36 Issues of Travel Weekly magazines

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Luxury Travel takes center stage

Hanoians – 1000 years of Thang Long – Hanoi

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Dear Travel Weekly readers!

Welcome to the 36 Issues of Travel Weekly!

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04. Red River ceramic road recognized as Guinness World Record

VIETNAM NEWS

06. Accor signs two new Pullman hotels in Vietnam

05. HCMC expected to start development project of Waterway Tourism

09. Free golf lesson promo extended at Ocean Dunes

India’s strong online travel market is keen

on eco-friendly, exploratory tours26 - 29Hotel, airfare and restaurant review site Tripadvisor enjoys an international monthly visitor ship of 35,382,000 unique visitors of which 25,00,000 are Indian. Accord-ing to Sharat Dhall, Managing Director, tripadvisor.com to tap into their information resource and understand some of the newest trends among online travel buyers.


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Thursday 30.09.2010

There is about 10 days remaining to the anniversary of 1,000 years of Thang Long – Hanoi and Hanoians are eager to welcome its giant celebration with fanciful illumination along main streets in the inner city and key routes in the suburbs, art performances as well as spe-cial programmes towards the event, etc. Citizens are all hope Hanoi would have wonderful 1,000 year birthday celebration.


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12. Dragon festival to mark 1,000th an-niversary Of Thang Long-Hanoi

13. Ao dai to be honoured at Hanoi’s grand anniversary

1,000 YEARS OF THANG LONG - HANOI

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

16. WTM launches UK exhibitors’ e-shop

17 - 19. MITT Organisers Made a Deci-sion Expected by the Market

20 - 21. Egypt: Official partner country of ITB Berlin 2012

22. ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2011 TRAVEX promises to be a sell-out event

24. American buyers see positive trends in face-to-face meetings

30 - 33. Travel Weekly Magazine & ITE HCMC 2010

DESTINATIONS

SPECIAL

DEFINITE JOURNEY, the first luxury Vietnamese operator to conspicuously market ethical travel in the high-end tourism sector, and TRAVEL WEEKLY, the leading online travel news channel and digital business magazine in Southeast Asia, are poised to present Vietnamese luxury to a global audience at International Travel Exhibitions this year.

Thursday 30.09.2010 www.travelweekly.com.vn

VIETNAM NEWS4

“The ceramic road along the Red River” in Hanoi has been officially recognized as the longest pottery mural in the world by the Guinness World Record, the journalist and painter Nguyen Thu Thuy who initiated the project said on Sunday. The painting with a length of 3,950 meters and total area of 7,000 square meters is a work of art in celebration of the capital’s 1,000th birthday.

Journalist Nguyen Thu Thuy launched the program at the end of 2007. The embank-ment’s walls are now filled with traditional patterns and Hanoi landscapes.

The wall also features pat-terns popular during the

Dong Son era and the Ly, Tran, Le and Nguyen dynas-ties.

Artists in the country and abroad have contributed to the project.

The giant ceramic mural in-corporates decorative mod-ern art, the traditional aes-thetics of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, paintings of Hanoi by children, and ceramic paintings by local and inter-national artists.

Representative of the Guin-ness World Record will ar-rive in Vietnam from October 2-5 to present a certificate for the giant ceramic mural.

Vietnam is one of 40 countries exhibiting their products at the 15th Inter-national Kite Festival in Dieppe, France, from December 11-19.

Le Phung, Director of the Hue Culture House, and young kite maker Nguyen Dang Hoang, will attend the event with more than 40 different kites.

Vietnamese kites are have special designs and often flown on festival days.

Foreign visitors will have the chance to see the Vietnamese team wear-ing traditional costumes.

Hue kites first flew at the International Kite Festival in 1994 and proved an instant hit with foreigners and kite enthusiasts around the world.

The even is held every two years.

