Travel agents in Singapore will receive government funding to speed up their adoption of technology, such as developing mobile apps to give customers a better experience.

Instead of traditional travel agents coming up with the solutions and asking the authorities to help with the funding, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will identify a range of technological fixes to common problems, and offer them to the agencies.

This initiative will be launched by the second half of next year, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Culture, Community and Youth Sim Ann at the Travel Agent Industry Forum on Thursday. Travel agencies also need help to upgrade their hiring practices, said Steven Ler, acting president of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (Natas), which organised the forum with STB.

In his opening speech, he said many agencies hire through print advertisements or via word of mouth, which may not lead to the right job applicants. He said Natas will launch a talent development platform by the end of next year, which will connect job seekers and travel agents.

Giving an update of the Travel Agent Roadmap, Sim said more than 40 projects were funded by STB’s business improvement fund (BIF) and experience step-up fund, both aimed at making travel agents designers of travel experiences.

Both funds financially support up to 70 per cent of projects that cost up to S$500,000 (US$368,487). Sim added that five times as many travel agents were supported by either fund this year compared with last year, and encouraged more agents to apply. She cited Dynasty Travel, which is developing a mobile app with the BIF’s help. The app will help customers make bookings, write reviews and contact the firm in emergencies, which will help it to tailor travel experiences and build customer loyalty.

The road map, initiated in August last year, aims to boost the travel agent industry via technology, business transformation and manpower.

Another firm benefiting from the drive to adopt technology is Quotient Travel Planner, which is creating a chatbot with tech firm Zumata for customers to access its services whenever they need them.

Its co-founder and director Lim Hui Juan said: “We’re seeing a lot of clients requiring a quick response to certain situations, or wanting to tweak their experiences on the go, and that’s something we think a chatbot can help with.”

Lim expects the chatbot to be ready within a year. “We think it’s going to be fun to see if this new technology can really help us.”

Sim also announced the launch of the Business Transformation Playbook, which guides travel agents who want to adopt new business models through features such as a self-assessment kit.

She said: “The government has been supporting our travel agents to grow and thrive in an increasingly competitive tourism landscape… but we also need our travel agents to join us in this journey.

“We encourage you [agents] to find out more about the road map’s initiatives, seek out the opportunities that lie amid the challenges, and tap these resources to reach new highs.”

The forum was held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This comes after a recent announcement by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that the Trump administration would first target countries in Asia by examining 15 criteria that include combating child labour, respecting internationally recognised worker rights, providing adequate and effective intellectual property protection, and providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access.

If a country fails to meet the criteria, the US could trigger a full review and strip a country of its status, thus ending duty-free access to the world’s largest consumer market.

Kaing Monika, secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said that the Kingdom should not be concerned by a US review.

“So far, Cambodia has always met the criteria for the GSP scheme and secured its eligibility because of improvements in working conditions, especially in the garment industry that has seen higher wages,” he said. “It will not be a problem for us to meet the requirements.”

According to a Facebook post by the US Embassy, Cambodia has benefited from the GSP scheme since 1997, with a total value of duty-free exports amounting to $179 million (Bt5.9 billion) over the last two decades. In July of last year, the US expanded GSP preferences to the Kingdom by allowing Cambodian-made travel goods to enter the US market duty-free. Meanwhile, GMAC has filed a petition hoping that footwear exports are accepted into the GSP scheme, a long shot seeing that footwear has never been included in the scheme since it was established in 1976.

Miguel Chanco, lead Asean analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that Cambodia’s deteriorating political climate, which yesterday saw the dissolution of the main opposition party, had no bearing on the US decision to scrutinise the scheme.

“The US’s decision to scrutinise the GSP eligibility of countries in Asia is very much in line with the Trump administration’s protectionist bias towards trade, and is consistent with a few of his other ambitions to reshape America’s existing trade frameworks to its advantage,” he said in an email.

He added that even in the unlikely event that the scheme was rolled back for Cambodia, it would be little to no threat to the economy, seeing that the kingdom’s chief export, garments, has never been included.

However, Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University, said that Cambodia’s GSP status could be reviewed if Prime Minister Hun Sen draws the ire of the Trump administration and Washington because of its growing economic, political and military tilt towards China.

“In the past, the US has excluded some countries from GSP coverage because they supported terrorism, for example Libya, [or] were communist, [like] Vietnam, or were deemed to be facilitating intellectual property piracy,” he said. “In the case of Cambodia, Hun Sen’s intensifying ties with China and the fact that Cambodia still relies on the US as a major export destination [could] be behind reasons for Washington’s choice [to] re-evaluate Cambodia’s GSP trade eligibility.”

 Many listed companies in Vietnam have decided to loosen their purse-strings by paying cash dividend for stockholders, after reporting upbeat business results.

