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Spain adds tourist trains

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Renfe, Spain’s national rail service, is rolling out 253 tourist trains featuring various themed experiences, which will embark on journeys through different autonomous communities throughout the year.

The train trips are being marketed in various categories, such as luxury, theme tourism, or heritage, operated by the Renfe tourist train division.

During 2023 the marketing initiative will deliver an increase of 30% in tourist-themed train journeys compared to what was offered in 2022 when Renfe launched 170 trains with tourist content that attracted 23,597 customers.

In the luxury tourism journey category, trips will increase by 57%. The greatest trip increase will occur in the luxury segment on the following luxury trains:

Transcantábrico (northern Spain, Bay of Biscay); Al Andalus (southern Spain); Costa Verde Express (Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela); and Expreso de la Robla (north:Bilbao and León).

These trains will make 87 round trips this year, which represents an increase of 52% compared to 2022. Thematic tourism trains carry out day trips with cultural and gastronomic content.

For more information on Spain as a tourism destination, please visit www.spain.info

(Your Stories: Turespaña)

Thai Vietjet starts ‘Check-Thru’ service

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TTR WEEKLY
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BANGKOK, 17 March 15, 2023: Thai Vietjet is reintroducing its ‘Check-Thru’ service enabling passengers to connect with their transit flights easily without having to check in twice while receiving their luggage at the final destination.

First introduced by Thai AirAsia during the pre-Covid era, competing airlines such as Thai Vietjet and Lion Air quickly adopted similar services. Thai AirAsia was the first to resume check-through services following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions last November.

Thai Vietjet is now reintroducing a check-through service for connections between Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi to three international destinations Fukuoka, Taipei, and Singapore. Bookings for check-through are now open on the airline’s website.

“We believe this new service elevates our connecting flight operations and will bring further value to our passengers,” said Thai Vietjet head of commercial Pinyot Pibulsonggram.

Passengers can continue their flights from Phuket, Krabi, and Chiang Mai to Fukuoka, Taipei, and Singapore transiting at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport when on tickets issued on end-to-end routes.

The check-in process is required just once at the first departure terminal, with the passenger receiving two boarding passes for the trip that transits at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. Passengers receive their baggage at the end destination.

Suvarnabhumi Airport serves as the intermediary hub for the ‘Check-Thru’ service. On arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport, passengers follow the signs to their connecting flight and proceed to the waiting room after passing through a ticket check and carry-on bag scan in the airport’s transit area. 

RCL names MICE expert

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TTR WEEKLY
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Clem Galindo.

SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Royal Caribbean International names Clem Galindo as its senior manager of international corporate incentive and charter sales.

Based in Royal Caribbean’s Miami office, Galindo joins the team driving the cruise line’s international event business, often termed MICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. He will report to RCL’s global corporate incentive & charter sales director, Craig Jarrett.

Galindo has nearly 30 years of experience in the cruise industry, of which 25 years have been with the Royal Caribbean Group focused on international corporate business for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrities Cruises.

Guiding China’s travel to a sustainable path

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TTR WEEKLY
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KUALA LUMPUR, 17 March 2023: Chinese travellers are engaged about their environmental impact and are starting to seek sustainable alternatives, claims a study commissioned by travel giant Trip.com, Accor and consulting firm McKinsley & Company.

But the report found that Chinese travellers may need more help understanding where to look. Trip.com Group found that 85% of Chinese travellers rate travel sustainability as important or very important, while 60% are concerned about climate change.

(From left to right): Jean-Jacques Morin, Group Deputy CEO, Accor; Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, Accor; Gary Rosen, CEO, Accor Greater China; Ray Chen, SVP of Trip.com Group; Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group; Li Binghua, Division Director, Market Management Office, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism; Jonathan Woetzel, Director of McKinsey Global Institute, Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company; Steve Saxon, Partner of McKinsey & Company.

The report noted that Chinese consumers are not used to paying extra for sustainable travel. As such, it is essential to provide travellers guidance regarding sustainability costs, highlighting the industries’ efforts to improve the provision of sustainable offerings. This will increase willingness to pay by showing the burden to be shared, and that price rises will only be short-term.

The pioneering survey published Thursday identifies a series of sustainable changes that need to be made to support the travel and hospitality of tomorrow.

Entitled “The path toward eco-friendly travel in China”, the whitepaper provides guidelines on the actions that travellers can take to travel sustainably.

