KUALA LUMPUR, 10 February 2023: SalamAir will introduce flights from Muscat to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, its 36th destination starting 3 July 2023.
Direct flights from Muscat to Kuala Lumpur are scheduled for Monday and Friday. The new service will mark the airline’s expansion in Southeast Asia to tap business and leisure travel to and from Muscat in Oman. It already flies to Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand.
SalamAir CEO, Captain Mohamed Ahmed said: “The flights will boost tourism, economic relations, business opportunities, and student movements between Oman and Malaysia and serve the overall Oman 2040 vision of supporting the inbound tourism sector as one of the main contributors to the national GDP of the Sultanate of Oman.”
Flight time on the Muscat to Kuala Lumpur route will be around seven hours.
Muscat, the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman, is home to stunning beaches, mountains, deserts and cultural and heritage attractions, including ancient mosques, historic forts and museums. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is famed for its 50m dome and phenomenal carpet that can accommodate up to 20,000 people. It is credited with being a magnificent example of modern Islamic architecture.
SalamAir flies to domestic destinations, such as Muscat, Salalah, and Suhar, Duqm, Masirah. International destinations include Dubai, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, Kuwait, Bahrain, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Trabzon, Bursa, Kathmandu, Baku, Bangkok, Phuket, Prague, Shiraz, Tehran, Alexandria, Khartoum, Colombo, Multan, Sialkot, Karachi, Dhaka, Chattogram, Jaipur, Trivandrum, and Lucknow.
About SalamAir
SalamAir commenced its commercial operations in 2017. SalamAir has expanded its fleet to six A320neo, four A321neo, and one Airbus A321 freighter in six years.
BANGKOK, 10 February 2023: Cross Hotels & Resorts, in collaboration with Discova, announced the launch of a new brand ‘Kaura’, earlier this week in Karangasem, East Bali.
Kaura Bali is described as an “immersive village experience located in the hills of Karangasem, East Bali, developed in harmony with the environment and in direct partnership with Subak Bakung village community.”
Kaura is the sixth brand under the management of Cross Hotels & Resorts. It will officially begin business operations with the opening of Kaura Bali, a resort and retreat, in April 2023.
Kaura Bali started as a community project supported by Discova with the reparation of a damaged irrigation pipe that threatened the entire community’s survival, heavily dependent on rice farming.
Today, Subak Bakung’s villagers are transforming tourism with experiences created and guided by the community and connecting adventurous travellers to village culture.
Subak Bakung is located on the sweeping terraces of eastern Bali that cling to the steep and fertile volcanic hillside as a stunning backdrop to the vibrant colour of village life. The Java Sea is just a short cycle ride from the village.
“I’m so proud to be working with Discova and the people of Subak Bakung to bring Kaura to life,” said Cross Hotels & Resorts, CEO Harry Thaliwal. “Our goal of self-sustaining retreats, created in partnership with local communities, is at the core of Cross’s vision for an evolving industry.”
Discova managing director Suyin Lee added: “Kaura is part of our longstanding commitment to sustainable tourism, which directly benefits local communities. The villagers wanted to adopt organic farming, improve farming practices and bring prosperity back to their village. Now they welcome everyone to experience the real Bali and, in doing so, create an alternate source of livelihood.”
Cross Hotels & Resorts is an international hotel management company owned by the ASX-listed Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG).
FCTG is one of the world’s largest travel companies, incorporating diverse worldwide distribution in-destination travel experiences such as transport, touring, and hotel management solutions.
Discova is a global destination management specialist operating in 15 markets in Asia and the Americas. It offers tailored B2B in-destination services for tour operators and travel agents.
BANGKOK, 9 February 2023: Thailand will host the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations (AFECA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023 this October.
The meeting will draw 155 member associations from 19 countries to discuss developments in the MICE industry and illustrate Thailand’s role as a top destination for business events in Asia.
Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau president, Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, described it as another important event in the MICE industry after confirming the International Congress and Convention Association or ICCA meeting will head for Thailand in November.
AFECA AGM 2023 gathers Asian industry leaders and regional professionals working in conventions and exhibitions and is an opportunity to demonstrate Thailand’s ability to attract international exhibitions.
