Thursday 12 May 2016 Issue 3306 Incorporating Tabs on Travel 6.45am every weekday Auckland to Christchurch TAANZ NTIA Best Broker Brand 2014 & 2015 The grass is GREENER CLICK HERE “So simple to use that no training is required. Try it out today” IS THIS NEW ZEALAND’S MOST USER FRIENDLY ONLINE BOOKING SYSTEM? online.jcholidays.com.au *Sale ends 11.59pm 16 May 2016, unless sold out prior. Selected destinations, departure dates, days and conditions apply. The Qantas World Sale. Over 300 destinations now on sale. See qantas.co.nz/agents for details. CLICK HERE Win Free Flights For 2 To Canberra Or Singapore Tomorrow is the last day to enter the fourth draw! 9 Pages This Issue News.......................... p1, p2, p4, p5, p8 Cruising Today................................. p3 Air NZ Famil.................................... p6 Business Travel Today ..................... p7 Hawaiian Airlines ............................ p9 #IHateTheWait US airlines are urging passengers to turn up early for flights as queues are expected to be particularly long at US airports over the coming summer travel peak, and Airlines for America wants travellers to show the TSA just how bad the lines are by sharing their experiences on social media with the tag #IHateTheWait. . . . Ditch The Fees? Meanwhile two US senators say one way to deal with the expected long lines this summer is for airlines to suspend checked baggage fees. The senators say passengers on air- lines that charge bag fees are more likely to take longer at security as they try to squeeze more into their carry-on. However Airlines for America says the move would just make air travel more expensive and instead the TSA should focus on introducing more staff at airports. JQ’s Apr Performance On average 75% of Jetstar’s domestic New Zealand flights departed on time in Apr, and the carrier operated 98.9% of scheduled services. On peak times, 85% of flights departed on time on the AKL-CHC route; 84% on AKL-WLG; and 89% on WLG-CHC. Agents Or Reality Stars? US travel agents are being asked to become reality stars through a new television show called Travel Agents Taking Off, developed in partnership with ASTA. Could it be something for TAANZ to consider here...? The industry has been keeping a close watch on the changes at Helloworld New Zealand—and as the business launches its first man- ager’s conference in Fiji the Kiwi operation has earned high praise from Helloworld chief executive Andrew Burnes. It’s been 12 weeks since the retail stores rebranded to Helloworld and straight-talking Burnes is impressed with the progress. “Simon McKearney is doing an out- standing job as the general manager for the Helloworld business in New Zealand,” says Burnes. “He has rein- vigorated our retail brand, built up a solid team of industry professionals around him and is working closely with Jason Buckley and Cinzia Burnes to grow the GO Holidays business and with Andrew Dale at APX to grow our corporate TMC business in New Zealand.” McKearney’s role now covers New Zealand and the South Pacific, and Burnes says the Helloworld New Zea- land boss is ‘playing a vital role in the transformation of Helloworld Ltd into the region’s most dynamic travel distribution business’. In addition to McKearney’s expanded role, the merger with AOT has also resulted in other changes. Jason Buck- ley is now overseeing the US’s Qantas Vacations business. The move is said to be due to the success of the GO operation—a result which the com- pany is looking to replicate in the US. . . . Retail Plans McKearney says retail is a current major focus for the company—and following the departure of former gm retail Adrian Turner, the HLO boss says he is ‘taking the opportunity to review and then create the best retail division which supports its retail net- works’. “With all the upheaval that has occurred in the travel agent segment of our industry of late and with so many ‘figurative balls in the air’ when they land we want to be there to catch them,” says McKearney. “We want to be able to support and grow all stores outside of Flight Centre and House of Travel who have their own strong market positioning and distinct of- ferings.” Helloworld’s Kiwi Business Praised
Transcript
Thursday 12 May 2016 Issue 3306
I n c o r p o r a t i n g Ta b s o n Tr a v e l
6.45am every weekday Auckland to Christchurch
TAANZ NTIA Best BrokerBrand 2014 & 2015
The grass isGREENER
CLICK HERE
“So simple to use that no training is required. Try it out today”
IS THIS NEW ZEALAND’S MOST USER FRIENDLY ONLINE BOOKING SYSTEM?
online.jcholidays.com.au
*Sale ends 11.59pm 16 May 2016, unless sold out prior. Selected destinations, departure dates, days and conditions apply.
