News

Not enough tourists for Koh Samui hotels.

Hoteliers in Koh Samui are suffering from oversupply, dragging down the occupancy rate.The occupancy rate on the island during the final quarter this year, as of Dec 20, has plunged to 30% from 50% in the same period of 2018. He attributed the low figures to the strong baht and trade war, as major markets such as the Chinese flock to cheaper beach destinations in Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.The slowdown will linger into the first quarter next year, considered the high season for the island. There are about 40 flights to Samui airport, operated by SET-listed Bangkok Airways, with 3,000-4,000 passengers per day. Mr Vorasit said he would like the airline to consider providing cheaper airfare to attract more tourists to Koh Samui, especially during the off-peak season of October-November and suggested lowering the landing fee at the airport to draw more chartered flights. Mr Vorasit said to facilitate tourists, a cruise pier at Koh Samui is necessary to serve cruise ship travellers, a segment that has potential to increase tourism spending and add to the occupancy rate when they stay overnight. This year 55 cruise ships are expected to visit Koh Samui, averaging 2,500 tourists, with 60% spending their time on the island shopping and sightseeing. Another 62 cruise ships are projected to dock at the island next year, with 48 ships scheduled for 2021.

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British Airways reveals its most popular destinations for holiday travel.

British Airways estimates that during the time, it’ll fly more than one million passengers. And for those who are travelling with the flag carrier, BA has some festive treats in store. On Sunday, the airline revealed that its most popular long-haul destinations this year are Cape Town, Johannesburg and Los Angeles. A little closer to home, Paris is the airline’s most popular short-haul destination, with many travellers opting to spend both Christmas and New Year’s Day in the French capital.On Christmas Day itself, there will be fewer flights in the air than a normal day. BA will operate a reduced scheduled of 210 flights, while New Year’s Eve will see 721 flights take to the skies. On Christmas day itself, BA says that it’ll serve over 100,000 traditional Christmas dinners. That’s 360,000 roast potatoes, 11kgs of turkey and 450,000 brussels sprouts.The airline’s IFE has also been sprinkled with tinsel and festive cheer. Passengers can choose from around 50 hours of festive-themed entertainment, including classics such as “Home Alone”, “Elf” and “The Holiday”.

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Peru Tourism Organises Seminar In Chennai.

PROMPERU- Commission for the Promotion of Trade, Tourism and Investments for Peru in India, today, visited Chennai for the first time to conduct a tourism seminar to stimulate the favourable growth in arrivals from the city. Owing to the increase in interest from Chennai and substantial rise in footfalls, the objective of the visit was to carry out destination training, sharing essential data with the operators and agencies, in addition to understanding the specific requirements of the market. The seminar witnessed the presence of Luis Cabello, Trade and Tourism Counsellor of Peru in India and Aromica Bhattacharya, Specialist in Tourism. During the assembly, the spokesperson shared insights on the lesser-known attractions, thus highlighting ‘Peru Beyond Machu Picchu’ which will entice more travellers from India. The Commercial Office of Peru in India, adscribed to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (MINCETUR), is now an official extension of PROMPERU- Commission for the Promotion of Trade, Tourism and Investments for Peru in India, known as the PROMPERU India office.

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Indian passports now have enhanced new safety features.

Lotus is the national flower and it is now part of the enhanced security feature to identify fake passports and is being printed on the passports. It has been printed inside a rectangle on the page has replaced the spot where the passport officer’s signature and seal are put. The new passports come with new codes and have started being used in all the 36 passport offices across the country Besides the Ministry of External Affairs, other agencies including the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Indian Security Press (Nasik) are part of this new upgraded passport for travellers. He had said that there is a proposal by MEA to work on e-passports which would help in making a new passport booklet with modern security features.

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UK Rail: New timetables off to terrible start with widespread cancellations & delays.

The new rail timetables promising more trains and faster journeys have got off to a disastrous start, with widespread delays and cancellations. The improved schedules took effect in the early hours of Sunday morning, 15 December. GWR said that the amendments have come about because an unusually high number of rail staff are not available to work. The disruption was particularly bad in West Wales. The train company told passengers: “Due to a shortage of train crew between London Paddington and Carmarthen fewer trains are able to run. Many services between London Paddington and South Wales will terminate short of their destination, with services also likely to be cancelled.GWR passengers between Penzance and London are being told to use local services on the Exeter-Plymouth-Penzance stretch, as some long-distance expresses have been cancelled. Elsewhere, improvements appear to be taking effect with few problems. On CrossCountry four weekday and five Saturday trains between Birmingham and Newcastle will run considerably faster, saving travellers up to half-an-hour. Stansted Airport and Norwich become connected with hourly trains. A new link between Halifax in West Yorkshire has been launched. On the East Coast main line, there are more direct trains from Harrogate in North Yorkshire to London.

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USA, UK and France top list of visitors to Dubai in Q3 2019.

Travellers from the USA, UK and France topped the list of visitors to the UAE in the third quarter of 2019, according to the latest data from Expedia Group. The top ten feeder markets for the UAE also included India, China, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Italy and Brazil. Figures for Q3 2019 showed particular demand from Brazil and Portugal, reflecting the Emirates codeshare partnership with LATAM Airlines and direct flights to Porto, announced earlier this year. While travellers from China showed a 50 percent year-on-year growth in package demand. A surge in arrivals into Dubai was recorded over the summer months resulting in 12.08 million international overnight visitors in the first nine months of 2019, according to data released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing. According to the Central Bank's Q3 Economic Review and Dubai Tourism data, approximately 56.3 percent - or 6.8 million - of tourists who arrived in Dubai between January and September 2019 stayed at the emirate's hotels.

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