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  • News: PATA: 2012 was a record year for Asia/Pacific tourism

    Asia and the Pacific continued as a hot spot for international tourism in 2012, attracting what’s expected to be in far more than 350 million international visitor arrivals, expanding its collective inbound count by greater than 5% and generating greater than 18 million additional foreign visits, year-on-year. It’s in keeping with preliminary results released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

    This is the third consecutive year during which foreign arrivals growth has remained positive for the region.

    Of the 40 separate destinations covered, only 5 reported contractions for the year. Most of these were relatively marginal for the region as a complete. The sole exception was China, which, with a contraction in growth of two.2%, is estimated to have lost around 3 million international arrivals (foreign and compatriot) from its 2011 total international inbound count.

    The picture is rather different for foreign arrivals to China, however (i.e., excluding compatriot arrivals). The year 2012 saw a rise of one.6% in that inbound volume, year-on-year.

    Southeast Asia was the strongest performer in 2012 in annual percentage growth terms, with a gain of 9.9% for the year. This equated to a rise of greater than 8 million additional arrivals over the former year and pushed the ASEAN aggregate international inbound count to just about 89 million.

    Within this sub-region, Myanmar had a staggering increase of virtually 52% in arrivals, while Cambodia and Lao PDR reported gains of 24% and 22% respectively. All 3 destinations created new records with Myanmar breaking the million arrivals mark (in total) for the primary time. Cambodia and Lao PDR both also broke the three million mark. They weren’t alone either as every destination inside the ASEAN region set new highs relating to international arrivals.

    After several years of sturdy double-digit growth rates, South Asia is now settling back somewhat, but still returning strong gains; 2012 for instance saw growth of 6.6% and a rise of well over half-a-million additional international arrivals. Sri Lanka, with growth of virtually 18% saw its foreign arrivals count pass the only million mark, while the Maldives fell just in need of it. India remains the titan within South Asia, however, with greater than 6.6 million arrivals and a year-on-year gain of near to 340,000 additional foreign arrivals, some 59% of the whole additional increase within the arrivals volume to the sub-region.

    Even with the contraction in total international arrivals into China, Northeast Asia still maintained a growth rate of virtually 4% for the year. It dominated the visitor increase count by receiving near 8.5 million additional international arrivals year-on-year.

    Japan turned within the strongest percentage growth with a gain of 35% for the year, a performance that saw the destination recoup the losses in visitor arrivals following the tsunami of 2011 and move again into record arrivals territory. Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, and Korea (ROK) also added to the sub-regional performance with growth increases of 20%, 16%, and 14% respectively.

    After a somewhat mediocre performance in 2011 (+0.3% growth), the Pacific bounced back strongly in 2012 to post a collective gain across eighteen destinations of 6%. This in turn equated to a rise of higher than 1.1 million additional international arrivals to the sub-region, which now collectively boasts a global inbound volume tantalizingly on the brink of 20 million.

    The Northern Marianas (+17.4%), Vanuatu (15.1%), and Guam (+12.8%) reported the strongest percentage gains, while Hawaii, Australia, and Guam posted the best gains in more arrivals for the year.

    Across the Asia/Pacific region, preliminary figures suggest that the pinnacle 5 destinations, by growth in international visitor arrivals, were: Myanmar, Japan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Chinese Taipei; each had a year-on-year increase of 20% or better.

    In volume terms, there have been 6 particularly significant outcomes with Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Korea (ROK), and Chinese Taipei each securing in way over a million additional arrivals in 2012; the SAR of Hong Kong saw 6.7 million additional international arrivals.

    Martin J. Craigs, CEO of PATA, said: “Asia and the Pacific continues so as to add substantially to the worldwide international arrivals count. We predict that to continue for a while yet. The players shift and alter, after all, and we are able to expect some movement relating to generating and receiving markets. But around the region we predict substantial gains in both the quantity and the worth of those movements for it slow yet.”

    The PATA CEO added: “How we measure and determine the impacts of this growth in traffic is becoming more important, however. For this reason PATA is operating to advertise the idea of the entire Visitor Economy throughout its membership and around the wider industry.”

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  • International visitors spend $14.4 billion in January 2013

    Spending by international visitors to the usa in January 2013 outpaced January 2012 levels by nearly 11 percent, in accordance with data recently released by the International Trade Administration (ITA). International visitors spent an estimated $14.4 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the us in the course of the month.

    “Record-setting growth within the travel and tourism industry continues to contribute to the strength of our nation’s economy,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez. “International travel and tourism represents our country’s largest services export, and in 2012, record spending inside the United states of america by international travelers contributed to $2.2 trillion in overall U.S. exports – the top level in our country’s history. But there’s more work to do. For this reason we’re working everyday to implement the National Travel and Tourism Solution to attract more visitors to our shores and support the nearly eight million Americans employed on this critical industry.”

    Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling within the U.s.a. totaled $10.9 billion during January, a rise of greater than 10 percent compared to last year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation within the Country, and other items incidental to foreign travel. Fares received by U.S. carriers (and U.S. vessel operators) from international visitors also increased by greater than 11 percent to $3.5 billion for the month, a rise of $355 million when put next to January 2012. Overall, the usa enjoyed a positive balance of trade for the month of January within the travel and tourism sector, with a surplus of $4.6 billion.

    The January international travel and tourism spending data builds at the strong report recently released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of commercial Analysis (BEA), which showed that for, employment inside the travel and tourism industries increased 2.2 percent in 2012 after increasing 1.8 percent in 2011. Overall, tourism and tourism-related industries supported 7.7 million jobs in 2012, a rise of two.1 percent when put next to the former year. About 5.5 million (71 percent) of those positions were direct tourism jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services sold on to visitors — while 2.2 million (29 percent) were indirect tourism-related jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services used to supply what visitors purchase.

    Increasing U.S. travel and tourism can not come on the expense of national security. The President’s plan for commonsense immigration reform incorporates a selection of proposals to support his commitment to increasing U.S. travel and tourism while maintaining our nation’s security. Specifically, the President’s immigration proposal reforms the Visa Waiver Program to bolster law enforcement cooperation while facilitating more efficient trade and tourism to the us, securely streamlines visa and foreign visitor processing, facilitates public-private partnerships aimed toward increasing investment in foreign visitor processing, and strengthens and improves infrastructure at ports of entry.

  • Florida – A Holiday Suited for the Whole Family

    Florida can often be labelled a ‘magical place’ and not just because it is home to Disney land; there are plenty of attractions that the whole family can enjoy.

    Children are obviously going to have Disney World at the top of their list, but there is also the Harry Potter theme park, Sea World, and Universal Studios among others. These attractions obviously don’t come cheap, but if you have a lot of time to spend, and you’ve saved up enough money, they can be ideal attractions for the children.

    It is important that adults have something to do too, and the beautiful beaches in Florida as well as the Miami city life, make for perfect areas to relax and explore. To go on adventures like no other, there are also plenty of wildlife parks to choose from.

    For the more sophisticated travellers, there is also a wide range of art galleries, exhibitions and museums, while nightclubs are provided for the younger groups (who aren’t too young). Florida is a city that can quite literally cater for all types of people, so for if your family is stuck on choosing a destination, choose Florida, it certainly won’t let you down.

  • New leadership for Dusit in Middle East

    Leading Asian hospitality group Dusit International has appointed Thierry Douin as its regional vice chairman for the center East & Africa.

    Douin will act because the figurehead for Dusit International within the region, overseeing the company’s expansion efforts, driving operational performance and supervising the outlet of recent hotels from his base within the Dubai Regional Office.

    A passionate and experienced hotelier, Douin have been inside the industry for greater than 35 years.

    He has managed luxury hotels in lots of parts of the arena, including in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, Jakarta and Caracas for numerous groups, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and most recently, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts.

    Douin, a French national, is a graduate of the Hotel & Catering School in Granville, France and is an authorized Hotel Administrator and licensed Food and Beverage Executive with the yankee Hotel and Motel Association.

    Over the process his career, he has attended various executive programs together with the posh Brand Management Program at ESSEC Business School, the Asian International Executive Program at INSEAD Business School and the final Manager’s Program on the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University.

    “This is an exhilarating and demanding time to enroll in the corporate, whilst it’s all in favour of expansion and growth,” said Douin on his appointment.

    “I hope my experience will strengthen the team and that i watch for capitalising at the great legacy of the Dusit brand within the MEA region, where it’s been in operation for greater than a decade.”

  • News: Royal Caribbean increases UK ports of call in 2014

    British guests can be spoilt for choice with the scoop that three recently revitalised Royal Caribbean International ships will set sail from the united kingdom throughout the summer of 2014. With a number of popular itineraries the 2014 European sailings could be open for booking from 20 March 2013.

    The cruise line’s extensive ship investment programme has seen over $300 million spent on enhancing the facilities and guest experiences onboard ships around the fleet – and Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas will sail from UK shores next summer.

    Both Independence of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas will share the Port of Southampton for his or her second consecutive seasons from May 2014 until late October 2014. Sister-ship Brilliance of the Seas will return to her home port of Harwich after a debut season in summer 2013.

    Jo Rzymowska, associate vp and general manager, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises – UK and Ireland, commented:
    “We are delighted to announce our 2014 sailings from Southampton and Harwich on our newly revitalised ships. Our guests can continue to enjoy our innovative facilities and activities onboard including mountain climbing, ice skating and surfing, plus our great entertainment. We wish to continue to provide our guests unforgettable experiences which could only be found on Royal Caribbean International.”

    The 3,634-guest Independence of the Seas, based in Southampton since 2008, continues to receive rave reviews from UK holidaymakers, most recently within the 2013 Cruise Critic UK Cruisers’ Choice Awards, where it was honoured within the best food, entertainment, families, fitness and repair categories.

    Independence of the Seas will feature quite a number itineraries in 2014, including shorter sailings corresponding to a 3-night and 4-night cruise to Le Havre for Paris, and Zeebrugge for Bruges. Independence of the Seas will even showcase a six night cruise to France and Spain, an eight-night cruise to Norway, various 14-night Mediterranean cruises, plus 11 and 12-night Canary Islands cruises.

    From May 2014, Adventure of the Seas from Southampton will return to a sequence of 7 to 16 night cruises round the Mediterranean and northerly Europe, plus shorter sailings, including a four-night trip to Belgium and France.

    Brilliance of the Seas, sailing from Harwich, will visit Northern Europe on 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland cruises and the Baltic Sea on 12-night Scandinavia & Russia cruises.

    To promote the 2014 UK deployment, Royal Caribbean International will launch a brand new European and Mediterranean brochure, featuring popular Spanish / Italian, Mediterranean and Canary Island breaks. The recent brochure, full of cruise options for summer 2014, is split into sections devoted to different holiday choices akin to mini cruises, traditional 14-night summer holidays, Mediterranean and northerly European itineraries. Agents may even find pages for brief cruise options designed for first time cruisers to sample at-sea holidays.

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