Ethiopian Airlines to Resume Flights to Asmara

Ethiopian Airlines says will resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) – 10 July 2018 – July 10, 2018 (travelindex) – Ethiopian Airlines, the largest Aviation Group in Africa and SKYTRAX certified Four Star Global Airline, is pleased to announce that it has finalized preparations to resume daily flights to Asmara, Eritrea on 17 July 2018 with the most technologically advanced commercial aircraft, the Boeing 787. This follows agreements reached in Asmara between H.E. Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and President H.E. Isaias Afewerki of the State of Eritrea.

The flights will be operated on a daily basis leaving Addis Ababa at 9:00 and the returning flight leaving Asmara at 11:00. For mor

Regarding the resumption of flights to Eritrea’s capital, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam said:

“We at Ethiopian feel an immense honor and joy to resume scheduled flights to Asmara after 20 years, following the visit to Eritrea by H.E. Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. With the opening of a new chapter of peace and friendship between the two sisterly countries, we look forward to starting flights to Asmara with the B787, the most technologically advanced commercial aircraft, which gives customers unparalleled on-board comfort.

The resumption of air links will play a critical role in boosting the overall political, economic, trade and people-to-people ties between the two sisterly countries.

Thanks to Ethiopian extensive network of more than 114 international destinations in 5 continents, our flights to Asmara will avail best connectivity options to the vast Eritrean Diaspora Community across the world and will boost the flow of investment, trade and tourism into Eritrea.

Very quickly, we plan to operate multiple daily service and to start cargo flights in view of the huge market potential between the two sisterly countries.”

Asmara is the capital and the largest city of Eritrea and is situated in Eritrea’s central Maekel Region. It is home to the Eritrean National Museum and is known for its early 20th-century buildings including the Art Deco Cinema Impero, one of the world’s finest examples of Art Déco style building, Cubist Africa Pension, eclectic Orthodox Cathedral and former Opera House, the futurist Fiat Tagliero Building, the neo-Romanesque Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, neoclassical Governor’s Palace and much more.

About Ethiopian
Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its seventy plus years of operation, Ethiopian has become one of the continent’s leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success.

Ethiopian commands the lion’s share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 110 international passenger and cargo destinations across five continents. Ethiopian fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as Airbus A350, Boeing 787-8, Boeing 787-9, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200 Freighter, Bombardier Q-400 double cabin with an average fleet age of five years. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft.

Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with eight business centers: Ethiopian Regional Services; Ethiopian International Services; Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services; Ethiopian MRO Services; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering; Ethiopian Ground Services and Ethiopian Airports Services. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the past seven years.

For more information about this press releas about this press releas about this press releas about this press releas, please contact:
Mrs. Aniley Eshetu
A/Manager Corporate Communications, Ethiopian Airlines
Tel 🙁 251-1)517-89-07/656/165/913/529
CorporateCommunication@ethiopianairlines.com
www.ethiopianairlines.com

Discover Asia with Best Western, Stay Two Nights and Get One Free

Discover Asia with Best Western, Stay Two Nights and Get One Free

Bangkok (Thailand) – July 9, 2018 (travelindex) – Best Western Hotels and Resorts is offering a tempting promotion in Asia. Guests who book two consecutive nights at participating hotels in Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia can now get a third night completely FREE!*

From the beaches of Bali to the bright lights of Bangkok, the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the temples of Yangon, Best Western has the perfect hotel for travelers’ next Asian discovery, making it easy for them to plan their next adventure today! The Discover Asia promotion is valid for bookings made online via the Best Western website.

This offer runs from now until 31 December 2018.

For more information and reservations, please visit www.bestwesternhotelasia.com/offers/promotions/discover-asia

Additional benefits include:
– Best available rate guarantee.
– Automatic points for Best Western Rewards® members.
– Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi.
*Terms and conditions apply