The Qantas World Sale.Over 300 destinations now on sale. See qantas.co.nz/agents for details.
#IHateTheWaitUS airlines are urging passengers to turn up early for flights as queues are expected to be particularly long at US airports over the coming summer travel peak, and Airlines for America wants travellers to show the TSA just how bad the lines are by sharing their experiences on social media with the tag #IHateTheWait.
. . . Ditch The Fees?Meanwhile two US senators say one way to deal with the expected long lines this summer is for airlines to suspend checked baggage fees.The senators say passengers on air-lines that charge bag fees are more likely to take longer at security as they try to squeeze more into their carry-on.However Airlines for America says the move would just make air travel more expensive and instead the TSA should focus on introducing more staff at airports.
JQ’s Apr PerformanceOn average 75% of Jetstar’s domestic New Zealand flights departed on time in Apr, and the carrier operated 98.9% of scheduled services. On peak times, 85% of flights departed on time on the AKL-CHC route; 84% on AKL-WLG; and 89% on WLG-CHC.
Agents Or Reality Stars?US travel agents are being asked to become reality stars through a new television show called Travel Agents Taking Off, developed in partnership with ASTA. Could it be something for TAANZ to consider here...?
The industry has been keeping a close watch on the changes at Helloworld New Zealand—and as the business launches its first man-ager’s conference in Fiji the Kiwi operation has earned high praise from Helloworld chief executive Andrew Burnes.It’s been 12 weeks since the retail stores rebranded to Helloworld and straight-talking Burnes is impressed with the progress. “Simon McKearney is doing an out-standing job as the general manager for the Helloworld business in New Zealand,” says Burnes. “He has rein-vigorated our retail brand, built up a solid team of industry professionals around him and is working closely with Jason Buckley and Cinzia Burnes to grow the GO Holidays business and
with Andrew Dale at APX to grow our corporate TMC business in New Zealand.”McKearney’s role now covers New Zealand and the South Pacific, and Burnes says the Helloworld New Zea-land boss is ‘playing a vital role in the transformation of Helloworld Ltd into the region’s most dynamic travel distribution business’.In addition to McKearney’s expanded role, the merger with AOT has also resulted in other changes. Jason Buck-ley is now overseeing the US’s Qantas Vacations business. The move is said to be due to the success of the GO operation—a result which the com-pany is looking to replicate in the US.
. . . Retail PlansMcKearney says retail is a current major focus for the company—and following the departure of former gm retail Adrian Turner, the HLO boss says he is ‘taking the opportunity to review and then create the best retail division which supports its retail net-works’. “With all the upheaval that has occurred in the travel agent segment of our industry of late and with so many ‘figurative balls in the air’ when they land we want to be there to catch them,” says McKearney. “We want to be able to support and grow all stores outside of Flight Centre and House of Travel who have their own strong market positioning and distinct of-ferings.”
There were 30,000 searches for flights between Christchurch and Cairns on SkyScanner last year, according to a new report which is calling on Jetstar to con-sider launching flights on the route.SkyScanner and anna.aero have named CHC-CNS as their ‘Unserved Route of the Week’, saying the num-ber of searches suggest it would already be ‘very sustainable’ with a twice- or thrice-weekly service.Without a non-stop flight, purchase rates for flights are low, says Sky-Scanner—they’re 10.1% for CNS-CHC. It expects a 7.5% improvement in purchase rate if a direct flight were to operate, even before any increased marketing spend.Currently, the top three transfer points for CNS-CHC are Sydney (39%), Brisbane (31%) and Mel-bourne (14%).
. . . Which Airline?As slightly more traffic would origi-nate from Cairns (a 55/45 split) the report suggests it’s an obvious can-didate for Jetstar, the largest carrier
at Cairns. JQ flies several interna-tional destinations from the airport (including Tokyo and Bali).Air New Zealand is also a likely can-didate, and already flies Auckland-Cairns; while other airlines such as Philippine Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines, which fly to Cairns already, are also possibilities.Cairns is also unserved by any of the big Gulf carriers and Christchurch sees only Emirates, so these carri-ers ‘may want to consider linking their respective hubs with these two currently unserved network points’, says the report.
