PHILIPPINES: Jeju Air Opens New Routes

Jeju Air launched six new routes in the space of four days in late December, including two new links each from its home market of South Korea to the Philippines and Taiwan, and one each to Malaysia and Thailand.

Frequencies on the sectors range from two weekly flights to daily services. All flights are operated by the South Korean LCC’s 737-800s. Only the two routes from Muan (MWX) will see no direct competition.

The longest of the new sectors is the 3,397-kilometre connection between Muan and Kota Kinabalu (BKI), while the shortest is the 1,395-kilometre link from Daegu (TAE) to Taipei Taoyuan (TPE). The average sector length across the six routes is 2,482 kilometres.

Cebu Airport celebrated the inaugural Jeju Air departure on the South Korean carrier’s new route to Muan on 22 December.

Flights will operate five times weekly on this 2,754-kilometre sector facing no direct competition. This was one of six new routes launched by the LCC between 19 December and 23 December 2018.

Jeju Air introduced a new route from Daegu (TAE) to Macau (MFM) on 2 December. The South Korean LCC will operate the 2,110-kilometre connection five times weekly, using its 737-800s. There is no direct competition on the route.

Commenting on the airport’s latest link, Eric Fong, Director of Marketing Department, Macau International Airport Company Limited said: There are four low-cost airlines from Korea operating services between Seoul, Busan and Macau.

This new service between Macau and Taegu would be in time to satisfy the Christmas peak season for travel in the coming December. Daegu becomes Jeju Air’s second route to Macau, with the carrier already operating a service from Seoul Incheon.

Jeju Air, is a South Korean low-cost airline, the first to be founded in the country. It offers scheduled domestic services between several cities in South Korea, as well as between Seoul and international destinations including Japan, China, Russia, the Mariana Islands, and various Southeast Asian countries.

It is also a founding member of the Value Alliance. Jeju Air is named after the Jeju Island. The airline, a member of AK group, is scheduled to open a Seoul head office tower hotel at Hongik station of the Seoul Metro, to diversify income.

Jeju Air operates an all-Boeing fleet consisting of the following aircraft:

- Boeing 737-800: 40

Total: 40

INDONESIA: Youth Train To Work In Tourism Industry

Training programmes conducted from a rented storeroom has empowered youths of Pulau Mabul to seek employment in the tourism industry.

In addition to English, mathema­tics and computer skills, islanders aged between 16 and 25 pick up food service skills at the makeshift school initiated by Project TRY.

Its founder Raviraj Sawlani said the students went on to obtain jobs at resorts and other tourism-related businesses at the diving haven.

Even those working part-time are earning at least RM500, which makes a difference to their family as their current household income from traditional fishing is only RM300.

Some have become diving instructors, earning up to RM3,000 a month, Raviraj said during a seminar on Gender and Literacy Development here last Thursday.

He said the school, which marked Petaling Jaya-based Project TRY’s first foray into Sabah, has trained more than 100 youths from Mabul.

Mandarin was also added to the curriculum because of the influx of tourists from China in the east coast island.

Many of the islanders drop out of school after completing Year Six at Pulau Mabul’s primary school as they have to take an hour-long boat ride to Semporna to attend secondary school, said Raviraj.

Judging from the youths’ performance after going through the four-month training, he said they were talented and hungry for success.

Project TRY would look into setting up an office in Kota Kinabalu and introduce similar training programmes in other areas in Sabah, Raviraj added.

Meanwhile, an Indian woman cut off a man’s penis after he allegedly tried to rape her at her house in the southern state of Kerala, police said on Saturday.

The 23-year-old law student was at her residence in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram late Friday when she says she was attacked by the 54-year-old man, who had claimed to her family to be a religious guru.

She used a knife in her defense and cut off his penis, district police chief G Sparjan Kumar said.

The man, Hari Swami, was rushed to the nearby government hospital in a serious state, he added.

The local media reported that Swami was in a stable condition after undergoing emergency medical procedures at the local hospital.

The woman claimed the man had been assaulting her for several years, according to Kumar, who said police had registered a case against Swami for sexual offences against a minor and rape.

Police said the girl’s parents, who live at the same house, were unaware of the assaults by Swami.

The woman told us that her parents blindly trusted this Swami, and he used to get frequent invites to perform special ceremonies and stay over at their house, where he assaulted her, Kumar said.

She is now under police protection and receiving trauma counselling.

There have been other recent incidents of sexual assault involving religious men in the southern Indian state.