According to Vietstock’s data, by mid-November, some 31 companies have announced a cash dividend scheme to be paid through the end of this year.

In fact, four enterprises will pay cash dividends at the rate of 20 per cent each in December. They include Binh Diew Fertiliser JSC, Dinh Vu Port Investment and Development JSC, Duc Thanh Wood Processing JSC and Lix Detergent JSC. Except for LIX, the other three companies reported positive growth in the first three quarters of this year. – Viet Nam News

40% of electricity unused, says Indonesian firm chief

The real reason behind the regrouping policy for customers of Indonesia’s state-owned electricity firm PLN became clear when the PLN president director announced that about 40 per cent of electricity produced by the company was currently unused.

“The electricity reserve is about 30 to 40 per cent [of the total production],” said Sofyan.

The customers’ regrouping is to encourage households to reduce the electricity surplus, Softan added. “We hope [the households] will increase [their consumption],” he added.

Previously, Sofyan said after the regrouping, the customers with 1,300 volt-ampere (VA), 2,200VA, 3,500VA and 4,400VA would be able to access 5,500VA electric power, while the electric power of customers with 900VA, both subsidized and non-subsidised, as well as subsidised customers with 450VA, would remain unchanged.

But later, PLN spokesman I Made Suprateka said the change in electrical power was optional for customers, meaning customers could reject the change.

Indonesian Consumers Foundation Tulus Abadi criticised the government for asking regular customers to reduce the electricity oversupply because of its 35,000-megawatt electricity programme. – TheJakarta Post

Malaysian tax board demands 75m ringgit from SP Setia unit

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (MIRB) has demanded 75.38 million ringgit from SP Setia Bhd’s unit for additional income tax and penalty, but the company said it has grounds to contest the notice.

SP Setia announced yesteday that its wholly owned subsidiary, SP Setia Bandar Setia Alam Sdn Bhd, was served with a notice claiming an additional 51.98 million ringgit of income tax imposed on five years of assessment, while a penalty of 23.39 million ringgit was also levied on the company.

“The abovementioned additional income tax and penalty were imposed by the MIRB as the MIRB has taken the view that the gains from the disposal of land and properties held under Investment Properties under BSASB in the abovementioned YAs are chargeable to income tax under the Income Tax Act 1967 instead of the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 [RPGTA],” said SP Setia in its announcement on Bursa Malaysia.

However, the group said its Bandar Setia Alam unit will challenge the additional assessment and penalty on grounds that the sales of the investment properties are capital transactions that fall under the purview of the RPGTA. – The Star

Song Tao is officially travelling to the North to brief officials on the recent Chinese Communist Party congress and “other issues of mutual concern” on behalf of President Xi Jinping.

But analysts expect Song to address the nuclear standoff, which has roiled relations between the two Cold War-era allies as China has backed United Nations sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests and sixth nuclear blast.

Trump, who warned Xi during his trip to Beijing last week that time was “quickly running out” to solve the nuclear crisis, took to Twitter on Thursday to hail the mission as “a big move, we’ll see what happens!”.

The US leader wants China, which accounts for 90 percent of North Korea’s foreign trade, to put more economic pressure on the reclusive regime.

But experts do not believe Song’s visit will yield major breakthroughs.

“We can expect some face-saving, assuring but very general and abstract commitments with no substance changes in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes,” said Yuan Jingdong, a specialist in Asia-Pacific security issues at the University of Sydney.

The visit is “more about warning North Korea against going to extremes than forcing it to give up the nukes” because China’s top priority remains maintaining regional stability, he said.

Song would likely “assure Kim that if he behaves within a reasonable bound he can expect Beijing to continue providing some assistance and resist broadening the sanctions,” Yuan said.

China has imposed its own banking restrictions on North Koreans in addition to enacting a series of UN measures that include bans on imports of coal, iron ore and seafood from the North.

But Beijing fears that squeezing Pyongyang too hard would cause its collapse.

Song will be the first Chinese envoy to make an official trip to North Korea since October 2016, when vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin visited.

‘Tense situation’

China’s relations with North Korea are currently at “the lowest point they’ve been in history,” leaving the North diplomatically at its most isolated, said Lu Chao, director of the North Korea Research Centre at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

As a high-level diplomat, Song would likely meet directly with North Korea’s top leaders, he said.

“As far as North Korea is concerned, China’s opinion is still an important one and will certainly arouse their full attention,” Lu said.

As nuclear tensions have soared Xi has pushed for negotiations and a “dual track approach” in which the United States would freeze its military drills in the region while North Korea halts its weapons programmes.

Trump claimed this week that Xi had agreed to drop his plan during their talks last week, but Beijing stood by its policy.

“It can not only ease the current tense situation, but also solve the most pressing security concerns for all parties, provide opportunities and create conditions for resuming peace talks and find breakthrough to get out of the stalemate,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday.