Agents face challenges of change

MACAU 29 November 2011: The Indian head of an aviation consultancy has called on Indian travel agents to move beyond talking about change to focus instead on the challenges that go with it.

That comment at the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) annual convention here last week set the scene for a boisterous discussion amongst TAFI members on preparing for life after the “unending torture” of the IATA Agency Accreditation Programme.

Moderating one of the panel sessions, Kapil Kaul, CEO, subcontinent and Middle East, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, highlighted the myriad of changes occurring across a range of geopolitical, economic and industry sectors.

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World Cup venue told to play fair

BANGKOK 21 November 2011: The awarding of the 2022 World Cup football extravaganza to Qatar has allowed the global trades union movement to jack up pressure on the Gulf states to safeguard the rights of the hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers who endure “inhuman working conditions” in building the gleaming new hotels, convention centres and airports.

A report, entitled “Hidden Faces of the Gulf Miracle”, was released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) last week. Documenting stories of the “migrant worker misery which lies behind the gleaming towers of Gulf cities,” it calls on both the governments of the Gulf states as well as the companies now queuing up for the lucrative World Cup-related contracts to fulfil their responsibilities.

“Conditions for migrant workers in the Middle East are unacceptable,” ITUC general secretary, Sharan Burrow, is quoted as saying. “The World Cup is a time when the eyes of the world will be on Qatar and the other nations in this region. We will do everything to see that FIFA lives up to its responsibilities, that multinationals providing goods for the World Cup and their supply chains are actually respectful of workers’ rights.” Read more

Local touches work for wellness

LONDON, 14 November 2011: Spiritual & Holistic Services are set to be the most important assets and demand components of the health and wellness sector in the Far East and South East Asia by 2020, according to a research report distributed at the World Travel Market 2011 here last week.

Published by Wellness Tourism Worldwide, a newly formed alliance of wellness and tourism related businesses, organizations and institutions, the research also forecasts that private health insurance will play a more important role in providing policies that cover wellness travel.

Entitled “The 4WR: Wellness for Whom, Where and What? Wellness Travel 2020,” the report was prepared by Xellum Ltd. (Hungary) with the support from Global Spa and Wellness (USA) and the cooperation of Hungarian National Tourism Plc.

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India’s religious tourism takes off

Bodhgaya/Lumbini, 9 November 2011 – Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand and worldwide are flocking to the holy sites in North India and Nepal in what is becoming one of the travel industry’s biggest growth sectors; religious tourism.

The numbers are growing in line with significant improvements being made in infrastructure as well as the quality of supporting travel and transportation arrangements. Roads, airports and railway services are being upgraded.

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Transparency comes first

SINGAPORE, 25 October 2011 – The Secretary of an Indian dental association says that transparency is a critical factor in both earning membership trust as well as in winning bids for international conventions to visit a host country.

Speaking at a session on business and trade associations during the ITB Asia trade show here last week, the Indian Academy of Aesthetic & Cosmetic Dentistry secretary, Ajay Kakar, said his appeal for transparency on major internal operations issues such as finances had initially met with stiff resistance from the directors but is now “winning rave reviews.”

It is also attracting the attention of India’s 22 other medical associations who are seeing the advantages of moving away from a culture of minimum disclosure, cronyism and personal gain.

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UNWTO demos transparency

BANGKOK, 17 October 2011 – The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) ended its 19th biennial General Assembly in Seoul last week by setting new standards of transparency and accountability for the entire travel industry and its myriad of membership-based associations.

Fulfilling one of the key pledges made by the Secretary-General Dr Taleb Rifai upon his election to the post two years ago, the UNWTO posted its entire set of meeting documents on line for full public view.

The public now has unrestricted access to full, unedited information on the world’s apex tourism body, including its detailed finances, membership status, projects, activities, staffing and much more. Read more

Indonesia showcases travel wares

BANGKOK,  10 October 2011 – The Indonesian city of Lampung, gateway to the famous volcano of Krakatau, will be hosting this year’s Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME), the country’s annual travel mart, between 11 to 14 October 2011.

TIME is the equivalent of the Thailand Travel Mart. Now in its 17th year, the event is organised by the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (ITPB), a private-sector body, and supported by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Provincial Government of Lampung and the national associations for hotels, tour operators and conventions.

The Jakarta-based company Titan Convex is the event organiser. Read more

London Heathrow loses hub appeal

BANGKOK, 3 October 2001 – London’s Heathrow airport is losing its European hub status to Frankfurt and Paris and it will need to boost connections with cities in Asia and numerous other “emerging market” countries if it hopes to narrow the gap, according to an economic research paper published on 30 September.

The report by Frontier Economics, entitled “Connecting for Growth”, claims that Britain “risks being cut off from global growth” and becoming “a less competitive place to do business”. It cites Manila, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Pune as examples of cities from where it is either underserved or not served at all as compared to Paris and Frankfurt.

The report says that a lack of direct flights to emerging markets may already be costing the UK £1.2bn a year as trade goes to better-connected competitors. This figure could rise to £1.6bn by 2021 – equivalent to one-third of the UK’s current balance of trade deficit. The net present value of this missed opportunity to the UK economy over the next 10 years totals £14bn at a conservative estimate. Read more

Bizarre rule burdens Palestinian tourism

BANGKOK, 26 September 2011 — The Palestinian bid for statehood has opened the way for the international travel and tourism industry to demand the right to visit Palestine without undergoing the humiliating and intrusive process of applying for a visa at an Israeli embassy.

The Israeli occupation of Palestine has forced millions of people all over the world, especially Christian pilgrims seeking to visit Bethlehem and Muslims seeking to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam, to seek a visa from a country they may not want to visit in order to visit a country they most certainly want to visit.

By any standards of international relations, this should be unacceptable. Due to the wave of global support emerging for an independent Palestine, the people of all the countries backing the Palestinian bid are now well placed to demand that their governments take all necessary diplomatic steps to remove this bizarre requirement.

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Racial profiling violates US law

BANGKOK, 12 September 2011 – It would be interesting to know what the many Thai legal firms headed by American lawyers think of a report issued last week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blasting the use of racial profiling as an anti-terrorism strategy, especially in the travel industry.

Entitled “A Call to Courage: Reclaiming Our Liberties 10 Years After 9/11”, the report makes clear that numerous US laws and constitutional rights have been violated in the name of fighting terrorism and hurt the country’s erstwhile image as a much-admired beacon of global freedom.

Very specifically, the report calls on US “political leaders to end profiling of Muslim, South Asian, and Arab American citizens and immigrants, and to speak out against efforts to demonise them.” Read more

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