India Launches Visa on Arrival for Tourists from Five Nations

In a major boost for Commonwealth Games 2010, Indian government has introduced for the first time `visa on arrival' scheme for tourists from five countries from early next year.

Tourists from Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan will be given visa on arrival facility on a pilot basis for a period of one year, Sujit Banerjee, tourism secretary, said. The scheme will be applicable in airports as well as ports across the country.

The decision was taken after tourism ministry had sought introduction of the scheme for tourists coming from these countries which are potential source markets for India. Keeping in view present-day threat perception, the ministry has suggested that citizens from nine countries including Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Netherlands, Laos, Japan, Cambodia and South Africa be allowed to avail this facility.

"We will pursue extending the VoA facility to the remaining four countries as well,'' Banerjee said.

Visa on arrival facility is offered by several southeast Asian countries and proves popular with foreign tourists looking for a short break. Germany and Japan are among the top 10 source countries for India while Brazil and Netherlands have shown encouraging growth over the last year.
The modalities of implementation of the scheme are being worked out with all the stakeholders and will be notified very shortly, Banerjee said. The visa on arrival scheme is expected to provide a quantum jump in foreign tourist arrivals to India from these countries.

"We hope that visa on arrival facility will give a fillip to foreign tourist arrivals. We have kept security concerns on mind before restricting the facility to these five countries,'' a ministry source said.

Incidentally, India has already introduced long-term multiple entry visa for 18 countries including France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Vietnam in 2006.

Due to security reasons, countries like the US, UK and Pakistan are out of the list of nine countries that will be accorded the facility, officials said. But this could change once airlines offer advance passenger information.

Media's Brand of the Year Goes to AirAsia

AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial Kathleen Tan (right) accepting the Brand of the Year award presented by Mr. Louis Boswell of AETN All Asia Networks at Media's Agency of the Year (AOY) Awards, held at the St. Regis in Singapore

Awarded for constant innovations and bold ideas in branding campaigns

AirAsia, the world's best low-cost carrier, continues its award winning streak when the airline was bestowed the prestigious Brand of the Year award at Media's Agency of the Year (AOY) Awards, held at the St. Regis in Singapore.

In its 16th year, the Agency of the Year Awards recognizes inspired brand leadership, management excellence, outstanding business performance and overall achievements in the Asia-Pacific advertising and communications industry.

For the Brand of the Year category, AirAsia was awarded the accolade for its constant innovations and bold ideas in branding campaigns and advertisements to achieve marketing success. Despite the global economic downturn, AirAsia continued to embark on numerous branding campaigns which in turn became not only the industry's benchmark, but lead the way to demonstrate aggressive branding efforts which are essential to keep the brand relevant, alive and fresh especially during challenging times.

The airline’s perseverance is often praised by aviation and economic experts, and its success formula is regularly emulated by others.

AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan said, “As a young airline, we are very elated with this win, as it is a very important recognition to our tireless efforts in bringing the AirAsia brand to the forefront. To all our 7,500 staff who are also our brand ambassadors, this win is a testament of each individual’s hard work and dedication in making AirAsia a reputable brand. Indeed, we strive very hard to make the airline a household name where low-fares are concerned, and we are happy that all of our endeavours bear fruit.

“It has been a challenging year on the economic front, but our diligent efforts have proved otherwise as we continue to garner sales through our low fares campaigns on our number one airasia.com website and hot package deals via our GoHoliday travel portal. This is purely because the public are aware that we are a reputable and trustworthy brand, where they could derive great value and excellent services.”

The airline is totally committed in building its brand and bringing it to greater heights. Utmost commitment is essential to instill confidence and create emotional attachments of the masses with the brand. For instance, the airline’s alliance with popular sports teams such as Williams F1 and Oakland Raiders ignites further interest to the brand and generates a sense of belonging among its fans and sports enthusiasts. Especially in new markets, association with a local household brand will definitely raise the brand’s profile and instill confidence in the market especially among the youth to grow with us; enhancing our guests flying experience further .

Kathleen added, “In order stay ahead of the competition, we need to keep our brand exciting, bright and most importantly credible. We want our guests to feel good about the AirAsia experience and this will definitely keep them coming back for more.”

AirAsia is also a passionate user of technology in its branding and marketing efforts.

Social media is one of AirAsia’s important branding campaign mechanisms, which allows the airline to address the conventional limitations of direct push marketing. With its own Facebook page, it is akin to a forum that invites participation from the public, creating an extension for them to be passionate and connected to the AirAsia brand. The AirAsia Facebook page is currently the number ONE ranking Facebook corporate account in the transportation field, quickly closing in on a six figure fan base.

