LANGKAWI, 25 July 2023: Chinese tourists on a Batik Air charter flight from Chengdu to Langkawi last week signalled the return of Chinese tour groups to the popular island destination in north Malaysia.
The Batik Air weekly charter from Chengdu, China, was welcomed by the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airports executives.
Batik Air Malaysia at Langkawi International Airport.
It’s the first direct flight from a Chinese city to Langkawi since the Covid-19 pandemic. The charter on Batik Air (formerly Malindo Air) uses a Boeing 737-800 with 180 seats for the three-hour and 35-minute flight from Chengdu. Ten charter flights are scheduled until October, with around 1,800 passengers booked on holiday packages sold by Sichuan Global Travel Service Company, China.
LADA executives are hopeful the charters will encourage more direct flights between Chinese cities and Langkawi.
Flight OD611 departs weekly from Tianfu International Airport (TFU), Chengdu, at 0310 (Saturday) and arrives at Langkawi International Airport at 0725.
The outbound flight OD610 departs Langkawi at 2155 (Friday) and arrives in Chengdu at 0210.
Langkawi is campaigning to increase direct flights to and from the island to tap significant source markets such as Indonesia, India and China. According to flight tracker data, seven airlines have flights to and from Langkawi: AirAsia, Bek Air (Z9, seasonal charters from Kazakhstan), Firefly, Malaysia Airlines, MYAirline, Malindo Airways and Scoot.
SINGAPORE, 25 July 2023: Adora Magic City, a newbuild cruise ship commissioned by the Adora Cruises joint venture between Carnival Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), is undergoing sea trials.
According to the online cruise news channel, Singapore Cruise Society, the 135,500-ton cruise ship, predominantly based on Carnival’s Vista-class cruise ships, left the Chinese Shipyard near Shanghai last week for nine days of sea trials in the East China Sea.
Photo credit Singapore Cruise Society.
Singapore Cruise Society noted that the Adora Magic City is the first large-size passenger vessel built by a China-based ship-builder. She can accommodate 5,000 guests in more than 2,000 staterooms when in service. The ship is due to set sail on her maiden voyage in 2024.
MANILA, 25 July 2023: AirAsia Philippines has ended wearing face masks on all domestic flights following the government’s decision to lift the state of public health emergency under Presidential Proclamation 297, filed by the Department of Transportation.
Meanwhile, wearing face masks for flights to international destinations remain subject to the existing health protocols in the destination country. AirAsia destinations Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan lifted the face mask requirement as early as Q1 2023.
AirAsia Philippines country head for communications and public affairs and spokesperson Steve Dailisan said deep cleaning and aircraft sanitation will continue after each flight.
“We want our guests to feel secure when they fly with AirAsia. Although it is no longer a policy, guests and crew may wear face masks whenever necessary. However, we also want to reiterate that our aircraft are equipped with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters which filter and block 99.97% of airborne particles, including known bacteria and viruses”.
Guests can book a PHP257 one-way base fare for domestic and international flights and a PHP2,293 fare for other international destinations flying thru Kuala Lumpur, to Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne, for travel until 30 September 2023.
SINGAPORE, 25 July 2023: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reiterated the importance of women’s engagement in Travel & Tourism to catapult its growth and achieve a thriving and resilient sector at the Women Deliver Global Conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda last week.
At the conference, WTTC President & CEO Julia Simpson emphasised the importance of promoting women’s involvement in the sector and overcoming challenges for success in the business world.
The event served as a platform to address the challenges faced by women in the Travel & Tourism sector and explore strategies to overcome them, aiming to inspire change and promote equal opportunities for women in the sector.
The panel discussions shed light on the challenges faced by women in various aspects of the business, including barriers to entry, operational obstacles, and ecosystem limitations.
The event underscored the vital role of mentorship in empowering young women and girls in business. Through networking, opportunities, and resources, mentorship programs unlock their potential for economic transformation.
