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An original Indonesian herbal medicine, Jamu, will be marketed abroad in the Middle Eastern and ASEAN regions, the chairman of the Jamu Association of Central Java, Nyoto Wardoyo, said here on Wednesday.
Jamu is made from natural materials, such as roots, bark, flowers, seeds, leaves and fruits.
“Indonesias ambassadors in various countries have started to introduce Jamu to other countries, such as Arab nations and Hongkong,” he informed.
According to him, Jamu is in demand in many countries because they have realized that its health benefits.
“Jamu is well known for its nutritional value. Demand for the product is rising and the exports have increased,” he reiterated.
He also appreciated the fact that the government is encouraging the herbal medicine industry to progress.
“Entrepreneurs expect expeditious grant of a license. Once we complete all the requirements, we want the government to immediately issue a permit,” he stressed.
He hoped for better synergy between farmers, entrepreneurs and university researchers to develop Jamu products.
He also hoped that Jamu products could be a part of the BPJS health program.
“When people suffer mild colds, coughs or flu, the doctors can treat them with Jamu,” he underlined.
Thanks to these efforts, the usage of Jamu is expected to rise at home as well as abroad.
Hong Kong free to air TV broadcaster ViuTV has unveiled its content lineup for 2017 with more “real choices” for Hong Kong viewers as ViuTVsix, an English-language channel, will be launched at channel 96 on March 31, 2017.
ViuTVsix will provide viewers with news and public affairs programs, variety shows, infotainment, classic and latest dramas.
In 2017, ViuTV will continue to bring a wide range of extremely entertaining and compelling programs, including Cuisine in Darkness hosted by I Love You Boyz and veteran chef Gabriel Choy, Being Director, Priceless, a series of microfilm directed by Jim Chim, Christine Ng, Prudence Liew and Kevin Boy, Full Time Mama On Vacation, Train You Mother, Grade6 in University and IQ148.
ViuTV will broadcast different dramas from Monday to Friday, including Ex, Mid-Night Cousin starring by Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actor Michael Ning, and Urban Legend hosted by David Siu and Queenie Chu.
As an open platform for music lovers, ViuTV will work closely with different music labels to promote “real music” to Hong Kong viewers. For example, superstar Alan Tam will host a nine-episode music program to be aired in 2017.
Also, ViuTV will bring Asia’s hottest drama and variety shows to Hong Kong viewers in 2017, including W, DOCTORS, Love in the Moonlight, Natusko Kira, Crime Scene, Takeshis Medical Check-Up Show and Hometime Pride.
ViuTV will also screen a variety of world-class sports events, including HK Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon and selected LaLiga matches in live.
Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) has launched its flagship Chinese movie channel, Celestial Movies, on SK Broadband – a major pay TV platform in South Korea with over 3.8 million subscribers.
The channel is now available on SK Broadband’s linear service “B tv” as well as OTT services “B tv plus” and “oksusu”. The deal marks CTE’s first foray into South Korea.
“This launch in South Korea is a very important milestone for Celestial Tiger Entertainment as this marks the 16th country for our network footprint,” said Todd Miller, CEO of CTE.
Celestial Movies will be fully localized with Korean subtitles. The channel will offer Chinese blockbusters and iconic films covering a diverse range of genres and featuring superstars like Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Stephen Chow and Nicolas Tse.
Celestial Movies also airs special programming each month centered around themes such as tribute to stars, special holidays and particular genres. Beyond movies, the channel also presents interviews with renowned Chinese stars and directors.
Celestial Movies is CTE’s flagship Chinese movie channel in Asia. In Malaysia, Celestial Movies, Celestial Movies HD and Celestial Classic Movies continued to dominate the Chinese demographic as the top three most-watched regional movie channels among Astro Chinese 4+ audiences in the first six months of 2016. In Indonesia, Celestial Movies remained among the top four regional movie channels including Hollywood services.
The government will likely need to review its strategy in promoting its priority tourist destinations, as data shows that recent tourism investment mainly headed to just two popular regions.