AFECA President Dato Vincent Lim noted that Thailand has always been an important MICE destination in Asia and at the forefront of developing the Asian MICE industry.
“I believe that with the support from TCEB, AFECA AGM 2023 will be a platform for Asian MICE leaders to continue raising the profile of the Asian MICE industry on the global stage.”
MUMBAI India, 9 February 2023: ITB India will convene from 26 to 28 April 2023 as an in-person event, following a two-year pause when it was forced to adopt an online format due to the Covid-pandemic.
The major travel trade show for South Asia markets will welcome international and domestic visitors to Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India. ITB India will be co-located with MICE Show India and Travel Tech India.
Messe Berlin, a global event organiser, has renewed its partnership with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) to bring back ITB India.
The partnership leverages Messe Berlin’s strong and successful ITB brand’s international network and IGCC’s more than 60 years of experience and vast connections in the Indian market.
“We are pleased to be working with IGCC in bringing the ITB brand to the Indian market. We aim to establish ITB India as one of India’s leading travel trade shows. We are looking forward to connecting the international travel community to the Indian market,” said Messe Berlin GmbH senior vice president David Ruetz.
ITB returns as a three-day B2B tradeshow and convention that brings together key travel industry leaders and international exhibitors from the MICE, Corporate, Leisure and Travel Technology sectors.
The organiser claims around 500 qualified buyers will attend, giving an estimated 400 exhibitors direct access to top-tier buyers who work out of major cities across India and South Asia. The format allows pre-scheduled appointments and exclusive business matching opportunities.
Early Bird discounts are still available until 1 March 2023.
SINGAPORE, 9 February 2023: The organisers of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023 have introduced an ‘Exhibitor Environmental Checklist’ and introduced a brand-new ‘Most Sustainable Stand’ for the 30th edition of ATM due to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 1 to 4 May.
Adopting the theme ‘Working Towards Net Zero’, the new checklist has been created with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in mind. It features practical advice for participants on how to manage waste, minimise their energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions, and create greener promotional materials and exhibition stands.
Introducing a ‘Most Sustainable Stand’ category to the ATM 2023 Best Stand Awards aims to highlight the importance of ‘thinking green’ when it comes to large-scale conferences and exhibitions.
Arabian Travel Market, Exhibition Director ME Danielle Curtis said: “We’ve had to think outside the box this year regarding sustainability. From an internal perspective, our team has implemented a range of purposeful innovations and changes ahead of ATM 2023, such as the removal of printed show guides, QR codes for scanning purposes and digital lead capturing to remove the need for exhibitors to hand out brochures.”
Other on-the-ground innovations to shape ATM 2023 include a ban on single-use plastic across the venue, water refill stations, a reduction in printed graphics and signage volume, and recyclable materials across the show.
ATM 2023 is held in conjunction with Dubai World Trade Centre, and its strategic partners include Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as the Destination Partner, Emirates as the Official Airline Partner, IHG Hotels & Resorts as the Official Hotel Partner and Al Rais Travel as the Official DMC Partner.
HO CHI MINH, 9 February 2023: Tourism Malaysia, through its Ho Chi Minh Office, stepped up efforts to promote Malaysia to Vietnamese travel consumers at the recent Nguyen Hu Flower Street Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
During the eight-day event, Tourism Malaysia focused on promotions featuring Malaysia’s parks and gardens showcasing Malaysia’s national flower – Bunga Raya or Hibiscus.
2023 is the 50th anniversary of Malaysia and Vietnam’s diplomatic ties. Over the last 20 years, the Nguyen Hue Flower Street event in Ho Chi Minh City has grown into an annual tourism attraction and entertainment event marking the national Tet Holiday (Vietnam’s traditional Lunar New Year).
This year, the event welcomed 1.2 million visitors, including international tourists from Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America (USA).
“In 2019, before the pandemic, we welcomed 400,346 tourist arrivals from Vietnam, while for 2022, about 173,763 Vietnam tourists visited Malaysia,” said Dato’ Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, Director General of Tourism Malaysia. “ This year, we intend to achieve the arrival target of 15.6 million international tourists with MYR47.6 billion in tourism receipts. We are optimistic that we can attract more than 234,000 tourist arrivals from the Vietnam market.”
