Monday, June 23, 2025
Home Blog Page 500

CX moves forward on SAF target

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

HONG KONG, 22 September 2022: Cathay Pacific has signed an offtake agreement with Aemetis to supply 38 million US gallons of blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to be delivered over seven years in 2025 from San Francisco International Airport.

The SAF purchased can reduce more than 80,000 tonnes of lifecycle carbon emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by more than 1.3 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

The agreement is also part of the joint procurement initiative for SAF by the Oneworld alliance, of which Cathay Pacific is a founding member.  

Cathay Pacific chief executive officer Augustus Tang said: “Cathay Pacific continues to reaffirm its commitment to addressing climate change despite these challenging times. In the past few years, we have announced our carbon net-zero by 2050 target and our goal of achieving 10% use of SAF by 2030. In doing this, we have built a robust SAF procurement strategy to help meet our goals. We are pleased that this agreement with Aemetis will contribute to that effort, and we hope it will also send the right signal to the SAF industry to encourage the much-needed investment and to scale up of its supply chain.”

The blended SAF to be supplied under this agreement is 40% SAF and 60% Petroleum Jet A-1 fuel to meet international blending standards.

The SAF will be produced at the Aemetis Carbon Zero plant currently under development in Riverbank, California. The facility will use waste wood to produce cellulosic hydrogen and combine it with wastes and non-edible sustainable oils. It will then be converted into SAF using carbon-neutral hydroelectricity. It is scheduled to begin deliveries to Cathay Pacific in 2025.

SAF provides significant environmental benefits compared to petroleum jet fuel, including up to 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis, depending on the technology used. It is a vital solution in the decarbonisation of aviation over the next few decades, especially for long-haul flights.

For more information on Cathay Pacific’s Sustainable Development initiatives, visit: https://sustainability.cathaypacific.com/

Banyan Tree brings Veya brand to Phuket

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

PHUKET, 22 September 2022: Banyan Tree Group, one of the leading independent hospitality groups, has launched a brand extension with its first wellness-centred resort, Banyan Tree Veya Phuket.

Taken from the root word “to weave”, Veya is mindful that wellbeing is a lifelong journey, and each path is different. This inspired the resort brand to curate personalised and bespoke experiences for guests built on Banyan Tree’s proprietary eight pillars of wellbeing; Sleep & Rest, Dietary Awareness, Bonding & Connection, Physical Vitality, Cultivate the Mind, Learning & Development, and Harmony with Nature and Sustained Practices.

“With our hyper-stimulated modern life, our nervous systems cannot truly relax and, therefore, rest; chronic stress erodes our natural immunity and regenerative capacity. Our ethos #OwnYourPresence guides our mission of inspiring individuals to travel inwards and become conscious of how their daily actions, thoughts, and emotions interact with their physical being,” says Banyan Tree Group Senior Vice President, Brand and Commercial Ho Ren Yung.

Banyan Tree Veya marked its debut with the recent opening of Banyan Tree Veya Phuket and with upcoming resorts planned in Vabbinfaru, Maldives and Ilha Caldeira, Mozambique.

Banyan Tree Veya Phuket is a 23-villa resort offering a serene enclave within Laguna Phuket, a distinct and tranquil location within the Banyan Tree Phuket resort and a few minutes’ walk from Bangtao Beach.

Veya guests can enjoy exclusive access to a Wellbeing Centre featuring Thailand’s first-ever White Room for sensory detox and meditative practice and a traditional herb farm-pharmacy workshop options for spa, private classes, dining and retail products. A journey reflection consultation is offered before departure, followed by personalised programmes and lifestyle practices to continue their wellbeing journey in their daily lives.

Three Step Wellbeing Experience

The journey at Veya is led by certified multidisciplinary wellbeing hosts, who are certified and trained in eastern medicine, naturopathy and coaching, around a three-step protocol of Awareness, Discovery and Sustenance.

Before arrival, guests will have a private consultation with the wellbeing hosts to determine their needs and priorities. After assessing the brand’s codified wellbeing approach, a personalised itinerary is created to align with the needs and priorities, centring on embodiment therapies and somatic practices allowing guests to centre the mind and body.

Mindfulness practices at Veya include classes such as Ocean Breath and Conscious Grounding, which aim to raise sensory awareness through breathwork, sound therapy and guided imagery meditation techniques in natural environments. The somatic movement consists of intuitive forms of dance, yoga and classes such as Balance and Stability that focus on the internal experience of movement to release chronic tension patterns and calm the nervous system. While weightless, a new range of signature therapies unique to Veya, combines rehabilitative floatation with body stretch massage techniques and meditational sound therapy into a restorative sensory experience. Lifestyle learning is a series of workshops to introduce wellbeing rituals into daily life, including creative therapies, integrative nutrition, and classes such as Positive Resilience to help guests bring the retreat experience home.

