Tourism Asia Online Magazine

Vol. 08 | No: 2. February 2012

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contents february

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FAITH TOURISM: ONE OF THE FASTEST GROW-ING INDUSTRIES

12

MALAYSIA - EGuide

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Faith tourism may seem a minor branch of the industry, yet numbers suggest it is one of the most expansive segments which have significant potential.

Partner country Egypt at ITB Berlin

14Grand opening ceremony on 6 March 2012 - numerous cultural events with typical national attrac-tions at the world’s largest travel trade show - interactive communication via Facebook and Twitter

ATF 2012 ended in high note

JANUARY

• Le Tour De Langkawi Langkawi Island

Cherating Beach, Pahang

FEBRUARY

• Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival Pasir Gudang, Johor

• National Craft Day Nationwide

PATA hosts Hub City Forum

Tourism Asia | February 2012

MARCH

• Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur

• Malaysia GP Sale Nationwide

APRIL

• Sabah Fest Sabah

Wares for sale in Batu Ferringhi29

contents february

4 Tourism Asia | February 2012

ITB Media Day: the meeting place for journalists and bloggers

16

2620 The Leading International MICE

Event In ChinaTimeless

22 AirAsia X records highest overall load factor and 45% revenue growth in 2011

Vietnam has launched a new tourism slogan, Vietnam – Timeless Charm, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

GAsia-Pacific Tourism Poised to Record 6 percent Growth for 2011Growth into the South Asia was supported by a strong performance out of Europe backed up with continued strong expansion out of China and India says PATA report

India promotes Health Tourism at the Gujarat Travel Mart

24The second edition of the Gujarat Travel Mart started with opening ceremony on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in Ahmadabad, India.

Bisikan Bayu Beach© Tourism Malaysia

CAMBODIA

CHINA

HOLYLAND TOURS

HONG KONG

INDIA

JAPAN

KENYA

MACAU

MALAYSIA

MALDIVES

MAURITIUS

PHILIPPINES

SINGAPORE

SRI LANKA

THAILAND

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED KINGDOM

U.S.A

VIETNAM

COMBO TOURS

Managing EditorGroup EditorExecutive EditorPhoto EditorArt EditorSenior CorrespondentSenior Sub EditorEditorial Team

MarketingLegal AdvisorFinancial Controller

From the editor’s desk

All communications to:Tourism AsiaGround Floor, ‘Tower House’, Convent RoadThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, IndiaPhone: +91 471 2470660, Fax: +91 471 2470660Email: [email protected]: www.tourismasiaonline.info

Regd Office:‘Sreeji Nivas’ ,Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram

For Advertisements: [email protected]

Edited and Published by:Sreekumara Menon

The news and Advertisements published herein have been collected from

various source, which are considered to be reliable. Readers are however

requested to verify the facts before making business decisions using the same.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from the

publisher. All rights reserved. Copyright 2010

7

: Sreekumara Menon

: Janeesh Jalaluddin

: Kriebel George

: Madhu Menon

: Dileep

: Subhash Ghosh

: Anish Kumar

: Anu S

: Viji V S

: Suresh Kumar S

: Adv. Preeja K S

: Abhilash S P

Representatives

: Vinod Chandana

: Gagan Sarangi

: S K Singh

: Shine G Nair

: Bhagvan Din Kumar

: Gagan Sarangi

: Balachandar

: Shinu

: Annie Chacko

: Cynthia Lim

: S K Singh

: Aneena Jacob

: Ajith Menon

: Prebuddha

: Tae

North IndiaEast IndiaWest IndiaBahrain BangaloreBhubaneshwarChennai DubaiNew DelhiPhilippinesPuneQatarSingaporeSrilanka Thailand


Indians have been known as globe trotters mainly seeking jobs or exploring avenues to do business for ages, ever since the air connectivity across the continents became a reality. But this trend has changed and has now added momentum with the Indians traveling out of their home country for pilgrimage, leisure and pleasure.

