KUALA LUMPUR, 17 January 2023: Kicking off the year on the right foot, AirAsia takes home the Bronze award at the 2022 Putra Brand Awards in the Transportation, Travel and Tourism category.
Capital A’s Chief Brand Officer, Rudy Khaw commented: “Our mission from the start has always been to make flying accessible without compromising on quality. We are proud to say that we have upheld that over two decades as we gradually branched out to a versatile range of products and services to enhance our travel offerings.”
The Putra Brand Awards is an initiative by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) to recognise local and international brands that have impacted Malaysians. It is also the only award chosen by consumers.
The award received over 25,000 responses from consumers across Peninsular and East Malaysia who participated in the consumer preference survey to determine their preferred brands across 24 different product and service categories.
KUALA LUMPUR, 17 January 2023: The International Café & Beverage Show (ICBS) 2023 returns to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 25 to 27 May 2023.
This year’s three-day show is expected to attract over 8,000 visitors and more than 500 brands exhibiting from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, The Netherlands and Italy. The decision to return with the show follows the success of the inaugural edition last year.
A coffee demonstration at the Dutch Lady booth during International Café & Beverage Show (ICBS) 2022.
In addition to the exhibition, which is focused on speciality coffee, drinks, F&B products and café lifestyle, as well as furniture, design and technology related to café operations, the organisers (Montgomery Asia) have teamed up with the Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association (MSCA) to host the semi-finals and finals of the 8th edition of the Malaysia National Coffee Championship (MNCC).
The ‘national champion’ baristas (in three categories – Gigi Coffee Malaysia Barista Championship 2023, Falcon Coffees Malaysia Brewers Cup 2023 and Gigi Coffee Malaysia Latte Art Championship 2023) will go on to represent Malaysia at the World of Coffee Championships (WCC) 2024.
Show organiser Montgomery Asia’s managing director Christopher McCuin said: “We were so happy with how ICBS 2022 turned out, recording over 6,000 visitors from 35 countries was a great achievement. The feedback from exhibitors was very positive, with 98% looking to return in 2023.”
Also returning to ICBS 2023 is the ‘Roasters Pavilion’, which is designed to provide a cost-effective way for many smaller Malaysian coffee roasters (a relatively niche and specialist part of the business) to showcase their unique coffee flavours to as many people as possible during the show.
In addition, ICBS 2023 will have a Singapore Pavilion consisting of 10 companies specialising in the Café and Beverage industries and will play host to the ASEAN Coffee Federation Board Meeting. This mini-event is expected to welcome delegates from Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines and Australia – in the process contributing to the development of the fast-growing Malaysian coffee, F&B and café industry, as well as the bounce back of the local business events industry.
The show will be held in Halls 4 & 5 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, with trade and industry visitors the focus of the first two days (25th and 26th May). The third and final day (Saturday, 27 May) will be open to the public.
Anyone interested in visiting or exhibiting at ICBS 2023 should visit www.intl-cbs.com.
TAIPEI, 17 January 2023: Starlux Airlines resumed daily flights on 13 January from the Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei to the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, after a two-year pause caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vietnam News Agency confirmed Starlux is now flying a daily service between Vietnam and Taiwan, with a flight time of around three hours.
Following the latest addition, Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport serves 58 local and foreign airlines linking 60 international and 17 domestic destinations. According to VNA, the airport will handle around 26,000 passengers and 190 aircraft during the upcoming Lunar New Year or Tet holiday.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines has added a daily flight on the Taipei to Bangkok route, effective from 20 January 2023, increasing the frequency to double daily.
The additional service will depart Taipei at 0805 and arrive in Bangkok at 1100. Currently, the single daily flight departs Taipei at 1040 and arrives in Bangkok at 1340. Flight time is three hours and 55 minutes.
For the week of 20 to 27 January, the airline quotes a roundtrip fare of USD1,032 compared with USD881 for a roundtrip fare on Thai International. Fare costs have almost doubled when compared with January 2020.
VIENTIANE, Laos, 17 January 2023: Lao Airlines has filed a request with China’s aviation authorities to fly to five cities starting in March.
Currently, it serves the Vientiane – Kunming route three times weekly. It hopes to add three weekly flights between Vientiane and Guangzhou, two weekly flights between Vientiane and Shanghai, and one weekly flight between Vientiane and Chengdu, possibly as early as March this year. The other two routes are from Vientiane to Changzhou and Hangzhou both with one flight per week.
The news was first reported by the Laotian Times earlier this week, quoting a statement by the airline’s deputy director, Saleum Tayalath.
Since China withdrew travel restrictions and airline caps on 8 January, advanced bookings for the Kunming flights have improved substantially, which should see the airline increase frequencies to daily as early as March this year.
All eyes are on the Chinese New Year holiday season, and if the week-long travel peak meets expectations, the airline is expected to speed up applications to resume flights to key cities in China.
The airline’s current winter schedule indicates there are services scheduled from Luang Prabang to Chengdu, Changsha, and Kunming in China.
AeroLaos, an aviation news channel also claimed AirAsia would resume flights from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Vientiane by the end of March 2023, with flights planned for Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Flight details and fares have yet to be finalised, and AirAsia has not officially announced the service. The one-way fare will be around USD55
Currently, 12 foreign airlines are flying to Laos from seven countries.
PETALING JAYA, 16 January 2023: Sabah Tourism Board bagged the bronze award for the Transportation, Travel & Tourism category at the 2022 Putra Aria Brand Awards held at One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya.
Sabah was also the only destination nominated at the award ceremony.
The Aria Brand Awards is organised by the Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) and is also labelled as the People’s choice awards as it undergoes the same research methodology as the Putra Brand Awards, with over 25,000 survey responses across Peninsula and East Malaysia.
The survey was conducted in eight weeks from September to November last year, where consumers would rate the brands based on various criteria such as familiarity and experience. Consumer responses are captured directly by the market research company Ipsos.
There were 24 categories contested, including tourism, communications, banking, investment and insurance, e-commerce, entertainment and media. In total, 36 brands took home gold awards, 48 silver and 52 bronze.
“2023 kicks off with a good start with this award, being the only destination nominated, and that received an award is a good boost for our brand image and certainly echoes the efforts by Sabah Tourism. We encourage our industry to also participate as it is a way of having our efforts noticed since we know we work hard to build tourism together,” said Sabah Tourism Board chief executive officer Noredah Othman.
BANGKOK, 16 January 2023: Travellers from Thailand can tap special New Year promotional fares to London, Paris, New York, Madrid and more when flying with Emirates.
For a limited time, passengers can book all-inclusive economy class fares from THB28,660, business class fares from THB114,710, and first class fares from THB192,705.
These fares are available for bookings until 22 January 2023 and for travel until 30 November 2023.
With borders reopened and live events back in full swing, holiday goers can look forward to exciting events this year, including the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in May, the French Open in June, Wimbledon in July, and Germany’s Oktoberfest.
Featured destinations and starting fares include:
Destinations
Economy Class Fares From (THB)
Business Class Fares From (THB)
First Class Fares From (THB)
London
31,975
127,925
205,925
Paris
30,655
118,655
196,650
New York
42,185
161,400
272,820
Madrid
31,360
118,080
196,070
Zurich
28,660
120,170
206,190
Amsterdam
30,375
114,710
192,705
France
30,655
118,655
196,650
Munich
32,330
118,935
200,160
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BANGKOK, 16 January 2023: Reuniting with friends and family continued to be the dominant reason for travel in 2023, according to Agoda’s latest Travel Trends survey.
The survey asked travellers to share their top travel goals for the new year, and reuniting with loved ones, wellness and food, arts & culture took the top three places, followed by adventure (4th) and celebrating a milestone (5th).
Boosting physical and mental health (wellness travel) was the top driver for Thai travellers, followed by reuniting with family and friends and, in third place, food, art and culture.
Taiwan (33%), Australia (31%) and the US (25%) are where travellers will most likely plan a holiday reunion with family or friends. Still, travellers from several other countries have different motivations for embarking on a trip.
In South Korea and Singapore, for example, it is recharging mentally and physically that tops the list, contributing to the number two spot for wellness in the ‘reasons to travel’ ranking of Agoda’s Travel Trend survey.
Among people from Japan (44%), Taiwan (24%) and Vietnam (23%), the biggest travel appetite is for re-discovering food, arts & culture. In the Philippines, only 11% are looking to travel for food, arts & culture, while 30% are searching for an adventure. Adventure travel also ranks highest among travellers from Indonesia (23%).
METHODOLOGY
Agoda survey was conducted in partnership with YouGov, polling over 10,000 travellers from across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, USA. This survey was conducted from 8 to 16 July 2022. All respondents were aged 18 and above.
KUALA LUMPUR, 16 January 2023: Preliminary November 2022 traffic figures released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) show robust growth in international passenger markets, buoyed by an ongoing revival in both leisure and business travel demand as travel restrictions end.
A combined total of 13.4 million international passengers were carried by the region’s airlines in November, 7.6 times more than the 1.8 million recorded in the same month last year.
In revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) terms, demand jumped 499.2% year-on-year, significantly outpacing the 187.1% expansion in available seat capacity. This led to a 40.3 percentage point jump in the average international passenger load factor to 77.4% for the month, close to levels achieved in pre-pandemic 2019.
By contrast, the air cargo business segment faced further weakness in demand conditions. Amid still elevated cost pressures, declining new export orders precipitated a steep 19.2% year-on-year decline in international air cargo demand, as measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) in November. Offered freight capacity fell by 7.6% year-on-year, leading to a 9.3 percentage point drop in the average international freight load factor to 63.9% for the month.