Red River ceramic road recognized as Guinness World Record

Vietnamese attends 15th International Kite Festival


VIETNAM NEWS 5

The Ho Chi Minh City’s administration has made many sur-veys on waterway tourism to create an appealing tourist at-traction. However, the project is still on paper. Meanwhile, travel companies are impatient to create a new service to attract visitors.There are some short river tours and restaurant boats be-ing operated by travel companies on the Saigon Rivers.Tours including Hoa Si (Painter) village (near Phu My Bridge in District 2)-Nha Be crossroad-District 2 and Ben Nghe-Tau Hu canal will are ready to go into operation, ac-cording to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.Medium and long-distant routes to neighboring provinces likely Dong Nai, Binh Duong and the Mekong Delta region will be launched in near future.The city will also develop river bus services to reduce traf-fic jams. Experts said that using bus river service would reduce commutes by approximately 40 percent.The city also lacks a pier system. The Bach Dang Quay is considered as an ideal place, but it can not be enlarged to become a tourist pier because of the urban architecture planning. In addition, not any boat can be anchored in the quay if they have not got any permission of the govern-ing body. Large cruise ships have berths on a port of dis-charge in District 7.HCM City has great potential to develop its waterways tourism industry, but it should develop various products to meet the demand for this special tourist type and also facilities like a fully worked-out waterway network, boats, harbors, and stopovers for tourists.

HCMC expected to start development project of Waterway Tourism


VIETNAM NEWS6

A ccor, the largest international hotel operator in Vietnam, announces today two new developments for the Pullman hotel brand for the country - Pullman Danang Beach and

Pullman Hai Phong Flamboyant Island Resort.

“With sustained economic growth and significant investment in infrastructure leading to increased volumes for business travel and continued international and domestic leisure travel strength, opportunities continue for quality upscale hotel developments in Vietnam.” says Patrick Basset, Vice President of Operations for Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea. “We are delight-ed to announce these two new hotels in Danang and Hai Phong and excited about the prospects for the Pullman brand in Viet-nam.” added Mr. Basset.

Accor has commitments to develop five Pullman hotels in Viet-nam: Pullman Vung Tau, Pullman Danang Beach and Pullman Ha-noi Horison are scheduled to open in 2011; and Pullman Saigon Centre and Pullman Hai Phong Flamboyant Island Resort are due to open in 2013.

Pullman Danang Beach is due to open in mid 2011 and located on the beach front. The hotel will feature 207 guest rooms, 4 res-taurants and extensive leisure facilities including three swim-ming pools. The city of Danang attracts tourists from Vietnam and abroad and is renowned for having one of the worlds top ten beaches. This hotel will be the debut of the Pullman brand in Viet-nam.

Pullman Hai Phong Flamboyant Island Resort is located in Viet-nam’s industrial and seaport centre on northern coastal area of the

country. Located on Flamboyant Island in Do Son District, this 300-room hotel will support the increasing number of travelers to the northern parts of Vietnam seeking an international quality upscale hotel. The hotel will have superb facilities with three restaurants, two bars, a ballroom, meeting rooms, indoor and outdoor swim-ming pools, an entertainment centre, spa and an amphitheatre.

Pullman Vung Tau will have 360 guest rooms, a ballroom that can accommodate up to 500 guests, several smaller meeting rooms with “Chill-out” zones, a business centre, gym, spa and a swim-ming pool. The hotel will also provide an all-day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant and a lobby bar and lounge. Pullman Vung Tau is located adjacent the international convention centre and a 5-minute walk to the beach.

Pullman Hanoi Horison is located in the city centre and is cur-rently undergoing and extensive renovation and upgrade. Once completed this 250-room hotel will have significant event space accommodating up to 1,000 guests, whilst providing facilities such as outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre, restaurant, lobby and pool side bars. With an extensive range of tailored services to ac-commodate meetings and seminars, Pullman Hanoi Horison willentice business travelers and events visiting the nation’s capital.

Pullman Saigon Centre a 290-room newly constructed upscale hotel with contemporary architecture and chic interiors will be lo-cated in District One of Ho Chi Minh City. Once completed, Pull-man Saigon Centre will comprise of 1,500 sqm of ballroom and meeting facilities, two restaurants, a bar, an outdoor swimming pool, business centre and fitness facility.

Accor signs two new Pullman hotels in Vietnam


VIETNAM NEWS 7Accor signs two new Pullman hotels in Vietnam

Pullman in Asia Pacific

16 Pullman hotels are operating today throughout Asia Pacific and a further 25 hotels are committed to development in the region. The brand is on track to achieve 100 hotels in the region by 2013.

The Pullman brand

Pullman is Accor’s upscale hotel brand that is ideal for travelers seeking services and facilities that satisfy today’s modern busi-ness and leisure lifestyles. Pullman hotels provide first-class

meeting and conference facilities specifically designed to serve the MICE market (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibi-tions). Pullman hotels around the world are fast becoming a favor-ite choice among corporate and event organizers.