During the first six months of this year, the country has seen investment worth US$858.7 million coming into the tourist sector. The tourism Ministry’s deputy for destination and tourism industry development Dadang Rizki Ratman, however, said most of the investment only went to Jakarta and Bali, the country’s two main international gateways.
“This is our challenge — to encourage investors to invest outside those two places,” he said recently.
Dadang highlighted the importance of infrastructure development and upgrades in many other tourist destinations as it would become a key factor to attract investors to put their money to the industry.
The government is targeting the arrival of 20 million foreign tourists in 2019. This year, 12 million foreign tourist arrivals has been targeted, with almost half achieved in the first semester.
To level out the popularity of other places with that of Bali, the country’s most popular resort island, the government has selected 10 destinations to develop to 2019.
They include Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Mount Bromo in East Java, Mandalika resort area in West Nusa Tenggara, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, Cape Kelayang in Bangka Belitung, Cape Lesung in Banten and Morotai in Maluku.
Dadang said infrastructure, such as roads, airports and power plants were in the works to support tourism activities and attract more investors. The Kualanamu-Tebing Tinggi toll road, for example, was in progress and scheduled for completion next year. The road would give more access to Lake Toba, the world’s largest volcanic lake.
Besides accessibility, intensive promotion was also necessary, said Babar Suharso, the head of regional Investment Coordinating Board (BKPMD) of Banten province.
“People can access Cape Lesung wthin only three hours but we still haven’t got any investors so we’ve asked Kadin [Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry] to introduce us to their network,” he said.
BKPMD Banten said a number of South Korean investors had expressed their interests to invest in the location, but none have further approached the regional administration. Investors from Kuwait will visit the cape in November for a potential deal, Babar said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies Association (Asita) chairman Asnawi Bahar emphasized accessibility as an important point to attract more investors.
“It is understandable that investment is still concentrated in Bali and Jakarta because the two have international airports with many international routes. One thing for sure to attract more investors is accessibility,” Asnawi told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
Recently, the government announced a $300 million loan from the World Bank to expedite infrastructure development in and around Borobudur Temple, Mandalika and Lake Toba.
Nevertheless, the natural beauty of sites in Indonesia has inevitably swayed a group of businesspeople in Perth, Australia to invest in Manado, North Sulawesi, whose Bunaken island is famous for its diving spots.
“[The investment plan in] Manado is a very large ambition. It is a big tourism area so this group of companies running different businesses plan to turn it into a new destination,” said Debnath Guharoy, president of Australian Indonesian Business Council (AIBC) said via phone.
The group will present its detailed plan to North Sulawesi administration in the next few weeks. They are planning to build hotels, power plants and a waste management system, as well as a conservation area for Bunaken underwater park.
Indonesia boasts 17,000 islands blessed with beautiful coastline and inland potential, plus a big market of more than 259 million people. To propel its tourism industry, the country has also offered free visas to 169 countries and simplified yacht and cruise arrival rules.
The Chairman of the Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum (IORBF), who is also the Deputy Head of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Division at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, Yugi Prayanto, has proposed to introduce a business travel card for all members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
“The IORBF needs to come up with a concrete initiative to improve economic cooperation and business in the Indian Ocean region,” Yugi said here on Friday.
He pointed out that the IORBF meeting, led by Indonesia and South Africa, aims to improve interaction and cooperation among IORAs businessmen and its dialogue partners in order to develop cooperation in economy, trade and investment in the Indian Ocean region.
“The IORBF agrees that economic cooperation opportunities need to be explored further and these include the IORA Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IORA-CEPA ) and IORA Business Travel Card (IBTC),” Yugi noted.
These initiatives are supported by IORA member countries, among others, South Africa, Australia, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Mauritius.
According to him, the forum agrees that the establishment of IORA-CEPA is very important to improve economic cooperation, trade and investment in the Indian Ocean region.
The IORA-CEPA, Yugi pointed out, is expected to become an umbrella for IORA economic cooperation in order to increase trade and investment, open market access, develop industry as well as strengthen regional value chain and structural reforms.
Meanwhile, the IBTC, he underlined, is expected to ensure mobility of entrepreneurs and facilitate business interaction among the IORA member states.