New Zealand PromotionAir New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand have signed a new Memo-randum of Understanding in a mar-keting partnership worth more than $20 million over the coming finan-cial year to promote New Zealand to new and existing international markets, including Australia, China, North and South America, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philip-pines, the United Kingdom and Europe.
30,000 Searches For CHC-CNS Last Year
Hello South PacificHelloworld New Zealand is set to ramp up its South Pacific focus.“We have the aim of creating busi-ness in the islands in a much bigger way moving forward,” says McKear-ney. “ATS and TTF are both strong market leading businesses and form the basis on which to grow.”The company currently has a small presence in Rarotonga, but McK-earney says Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Vanuatu are all obvious extensions.
NZ Expands PVG/NRTAir New Zealand is expanding capacity to Shanghai and Tokyo Narita over the northern winter, as it introduces additional frequencies to Shanghai while switching to larger aircraft on selected Tokyo flights on seasonal basis. From 17 Dec, AKL-PVG flights will increase from seven to 10 weekly; and from 30 Oct, a 777-200ER will replace the 787-9 on AKL-NRT flights.
VS London FaresWorld Aviation Systems advises agents that shoulder season has just been introduced on Virgin Atlantic sale fares to London. Return AKL-LON fares start from $2235 for sales to 30 Jun and travel 13 Jun-09 Oct.
EK Fares ChangeEmirates has announced a new long-haul market fare package will take effect for sales and travel from 17 May.In economy, there’s revised seasonal-ity across all regions and changes to seasonal surcharge dates; EK448-449 will have a surcharge of $75 per direc-tion for travel on/after 16 Jun; the day of week surcharge will be $50 outbound on Thu, Fri and Sat; there’s a reduction in economy flex fares to most Europe and South Africa desti-nations, and fare level changes to all other regions (some increases and some decreases); and one-way levels at 55% of return fares.In business class, EK448-449 will see a surcharge of $250 in each direction for travel on/after 16 Jun, and fare level increases across most regions.There’s also changes to business/econ-omy mixed class Europe combo fares and South East Asia L/Q fares. For full details, see emiratesagents.com
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P&O’s Happy Hour Agent UpdateP&O Cruises hosted more than 85 travel agent partners last week during a special roadshow to highlight its updated 2017-18 program. The happy hour event introduced agents to the line’s latest offerings, including a new voyage to Dark Mofo in Hobart, as well as all of the details of the new Pacific Ex-plorer. Midday Travel’s Scott Liu also walked away with a four-night P&O sea break cruise to the Bay of Islands. Pictured at the event is: 1 House of Travel agents (from left) Vanessa Noronha, Talita Toomata, Jacqueline Kennedy and Nadine Liddell are pictured with P&O Cruises business development manager Andy Bruce (centre). 2 Jeff Leckey, House of Travel Grabacruise; Linda Halliday, House of Travel; Lisa Cooper, House of Travel Grabacruise and Tracey-Lee Ridderhof, House of Travel. 3 Prize winner Scott Liu from Midday Travel (left) and P&O Cruises’ Ryan Taibel. 4 P&O Cruises director of sales Ryan Taibel, Sarah Driver of Gitaway Vacations, P&O Cruises business development manager Andy Bruce and Telesia Fonoti of Gitaway Vacations. 5 Ana Peni, Our Vacation Centre; Tracey Stevens, Felicity Alquist and Nicky Tucker, GO Holidays.