About Best Western Hotels & Resorts:
Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,200* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers 11 hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: Best Western®, Best Western Plus®, Best Western Premier®, Vīb®, GLō®, Executive Residency by Best Western®, BW Premier Collection® by Best Western, and BW Signature Collection® by Best Western; as well as its recently launched franchise offerings: SureStay® Hotel by Best Western, SureStay Plus® Hotel by Best Western and SureStay Collection® by Best Western. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including 66 percent of the brand’s North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award in 2018, Business Travel News® ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western number one in upper-mid-price and mid-price hotel brands, and Fast Company honoring Best Western Hotels & Resorts with a spot in the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality category. Best Western has also won nine consecutive AAA®/CAA® Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brand’s commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAA/CAA’s nearly 58 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Best Western-branded hotels were top ranked in J.D. Power’s 2017 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study – ranking first in breakfast (food and beverage category) for midscale; and second in overall guest satisfaction. Over 35 million travelers are members of the brand’s award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards®, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western-branded hotel worldwide. Best Western’s partnerships with AAA/CAA and Google® Street View provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels.
* All Best Western and SureStay-branded hotels are independently owned and operated.
* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

Contact information:
Marketing Communications Department
Best Western Hotels and Resorts – Asia
Tel: +66 2 656 1260
Sirimanas Maungrod
Email: sirimanas.maungrod@bestwestern.com
Orapan Sornnuwat
Email: orapan.sornnuwat@bestwestern.com

Survival Guide for the Age of Exponentials

Survival Guide for the Age of Exponentials

Bangkok (Thailand) – July 4, 2018 (travelindex.com) – “We can no longer judge future performance from the past experiences,” Jeffrey Rogers, Director of Singularity University’s Faculty Development, announced on the first day of SingularityU Thailand Summit. The statement went against everything we knew – of action and repercussion, of causality, of the way the world operates. After two days of intense discussions and talks, we learned that the statement was only the beginning.

To say the world is moving at a fast pace is perhaps an understatement. “Our brains are not wired to perceive the change of pace in the world right now,” said Peter Diamondis, Singularity University’s Co-founder and Chairman, “It leads to conflict, because the story we see is no longer a linear narrative”. To guide everyone through the new era, here are the six things industry leaders, inventors, economists, and scientists told us at the SingularityU Thailand Summit 2018.

1. Moore’s law, demonetization, and other ways we democratize technology
From the birth of the internet to the commercialised DNA sequencing, technology has been grabbing us at the faster and cheaper rate. The often-cited Moore’s law has been widely interpreted to explain the phenomena; the more people using the technology, the cheaper the technology will get.

“The future of AI is the future of democratization where everyone has a super powerful AI in our pockets” said Ramez Naam of Singularity University’s Energy and Environmental Systems Faculty.

2. Innovation ≠ Disruption: the top two buzzwords you got wrong
If you have been reading any articles that involve technology, business, or industry, you cannot escape the buzzwords of the hour; Innovation and Disruption. For many, the two is used almost interchangeably, and for the most part, it almost makes sense; when you create an innovation, you cause disruption, and vice versa. However, as Bohdanna Kesala, Fine Arts artist and Director of Singularity University’s International Summits, would tell you, the two words are a world apart.

“Innovation means doing the same thing but a little bit better,” She said, referencing the famous artists contemporary to Van Gogh, “Disruption means doing something that makes the old thing obsolete”

The definitions rang true in other observations. In his “Spice and Ice” talk, David Roberts of Singularity University’s Faculty of Innovation and Disruption used an example of Fredic Tudor’s Sawdust-insulated ship as an innovation that allowed ice to be shipped to a long distance, while the fall of spice trade with the emergence of ice trade as the disruption, as ice became the preferred method for food preservation.

3. You’ll never see it coming
“The most disruptive companies never disrupt the space they’re currently in,” said Naam,
“They usually disrupt somebody else’s space”

One of the most cited examples had been the case of Apple, the computer company that disrupted the music industry. With the introduction of iPod and iTunes service, Apple disrupted the way we listened to music – from Sony’s then-revolutionary Walkman that can play tape or CD on the go, to iPod that can hold hundreds of mp3 songs in a smaller player. The new way of buying music per song also partly led to the new era of music streaming – something Steven Johnson , a media theorist called “The adjacent possible”, referring to “a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself”

4. AI is not killing jobs, consensus is
In talks of technology and its exponential advancement, one of the questions that inevitably came up at the table is this; will AI take all our jobs? While the answer from the futurists may not surprise you, one of their reasons will – your job is already killing itself, or rather, the bureaucracy in which the job system inhabits is.

In the more deliberate sense, it is more about acquiring consensus that is rendering your job obsolete. “If you want to stop an innovation, create a committee around it,” said Naam. This was not the case of the new economy either, as Naam compared between China and Europe in the ancient time, with China as a highly-organized bureaucratic society, and Europe as an eclectic clutter of cultures. From the disarray of ideas, Europe came through with the cultivating, crossing, and combining of doctrines and was able to develop quick cycles of experimentations, and emerged successful centuries after.