“The IBTC in time will strengthen people-to-people contact, including business-to-business links among IORA member nations,” Yugi stressed, adding that the IORBF really hopes these two initiatives will be discussed at the 20th Anniversary Commemorative Summit of IORA meeting in March 2017.
He added that the agreements reached at this meeting will be reported to the Committee of Senior Officials on October 25-26, 2016 and to the Council of Ministers on October 27, 2016.
Forty businessmen from various IORA member countries are participating in this 22nd IORBF meeting.The IORA focuses on economic, trade and investment cooperation. It comprises 21 countries, namely, South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Comoros and Yemen.Australia passed on the chairmanship of IORA to Indonesia in 2015. Indonesia is the IORA Chairman for 2015-2017.
ChuChu TV, Asia-Pacific’s most watched YouTube channel for toddlers from India, with over 6 billion views and 6 million subscribers, has partnered with Dream Theatre to launch the global Consumer Products business for the brand. In terms of watch time, ChuChu TV is the most watched channel in Asia Pacific and is amongst the top 20 YouTube channels in the world. Originated in Chennai in 2013, ChuChu TV is a truly global phenomenon with a wide audience from around the world averaging around 300 million views per month. Given its global appeal and audience, ChuChu TV has now partnered with Dream Theatre to launch the ChuChu TV Consumer Products business globally.
Dream Theatre, India’s premier entertainment firm with licensing as a core business, is creating the brand architecture and is and making ChuChu TV “license ready”. Having worked with iconic international brands like Angry Birds, DreamWorks Animation, Pokemon, Femina and numerous others on the licensing front, Dream Theatre is creating the brand architecture and Go-To-Market plan for ChuChu TV by upgrading the creative assets, creating style guides, business templates and also charting the launch strategy and rollout plan across territories for ChuChu TV. Toys, Gaming, Publishing, Apparel will form the core categories and will be rolled out first, starting summer 2017. US, Europe and Asia will be the leader markets with Dream Theatre collaborating with best in class licensing agencies, toy players, publishing houses and gaming companies to roll out the consumer products program in a synchronized fashion.
“ChuChu TV’s huge popularity across the world propelled us to create a consumer products business on a global scale. Our target audience loves the ChuChu TV characters. Parents and care takers around the world trust us and our content. Hence we wanted to channel this into creating equally loved and trusted ChuChu TV products for our cute little fans. The real time feedback we receive from the parents, points to a huge demand for merchandise of our key characters ChuChu, ChaCha, Chika, Chiku, and Mr. Harlo who are loved and adored across the world. We have found the right partner in Dream Theatre who has a wealth of experience in licensing. We felt this is right time to enter the licensing arena and take our brand to the next level”, says Vinoth Chandar, Founder, CEO & Creative Director, ChuChu TV.
“Chu Chu TVs phenomenal success is a testimony to its popularity and it is very exciting for us to work with a brand originated in India and adored across the world by the young and old alike. We are thrilled to create a world class licensing program that enables fans to engage with the brand in a products and services form and will be engaging with top international licensing agents, toy companies and retailers to launch and grow the business across the globe” says Jiggy George, CEO and Founder Dream Theatre.
The little tokens and even plastic smart cards now used in the mass transit systems will soon be outdated once the media business unit of BTS Group Holdings introduces new services that will enable skytrain fares to be paid with a smartphone.
By the first quarter next year, BTS commuters will just have to swipe the barcode embedded in the Rabbit Line Pay application at the turnstile. No more queues to get change, tokens or cards.
With the new mobile service, you just swipe your Rabbit Line Pay card and walk through the turnstile, says Mr Kavin.
“Next year, we’re going to change the entire BTS system, enabling users of Rabbit Line Pay [a function embedded in the Line app] to cover skytrain fares via smartphones or mobile devices,” says Kavin Kanjanapas, chief executive of BTS Group, which owns a majority stake of VGI Global Media Plc.
Line is the most popular instant messaging platform in Thailand with more than 33 million active users.
