Best Holiday Lettings

Category: Holidays

  • Korea arrivals to Guam set to hit record high

    Calendar year 2012 proved to be a record-breaking year for arrivals to Guam. The island welcomed over 1.3 million visitors, a degree not seen because the mid to late 1990s. Out of the complete arrivals last year, 182,829 came from Korea, one in all which was the millionth visitor for the year.

    “The Korean market is becoming a robust second marketplace for Guam,” Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) General Manager Karl Pangelinan said. “For the fiscal year, Korean arrivals are 45 percent up in comparison with last year. Added service from Korean Airlines and Jeju Air in addition to increased charter flights help push us towards 200,000 visitors. We’re tracking to surpass this goal, and if reached will probably be the top choice of arrivals from Korea in our history.”

    Since October of last year through May 2013, GVB’s research department has confirmed a 60% increase of seats servicing Korea and Guam. Cities flying on to Guam are the primary and second most populated cities of Seoul/Incheon and Pusan respectively. A rise in arrivals means greater economic impact and ends up in additional employment opportunities for Guam.

    “We are strengthening our reach to the Korea travel market,” Governor of Guam Eddie Baza Calvo said. “We will keep working to welcome more Korean tourists to spend their time and their travel dollars in our hotels, restaurants, boutiques, cultural sites, and shopping centers. All of this implies more jobs and better wages for folks in search of work.”

  • Johannesburg in web focus

    The ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) welcomes the success of .joburg (dotJoburg) within the initial evaluation stage of ICANN’s new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) project.

    The .joburg application was submitted by the ZA Central Registry (ZACR) alongside the dotAfrica (.africa) dotCapeTown (.capetown) and dotDurban (.durban) applications.

    The initial evaluation success of the .joburg application follows that of .durban which passed the identical evaluation phase three weeks ago.

    ICANN (The web Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers) is currently processing around 1 300 new gTLD applications. The applications are considered within the order determined by the prioritisation draw held in La on 17 December 2012. The .durban application drew position 303, and passed its initial evaluation in May 2013. Joburg drew 566 and has now just been evaluated. Cape Town with position 761 has a bit more time to attend.

    “Joburg is a city with its own unique atmosphere and is undoubtedly Africa’s leading business and monetary centre,” says Vika Mpisane, General Manager of ZADNA.

    “It’s fitting that it’s going to have its own domain name that businesses and organisations can use to convey a special association with the town. Once the Cape Town initial evaluation is finished, we’ll be on our thanks to giving our three major cities a valid platform on which to market themselves on the web,” he concludes.

  • Emirates flights boost Vietnam golf tourism

    The growing attraction of Vietnam as Asia’s most fun new golf tourism destination have been enhanced by the launch of daily Emirates flights from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City.

    The new service, which began in early June, means golf travellers from the center East and Europe can now easily access Vietnam’s world-class golf courses, especially the country’s top two layouts – Montgomerie Links and Danang Golf Club – at the Central Coast near Vietnam’s third major city of Danang.

    Jon Tomlinson, the co-ordinator of Golf Coast Vietnam – a co-operative marketing group comprising the 2 courses, a Nick Faldo-designed course attributable to open later this year and the brand new Hyatt Regency Danang – said he was delighted Emirates had begun flying into Ho Chi Minh City.

    “While Vietnam hasn’t been historically synonymous with great golf, the launch of Golf Coast Vietnam (www.golfcoastvietnam.com) and straightforward access from HCM through Danang’s new international airport has made the region a ‘must play’ golf experience in Asia.

    “Additional historic cultural experiences at Hue and Hoi An [both UNESCO World Heritage cities} and the lovely coastline of Vietnam ensures visitors will put off a really memorable experience and an awesome story of newly-discovered adventures,” he said.

    There are not up to 30 golf courses in Vietnam, but what the rustic lacks in numbers it greater than compensates in quality.

    Montgomerie Links, designed by eight times European Order of Merit winner, Colin Montgomerie and opened in 2009, was last year named on the Asia Pacific Golf Summit in Thailand as Vietnam’s best course. Its neighbour, Danang Golf Club, designed by former World No 1 and dual British OPen winner, Greg Norman, which opened in 2010, was named best new course.

    In May, US Golf Digest named Danang GC because the country’s best layout with Montgomerie Links third.

    Both courses can be found adjacent to famous My Khe Beach (dubbed China Beach after the Vietnam War), about 10 kilometres south of Danang, where numerous five-star properties including the celebrated and highly-acclaimed Hyatt Regency Danang, has been in-built the past few years.

    Laguna Lang Co, 50 kilometres north of Danang, which have been designed by six times Majors winner Sir Nick Faldo and is being built by the Banyan Tree group, is because of open on the end of this year. It’s already being touted as at the least equal to its fellow Golf Coast Vietnam member courses.

