8.3.2019 TTG Show Daily ITB Berlin 8
Report Beach resorts
Coastal escapes
A look at beach resort destinations that are making waves
in South-east Asia’s tourism development scene
PHUKET: NOT PURELY BEACHES
Phuket has largely built its stature as a
beach holiday island, but it is increasingly
transforming into an urbanised holiday
destination, shaped by the forces of grow-
ing airlift, surging visitor numbers and
changing source markets.
“A definite shift in geographic markets
over the past 10 years”, with China, Rus-
sia and Australia making up bigger mar-
ket shares than before, has led to “rising
demand for non-beach centric activities”,
according to a recent report by C9 Hotel-
works.
Michael Ayling, general manager of
Blue Tree Phuket – a US$40 million water
park and lagoon destination opening in
early 2019 – thinks the attractions sector
is still underserved in Phuket, as the island
has comparatively fewer water parks than
Pattaya and Hua Hin.
Besides Blue Tree Phuket, other up-
coming themed tourism attractions in-
clude Vana Nava Water Park, Entertain-
ment Park, and Aquaria at the new Central
Festival mall extension.
The arrival of more theme parks will
enable Phuket to have a stronger year-
round appeal, said Ayling, as the focus of
tourist activities can turn inland during
the monsoon months from May to Octo-
ber.
At the same time, the arrival of Middle
Eastern airlines bringing more direct air
connections to Phuket is already turning
the island into a year-round destination,
attracting not just the regional market but
European visitors too.
Matthew Hindmarch, director of ho-
tels and resorts, Aksara Collection, noted:
“The Scandinavians are coming year-
round now thanks to growing air connec-
tivity. A traditional high season market
like Denmark is starting to travel year-
round.”
Following the recent expansion of
the Phuket International Airport, the
Airports of Thailand has announced a
US$1.8 billion second airport in Phang
Nga, just over the Sarasin Bridge. C9 ex-
pects Phuket’s improving infrastructure
to create a broader Greater Phuket Tour-
ism Triangle that includes Phang Nga to
add diversity and refresh Phuket’s matur-
ing global appeal.
However, industry players warn of
room oversupply in Phuket, which is al-
ready showing strains of overdevelop-
ment, especially in Patong Beach.
“It’s getting difficult to sell Phuket,” said
Richard Brouwer, CEO of Khiri Travel,
as the deluge of hotel development and
visitors have made Phuket into “a prime
beach destination for the volume market”.
David Kevan, partner and product per-
son of UK-based Chic Locations, agreed:
“Phuket doesn’t need any more hotels – it
has enough.”
According to C9, Phuket has a total of
1,774 tourist accommodation establish-
ments with 84,427 keys as of 1Q2018, in-
cluding registered and unregistered prop-
erties.
Meanwhile, the popular holiday island
sees no sign of abatement in its still-ex-
panding hotel supply, including a Man-
darin Oriental coming in 2022. – Xinyi
Liang-Pholsena
CEBU: OVERTOURISM RISK AMID
GROWING POPULARITY
More hotels and resorts will dot Cebu’s
Mactan Island over the next several years,
with investors and visitors lured by the
destination’s growing popularity and bet-
ter accessibility.
Already boasting the biggest cluster of
upmarket hotels and resorts including a
Shangri-La, Movenpick, Plantation Bay
and Maribago, Cebu will soon welcome
the 271-key Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu
and the 250-key Sheraton Mactan Resort
in 2019, plus upmarket local hospitality
brands like Aruga, Grafix, Ayala Land’s
Seagrove in the pipeline.
Mactan, already known as a luxury
beach destination, will undoubtedly draw
more tourists with the July opening of
Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s
(MCIA) resort-themed Terminal 2.
With better airport infrastructure and
an array of properties that other destina-
tions lack, Cebu was the top alternative
destination in lieu of Boracay, which was
closed for a six-month rehabilitation in
2018.
Indeed, Margie Munsayac, vice presi-
dent – sales and marketing, Bluewater
Resorts, confirmed that rooms in Mactan
are difficult to secure in Mactan during the
period of Boracay’s closure.
Mactan attracts mainly Asians, spe-
cifically North Asians, for stays of three to
four nights.
Jid Velasco, director of sales and mar-
keting, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in
Mactan, shared that there’s almost no dis-
tinction between the high and low seasons
for the property due to the steady stream
of guests year-round.
But with hotel and resort developments
centred in Mactan’s Puerto Engano area,
the destination’s “carrying capacity is be-
coming a real concern for the industry”,
said Jojo Clemente, president of Tourism
Congress of the Philippines (TCP), who
also urged a study to address the possibil-
ity of overcapacity and overdevelopment
Koh Yao Noi, Phuket
in Mactan.