Today there is a great demand for destinations like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius and many European countries, thanks to the low cost carriers like Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific Airways. There are no official figures available as yet to gauge the volume but going by the big sharks in the trade and the visible advertising spends it is something that cannot be ignored.

NTO‘s or National Tourist Organizations of many countries have realized India’s potential and slowly making a beeline to impress the country men. Tour operators in other countries have also realized the potential business that can be generated from India and are now constantly seen making marketing calls in India.

Improved connectivity and increasing no. of middle class people with upscale incomes have lead to this sudden blast in nos. Indi-ans habit to splurge in shopping wherever they go makes our tourists a very big source market. The trend is really encouraging and this is bound to scale up more in the years to come.

Are we seeing a momentous shift in the Indian’s taste and travel patterns - the answer is a definite yes.

V.Sreekumara MenonEditor & Publisher

[email protected]+91 9447798108

India has been known for mainly inbound movement for years but slowly it is also turn-ing out to be a fabulous outbound source market. The growing demand and increasing no. of people wanting to travel outside India has shot up tremendously in the last few year.

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contents february

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JANUARY



FEBRUARY




MARCH



APRIL



Managing EditorGroup EditorExecutive EditorPhoto EditorArt EditorSenior CorrespondentSenior Sub EditorEditorial Team

MarketingLegal AdvisorFinancial Controller

From the editor’s desk

All communications to:Tourism AsiaGround Floor, ‘Tower House’, Convent RoadThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, IndiaPhone: +91 471 2470660, Fax: +91 471 2470660Email: [email protected]: www.tourismasiaonline.info

Regd Office:‘Sreeji Nivas’ ,Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram

For Advertisements: [email protected]

Edited and Published by:Sreekumara Menon

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Representatives

North IndiaEast IndiaWest IndiaBahrain BangaloreBhubaneshwarChennai DubaiNew DelhiPhilippinesPuneQatarSingaporeSrilanka Thailand


contents february

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JANUARY



FEBRUARY




MARCH



APRIL



News & Views

ATF 2012 ended in high note

Tourism Asia | February 2012 8

THE ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2012 travex featured over 1,400 delegates to the newly constructed Golden Kawanua Exhibition Hall in Manado, Indonesia from January 13-15.

Close to 1,000 exhibitors, 390 buyers and more than 100 media representatives participated in the event.

The exhibitor delegation featured some 438 booths represented by 390 compa-nies and properties across the 10 ASEAN countries. Indonesia and Thailand form the two largest national contingents with 112 and 92 exhibition booths respec-tively. Corporate exhibitors also partici-pated in a big way, contributing some 65 exhibition booths.

ATF 2012 saw buyer participation from four new countries: Bulgaria, Egypt, Kuwait and New Zealand. Forty-eight per

cent of buyers will hail from Asia-Pacific, followed by 37.6 per cent from Europe.

Meanwhile, this year ’s ASEAN Tourism Conference (ATC), themed ‘ASEAN Goes Green’, saw speakers from the industry shared the latest insights on ASEAN’s efforts towards sustainable and eco-conscious tourism.This year ’s ATF also introduced its new branding, “Southeast Asia -- Feel the Warmth,” for the first time. A four-year marketing plan was outlined at the event, and will be backed by a budget of $160,000. Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor Asia and South Pacific

Sansern Ngaorungsi said the plan was to pool common products and activities. Minister Pangestu said that preparations towards ASEAN as a single destination are showing significant development, though the “Free Visa” policy among member nations still needs to be addressed and a prompt solution is necessary. Cambodia and Myanmar have yet to confirm. The minister added that the heads of ASEAN member govern-ments had, in principle, agreed to common visas for non-ASEAN visitors and free visas for the residents of ASEAN nations. Laos will host ATF 2013 next year.


