Australia’s Wotif buys Asia Web Direct

AWD's four directors

Australia-based Wotif.com Holdings Limited (Wotif), a leading online travel distribution company, has bought Asia Web Direct (HK) Ltd (AWD), it was announced on February 4.

Founded in 1993 by long-term Phuket resident Neil Cumming, AWD is regarded by many as the Southeast Asia pioneer in online hotel bookings with instant confirmation. AWD’s network of more than 100 websites attracts about 3 million visitors a month and in 2007 about 450,000 room nights were booked through its sites.

The AWD network includes such well known destination websites as Phuket.com, Bangkok.com, LateStays.com and SmartStays.com.

Robbie Cooke, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Wotif, said the combination of Wotif and AWD creates an exciting opportunity to secure a greater share of Southeast Asian markets for online bookings. These markets, he explained, are likely to see strong growth in coming years as consumers in Asia follow the worldwide trend of booking rooms online.

“The Wotif and AWD operations are a very complementary fit. The transaction offers Wotif’s existing Asian team and all the teams at AWD an opportunity to continue the impressive growth achieved by both companies to date.

“It is particularly pleasing that Neil Cumming and Sii Eawsakul (AWD’s President and CEO, respectively) have agreed to remain on board. They both have a wealth of experience and vast knowledge of the Southeast Asian accommodation markets, having built AWD up from inception of the company 15 years ago. Sii will continue as Asia Web Direct’s CEO, and Neil will join the Wotif.com Board,” Mr. Cooke added.

According to Mr. Cumming, AWD has reached a stage in its development where it is ideally placed to capture more of the increasing Asian online market.

“I am looking forward to participating actively in this growth, both through my continuing role in [AWD] and as a director and shareholder of Wotif.com. The deal announced today will offer additional security to the entire Asia Web Direct team and far greater opportunities to drive growth in this increasingly competitive market,” Mr. Cumming added.

Beauty queens Czech in

Miss Czech Contest 2008

In January, Phuket welcomed not just one beauty queen but 12 of them when the finalists in the Miss Czech Contest 2008 arrived from the Czech Republic. The delightful dozen – chosen from more than 3,000 entrants – were here shooting part of a TV show about the contest.

The Phuket footage aired in the Czech Republic in early February as part of the final extravaganza, which saw 18-year-old Eliska Buckova win the title. She will represent her country in the Miss Universe 2008 contest, which will take place in Vietnam in July.

Besides visiting Phuket’s most famous tourist sights, hotels and restaurants, the girls also went to the Phi Phi Islands and to Koh Tapoo, better known as James Bond Island.

Anurak Tansiriroj, Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Phuket, told Phuket.com that he was pleased to see how much the contestants enjoyed their stay in Phuket. “I hope they will be our voice, telling their fellow Czechs about how nice and beautiful Phuket is. I hope, too, that Phuket will have the opportunity to welcome more visitors from the Czech Republic,” he added.

According to the website of the Czech Embassy in Thailand, about 15,000 Czech citizens visit Thailand each year. A similar number of Thais visit the Czech Republic.

TAT spreads the word

Tourism Authority of Thailand's logo

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to spread the word about Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi at trade shows and road shows this year in Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Dubai and Russia.
Anoma Vongyai, Assistant Director of the TAT’s Southern office, Region 4 – which represents the three provinces – explained that overseas promotion will begin in Berlin at the giant ITB travel expo from March 5 to 9.

“After that we will go on the road to Spain and Italy,” she told Phuket Dot Com. “In 2007, the number of tourists from those two countries was up compared with 2006. They seem to like going to Khao Lak and Krabi.
“It is important that we keep looking for new markets to fill the gap in the low season,” she added.

In late April, the TAT’s travelling show will go to Japan, making stops on Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and then to Singapore to take part in Asia’s biggest dive event, the Asia Dive Expo.
May will find the TAT hucksters joining the Arabian Trade Mart in Dubai, and their final date will be in September at Otdykh Leisure Moscow 2008, the Russian international travel and tourism trade fair.

As well as sending its own people out into the world, the TAT also persuades representatives of the world to come to Phuket.
“Part of our marketing work is to bring oversea travel agencies, trade journalists and other tourism-related people to the Andaman Coast region,” Khun Anoma explained. “The recent visit by contestants in the Miss Czech 2008 beauty pageant is one example of the work we do to increase the number of tourists coming here and to find new markets. We have a pretty busy year ahead.”