In the new economy, autonomy has been the key focus in the work culture, especially in the areas where creativity is needed. Providing autonomy and safe space to experiment has become the pivot of many new company models to foster new innovation, and consequently, increasing the chance to survive.

5. No tech is an island: Compounded technologies and network effects
While autonomy is needed in the process of nurturing innovation, cross-breeding between different fields of technologies is obligatory for meaningful disruption. Roberts gave a simple example, “It used to be that you put electricity to a thing and it becomes an innovation,” he said, referencing products from electric razor, to electric cars, “Now, it’s AI”

While that may be true, with AI merging into various aspects of human-facing technologies, from Tesla’s machine-learning cars, to smart assistants, AI is not all there is. Dr. Daniel Kraft, Singularity University’s Chair of Medicine and Neuroscience, showed an example of artificial heart muscle that simulates the pumping of blood at a natural place, produced in collaboration of doctors, material manufacturers, and 3D printing technology – an example of a union that could put forward the development of human’s well-being and society.

At the same time, for commercialized technology, network effects played the decisive factor to the fate of the business. Naam cited the likes of Uber and AirBnB as the successful use cases of the effect, “You can copy the app, but not the network of its users”

6. Technology is at its worst right now
We’re living in the best of time, and we’re living in the worst of time. Because, as inventors agreed, the technology, even the best and most advanced form of it that we are using right now, will be its worst version.

“Disruption often arrives worse than what’s existing,” said Roberts, “It’s when people aren’t looking, that it begins to grow”

About Singularity U Summits
SingularityU Summits are two-day conferences held around the world to help local leaders understand how exponential technologies can be used to create positive change and economic growth in their region. Summits become an annual point of contact and inspiration for the local community, a catalyst to accelerate a local culture of innovation, and an opportunity to highlight breakthrough technologies, startups and ideas. SingularityU Summits are attended by the general public, government officials, entrepreneurs, investors, NGOs, impact partners, and educators, and may include educational tracks for government and youth.

About Singularity University
Singularity University (“SU”) is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build an abundant future for all.

Our collaborative platform empowers individuals and organizations to learn, connect, and innovate breakthrough solutions using accelerating technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital biology. Our offerings include educational programs, conferences, innovation workshops, corporate and startup accelerators, social impact programs and online news and content.

Our global community spans more than 110 countries, and includes entrepreneurs, corporations, development organizations, governments, investors and academic institutions. With more than 370 impact initiatives, the SU community is driving positive change in the areas of health, environment, security, education, energy, food, prosperity, water, space, disaster resilience, shelter and governance.

A certified benefit corporation, SU was founded in 2008 by renowned innovators Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, and is partnered with leading organizations such as Google, Deloitte, Genentech, and UNICEF. SU is headquartered at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley.

About Exponential Social Enterprise Co., Ltd.
The SingularityU Thailand Summit is brought to Bangkok, Thailand, by Exponential Social Enterprise Co., Ltd. Exponential Social Enterprise Co., Ltd. is an organization aiming to push forward Thailand’s potential for growth beyond existing economic models and social development. We want to share our experiences and arrange seminars to prepare for exponential change that will affect all sectors, including business industry, society and the community.

Digi.Travel 3rd Conference & Expo, a Huge Success

Digi.Travel 3rd Conference & Expo, a Huge Success

Bangkok (Thailand) – July 3, 2018 (travelindex.com) – On June 20, 2018, we met at the splendid Landmark Bangkok Hotel to discuss the hottest topics concerning everything digital in the travel industry and get in some quality networking.

From dawn till dusk, our speakers and panelists shared the newest insights in areas such as smart technologies and destinations, cross-border digital transactions, how disruption drives innovation and much more.

“Once more, everyone did their part and brought valuable information to the table. The spirit of sharing and collaboration we experienced at the Digi.travel conference this year was amazing, and we are more than looking forward to continuing our great work next year,” says Theodore Koumelis, Co-Founder of Travel Media Applications and owner of the Digi.travel World Events.

We take this moment to thank everyone who attended the event and made it fun, entertaining and informative. We thank our sponsors, Equnix Business Solutions, PT WebConnection.Asia, Move Ahead Media, Paypal Thailand Limited, Active Lifestyle Group, IFree Group East Malaysia and Compass Edge.

