KOTA KINABALU, 9 December: Sabah is stepping up efforts to lure Indian tourists, given they represent the fastest-growing outbound market post-Covid.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said the state’s tourism industry was overly dependent on Chinese visitors before the pandemic and that it must now diversify its customer base.
“Sabah is recognised for its nature-based tourism, but we also offer upscale products and one-of-a-kind travel experiences that appeal to visitors from India. They are big spenders, so we want to draw them in.
“Over 6,000 Indian visitors came to Sabah pre-pandemic in 2019, showing a clear interest in visiting the region. While the number is modest, it is still quite promising,” he explained. “Be assured that the Sabah Tourism Board is actively pursuing the Indian market, and we hope to see a steady increase in arrival in the coming year.
He reassured the travel industry that direct airline links between India and Sabah would be established in the future once there was a rise in holiday bookings from Indian visitors. At present, Indian travellers must fly to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and connect with onward flights to Kota Kinabalu. However, as the market grows, airlines will be encouraged to establish direct flights from key Indian cities.
On Wednesday, Joniston, who also chairs the Sabah Tourism Board, hosted a dinner for the India Market Tour Agents of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA).
AsianWorld Holidays Sdn Bhd director George Kandiah led the delegation on their familiarisation trip to Sabah. Also in attendance at the dinner were MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang and representatives from AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), and Batik Air.
On current flight frequency, Joniston said there are 163 weekly connecting flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu available via MAS, Air Asia, and Batik Air.
He also mentioned that 3,247 tourists from India had arrived in the state between January and October this year.
On Tuesday, India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, B Nagabhushana Reddy, paid a courtesy call on Joniston. They exchanged views on potential cooperation and tourism development.
In the meeting, Reddy mentioned the need to work with popular destinations because Indians travel widely and in great numbers throughout the world.
He stated that about 700,000 Indian tourists visited Malaysia in 2019, and the fact that a portion of them flew to Sabah demonstrates that Indian tourists are already making plans to experience the country’s unique destinations.
SINGAPORE, 9 December 2022: AXA Partners, an insurance firm, has inked an exclusive global partnership with Scoot, the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Group, covering the Singapore and Vietnam markets.
As part of the deal, MS&AD Insurance Group’s MSIG will collaborate with AXA Partners to underwrite Scoot’s travel insurance for customers purchasing travel insurance on flights from Singapore and Vietnam.
In a survey conducted by insuretech Ancileo, in collaboration with MSIG Singapore, it is revealed that travellers in Singapore are most motivated by price when evaluating travel insurance plans, with 35% of respondents stating that they are open to purchasing in-path travel insurance.
According to survey findings, travel is also expected to pick up further, with three in five saying they plan to take a trip shortly. Driven by the survey findings, MSIG has tailored the airline’s branded ‘Scootsuranc’e to meet the needs of active travellers who place high importance on essential trip protection in the light of post-pandemic travel.
Scootsurance offers over 30 travel insurance benefits. They include a choice of a return-trip insurance plan. Customers are compensated if they need to cancel before or mid-way through trips, including the loss of Frequent Flyer Points of up to SGD500 if they have booked the flight tickets with points.
Scootsurance can be purchased as an add-on when customers book their flights on the Scoot website.
KrisFlyer loyalty members gain a special benefit of up to SGD50,000 for inflight personal accident protection, cover for fraudulent transactions on their credit cards and hospital cash pay-out.
“We are pleased to partner with AXA Partners to provide customised travel insurance plans for Scoot passengers so that they can fly with peace of mind. As travel picks up, we look forward to extending the partnership to more markets in Asia,” says MSIG Asia Pte Ltd CEO Clemens Philippi.
Scoot vice president of planning, e-commerce & distribution, Rachel Tan, says: “As international travel continues to pick up pace after a hiatus, there is no better time for Scoot to reiterate our commitment to providing customers with seamless and fuss-free travels through our partnership with MSIG and AXA Partners.”