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A re cord nu m b e r of K i w i s yesterday set sail from Auckland on a 104-night world voyage with Princess Cruises, a feat which the line says reflects New Zealanders’ growing passion for international cruise holidays.More than 300 Kiwis are sailing on the ship, with close to 200 doing the full world cruise—more than double the number who joined Princess’ full world voyage last year. The travellers will escape the com-ing winter by heading north on the 2000-guest Sea Princess on a journey
that will visit 39 destinations in 27 countries, covering more than 28,000 nautical miles around the globe before returning to Auckland in late Aug. Highlights of the cruise include over-night visits to Dubai, St Petersburg, New York and Lima as well as transits of the Suez and Panama canals, and calls to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.As an added bonus for Kiwis, despite travelling internationally, those on-board are escaping the vagaries of fluctuating exchange rates thanks to the ability to pre-pay for main meals, accommodation and entertainment, in NZD, says the line.
. . . Looking ForwardNext year Princess will offer three world cruise options for Australasians, including a 104-night round world cruise and a 76-night Circle South America cruise, both on Sea Princess and sailing roundtrip from Auckland. Also on offer is a 71-night Circle Pa-cific cruise on Golden Princess, sailing from Sydney and returning via Auck-land, with fares from $13,969pp t/s.
Cruise For $1MSC Cruises has released a last minute 2016 deal, allowing clients to bring a friend along for only $1 (plus port charges). The offer is available on over 90 departures cruising from May through to Mar 2017, including to destinations such the Mediter-ranean, Northern Europe, Cuba and the Arabian Peninsula. Highlights include a 14-night Caribbean cruise, departing from Miami, priced from $2374 per cabin; and a seven-night Cuban adventure, departing from Havana, with prices for the first pas-senger starting at $1009 and second passenger, including port charges at $211 per cabin. The offers are valid for bookings to 24 Jun.
ISSN 1176-5275Travel Today (incorporating Tabs on Travel) is published by Tabs on Travel Ltd, New Zealand. Ph +64-9-415 [email protected][email protected]
Book your clients on any Air New Zealand flight to fly before 30 June 2016 and they could be in to win an LA experience with Dominic Bowden. Hurry,
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Int repid Travel is inspir ing travellers to go technology free, launching a new range of Digital Detox tours that focus on local in-teraction, without disruption.The four new tours will be completely free from technology, with travellers asked to sign a pledge committing to a full week without internet, cell phones, laptops, iPads and cameras before departing, and will run in four of the company’s most popular desti-nations; Thailand, Morocco, India and Ecuador.The trips were designed after feed-back from tour leaders and travellers alike suggested people are able to de-velop stronger connections when they
unplug and are completely present in a destination. “Now more than ever people are really struggling to detach from the digital world during their holidays,” says In-trepid. “We wanted to enable travellers to really unplug and focus on making meaningful connections with their fellow group members and of course, the local people.”The Digital Detox tours include Ec-uador on a Shoestring (from $850), where travellers will bargain with locals over alpaca wool at the Otavalo Markets, brave a taste of tree worms in the Amazon jungle and catch a sunrise over Banos; whilst the eight-day Golden Triangle India tour (from $980) will see travellers explore Old
No Phones On New Intrepid Trips
Delhi by rickshaw, navigate the ba-zaars in Jaipur and visit the Taj Mahal. The North Morocco Adventure (from $1090) will include navigating the souqs of Marrakech, checking out the old Fes medina and soaking up the blue-hued Chefchaouen; and the 10-day Highlights of Thailand itinerary (from $2190) will feature hot spots such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai, with the chance to master the art of cooking an authentic Thai curry, spending an evening with an ethnic hill tribe and more.The tours are also offered as regular departures, but ‘we know people will be excited to take on this challenge’, Intrepid says. For further details see intrepidtravel.com/digital-detox
Alaska RecognisedA l a s k a A i r l i n e s w a s r a n ke d highest in customer satisfaction among traditional carriers in the ninth JD Power 2016 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, says lo-cal rep World Aviation. Travellers also ranked the airline’s mileage plan highest in overall customer satisfaction.
Changes At StrayStray New Zealand general manager Brett Hudson has taken over as chief executive of the company, overseeing both the New Zealand and Southeast Asia arms of the business, following the departure of Stray Asia general manager Melissa Hutcheson. Hudson, or ‘Taxi’ as he is known, has been involved in the management of Stray New Zealand for over nine years, and started as one of the company’s driver guides. He will support Stray Asia’s regional manager, Richard North.