Of course, we also thank our Digi.travel Leaders 12Go Asia, Sure2Trips, Thai Airways and Jones Lang Lasalle as well as our official partners Midas PR Group, Asia Media News and David Barrett for their dedication and hard work!

Finally, another big ‘thank you’ goes to our session producers from the Pacific Asia Travel Association, HSMAI Asia Pacific and our Chairperson, Dr. Jutamas Jan Wisansing. Your contribution made this conference amazing!

“The quality of content shared at the event was outstanding. So were the attendees and management. Joining Digi.travel was a great way to share information we’ve gained at our company and in return hear our audience’s feedback as well as other panelist’s findings and opinions. All in all, everything was great, and I am already looking forward to the next Digi.travel event,” explains Michael Waitze, one of this year’s speakers.

Missed this year’s event? Don’t worry, we’ll be back next year, 19th June 2019, with another round of the Digi.travel Conference and Expo!

“The 3rd Digi.travel Conference and Expo was another wonderful event where everyone learned so much about the countless new digital trends in the travel and tourism industry. I am delighted to have been part of this conference and am looking forward to reconnecting with our community next year when it goes into its fourth round,” says Dr. Jutamas Jan Wisansing, Chairperson of the conference and the PATA Thailand Chapter.

Record International Tourist Arrivals for Mekong Countries

Record International Tourist Arrivals for Mekong Countries

Nakhon Phanom (Thailand) – July 8, 2018 (travelindex.com) – Year after year, the Greater Mekong Sub-region is attracting more travellers. 2017 was no exception with record numbers registered for the members of the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Total international visitors arrivals reached last year 61.2 million (excluding Chinese Provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan). This represented a jump of 11.7% over 2016. In 2016, total international arrivals to the GMS passed for the first time the 50-million mark to reach 54.76 million visitors.

Guangxi and Yunnan recorded some 9.5 million overseas visits in 2017 and if visitors from Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taipei included into the total, the number of “international” visits topped 18.77 million last year. Yunnan has the largest share of recorded foreign visits at 6.68 million last year, up by 11.2%. Guangxi did not release to date the total number of foreign visits.

– Thailand
Thailand continues to have the largest market share of all international arrivals in the region. The Kingdom welcomed in 2017 close to 35.5 million visitors, a jump of 8.6% over 2016. Thailand market share shrunk slightly from 59.5% to 57.8% of all arrivals, a slight decrease due to the strong rise in international arrivals from Vietnam. Thailand retains however its lead and has the ambition to accommodate over 40 million travellers by the end of the decade. An ambitious program of upgrading airports and improve rail connectivity should help bringing more travellers to the Kingdom.

– Vietnam
Vietnam is consolidating its position as the GMS second largest inbound destination for international travellers. Total visitors arrivals reached last year 12.9 million, a jump of 29.1% over year 2016. This is due to a huge rise in total arrivals from China (+48.5%) but also to a more open visa policy from the government and, last but not least, to an increase in air connectivity. Many new international routes started from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang but also from secondary destinations such as Dalat, Haiphong, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

– Cambodia
Cambodia is now the third largest inbound market of all GMS countries with over 5.6 million international visitors in 2017, a growth of almost 12% over 2016. Cambodia is targeting 7.5 million travellers by the end of the decade. While main destinations remain Siem Reap/ Angkor and Phnom Penh, new resorts along the Gulf of Siam are increasingly positioning Cambodia into a seaside destination with more international flights landing in Sihanoukville.

– Lao PDR
Lao PDR recorded last year a decline of 8.7% in total visitors’ arrivals, the equivalent of 3.87 million international travellers. The hosting of Visit Laos Year 2018 should invert the trend and let Laos seeing more visitors coming during the year. More flights connect these days Vientiane and Luang Prabang while by 2022, the country’s first high speed train connecting Vientiane to Kunming via Luang Prabang should boost arrivals, mostly from China.

– Myanmar
Myanmar managed to revert last year the decline in tourist arrivals experienced in 2016. Total international visitors’ arrivals grew by 18.4% allowing the country to pass again the 3- million mark. Yangon, the country’s largest international gateway saw arrivals growing by over 6%. Simplified visa formalities with the introduction of an e-visa for tourists should have a positive effect this year. The upgrading of Bagan and Inlay Lake airports to allow them to receive regional flights will certainly help boosting international arrivals in the years to come. China inbound gaining importance

The excellent performance of GMS countries is mostly due to the dynamic of the Chinese holiday market. Except for Lao PDR and Myanmar, China is now the number one inbound market in the region, generating alone 25.8% of all arrivals to the GMS in 2017.