Today, Scoot serves 57 destinations out of 71 in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe served in 2019 before Covid-19 lockdowns.
About MSIG Insurance MSIG is a subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co Ltd and a member of the MS&AD Insurance Group – one of the largest general insurance groups in the world with a presence in 50 countries. Headquartered in Japan, MS&AD is among the world’s top non-life insurance groups based on gross revenue.
BANGKOK, 9 December 2022: Thai Airways International has resumed flights from the Thai capital to Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, responding to a surge in holiday bookings featuring Hokkaido.
Passengers on the inaugural flight, 8 December, were presented with souvenirs by HE Singtong Lapisatepun, Ambassador of Thailand to Japan. Also present at the event were THAI management and local media.
THAI operates a daily flight from Bangkok to Sapporo (until 30 April 2023). TG670 departs from Bangkok at 2355 and arrives in Sapporo at 0820 (local time). TG671 departs from Sapporo at 1000 (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 1550. The flight time outbound to Sapporo is six hours and 30 minutes, while the return leg is seven hours and 50 minutes.
Skyscanner quotes a fare of THB59,260 return on THAI. That’s using the online travel agency Trip.com. It’s steep, considering Thai AirAsiaX quotes a fare of THB26,666 return. Google Flights has not been updated to show the THAI flights.
Thais enjoy visa exemption when visiting Japan for up to 30 days. Since October, Japan has been one of the most popular destinations alongside South Korea and Taiwan.
Currently, THAI operates 56 weekly flights to six destinations in Japan – Tokyo (Narita/Haneda), Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo.
SINGAPORE, 9 December 2022: With international flights resuming, the great travel reboot has seen nearly 6.5 million new travel itineraries created on the Tripadvisor platform in 2022.
Looking back at the year, Tripadvisor research found that ‘Relax and Rejuvenate’ was the main trip purpose for 50% of travellers globally. The most popular search terms were ‘Beach’ with 4.8 million searches, ‘Resort’ with 3.2 million searches and ‘Spa’ searched 1.7 million times.
Travellers were extra adventurous this year – looking to do something wild, wonderful and out of the ordinary to escape their daily routines. Some travellers aren’t afraid of anything. This year saw bookings for 1,636 shark-diving experiences, 16,563 ziplining tours and 47,015 ghost & vampire tour tickets sold.
This year, Tripadvisor saw over 16 million five-bubble reviews written, 22 million helpful votes given and 387,000 forum threads created.
Travellers loved the big cities. Tripadvisor saw over 11 million traveller searches for Bangkok, more than 43 million interested in London, and 20 million looking up Las Vegas.
Travellers were keen to share their best and worst moments along the way: 18 million new photos were uploaded to Tripadvisor this year, capturing moments big and small
The review and booking platform claims 35.7 million new travel buddies joined the Tripadvisor community. Close to 400 million travellers visit Tripadvisor every month.
Methodology
The data cited was gathered and analysed from two key sources:
A Tripadvisor Consumer Sentiment Survey, based on data drawn from an online survey of over 2,700 consumers, was conducted between 27 September 2022 through 6 October 2022 across six countries – the US, UK, Australia, Italy, Singapore and Japan.
Site behavioural data sourced from first-party traffic data on the Tripadvisor platform gathered during the week commencing 1 November 2022 for travel between 1 January through 1 November 2022.
BANGKOK, 9 December 2022: Thai Vietjet will launch a new international service between Thailand’s second largest city Chiang Mai and Japan’s Osaka, effective 31 January 2023.
The new flight will link Chiang Mai International Airport to Kansai International Airport in Osaka. Until 15 December, the airline is offering a special inaugural fare of THB4,422 one-way inclusive of tax and fees.
The promotional fare is valid for travel from 31 January to 27 October 27 2023 (excluding public holidays). Bookings must be made on www.vietjetair.com.