Commenting on the results, AAPA Director General Subhas Menon said: “Asian carriers continued to enjoy robust recovery in international travel markets approaching the end of 2022, in tandem with the progressive removal of pandemic-driven border control measures. Overall, the first eleven months of the year saw a nearly six-fold jump in the combined number of international passengers carried to an aggregate total of 87.5 million. Nevertheless, in November, demand averaged only 43% of 2019 levels, indicating significant progress is still required towards full recovery.”
“Meanwhile, international air cargo demand declined by 6.9% during the first eleven months of the year, affected by the continued downturn in the global manufacturing sector as a result of inflationary pressures and depressed business confidence levels.”
Looking ahead, Menon commented: “Despite a clouded macroeconomic outlook, the strong need for connectivity and desire to travel will drive further recovery in the region’s international travel markets over the year ahead. Notably, the recent reopening of China’s borders with quarantine-free travel after nearly three years of strict virus containment policies will markedly improve demand prospects, given China’s significant trade and tourism links with the region’s economies and beyond.”
He concluded that “the re-imposition of travel restrictions by some governments for inbound travellers from China may hamper the smooth resumption of air travel patterns and result in confusion for many travellers.”
HONG KONG, 16 January 2023: Resorts World Cruises restart cruises from Hong Kong with its latest ship Resorts World One, from 10 March 2023.
It is selling two and three-night high-seas cruises, departing every Friday, Sunday and Wednesday from Hong Kong.
Resorts World One was formerly the Explorer Dream, a 75,338 gross ton 13-deck high cruise ship that features 928 rooms which can accommodate over 1,856 guests.
Departing on 3 March, Resorts World One will offer a special five-night repositioning cruise from Singapore, calling at Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, before arriving in Hong Kong on 8 March, where it will homeport at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.
Resorts World Cruises is a brand extension of Resorts World, a global brand in the hospitality and entertainment industry, featuring 46 properties in eight countries spanning four continents – Asia, the US, Europe and Africa.
SINGAPORE, 16 January 2023: ForwardKeys’s latest forward booking data confirms international travel during the Chinese New Year holiday season will rebound for the first time in three years, but the full resurgence in Chinese outbound travel remains further down the track.
The Chinese New Year holiday week gets underway on 22 January.
ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti commented: “We will need to wait longer before we see a resurgence in Chinese tourists exploring the globe. The reasons are: First, the current scheduled international flight capacity is only at 10% of 2019’s level. Due to approval requirements for traffic rights and airport slots, airlines will find it difficult to gear back up in less than a few months. Second, ticket prices remain high, with average airfares in December 160% higher than in 2019. That said, there has been a downward trend since June, when quarantine was reduced from three weeks to seven days, and then to five days in November.”
“Third, some destinations, including the US, the UK, India, Qatar, Canada, Australia and all 27 EU member countries now require a pre-flight Covid-19 test for Chinese visitors; and others, such as Japan, South Korea and Italy, will impose testing on arrival and quarantine for those who test positive.
“Finally, a bottleneck in processing passport renewals and visa applications is likely; and some countries, such as South Korea and Japan, are restricting short-term visas for Chinese travellers until the end of this month.
“Right now, we expect the Chinese outbound market will pick up strongly in Q2 2023 when airlines schedule capacity for the spring and summer, which include the May holiday, Dragon Boat festival in June and summer holidays.”
China’s decisions to cut back on travel restrictions and ditch its zero-Covid policy triggered a surge in flight bookings.
On 7 December, Chinese authorities announced that a negative PCR test would no longer be required for air travel between provinces. Domestic flight bookings immediately surged 56% on the previous week and increased 69% the following week.
On 26 December, China removed all Covid-related restrictions on domestic air travel; and bookings surged again, reaching 50% of 2019’s level in the final week of the year.
As of 3 January, domestic flight bookings during the upcoming Chinese New Year period, 7 January – 15 February, were 71% behind pre-pandemic (2019) levels and 8% behind last year, with the most popular destinations being Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Kunming, Sanya, Shenzhen, Haikou, Guangzhou and Chongqing. Before the announcement on 7 December, they were 91% behind 2019.
China’s aviation regulator set in motion plans to restore flight capacity to 70% of pre-pandemic levels by 6 January and to 88% by 31 January. However, a full recovery is not possible immediately, as the industry needs some time to re-hire staff and meet all flight safety and service requirements.
The cap on the number of international flights to China and quarantine measures were removed on 8 January. In addition, Chinese citizens can now renew expired passports and apply for new ones.
Outbound flight bookings between 26 December and 3 January jumped 192% compared to the same period last year, but they are still 85% behind pre-pandemic levels.
Currently, the most popular return trips are to Macau, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt. Notably, bookings to Abu Dhabi, traditionally a major gateway between China and the West, are 51% behind 2019. As for onward bookings from Abu Dhabi, 11% will go to Paris, 9% Barcelona, 5% London, 3% Munich and 3% Manchester.
67% of bookings made between 26 December and 3 January were for travel during the Chinese New Year period.
