News Roundup: “Industry-first” global initiative in sustainable tourism launched in Thailand, Malaysia Airlines’ and Singapore Airlines’ wide-ranging partnership agreement, AirAsia’s enhanced mobile app, American Express Global Business Travel’s new online booking tool Neo
Environment: TAT, Expedia launch global sustainable tourism initiative in collaboration with UNESCO
(Image credit – flying sky lanterns at Yi Peng’ Festival in Chiang Mai: pat138241/Getty Images)
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Expedia Group have joined forces with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to launch the UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Pledge (The Pledge).
This tripartite agreement comes at an opportune time for TAT as it will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2020, and sustainability will be “top of mind” for Thailand, which is piloting this “industry-first” initiative.
The NTO said it will focus on promoting responsible tourism, as well as prioritise environmental sustainability in addition to tackling marine debris issues, in particular plastic waste, across the ASEAN region.
Under the Pledge all parties are committed to supporting the reduction and elimination of single-use plastic, while also promoting local culture and activities in Thailand.
“TAT is committed to protecting the environment through its ‘Thailand Reduce Waste’ initiative, which invites visitors and the tourism operators to reduce and eliminate single-use plastic that significantly creates waste in tourist destinations,” said Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT deputy governor for International Marketing (Asia and South Pacific).
The NTO will also promote the use of organic materials that add value to local resources, he added.
Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO assistant director general for culture, revealed that 1.4 blllion tourists travelled the world last year, listing tourism as having a key impact on the environment.
“The Sustainable Tourism Pledge aims to turn words into action. This partnership with Expedia Group and the pilot initiative with Thai tourism is about taking those steps to minimise waste in the tourism sector and to promote the role of culture for sustainable development,” he stated. “This is good for the planet, for communities and could be the start of something global.”
Ang Choo Pin, Expedia Group’s senior director for government and corporate affairs, Asia, added the Pledge demonstrates the group’s “growing commitment to promoting sustainable tourism and enhancing environmental consciousness amongst our travel partners across the travel industry.”
The initiative is part of a renewed memorandum of understanding between Expedia and TAT following a similar collaboration last September.
The MoU will see Expedia support TAT in attracting high-value travellers (Go High), promoting emerging destinations to first-time visitors (Go New Customers) and generating more demand during low season (Go Low).
Cooperation will also extend, among others, to driving inbound and domestic tourism through digital marketing campaigns; identifying and promoting new tourism opportunities in Thailand; developing digital innovation and capabilities in primary and emerging destinations especially in the accommodation and local activities sector; and promoting traveller safety and security in Thailand.
Airlines: MAB, SIA to expand codeshare routes and share revenue on Malaysia-Singapore flights
(Image credit: Malaysia Airlines Berhad)
Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Wednesday (October 30) inked a wide-ranging agreement to expand codeshare routes, share revenue on flights between Singapore and Malaysia and participate in joint marketing activities to develop tourism.
Subject to regulatory approvals the agreement includes SIA’s subsidiaries SilkAir and Scoot, as well as MAB’s sister airline Firefly. This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in June, which aimed to provide new business opportunities.
The two carriers said in a statement flights between Singapore and Malaysia will operate under a joint business arrangement. They intend to coordinate flight schedules to provide customers with more flight choices and frequencies.
As part of the agreement, the two airlines also plan to offer joint fare products, align corporate programmes and explore tie-ups between their frequent-flyer programmes.
They will also expand their codeshare arrangements to include more destinations on each other’s networks. This starts with codeshare on flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Penang.
SIA and SilkAir plan to codeshare on MAB’s domestic flights to serve 16 destinations in Malaysia – in both the peninsular and Sabah and Sarawak.
In turn, MAB will progressively codeshare on flights between Singapore and Malaysia, Europe, South Africa and other destinations. This will be implemented in phases.
The significant expansion of the existing codeshare agreement will provide MAB with more opportunities to expand connectivity to and from Malaysia.