Scenic Matavai Resort is delighted to announce work for their much anticipated conference centre will commence mid-June. With a growing number of weddings and conferences each year, the new conference centre will offer clients more options and space for their special event. The Scenic Matavai Resort will also be adding an additional 12 rooms to the resort over the next 12 months. Wholesalers have details or for further information and site plans, please give the Hogans team a call.
New Developments at Scenic Matavai Resort
Hutchwilco Boat ShowThe Niue Tourism / Hogan and Associates team will be attending the Boat Show in Auckland this weekend. Look out for our booth which we are sharing with The Rock radio station. We will be joined by two of Niue’s top fisho’s on the stand so a great chance to come down and get the expert fishing knowledge!
TOURS CONSULTANT CHRISTCHURCH BASED
Kirra Tours & Holidays are one of New Zealand’s leading coach touring operators and are seeking an experienced tours consultant to join their team, with the position to be based in Christchurch.
The role is varied and involves reservations, working closely with inbound operators and retail travel agencies, processing tour documentation, liaising with suppliers and the meet and greet of our tours.
The successful applicant will need the following attributes:• Travel industry experience, ideally within an inbound or coach tour operator environment •
• Extensive knowledge of, and a passion for, New Zealand as a holiday destination • • Excellent written and oral communication skills• An eye for attention to detail •
• Self motivated with the ability to work autonomously • Customer Service focused •
If you are seeking a new challenge and are interested in joining the Kirra team, then we want to hear from you.
Please email your CV with a covering letter to Chris Bowdidge: [email protected] by Wednesday 18 May 2016
Adventure World advises agents of its new seven-day Best of Jordan itinerary. Clients will explore the classical city of Jerash, the biblical site of Mount Nebo, the city of Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. It is priced from $2529 including accommodation, se-lect meals, transfers and sightseeing as specified and an English speak-ing guide. The itinerary is featured on page 88 of the new Adventure World Africa, Egypt & Middle East brochure.
Denarau CarnivalPort Denarau in Fiji is to host a carnival on the last Sat of every month, complete with rides, candy floss, popcorn, shopping and food stalls. The Courts Port Denarau Car-nival will be held 0900-2400 and kicks off from 28 May.
Hawaiian Airlines’ local boss, Russell Williss, has received an award in the US for his work in pro-moting Oregon and Port-land to New Zealanders.Williss received the Rose City Award from Travel Portland for helping in-crease the number of visi-tors through his promotion of Honolulu as a convenient hub for Kiwis travelling to the US.The number of people trav-elling in both directions between Oregon and New Zealand is up 23% in the last year, and has grown 41% since 2013, says Williss—who says Kiwis are looking for new experi-ences when travelling to the US.Many are now stopping over in Ho-nolulu before travelling on to a wider range of US cities, including 11 desti-nations serviced by HA, he says.“US tourism opportunities for New
Rusty Thanked For Oregon Promotion
Zealanders have increased signifi-cantly in recent years as they look beyond the traditional hub of Los Angeles to explore other cities,” says Williss—who adds that HA is the ‘obvious choice’ for travel to Portland due to its convenient flight schedules and the relative ease of its HNL hub compared to some of the larger con-necting points on the mainland.Williss is pictured (centre) with Jim Dotson, general manager Embassy Suites Airport and outgoing chair of the Travel Portland Board of Direc-tors (left) and Jeff Miller, president and chief executive of Travel Port-land (right).
Best Of Jordan
Cattle Class? No ThanksAn Air India flight from Delhi to Shanghai was delayed by two hours after a maintenance engineer refused to take his seat in economy class. Reports say the engineer, who was flying as staff on duty to China to cover for a colleague, demanded to be moved to business class, despite the fact that it was full. Senior officials were then forced to board the plane to intervene.
BNE Matilda MusicalGO Holidays advises agents that two nights’ accommodation and an A Re-serve Matinee Ticket for Matilda the Musical in Brisbane is from $265pp t/s, for sales to 09 Feb 2017 and travel 01 Dec-13 Feb 2017.