    This will give the region three world-class courses, enough in response to the International Association of Golf Tourism Operators to interest 75 percent of the 12 to fifteen million golfers who’re expected to make a global golf trip in 2012.

    Emirates’ daily flights to Ho Chi Minh come at a time when several international airlines are planning to begin flights to Vietnam.

    So far, only Vietnam Airlines, Air France/KLM and Aeroflot have direct services to Ho Chi Minh from Europe. Qatar Airways flies there through Bangkok, while Saudi Arabian Airlines, Etihad and Finnair are planning to start out direct services by the tip of 2013.

    According to Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Administration, the rustic is anticipated to receive between 34 million and 36 million passengers a year by 2015 and between 52 million and 59 million by 2019.

    “It is a superb time to glue Vietnam with the area via Dubai,” Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice-president, Passenger Sales Worldwide, said after the hot service began.

    “Dubai’s location between Vietnam and the West makes Emirates’ move a winning combination”, he added.

    Emirates’ flight EK0390 leaves Dubai at 9.15 each morning, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City at 7.35pm a similar day after a 7 hours 20 minutes journey. The return flight EK0391 leaves at 9.10pm and arrives in Dubai at 1.05am next morning (a flight time of 6 hours 55 minutes), with excellent connections to cities throughout Europe, the center East and North Africa.

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  • Cape Town Tourism new CEO appointment announced

    After an in depth and competitive recruitment process, the recent CEO of Cape Town Tourism was announced as Enver Duminy.

    The appointment was announced on the City of Cape Town’s Tourism, Events and Marketing Portfolio Committee meeting today and can take effect on August 1, 2013.

    Duminy has held the title of Tourism Services Executive Manager at Cape Town Tourism for just about four years and has played an active role in crafting Cape Town Tourism’s new three-year Marketing strategy.

    He has built firm relationships at different levels in the tourism industry; a background in an effort to form his new role and enable him in order for the organization continues to feature value to the industry.

    Says Duminy: “It’s an honor to just accept this post of CEO with humility and appreciation of the service it is going to be to the tourism industry of Cape Town. Cape Town Tourism is an agile, innovative, and passionate organization, and we shall continue to uphold these values as I take the helm. As incumbent, I plan to focus my first 100 days on setting the roadmap with the Cape Town Tourism team as to how we can deliver our agreed strategic objectives and tactical plans. My predecessor, Mariette, have been a source of inspiration and expertise, and that i wish her well in her future endeavors.”

    Current Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, commended Duminy on his appointment: “Enver was a powerful force within Cape Town Tourism, and he’s certainly able to rise to the challenge. I wish him luck and will confirm that he’s incredibly fortunate to go up a dynamic organization equivalent to Cape Town Tourism, working with an industry as passionate and committed as ours is.”

    Du Toit-Helmbold would be launching her own destination and tourism marketing agency after her exit on July 31, 2013.

    Says Chairperson of Cape Town Tourism’s Board, Sabine Lehmann, “Enver brings a good mixture of leadership, operational experience, and fervour for customer care. Mariette leaves Cape Town Tourism in a great place, with a powerful executive management team who’re acquainted with Enver and may indisputably find this handy within the transition of leadership. The Board is worked up concerning the next era for Cape Town Tourism and appears forward to building at the solid foundation and momentum achieved by the organization within the previous few years.”

    Grant Pascoe, Executive Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, confirmed that Duminy’s appointment was well received by the town of Cape Town and that he looked forward to working with him: “Tourism is a challenging yet dynamic industry that may be a significant contributor to the economy. We’re sure that Enver’s pragmatic approach and partnership-orientated style would be great assets to the industry because it weathers challenges and victories within the years yet to come.”

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  • Travel industry set for a lift

    With the united kingdom narrowly avoiding a miles feared triple dip recession, international research from communications experts, Pitney Bowes, has revealed that the travel industry is about to be the primary to prosper once the British economy finally stabilises right into a period of solid growth again.

    The study, entitled ‘Recovery Signals’, asked consumers where they’d be trying to increase their spending once the economy improves, and it showed that virtually two thirds of shoppers (60%) are planning to splash out on holidays.

    After travel, the garments retail (38%), DIY (33%), restaurant (28%) and car industries (25%) respectively are set to achieve the main from increased consumer expenditure.

    Colin Forrest, Head of promoting for UK and ROI at Pitney Bowes, said “Tightened belts have meant that professionals and families alike have needed to reduce on escaping the daily grind over the past few years, and our findings confirm that Brits have missed their holidays. This research shows that excellent news is at the horizon though, and SMEs within the travel industry should be sure their customer communication strategies are perfected now so that you can maximise revenues from this predicted increase in holiday spending.”

    Babysitters and taxi drivers are least more likely to see a rise in custom, with the survey revealing that just 3 per cent of the British population intend on increasing their spending in these areas.

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