TRAVEL TITBITS
Thailand rates high on destinations index
Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya have been placed among the top 10 most visited destinations in Asia Pacific, according to the latest findings from the Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2017.
The second Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index is an offshoot of Mastercard’s annual Global Destination Cities Index. It ranks 171 destinations including island resorts, towns and cities in 22 countries. It looks at the total number of international overnight arrivals, cross-border spending and the total number of nights spent at each destination.
According to the report, the overnight arrivals to the Asia Pacific destinations in 2016 stood at 339.2 million, growing 9.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2009. The total overnight stays were 1.77 billion nights and the total spending was US$245 billion (8.5 billion baht).
Top destination in the region is Bangkok which tracked 19.3 million visitors. Singapore (13.1 million) is in second place, followed by Tokyo (12.6 million), Seoul (12.4 million) and Kuala Lumpur (11.3 million).
Phuket (9.1 million) is in the sixth followed by Hong Kong (8.9 million), Pattaya (8.1 million), Osaka and Taipei (each has 7.4 million visitors).
China stands as Asia Pacific’s most avid outbound travel market, having contributed 55 million international overnight visitors to the region or 16.2 % of the total arrivals. Visitors from South Korea (10.5%) is the second, followed by Taiwan (7%), the United States (6.7%), Japan (5.8%) and Britain (3.8%).
For the top destinations in terms of the total nights stay, Bangkok also took the lead with 87.6 million nights, followed by Sydney (87.5 million), Kuala Lumpur (76.7 million), Tokyo (74.3 million), Melbourne (62.9 million), Bali (62.4 million), Singapore (60.7 million), Seoul (56 million), Brisbane (51.8 million) and Taipei (47.8 million).
Spurred by Asia Pacific’s burgeoning middle class, overall tourism expenditure in the region jumped from $141.5 billion in 2009 to $244.9 billion in 2016, growing by 8.2% CAGR.
Singapore is the top destination in terms of tourism expenditure. The total spending was $15.4 billion, followed by Bangkok ($12.7 billion), Tokyo ($11.1 billion), Taipei ($ 9.9 billion), Seoul ($9.4 billion), Bali ($8.7 billion), Phuket ($8.3 billion), Kuala Lumpur ($7.3 billion, Sydney ($6.8 billion) and Hong Kong ($6.6).
Visit http://newsroom.mastercard. com/asia-pacific/documents/mastercard-asia-pacific-destinations-index-2017.
Airline awards underway
Skytrax World Airline Awards are open for passengers to vote for their favourite airlines.
The London-based Skytrax is the international air transport rating organisation, established in 1989. It has launched the annual airline customer satisfaction survey, which is known as “the Oscars of the aviation industry”, since 1999.
The online survey comprises six categories including Best Airline, Best Airline Seat, Best Airline Lounge, Best Airline Cabin Staff, Best Airline Meals and Best Inflight Entertainment.
According to Skytrax, its annual survey are decided by millions of air travellers from more than 100 nationalities. In recent survey results, over 245 airlines across the globe were voted for by air travellers. Visit www.worldairlinesurvey.com.
Airline updates
Singapore Airlines has partnered with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) to combine bio and jet fuels for commercial flights.
As part of the airline’s series of 12 green package flights, the airline uses Airbus A350-900 for its non-stop San Francisco-Singapore route for a threemonth period.
The first of the 12 flights, departed San Francisco at 11.21am (San Francisco time) on May 1 and arrived in Singapore at 7.10pm on May 2 with 206 passengers on board.
The aircraft was powered by a combination of Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids, a sustainable biofuel produced from used cooking oils, and conventional jet fuel.
“Singapore Airlines’ fleet is already among the most modern and fuel-efficient in the world. We now want to push ourselves further and are embarking on this initiative to help promote the use of sustainable biofuel in an operationally and commercially-viable manner,” according to the airline CEO Goh Choon Phong.
The airline will be the first in the world to combine the use of biofuels, fuel-efficient aircraft and optimised flight operations. CAAS facilitates the use of these optimised flight operations and Air Traffic Management best practices which reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions for the flights.
According to the airline, the flights will raise awareness of sustainable biofuels for aviation and provide the industry with valuable insight on the economics, logistical requirements and performance of biofuels.
Hotel updates
Marriott International has introduced its first Element Hotels brand in Southeast Asia.
The hotel is Element Kuala Lumpur. It is located in Ilham Tower, the third tallest building in the capital city of Malaysia. The skyscraper is 274m-tall and has 60 storeys, comprising of office suites, luxury serviced apartments and the new hotel.
Element Kuala Lumpur features 252 rooms, including 132 studio units, one, two and three-bedroom suites equipped with kitchenettes. The room space usage ranges from 38m² to 152m².
Other facilities are four meeting rooms, restaurant and bar, a fitness centre and indoor swimming pool. The hotel also provides bicycles for guests to borrow.
Visit www.elementkualalumpur.com.
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