Twitter is another interesting tool that is utilized for transmission of short marketing blurbs, updating guests with new developments and promotions. Keeping guests in the loop through Twitter’s short messaging is absolutely alluring – due to its current chic status – and free to the masses.

Media's Editor in Chief and AOY jury chair, Atifa Hargrave-Silk said, “AirAsia is to be given the award for its achievement in building its brand and expanding its international profile in a year when the economic downturn crippled demand for air travel.

“AirAsia's first ever brand campaign launched in Asia in October, shifting consumers’ mindset of low-cost carriers by showcasing the airline's innovation, high quality service and unique experience. The airline this year also proved it had a solid grasp of the online space, in particular its ‘one million free seats’ campaign, which set a new international sales record, with almost 900,000 seats being booked 48 hours after the launch.”

In deciding the ultimate recipient of the award, Media Magazine considers the advertiser's vision – direction and focus on goals, boldness – innovative solutions that provides a return on marketing investment, brand custodian, understanding of competitive or industry challenges and a plan to overcome them and of course achievements and successes that the client has faced and overcome to achieve proven business and marketing results.

AirAsia launched a regional campaign in October, to position the world’s best low-cost airline as a high quality, sleek and cool brand.

Aptly themed ‘Have You Flown AirAsia?’, the campaign aimed to shift consumers’ mindset of low-cost carriers by showcasing the airline’s innovation, high quality service and unique experience.

The campaign was spearheaded be the television commercial directed by the late Yasmin Ahmad which rolled out across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand on 14th October 2009. It was supported by online, outdoor, print and social media presence. A refreshing microsite has also been created (www.haveyouflownairasia.com) to keep the brand relevant and dynamic. Exciting contests and promotions were held, treating winners to premium events and concerts.

The integrated format of this campaign is a great example of how television, print and social media can work together to engage today’s well-travelled consumers.

About AirAsia and AirAsia X
AirAsia, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, services the most extensive network with 130 routes covering more than 70 destinations. Within a period of 7 years of operation, AirAsia has carried over 82 million passengers and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to 85. The airline today is proud to be a truly Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline with established operations based in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, servicing a network stretching across all Asean countries, China, India and Bangladesh. This is further complemented by AirAsia X, its low cost long-haul affiliate carrier that currently flies to destinations in China, Australia the UK and the Middle East. AirAsia is the only regional carrier with the largest destination network and highest flight frequencies. AirAsia has been awarded the 2009 World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax and Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Airline of the Year Award for 2009.

About Media Magazine
Media magazine was launched in 1974 to report on an emerging media and marketing industry in Asia-Pacific. Since that time, Media has grown to be the authoritative voice of the media, marketing and advertising community in the region.

In October 2000, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, the UK's largest independently-owned publishing group and publisher of market-leading titles Campaign and Marketing acquired Media and since then has invested significantly in the title.

Well balanced between marketing, advertising and media coverage, Media informs, educates and entertains its influential audience and helps industry professionals and marketers become more effective in building brands and reaching consumers across a variety of touch points, in an intensely-competitive and cluttered marketplace.

Ensuring that Media remains an authoritative information source of industry developments, the title provides timely reporting of breaking news and in-depth analysis on issues, communications channels and disciplines that have gained importance with the industry's evolution, business category activity, and media and marketing practitioners (source:www.media.asia)

For further information, please contact AirAsia Communications: Nazatul Ekma Mokhtar at:
nazatulekmamokhtar@airasia.com

TIME 2009 kick-started Visit Lombok Sumbawa Year 2012

After having visited the annual event of Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) already two times in Jogjakarta and Makassar, I was at least very happy to get a late invitation to attend TIME 2009, which was held at Santosa Villas & Resort in Senggigi, Lombok on October 16-19 this year. Thanks to the invitation letter of the Chairperson of the Steering Committee of TIME 2009, Mrs. Meity Robot, the Bangkok Office of Garuda Indonesia issued me a sponsored return ticket on October 15, just two hours before leaving from Bangkok to Jakarta. After one night in Jakarta’s busy metropolis, the journey continued to Mataram, which is the capital of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Arriving in the early afternoon on October 16, I was transferred to the Jayakarta Beach Resort & Spa, where I had a complimentary hotel accommodation to participate in TIME 2009. I missed the half-day sightseeing tour in Mataram, but was delighted to attend a welcome dinner reception hosted by the Head of West Lombok Regency at Taman Narmada, a beautiful park, which was called after a river in India.