Pacific Asia Travel Association will host a PATA Hub City Forum- in Bangkok, next Monday, under the theme “2012: Navi-gating the headwinds” with tourism executives in Thailand and the Mekong Sub-region as guest speakers. The forum will be held 30 January, from 1200 to 1600 at Landmark Hotel Bang-kok. PATA says the forum will suit those who want to maximise developments in trans-portation, manpower, hospitality and capacity building, as well as discuss future trends.

The forum will open with a 20-minute presentation by Thai Airways Interna-tional president Piyasvasti Amranand, on ‘2012: Navigating the Headwinds’ followed by a 15-minute speech by Tour-ism Authority of Thailand governor Sura-phon Svestasreni on ‘Lessons learned and Challenges Ahead’. The forum organisers have invited panel-ists: • Asian Development Bank, social sector specialist, Steven Schipani• Myanmar Tourism Board, tourism consultant, Daw Kyi Kyi Aye• Khiri Travel CEO, Willem Niemeijer• Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas direc-tor, electronic distribution, Damien Pfirsch• Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, executive director, Mason Florence

News & Views

PATA hosts Hub City Forum

• Lao National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, chief technical advisor Peter Semone• LT Project Management, managing director Peter Meacock• Assumption University programme director, John Barnes

Topics are described as capacity building, development pipeline in greater Mekong sub region, manpower, and the impact of ASEAN Economic Cooperation (AEC) 2015 PATA expects 120 delegates to pay the Bt700 registration fee, which will be shared between PATA head office and the PATA chapter. Non-members pay Bt850, and Bt500 for students. In addition, a small gr0up of so-called VIP members (PATA) will be invited to a dinner hosted by PATA CEO, Martin Craigs, using his substantial expense budget. Mr Craigs is celebrating the rather obscure 101st anniversary described as the first aircraft flight to Bangkok, January 1911. He has not verified if that was for a land aircraft or sea plane.


FAITH TOURISM: ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING INDUSTRIES

News & Events

Faith tourism may seem a minor branch of the industry, yet numbers suggest it is one of the most expansive segments which have significant potential. Visiting religious sites has long been a priority for believers; no matter what religion, those truly devoted are ready to travel thousands of miles to pay homage to a place or area significant to their faith. In fact, large groups of travelers plan their religious holidays way in advance to make sure their experience is perfect.

Thus, faith-based tourism has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry, being only overcome by adventure tourism.

There are a number of key religious hotspots which attract the most faith tourists. Tourism agencies worldwide have been monitoring this developing trend and many have already launched special packages which feature many places of interest and deliver a complete deal to potential clients.

Such packages present a challenge for tour operators, considering the number of places which a themed religious tour need to include. Buddhist religion lures visitors to many Asian countries ranging from Nepal, and India to Japan, while Christians are attracted to countries in the Middle East, Europe or the Americas. Among the most popular religious desti-nations are the so-called Bible lands or places, which follow the history of Chris-tianity in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, etc. Visit-ing Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth is only the very basis of such a religious tour.

Lourdes in France is perhaps the largest pilgrimage place which annually draws millions of visitors, mainly Catholics. Yet France offers much more to faith travel-ers including the famous Parisian cathe-drals such as Chartres and Notre Dame, or the Mont St. Michel abbey that dates back to 11th century. Latin America as well as the U.S. present a variety of mission trails and those keen on Christian roots will enjoy travelling through Greece or Italy, and even Scot-land and Ireland.

Nesw & Views

In March 2012 Egypt, the partner coun-try of ITB Berlin, will have a wide-ranging programme of events to offer the international trade visitors and the general public attending the world’s largest travel trade show. During the show, which takes place from 7 to 11 March 2012, visitors to Hall 23a will be able to find out more about Egypt’s culture and history as well as tourism to this country. Among those perform-ing at the opening ceremony on Tues-day, 6 March 2012 in the International Congress Center ICC Berlin will be members of the Cairo Opera House. At the ITB Berlin Convention, the interna

tional travel industry’s leading think tank, discussion will focus on the Arab Spring and its impact on tourism.