Your clients will arrive relaxed thanks to exceptional levels of comfort on board the Dreamliner 787-9 now fl ying non-stop to Honolulu. Plus, they can make the most of all that Hawaii’s shopping has to offer, with two 23kg checke d bags with The Works.
Arrive relaxed in Honolulu
From shopping for bargains to cocktails in the infinity pool and a sunset cruise, it was an indul-gent day in Hawaii for the Kiwi travel industry delegation on Air New Zealand’s inaugural Dream-liner flight to Honolulu.Despite the wea ker NZD-USD exchange rate, shopping remains a firm favourite pastime for visit-
ing Kiwis. The recently-expanded Ala Moana Center (located about a 10-minute drive and USD2 trolley ride from most Waikiki hotels) is a one-stop shopping mecca. Some 30 new stores including Bloomingdales and Zara have opened at the mall—with more to come.That said those in the group noted that an increasing number of well-
known brands like H&M, Sephora, Longs and Victoria’s Secret have now opened in Waikiki. The Waikiki stores are open until very late at night (some are open until mid-night) making it ideal for clients who want to make the most of their days touring or at the beach and shop at night.Waikele Premium Outlets continues to be a popular choice for serious bargain hunters and shuttles from Waikiki are as little as USD12. How-ever it’s at least a half-day affair. Those short on time could try the Ross Dress For Less stores which of-fer an ever-changing array of items from homewares, clothes and shoes for a fraction of the recommended retail price. There’s one outlet lo-cated on Seaside Ave in Waikiki, and open late, and another behind the Ala Moana Center.Part of Hawaii’s enduring appeal is to be able to combine shopping and touring with relaxing at the pool or beach—as experienced first hand by those on the famil.Getting out on the water in some way, shape or form is highly recom-mended. The options range from stand-up paddle boarding and snor-kelling tours to cruises.
Shopping, Sun And Sailing
Lobster Dinners, Dancing And Cocktails: Sunset Cruising In WaikikiA wide range of operators offer a sunset cruise product, from the catamarans on Waikiki Beach through to dinner cruises. The Kiwi group last night experienced Atlantis Cruises’ Royal Sunset Dinner cruise which was complete with onboard dancing and entertainment as well as a five course meal boasting a whole lobster (pictured). There’s a bar on-board and the two-hour cruise is billed as the only dinner cruise which takes in the Kahala Coastline past Diamond Head (and home to the rich and famous) as well as sailing along Waikiki Beach. The cruise is priced around USD129 per adult and includes free transfer from select Waikiki hotels. Wholesalers have details or see atlantisadventures.com1 Flight Centre’s Jodie Burnard and Tim Allen from House of Travel are pictured in front of Waikiki’s iconic Diamond Head during last night’s sunset cruise. 2 Enjoying the trip, which cruised along the coast line and past Diamond Head is You Travel’s Many Veale and Adele Barker from House of Travel. 3 HoT’s Kate Murchison and celebrity chef Anna-belle White pictured on the Atlantis. 4 It was cocktail o’clock for Hawaii Tourism’s Darragh Walshe and Adele Barker from Air New Zealand on last night’s Atlantis sunset dinner cruise.
QF To Boost Kiwi LoyaltyQ a n t a s h a s p a r t n e r e d w i t h Meridian to further grow its fre-quent flyer base in New Zealand, which is already the second largest loyalty market.Meridian is offering Kiwis free membership to the QF frequent flyer programme and giving new cus-tomers 10,000 Qantas Points, while existing Meridian customers can enter a draw to win one of 10 prizes of 20,000 points.Qantas Loyalty boss Lesley Grant says the partnership is well-timed as Kiwis can now earn and redeem points on nearly 500 weekly Jetstar domestic flights, as well as inter-national flights with Jetstar, Qan-tas and Qantas’ partners including American Airlines and Emirates.“New Zealand has the second largest population of Qantas Frequent Fly-ers and it’s important for us to keep expanding our range of programme partners as we continue to grow our member base,” says Grant.
. . . Frequent BuyersQantas has also revealed the top three items redeemed in its online store by its Frequent Flyers—top-ping the list is a Weber BBQ, fol-lowing by Bose noise cancelling headphones and a 64GB iPhone 6. The top three destinations visited by QF’s Kiwi frequent flyers are Sydney, Melbourne and Nadi.