“The new mobile ticketing service will be a great convenience to commuters and perfectly serve modern Bangkok lifestyles, as you just swipe your barcode embedded in the Rabbit Line Pay application and walk through the turnstile,” says Mr Kavin, also chairman of VGI’s executive committee.
The innovative mobile ticketing service shows just how far VGI has come since its humble beginnings. Founded in 1995 with initial registered capital of only 1 million baht, the company was intended to provide marketing and advertising services for the Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC), which operates the skytrain.
The company’s registered capital today is 858 million baht, with 686 million in paid-up capital. VGI is now Thailand’s major provider of out-of-home (OOH) media solutions, having more than 10,000 large still-image screens installed in the BTS skytrain network and at large retail stores nationwide.
It also has more than 11,000 square metres of advertising space in the product display zones of large, modern stores and around 5,000 digital screens and other types of OOH advertising at BTS stations, Tesco Lotus, Big C and Watson stores, along with large office towers throughout Bangkok.
It further holds licences to manage various forms of advertising at 13 airports operated by Airports of Thailand Plc and the Civil Aviation Department.
In addition, the company runs retail shops in 23 BTS stations, on top of radio networks covering nearly 2,000 stores in Thailand.
Like the BTSC, whose situation became critical in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis when passenger number was low due to a sharp decline in purchasing power, VGI struggled during its first three years of operations.
After seeing low ridership number of fewer than 100,000 a day (in contrast with original projections of 600,000 a day), almost every advertiser who had booked space with VGI asked to scrap their deals and withdrew their deposits.
As with the BTSC, VGI spent nearly 10 years battling financial constraints. It started seeing a glimmer of hope after the BTSC, which shared a huge portion of the group’s debt, exited its rehabilitation plan in 2008 and merged with Tanayong, the property development firm Mr Kavin’s father, Keeree Kanjanapas, founded in 1968.
The merged company became BTS Group Holdings in 2010, which focuses on four core businesses: mass transit, property, media and services.
After the group’s strong business revival, VGI itself has been successful in developing its lifestyle media network, mainly through active mergers and acquisitions (M&A) over the past couple of years, acquiring stakes in SET-listed Master Ad Plc, the country’s largest OOH advertising company, aviation media company Aero Media, and most recently Rabbit Card and its related online business.
The latest acquisition will enable VGI to enter into an e-payment business that offers Rabbit Card as a payment tool for travelling on the skytrain and for purchasing merchandise from leading retailers nationwide.
Rabbit Line Pay will also enable users to buy goods online and from brick-and-mortar retail stores. It also lets VGI extend its services to cover online payment for skytrain fares and retail purchases within Rabbit Card’s network of merchants nationwide through their mobile devices.
Additional Rabbit businesses comprise other online ventures operated by Rabbit Internet, including Rabbit Daily, which provides lifestyle content through a web portal, and Rabbit Finance, which is a licenced, leading online financial products comparison website previously known as ASK Hanuman.
This strategic move will allow VGI to raise the effectiveness and measurability of its advertising campaigns.
VGI aims to create a new media advertising platform, Data-Centric Media Hypermarket, that can directly reach targeted audiences. It is projected to bring VGI’s daily audience from 1.9 million people to 25 million (mostly active Line users). It has also set a long-term revenue target of 8.2 billion baht over the next five years, up from 3.9 billion in 2015.
To fulfil the ambitious new media advertising platform, Mr Kavin says VGI still needs to complete two to three acquisition deals.
“Over the last 3-4 years, we’ve spent more than 3 billion baht on M&A, mainly on Master Ad, and most recently Rabbit Card,” said Mr Kavin. “From next year onwards, M&A will no longer be our focus. Rather, we will look to the integration of all our businesses to create the best synergy within VGI,” he says.
The number of Indian tourists visiting Bali has increased by 61.57 percent — the highest rise among all countries — compared to the same period last year, from 72,969 to 117,897 people.
“India ranks fifth among the top 10 countries visiting the island, after Australia, China, Japan and the UK,” Adi Nugroho, head of Balis Central Statistics Agency (BPS), said on Wednesday.