Hisham Zaazou, Senior Assistant Min-ister of Tourism: “As the partner coun-try of ITB Berlin 2012 Egypt is highly enthusiastic and committed. This is a milestone for our tourism industry and signals continuity for our strongest branch of industry in these times of political change.“

The question as to what the future holds for the tourism industry in the Arab countries will be debated at the ITB Berlin Convention. On 7 March 2012 from 4.15 to 5.30 p.m. the topic for discussion will be “The Arab rebel-lion: an Arab Spring or tourism ice age?“. Experts on the Arab region including Prof. Dr. Volker Perthes, Humboldt-Universität Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin, director of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and Dietmar Gunz, CEO FTI Group, will put forward scenarios and provide orientation.

Egypt has been at ITB Berlin ever since the show’s launch in 1966. In 2012 it

will occupy close to 2,000 square metres of floor space in Hall 23, making it one of the largest exhibitors at the show. Visitors to the hall can experience the diversity of Egypt’s holi-day regions, including the Nile Delta, Red Sea, desert landscapes, oases and the Mediterranean coast. At a bazaar they can also purchase the country’s handicrafts, sample regional speciali-ties, or enjoy a musical foretaste of Egypt with atmospheric live music and folk presentations. Badawy, one of the country’s best known chefs, will be cooking dishes at the Brandenburg Restaurant in Hall 24.

A colourful Egyptian carnival proces-sion will be taking place in the various halls on every day of the fair. An impressive performance of traditional Tanoura dancing, which involves an artistic display of dancers’ skirts, awaits visitors to Hall 4.1. Samaa, a group of Islamic and Coptic singers, blends different religious beliefs with its sounds, expressing peace among faiths and Egypt’s uniformity as a nation. On 9 March, at 3.30 p.m., book lovers can draw inspiration from the ITB Book

Partner country Egypt at ITB BerlinGrand opening ceremony on 6 March 2012 – numerous cul-tural events with typical national attractions at the world’s largest travel trade show – interactive communication via Facebook and Twitter


Nesw & Views

Awards which will take place in the hall hosting Egypt’s displays. Travel calen-dars, travel guides and travelogues covering the country’s entire range of attractions will whet the public’s enthusiasm for Egypt. On 11 March 2012 at the closing ceremony of ITB Berlin, Egypt will put on an artistic performance with The Festival of the Delphic Games.

The ankh project is yet another of the numerous trade fair and marketing measures which this year’s partner country has launched. This ancient symbol signifying eternal life forms part of the “We are Egypt“ logo and represents Egypt’s visual signature as the partner country of ITB Berlin 2012. Visitors to Berlin will be able to see twenty different ankh sculptures by Egyptian artists throughout the city.

From 7 February to 4 March 2012 various promotional activities involving this year’s partner country await customers visiting the store of the outdoor equipment supplier Globe-trotter in Berlin-Steglitz. Competitions with prizes, videos, music and informa-tion on Egypt as well as a lecture by the travel agency DIAMIR Erlebnisreisen will bring Egypt’s magic to the German capital. Social networking sites offer numerous opportunities for those interested in finding out more about Egypt at the show or at home. Here, they can contact Egyptian internet users, chat live with people in Egypt, or exchange views via Facebook or Twitter, for example. Additional information on Egypt is available from www.egypt.travel or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AegyptenFans.

About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention

ITB Berlin 2012 will be taking place from Wednesday, 7 to Sunday, 11 March, and from Wednesday to Friday will be open to trade visitors only. Parallel with the trade show, the ITB Berlin Convention, the largest travel industry event of its kind in the world, will be held from Wednesday, 7 to Friday, 9 March 2012. Additional infor-mation is available at www.itb-convention.com. ITB Berlin is the global travel industry’s leading trade show. In 2011 a total of 11,163 compa-nies from 188 countries displayed their products and services to 170,000 visitors, who included 110,791 trade visitors.


