Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com | 23 GLOBAL WRAP THE BEST OF TRAVEL WEEKLY ASIA'S GLOBAL WRAP e-DAILY TravelWeekly Asia's writers and correspondents bring you the best of news across Asia. MATTA supports capping of domestic air fares DAILY CLIMBER LIMIT FOR JAPAN'S MOUNT FUJI Amid concerns about safety and congestion at Japan's Mount Fuji, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, officials have drawn up measures to limit the number of climbers on trails. While access to the mountain will not be restricted, the measures are aimed at urging climbers to stagger the dates of their hikes. The plan states a maximum of 4,000 climbers daily for the Yoshida climbing trail from Yamanashi Prefecture - a 12% reduction compared to the busiest day last year, while on the Fujinomiya trail on the Shizuoka side, the number of climbers will be reduced by 25% to 2,000 daily. Additionally, the plan aims to ensure that the number of daily climbers on the Yoshida trail exceed 4,000 for no more than three days, and 2,000 no more than two days on the Fujinomiya trail during the The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has expressed its support for the Ministry of Transport's initiative to put a cap on domestic airfares, as astronomical high fares during peak seasons have placed a heavy burden on the rakyat (Malay for ordinary people). MATTA President Datuk Tan Kok Liang said, "Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi had voiced out his concern that domestic airfares may balloon up to five times during festive seasons and is looking into capping fares at no more than 2.5 times higher than average." "MATTA would like to see any rise in fares be capped to between 1.5 to 2.0 times, as air travel is not a luxury but essential service for travel between the Peninsular and Sabah and Sarawak." Authorities keen to protest Mt Fuji's climbing trails. MATTA President Datuk Tan Kok Liang PHOTO CREDIT: GORYU/GETTYIMAGES upcoming summer season from July to September. MATCHA CRUISE, ANYONE? The Matcha latte craze has been brewing for a while, boiling over into Hong Kong when historic teahouse Nakamura TokichiHonten opened its first overseas café in Hong Kong. And now their famous teas and snacks will be taking to the seas on Genting's World Dream. The first Matcha themed cruise Illustrator Yukino Ikeshiro (or 'Pokke104'). Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh has added a high-speed airport train link. PHOTO CREDIT: ASIAN DREAMS/GETTYIMAGES Filipinos love Cebu, but have been warned against dodgy agents. BUYER BEWARE: DON'T GET SCAMMED BY DODGY AGENTS With the summer season officially on in the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has cautioned the public against bogus travel agencies who usually offer "too-good-to-be-true" tour packages online. DOT Secretary Wanda Teo said many Filipino tourists travel domestically during summer. Statistics show at least seven million Filipinos travel around the country between April and May, with Cebu as the top destination for locals. With this, Teo said the public must be 'WISE' in their travel plans, an acronym for "Work out your travel plans; Identify tour and travel agencies; See tourism quality seal; and Engage accredited service providers only." The 'WISE' campaign was launched last year to help locals avoid being scammed by fake travel agencies on social media. UP TO SPEED: NEW CAMBODIAN AIRPORT RAIL OPENS Cambodia has launched the first railway service linking Phnom Penh International Airport to the capital amid the country's recent passenger rail developments linking its border towns. The airport service will initially be free of charge for passengers until August, when charges will be announced, reported VOA Cambodia. Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said at the launch ceremony that three new high-speed trains will be in operation at the end of the initial service period. The trains will be lighter than the old trains currently in service and will be able to seat 56 and 45 to 50 standing passengers. Travel time, which takes about 22 to 39 minutes on the older trains, will be reduced to 22 to 25 minutes on the new trains. will be available on World Dream's 2- and 5-night cruises on departures between April 29 and June 14, 2018. Passengers can tuck into Matcha cream puffs, cream rolls and cheesecake when ordering the Dream Cruises x Nakamara Tokichi Honten Matcha tea set, paired with Matcha tea and tea lattes. Guests sailing over June 10 will be able to meet Okinawan celebrity illustrator Yukino Ikeshiro.

• Cover