Indian tourists constitute 3.69 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting Bali. About 3.19 million tourists have visited the destination in the first eight months of 2016. This figure is by 22.76 percent higher than the number of visitors seen during the same period last year, which was 2.6 million.
India tops the list of countries that have seen the highest rise in the number of visitors to Bali, followed by the UK (42.56 percent) and China (35.06 percent), Nugroho said. The number of German tourists has risen by 35.05 percent, French by 31.48 percent, Australian by 18.51 percent and Japanese by 7.98 percent.
Bali tourism practitioner Made Sudana said Bali is seeing an increasing number of Indian tourists because of the similarity between both places in terms of art, culture and Hinduism. Improved cooperation between India and Indonesia has also had a positive effect. Bali has actively pursued this as it expects more and more Indian tourists to visit the island.
Earlier, Indonesian Ambassador to India, Rizali W Indrakesuma, said the Indonesian government is seeking direct flights to India and vice-versa. Direct flights are important as they will help increase the number of Indian tourists as well as facilitate business and investment opportunities between both countries.
Shoppers can now save money on luxury brands by combining reward points from their different Visa credit cards.
The “Points for Brands” campaign enables customers with Visa credit cards issued from leading financial institutions in Thailand, including Kasikornbank, Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), Krungthai Bank, Krungsri First Choice, Government Savings Bank, and Thanachart Bank to pool reward points for purchase of goods at selected luxury brands at a rate of 1,000 points for THB 100.[1]
There are more than 70 participating brands at The Emporium and The EmQuartier, including Coach, Kate Spade, DKNY, DVF, Proenza, COMME des GAçONS, Jimmy Choo, Valentino, EMPORIO ARMANI, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, MCM, and Club 21.
“This is the first time our cardholders can purchase luxury brands by redeeming points from across their portfolio of Visa credit cards, a rarity for premium categories,” said Suripong Tantiyanon, Visa Country Manager, Thailand.
Exclusive to Visa cardholders, more information, along with help on how to redeem reward points, can be found at Points for Brands booth on M Floor at EmQuartier
In cooperation with Sungwun Pharmacopia of South Korea, Indonesias state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma will build the first factory for pharmaceutical raw materials to meet the needs of medicine producers in the country.
The construction of the pharmaceutical factory was inaugurated on Monday by Health Minister Nila F Moeloek, in the company of Kimia Farma President Director Rusdi Rosman, Food and Drug Regulatory Agency (BPOM) Chief Penny Lukito, and House Commission-IX Chairman Dede Yusuf.
Rusdi Rosman said the factory, located at the Lippo industrial area in Cikarang, Bekasi, will be built in stages on a six-hectare plot of land and at a cost of Rp132 billion.
In building the first factory for pharmaceutical raw materials, Kimia Farma will cooperate with Sungwun Pharmacopia Co. Ltd, because of their experience in producing raw materials for medicines.
Further, the Kimia Farma president director noted that the factory will be built in accordance with the standard of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, while the selling of Active Pharmaceutical Raw Materials (API) is planned to begin in early 2018.
Rusdi noted that the factory will produce eight types of raw materials, including Simvastatin, Atorvastatin, Rosuvastatin, Pantoprazole, Esomeprazole, Rabeprazole, Clopidogrel and Sarpogrelate, with a production capacity of 30 tons per year.
Production of the raw materials is to meet 100 percent of the needs of the pharmaceutical industry in Indonesia, as well as for market export.
Kimia Farma will also manufacture seven types of raw materials that can be used for cosmetics and dietary supplements, and to be exported to Korea, Japan and America.
Bank Indonesia estimated that household consumption rose in the third quarter of this year from 5.04 percent of the countrys Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in the second quarter of this year.
One of the factors causing the increase was high consumption during Idul Fitri 2016, Executive Director of Statistic Department of the central bank Hendy Sulistiowati said here on Thursday.
Increase in household consumption was also attributable to higher Consumer Confidence Index (IKK) that rose to 112.5 points from 111.6 points in the second quarter, Hendi said.