ITB Media Day: the meeting place for journalists and bloggers

News & Events

Open press conference of ITB Berlin on 6 March 2012 – followed by

further press conferences with exhibitors – a major networking event

for bloggers

This year the media world is already gathering in Berlin from 6 March 2012. On the eve of ITB Berlin, for the first time, the world’s leading travel trade show will be devoting this day entirely to the media. Events will feature the opening press conference of ITB Berlin and further press conferences with individual exhibitors. An event welcoming bloggers from Germany and abroad, who this year will find a

large number of events and discussion rounds on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, will round off the ITB Media Day.

On 6 March at 10 a.m. the opening press conference of ITB Berlin will kick off events at the Palais am Funkturm, where the organisers of ITB Berlin will provide information on bookings and exhibitor numbers as well as trends

Organizer Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, Jaipur, India

and the challenges facing the world’s travel industry. This will be followed by a press conference with the Hungarian Tourist Board at Empore Ost which starts at 11.30 a.m. Afterwards, the Japanese Tourist Board will report on all the latest news for travellers to Japan at an event in the central area of the ground floor, starting at 1 p.m. At 2.30 p.m. ruf, a tour operator which organises accompanied travel for children, young people and young

adults, will talk about developments in the market for young travel-lers as well as the company’s thirtieth anni-versary.

Towards the end of the afternoon the focus will be on bloggers. From 5 p.m., Travel Massive @ITB Berlin will welcome bloggers from around the world at the Palais am Funkturm. At ITB Berlin the global networking initiative Travel Massive is organised by


News & Eventspocketvillage.de and sponsored by visitBerlin. Bloggers will be able to exchange views with the management of ITB Berlin and representatives of startups and tour operators in a relaxed atmosphere.

A variety of events for bloggers and anyone interested in blogging are also scheduled to take place during ITB Berlin. The New Media Summit at the eTravel World in Hall 7.1c, a special event for bloggers, will take place on Thursday, 8 March at 10.30 a.m. On Friday, 9 March at 11.30 a.m., taking as their slogan ”New kids on the blog – how destinations can succeed in the blogosphere“, tourist boards and blog-gers will be discussing in what way and to what degree travel bloggers can successfully market destinations. Taking part in the discussion will be Reine Gammoh of Visit Jordan and blogger Keith Jenkins, who have jointly realised the iAmbassador project for

Jordan. Michael Buller, chairman of Verband Internet-Reisevertrieb e.V. (VIR), will moderate the debate. During the afternoon the third ITB Media Summit will address the following issues: ”How are travel bloggers, corporate bloggers and travel technol-ogy bloggers changing the traditional media landscape?“. Dirk Rogl, deputy editor-in-chief of the business maga-zine fvw, will moderate the event. Among those taking part will be Ange-lika Schwaff, press spokeswoman of germanwings, a travel blogger and former travel journalist, and Sebastian Heinzel, CEO and corporate blogger, tripwolf.com, who will be discussing the transition from an electronic diary to a professional internet medium (Hall 7.1b, London Room, 2.45 to 4 p.m.).

This year ITB Berlin has created a special button that reads “for blog-gers“, to make finding one’s way around the show as easy as possible.

An overview of all the main events are listed at www.itb-berlin.com/Blogger.

Dr. Martin Buck, director of the Com-petence Center Travel & Logistics, is delighted that bloggers have expressed such keen interest in the travel show: ”In recent years bloggers’ interest in ITB Berlin has risen sharply. We note the industry is also very keen to strike up partnerships with bloggers and eager to make contact. ITB Berlin, the leading platform of the interna-tional travel industry, is the ideal venue for this.“


Since 2007, IT&CM China has established itself as China’s leading international Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) business, education and networking event, dedicated to “Pro-moting China to the World and the World to China”. Bringing together Chinese and International MICE exhibitors and buyers in one dynamic marketplace, IT&CM China is the platform for international and leading Chinese players in the MICE industry to explore business opportunities on all fronts – inbound, outbound and domestic. Delegates to the 3-day event receive the best return on their invest-ment in business, education and network-ing through structured business appoint-ments, exhibition showcase, seminar sessions, official networking functions and tours.