“We are delighted to further connect Chiang Mai, Thailand, with a very popular city in Japan ‘Osaka’, providing Thai people with a valued choice of direct services to travel to Japan after we have launched a service between Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) and Fukuoka last July”, said Thai Vietjetr chief executive officer Woranate Laprabang.
The airline will fly three times weekly on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the Chiang Mai – Osaka route with five hours of flight time.
Osaka is the second largest city after Tokyo, located in the Kansai region of Honshu, Japan.
KUALA LUMPUR, 9 December 2022: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents congratulated YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim as Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister earlier this week while calling on the new government to make tourism one of the key pillars of the Malaysian economy
In a recent statement by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), the government aims to attract 15 million tourists and gain revenue of MYR47.6 billion from the tourism industry in 2023. This is a significant decrease from pre-pandemic levels of 26 million tourists, with MYR86.1 billion in revenue in 2019.
“The forecast does not bode well as these numbers indicate that there just isn’t enough business to support the Malaysian tourism economy in 2023,” said MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang. “There needs to be transformation; a fresh, more strategic and dynamic approach to how we will accelerate the recovery and growth of our tourism economy.”
Dato Sri Tiong King Sing has been named the new Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture. He replaces Dato Sri Nancy Shukri, who led the ministry from August 2021 to November 2022.
MATTA’s president noted the MOTAC’s scope of responsibility should be widened to include infrastructure development and tourism vehicles to be effective; otherwise, it is in danger of becoming a ‘toothless tiger’ as it does not regulate anything else except for minor sectors within the tourism eco-system.
“It is now an absolute necessity that special attention is placed on developing tourism infrastructure and products – merely focusing on promotions and marketing will not be effective if we have nothing new or significant to offer the world.”
He warned that failure to rise to the challenge could see tourism stagnate while our Asean neighbours continue to register healthy tourism growth.
MATTA works proactively with the government of the day to develop and grow the Malaysian tourism industry and has played many roles, including promoting Malaysian tourism domestically and abroad through its MATTA Fairs and online travel platform. It also organises trade missions to key and emerging source markets and, most significantly, its regional and international engagements with governments and other national trade and tourism organisations.
“More importantly, other ministries need to pay more than just lip service to the idea of tourism as a major economic asset – we need the various related government agencies, most notably the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Home Affairs (Immigration) and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to align with MOTAC… We must streamline and re-evaluate the many restrictive and outdated policies to ensure that tourism businesses can recover and remain competitive,” added Tan.
“We look forward to working closely with the new Minister (MOTAC). MATTA will play its part in supporting the ministry, and we hope there will be more active engagement with the private sector towards this shared goal,” Tan concluded.
MATTA is also calling on the government to consider the continuation of post-Covid tourism recovery policies, allocate more incentives and funding for industry players and urgently look into the modernisation of the Tourism Industry Act 1992, licensing policies and outdated regulations.
SINGAPORE 8 December 2022: Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), the innovator in global cruise travel, is proud to announce that November was a record-breaking booking month.
Not only was 25 November the best booking day in NCL’s history, but also 28 November was the best booked Cyber Monday, allowing NCL to achieve a record booking week for the week ending 25 November and surpass this achievement with a new weekly record this past week.
“Momentum is strong, and there is no better evidence of this than our record-breaking performance this November, the best-booked month in the history of NCL,” said Harry Sommer, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. “This achievement is even more impressive considering November is historically one of the slower booking months for our business. On the heels of the successful launch of our groundbreaking Norwegian Prima, which has already received numerous accolades, we are well on our way to a banner year. I’m excited about 2023 and all that is yet to come.”
Norwegian Prima was just honoured as “Best New Ship” in the Ocean Category of the 2022 Cruise Critic Editors’ Pick Awards and Travel Weekly Asia Readers’ Choice Awards and is being recognised for her elevated design with the “Best Public Space Award” at the Cruise Ship Interiors Expo Award Ceremony. With NCL’s innovative Free at Sea offer, which provides guests incredible value with free unlimited open bar, speciality dining, Wi-Fi, shore excursions, and much more, cruisers are booking their dream vacations at unparalleled levels across the fleet.
