Explore Kyoto mountains and seas with Walk Japan
Walk Japan has introduced its Kyoto: Mountains to the Sea tour which explores Kyoto Prefecture, a bucolic rural region, famed for the sublime foods and crafts.
Kyoto: Mountains to the Sea is a fully-guided, eight-day walking tour that ventures through Kyoto’s backcountry; a lovely countryside where the pace of life is still measured by seasons and a multitude of colourful festivals throughout the year.
The 12-pax tour follows ancient trails, once vital for commerce and communication, that weave their way through valleys and over high passes until culminating on the Sea of Japan coast at Amanohashidate, rightly considered one of Japan’s three classic vistas. En route, it passes through little-known villages and aside historic temples and shrines, some grand and some rustic.
Night accommodation is in Japanese inns, where friendly hosts provide warm welcomes and meals composed of locally-sourced and grown ingredients.
Prices start from 430,000 yen (US$2,796) based on double occupancy.
For more information, visit Walk Japan.
Wyndham charms business travellers with Workation Deals
Fit for people who enjoy blending work with pleasure, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Workation Deals offers discounted room rates, complemented by a suite of tailored amenities designed to enhance both productivity and relaxation. Expect perks such as a free welcome drink, free laundry service, late checkout, and much more at over 500 participating hotels in sought-after destinations such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and South-east Asia.
Extra benefits are reserved for guests on longer stays. A two-night stay attracts a 12 per cent off room rate, while four nights and more will earn the guest a 20 per cent discount.
Wyndham properties promise a conducive work and play environment, complete with exceptional Wi-Fi, quality workspaces, and an array of leisure activities to unwind after hours.
Workation Deals are available for bookings made until November 25, 2024, with stays completed by November 30, 2024.
More information is available here.
Ivy Kwan joins Capella Hotel Group as SVP of sales and marketing
Capella Hotel Group has named Ivy Kwan as senior vice president of sales and marketing.
In her new role, Kwan will champion the strategic positioning of the company, and oversee the development and implementation of innovative commercial strategies, and consolidate the unique positioning of Capella Hotels & Resorts and Patina Hotels & Resorts within the competitive luxury market.
With a career spanning over 30 years, she joins Capella Hotel Group from Urban Resort Concepts where she served as senior vice president of commercial strategy and business development since 2021.
Te Pae Christchurch marks second year with exceptional business performance
More than 200,000 event attendees across 458 events have left their mark at Te Pae Christchurch since the convention centre hosted its first conference on May 2, 2022 – far exceeding expectations for its initial operating period.
The 458 events included 146 multi-day conferences, 19 exhibitions, 131 banquets, 157 meetings and five live performances.
As the centre kicks off its third year this month, it shows off a packed events calendar for a period that is traditionally a quieter month for local tourism.
The centre will host back-to-back conferences, including the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress 2024, Institute of Directors 2024 NZ Conference, and MotorSport NZ Conference 2024. In addition to the five international and 10 national conferences, concerts and events booked for May, the programme of local events ranges from school balls to information evenings. Over 8,200 attendees are expected over the course of the month, including 2,650 attending from overseas and 3,135 from around New Zealand.
The impressive economic and broader benefits for the city and the region are the reason the New Zealand Government invested in Te Pae Christchurch as part of the Central Christchurch Recovery Plan, according to John O’Hagan, the chief executive of Rau Paenga Limited, the Crown infrastructure delivery agency that built and owns the facility.
“We are delighted with the number and quality of events that our operator ASM Global has been able to attract in the first two years,” said O’Hagan.
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre’s general manager, Ross Steele, said the first two years of operation have been an outstanding success for the venue.
Steele noted that activities held at the venue over the two years created an opportunity for locals to participate in world-class events, share knowledge with industry leaders, and promote their products and services to a national and international market.
He added: “The direct economic impacts of business events…have been well researched. What are perhaps less well recognised are the broader impacts of a successful business events infrastructure for our community. Whether it’s the opportunity to learn from the best in your field or network with industry leaders, or the chance for local businesses to demonstrate their capabilities in front of a huge audience, the wider impacts of a successful convention programme are incalculable.”