Two nuns and a priest, accused of covering up the birth of a baby born to a teenage girl who was allegedly raped by another priest, were arrested in Kerala last month.

Last year, a priest was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Kerala court for raping a 12-year-old girl in 2014.

MALAYSIA: Capsized Chinese Tourist Boat,Prime Minister Najib Razak Calls For Probe

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has called for a full investigation after a boat carrying 28 Chinese tourists capsized off the coast of Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.

"I take seriously the capsized boat tragedy in Sabah and I want a comprehensive investigation done to identity the cause of the incident," he posted Monday on Facebook.

Najib said efforts should focus on finding the six passengers who are still missing.

The boat, carrying three crewmen and 28 Chinese tourists, was first reported missing on Saturday. Authorities managed to recover 22 people from the water, but three passengers died.

The skipper and a crewmen were rescued Sunday. Since then, they have been reportedly detained by authorities to help with investigations.

China's foreign ministry has urged Malaysia to continue its search for the remaining passengers.

A ministry spokesperson also requested that Malaysian authorities keep them informed with the latest search and rescue developments.

The owner of the catamaran had notified authorities late Saturday that the boat had failed to return 12 hours after departing from the Tanjung Aru jetty on a trip to the island of Pulau Mengalum.

Located around 30 kilometres west of Kota Kinabalu, Pulau Mengalum is a popular tourist destination known for its clear waters.

MALAYSIA: 28 Chinese Tourists Missing Off The Coast Of Borneo,

A boat carrying 31 people, including 28 Chinese tourists, is missing off the coast of Borneo, Malaysian maritime authorities said on Sunday.

The boat left Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, at about 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Saturday bound for the popular tourist spot of Mengalum island, officials said.

It was reported missing at about 9.50 p.m. after failing to arrive at the island and a search operation was launched soon after, Sabah and Labuan Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director Rahim Ramli said.

Bad weather was hampering the search effort, which covers an area of about 400 nautical square miles.

"We are looking at strong winds and choppy waters," he said.

The Malaysian navy, maritime police and air force were involved in the search, the MMEA said in a statement.

The Chinese consulate in Kota Kinabalu has asked the state government to step up the search effort.

The China National Tourism Administration said it has initiated emergency response procedures.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

MALAYSIA: Sabah To Impose Green Tax For Hotels

The East Malaysian state of Sabah is mulling imposing an environmental tax on hotels of three stars and above.

State minister Masidi Manjun said discussions over the tax are at an early stage and if sanctioned, a minimal fee would be imposed.

"We might call it an environmental tax, and the money will be put into a transparent trust fund to manage their garbage disposal for environment protection to work better," Masidi said.

He cited complaints by the public over waste disposal in Kota Kinabalu and said it was time to 'take the bull by the horns' before it starts to impact tourism.

"Tourists are coming to Sabah because they love the environment here, but I fear if we do not overcome the current issues, we will lose them and in the end, hurt our tourism industry, which is one of the main contributors to the state's economy," Masidi added.

INDONESIA: Indonesia Expects More From Tourism In 2016

Indonesia expects to generate Rp172 trillion in foreign exchange income from tourism in 2016 as the nation is targeting to attract at least 12 million foreign tourists.

The countrys tourism potentials could still be optimized in the coming years, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya stated here on Wednesday.

"In view of this, we have set optimistic targets of attracting 12 million foreign tourists in 2016 and generating an income of Rp172 trillion from the sector," he noted.

The minister explained that the number of domestic tourist travels in 2016 is expected at 260 million, with expenditures projected at Rp223.6 trillion.

He remarked that the contribution of the tourism sector to the countrys gross domestic product is projected to increase by five percent to create 11.7 million jobs.

To support the realization of the targets, the ministers office, in cooperation with stakeholders, has prepared action plans including continuing the current marketing and promotion strategy, with emphasis on positioning and strengthening the "Wonderful Indonesia" brand in the main market countries, Yahya pointed out.

"This is done in the framework of regaining the attention of prospective tourists to include Indonesia in their wish list of countries they would like to visit," he affirmed.

In connection with this, he said a massive marketing communication campaign would be conducted across the world through international media channels including print, electronic, and online media or outdoor media such as in buses, taxis, mass rapid transit networks, bus stations, railway stations, and shopping centers depicting images of tourist destinations in Indonesia.

He stated that offline promotion activities would also be conducted through international tourism exhibitions, sales missions, and familiarization trips.

Yahya said he would intensify activities to strengthen the Wonderful Indonesia brand as well as to promote advertising and selling activities involving tourism business players through international tourism exhibitions abroad.