Chinese travellers to Thailand is slowly approaching the 10-million mark (9.81 million in 2017, up 12% and a market share of 27.7% of all arrivals).
In Vietnam, Chinese arrivals jumped by 48% last year to reach 4.01 million, representing a market share of 31% of all arrivals to the country. Cambodia received 1.21 million Chinese travellers last year, although a jump of 45% over 2016. Chinese visitors represent now 21.6% of all arrivals.

While total visitors to Laos declined last year, China continued to grow. Total arrivals jumped by 17% equivalent to 639,000 visitors. China was actually the only large inbound source market for Laos to experience growth last year and representing 16.5% of all arrivals. Myanmar saw last year Chinese arrivals growing by 15.6% to pass for the first time the 200,000-visitors mark. China market share remains relatively small as it represents only 15.6% of all arrivals at international gateways (excluding one-day visitors’ movements at land borders).

Alain St.Ange on Tourism Consultancy Missions in four African States

Alain St.Ange on Tourism Consultancy Missions in four African States

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) – July 6, 2018 (travelindex.com) – Alain St.Ange of has embarked on a working mission that will take him in June and July to four mainland African Countries working alongside Tourism Ministries and their Promotional Boards, Private Sector Organisations and other tourism related bodies. He started his five country mission this week in Addis in Ethiopia and is set to also be in the DRC, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa in the coming weeks.

In Addis among his different meetings he completed on Wednesday a successful working session with a group of Private Sector entrepreneurs who had come together to ensure their businesses remain relevant in Ethiopia’s Tourism Industry. “We discussed their visibility and how to increase it to ensure relevance. We discussed key USPs and the need to use their destination’s strengths in their own drive” said St.Ange in Addis.

Alain St.Ange is the successful and popular former Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine of the Seychelles who launched his own tourism “Saint Ange Consultancy” a year ago after missing out on the position of Secretary General at the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) when Seychelles under pressure of the African Union (AU) withdrew the island’s candidature. He is now a sought after speaker at tourism conferences and is also responsible for the weekly “Saint Ange Tourism Report” that is reposted on most of the important tourism news wire right across the world.

Alain St.Ange was First President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands and is today the President of the Seychelles Labor Union (SLU), Deputy Secretary General of FORSEAA (Forum of Small Medium Economic AFRICA ASEAN) based in Jakarta Indonesia, listed as a Consultant for TMN (Travel Marketing Network) in New York USA, Co-Chair of the SUNx (Strong Universal Network) Organisation in London UK, Vice President & Founding Member of ICTP (International Coalition of Tourism Partners) and a Member of the Advisory Board of the non-profit organisation “Helping Needy Welfare Society of India” .

Alain St.Ange studied Hotel Management in Germany and Tourism Administration in France. He has been involved in the industry’s private sector trade in hotels and restaurants in Germany, the Channel Islands, Australia and in the Seychelles before joining the Tourism Board of Seychelles as Marketing Director before being promoted to the position of CEO.

Five Million Visitors Injects US$1.67bn Into Mekong Economies

Five Million Visitors Injects US$1.67bn Into Mekong Economies

Nakhon Phanom (Thailand) – July 5, 2018 (travelindex.com) – ​Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, today announces new data that shows how Airbnb is supporting healthy tourism in the Greater Mekong region.

At the inaugural Mekong Tourism Forum 2018 in Nakhon Phanom, Mich Goh, Airbnb’s Head of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, shared that Airbnb welcomed 5 million inbound guest
arrivals​ in 2017 to the Greater Mekong region, namely Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand, and Vietnam. This marks a significant 147% growth year-over-year (yoy)​.

These guests contributed a total of US$1.67 billion in economic activity​, benefiting hundreds of thousands of hospitality entrepreneurs and local businesses across the Greater Mekong region.

In turn, the Greater Mekong region accounts for a significant number of Airbnb users. More than 7 million travellers​ from the region traveled with Airbnb to other destinations, creating offline connections across borders and cultures.