It points to booking sustainable travel options with certified service providers, spending more time in one destination, and cultivating sustainable habits such as changing towels or bed linen less frequently and refusing to use single-use plastics.

The whitepaper sets out suggestions for the hospitality industry to support Chinese travellers in their understanding of sustainable travel, inspire behavioural change and ultimately support the sector’s journey towards a net positive model, which gives more than it takes. Such recommendations include using technology platforms to make sustainable travel options more visible online, using labelling to ensure travellers are informed on the environmental impact of their actions, providing incentives to encourage sustainable behaviour, and training employees to adopt a sustainability mindset.

While greater traveller awareness and willingness to choose sustainable options combined with tourism providers’ adoption of more sustainable practices can help China’s travel sector realize “quick wins” in sustainable impact.

Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun said: “We are thrilled to be leading the charge for sustainable travel and promoting responsible tourism practices in the industry. Our commitment to harmonious coexistence between people and nature has driven us to implement green and environmental protection practices, such as our ‘Green Tourism Goals’, which has already reached millions of global tourists. By collaborating with strategic partners, we aim to integrate green and environmental protection’s social and commercial value, creating new business growth opportunities for partners. We aim to pave the way for a more sustainable and responsible travel industry.”

Download “The path toward eco-friendly travel in China” – joint research in travel sustainability in China HERE.

Vietnam Airlines ramps up Delhi flights

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TTR WEEKLY
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HANOI, 17 March 2023: Vietnam Airlines will introduce daily nonstop flights, up from the present five weekly services, between Vietnam and India, on routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the Indian capital Delhi, effective 26 March.

Four weekly flights will depart Hanoi for Delhi on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The other three weekly flights will depart Ho Chi Minh City for Delhi on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Flying A321s with 184 seats, the airline will increase the weekly seat capacity by 29% on scheduled flights to Delhi. Today, the airline musters 920 seats a week to Delhi from the two Vietnamese cities. Seating capacity will increase to 1,288 seats a week on 26 March. Currently, Delhi is served by three flights a week from Hanoi and two flights from Ho Chi Minh City. Flight time to Delhi is five hours and 15 minutes.

Photo credit: Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines is also launching promotional fares on flights between Vietnam and India to support the capacity increase. A roundtrip fare, including taxes and fees, starts at VND7,113,000 ( USD300) for passengers who purchase tickets on the airline’s website, mobile application, and travel agency channels in Vietnam.

For flights from India to the two gateway cities in Vietnam, the starting fare is pegged at INR23,950 for passengers purchasing tickets at Vietnam Airlines ticket offices and travel agents in India. Bookings and the travel period extend from 26 March to  31 December 2023.

India is one of the top 10 source markets with the largest international visitor arrivals to Vietnam during the first two months of 2023.

Vietnam Airlines resumed direct flights to India in June 2022. It plans to start a service from Ho Chi Minh City to Mumbai, India, later this year.

(Source: TITC)

MAI boosts flights to Singapore

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 17 March 2023: Myanmar Airways International will add three weekly flights from its Yangon home base to Singapore starting 28 March, giving the airline 10 weekly flights.

The new flights are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The airline resumed daily flights to Singapore last December using an Airbus 320 with 180 seats.

Even with 10 flights weekly, the Yangon -Singapore route is the airline’s busiest, with seats fully booked on 25 and 26 March, according to the airline’s Facebook post. Most of the passengers are business visitors. Fares start at USD149, one-way.

MAI’s three A320s serve destinations in Asia and Dubai in the Middle East.

On routes to India, MAI operates three weekly flights to Delhi (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with fares starting at USD165. Kolkata is served a twice weekly flight on Thursday and Sunday with fares starting at USD115.

Other destinations include Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket in Thailand.

Emirates ramps up summer flights

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 16 March 2023: Emirates has boosted operations by 31% (total ASKMs) since the start of its financial year and will ramp up seat capacity in its latest published northern summer schedule starting 26 March 2023.

Among its upcoming route enhancements, Emirates will relaunch its daily direct flight between Singapore and Melbourne from 26 March 2023 in response to strong travel demand.

In the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations – reintroducing services to 5 cities; launching flights to 1 new destination (Tel Aviv); adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes; and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.