“The quarterly increase in IKK, normally would result in an increase in household consumption,” she said.
Household consumption has been the largest contributor to the countrys GDP accounting for 55.9 percent, followed by Gross Fixed Capital Formation (PMTB).
Though rising quarterly, IKK fell monthly . In September IKK was 110 points down from 113.3 points in August.
Dozens of domestic workers attended a course at Sanggar Kegiatan Belajar in Malang City on Tuesday. The course for domestic workers was held by the Institute for Community Research and Development (LPKP) Malang chapter and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
“Domestic workers are trained to work effectively according to the applicable standards,” said Irfan Afandi, ILO promote project coordinator for East Java.
Similar courses are also opened in South Sulawesi’s Lampung and Jakarta. East Java, along with Makassar and Lampung, is renowned for its supply of domestic workers. Whereas Jakarta is the destination market of the domestic workers.
Community-based courses for domestic workers have been trialled in Malang, East Java. Education will be held in certain communities, comprising participants hailed from several areas in Malang. The courses for domestic workers are aimed at improving their skills, particularly ability to use home appliances.
The first phase of the courses will include household management and cooking. Domestic workers will be given theoritical and practical training. The courses will last six months, with two meetings in a week.
Improved skills are expected to put domestic workers in better position to seek employment rights, such as to negotiate employment contract, standardized and timely payment of wages, defined office hours, and request for breaks and holidays. Irfan said that according to ministerial regulations, domestic workers include nannies, drivers, gardeners, as well as caregivers for elderly persons and people who have disabilities.
“A domestic worker would not be able do all things by themselves,” he said. After attending the courses, domestic workers will be given a certificate which would enable them to seek better pay and recognition as professional workers. Moreover, improved skills of domestic workers are expected to protect them from violence, sexual abuse, child exploitation and human trafficking.
Data from ILO shows that Indonesia has 2.6 million domestic workers. Most of whom are hired to work in private homes, live in their employer’s home and are not given employee leaves nor holidays.
Course participant Yuliati said she is interested to attend the course for domestic workers to get more experience. According to her, she had been learning to do domestic work by herself. “I’m paid Rp30,000 a day, without employment contract,” she said.
C.banner International Holdings Limited (“C.banner” or the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”, HK:1028), a leading international integrated retailer and second largest retailer of mid-to-premium women’s formal and leisure footwear in the PRC, yesterday announced the grand opening of the first Hamleys (a centuries old British toy brand) China flagship store in Nanjing.
The nearly 7,000 sq.m. store is located at Xinjiekou Sanpower Plaza (Nanjing International Finance Center), providing thousands of high quality traditional to high-tech educational items for children of all ages. In addition to the adorable iconic teddy bears from Hamleys, there are also other toy brand collections. Moreover, Hamleys partners with many world-renowned toy brands, such as Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, and others in this “Toy Museum” outlet.
While providing high quality toys for children’s playtime fun, Hamleys cares a great deal about children’s mental development. Two special party houses have also been designed and built inside Hamleys’ Nanjing flagship store with a host of different themes to choose from. Their professional team is responsible as well for organising distinctive birthday party events for children, providing games, toys, food, and exclusive birthday cakes and birthday gifts. There are also more than 10 entertainment facilities located from the first to the fourth floor, providing interactive games for children of different ages.
Facilities like remote car racing and shooting games enhance children’s response sensitivity while augmented reality (AR) games utilising technology and magic let children interact with the latest in virtual reality in areas like the “Water Game Zone”, Creative D.I.Y Workshop and Baby Aesthesia Zone. Hamleys uses the finest quality equipment to stimulate children’s sensory responses, allowing them to experience fun and providing memorable interactive games.
In 2015, C.banner successfully acquired Hamleys, the centuries old British toy shop. Established in 1760, Hamleys is the oldest toy brand in the UK with a glorious history, well-known brand philosophy and high quality toys. It is a veritable “Magic Kingdom” for kids and adults of all ages. Hamleys now embarks on a new journey in Nanjing, China, with a diversified product range and services provided by creative concepts. Based on the Hamleys brand, the Group will design and build a consumer complex comprising various sections, including children’s entertainment, education, clothing, daily necessities, culture and catering.