GCC countries boost regional tourism with new initiatives
The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – are making swift progress in their joint efforts to promote regional tourism, with plans to implement a unified Gulf tourist visa regime.
Speaking on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) on Monday, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE’s minister of economy, said the unified Gulf tourist visa would be named, GCC Grand Tours.
“With the introduction of GCC Grand Tours, we anticipate that tourists will stay in the region for over 30 days,” he said.
The new visa regime is expected to be introduced by the end of 2024 or early 2025.
The private sector is also urged to create tours that would entice tourists to explore multiple destinations within the region.
“Working in collaboration with other GCC states allows us to tap into a larger market and offer a more diverse product that would definitely keep this region in a better competitive position. We have started working with a number of GCC countries on either joint packages or joint marketing campaigns,” revealed Azzan Al Busaidi, undersecretary of tourism, Oman Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.
Saudi Arabia has announced cooperation with Qatar, Oman and Bahrain on joint marketing campaigns and packages. Other GCC destinations will follow suit.
Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, chairman of Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, said travellers today desire “a variety of products”, and noted that the GCC region would benefit from targeting both leisure and business event travellers. Work is underway with “the biggest tour operators” to push regional travel packages.
The GCC nations are also improving infrastructure to enhance the traveller experience, such as establishing a rail network.
Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO, Saudi Tourism Authority, said “having a railway system that connects the GCC countries will be a game changer” in facilitating intra-regional tourism.
“However, we should not look at the rail network from just a point-to-point connectivity perspective. The focus should be on creating an experience that is entertaining and gives a feel of a desert cruise (on rails),” he added.
Sri Lanka makes U-turn on decision to double visa fees
Shortly after announcing a higher fee for tourist visa – US100, up from the previous US$50 – Sri Lanka’s cabinet on May 6 decided to reverse the move in an apparent bow to pressure from furious travel and tourism professional industry bodies.
The President’s Office said in a statement that it would also maintain the Immigration and Emigration Department as facilitator, reversing the decision to permit VFS Global, a global visa facilitation company, to handle facilitation.
The new fee, which included a service and facilitation charge of US$25 by VFS Global, was implemented on April 17 despite industry players warning that arrivals would be adversely impacted. The crisis came to a head on April 30 when long queues formed at the Bandaranaike International Airport due to a glitch in the system.
The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators, the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Association of Professional Conference Exhibition and Event Organizers, and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism had earlier issued a joint letter urging the government to restore “a competitive and user-friendly visa process through a government-operated website, similar to the previous ETA system, to enable a tourist to obtain the necessary 30 days single-entry visa with ease”, which was deemed crucial to “sustaining the positive momentum” in tourism recovery.
As conflict between the industry and the government spiked over the new visa fee and its implementation, tourism minister Harin Fernando told reporters that the changes were not implemented by him, but by the minister of national security Tiran Alles.
Fernando said: “My view is that we should do away with visas altogether for tourists. Travelling should be as simple as getting off the plane and going out.”
Etihad Airways boosts interline deals with five airlines
Etihad Airways has launched reciprocal interline partnerships with five new airline partners, further expanding travel options for guests across its expanding global network.
The airline has agreed partnerships with Kam Air in Afghanistan, SKY express in Greece, Rex Airlines in Australia, Jeju Air in South Korea and Myanmar Airways International.
The interline agreements enable customers of all airlines involved to enjoy enhanced connectivity to destinations across each other’s networks, allowing guests to book their entire journey on a single ticket and have their baggage checked through seamlessly to their end destination.
This brings Etihad’s interline, codeshare and strategic partnerships with airlines across the world to 123.
Offering a range of new options for Etihad’s guests with these new partnerships, guests from all over the world at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport can connect to the Kam Air flight to Kabul and travel onward into Afghanistan, while passengers on Etihad’s twice daily flights to Athens can connect onwards with SKY express to 28 destinations in Greece and its Mediterranean islands.