Additional findings include:
On intra-Greater Mekong travel
– More than 60,000 ​guests on Airbnb traveled consecutively to two or more countries
within the region in 2017.
– Of these travelers, almost 50% ​of them ​began their intra-region trips in Thailand​.
– Topping the list of most popular travel chains (​ i.e. chain of Mekong countries that
guests on Airbnb travel to consecutively) is Thailand-Vietnam,​ and vice versa. This is
followed closely by Thailand-Cambodia​, Vietnam-Cambodia​ and Thailand-China​.

On country and region-specific travel
– Notably, Airbnb experienced powerful triple-digit growth in China and Vietnam.
○ China – 205% ​yoy growth ​in inbound guest arrivals, 103% ​yoy growth in outbound
guests arrivals
○ Vietnam – 145%​ increase in inbound guest arrivals, 158% ​yoy growth in outbound
guest arrivals
– Thailand​, Airbnb’s second largest market in the Greater Mekong after China, welcomed
1.2 million guests ​alone in 2017.
– In Myanmar and Laos,​ locals are increasingly embracing traveling with Airbnb.
Outbound guest arrivals in Myanmar grew 169%​ yoy, while the number of local hosts
opening their homes to tourists increased 85%​ yoy. Similarly, outbound guest arrivals in
Laos grew 100% ​yoy.
– 68%​ of all guests traveling with Airbnb to the region were under 30 years of age​, and
31% between 30-60 years of age​.
– 54% ​of all guests traveling with Airbnb to the region were female​, and 46% male​.
– The top 10 countries of origin ​of guests traveling with Airbnb to the region are: China,
the US, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and
France.

During her keynote speech, Goh shared:
“The Greater Mekong is one of Airbnb’s fastest growing regions, and we continue to grow in the region because tourists increasingly want new, adventurous, and local experiences when they travel.

“We offer travelers a wide variety of unique quality accommodations across the region, and
Airbnb Experiences in three markets — China, Thailand and Vietnam. We are proud to share that we launched Experiences in Chiang Mai just yesterday. Chiang Mai is one of our fastest growing markets in Thailand, and we believe the introduction of Experiences will continue to support the creative and cultural capital as it continues to grow as a popular travel destination both in the region and globally.

“Airbnb is empowering local hospitality entrepreneurs and strengthening local communities
through healthy, sustainable tourism. With travel and tourism growing rapidly, it is critical that as many people as possible are benefiting and Airbnb hosts are providing the type of travel that is best for destinations, residents, and travelers alike in the Greater Mekong.”

About Airbnb
Founded in 2008, Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where people can belong when they
travel by being connected to local cultures and having unique travel experiences. Its community marketplace provides access to millions of unique accommodations from apartments and villas to castles and treehouses in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries.

With Experiences, Airbnb offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests, while Places lets people discover the hidden gems of a city as recommended by the people that live there. Airbnb is people powered and the easiest way to earn a little extra income from extra space in a home or from sharing passions, interests and cities.

Saint Ange Tourism Report – 2nd July 2018

Saint Ange Tourism Report – 2nd July 2018

Victoria, Mahe (Seychelles) – July 2, 2018 (travelindex.com) – The months of June and July are being marked with a number of invitations for Saint Ange Tourism Consultancy to travel on a number of working missions, that will take me to five mainland African Countries, to undertake assignments alongside Tourism Ministries and their Promotional Boards or Private Sector Organisations and other tourism related bodies. I started this five-country mission last week in Addis in Ethiopia, before travelling on to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During the months of July and August, I will again be on the road travelling to Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

In Addis, among different meetings held, I also completed a successful working session with a group of Private Sector entrepreneurs who had come together to ensure their businesses remain relevant in Ethiopia’s Tourism Industry. We discussed their visibility and how to increase it to ensure relevance. We discussed key USPs and the need to use their destination’s strengths in their own drive.

Last Friday night in Kinshasa in the DRC, I took to the podium at the launch of the tourism book “Opportunities of Investments in Tourism” published by former Tourism Minister Elvis Mutiri wa Bashara through the European Universities Editions, and will also be involved in different meetings in the coming days.

After my term of office as Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine of the Seychelles, I launched my own tourism “Saint Ange Consultancy”. A year ago, after missing out on the position of Secretary General at the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation), when Seychelles under pressure of the African Union (AU) withdrew the island’s candidature. Today, I am regularly called upon as a speaker at tourism conferences and sit as a panelist at different industry conferences. I am also responsible for the weekly “Saint Ange Tourism Report” that is re-posted on most of the important tourism news wire right across the world.