News & Views

IT&CM CHINA 2012 to be held in April

IT&CM China 2012 will be held from April 17 to 19 at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center. The 2012 theme is “Advancing MICE and Business Minds”. This is the 6th instalment of the international MICE event that seeks to “Promote China to the World and the World to China”. In 2011, the event attracted more than 2,000 delegates from 43 countries. It is the only event that features a good mix of Interna-tional and Chinese exhibitors as well as a dedicated team to deliver some 400 buyers with a 50%-50% mix of International and Chinese buyers.

The event is organised by TTG Events, a business group of TTG Asia Media, CITS Inter-national M.I.C.E – a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITS (China International Travel Service) and MP International. It has the support of the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration, Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Industries Association, Australian Society of Association Executives, Canadian Society of Association Executives, Global Business Travel Association, International Congress & Convention Association, Inter-national Association of Professional Congress Organisers, Pacific Asia Travel Associa-tion and Society of Incentive Travel Executives China.

More information is available at www.itcmchina.com.

The Leading International MICE EventIn ChinaTimeless

News & Views

AirAsia X continued its growth trajectory in the fourth quarter of 2011, carrying 0.64 million passengers, an increase of 7.3% over the same quarter in 2010, with the same aircraft fleet of 9 Airbus A330s and 2 Airbus A340s. This brings its total passengers carried in 2011 to 2.5 million (up 31.5% from 1.9 million passengers in 2010), and its highest ever full year load factor of 80.1% (up 3.6 percentage-points from 2010). This was achieved despite a challenging year with natural disasters in Christchurch and Japan, and floods in Queensland that slowed down demand on affected routes.

In terms of passenger traffic, AirAsia X grew by 12.3% to 3.6 billion Revenue-Passenger Kms (RPKs) for Q4-2011, and

finishing the full year at 14.1 billion RPKs, a 36.2% growth from 2010. Total capacity for Q4-2011 grew by 12.2% to 4.4 billion Available-Seat-Kms (ASKs), resulting in a load factor of 82%, and 17.6 billion ASKs for 2011, a 30.0% year-on-year growth.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X commented, “AirAsia X was able to achieve positive load factor growth and average fare growth at the same time, on all of its routes that it has operated for at least a full year. With both load factor and average fares growing positively, we were able to achieve a total Revenue of RM1.9 billion in 2011, a 45% growth over 2010. This demonstrates the resilience of the low-cost long-haul model, and under-pins AirAsia X’s recently announced 2012

route network strategy to focus on build-ing a stronger presence in its core markets. The plan will see AirAsia X increase our flight frequencies on exist-ing routes and look at expanding our network further across Asia Pacific.”

Cargo operations continues to be strong, with AirAsia X carrying 8,474 tonnes of freight in the fourth quarter and 35,016 tonnes for the year, registering a 31.6% growth from a year ago.

Operationally, even with its high aircraft utilisation model, AirAsia X has been able to produce industry-leading engineering reliability and capping the year with an on-time performance rate of 88% of departures within 15 minutes.

AirAsia X records highest overall load factor and 45% revenue growth in 2011



significant cost savings advantages com-pared to other countries. Medical treatment costs in India are lower by at least 60-80% when compared to similar procedures in North America and the UK. The costs in India are one- fifth of that of Singapore and half of that of Thai-land. Hosted buyers and media visited touristi-cal places of the region before the event started.

The second edition of the Gujarat Travel Mart started with opening ceremony on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in Ahmadabad, India.