All Pullman hotels provide full wireless and broadband communi-cations, executive floors and lounges, chill-out zones and state-of-the-art meeting and function facilities as well as signature services such as Pullman Welcomers, IT Solution Managers and Pullman Event Managers - all based on the brand concept of “Co-Meeting: Commitment, Connectivity, and Cohesion”.

http://www.sofitel.com/gb/home/index.shtml


VIETNAM NEWS 9

Sometimes an idea is so timely, you can’t wait to try it -again. So it is with the free golf lesson currently on offer at Ocean Dunes Golf Club: Originally rolled out just after Independence Day week-end, Free Lesson Month was scheduled to conclude at the end of September. It will now be extended through 31 October.“It’s a busy time of year on many peoples’ schedules, including our members’,” notes Kurt Greve, general manager at Ocean Dunes, “and we wanted to make sure that everyone got a chance to take part. The initial response told us we’d need more time to accommodate all the interest – plus, we were enjoying it too much ourselves not to extend it.”Members receive a 60-minute lesson, guests a 30-minute lesson, all free. Ocean Dunes requests that lesson reservations be made 24 hours in advance (send an email with your requested date and time to [email protected], or call + 84 62 382 3366).

Besides Greve and teaching pro Joshua Bannister -- both certi-fied PGA of America teaching professionals – Ocean Dunes em-ploys three highly skilled local Vietnamese golf instructors, so language is never a barrier to the learning process.Thanks to the next-door Novotel Phan Thiet, Ocean Dunes also remains the only course in Vietnam accessible via a short walk from the lobby to the first tee. What’s more, the atmosphere seems as inviting to the staff as to members and visiting golfers.“For a teacher, one of the most interesting things about Vietnam is the interaction with people who bring few preconceived notions of the game,” says Bannister. “That’s why, when a kid who’s nev-er held a golf club before manages to hit his first airborne shot, or make her first 25-foot putt, it’s better than watching a scratch player drive the ball 300 yards.”

Free golf lesson promo extended at Ocean Dunes


VIETNAM NEWS

(IT&CMA) in Thailand; ITB Asia - The Trade Show for the Asian Travel Market in Singapore; World Trade Market in London, etc.

Definite Journey is also the first luxury Vietnamese operator to conspicuously market ethical travel in the high-end tourism sector. While all of Definite Journey’s all-inclusive itineraries feature accommodation in the absolute premier room options at five star properties, a percentage of all profits go towards supporting social development through the firm’s own char-ity - Compassion Hearts - allowing privileged guests to make real contributions to the communities that they visit.

Definite Journey coordinates a range of specialist itineraries, including Premium Group Tours, Private Luxury Tours, wine trails, golf tours, rejuvenative spa journeys, and helicopter tours, as well as various MICE services for corporate clients.

10

Luxury Travel

Takes Center Stage

DEFINITE JOURNEY and TRAVEL WEEKLY are poised to present Vietnamese luxury to a global audience at International Travel Exhibitions this year.

If you’d talked about the luxury travel market in Vietnam five years ago, you’d have been laughed at. In a backpacker-dominated tour-ism paradise, high-end operators had no easy task ahead of them to attract international luxury category travellers.

Things have certainly changed. The Vietnamese nation is now rec-ognised as an emerging Asian Tiger economy, and more travellers are beginning to enjoy the high standard of services now available in Vietnam. It’s now commonly acknowledged that Vietnam will be the next prime tourist destination in the region following Thailand and Bali. New five-star hotels and resorts are popping up all the way down the Vietnamese coastline and in major cities, while high-class restaurants and spas are multiplying in their wake.

Saigon-based luxury operator Definite Journey has focused its efforts on drawing international attention to the emerging attrac-tions of this country, and its partnership with Travel Weekly pro-vides the opportunity to publicise the standard of premium Viet-namese travel services to a broader international audience. The two firms will present some of the country’s best accommodation options and deluxe tours at the International Travel Expo (ITE) in Vietnam; The Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia

For additional information, please contactDEFINITE Journey Co., Ltd.Suite 606, Block B, Indochina Park Tower4 Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, Dakao ward, District 1,Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamTel: +84-8-22200929 Fax: +84-8-22200930Operational Hotline: +84-1259001000Email: [email protected]: www.definitejourney.com

By Michael Arnold

Luxury Travel

Takes Center StageBy Michael Arnold

http://www.la-residence-hue.com/

http://chenla-resort.com/en-us/

days to come 1,000 years of Thang Long - Hanoi


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The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a press conference on September 22 to announce a street art programme entitled “Dragon Festival”. The Spanish embassy in Vietnam announced the festival to the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee a gift for the occasion of 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The Dragon Festival is scheduled to be held at My Dinh National Stadium on October 2.