A leading innovator in the cruise industry, NCL has been focused on re-establishing its brand and business post an over 500-day shutdown with a focus on delivering a guest-first experience with unbeatable service, food and beverage, entertainment, recreation options and sailings to bucket-list destinations.
For more information about NCL’s award-winning 18-ship fleet and worldwide itineraries, or to book a cruise, please contact a travel professional, call Hong Kong on +852 800 901 951 and Southeast Asia on +65 3165 1680 or visit www.ncl.com.
BANGKOK, 8 December 2022: Taken at face value, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has something to shout about based on the latest Immigration Bureau data that shows the country welcomed 9.78 million “foreign tourist arrivals” counting from 1 January to 5 December 2022.
But it’s a bit of a stretch to assume that all the arrivals were legit tourists in a year when Covid-19 hammered leisure travel leaving only the most persistent of foreigners heading for the country during the first six months of the year.
October saw the return of leisure travellers in earnest. That positive trend continues with the destination welcoming a steady stream of visitors enough to justify reopening restaurants and guesthouses that closed for more than two years.
TAT’s simple arithmetic allows it to claim the country will pass the “Amazing Thailand 10 Million Milestone” on 10 December.
Immigration Bureau data identifies visitors passing its checkpoints minus Thai citizens, but it takes a massive leap of faith to believe the 10 million are genuine leisure travellers.
TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn demonstrates unquestioning faith when he says: “Reaching the 10 million visitor mark so soon after Thailand fully reopened to international tourism on 1 October 2022 is the result of concerted efforts by all involved in the Thai tourism industry and all Thai people nationwide.”
KUCHING, 8 December 2022: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is fully embracing the digitalisation of the tourism sector by unveiling the new and improved Sarawak Travel Portal and App to promote tourist attractions and tourism products across the state.
The digital platform is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry & Performing Arts (MTCP), Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), STB and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) to provide a next-generation website and a smart device application to provide an added-value experience for travellers to Sarawak,
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry & Performing Arts Datuk Seri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said creating a quality end-to-end tourist experience was important to improve travellers’ engagement with Sarawak.
“We are going to the next evolution in promoting Sarawak and its tourism products, and that is the merging of the Sarawak Tourism website with the Sarawak Travel Portal and App to create a seamless online experience for prospective travellers,” he said.
“Now, as the improved Travel Portal and App is equipped with cutting edge technologies such as the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) components, users gain total control over what they can see of Sarawak’s Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festival (CANFF) offerings and experience Sarawak through a 360 view,” he added.
Since it was first launched in February 2020, the Sarawak Travel Portal and App have received continuous development and upgrades, which include four new content modules, namely Scenic Sites, National Parks and Nature Reserves, Food Trails and an interactive game module.
Featuring five modules, the upgraded website and app offer fun and engaging digital solutions for visitors who want to stay in Sarawak, with Modules 1 to 4 allowing users to take virtual tours of Sarawak’s Tourism destination with detailed information on Old Kuching Heritage Sites, Scenic Sites, National Parks and Food Trails that feature 3D models of iconic products such as Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV), Mulu National Park and many more.
Through GPS technology, users get to try out Module 5, which has a geo-location game feature as a fun way to visit various Sarawak Tourism attractions, such as the Kuching Waterfront, Chinese History Museum or Brooke Gallery, while accepting challenges from the game and collecting badges to unlock various achievements.
Another featured highlight of the Sarawak Travel App is its Geofencing capability to inform users what tourist attractions are nearby. It also digitally emulates a physical tour guide by giving background info and the significance of the attraction and products; and also gives directions on how to get there.
The Sarawak Travel Portal and App is now available for download on Google Play Store and Apple Store.