Jet Park ConferencesJet Park Hotel Auckland’s 250 person conference centre is on track to open in Jun, it advises. The facility will cater to conferences, meetings and events, and it has an opening special day delegate rate of $55 per delegate. T&Cs apply. See jetpark.co.nz
DL’s Seattle ShuttlesDelta Air Lines has added Shuttle service from Seattle to San Francisco and Los Angeles, complementing its existing Shuttle service between LAX and SFO. DL’s Shuttle service is aimed at business travellers and offers dedi-cated check-in counters, gates near security, free newspapers, assigned seating and other amenities includ-ing snacks, drinks and Wi-Fi.
Dubai’s Bentley Suite
The availability of reward seats has improved in the last six years, despite what comments on fre-quent flyers forums may suggest, according to a new IdeaWorks and Switchfly study.Overall availability is up for the third year in a row, particularly outside of the US, according to the Switchfly Re-ward Seat Availability study. It’s based on 7140 queries made on the websites of 25 frequent flyer programmes dur-ing Mar for travel this year.This year 76.6% of queries yielded re-ward seats, compared to 74% last year and 72.4% in 2014. Long-haul avail-ability has also improved, with eight
airlines having availability scores above 70% in 2016, compared to three in 2010. “This survey reflects the fact that air-lines can’t afford to take their custom-ers for granted,” says Switchfly boss Daniel Farrar, who says 21st century consumers are ‘savvy and plugged-in’. “They know when their loyalty pro-grammes are offering them a real val-ue and when they are not delivering; and they don’t have time for loyalty programmes that aren’t delivering, es-pecially in such a competitive space.”
. . . Top AirlinesOf the programmes surveyed, airber-lin and Southwest were top with 100% availability of reward seats. Virgin Australia scored highly with 94.3%, as did the Qantas Group with 89.3%—an improvement of 16.4 points on the year before. Other high-performing carriers included Korean Air (84.3%), China Southern (82.9%), Emirates (78.6%), Air China (77.9%) and Ca-thay Pacific (74.3%).The study noted that ‘value-oriented’ airlines like Virgin Australia offer bet-ter availability.When it comes to long-haul reward availability, which saw a 17 percentage point jump in 2016, China Southern and Air Canada topped the table with 88.6% availability. The Lufthansa Group climbed 11.4 points to 85.7%; and the Qantas Group improved by 30 points, with an average 78.6% avail-ability of long-haul reward seats.Emirates (77.1%), United Airlines (71.4%), Korean Air (71.4%), Air Chi-na (65.7%), Air France KLM (60.0%), Cathay (58.6%) and Delta (55.7%) all made it into the top 10.The study noted that the prices of these rewards have generally in-creased over time—and that notable price hikes by US-based carriers have mitigated availability improvement benefits.
Reward Seat Availability Improves
The St Regis Dubai in Al Habtoor City has introduced the region’s first Bentley Suite. The custom-designed one-bedroom Bentley Suite features a spacious entry foyer, generous living room and dining area with floor to ceil-ing windows overlooking the ho-tel’s gardens, as well as a marble bathroom, walk-in-wardrobe and dedicated dressing area. It is the third Bentley Suite in the world, fol-lowing the launch of suites at The St Regis New York in 2012 and The St Regis Istanbul last year. Rates start at AED25,000 per night.
About the companyMarine Tourism Management is the management company of highly successful ‘marine tourism’ brands in the Fiji and Whitsunday Islands. The brands range from targeting the edgy backpacker through to the upmarket MICE sector. About the roleMarine Tourism Management has a fantastic opening for a passionate, dedicated and extremely impressive individual with proven experience in sales within the Travel Industry. This really is an outstanding oppor-tunity which will allow you to showcase your sales skill set while also developing in an industry that will ensure your career path.Reporting through to a supportive, successful and knowledgeable Man-ager who will allow you the autonomy to do your thing and offer you the support and tools to be a huge success. Responsible for driving sales of Awesome Adventures Fiji, Vinaka Fiji Volunteering and Awesome Whitsundays across Sydney.Skills & experience:• A minimum of at least 1-2 years successful sales experience in the
backpacker and/or youth market• Excellent presentation skills• Business development experience• Exposure to Fiji and/or Queensland, in particular The Whitsundays• Highly organised!Please attach your CV in your covering letter, please include a bit about yourself and your personality.