In 2016, Indonesia plans to participate in exhibitions such as the ITB Berlin, WTM London, WTM Dubai, CTM China, NATAS Singapore, MATTA Malaysia, JATA Japan, Korea, Australia, or international tourism exhibitions with special purposes such as the DEMA show, Cruise Shipping, Boot Dusseldorf, GOLF, and MICE.

To introduce tourist destinations and the latest tourism packages in Indonesia, the Ministry of Tourism will also carry out the sales mission in big cities of several countries that are the main sources of tourists.

He referred to cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Malaka, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Phuket, HCMC, and Manila in the Southeast Asian region; Shanghai, Chengdu, Seoul, Busan, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Guang Zhou, Tokyo, Osaka, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Mumbai, and New Delhi in the Asia-Pacific region; and Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt in Europe; Dubai and Jeddah in the Middle East; Johannesburg in Africa; and Moscow.

The minister said the sales mission would be carried out to boost the sales of tourism packages and self-confidence among national tourists and industrialists as the presence of the government along with business players would lend greater confidence to foreign buyers.

Other strategic activities to be carried out include familiarization trips to introduce and promote tourist attractions to foreign stakeholders by inviting them to visit the locations under the framework of implementing the concept of "seeing is believing."

"They include tour operators, print/electronic media persons, social media and blogger activists, and people who could influence the decision-making process with regard to tourism events," he added.

MALAYSIA: Top Destinations For Foreigners And Malaysians

Kuala Lumpur is still tops when it comes to tourists to Malaysia. Other local destinations that are also popular among inbound holidaymakers are Penang, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Malacca. Johor Baru, Kuching, Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Ipoh round off the Top 10.

This were the findings of the online accommodation booking website Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI). The report is published twice a year and is based on bookings made on Hotels.com sites, and prices shown are those actually paid by customers on a per room/per night basis including taxes and fees, rather than advertised rates. Local travel trends and insights are also extrapolated from the report.

Overall, travellers were paying an average of RM306 per night for hotels in Malaysia in the first half of 2015. Among all travellers from Switzerland were spending the most (RM 425) on average hotel price paid in Malaysia, followed by Norway (RM402), United Kingdom (RM391), and two Asian countries – Hong Kong (RM381) and South Korea (RM378).

“We believe that the recent softening of the ringgit clearly has an impact on local destinations. Subsequently, Malaysians are also noticeably getting back to their roots when it comes to planning vacations,” said Hotels.com senior marketing director Asia Pacific Nelson Allen.

It is also surprising that according to the trends seen for hotel searches for next year by Malaysians for local destinations, the fourth most searched destination is Port Dickson! It registered three-digit figures in percentage growth.

The softening of the ringgit doesn’t necessarily mean a higher cost of travel. The HPI also revealed that there was a steady drop in hotels prices paid by Malaysians in the United Arab Emirates (36%), France (21%), Macau (12%), as well as Malaysians’ all time favourite – Thailand (7%), Indonesia (12%), Singapore (18%), and Hong Kong (4%). This could be attributed to more Malaysians using online and mobile applications for their travel planning.

Top destinations for Malaysian travellers

1. Bangkok
2. Singapore
3. Bali
4. Hong Kong
5. Phuket
6. Melbourne
7. Krabi
8. Seoul
9. Tokyo
10. Taipei

MALAYSIA: Malaysia Welcomes Luxury Cruise Ship

Mein Schiff 1, a Century class cruise ship made her maiden call to Boustead Cruise Centre (BCC), Pulau Indah recently

The vessel, which sailed from Langkawi arrived with a total of 1,870 passengers and 909 crew members on Nov 23. They received a warm welcome reception from Tourism Malaysia with bunga telur and a cultural performance.

As part of the cruise ship’s 22-night voyage from Dubai to Singapore, she had earlier made a stopover at Muscat, Oman; followed by Mumbai, India; and Colombo, Sri Lanka. The vessel left Klang on the same evening for Singapore.

The welcome reception by Tourism Malaysia is an effort under its Maiden Call programme, an annual activity to welcome ships berthing for the first time in Malaysia. It is part of Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to promote cruise tourism and to attract more ship operators to berth in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, in particular.

Over the last few years, Malaysia has seen an encouraging number of cruise ships calling at the country’s ports. Last year, a total of 421 international cruise ships with 352,322 passengers called at the country’s six primary ports, namely Port Klang, Penang, Melaka, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.