At the press conference, Spanish ambassador to Vietnam Fernando Curcio praised the Hanoi Mu-nicipal People’s Committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs for the preparations of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

He also expressed delight at the contributions made by the Spanish embassy and community in organiz-ing the “Dragon Festival”.

This festival, which includes diverse activities such as fireworks and performances by street artists, is expected to help citizens learn more about the his-tory of the establishment of Hanoi.

The “Dragon Festival” originated from the idea of Spain’s famous opera group the Els Comedians for performing the history of the establishment of the capital city of Hanoi.

Nguyen Van Tinh, Director of the International Co-operation Department under the Ministry of Cul-ture, Sports and Tourism highlighted the goodwill of Spanish friends and pledge to make joint efforts to organize the festival successfully.

of Thang Long-Hanoi

days to comedays to come 1,000 years of Thang Long - Hanoi


Ao dai to be honoured at Hanoi’s grand anniversary

A magnificent ao dai exhibition will take place in Hanoi on the evening of October 1, kicking off the festival of the grand millennial anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.Collections of ao dai from Vietnam’s three regions (north, south, and central) will be modelled by both professional and amateur models. The models will emerge from Ngoc Son temple in Sword Lake and proceed along a specially-built 350m catwalk artistically decorated with mats, coni-cal hats, and lively dioramas depicting Hanoi in ancient times.The 45-minute ao dai performance, which will be broad-cast live on TV to the whole country, will be followed by a 15-minute light festival and fireworks display. Renowned designer Duc Hung will bring to the festival a collection entitled ‘Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter’. He said the fact that Hanoi has four distinctive seasons in-spired him to create this collection. Hung said he carefully selected made-in-Vietnam material and colours for his long dresses – brocade for spring, silk for summer, voile for autumn, and velvet for winter.

Ao dai to be honoured at Hanoi’s grand anniversary

days to come 1,000 years of Thang Long - Hanoi


tourney celebrates 1000th anniversary of

Thang Long-Hanoi

1,000 domestic and foreign golfers will compete in the qualifying round of a golf tournament to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi at ten golf cours-es across the country on Sep-tember 25.The tournament will set a new record for Vietnamese golf, attracting the highest number of players so far.The ten golf courses include Yen Thang (in Ninh Binh), Van Tri, Dong Mo (in Hanoi), Tam Dao (in Vinh Phuc), Mont-gomerie Links Vietnam (in Quang Nam), Sea Links (in Binh Thuan), Thu Duc (HCM City), Long Thanh and Dong Nai (Dong Nai), and Vung Tau (Ba Ria-Vung Tau).The 10 best golfers from each competition will go through to the final round held at the Van Tri golf course in Hanoi on October 9.This event has been organised by the National Committee for the1000-year celebrations of Thang Long-Hanoi, the Hanoi Municipal People’s Commit-tee, the Hanoi Municipal De-partment of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and the Vietnam Golf Association.

Golf

days to come

http://itcmchina.com/


INTERNATIONAL NEWS16

World Travel Market, the premier global event for the travel indus-try, has teamed up with VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, to launch an online shop to help delegates make the most of their stay in London – selling UK based WTM exhibitors’ products to WTM participants.The online shop - www.wtmlondon.com/ukshop - includes a raft of travel services and exhibiting tourist attractions.For example, World Travel Market del-egates can purchase London Transport Oyster cards, airport transfers and train tickets from London’s four main airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.Furthermore, delegates can purchase tickets to dozens of exhibiting tourist at-tractions, sports stadiums and sightsee-ing tours. Exhibiting attractions include some of London most famous historic buildings such as: Hampton Court Palace, Tower of London, Kensington Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral.The UK’s leading sports stadiums are also selling their tours includ-ing the spiritual homes of rugby (Twickenham), tennis (Wimbledon), and football (Wembley). Leading football clubs, Manchester United (Old Trafford) and Chelsea (Stamford Bridge) are also available.Sightseeing excursions that can be purchased include tours of Lon-don, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

World Travel Market UK & Ireland Regional Account Manager Lucie Winter said: “The World Travel Market UK e-shop is a great initiative for all WTM participants as it allows them to purchase and experi-ence London and the UK’s leading tourism attractions.“The e-shop offers a convenient outlet for UK exhibitors to promote their products to visitors who are looking to add a leisure aspect to their World Travel Market business trip.”