The Sarawak Government continues its digital initiatives for the tourism sector by launching the “Sarawak Road Trip: Self Drive Travel Guide” last week in Kuching and on 10 December 2022 in Miri. Visitors travelling by road can download the specified Google Map route to their smartphone via a QR code for easy navigation from one tourist attraction to another.
According to recent data by Statista, an estimated 1.7 billion mobile augmented reality (AR) user devices will be worldwide in 2024, an increase of 1.5 billion from the 200 million seen in 2015.
GENEVA, 8 December 2022: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects a return to profitability for the global airline industry in 2023 as airlines continue to cut losses stemming from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business in 2022.
In 2023, airlines are expected to post a small net profit of USD4.7 billion—a 0.6% net profit margin. It is the first profit since 2019 when industry net profits were USD26.4 billion (3.1% net profit margin).
In 2022, airline net losses are expected to be USD6.9 billion (an improvement on the USD9.7 billion loss for 2022 in IATA’s June outlook). This is significantly better than losses of USD42.0 billion and USD137.7 billion realised in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
“Resilience has been the hallmark for airlines in the COVID-19 crisis. As we look to 2023, the financial recovery will take shape with the first industry profit since 2019. That is a great achievement considering the scale of the financial and economic damage caused by government-imposed pandemic restrictions. But a USD4.7 billion profit on industry revenues of USD779 billion also illustrates that there is much more ground to cover to put the global industry on a solid financial footing. Many airlines are sufficiently profitable to attract the capital needed to drive the industry forward as it decarbonises. But many others are struggling for a variety of reasons. These include onerous regulation, high costs, inconsistent government policies, inefficient infrastructure and a value chain where the rewards of connecting the world are not equitably distributed,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.
2022
Improved prospects for 2022 stem largely from strengthened yields and strong cost control in the face of rising fuel prices.
Passenger yields are expected to grow by 8.4% (up from the 5.6% anticipated in June). Propelled by that strength, passenger revenues are expected to grow to USD438 billion (up from USD239 billion in 2021).
Air cargo revenues were key in cutting losses, with revenues expected to reach USD201.4 billion. That is an improvement compared with the June forecast, largely unchanged from 2021 and more than double the USD100.8 billion earned in 2019.
Overall revenues are expected to grow by 43.6% compared to 2021, reaching an estimated $727 billion.
Most other factors evolved negatively following a downgrade of GDP growth expectations (from 3.4% in June to 2.9%) and delays in removing COVID-19 restrictions in several markets, particularly China. IATA’s June forecast anticipated that passenger traffic would reach 82.4% of pre-crisis levels in 2022, but it now appears that the industry demand recovery will reach 70.6% of pre-crisis levels. On the other hand, Cargo was anticipated to exceed 2019 levels by 11.7%, but that is now more likely to be moderated to 98.4% of 2019 levels.
On the cost side, jet kerosene prices are expected to average $138.8/barrel for the year, considerably higher than the USD125.5 per barrel expected in June. That reflects higher oil prices exaggerated by a jet crack spread that is well-above historical averages. Even with lower demand leading to reduced consumption, this raised the industry’s fuel bill to USD222 billion (well above the USD192 billion anticipated in June).
“That airlines were able to cut their losses in 2022, in the face of rising costs, labour shortages, strikes, operational disruptions in many key hubs, and growing economic uncertainty, speaks volumes about peoples’ desire and need for connectivity. With key markets like China retaining restrictions longer than anticipated, passenger numbers fell somewhat short of expectations. We’ll end the year at about 70% of 2019 passenger volumes. But with yield improvement in both cargo and passenger businesses, airlines will reach the cusp of profitability,” said Walsh.
2023
In 2023 the airline industry is expected to tip into profitability. Airlines are anticipated to earn a global net profit of $4.7 billion on revenues of USD779 billion (0.6% net margin). This expected improvement comes despite growing economic uncertainties as global GDP growth slows to 1.3% (from 2.9% in 2022).