Clemente, who became an advocate for
establishing the carrying capacity of tour-
ist destinations in the Philippines follow-
ing Boracay’s closure, opined that Mactan
can still accommodate “a few more re-
sorts” to maintain its current arrivals but
certainly “not too much” to avoid strains
on the island’s resources. – Rosa Ocampo
BINTAN: LUXURY SHEEN GROWING
Bintan has long been a weekend getaway
for city slickers from Singapore, but few
would associate the Indonesian island as
a real luxury destination because of a per-
ceived lack of infrastructure to cater to the
upper upscale market, and little by way of
a concerted and coordinated effort among
its players to market it as one.
This is steadily changing as more high-
end accommodation and facilities open
on the island, their own marketing and
promotions helping to lift the island’s
high-end image to a global audience and,
perhaps eventually, creating a critical mass
needed to trumpet Bintan jointly and
consistently as a glamorous getaway.
The presence of fresh company could
be good news for Banyan Tree Holdings,
the swashbuckler which led the way in
the luxury market by opening Banyan
Tree Bintan in 1994 in Lagoi, an area that
boasts pristine coastline, tropical jungles
and unspoiled natural landscapes.
Then came The Sanchaya, which en-
tered Bintan in December 2014 and paved
the way for a new era of uber luxury on
the island as an exclusive beachfront es-
tate featuring 29 villas and suites. Its four-
bedroom Vanda Villa is said to be Bintan’s
only US$10,000-a-night villa.
The question is, beyond more luxury
accommodations, what is actually luxuri-
ous about Bintan?
Just as Banyan Tree Bintan peddled
the idea of a world-class retreat when it
opened – which obviously sells as the re-
sort is still standing after 24 years – The
Sanchaya’s estate manager Magnus Olov-
son too believes in “restorative” luxury.
Said Olovson: “New York has its Hamp-
tons, Sydney the Blue Mountains and
Rome its Naples (for weekend escapes)...
In Singapore, Bintan has emerged as such
a retreat, proving to be a major drawing
card for the well heeled. Bintan is also an
ideal go-to retreat for those wishing to
temporarily escape bustling Jakarta.
Bintan Resorts International spokes-
person Iris Kok also pointed out that the
island has more than just luxury accom-
modation to cater to luxe travellers. Citing
Treasure Bay Bintan as an example, she
said: “Treasure Bay Bintan has gotten so
much social media attention and is insta-
famous for the appealing shade of blue of
its 6.3ha Crystal Lagoon, South-east Asia’s
first and largest recreational sea-water la-
goon.”
The newest luxury kid on the block in
Bintan is Cenizaro Hotels & Resorts, a
Singapore-based group which owns The
Sheraton Towers Singapore, and owns and
operates its own upmarket hotel brand,
The Residence, with properties in Tunisia,
Mauritius, Zanzibar and Maldives.
Cenizaro shows its confidence in Bin-
tan as an upmarket destination not only
by fielding the latest Residence there, but
in a greenfield site in the east of the is-
land, far away from Lagoi which is in the
north.
Andy Xie, executive director of The
Residence Bintan, commented: “Bin-
tan has grown a lot in terms of visibility
with (government) initiatives such as the
Batam-Bintan Crossborder (an event to
develop the Singapore and Malaysian
markets for Batam and Bintan) last year.
“We believe there will be many forth-
coming initiatives that will further put
Bintan on the map, which is why we have
also chosen to open a property there.” –
Mimi Hudoyo
PHU QUOC: A NEW STAR ARISES
Vietnam’s emerging island of Phu Quoc is
welcoming a crop of luxury properties, at-
tracting a new tier of traveller to its shores.
Phu Quoc has planted itself on the
global tourist radar and is gearing up to
be a major player in the country’s tourism
stakes, welcoming an increasing number
of visitors and development.
According to the latest figures from Vi-
etnam National Administration of Tour-
ism, in 2017 the island received nearly two
million visitors, a 35 percent year-on-year
increase. This figure is expected to rise,
with Phu Quoc International Airport un-
dergoing an upgrade to handle five mil-
lion visitors annually by 2020 and seven
million by 2030.
The latest wave in Phu Quoc’s rise has
seen a swathe of luxury resorts land on the
island, transforming it from a relatively
unknown spot on the South-east Asia
backpacker trail to a sought-after destina-
tion.
The opening of the 459-room Phu
Quoc Long Beach Resort in June is among
the latest of international brands launch-
ing on Phu Quoc.
JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay
opened in 4Q2017, while Novotel Phu
JW Marriott Phu Quoc