I am proud to say that I was the First President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands and I am today the President of the Seychelles Labor Union (SLU), Deputy Secretary General of FORSEAA (Forum of Small Medium Economic AFRICA ASEAN) based in Jakarta Indonesia, listed as a Consultant for TMN (Travel Marketing Network) in New York USA, Co-Chair of the SUNx (Strong Universal Network) Organisation in London UK, Vice President & Founding Member of ICTP (International Coalition of Tourism Partners) and a Member of the Advisory Board of the non-profit organisation “Helping Needy Welfare Society of India”.

Seychelles National Day 2018

On the 29th June 1976 Seychelles became an Independent Nation and ended the electoral call of the era for sovereignty and Nationhood. In 2018, 42 years later the call for self determination for Seychelles, and this by Seychellois for the whole of its territory.

Independence for Seychelles from Great Britain saw the return of the three islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches that had been detached some ten years earlier (1965) to form the new British Indian Overseas Territory (BIOT) together with an island belonging to Mauritius that was all administered from Seychelles by the British Governor of the time. The loss of these islands caused a lot of frustration and saw a lot of protests by Seychellois who loved their territory. Seychellois must safeguard today what is theirs and they must work together to protect the sovereignty of their territory in its entirety.

The People of Seychelles were active on social media as the islands marked the anniversary of its Independence from Great Britain. We are posting a historical news clip of that important event of 29th June 1976 to remind ourselves of the day we became an Independent Nation.

Seychelles suffers a further blow in saving its Assumption Island

On the 29th June, Seychelles celebrated its Independence Day anniversary. This was also the anniversary of the return of its three islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches, which had been transferred from Seychelles in November 1965 to form part of the new British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). During this same week of June 2018, news broke from India that Seychelles could now lose its Assumption Island, in what is being called “India’s drive for a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region”.

Seychelles President Danny Faure was on a six-day official visit to India and from New Delhi on June 25. It was reported that:- “India and Seychelles today agreed to work together on a project to develop a naval base at the Assumption Island keeping each other’s concerns in mind after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Danny Faure. India also announced a USD 100-million credit to Seychelles for augmenting its defence capabilities. “With this credit, Seychelles will be able to buy defence equipment to boost its maritime capacity,” Prime Minister Modi said in his joint media statement with Faure. On the project to develop a naval facility at the island, which would give India a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region, Modi said, “We have agreed to work together on the Assumption Island project based on each other’s rights.” Faure, in his remarks, said the Assumption Island project was discussed and the two countries equally engaged to work together bearing each other’s interests”.

These declarations are contrary to all that Seychelles had been assured. The Indian Military Base was deemed dead after the last Press Conference chaired by President Danny Faure. The island’s National Assembly had confirmed on its part that this proposed deal would not be entertained in the Legislature. Seychelles was told that its concerns about the closeness of Assumption Island to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aldabra had been noted, and the objection for an Indian Military base raised by the Seychellois had been heard. The visit by President Danny Faure in India has dealt another blow to every peace loving Seychellois with the Assumption Island affair, as India seeks a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region.

It is now the People of Seychelles as a whole who will need to work as one to save their island of Assumption and their UNESCO World heritage Site of Aldabra.

€2m for sea defences to protect beaches and hotels of La Digue

The announcement that the EU’s flagship GCCA programme was investing €2m in building sea defences to protect beaches and hotels on the island of La Digue in Seychelles brought many reactions from environmentalists and Diguois. The island is suffering from Sand erosion at Anse Reunion, and the EU will now be investing Euro 2million to try to mitigate this de-stabilising phenomenon, which is partly man made.

For the last couple of years, the sand from Anse Reunion moves north, goes into the harbour, then dredged out to keep the harbour deep. The sand is then sold to the various building projects as fill, instead of being returned to the southern end of Anse Reunion to start it’s cycle again.

Sand movement is a natural phenomenon and if sand is just taken out, La Digue will end up being an island surrounded by a wall. The laws or regulations of Seychelles stops the removal of sand from its beaches, but on La Digue, under the watchful eye of the State, sand is not only removed by tons, but used for purposes that the laws or regulations were made to stop.

Today the EU will step in and spend Euro 2 million to try to mitigate what we are doing by ourselves to destroy the beauty of La Digue.
In our edition of the Saint Ange Tourism Report last week we published the proposed involvement and financial support of the European Union (EU) which brought a lot feedback and all pointing the finger to the Government’s removal of sand as the source of problems La Digue was today facing.