Simpson noted: “It is proven that companies that have 50% women in their leadership make more money. This makes even more sense in travel and tourism, where women make the buying decisions on where to go on holiday.
“It also makes sense to employ women in senior roles; why would you exclude access to 50% of global talent?
“Putting women centre stage in Travel & Tourism will ensure a better future for the sector and the global economy. Currently, more than half of the sector is made up of women.
“By addressing the barriers and inequalities they face, we can unlock immense potential and drive sustainable growth.
“The ‘Women Deliver’ event catalyses change, bringing together sector leaders, policymakers, and advocates to work collectively towards a more diverse and prosperous future.”
According to the global tourism body, women constitute approximately 54% of the workforce. Travel & Tourism provides accessible opportunities for women, but it also faces disparities such as lower pay and job security.
These disparities were reflected in the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact, where most of the 62 million jobs lost in the travel and tourism sector were women’s jobs.
WTTC urges both the public and private sectors to play their part in promoting women’s participation in the Travel & Tourism sector. It says governments should adopt policies that promote women in senior management, such as mandatory quotas for publicly listed companies and state-owned enterprises.
SINGAPORE, 25 July 2023: The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) says it is committed to good corporate governance and the responsible use of public funds. It made the statement in response to observations made by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) concerning the Singapore Rediscovers Vouchers (SRV) scheme introduced in 2020.
STB said it had taken steps to review and tighten the processes based on the audit. The scheme was launched within four months amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Given the urgency of supporting local tourism businesses and jobs and the complexity of designing the government’s nationwide digital-only voucher scheme for the first time, we are heartened by AGO’s findings that STB had thought through the scheme design and put in place the necessary controls to ensure proper management.”
The key observations were on inadequate controls to ensure that the SRV grants were not disbursed to ineligible persons and that only eligible merchants and products were onboarded to the scheme. While STB had implemented checks to prevent abuse and detect wrongdoing, it recognised that some processes could have been more stringent.
For example, AGO observed that some citizens made false declarations to enjoy subsidies for children and youth. STB had relied on adult declarations and merchants’ verification of the redemptions.
“We intended to simplify the redemption process for the convenience of our citizens and tourism businesses and had assessed the risk of abuse to be small,” STB explained in the statement. “In hindsight, we should have implemented additional checks to verify eligibility. STB plans to take appropriate action against the individuals who had made the ineligible redemptions.”
STB also acknowledges that the processes to determine the eligibility of merchants and products could be improved.
AGO found inadequate supporting documents to show that 12 merchants had met the eligibility criterion. Although STB officers confirmed these 12 merchants’ eligibility, it acknowledges that internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure proper documentation can be tightened.
AGO’s test checks on the listed products of 80 merchants also found that 950 products were onboarded even though the merchants did not submit the necessary product lists to STB for eligibility checks. STB has clarified that given the volume of merchants and products under the programme. It adopted an SOP to verify product eligibility based on a sampling approach.
STB said it would make better use of technology and digital tools when launching new schemes.
DELHI, 25 July 2023: IndiGo will introduce a new service from Mopa, in North Goa, India, to Abu Dhabi starting 2 September to improve connectivity and meet the increasing demand for travel between North Goa and the Middle East.
It will start with three weekly flights (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday) from Manohar International Airport in Mopa, North Goa, to Abu Dhabi. The airline flies from five major Indian Cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, and Hyderabad) to Abu Dhabi.
Photo: www.fabhotels.com, Anjuna Beach.
Manohar International Airport is located in Pernem Taluka district in Mopa. In addition to serving North Goa, its catchment area extends to Karnataka and Maharashtra. It’s the second international airport in Goa after Dabolim, the primary airport located 30 km from the state capital Panaji.
IndiGo head of global sales Vinay Malhotra commented: “Introducing flights between North Goa (Mopa Airport) and Abu Dhabi will help to meet the substantial demand in India for travel to the Middle East.”
With the new flights, the airline will fly 52 times a week to Abu Dhabi from eight cities in India.
