Etihad names Thailand manager
May 4, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Trade Talk
BANGKOK, 4 May 2012: Etihad Airways appointed Kirk Albrow as its new general manager Thailand effective from 1 May.
The Thailand post was vacant since Craig Thomas transferred to Australia, last February, to take over the airline’s sales in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Mr Albrow has been with Etihad Airways since 2004 working in various roles as regional general manager for Asia Pacific and for Europe and the Americas. His international sales experience includes management positions at Swissair, United Airlines and British Airways.
Myanmar offers visa-on-arrival
April 30, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Myanmar, News
YANGON 30 April 2012: Business visas on arrivals will be introduced by Myanmar, 1 June, Union Minister for Immigration and Manpower, U Khin Yee, reported in a briefing to local press, yesterday, held at the Ministry of Industry in the capital, Naypyitaw.
The visa will be issued on arrival at Yangon Airport and cost US$40 with a 70-day validity.
The country had a visa-on-arrival for certain nationalities in the tourism only category, but suspended it in 2010. The facility was popular with tourists who were able to plan a trip to Myanmar on speck and get the visa-on-arrival at the airport. But it was only in place for six months and was suspended despites its popularity due to political reasons.
STR reports gains
April 25, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Hospitality, News
BANGKOK, 25 April 2012: STR Global released data of hotel performance in the Asia/Pacific region for March that showed positive results in three key performance metrics possibly heralding recovery in Japanese outbound travel market.
According to a summary of STR global data released earlier this week, March occupancy in the region improved by 4.4% to 69.4%. The average daily rate (ADR) increased by 4.8% to US$145.64 and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 9.4% to US$101.01 when compared to same month last year.
Tokyo reported the largest occupancy increase, up 47.6% to 84.7% followed by Shanghai in China (+11.5% to 64%) and Hanoi, Vietnam (+11 to 76.9%).
Aung San museum reopens
April 25, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Myanmar, News
Yangon, 25 April 2012: Bogyoke Aung San Museum a former residence of General Bogyoke Aung San, an independence leader who opposed British colonial rule, reopened after being closed for five years according to a report in the Myanmar Times.
National Museum (Yangon) director who is responsible for the administration of the Bogyoke Aung San museum said the decision to reopen the building had been made so people had the opportunity to learn more about the country’s independence hero.
“The museum is one of the places to learn about an independence leader who devoted his life to freeing the country,” U Thaung Win said.
Talk fest master in Chiang Mai
April 19, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Trade Talk
CHIANG MAI, 19 April 2012: The master of talk fests, UN World Tourism Organisation, will host a “warm up” meeting on green tourism, 3 May, in Chiang Mai, to prepare a tourism agenda for yet another global conference on sustainable development due to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro next June.
Directly after the Chiang Mai event UNWTO’s talk fest continues, 4 to 5 May, with two “commission” meetings to present the agency’s forecast for international tourism, dubbed Tourism Towards 2030.
UNWTO Secretary-General Dr Taleb Rifai said “The theme of our conference for this year has been selected to reflect contemporary issues of global as well as regional interests.
Changes in TUI management
April 19, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Trade Talk
LONDON, 19 April 2012: European tour operator, TUI Travel PLC, announced, Wednesday, management changes to streamline structure and accelerate its move to being online driven.
The changes in the so-called “mainstream sector” of the company follow the promotion last year of Johan Lundgren to deputy chief executive of TUI Travel PLC, who took over supervision of the company’s core business.
According to the announcement to the stock exchange and media, its Northern, Central Europe and Western Europe sector will close and a mainstream sector board formed. Reflecting the importance of the group’s largest source markets, UK, Ireland and Germany, their managing directors will be promoted to the group management board.
TAT directors meet at the Cliff
April 19, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Hospitality, News
PATTAYA, 19 April 2012: Royal Cliff Hotels Group hosted Tourism Authority of Thailand’s directors and representatives from Europe for their annual regional meeting 2012 in the lead up to the TAT’s marketing activity plan meeting due later in the year.
Royal Cliff Hotel Group managing director, Panga Vathanakul, welcomed delegates while the hotel’s executive director, Vitanart Vathanakul, made a presentation to the director’s on the Royal Cliff’s “brand enhancement project and repositioning initiative”.
MTF fine tunes programme
April 18, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 18 April 2012: The Mekong Tourism Forum 2012 will take place in Chiang Rai, Thailand, 13 to 14 June. The forum will address the theme, “20/20 Vision: Building on Two Decades of GMS Cooperation.”
The event will be hosted at the Dusit Island Resort Hotel located in the heart of this far north town, currently celebrating its 750th anniversary.
Organisers claim they will assess the challenges of human resources, pro-poor sustainable tourism, sub-regional product development and marketing for the next 20 years, in light of achievements in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) over the last 20 years.
WIT for women
April 17, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
SINGAPORE, 17 April 2012: Web In Travel, the region’s premier conference on travel distribution, marketing and technology, will hold its first WITX-Women In Travel in Bangkok.
The one-day conference, 27 April at the Dusit Thani, has two objectives. It aims to put the spotlight on women leadership and vision in travel and tourism, while sharing insights into the women’s market in terms of how they behave online and what they want when they travel.
According to the UNWTO/UN Global Report on Women in Tourism 2011, (the first such report to look at women’s participation in the tourism sector worldwide), tourism provides a wide range of income-generation opportunities for women, particularly in developing regions.
Songkran break begins
April 12, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 12 April 2012: Thailand celebrates Songkran, 13 to 15 April, nation-wide, but the public holiday will continue to 16 April giving residents a four-day break.
TTR Weekly is taking a break too, but we will be back, 17 April, with business-day bulletins on travel trends and news.
This week, the threat of a natural disaster reminds us the travel industry needs to respond speedily to build or maintain a high level of confidence in Thailand’s ability to cope with these challenges.