VisitBritain eCommerce Partnerships Manager David Childs-Clarke said: “We are delighted to team up with World Travel Market to provide a bespoke e-shop offering UK exhibitors’ prod-ucts and services to the WTM participants. As well as making it easy for visitors to pre-plan their travel to WTM; it’s great to be able to extend the invitation for participants to let the shop help them make the most of their time here so that they can experience more of what London & Britain has to offer”

For further information, please contact:Mark Di-Toro, Corporate Press Officer on 020

7578 1098 or 07919 392 137

WTM launches UK exhibitors’ e-shop


INTERNATIONAL NEWSMITT Organisers Made a Decision Expected by the Market


INTERNATIONAL NEWSITE, a leading exhibition operator and the organiser of the largest spring tourist ex-hibition “MITT / Travel and Tourism”, has made a decision to terminate its participa-tion in the organisation of the autumn tour-ist project “Otdykh / Leisure” (Leisure. Select Travel Expo 2010), which was pre-viously organised jointly with MSI compa-ny at Expocentre at Krasnaya Presnya.Following the trends of the modern tour-ist market ITE has initiated cancellation of duplicating seasonal tourist projects, which has been positively accepted by all market players: major tour operators, branch associations and national tourist boards, as well as representatives of the tour agencies community.In the opinion of the company’s manage-ment, such decision will have a positive impact on the development of the tourist market in Russia. Absence of duplicating exhibition projects will allow tourist com-panies and state organisations optimizing costs of promotion of their services, and

trade visitors representing the tourist in-dustry will have a chance to get acquaint-ed with new offers for the upcoming tour-ist season at larger-scale displays. Such decision will also allow ITE, as the organiser of the spring exhibition “MITT / Travel and Tourism” to focus the efforts, experience and resources on this main tourist event in Russia and Eastern Europe and one of the five largest tourist exhibi-tions of the world.Alexander Shtalenkov, General Direc-tor of ITE, commented on the decision: “This has become a logical response to the demands of the tourist market, which has been developing during the past sev-eral years. In accordance with the inter-ests of the tourist community, we are glad to propose the initiative of cancelation of duplicating events. I am confident that restoration of status quo in running only one major exhibition per season will be positively accepted by the market players and will provide them with an opportunity

to present their tourist products in spring and in autumn in the most efficient way at one exhibition. The 18th International exhibition “Travel and Tourism/MITT” will traditionally take place from 16 to 19 March 2011 at the Ex-pocentre at Krasnaya Presnya. MITT is the largest tourist exhibition in Russia bring-ing together more than 3000 companies from 120 countries and regions annually. In 2010, the exhibition was attended by 79500 people.In addition to MITT event in Moscow, the exhibition portfolio of ITE, one of the larg-est exhibition operators worldwide, com-prises the following tourist shows: Toursib (Novosibirsk), UITT (Kiev), EMITT (Istan-bul), KITF (Almaty), AITF (Baku) and oth-ers.Travel and Tourism Department, ITET: +7 (495) 935-8137; 935-7350F: + 7 (495) 935-7351E: [email protected]


INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Egypt - where it all begins - as the part-ner country, Egypt will feature very strongly at ITB Berlin in 2012. The agree-ment between the leading trade fair for the worldwide travel industry and its part-

ner country, Egypt, was officially signed on 1 July 2010 by the Egyptian Tourist Au-thority and ITB Berlin.“As an all-year-round destination Egypt occupies a firm place in world-wide tour-ism”, says managing director Tamer Mar-zouk. “The ITB Berlin provides the ideal platform for presenting Egypt on the Ger-man market and on international markets as a holiday destination with a wide choice of tourism attractions, and for continuing to develop our top position as one of the most popular holiday destinations. Egypt is also becoming more firmly established as a MICE destination, another sector in which the ITB Berlin provides the ideal setting in which to strengthen contacts with representatives of the international meetings and events industry.”Egypt’s increased presence at ITB Berlin 2011 gives a clear indication: the land of the Pharaohs is for the first time present-ing its current tourism potential in its en-tirety in a single hall. Egypt’s move from Hall 21 b to Hall 23 b is also accompanied by a three-fold increase in the size of its display area. At the next ITB Berlin interna-tional trade visitors and the general public will be able to find out more about Egypt’s attractions as a travel destination on an area of 1,960 square metres, compared with the previous stand area of “only” 588 square metres. This makes the land of the Pyramids one of the largest exhibitors at the world’s leading travel trade show.