Rex Airlines provides travellers with access from Etihad’s gateways in Sydney and Melbourne to 22 destinations in Australia, including Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast, whereas Jeju Air connects guests from Seoul to 27 destinations across seven countries in North-east Asia.
With Myanmar Airways International, passengers get enhanced access to Yangon and Mandalay through Etihad’s gateways in South Asia.
“These five interline agreements make life easier for guests of all the airlines involved,” said Arik De, chief revenue and commercial officer, Etihad.
Germany nears pre-pandemic tourism levels from India
Germany is fast closing on its pre-pandemic inbound arrivals from India. Germany recorded 826,703 overnight stays from the Indian market last year – a growth of 32.6 per cent over the previous year.
“There has been a recovery of 85 per cent in overnight stays from India in 2023 compared to the 2019 level. We are hoping to record around one million Indian overnight stays in Germany by the end of this year,” said Romit Theophilus, director of marketing & sales office – India, German National Tourist Office (GNTO) while addressing a press conference in New Delhi on April 30.
This year, Germany is looking to increase the visibility of its 52 UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Indian market besides promoting its various scenic and cultural experiences.
“Germany is placed third worldwide with the highest number of UNESCO sites after Italy and China. We want to promote experiences like The Coastal Route wherein eight UNESCO sites like Wadden Sea, Stralsund and Bremen are covered in nine days,” added Theophilus.
Presently 52 per cent of Indian tourist arrivals to Germany are for holiday trips while 39 per cent are for business trips. “Earlier, Germany was primarily known as a business destination. However, the perspective has changed in the last five to seven years with a strong leisure movement. There has also been an increase in the average length of stay of Indian travellers from three days to five to seven days,” added Theophilus.
The education travel segment is also growing strongly for Germany.
“There has been a rise in the number of Indian students in Germany over the last few years. Indian students in Germany are now the largest group of foreign students in the country. This, we expect, will result in increasing VFR movement from India to Germany,” said Georg Enzweiler, deputy head of mission at the German Embassy.
GNTO also plans to embark upon consumer initiatives and joint promotion with travel trade this year to increase tourist arrivals from India.
Australia’s largest independent five-star sustainably-led hospitality company, Crystalbrook Collection, is set to launch a new-build hotel in Australia’s capital, Canberra, slated to open in 1Q2027.
The new hotel is in collaboration with developer TP Dynamics, who has secured building approval and the construction site is currently being prepared to commence the build.
The hotel will be located on Bunda Street, strategically positioned between Garema Place and Bunda Street, opposite the Canberra Centre. The 10-storey mixed-use commercial and hotel development, covering 1500m², features 238 hotel rooms, multiple restaurants and bars, a central skylight atrium and gardens, swimming pool, wellness centre, function rooms, and ballroom.
The first hospitality group in Australia to achieve 100 per cent waste-free bathrooms, Crystalbrook’s Canberra hotel will continue the brand’s commitment to responsible luxury, with initiatives including 100 per cent recycled coat hangers and key cards, zero-waste coffee capsules from TerraCycle, and the labelling of ‘Climate Calories’ across all of their restaurants, allowing customers to feel comfortable that they are mitigating their environmental impact.
As part of the city’s revitalisation efforts, the Australian Capital Territory Government’s City Renewal Authority will upgrade the Garema Place Public Realm. This enhancement will create a modern and lively dining and retail precinct, offering increased green space, improved pedestrian flow, better accessibility, enhanced lighting, and more outdoor dining opportunities.
Crystalbrook Collection founder Ghassan Aboud commented: “With the announcement of our new Canberra property and the continued expansion of the group across Australia with recent expansion into Adelaide and the acquisition of a second property in Sydney, my vision for Crystalbrook Collection as a truly national hotel group is coming to fruition. This growth of our brand across Australia is delivering a strong base for a future expansion of Crystalbrook Collection into overseas markets.”