PATA Signs Strategic Partnership Agreement with Adara

PATA Signs Strategic Partnership Agreement with Adara

Bangkok (Thailand) – July 4, 2018 (travelindex.com) – The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to announce a new Strategic Partnership agreement with Adara, the enterprise-wide data solution for travel brands, to empower its members with a comprehensive view of destination visitor data for more powerful and efficient marketing campaigns.

As part of the agreement, Adara will work with PATA to encourage its members to contribute data to the Adara travel data co-op. Adara will use the data to develop co-branded country and regional market intelligence reports, which will be made available exclusively to PATA members.

“As many organisations focus their marketing efforts on digital marketing strategies, the access to quality permissioned data and proper analysis is fundamental to making smart business decisions,” said PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy. “Our partnership with ADARA will provide a more holistic view of the patterns, trends and behaviour of travellers for our members, helping them better plan their marketing strategies to achieve maximum return on their marketing investments.”

ADARA empowers the world’s leading travel brands to grow the industry together. Built on the world’s richest travel data co-op, ADARA offers people-based insights for travel companies and destinations. Clients get a value-based understanding of their relationship with their customers and visitors, with travel patterns, trends and behaviour from more than 750 million monthly unique traveler profiles across more than 190 of the world’s top travel brands.

Layton Han, CEO, ADARA, commented: “The partnership with PATA is a great example of how sharing data safely and securely between disparate but linked data-sets helps to unlock actionable insights that would otherwise remain hidden in silos in individual companies and destinations. ADARA is thrilled to be partnering with PATA and is dedicated to the Asia-Pacific region as we continue to grow and scale internationally.”

About PATA
Founded in 1951, PATA is a not-for-profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 98 government, state and city tourism bodies, 19 international airlines and airports, 91 hospitality organisations and 70 educational institutions, as well as over a hundred young tourism professional (YTP) members across the world. The PATA network also embraces the grassroots activism our 36 Chapters and 20 Student Chapters across the world. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 36 local PATA chapters worldwide, while hundreds of students are members of the 20 PATA student chapters globally. The chapters and student chapters organise travel industry training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership in Uniting Travel, a coalition of the world’s major Travel & Tourism organisations dedicated to ensuring that the sector speaks with one voice and acts in unison on the major issues and includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing and London. Visit www.PATA.org.

About Adara
Adara empowers the world’s leading travel brands to grow the industry together. Built on the world’s richest travel data co-op, ADARA offers people-based insights for travel companies. Clients get a value-based understanding of their relationship with their customers, with travel patterns, trends and behavior from more than 750 million monthly unique traveler profiles across more than 190 of the world’s top travel brands. ADARA delivers unifying, enterprise-wide impact with Customer Yield Intelligence based on 3 core pillars – Learn, Act, Measure – that integrate the entire ADARA product suite to drive measurable outcomes at the customer level.

Contact information:
PATA
Paul Pruangkarn
Director – Communications & Marketing
communications@PATA.org
+66 (02) 658-2000
Bangkok, Thailand

UNWTO Partners with Business School to Promote Tourism Innovation

UNWTO Partners with Business School to Promote Tourism Innovation

Madrid (Spain) – July 1, 2018 (travelindex.com) – The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and IE Business School, one of the world’s leading executive education centers, have agreed to join forces to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. Both will promote the role of academia within tourism innovation.

UNWTO has invited IE Business School to provide its support in the framework of UNWTO´s new strategy on innovation and digital transformation. This leading educational institution will give UNWTO strategic support to execute projects, expand and disseminate knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism.

“We are delighted to be able to count on the reputation and international experience of IE Business School going forward”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. “With their academics, experts, international networks and extensive teaching and research experience, they will be actively participating in our specialized forums, as well as in the development of knowledge in the framework of innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism”, he added.

UNWTO is a natural ally for Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, the Executive President of IE University, to which IE Business School belongs. “As the UN specialized agency for the promotion of sustainable development through tourism, UNWTO is the ideal partner to develop mentoring and acceleration programmes for tourism startups and develop educational and training programmes in technology and innovation, conferences, and seminars, among many more options”, he said.

The agreement between both institutions has a renewable annual duration.

Contact information:
UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme
comm@unwto.org
Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100
Fax: +34 91 567 8218
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