Regarding connectivity, there are 120 flights per week with more than 21,000 seats on routes between Vietnam to Malaysia supplied by Malaysia Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air, Batik Air (formerly known as Malindo Air) and AirAsia.
BANGKOK, 9 February 2023: Bangkok Airways announced the temporary suspension of flights earlier this week, halting flights from Bangkok to Hat Yai in southern Thailand and Danang in central Vietnam.
According to the airline’s official Facebook account, the temporary suspension starts on 1 March for the Hat Yai bound service and on 1 May for flights to Danang.
The airline omitted to say why it was suspending the services. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic caused travel lockdowns in 2022, the airline has slimmed down promotional activities through its PR department and limited communications to social media channels. It is no longer clear if the airline still employs a communications team to reach customers and its B2B travel trade channels.
The Facebook announcement made a short statement advising passengers of the flight suspension, saying the two services are suspended until “further notice.”
However, it did advise passengers who have booked flights to the two destinations they can request a make-good travel voucher to use on other routes by contacting www.bangkokair.com/travel-voucher
In the case of passengers who booked flights on the suspended routes through a partner or codeshare airline, Bangkok Airways says it will arrange flights with an alternative airline.
SINGAPORE, 9 February 2023: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that the recovery in air travel continued in December 2022 and for the full year.
Total traffic in 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 64.4% compared to 2021. Globally, full-year 2022 traffic was at 68.5% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels. December 2022 total traffic rose 39.7% compared to December 2021 and reached 76.9% of the December 2019 level.
International traffic in 2022 climbed 152.7% versus 2021 and reached 62.2% of 2019 levels. December 2022 international traffic climbed 80.2% over December 2021, reaching 75.1% of the level in December 2019.
Domestic traffic for 2022 rose 10.9% compared to the prior year. 2022 domestic traffic was at 79.6% of the full-year 2019 level. December 2022 domestic traffic was up 2.6% over the earlier period year and 79.9% of December 2019 traffic.
“The industry left 2022 in far stronger shape than it entered, as most governments lifted COVID-19 travel restrictions during the year, and people took advantage of the restoration of their freedom to travel. This momentum is expected to continue in the New Year, despite some governments’ over-reactions to China’s re-opening,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.
International Passenger Markets
Asia-Pacific airlines posted a363.3% rise infull-year international 2022 traffic compared to 2021, maintaining the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions. Capacity rose 129.9%, and the load factor climbed 37.3 percentage points to 74.0%. In December 2022, traffic rose 302.7% compared to December 2021.
European carriers’ full-year traffic climbed 132.2% versus 2021. Capacity increased by 84.0%, and the load factor rose 16.7 percentage points to 80.6%. For December, demand climbed 46.5% compared to the same month in 2021.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 157.4% traffic rise in 2022 compared to 2021. Capacity increased by 73.8%, and load factor climbed 24.6 percentage points to 75.8%. December demand climbed 69.8% compared to the same month in 2021.
North American carriers reporteda 130.2% annual traffic rise in 2022 compared to 2021. Capacity increased by 71.3%, and the load factor climbed 20.7 percentage points to 80.8%. December 2022 traffic rose 61.3% compared to the year-ago period.
Latin American airlines posted a 119.2% traffic rise in 2022 over the full year 2021. Annual capacity climbed 93.3%, and load factor increased 9.7 percentage points to 82.2%, the highest among the regions. December demand climbed 37.0% compared to December 2021.
African airlines’ annual traffic rose89.2% in 2022 versus the prior year. Full-year 2022 capacity was up 51.0%, and load factor climbed 14.5 percentage points to 71.7%, the lowest among regions. December 2022, traffic for African airlines rose 118.8% over the year-earlier period.
The Bottom Line
“Let us hope that 2022 becomes known as the year in which governments locked away forever the regulatory shackles that kept their citizens earthbound for so long. It is vital that governments learn that travel restrictions and border closures have little positive impact in slowing the spread of infectious diseases in our globally interconnected world. However, they have an enormous negative impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, as well as on the global economy that depends on the unfettered movement of people and goods,” said Walsh.
