Lobby for Halong Bay

QUANG NINH, 20 October 2011-Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched a new campaign, last week, in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Min City to build votes for Halong Bay to gain recognition as one of the seven wonders of the world by the end of next month.

The tourism deputy ministry, Ho Anh Tuan, said the campaign had now entered the final stage.

“Organisations and individuals can vote for Halong Bay through the website www.new7wonders.com , telephone, SMS, or the social networking site Facebook.”

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Free Wi-Fi debuts in Hoi An

QUANG NAM, 13 October 2011 – Hotels and tourism related companies in Vietnam’s world heritage town, Hoi An, will offer free Wi Fi internet by December.

Vietnam Data Communications Area 3 and Quang Nam Telecom joined hands to install 350 free Wi-Fi hot spots in Hoi An, mainly at tourist related venues.

According to Quang Nam department of information director, Ho Quang Buu, the project will cost US$1.1 million and is supported by the private sector. Read more

Google launches Flight Search

SAN FRANCISCO, 15 September 2011 – Internet giant Google launched a flight search tool on Tuesday in a potential challenge to online travel services.

Flight Search is the first travel product from Google since its US$700 million acquisition of ITA Software earlier this year.

“Since then, our engineering teams have been working closely together to build new travel tools that provide faster, more flexible, and more useful results to online travel searches,” Google said in a blog post. Read more

Exotissimo dabbles in webinair

BANGKOK, 2 June 2011 – Exotissimo Travel launched a “webinar” or a web-based seminar to deliver presentations and seminar content via the web and do away with the need to travel to a venue or face-to-face meetings, the company announced late last week.

A weekly webinar feature will be offered to all Exotissimo’s partners providing details of new products and what the company calls its Exo Touches, which involves tips and leads on emerging destinations and destination training.

Before each webinar session, an invitation to attend the  online seminar will be emailed to members with details including title, date, time and simple instruction on how to sign up.

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Crackdown on illegal online agents

BANGKOK, 18 May 2011 – Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ Department of Tourism has vowed to crackdown on illegal tour operators who are using internet space to cheat customers or offer poor quality services.

The department general director, Supol Sripan, said the department would deal with  complaints from both Thai and international visitors who booked online and were unhappy with what a locally based online travel agency offered.

Almost all fraudulent cases occur on the internet and tourists are not able to check out the background of the companies that work online,” Mr Supol added. Read more

Maldives tightens wedding rules

COLOMBO, 5 November 2010 – The Maldives  tightened laws governing marriage ceremonies, Thursday, after a European couple were abused as “swine” and “infidels” during the renewal of vows in a language they did not understand.

Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed approved tough new measures, including a fine of one million rufiyaa (US$78,000) on any resort conducting a ceremony in a language that is not understood by tourists.

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SQ to offer WiFi on the fly

SINGAPORE, 5 October 2010 – Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it would be able to offer passengers inflight wireless internet access at 10,600 metres by next year.

SIA said it plans to roll out a scheme that will allow access to WiFi Internet and mobile telephony services from as early as the first half of 2011.

“The environment that our customers have gotten used to on the ground can soon be replicated in the air, when they fly with Singapore Airlines on aircraft fitted with this new connectivity platform,” said Yap Kim Wah, senior vice president for product and services.

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Cyber attacks shut media sites

BANGKOK, 28 September 2010 – Leading Myanmar exile media organisations said their websites had been crippled by cyber attacks Monday on the third anniversary of a crackdown on the “Saffron Revolution” monk-led protests.

The Internet sites of the Democratic Voice of Burma, the Irrawaddy Magazine and the Mizzima news service were overwhelmed by a flood of incoming messages known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

“All the fingers are pointing at the regime and regime-hired mercenary hackers – these are the people who are behind the attack I’m sure,” Irrawaddy founder and editor, Aung Zaw, told AFP.

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SQ cracks down on Facebook

SINGAPORE, 2 September, 2010 – Singapore Airlines has directed its flight attendants to avoid discussing work-related matters on Facebook and other social networking websites, company officials said Thursday.

The image-conscious airline, which is consistently ranked by passengers as one of the world’s best, took action after some cabin crew were found to have discussed confidential job issues on Facebook.

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Tips on avoiding identify theft

NEW YORK, 8 August 2010 – An estimated 5,500 travel professionals heading to the 2010 National Business Travel Association annual conference in Houston, US, over the weekend received emails warning them of the danger of identify theft while travelling and offering 10 top tips to help them avoid the traps.

The bottom line is be hyper aware and careful with personal and financial information even when travelling for business. Top tips from the experts:

1. According to recent reports, hotels are a favoured target of hackers, leaving hotel guests at greater risk of identify theft. Check credit card statement online immediately following checkout and upon returning from a trip and review for any unauthorized charges.

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