In addition, the carriers will carry out joint marketing activities to boost long-haul tourism to Malaysia and Singapore, including the development of air passes. These will enable customers travelling to Malaysia through the Kuala Lumpur and Singapore hubs more choices to visit other parts of the country such as Kuantan, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu on a single ticket.
“We are very pleased to take our partnership with Malaysia Airlines to a new level,” said SIA CEO, Goh Choon Phong. “This will be a win-win for both our airline groups and provide new benefits for our customers,” said SIA CEO, Goh Choon Phong.
MAB CEO Captain Izham Ismail said the collaboration would provide its customers a more competitive product between Malaysia and Singapore and the opportunity to travel to more global destinations.
“This is in line with Malaysia Airlines’ long-term business plan goal of engaging in deep partnerships to extend our reach and presence globally. This partnership is more than a conventional partnership, and we believe in the mutual benefits for both airline groups and countries.”
MAB has been struggling to return profitability through its five-year turnaround plan that started in 2014. Malaysia sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which owns the flag carrier, has hired Morgan Stanley to look at strategic options for MAB.
Last week Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said in Parliament the government is considering four strategic partners or investors to form a synergy for the long-term operation of the ailing airline. Malaysia will decide on the partner/investor by year-end or latest early 2020.
Mobile: AirAsia adds more features to mobile app
As part of its move to be more “guest-centric” low cost carrier AirAsia has upgraded its mobile apps with several new features.
A new booking flow and interactive search map improve usability and transaction times.
Users can now connect with fellow travellers on the same flight in the new real-time chat rooms after check-in opens 14 days before they fly. Travellers can share a cab or insta-worthy cafes and, as the carrier puts it, “maybe even find love on board.”
There is also a “guest interaction function that matches themes and intent to travel to an AirAsia destination with exclusive content and fare deals.”
Passengers, without luggage who save their mobile boarding pass to Apple e-wallet, can head straight to the boarding gate on clearing immigration.
AirAsia Group chief commercial officer Karen Chan said these new people-centric features would make planning and booking a trip easier and more enjoyable for travellers.
“The redesign of our mobile app also complements the many other digital initiatives we are working on, such as the transformation of airasia.com into AASEAN’s leading travel and lifestyle platform, and rollout of our Fast Airport Clearance Experience System (FACES) facial recognition system,” she added.
The enhanced mobile app is available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Technology: Amex GBT introduces Neo, its new online booking tool
(Image credit: Jirsak/Getty Images)
American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has released its proprietary online booking tool (OBT) Neo, making it “the first travel management company (TMC)” to connect to global distribution systems (GDSs) for online NDC content (content is currently in pilot with full release next year).
The company said in a statement that Neo currently connects to Amadeus NDC-X and Sabre’s Beyond NDC through its Supply Management Platform (SMP). Work to integrate with Travelport is ongoing.
“With this release, GBT has also introduced Routehappy product and amenity information into the Neo point of sale. Users can now see more information about what is included in an air fare. The initial phase includes product information about specific aircraft, such as Wi-Fi availability, food choices and seat pitches,” it explained
The next phase will include ticket components, such as lounge access and baggage allowance.
“Connecting with the GDSs for NDC content and with Routehappy for product and amenity information demonstrates our commitment to continue providing a complete content offering that can be shopped and compared in a transparent environment,” said John Bukowski, GBT’s director of content distribution.
In August, GBT issued the first live American Airlines’ NDC-enabled bookings using the Amadeus Travel API. It has also made test bookings with Sabre and Travelport.
The company is currently working with airlines including United, Delta, Air France-KLM and International Airlines Group (IAG) on joint airline retailing initiatives.
Neo is available for GBT customers in North America and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). Its availability will continue to expand throughout 2020 along with geographic-specific content and functionality. The OBT is currently used by 1,300,000 active users worldwide.
• Featured image credit: kongjongphotostock/Getty Images