Mr. Chen Yixi, Chairman of C.banner said, “The addition of the Hamleys brand will provide a great boost to continuously enhance our Company’s brand value and realise a strong synergy with our existing business operations allowing us to achieve our global development strategy. The store is intended to serve as a template for future store openings as the Company seeks to replicate the unique Hamleys in-store experience with interactive playtime, events and special demonstrations in other populous cities over the PRC.
“Next year, the Company plans to roll out more stores in core cities with high populations across China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xuzhou, Hangzhou and others. We will also continue to take full advantage of C.banner’s experience in China’s retailing industry and long-term retail network contacts to rapidly expand Hamleys’ business across the mainland. The Group has full confidence in Hamleys’ development in China, and we feel that we are now on the ground floor of greater opportunities ahead. We look forward with great anticipation to achieving strong business growth.”
As the official shopping mall partner of the Hong Kong Tennis Open 2016, the entire Lee Gardens is transforming into Hong Kong’s Coolest Tennis Court from 30 September to 16 October. Throughout this period, you will have the opportunity to experience an exciting array of tennis-related activities and kick off your start to a healthier and active lifestyle. Thanks to the joint efforts of Lee Gardens and its merchants, over HK$1,000,000 worth of prizes are up for grabs!
Lee Gardens (including Hysan Place, Lee Garden One – Six, 25 Lan Fong Road, Lee Theatre, Leighton, I.T Hysan One) is dedicated to providing the best work-life balance in town.
Air Tennis Mobile Game – Swing and Win (27 September – 16 October)
Warm up with the Air Tennis Mobile Game, where you can use your cell phone to “serve” a tennis ball and try to hit prize targets. Successful hits will help win instant reward e-coupons for exciting gifts or shopping discounts or tickets for the VR 360 Tennis in the Air, or. You can play the game at airtennis.leegardens.com.hk.
VR 360 Tennis in the Air – Be the First to Play a Match Mid-Air, High Above Victoria Harbour (30 September – 16 October)
With the assistance of a VR headset and two hand-held controllers, this game will “transport” you from the 1/F Atrium of Hysan Place to a tennis court high in the skies above Victoria Harbour. With 360º views of Hong Kong’s beautiful scenery during the day, an intoxicating night view after 6pm, and the sound of a gentle breeze in the background, you and your opponent will experience a thrilling simulated game of “tennis in the air”. You can enjoy this VR experience either by using a prize ticket or upon spending HK$100 at Lee Gardens.
Bounce for Tennis – Create Fun Mementos and Contribute to Children’s Sports Education (30 September – 16 October)
Lee Gardens invites you to create mementos of your experience by uploading a photo and designing your own personalised tennis ball via the airtennis.leegardens.com.hk. For HK$50, you can print out your customised tennis ball at the Lee Theatre. The proceeds of the Bounce for Tennis programme will benefit the Hong Kong Tennis Association, a non-governmental organisation and organiser of the Hong Kong Tennis Open, to help support their initiative to popularise sports education in under-resourced districts by teaching local children to play tennis.
Special Tennis-Themed Food and Drinks – Enjoy the Tournament as a Foodie (30 September – 16 October)
During this event, many of Lee Gardens’ exciting dining venues, including Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant, Wired Café, Seasons, Smile Yoghurt and Habitu, will be serving up tennis-themed delights for their visitors.
Fan Zone – Cheers for the Climax (15 – 16 October)
Besides enjoying the live matches at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium, tennis fans can make their way over to a specially designated Fan Zone on Pak Sha Road to take part in live-streamed matches, extending the excitement from the Tennis Stadium to “The Coolest Tennis Court” in Causeway Bay. Organised by Hong Kong Tennis Association and supported Wan Chai District Council’s Cultural and Leisure Services Committee, as well as by Lee Gardens Association, the fan zone will be open to the public during the Semi Finals and Finals of the tournament, which will take place on 15 and 16 October.