Egypt: Official partner country of ITB Berlin 2012


David Ruetz, Senior Manager, ITB Berlin: “Egypt is one of the world’s oldest travel destinations and nowadays it combines modernity and tradition. A culture that goes back thousands of years, exciting desert areas, the Nile and endless beach-es make this country one of the world’s most attractive holiday destinations. Egypt’s tourism industry continues to de-velop and, among the destinations pre-ferred by German travellers, it is one of the countries reporting the highest growth rates. Its diversity of tourism attractions ranges from high quality hotels in every price range to excellent value for money offers in areas such as golf, diving, des-ert tours, health tourism and wellness, as well as cultural trips and city tours.”Being the partner country, Egypt will be organiz-ing the opening ceremonies of ITB Berlin 2012 on 6 March 2012 at the International Congress Center (ICC) Berlin, and will also be presenting various cultural events and culinary delights during the fair.Information about Egypt: www.egypt.travel

About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Con-ventionITB Berlin 2011 will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, 9 to 13 March. From the Wednesday to the Friday ITB Berlin is open to trade visitors only. The ITB Berlin Convention is held parallel with the trade fair, from Wednesday to Friday, 9 to 11 March 2011. It is the world’s larg-est specialist convention for the industry. Check out www.itb-convention.com for a wealth of information about the conven-tion. ITB Berlin is the leading trade fair for the worldwide travel industry. In 2010 a total of 11,127 companies and organisa-tions from 187 countries exhibited their products and services to 179,351 visitors, who included 110,953 trade visitors.

“Cooperation between Egypt and the leading trade fair for the world wide travel industry officially agreed on 1 July 2010.”



ATF 2011 TRAVEX recorded strong interest and rapid take-up rate early in its registration process. To date, exhibitors have snapped up more booths than initially expected. This 2011 ASEAN leisure travel trade event showcasing the largest contingent of ASEAN destina-tion products and services will also feature a larger show with 25% more booths space than last year.

More than 70% of the 450 avail-able booth space has already been secured by some 240 ex-hibiting companies from across the 10 ASEAN countries - Bru-nei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philip-pines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Buyer registrations

have also been overwhelming with more than 600 applications received from across the world. Only 400 of the best buyers will be selected to attend the event under a privileged hosting pro-gramme.

With regards to the buoyant in-terest for ATF 2011, Dr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism, Cambodia and Permanent Vice-Chairman of ATF 2011 Organiz-ing Committee explains, “Im-proving market optimism aside, a significant part of this year’s interest also has to do with the appeal of Cambodia as a desti-nation. International delegates are motivated to experience the country`s rich cultural, natural and historical heritage.”

Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia believes that the country will be represented at the event in a big way this 2011. More than 800 participants from across Cambodia’s tourism industry gathered for the ATF 2011 event preview at Nagaworld in Phnom Penh on 31 August 2010. The purpose of the preview was to promote, increase awareness and encourage all Cambodian tourism stakeholders to par-ticipate at the upcoming ATF 2011. The event preview was presided by His Excellency Dr. Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of ATF 2011 Organiz-ing Committee. The guest list included the country`s movers and shakers such as top govern-

ment officials from the various ministries and heads of foreign missions. A large number of ho-tel owners and general manag-ers were also present.

Host country, Kingdom of Cam-bodia, began its marketing ef-forts to tantalise the industry’s travel professionals at the last ATF 2010 closing ceremony by pulling out all stops to deliver a sumptuous and entertaining evening complete with a gastro-nomic and cultural showcase. Delegates enjoyed a sneak pre-view of what they can look for-ward to at ATF 2011 in Phnom Penh.

Scheduled from 19 to 21 Janu-ary 2011, the three-day ATF 2011 TRAVEX will be held at Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island Con-vention and Exhibition Center located along the Bassac River. Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia will host the event’s Opening and Closing Ceremony, which promises to be even more spec-tacular than its 2010 preview. Delegates will also be thrilled to network in the company of their fellow industry colleagues and wind down at the end of a business work day at not two but three late night social events organised by Nagaworld, Fair-mont/Raffles/Swissotel/TTG Asia and Pattaya City/Sofitel/TTG Asia respectively.

