TravelMole Asia launched today

TravelMole is expanding its global coverage with the launch of an Asia edition today.

TravelMole Asia goes live today with bi-weekly email newswires to complement existing divisions covering the UK and Ireland; US and Australia and New Zealand.

Ian Jarrett, an experienced travel industry journalist for publications such as Travel Weekly Asia, has been appointed editor of TravelMole Asia.

The first bi-weekly edition will include with TravelMoleTV coverage of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Singaplore by Yeoh Siew Hoon, recent editor of Travel Weekly Asia.

TravelMole publisher Charlie Kao said: “We plan to work with and engage all stakeholders in travel and tourism to make sure the TravelMole.com Asia community is their community, leading towards sustainable development and innovation.”

Ian can be contacted by email at: [email protected] .

A media kit for TravelMole Asia will be available today. 

The launch comes as the Singapore Tourism Board announced the results of Singapore’s tourism performance in 2006 at ATF.

The tourism sector generated an estimated S$12.4 billion in tourism receipts in 2006, exceeding the target of S$12 billion and posting a double digit growth of 14.5% over 2005. Singapore also set a new high of 9.7 million visitor arrivals last year, exceeding its target of 9.4 million.

Indonesia (1,921,000 visitors), P R China (1,037,000 visitors), Australia (692,000 visitors), India (659,000 visitors) and Malaysia (634,000 visitors) emerged as the top five markets in 2006, accounting for about 51% of total visitor arrivals. Asia (7.1 million visitors) continues to be an important source market for Singapore, contributing to 72.9% of the total visitor arrivals, an increase of 9.2% over 2005.

All top ten markets for Singapore posted growth, with eight of them achieving record highs for their respective markets.

Lim Neo Chian, deputy chairman and chief executive of the STB, said: “This has been a record breaking year for tourism.

“The fact that we achieved records in visitor arrivals, tourism receipts, average occupancy rate and hotel room revenue, as well as record highs for most of our key markets means the growth achieved for 2006 was broad-based across sectors and markets.

“This strong performance can be attributed to successful marketing and promotional efforts as well as the better connectivity and increasing affordability of air travel.

“At the same time, over the recent years, the tourism industry here has invested in a lot of effort to bring in or develop new tourism products, or re-fresh current ones to ensure that Singapore remains relevant and attractive as a destination.”

He added: “Going forward, the STB will continue to focus its marketing and promotional efforts on key markets, particularly emerging ones such as China, India, the Middle East and Russia which are showing strong outbound potential.

“We will also continue to build on Singapore’s reputation and appeal as a choice destination for BTMICE and quality healthcare and education services and strive to develop even more exciting tourism products that will enhance Singapore’s position as a destination.”

With two integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa, coming up in 2009 and 2010, Singapore expects more regional and world interest. in the coming years. The Singapore Flyer, a 165-metre observation wheel, is due to open next year.