Instant Rewards
Lee Gardens has joined hands with its merchants to give out coupons and gifts valued at more than HK$1,000,000, including a Fila gift set (value over HK$1,800), UNIQLO gift set (value HK$1,000), Pressed Juice One Day Cleanse (value HK$550) and more. Rewards are available for all players, so come down to Lee Gardens and have fun playing!
FILA Exclusive Pop-up Store
FILA will set up a Pop-up store decorated as a container house exclusively for the event, displaying its distinguished history of tennis culture since 1911. You can appreciate the precious Settanta Polo T-shirt co-designed by FILA and Wallpaper saluting Björn Borg, one of the greatest tennis athletes from 1970s to 1980s. Printed between every stripe on the Polo T-shirt is the score of his champion matches. Various pieceis of other tennis apparel are also available in the exclusive Pop-up store.
Accessible travel is perhaps the travel industry’s greatest untapped opportunity. There are millions of people worldwide looking for accessible travel options. The demand will continue to grow due to demographic aging.
MyTravelResearch.com has released a new and free insight report on accessible travel, which is also known as inclusive travel, disability travel, barrier-free travel, and access travel. In short, accessible tourism means everyone can enjoy travelling.
The market is big, says the report. Around one in five people have a disability. Around 88% of people with a disability take a holiday each year. In the USA the Open Doors Organization estimates that US$17.3 billion is spent by adults with disabilities on travel each year. In Australia, around eight billion dollars a year is spent by travellers with disabilities. Around 12% of the European market is dedicated to people with disabilities.
Perception Issues
Our perceptions of accessible travel may be outdated. Bill Forrester in his Travelabilty blog writes: “Accessible tourism is no longer about building ramps and accessible bathrooms. It’s about building products and services for a larger and rapidly growing market. This is no longer a niche, but rather, a segment that is approaching 25% of total tourism spend.”
Indeed, people traveling with a disability are more likely to take longer trips. And if you provide a great product or a service, accessible tourists will be extremely loyal and sing your praises on review sites and through word of mouth.
While some travellers may have disabilities, their passion for travel is undiminished. Many focus groups have been conducted with traveling seniors. “The one thing in common with them all is that they don’t want to stop travelling,” says Bronwyn White co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com and author of the report. “They recognize, however, that the way that they travel may need to incrementally change as they age.”
Around one in five tourists have a disability. The majority of those disabilities are not visible. Some people may not identify has having a disability. For example, a person may find it harder to see or hear, but may not tell you. A disability may be temporary, for example, someone on crutches.
Impairment Varies
Types of impairment vary. For example in the UK long term illness accounts for 50% of disability travellers; 26% are deaf or have partial hearing loss; 23% have mobility impairment; 7% are blind or partially sighted; 6% are mobility impaired; 5% have learning difficulties.
Seniors often have disabilities, but they retain a sense of travel adventure, with attitudes often younger than their age. “You realize you can’t do things as confidently as you used to, but you don’t want to stop travelling. There are trade-offs, but a coach tour trade off isn’t so bad,” said one MyTravelResearch.com focus group respondent aged over 65.
Many tourists have intellectual disabilities. It may take longer to learn things. They may have difficulty reading and writing. They may struggle to adapt to new or unfamiliar surroundings. They almost always travel with a companion.
People with disabilities are generally tech savvy with over 58% using mobile devices to support their travel needs.
Cruising
Cruising is becoming more popular for people with disabilities. In the past five years, 10% of adults with disabilities in the US have taken a cruise, amounting to almost four million travellers taking seven million trips, generating US$11 billion in spending on fares and US$1.5 billion on excursions.
Cruise line, Holland America has the award winning Access to Excellence as part of its cruise program. Most cruise lines now have accessible programs in place.
Practical Tips
Visit Britain says there are three aspects that all businesses need to address to provide access for all:
Information and Marketing – providing detailed information on the accessibility of your facilities and services, making this information easy to find.
Customer Service and Training – being disability aware with the right attitude and confidence to serve all customers
Physical Facilities – making reasonable adjustments to buildings and facilities so that they are ways for everyone to enter and move around.