A stay at Banyan Tree Veya includes accommodation in the Veya Pool Villas, well-designed for rest and restoration, a private wellbeing assessment before the arrival with mapping and consultation, a bespoke wellbeing itinerary from the curated group wellbeing activity calendar, daily rituals, and mindful practices. Flexible Veya credits allow guests to choose the preferred private sessions, spa treatments, retail purchases and outlet dining, end-of-stay reflection and consultation, allowing guests to weave new learnings and practices and continue the path of wellbeing upon returning home as well as a personalised guide to take home to support personal practice.

Banyan Tree Veya caters to guests 13 years and above. For more information and reservations, visit www.veya.banyantree.com

Decisions today decide Maldives’ tomorrow

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

MALE, Maldives, 22 September 2022: Decisions stakeholders make today will define the next era of Maldives tourism, said QUO CEO David Keen during the keynote address at the sixth annual Hotelier Maldives GM Forum.

 He defined the Maldives as a global icon and benchmark for tourism worldwide, suggesting it was time to form a road map to sustain its pre-eminent role.

QUO CEO David Keen during the keynote address at the sixth annual Hotelier Maldives GM Forum.

This year’s forum marked the 50th anniversary of Maldives tourism. In looking to the future, Keen urged attendees to remember how the Maldives arrived at the present, noting an “absolute correlation between where we sit and where we’re going”.

“The Maldives is the benchmark for global tourism,” Keen told the audience that included the Minister of Tourism, Dr Abdulla Mausoom.

Keen shared candidly that the country was at a turning point from which it had to form a road map to the future.

He noted that the Maldives’ reputation as an icon of glamour and luxury would be tested by economic headwinds and arrivals growth, which he summarised as trade-offs between exclusivity and accessibility. A key challenge would be developing strategies for the two to coexist.

Commenting on the early days of Maldives’ tourism industry — when the nation’s isolation and pristine nature fuelled a sense of adventure in visitors — he said the future of tourism would be defined by decisions industry stakeholders made today.

“Following the current market, forces could lead to short-term growth at the expense of perception.”

Instead, Keen urged attendees to take charge and curate the coming era by diversifying product offerings, integrating experiences between islands and pioneering new experiences for guests. The result would be long-term growth, greater cultural distinction and an emboldened Brand Maldives.

Hotelier Maldives managing editor Mohamed Mamduh said at the close of the event: “Keen’s keynote and the Q&A with the pioneers placed the challenges facing the Maldives in a global context. It will certainly catalyse the destination, giving policymakers and tourism entrepreneurs plenty to think about as they strategise for the next 50 years.”

The forum was organised by Hotelier Maldives and hosted at Kurumba Maldives, the archipelago’s first resort.

(Source: Delivering Asia)

Skål toasts visiting VIP

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

BANGKOK, 22 September 2022: Skål International Bangkok, led by the club’s president James Thurlby, recently organised a cocktail reception for its members to welcome Bill Haswell, Skål International Kuala Lumpur, on his trip to visit Thailand.

Novotel Bangkok on Sukhumvit Soi 20 hosted the event that was also attended by students from Assumption University who are studying tourism hospitality.

From left
Andrew J. Wood, President of Skål International Asia.
Bill Haswell, President of Skål International Kuala Lumpur.
Earth Saisawang, President of Hotel’s Public Relations Club of Thailand.
James Thurlby, President of Skål International Bangkok.
Kanokros Wongvekin, Director of Public Relations of Skål International Bangkok and former President of Hotel’s Public Relations Association of Thailand.
Marvin Bemand, Vice President of Skål International Bangkok.

Airlines cut domestic fares

By
Don Ross
-

BANGKOK, 22 September 2022: It took days for the news announcing a THB300 discount on all domestic airline flights to trickle down to social media and news outlets. It should have been much faster.

Six airlines that are members of the Thailand Airline Association joined the Tourism Authority of Thailand to launch the AMXTH300 deal on domestic fares last week.

There was a considerable delay in the publicity drive which finally clicked in when the airlines posted the deal on their Facebook accounts yesterday. Domestic travellers can grab the THB300 discount on bookings until midnight on 10 October. Fights are valid from 1 November through to 31 December.

Officially the campaign, supported by the TAT, is called “Discounts All Over the Sky, Fly All Over Thailand,” but more importantly, to get the discounts, you need to tap in the AMZTH300 code to activate the deal on airline booking sites.

TAA members supporting the discount are Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai Smile, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai VietJet. The seventh TAA member, Thai AirAsia X, only serves international medium to long-haul routes.

Discounts apply on 500,000 seats across the six participating airlines, valid for travel until 31 December. Relying almost entirely on domestic travellers to revive tourism earnings, TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn believes the discount will help the country reach its domestic revenue goal. Airline services are increasing, but the domestic fare deal is unavailable in the international space as far as booking opportunities go. By design, it caters exclusively for Thais and expatriate residents.