There are several exhibitors from the Indian Hospital sector and the Holistic medicine industry that are marketing their products. The Indian Ministry of Tourism recently announced that India's Medical Tourism market is growing at an annual rate of 25 per cent and is expected to become a USD two-billion business segment by 2012. Last year 200,000 patients came to India for medical treatment. The Indian Ministry of Tourism also announced that US$6.5 billion is in the pipeline for the Medical Tourism industry in the country that offers medical facilities using the latest technologies and having

News & Views

India promotes Health Tourism at the Gujarat Travel Mart

Nesw & Views

GAsia-Pacific Tourism Poised to Record 6 percent Growth for 2011Preliminary results released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show a collective increase of 6% year-on-year for international arrivals into Asia/Pacific1 destinations during each of the months of October and November 2011. For the first 11 months of the year, South Asia was the star growth performer, followed by Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and the Pacific, all of which saw tourism demand improve albeit at different rates of growth. This momentum is expected to continue for the rest of the year and paves the way for an expected full-year arrivals gain of 5-6% in 2011, above the global growth figure of 4%. The overall international visitor arrivals count to the wider Asia Pacific region – which includes North America - is expected to reach around 430 million for 2011. Travel demand to South Asia was particularly strong with growth of 15% for the month of October (year-on-year), however this momentum stalled a little in November when the aggre-gate gain fell to 9%. With the exception of India, all reporting destinations within this sub-region showed outstanding results with double-digit growth during the month of Novem-ber. A number of destinations in the region set new records for monthly foreign visitor volumes including the Maldives (+22%) and Nepal (+17%) in October and Sri Lanka (+26%) in November. Growth into the sub-region

was supported by a strong perfor-mance out of Europe backed up with continued strong expansion out of China and India. Not surprisingly, this sub-region is poised to emerge as the fastest growing in the Asia/Pacific region with a full-year gain expectation of around 11%-12% for 2011. Southeast Asia recorded a relatively slower close on the year with growth of 7% and 3% in October and November 2011 respectively. A number of factors were responsible for this result, most particularly the flooding that occurred across many destinations. Thailand, although partially impacted by flood-ing - and a negative perception of the

Growth into the South Asia was supported by a strong performance out � Europe backed up with continued strong �pansion out � China and


extent of the flooding - realised a gain of 8% and a loss of 18% in foreign arrivals during October and November 2011 respectively, compared to the corresponding periods in 2010. This negative effect also continued through December but at a reduced rate. Thanks to sustained travel demand out of China in particular, many reporting destinations managed to show double-digit growth in November ranging from 43% for Vietnam, 26% for Myanmar, 20% for the Philippines to 13% for Indonesia. Overall, growth in international arrivals to Southeast Asia for calendar year 2011 is expected to be around 11%.

Bisikan Bayu Beach© Tourism Malaysia

JANUARY



Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival

Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix Colours Of 1Malaysia Penang International Boat Festival

Sabah Fest

Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Festival

Colour up your holiday in Malaysia with much joy and excitement, as there is always something to check out every month!

FEBRUARY



MARCH



• Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Putrajaya

APRIL


MAY

• Borneo Jazz Sabah

• Colours Of 1Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

JUNE

• 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival Nationwide

• Penang International Dragon Boat Festival Penang

MALAYSIA - EVENTS


Events

JULY

• Kuala Lumpur Festival Kuala Lumpur

• Rainforest World Music Festival Kuching, Sarawak

• Georgetown Festival Penang

• Putrajaya Flower and Garden Festival Putrajaya

AUGUST

• National Day Nationwide

SEPTEMBER

• Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race Kuala Lumpur

• Malaysia International Gourmet Festival Nationwide

OCTOBER

• 1Malaysia Tanglung Tourism Festival Nationwide

• Sarawak Bird Race Kuching, Sarawak

• Malaysian MotoGP Kuala Lumpur

NOVEMBER

• Monsoon Cup Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu

• Langkawi Birding and Fotofest Langkawi Island

DECEMBER

• Malaysia Year-End Sale Nationwide

• Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) Langkawi Island

Rainforest World Music Festival

Sarawak Bird Race LIMA

National Day celebrations

National Day celebrations

MALAYSIA - EVENTS


Events

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