PATTAYA, 25 July 2023: Tripadvisor has recognised Fitz Club as a 2023 Travelers’ Choice award winner among the best sports club and wellness centres.
The coveted award celebrates businesses that have consistently received great traveller reviews on Tripadvisor over the last 12 months, placing these winners among the top 10% of all listings on Tripadvisor globally.
Fitz Club team proudly presents the prestigious 2023 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award as the best sports club in Pattaya.
“We are thrilled to have received our first Tripadvisor award. Over the past two years, we have devised a comprehensive plan to elevate our sports and health club to new heights. Our dedicated team has worked tirelessly, fully committed to assisting our guests in achieving their health goals. Our attentive customer service maintains constant communication with our members and guests. The board of directors has also substantially invested in upgrading our equipment and facilities. As a result, our tennis and squash courts are widely recognised as some of the finest in Thailand. This award inspires our entire team to strive for excellence in their daily endeavours,” said the Royal Cliff Hotels Group CEO Vitanart Vathanakul.
“The travel resurgence we’ve seen throughout the past year has even further heightened the competition,” said Tripadvisor chief growth officer John Boris. “Earning a Travellers’ Choice Award demonstrates that you have provided great experiences to those who matter most: your guests. With changing expectations, continued labour shortages, and rising costs, this is no easy feat.”
Check out all the reviews, and discover more about Fitz Club via the following channels: –
Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance platform, has over 1 billion reviews and opinions of nearly 8 million businesses. As a travel guidance company available in 43 markets and 22 languages, Tripadvisor makes travel planning easy no matter the trip type.
About Fitz Club
Fitz Club – Racquets, Health & Fitness stands as the award-winning premier luxury sports centre in the Eastern Seaboard region of Thailand. It boasts a complete range of top-quality amenities, featuring state-of-the-art cardio machines, seven floodlit tennis courts, two air-conditioned squash courts, a swimming pool with thrilling kids’ waterslides, table tennis, rejuvenating sauna and steam rooms. The club is highly regarded for regularly organising diverse sporting events, such as the ITF Tennis Championship, Junior Tennis Tournament, Squash competition, and more. Additionally, the club offers a variety of activities, including sports clinics, personalised training programmes, and group classes. Contact the team by sending an email to [email protected].
DELHI, 24 July 2023: Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism – recognised the success and contributions of 13 local New Delhi partners during an exclusive ceremony last week.
Hosted at the Oberoi New Delhi, the evening marked the first of two events, which concluded at the St Regis Mumbai. More than 100 of DCT Abu Dhabi’s top trade partners and travel organisations gathered to celebrate India’s position as the top source of tourists to Abu Dhabi, based on 2022 data.
Abu Dhabi DCT director of international operations Abdulla Yousuf commented: “These events recognise our partners’ success and display the incredible work that Abu Dhabi and India have achieved together. As we look back on the success of the past 12 months, I feel great excitement for what’s yet to come. Abu Dhabi will continue to innovate, growing and elevating the experiences offered to the Indian market, and constantly looking at new ways to inspire travellers.”
HONG KONG SAR, China, 24 July 2023: Wharf Hotels, the Hong Kong-SAR-based hospitality group, has named Gerhard Aicher as the new area general manager of Marco Polo Hotels in Hong Kong.
He leads the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, Gateway Hotel, Hong Kong and Prince Hotel teams.
Before relocating to Asia, Gerhard served in Director of Finance roles at several hotels, including the Paris Marriott Champs-Elysees, Le Meridien Vienna, and Le Meridien Stuttgart. In addition, he brings extensive skills in Operations and Sales & Marketing. His first general manager position was in Hong Kong in 2007, leading some of the most recognisable hotels in the city. Before joining Wharf Hotels, he was CEO of the OTT hospitality division in Toronto, Canada.
About Marco Polo Hotels – Hong Kong Situated on Canton Road in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon, the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, Prince Hotel, and Gateway Hotel are part of the Marco Polo Hotels brand.