More information on the event’s program will be made available in the upcoming months. Regis-trations for exhibitors, buyers, and media are still open online at www.atfcambodia.com. More information on ATF 2011 can also be found at the event web-site.

ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2011 TRAVEX promises to be a sell-out event


INTERNATIONAL NEWS 27

http://caravellhotel.com/



A little over half (54%) of meetings industry specialists in the U.S. and Canada have expressed ‘cautious

optimism’ about the return of meetings and incentives market, according to a recent poll taken by the IMEX Group following its Frankfurt trade show. A further nine percent said that they are ‘very optimistic.’

The poll was conducted among 200 North American buyers and suppliers in June 2010, following the conclusion of IMEX in Frankfurt, which took place May 25-27, 2010.

The poll results are good news for the U.K. based IMEX Group, which will launch its first annual IMEX America exhibition, Octo-ber 11-13, 2011, in Las Vegas, at the Sands Expo at the Venetian/Palazzo Hotel.

Ray Bloom, Chairman of the IMEX Group comments, “We recently declared an in-crease in the hosted buyer program for IMEX America – we now expect in excess of 2000 buyers – because our partners and intermediaries have a renewed confidence in future growth. This represents an in-crease of more than 30 percent on our ini-tial launch figure. Our survey findings are also in line with other recent global and US industry reports which suggests that this new found confidence is not just about mood but about real business volumes.”

The poll also revealed that Canadian plan-ners are even more optimistic. While one in five (21%) U.S. planners doubt the meetings market is in recovery, Canadian buyers are generally convinced that already it is ‘busi-ness as usual,’ suggesting that the sector has rebounded faster because their econ-omy and financial systems were hit less severely. As one planner explained, “Our financial system was never really in too much trouble. No banks closed, and there were few or no foreclosure increases. Busi-ness demands changed slightly but did not necessarily decline.” Another shared the opinion, “In Canada we are quickly moving out of the economic downturn...our GDP is up 6.1% already. Fortunately, perception may no longer be an issue.”

In contrast, U.S. respondents acknowledge the possibility of continuing business vola-tility and that recovery may only be slow. However, their confidence is underpinned by a sense that there is pent up demand for travel. Said one organizer, “We are starting to experience a resurgence in incentive programs from our customers. Qualifica-tion levels are stronger and forecasts for 2011 are stronger than 2010.” Another com-mented, “We are seeing an increase in the number of programs for 2010 over 2009, so

that is a positive. There are encouraging small gains as well as the better reception we are receiving to our offers.”

Survey participants confirm also that their meetings and incentives tend to be short-notice, travel less far, remain value-conscious, and are simpler and more ROI-focused than those held prior to the down-turn. Some argue that the formula of ‘more for less’ - frugality and less frivolity - could prove to be the new reality for many years ahead.

About IMEX AmericaThe new trade show for the worldwide meetings, events and incentive travel in-dustry; the inaugural IMEX America will take place October 11-13, 2011 at the

Sands Expo at the Venetian/Palazzo Hotel. The show’s strategic partner and major educational provider is MPI. It is endorsed by DMAI and Site, and has an Industry Partnership with PCMA. IMEX America also has major partnerships in place with all the other leading industry associations across the world. IMEX America will offer a unique model of trade show, new to the US market. It will assure exhibitors of meeting and making business appointments on their booths with in excess of 2,000 highly quali-fied hosted buyers. The majority (80%) of these hosted buyers will come from North America, with the balance from the rest of the world. In addition thousands of addi-tional U.S. buyer attendees are expected to attend from across North America.

American buyers see positive trends in face-to-face meetings

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India’s strong online travel market is keen on eco-friendly, exploratory toursBy Raynah Coutinho

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Hotel, airfare and restaurant review site Tripadvisor en-joys an international monthly visitor ship of 35,382,000 unique visitors of which 25,00,000 are Indian. Accord-ing to Sharat Dhall, Managing Director, tripadvisor.com to tap into their information resource and understand

some of the newest trends among online travel buyers.

What is your take on online media vis-à-vis the Indian tourist?

Every part of the Indian tourist’s travel process is moving online. Tripadvisor’s popularity is proof that he plans and researches op-tions online, and posts his final experience with the product online. The social media trend has become deeply rooted prompting us to launch a new feature called TripFriends in June, in partnership with Facebook. We see a lot of sense in allowing people to view desti-nations visited by their online social circle - this enables them to procure genuine information and also builds visibility which usually leads to demand for that product.

With the huge amount of traffic on your website, what trends can you identify in the Indian market?