Emirates’ chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim said: “Emirates continues to expand its global network and deploy its capacity to meet travel demand worldwide. Our financial year started relatively quietly as we held back our ramp-up until the planned northern runway rehabilitation program at Dubai International airport was completed in June. From July 2022 onwards, it’s been non-stop expansion.”

He added: “Customer demand has been very strong, and our forward bookings are also robust. Emirates is working hard on several fronts – to bring back operating capacity as quickly as the ecosystem can manage while also upgrading our fleet and product to ensure our customers always enjoy the best possible Emirates experience. So far, four of our A380 aircraft have been completely refurbished with our new cabin interiors and Premium Economy seats. More will enter service as our USD2 billion cabin, and service enhancement program picks up pace.”

In the coming months, established routes to Europe, Australia and Africa will be served with more Emirates flights, while in East Asia, more cities are seeing route restarts.

Upcoming A380 deployments in the Northern Summer 2023 season

Emirates continues to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the iconic double-decker across its network: Glasgow (from 26 March), Casablanca (from 15 April), Beijing (from 1 May), Shanghai (from 4 June), Nice (from 1 June), Birmingham (from 1 July), Kuala Lumpur (from 1 August), and Taipei (from 1 August).

Route enhancements by region

EUROPE

  • Amsterdam: from 14 to 19 weekly flights starting 02 April.         
  • Athens: Addition of a daily seasonal service to serve summer demand between 1 June to 30 September.
  • Bologna: from five weekly flights to a daily service starting 1 May.
  • Budapest: from five weekly flights to a daily service by 1 June.
  • London: start of second daily service to London Stansted on 1 May. This will take Emirates’ London operations to 11 daily flights – including six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick.
  • Venice: from 5 to 6 flights a week from 26 March, increasing to a daily service from 1 June.

AFRICA

  • Cairo: from 25 to 28 weekly flights by 29 October.
  • Dar es Salam: from five weekly flights to daily flights starting 1 May.
  • Entebbe: from six flights a week to daily flights starting 1 July.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Emirates’ non-stop Australia flights will return to pre-pandemic levels to Sydney from 1 May, Melbourne from 26 March, and Brisbane on 1 June.

  • Brisbane: An additional daily service starting 1 June will take Emirates to 14 flights per week to Brisbane.
  • Christchurch: restart of daily service from Dubai via Sydney from 26 March.
  • Melbourne: addition of a third daily service to Melbourne from 26 March via Singapore. This adds capacity to Melbourne and re-establishes connectivity between Singapore and Melbourne. The other two daily flights from Melbourne fly non-stop to Dubai.
  • Sydney: addition of a third daily non-stop service from 1 May.

EAST ASIA

  • Bangkok: Addition of a fifth daily service from 1 August.
  • Beijing: To commence daily non-stop Boeing 777-300ER service from 15 March, upgrading to an A380 effective 1 May. A second daily service will commence effective 1 September with an A380.
  • Hong Kong: Addition of a daily non-stop flight from 29 March. This increases Emirates’ operations to 14 weekly flights, including its daily Dubai-Bangkok-Hong Kong service.
  • Kuala Lumpur: Addition of a third daily service from 1 June.
  • Tokyo: Resumption of services to Tokyo Haneda with daily flights on 2 April. This takes Emirates’ Japan operations to 21 daily flights, including a daily A380 service to Tokyo-Narita and a daily Boeing 777 service to Osaka.
  • Visit: www.emirates.com.

(Your Stories: Emirates)

Chinese divers visit Sabah

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TTR WEEKLY
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KOTA KINABALU, 16 March 2023: Three years after the pandemic, Chinese and Malaysian divers reunited last week for a dive trip to Mabul island off the southeastern coast of Borneo in Malaysia.

About 60 Chinese and 20 Malaysian divers joined a six-day dive trip at Mabul island. AirAsia flew the China Chinese from Guangzhou to Kota Kinabalu on a route that was reinstated on 2 March.

“Now flights from China have resumed, the dive trip illustrates we are rebuilding tourism to Sabah,” said Sabah Tourism Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew in a statement on Sunday. “This dive group is a testimony of that.”

With the reopening of China’s outbound tourism market and the resumption of international flights, there will be a surge in diving trips to Semporna and Sabah as a whole,” she added.

The event was co-organised by the Enthusiast Scuba Diving Association Guangzhou China, One Diving Services Guangzhou China, Guizhou Dive Diving Club China, Malaysia China Folklore Culture Tourism Association – MCCTA, Guangzhou Asian World Travel China, Master Wei Xuan Student Trip and Majestic Dive Malaysia with the support Sabah Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia.