SINGAPORE, 24 July 2023: This almost 8-kilometre path near Malaga (Andalusia) was once considered one of the most dangerous in the world.
Today the entire route has been carefully restored, but although it’s now much safer, one thing hasn’t changed – the unique experience of strolling along walkways hanging over 100 metres on a sheer cliff face.
The Caminito del Rey route is spectacular from beginning to end, running through cliffs, canyons, and a large valley. It crosses the landscapes of Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, a gorge carved out by the river Guadalhorce, with walls 700 metres high. You will need to buy tickets for El Caminito del Rey, and you can reserve them on the official website.
What is the walk like?
The trail is linear and taken one way, going downwards and from north to south, some on mountain paths and some on suspended walkways. It’s 7.7 kilometres long and takes about 3-4 hours to walk, from the start in the town of Ardales to the exit in Álora. The reception area at the start has a restaurant and several parking areas and is also the shuttle bus’s final stop, which runs between the north and south ends of the trail.
This is the starting point of two paths which lead to the control cabin and the Gaitanejo dam, where the official trail of El Caminito del Rey begins. The longer is 2.7 kilometres, starting from Sillón del Rey, a set of stone benches, tables and chairs once used by Alfonso XIII, or through the tunnel next to the restaurant. The other path is shorter, just 1.5 kilometres starting with a smaller pedestrian tunnel 200 metres before the restaurant.
At the control cabin, personnel give visitors a protective helmet and check their shoes’ suitability. The viewing point on Gaitanejo Dam has views of the cave dwellings of Sierra Parda, which were once home to the staff working at the hydroelectric plant. After reaching the walkways, the trail continues through the Gaitanejo Gorge, the Tajo de las Palomas Canyon, and the Puente del Rey hanging bridge. The landscape gradually changes as you approach the Hoyo Valley with its leafy woodland.
Next, the path enters the spectacular gorge of Los Gaitanes via walkways suspended 100 metres above the ground. The amazing sights on this stretch include a hundred-year-old juniper tree growing among the rocks, the “fossil beach” with Jurassic-period fossils, and a glass balcony which sticks out from the walkway for those who feel they need to push their limits. The path continues to the final stretch: after handing back your helmets in the control cabin, there is a 2.1-kilometre walk down the hill to the railway station at El Chorro.
TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
How to get there
Both the town of Ardales and El Chorro station can be reached by car from Málaga (in about 50 minutes), Ronda (60 km away) or Antequera (55 km). El Chorro-Caminito del Rey railway station is on the Málaga-Seville line, connecting to other towns like Ronda. The official website has helpful recommendations on routes, opening times, and how to get there.
Things to bear in mind
In addition to a general visit completed at your leisure, there is also the option of a guided tour to learn more about the region’s history, geography and biodiversity.I t’s advisable to bring water, a snack (chocolate, nuts, fruit, etc.), or a sandwich. The characteristics of the trail, between tall cliffs on walkways and bridges suspended at a great height, will make the hardiest walker dizzy. It is not recommended for anyone with a fear of heights.
The stretch, with the suspended walkways between the north and south control cabins, is 2.9 kilometres long. The rest of the walk comprises mountain paths and forest tracks between the control cabins and the entrance and exit to the path.
There is a tunnel running parallel to the walkways of the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, which is an alternative to the aerial path on days when the wind and rain could cause mudslides. The tunnel is 300 metres long, of which 285 are inside, and 15 are outside in the Hoyo Valley.
What else is there to do?
You can make the most of your visit and explore the Guadalteba, Antequera and Guadalhorce Valley districts. If you fancy even more active tourism, many companies organise water activities in the reservoirs nearby, or you can walk part of the Gran Senda de Málaga path.
But if you prefer something more urban and cultural (or a dip in the sea, depending on the time of year), don’t forget that the city of Malaga is less than 50 kilometres away.