TAA president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth claims the six airlines should regain their 2019 booking levels by the fourth quarter of 2023. That is remarkably optimistic. Bangkok Airways is struggling to resume lucrative codeshare deals that represented a substantial part of its revenue during 2019 before the Covid 19 lockdown. The airlines suspended codeshare agreements during the pandemic. Around 70% of the airline’s international bookings come from codeshare flights, mostly European airlines that use Bangkok Airways flights on domestic sectors or to destinations in neighbouring countries. Even if the codeshare agreements resume in 2023, most aviation experts say full recovery could take longer, possibly by 2024. China’s schedule leading up to the reopening of outbound leisure travel remains crucial for Southeast Asia’s airlines. It could be as early as Chinese New Year in January 202s or much later in the year. There are still no hints on the timetable.

Pandaw returns to Halong Bay

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

SINGAPORE, 22 September 2022: Pandaw is back sailing the rivers of the Mekong region after a two and half year hiatus.

This week, RV Angkor Pandaw, which has 16 rooms on two decks, completed its first 10-night expedition of the season along Vietnam’s Red River with an overnight visit to Halong Bay.

Tourists booked on the inaugural  Pandaw cruise embarked at Halong on 9 September and completed the cruise 10 days later. They were welcomed on board by the crew of RV Angkor Pandaw, including Purser Myo, who has been with Pandaw for decades. A native of Myanmar, he is now ensuring the ‘Pandaw Spirit’ is maintained on river cruises elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

The two Vietnam cruise itineraries are the first to resume with commercial passengers. Sailings on the Mekong River in Laos, Cambodia, and India should resume in October. In Myanmar, where the fleet is still in drydock, the outlook remains grim, and it is unlikely river boat sailings will return in 2023.

Responsible travellers head for Japan

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

BANGKOK, 22 September 2022: YouGov’s latest study shows that Thai travellers who evaluate a destination on its responsible tourism credentials consider Japan the top choice.

There are considerable variations in the 18 markets studied when determining which destinations are included in the charts.

Thai travellers led off with Japan, followed by South Korea (second), Switzerland (third), Singapore (fourth) and the US in fifth place.

Singaporeans shared the same perception voting Japan top of the list for responsible tourism, but New Zealand took second place, Australia third, Switzerland fourth and Malaysia fifth.

YouGov’s study released Tuesday offers a benchmark for brands and destinations to evaluate their positions in the context of sustainable travel and how they perform in reaching out to responsible travellers.

Responsible travellers in Thailand are defined as those who are wellness-focused, culturally minded and care about environmental impact. According to YouGov’s latest report for the travel and tourism sector, most want to travel to Japan.

YouGov Travel Rankings 2022: Travel brands through the eyes of Responsible Travellers are aimed at understanding how travel brands differentiate in the eyes of responsible travellers and the brands and destinations that score higher in terms of consideration amongst this audience group. YouGov DestinationIndex measures the public’s perception of destinations daily across a range of measures.

Covering 18 international markets, the brands and destinations included in this year’s report were ranked based on a Consideration Score over 12 months, from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.

YouGov data shows that almost half of all consumers across 43 countries (46%) like it when brands get involved in social issues.

In contrast, more than two in five consumers worldwide (44%) say they try to buy only from socially and environmentally responsible companies.

“The sustainability trend will only continue to accelerate, and the winners will be those who were first to take their organisations, people, investments, innovation and customers on the journey to be more environmentally friendly and eco-conscious,” the study’s preamble stated.

After Japan – which had a Consideration Score of 40.8% among responsible travellers – was South Korea (22.6). Switzerland, the highest-ranked European destination, came in third (21.4). This was followed closely by Singapore (18.0).

The US rounded off the top five with a Consideration Score of 15.8. China (15.2), France (15.1) and Australia (13.0) were next, followed by Asian destinations Hong Kong (12.8) and Lao (12.6), which completed the rankings.

Check the leading brands and destinations in the eyes of sustainable travellers in the full report here

Methodology:

YouGov publishes brand rankings yearly based on the data from our always-on brand tracker, YouGov BrandIndex and destination tracker, YouGov DestinationIndex. Both travel brands and destinations are tracked daily worldwide, enabling us to consistently and accurately measure consumer attitudes towards those brands (organisations in the travel industry and countries tracked in a dedicated YouGov BrandIndex sector survey). 

Air India sets out its stall

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

NEW DELHI, 21 September 19 2022: Air India unveiled Tuesday a comprehensive transformation plan that its management says will establish the airline as a world-class global airline.

The makeover plan is titled “Vihaan.AI”, which in Sanskrit signifies the dawn of a new era, with identified objectives for Air India over the next five years.