MANILA, 9 February 2023: AirAsia Philippines is returning to key economic hubs in China, starting with weekly flights to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and the special administrative region of Macao during February and March
Business travellers can reconnect with Guangzhou beginning 15 February with AirAsia’s three weekly flights every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Essential travellers can fly to the special economic zone of Shenzhen four times weekly every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday beginning 2 March. Guests flying to these key destinations in China can enjoy a 10% discount for bookings made by 12 February for travels until 25 March 2023.
Flights will resume to Macau on 2 March with three weekly flights every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
AirAsia Philippines Chief Executive Officer Ricky Isla commented: “The final piece of the puzzle that will complete the recovery process of the aviation industry is here. Now that China is opening its borders to the world, a new era of tourism, trade and commerce is set to emerge. And as always, AirAsia will ensure our guests the best value deals as we safely take them to the skies of renewed opportunities. Pre-pandemic, we flew over 750,000 guests to and from China.”
Until midnight on 12 February, AirAsia is offering a Buy 1, Take 1 promo from as low as PhP158 for domestic and PhP828 for international travel until 30 September 2023.
YOGYAKARTA, 8 February 2023: ASEAN Tourism Forum set a new record last week as attendance slumped to an all-time low since the region’s top event was established in 1981.
Hosted in Indonesia’s heritage capital of Yogyakarta, the ASEAN Tourism Forum closed on 5 February having attracted just 57 international buyers, 64 sellers and 74 domestic and international media, delivering a total audience of no more than 192 travel delegates excluding the 200 plus government officials who meet for their annual meetings held on the sidelines of the ATF.
The unprecedented slump in international travel buyers and sellers was first observed by Travel Impact Newswire executive editor and tourism historian Imtiaz Muqbil hours before the Official ASEAN Facebook account confirmed the tally yesterday evening.
The 26th ASEAN Tourism Forum chairman’s statement later confirmed the trade show’s top participants were the media delegates invited by the host destination Indonesia.
The show theme, “Journey to Wonderful Destinations”, fell far short of expectations for international buyers seeking new travel experiences for their 2023 tours. The paltry turnout of 64 sellers came from 10 member countries that comprise ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). Attendance was far off the pace of any previous ATF going back to 1981 when the inaugural show in Genting Highlands Malaysia was officially opened by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir.
In 2020 the ATF in Brunei delivered 265 sellers, 160 buyers and 109 media. But at the height of its popularity, the ATF 2018 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, delivered a tally of 240 buyers, 650 sellers and over 890 booths.
Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, had earlier forecasted the ATF 2023 would draw around 250 buyers and 350 sellers.
Next year the ATF will be hosted by Lao PDR from 15 to 19 January, and expectations are a carbon copy of Indonesia’s forecast – 350 sellers and 250 buyers. But the last time Laos hosted the ATF in 2013, it managed to attract 459 international buyers and 989 sellers with 495 booths booked.
Asian Trails chairman Luzi Matzig responded to questions from TTRW, saying the ATF was no longer a priority due to financial challenges.
“Asian Trails did not attend ATF as after Covid; we had to tighten our belts and plan to attend only the most important trade shows, such as ITB Berlin and World Travel Market.”
Muqbil told TTRW he was undertaking an in-depth report on the ATF to identify the show’s direction and the possible long-term outcomes, post Covid pandemic.
Singapore’s HPL Hotels & Resorts vice president of sales & marketing Michael Chua who attended the ATF 2023, conceded it was a “smaller ATF, but we got good appointments. There are still many who are worried about travelling due to Covid.”
Long haul buyers were much fewer than in past years, but he noted those who did attend were qualified. “We saw more buyers from the regional markets ( Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia) … these are HPL’s key markets, and Indonesia is a big market for us…it was good to meet all our Indonesian partners… Nothing can ever replace a personal face-to-face meeting.”
He gave ATF a thumbs up, saying he believed ASEAN governments would continue to host the forum and TRAVEX. “ASEAN destinations are diverse and have much to offer. ATF is the platform for everyone to meet at the start of the year.”
ATF’s TRAVEX trade show component was held in the Jogja Expo Centre, while Yogyakarta Regional Government hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum’s grand opening ‘royal dinner’ at the Yogyakarta Palace.
Yogyakarta was selected as the location for the ATF 2023 because it is one of the “super-priority destinations” and received more special requests from the ASEAN members.
For the full chairman’s statement 26th Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Ministers, 4 Feb 2023 check the following link