Apply now by emailing [email protected] must be in by COB Monday 23 May 2016
SALES EXECUTIVE
Bollywood Park For DXBBollywood Parks Dubai—the first Bollywood theme park in the world —is set to open in Oct, advises Dubai Tourism. Some features of the park include film studios, where attendees can try their hand at making a Bol-lywood movie; a royal dining experi-ence, Mughal-e-azam; a venue, Rock On, with live music and DJs; a replica of Mumbai’s iconic Victoria Station; and a theatre that features four day-time shows and one night show daily, in Broadway style, just to name a few. To take a behind the scenes look at the theme park, CLICK HERE
Topdeck has released its Europe: Autumn, Winter, Spring 2016/17 brochure, featuring an additional six trips to allow for continued growth; and it’s out one month ear-lier than last year in a bid to keep up with demand.“With an overall increase of 47% since 2013/14, new trips have been added to keep up with demand,” says Topdeck general manager Asia Pacific Joe Ponte, who says the Australian and New Zealand mar-
kets have seen grow th of 54%. “We have also included new activi-ties on existing trips, such as a stop at Disneyland on the Paris Christmas trip and participation in the torchlight processions during Hogmanay in Edinburgh, one of the best New Year’s celebrations in the world, further add-ing to the Topdecker experience.” The 24-day Winter Spirit is the most popular trip, adds Ponte, as it is often booked by Kiwi teachers taking ad-vantage of the long summer school holidays and swapping it for a white European Christmas. “It’s always a good idea to see and experience a white Christmas at least once in your life—nothing can compare to the buzz of the festive season, the Christ-mas markets and mulled wine—the atmosphere is like none other and has to be experienced to be understood.”New trips include the four-day Iceland Adventure; 24-day Western Compass; seven-day Southern Runner; 16-day Western Corners; 10-day Western Runner; and the nine-day Northern Directions. Clients who book and pay in full by 10 Jun will receive 10% off.
Topdeck: Euro Xmas A Highlight
Viva Takes Agents To South AmericaA group of Kiwi agents are currently experiencing the best of Uruguay and Buenos Aires, thanks to Viva Expeditions and Air New Zealand.“Our group has been having a fantastic time exploring the history and charm of Colonia’s cobblestones streets, and sampling the local wines, cheeses and other amazing flavours from nearby Carmelo,” says host Tara Sutherland of Viva. She suggests clients who are heading to BUE add Uruguay to their trip, as ferries across the River Plate (Rio Plata) are fast and modern, it’s just over an hour to Colonia and ‘it’s a great way to add another country to your list without another flight’. Pictured is Tara Sutherland, Viva Expeditions.
Mauritius E-BikesOutrigger Mauritius Beach Resort has added electric bikes to its offering, and is the first resort in Mauritius to do so. At full speed the bike can go 25km per hour, and while they do require some human exertion, its electronic motor makes cycling a little easier on travellers. Guests of the resort are able to explore the surround-ings on the new bikes, or arrange a guided excursion to further discover the area, such as half-day or full-day trips to Le Morne Bra-bant, Chamarel or Souillac. The bikes are available for MUR600 per hour or from MUR1725 for a half day ride with a guide.
Best KL ShoppingShopping in Kuala Lumpur is great year-round but the 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 27 Jun-31 Aug makes winter the perfect time to experience the best shopping and dining, with a range promotions and specials on offer, says Tourism Malaysia. Clients should check out The Golden Triangle, known as KL’s commercial shopping and entertainment hub, with shopping malls, hotels, and some of the best re-tail bargains; whilst Bukit Bintang St is the best place to find designer brands and electronic goods. Central Market is the best for souvenirs, adds Tourism Malaysia; whilst Berjaya Times Square is great for those who to prefer to shop within a mall—and this one is even home to a theme park.