The eco-friendly Indian traveller has come of age – 66 percent of Indian travellers plan to stay in an eco-friendly hotel, up from 31 percent, according to a study conducted earlier in the year. Two out of three people say that staying in an eco-friendly hotel works as a feel-good factor. Also, a significant number of people would not mind paying extra to stay in an eco-friendly hotel. This is primarily because schools today stress on environmental concerns making children aware who then urge parents to follow suit. To sum it up, I think, most people would opt for a combination of both, affordability and environmental concern.

Sustainability and eco-friendliness also comes into play in activity choices. While 86 percent travellers want to go sightseeing, visit-ing a national park is also a priority. Wildlife is a new trend that has emerged from the tiger conservation awareness campaigns doing the rounds. Some also wish to engage in a hobby – this is because people want to use their vacation time effectively, to pursue what they miss out on at work. For instance, people who do not have the time to do social work are now going on ‘volunteer’ vacations where they get to work with NGOs.

Solo travel is also a rising trend because people now start work early and thus become independent early as well. The fact is that they are young, not married and do not have the obligation of pay-ing for their entire family so they can also afford to spend more. This trend is now growing at considerable speed and solo travellers are hotel. This is primarily because schools today stress on environmen-tal concerns making children aware who then urge parents to follow suit. To sum it up, I think, most people would opt for a combination of both, affordability and environmental concern. Sustainability and eco-friendliness also comes into play in activity choices. While 86 percent travellers want to go sightseeing, visiting a national park is also a priority. Wildlife is a new trend that has emerged from the tiger conservation awareness campaigns doing the rounds. Some also wish to engage in a hobby – this is because people want to use their vacation time effectively, to pursue what they miss out on at work. For instance, people who do not have the time to do social work are now going on ‘volunteer’ vacations where they get to work with NGOs. Solo travel is also a rising trend because people now start work early and thus become independent early as well. The fact is that they are young, not married and do not have the obliga-tion of paying for their entire family so they can also afford to spend more. This trend is now growing at considerable speed and solo travellers are definitely a segment to pay heed to.

Indians are also becoming increasingly exploratory. Agents would do well to keep this in mind while identifying and marketing destina-tions and holiday packages.

According to a recent tripadvisor study, 80 percent of Indians are planning more than one vacation. Which segments should agents intensify their efforts on, now that schools have started and that rev-enue avenue is closed?

In addition to families (which are likely to plan their next vacation during the winter school break), we anticipate that young working couples will plan more than one vacation. Couples with double in-come and no kids (DINKS) can be tapped at this time as they are not bound by school schedules. They are also willing to spend as they are more confident about the future, thus, travel agents should look at intensifying their efforts on this segment.

Agents should also recognise the importance of packages to un-explored destinations, especially during this time – young couples and DINKS will be keen to try out newer places because of the less crowded nature of these virgin destinations.

Also, agents should focus on weekend getaways that are within driving distance, in order to promote short, weekend breaks.

Which countries come across as popular and emerging outbound destinations at the moment?

The recent unrest in Thailand saw Indian travellers opting for Singapore Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau, giving them a boost in popularity this season. New Zealand, Turkey, Vienna, Salzburg, Hungary and Prague in Europe are also drawing numbers from the Indian market.

With Tripadvisor, brands today need to watch their backs online for negative publicity. Do you see a new integrity emerging among ho-tels in all categories?

Hotels should take negative and positive comments as consumer feedback. We encourage hotels to respond to reviews positively and honestly. Hotels should embrace the social platform that we present rather than worry about negative publicity which can be tackled ef-fectively by straight forward responses to these posts.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The sixth International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC) 2010, one of the largest travel events in Vietnam, took place in Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center (SECC) today, 30 Sep. 2010. With the theme of “Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam – 3 countries, 1 destination,” the 6th ITE HCMC 2010 offers a platform for tourism promoting agencies, tour operators and tourism service provid-ers to find partnership, promote products and open up business opportunities to connect major and potential tourism markets of the three countries. The Expo also substantially contributes to cementing the friendship ties among the countries in the region, among tourism companies as well as creating a favorable envi-ronment for tour operators to meet, discuss and promote tourism products and services to consumers.

ITE HCMC 2010


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The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is pleased to host the sixth International Travel Expo, the largest tourism event in Greater Me-kong Sub-region, on 30 September and Travel Weekly Magazine is hon-ored to be an official media partner of the expo.

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