TRAVEX buyers tweak appointments

MANADO Indonesia, 11 January 2012: Over 1,400 registered TRAVEX delegates will trade travel products at the Golden Kawanua Exhibition Hall on Thursday following a busy pre-TRAVEX networking session today to finalise last minute appointments.

ASEAN exhibitors will form some 920 of these delegates, while international buyers from 51 countries and media from 36 countries comprise 390 and 103 of total attendance respectively.

Pre-TRAVEX networking activities was underway today with the first of the full-day complimentary pre-show city tours around Manado, organised by the host committee, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Indonesia. These tours give TRAVEX delegates the opportunity to experience the city through its architecture, culture and famous sights, ably brought to life by local guides.

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ASEAN goes green

MANADO, Indonesia, 11 January 2012:  The newly constructed Golden Kawanua Exhibition Hall, venue for ATF 2012 TRAVEX, will welcome over 1,400 delegates this week to negotiate contracts to draw more tourists to ASEAN’s destinations.

Pre-TRAVEX registration statistics indicate that close to 1,000 exhibitors, 390 buyers and more than 100 media delegates will fill the exhibition venue during the event. Representing travel trade and tourism organisations, worldwide, delegates  will conduct business transactions during the 13 to 15 January trade mart.

The event continues to draw the attention of international media as well. This year, media from 36 countries worldwide including first-time participants Bahrain and Indonesia.

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More fun in the Philippines

MANILA, 10 January 2012: Philippines released a new tourism slogan and logo last week, “It’s more fun in the Philippines” in the hope it will boost tourism arrivals in 2012, the Department of Tourism secretary, Ramon Jiminez reported.

The slogan, released just days before the ASEAN Tourism Forum opens in Indonesia, will  be the main branding for both international and domestic markets.

The project is part of a much wider package aimed at reviving tourism that has lagged behind ASEAN neighbours . One of the plans recommends that the government approve a visa-on-arrival for all tourists who currently need a visa. Read more

Bird flu case in Jakarta

JAKARTA, 10 January, 2012: A 24-year-old Indonesian man infected with bird flu died in the capital Jakarta, the health ministry said Tuesday, in the country’s third fatal case in three months.

“Test results from the man who died confirmed that he was infected with bird flu,” health ministry head of communicable diseases Tjandra Yoga Aditama told AFP.

The man likely contracted the H5N1 avian influenza virus from birds living around his house, Aditama said.

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Storm toll rises in Philippines

MANILA, 20 December 2011: The toll of dead and missing from a cyclone that swept the southern Philippines has exceeded 1,000, a government agency said Tuesday as cities prepared mass burials for the victims.

Travel warnings and advisories remain unchanged on the country focusing mainly on terrorism, kidnapping threats, ferry safety and the standard warnings relating to heavy monsoon storms July through to November.

The government disaster monitoring council said in its latest update that tropical storm Washi had left 957 dead and 49 missing after lashing the southern island of Mindanao and surrounding areas over the weekend.

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Sharks attract tourists

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 August 2011 – A Malaysian state on Borneo island, known for its world-class dive sites, is seeking to ban shark fishing to protect the species, which draws thousands of tourists each year, a minister said Monday.

Masidi Manjun, state tourism, culture and environment minister, said Sabah hopes the law can be changed by the end of the year to impose a blanket ban on killing sharks, which are mainly hunted for their fins to make soup.

“We want to make sure that the ban is a blanket ban of all types of sharks in Sabah,” he told AFP. Read more

Philippines trade mission to China

MANILA, 19 August 2011 – Philippine President Benigno Aquino will visit China this month in an effort to deepen trade and tourism ties despite an increasingly bitter row over rival claims to the South China Sea, officials said Thursday.

Aquino will lead a delegation of top economic officials and hundreds of businessmen to China for the trip, from 30 August to 3 September, during which he will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, they said.

Tourism is high on the agenda along with trade, educational and cultural relations, with a particular focus on attracting Chinese investment to the Philippines, foreign affairs department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

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CEO search on home stretch

BANGKOK, 28 July 2011 – Pacific Asia Travel Association will have identified a new CEO by this September in time to announce the appointment at its board meeting in New Delhi during the annual PATA Travel Mart.

Commenting on the association’s search for senior executives, interim CEO Bill Calderwood told TTR Weekly, Tuesday, the CEO appointment should ideally be announced during the September board meeting on the sidelines of the PATA Travel Mart.

Mr Calderwood is due to complete his term as interim CEO in November and hints he wants to conclude a speedy handover well before that deadline. Read more

Philippines taps disabled market

MANILA, 25 July 2011 – The Philippines said Friday it would woo disabled tourists by offering discounts on fares, hotels, and leisure establishments to a potentially huge and under-served market segment.

The government has called on tourism businesses to apply a 20% discount, already guaranteed by law to disabled Filipinos, to all visitors with disabilities, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said.

Markdowns would cover accommodation, admission to amusement centres, medical services, and transportation for persons with disabilities (PWDs), he said in a statement. Read more

ASEAN call to use social media

NUSA DUA,21 July 2011 – ASEAN must maximise the use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media to engage the region’s citizens, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday.

Speaking to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers on the island of Bali, Yudhoyono expressed support for the establishment of an ASEAN blogger community.

“For the first time, and in contrast to just four decades ago, we are facing a reality where the frequency and depth of contacts between our citizens — through cable television, email, Twitter, Facebook — far exceed the formal contacts between government officials,” he said. Read more

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