As part of Vihaan.AI, Air India has put into place a detailed roadmap with clear milestones focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet,  improving reliability and on-time performance, and taking a leadership position in technology, sustainability, and innovation.

Over the next five years, Air India targets to increase its market share to at least 30% in the domestic market while significantly growing its international route network and rebuilding market share.

Vihaan.AI is based on the extensive feedback from Air India employees on their aspirations and hopes for the airline’s growth. It focuses on five key pillars, exceptional customer experience, robust operations, industry-best talent, industry leadership, and commercial efficiency and profitability.

While the immediate focus of the airline remains on fixing the basics and readying itself for growth, the medium-to-long term focus will be on building for excellence and establishing scale to become a global industry leader.

Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said: “This is the beginning of a historic transformation for Air India. We are laying the foundation for a brave new Air India, with a renewed sense of purpose and incredible momentum.”

Recently Air India announced its first major fleet expansion post its acquisition by the Tata Group earlier this year.

(Source: Air India)

Holiday Inn opens on Samui

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

SAMUI ISLAND, 21 September 2022: Holiday Inn Resort Samui Bophut will open its doors on 1 October with a package designed for families and couples.

Holiday Inn Resort Samui Bophut Beach is celebrating its grand opening with a promotional 20% discount package with rates starting from THB 3,600 net.

The Grand Opening Package covers a minimum of two nights. It is available for booking from now until 31 October 2022 for a stay any time between now and 20 December 2022.

Guests staying two nights receive THB800 resort credit per room per stay, access to the jungle-themed kids’ club, playground, splash pad, and all children’s activities. For a stay of three nights, roundtrip transfers between the airport and the resort are added to the package.

Located on Bophut Beach, the resort is a 15-minute drive from Samui International Airport and close to the Fisherman’s Village (a three-minute drive).

Emirates selects A350 entertainment

By
TTR WEEKLY
-

SINGAPORE, 21 September 2022: As part of its continued drive to ensure customers ‘fly better’, Emirates has selected the new Thales’ AVANT Up system for its incoming fleet of Airbus A350 aircraft, scheduled for delivery in 2024.

The airline’s investment of over USD350 million will see its 50-strong fleet of A350s equipped with next-generation inflight entertainment solutions that offer a memorable cinematic and personalised passenger experience.

Emirates’ chief operating officer Adel al Redha said: “Emirates has always regarded inflight entertainment as an essential aspect of our onboard experience, and we were, in fact, the first airline to put personal screens onto every single seat onboard when that was far from the norm over 30 years ago. Today, Emirates ice remains unmatched in inflight entertainment content and experience, having won best-in-the-sky awards consecutively for the past 14 years. Our investment in next-generation Thales systems for our new A350 fleet will further our lead, enabling us to deliver even better experiences to our customers. Watch this space.”

Game-changing technology drives Thales’ AVANT Up system that features Optiq 4k QLED HDR displays – the only aircraft displays using Samsung’s QLED technology to immerse viewers in more than a billion colours.

The rich display capability provides the perfect medium for Emirates’ unmatched ice inflight entertainment product, which delivers over 5,000 channels of multi-language content, including live TV, the latest box office movies, TV shows and music hits, and the world’s first inflight shopping channel, EmiratesRED.

The new system from Thales will also provide an enhanced ‘live’ television solution that offers a broader choice of live television and news in the highest available definition at 40,000 feet.

Emirates’ customers can also look forward to enhanced passenger connectivity with Optiq – the first smart display in the industry to offer two Bluetooth connections and built-in Wi-Fi for passengers to pair multiple devices. That would include phones, tablets, headphones or even game controllers, while supporting up to 60 watts USB-C to fast-charge personal devices.

To further enrich passenger engagement, Emirates has chosen a variety of AVANT Up digital services, including highly integrated personalisation features, expanded personal electronic device (PED) capabilities, and user interface enhancements that enable visually impaired passengers to have an immersive experience.

Emirates is also the first airline globally to select Thales’ Pulse, a patented power management technology that will ensure that charging performance will be unaffected no matter how many users are charging their devices simultaneously.

Reflecting a shared vision to innovate and shape future inflight experiences, Emirates and Thales continue collaborating on programmes through Dubai’s Aviation X-Lab, an aviation-specific incubator.

For more information, visit www.emirates.com

(Your Stories: Emirates)

1...499500501...624Page 500 of 624

Stay ahead with the
latest travel news
on Southeast Asia.

Subscribe now


Contact Us
TTR Weekly (TTRW) is published in Bangkok, Thailand, registered since 1978.
/ month
placeholder text
/ month
placeholder text
Press releases, announcements, events for calendar should be sent to: [email protected]
/ month
placeholder text

Copyright © 2023 TTR Weekly, all rights reserved.