ITB Asia 2010 is supported by the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau.

About ITB Asia 2010

ITB Asia will take place at the Suntec Singapore Exhibition & Convention Centre, 20-22 October, 2010. It is organised by Messe Berlin (Singapore) Pte Ltd and supported by the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau. The event will feature hundreds of exhibiting companies from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, covering not only the leisure market, but also corporate and MICE travel. ITB Asia 2010 will include exhibition pavilions and tabletop presence for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) providing travel services. Exhibitors from every sector of the industry, including destinations, airlines and airports, hotels and resorts, theme parks and attractions, inbound tour operators, inbound DMCs, cruise lines, spas, venues, other meeting facilities and traveltechnology companies are all expected to attend.

(Source: Travel Daily Asia)

International visitor arrivals to South Asia grew by 17% year-on-year in the first quarter. All the destinations in the sub-region rebounded strongly from the relatively poor first quarter of 2009, which, in the cases of India and Sri Lanka, were severely impacted by the lingering effects of the Mumbai attacks and the civil war, respectively. Arrivals growth was also very strong for Nepal (+30%), the Maldives (+21%) and Bhutan (+57%) during the first three months of this year.

The destinations of Southeast Asia also reported strong growth with a collective gain of 16% year-on-year in the first quarter. This was boosted by double-digit growth in international arrivals to Cambodia (+10%), Indonesia (+15%), Myanmar (+39%), Singapore (+20%), Thailand (+28%) and Vietnam (+36%). Thailand recorded a 28% gain in arrivals January to March however it is expected that this early recovery will be severely impacted by the tensions and unrest in April and May, especially in Bangkok and it’ s immediate surrounds.

Within Northeast Asia, China (PRC) reported a 4% increase in international arrivals in the first quarter of 2010 with the sub-region as a whole, growing by 8% year-on-year for the period. This strong sub-regional performance was also supported by the SARs of Hong Kong (+17%) and Macau (+12%), Chinese Taipei (+28%) and Japan (+29%). The turn-around for Japan was particularly solid given that it came from a 19% slump in calendar year 2009. Korea (ROK), on the other hand, recorded a 1% decline in arrivals in the first quarter of the year, reversing the positive trends seen in 2009.

International arrivals to the Pacific grew by 6% during the first quarter of 2010, dominated by a 6% increase in visitor numbers to the higher volume destinations of Australia and New Zealand. A number of the smaller Pacific island destinations also recorded improvements in arrivals numbers, notably Niue (+79%), Fiji (+26%), Papua New Guinea (+22%), Tuvalu (+7%), Palau (+6%) and Northern Marianas (+2%).