The official opening ceremony of TIME 2009 followed next morning. It was up to Dr. Sapta Nirwandar, Director General of Marketing, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, to praise the event as an integral part of the West Nusa Tenggara Province program to kick-start “Visit Lombok Sumbaya Year 2012.” The West Nusa Tenggara Province consists of the two islands of Lombok and Sumbawa that are famous for their pristine beaches, majestic volcanic mountains, lush rain forests and blue oceans. That is why the two islands have become a popular destination for leisure as well as MICE travel and will be developed accordingly.

During the official media conference on the morning of October 17 it was revealed that Indonesia’s tourism performance so far enjoyed a 2.5% growth (January-August) in 2009 compared to 2008. Though disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, are unpredictable, Indonesia is expecting some 6.5 million tourists this year by following a road map of marketing. The Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, H.E. Muhammad Zainul Majdi, explained that Lombok alone is targeting 1 million tourists in the future. In the afternoon, there was the media conference by the Organising Committee, where it was confirmed that TIME has attracted 127 buyers from 25 countries. The top foreign buyers came from South Korea, Malaysia & India, USA, and the Netherlands, while 250 seller delegates from 15 provinces in Indonesia occupied 84 booths at the exhibition site, dominated by West Nusa Tenggara, Jakarta, Bali, Central Java, and East Kalimantan among others.

With such a positive image of Indonesia under one roof, the island of Lombok was featured as one of the upcoming popular global destinations particular for leisure, since neighbouring Bali is already overexposed. Especially, “Eco-Tourism” and “Marine Tourism” will have a great potential to be developed in Lombok, and if this will be done slowly and carefully, the island will attract the international market for sure. Lombok is only 20 minutes away by air from Bali and inter-island connections by sea are established. Furthermore, there are almost 3,500 hotel rooms offering international standard.

There was another dinner reception at the Governor’s Residence in Mataram hosted by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism and the Governor of West Nusa Tengarra, where a colourful fashion show entertained the invited guests.

On October 18, there was a press conference by the West Nusa Tenggara Culture & Tourism Office and Lombok Sumbawa Tourism Promotion Board that introduced the new Lombok International Airport under construction. The construction site is in Central Lombok on the way to Kute Beach in the south of the island. Under construction since 2007 with the help of 600 workers, a runway of 2,750m and a passenger terminal showing a local “Sasak” roof-style, the airport should be ready to serve two million passengers at the end of 2010. Also, a needed meeting & convention hall is in the planning stage.

There followed press conferences by Garuda Indonesia, which was the official airline of TIME 2009, and Merpati Airlines, which flies the Denpasar/Bali-Mataram/Lombok route and also to Bima in Sumbawa. In terms of accessibility, Lombok is well connected. Merpati Airlines flies in from Kuala Lumpur via Surabaya, while Silk Air flies directly from Singapore. Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air have frequent flights from Jakarta. Besides, Garuda Indonesia has a daily flight from Jakarta to Bangkok since October 25 and a flight from Jakarta to Dubai and Amsterdam.

The social highlight of TIME 2009 was without doubt the sumptuous farewell dinner reception at the Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort hosted by the Vice-Governor of West Nusa Tenggara and Head of East Kutai Regency from Kalimantan. An amazing dance group of the Dayak people entertained the invited guests until late in the night. An excursion for interested media participants was organised to the new airport in the morning of November 19, which showed that construction still goes on for a long time. If the airport will be completely ready in 2012 to receive international tourists that will be good enough. From there, tourists can then easily visit some villages of the aboriginal Sasak people further south and stay in the impressive “Novotel” at one of the finest beach areas of Indonesia.

Finally, TIME 2009 concluded with the successful statement that the event has booked an estimated transaction of USD17.48 million – an increase of 15% from last year’s TIME held in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Also, Lombok will be the host again next year for TIME 2010 and will be banking on the lessons learnt this time.

Last not least, some international buyers and media were given an opportunity to take part in the post tour program to visit Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three “Gili” islands off Lombok’s coast in the Northwest. From there, tourists can continue to Bali on board the new speedboat called Gili Cat after staying at Hotel Vila Ombak or any other accommodation on the traffic-free island.

Hotel Vila Ombak features 110 air-conditioned rooms and a large swimming pool. Various activities can be done during your stay, such as swimming, snorkelling and diving in the sea. Free access to “Internet” facilities is worth mentioning in a world that is becoming more and more global. For the adventurous ones, take an 8km ride on a traditional horse cart to circumvent the island and watch the sunset towards Mount Agung in Bali or just watch the sunrise over Mount Rinjani in Lombok.

When I left early in the morning of November 22 from Mataram via Jakarta back to Bangkok with Garuda Indonesia, I still felt like a bird with its wings looking down to Gili Trawangan, one of the last paradises in Indonesia. Let “Visit Lombok Sumbawa 2012” becoming a successful year.
By Media Travel Consultant, Reinhard Hohler