“Despite the economic uncertainties, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about 2023. Lower oil price inflation and continuing pent-up demand should help to keep costs in check as the strong growth trend continues. At the same time, with such thin margins, even an insignificant shift in any of these variables can shift the balance into negative territory. Vigilance and flexibility will be key,” said Walsh.
Main Drivers
Passenger: The passenger business is expected to generate USD522 billion in revenue. Passenger demand is expected to reach 85.5% of 2019 levels over the course of 2023. Much of this expectation takes into account the uncertainties of China’s Zero COVID policies which are constraining both domestic and international markets. Passengers are expected to surpass the 4 billion mark for the first time since 2019, with 4.2 billion travellers expected to fly. Passenger yields, however, are expected to soften (-1.7%) as somewhat lower energy costs are passed through to the consumer, despite passenger demand growing more quickly (+21.1%) than passenger capacity (+18.0%).
Cargo: Cargo markets are expected to come under increased pressure in 2023. Revenues are expected to be $149.4 billion, which is $52 billion less than in 2022 but still USD48.6 billion stronger than 2019. With economic uncertainty, cargo volumes are expected to decrease to 57.7 million tonnes from a peak of 65.6 million tonnes in 2021. As belly capacity grows in line with the recovery in passenger markets, yields are expected to take a significant step back. IATA expects a fall of 22.6% in cargo yields, mostly in the latter part of the year when the impact of inflation-cooling measures is expected to bite.
Costs: Overall costs are expected to grow by 5.3% to USD776 billion. That growth is expected to be 1.8 percentage points below revenue growth, thus supporting a return to profitability. Cost pressures are still there from labour, skill and capacity shortages. Infrastructure costs are also a concern.
Non-fuel unit costs are expected to fall to 39.8 cents/available tonne kilometre (down from 41.7 cents/ATK in 2022 and nearly matching the 39.2 cents/ATK achieved in 2019). Airline efficiency gains are expected to drive passenger load factors to 81.0 %, just slightly below the 82.6% achieved in 2019.
Fuel spending for 2023 is expected to be USD229 billion—consistent at 30% of expenses. IATA’s forecast is based on Brent crude at USD92.3/barrel (down from an average of USD103.2 per barrel in 2022). Jet kerosene is expected to average USD111.9 per barrel (down from USD138.8 per barrel). This decrease reflects a relative stabilisation of fuel supply after the initial disruptions from the war in Ukraine. The premium charged for jet fuel (crack spread) remains near historical highs.
Risks: The economic and geopolitical environment presents several potential risks to the 2023 outlook.
While indications are that there could be an easing of aggressive inflation-fighting interest rate hikes from early 2023, the risk of some economies falling into recession remains. Such a slowdown could affect demand for both passenger and cargo services. It would, however, likely come with some mitigation in the form of lower oil prices.
The outlook anticipates a gradual re-opening of China to international traffic and the easing of domestic COVID-19 restrictions progressively from the second half of 2023. A prolongation of China’s Zero COVID policies would adversely affect the outlook.
If proposals for increased infrastructure charges or taxes to support sustainability efforts are introduced, it could also eat away at profitability in 2023.
“The job of airline management will remain challenging as careful watch on economic uncertainties will be critical. The good news is that airlines have built flexibility into their business models to handle the economic accelerations and decelerations impacting demand. Airline profitability is razor-thin.
“Each passenger carried is expected to contribute, on average just USD1.11 to the industry’s net profit. In most parts of the world, that’s far less than what is needed to buy a cup of coffee. Airlines must remain vigilant to any increases in taxes or infrastructure fees. And we’ll need to be particularly wary of those made in the name of sustainability. Our commitment is to net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. We’ll need all the resources we can muster, including government incentives, to finance this enormous energy transition. More taxes and higher charges would be counter-productive,” said Walsh.
For the full report, data tables and presentations, see