Semporna is a world-class diving and tourism hotspot located on the east coast of Sabah. Sipadan Island, the only deep-sea island in Malaysia, is a must-visit destination for diving enthusiasts. It is also well-known as one of the top 10 diving sites in the world.

It takes only 15 minutes to transfer by boat from Sipadan Island to Borneo Diving Resort on Mabul island. It features 113 luxury villas and comprehensive facilities, targeting elite divers and up-market guests. 

Visit: www.sabahtourism.com

(Your Stories: Sabah Tourism Board)

Regent sets up longest World Cruise

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 16 March 2023: Regent Seven Seas Cruises opens sales, 23 March, for arguably the longest World Cruise, due to set sail on 10 January 2026 from Miami, Florida.

Regent’s 2026 World Cruise – The Sense of Adventure – will cruise three oceans over 154 days departing Miami, Florida, on the cruise ship Seven Seas Mariner.

The cruise will explore destinations in the Americas, South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and Europe, sailing 39,722 nautical miles. Guests will explore 77 ports of call in 41 countries across six continents. The three new ports of call have been added to the 2026 World Cruise – Lifou Island and Maré of the Loyalty Islands in the New Caledonia archipelago and the wild and rugged Waingapu (Sumba), Indonesia.

Before boarding Seven Seas Mariner, guests will kick off their round-the-world adventure with a one-night stay in a luxury hotel in Miami, Florida.

Fares for the 154-night voyage start from USD94,999 per guest for a Deluxe Veranda Suite and USD266,499 per guest for the Master Suite.

The 2026 World Cruise opens for reservations on 23 March 2023, but guests can pre-register their booking intention.

Global summit on Halal travel space

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TTR WEEKLY
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SINGAPORE, 16 March 2023: The third edition of the online Halal In Travel Global Summit (HITGS 2023) is set to take place on 30 May to 1 June, hosted by CrescentRating & HalalTrip.

With more than 60 experts from national tourism organisations, travel industry stakeholders, and online travel industry players sharing ideas,  HITGS 2023 is billed as a  must-attend event for anyone interested in the Halal travel space. Registration is free for the online summit. Visit this link to learn more about HITGS 2023

The Muslim travel market is expected to play a crucial role in the next phase of the industry’s growth. International Muslim traveller arrivals reached 160 million in 2019. It is projected that Muslim traveller arrivals will reach 140 million in 2023 and return to the 2019 level of 160 million in 2024. Visitor arrivals are projected to reach 230 million with an estimated expenditure of USD225 Billion by 2028.

In addition to keynote presentations by tourism ministers, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in discussions on some of the key areas the industry needs to prepare to welcome Muslim travellers.

The HITGS 2023 will also feature the launch of the 8th edition of the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2023, the third edition of the HalalTrip 40, and the Halal In Travel Awards 2023. The GMTI is the premier index in the travel industry for the Halal travel space, providing a comprehensive annual report that ranks the top Muslim-friendly travel destinations worldwide based on factors such as the availability of Halal food, prayer facilities, and Muslim-friendly accommodation options.

This year’s ranking will put more emphasis on sustainability initiatives by destinations. The Halal In Travel Awards were launched in 2022 to honour excellence in the Halal travel space. These awards recognise destinations, organisations, companies, and individuals who have considerably impacted the Muslim lifestyle travel segment.

There are four categories of awards, and nominations for the 2023 awards will close on 14 April 2023. Visit this link to learn more about the HIT Awards 2023.

The HalalTrip 40 was initiated in 2021 to recognise inspiring Muslims who have made significant contributions to their respective fields, and this year’s list will be launched at the HITGS 2023. The list is a compilation of inspiring Muslims who have contributed eagerly, persistently, and arduously and have significantly impacted the community through their craft, product, or service. The compilation comprises four categories: Trailblazers, Advocates, Inspirers, and Creators. Visit this link to learn more about the HT40 2023.

“We are thrilled to host the Halal In Travel Global Summit 2023, bringing together key players in the travel industry to explore the vast potential of the Muslim travel market. As we navigate the challenges of the post-pandemic world, it is increasingly clear that the Muslim travel market will be a key driver of tourism growth,” said CrescentRating & HalalTrip CEO Fazal Bahardeen.

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