Okura Nikko Hotel Management, subsidiary of Japan’s Hotel Okura, will add a third Taiwan property to its portfolio come 2021, in addition to The Okura Prestige Taipei and the Hotel Royal Nikko Taipei.

Situated in a commercial complex of offices and hotels in the heart of Taichung, the Okura Prestige Taichung will feature about 250 rooms, Japanese and Chinese restaurants, an international all-day dining option, a sky lounge bar, spa, gym and outdoor pool.

The hotel is part of an ambitious undertaking to expand the group’s global portfolio to 100 properties either operating or in the pipeline, primarily in Asia, by 2020.

Eight properties have been planned in Asian metropolises outside Japan. Okura Hotels & Resorts is slated to launch in Cappadocia (Turkey) next year, and in Manila, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City and Yangon come 2020. In addition, Nikko Hotels International properties will open in Bangkok in 2018 and Haiphong (Vietnam) in 2020.

Indawgyi Lake in Myanmar’s Kachin State – the largest freshwater lake in the country and the third largest in South-east Asia – has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, the second in the country to get the recognition after Inle Lake in 2015.

Up till now, only the Phyu Ancient cities of Halin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a status given since 2014. Fourteen other sites in Myanmar, including Bagan and Mrauk U, are on the Tentative List.

Spanning an area of 133,715ha, the now Biosphere Reserve of Indawgyi Lake includes the lake and the surrounding wetlands and forest to a distance of about 15km.

Indawgyi Lake is home to more than 160 bird species – some of which are globally threatened – turtle species, endemic fish, mammals, reptiles and primates. Every year in the fall, migratory birds from as far as Siberia find solace around the area within Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary.

It’s been a year of acquisitions in the global B2B bedbanks space. Following Hotelbeds’ purchase of GTA and Tourico Holidays earlier this year, Webjet has just announced its acquisition for an undisclosed portion of London-based B2B hotel supplier JacTravel from private equity firm Vitruvian Partners.

The acquisition will see JacTravel – including its namesake brand and totalstay.com – join Sunhotels, Lots of Hotels and FIT Ruum’s in Webjet’s B2B division, WebBeds, a move which could give rise to a new B2B travel giant boasting an annual transacted volume of over A$1 billion (US$800 million).

JacTravel, with its particular strength in Europe, currently has a portfolio of 10,000 directly contracted hotels, 7,000 of which are unique to WebBeds. Additionally, the 3,000 overlapping hotel contracts will further deepen the company’s allocation and availability.

WebBeds’ global footprint is expected to get a boost with offices in 19 countries and a headcount of over 900 employees, allowing it to support its worldwide network of partners. It will also feature a global portfolio of more than 225,000 hotels, of which 17,000 are directly contracted, in all regions of the globe.

John Guscic, managing director of Webjet, said: “This acquisition is transformational to WebBeds, creating the (second top) B2B player globally and in the all-important European market.

“By consolidating with like-minded partners like JacTravel, we believe we will drive even greater synergies that will benefit the wider travel industry,” he added.

Terry Williamson, CEO of JacTravel, commented: “The combination with Webjet is the next logical step in our global expansion vision which will enable us to offer even greater wider reach to our hotel partners and greater choice and value to our customers.”

The transaction is expected to close at the end of August 2017. In the weeks and months ahead, Webjet will be working with the JacTravel team to integrate the businesses.

Visitors from Singapore and Hong Kong can soon enjoy speedier immigration clearance at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports as authorities roll out a new scheme to allow them to use automatic passport scanners currently reserved for Thai nationals, The Nation reported.

Set to be implemented within the next two months, this move would reduce the immigration processing time per person from about one minute to 20-30 seconds, according to Thai immigration bureau commissioner Nathathorn Prousoontorn.

Hong Kong and Singapore travellers were selected as the first countries for which this facility is available to due to their frequent visits to Thailand compared with other markets.

Foreign visitors seeking to avail the automatic facility are first required to register with the Thai immigration office prior to their arrival in Thailand.

The bureau also plans to expand the privilege to countries with visa-free entry into Thailand such as Australia and parts of Europe.

The Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) has fully acquired two travel businesses in New Zealand – the leisure-focused Travel Managers Group (TMG) and corporate travel management company Executive Travel Group (ETG) – for an undisclosed sum. The deals are expected to formally settle during 1Q2018.

FLT managing director Graham Turner said the acquisitions would strengthen the company’s New Zealand operations, which is now the company’s fifth largest business globally by sales behind Australia, the US, UK and Canada.

“Executive travel and travel managers are profitable businesses, generating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in excess of NZ$3 million (US$2.2 million) annually, with solid growth trajectories and good track records of success,” Turner said in a press statement.

This latest announcement comes back off the company’s recent acquisition of BHMAsia in Asia and Olympus Tours in Mexico.

Representing FLT’s first acquisition in the home-based sector, TMG provides systems and support services to a network of more than 180 individual brokers, as well as a 22-shop franchise network, which includes 12 TravelSmart shops and 10 non-branded stores. It was established in 2002 and generated about NZ$120 million in total transaction value (TTV) during its 2017 year.

EMG, established in 1978, is the largest independent corporate travel management firm in New Zealand and generated about NZ$60 million in TTV during the 2016 calendar year.

Both businesses were privately owned, with former FLT New Zealand employee Kevin Weston co-owning ETG and being a major shareholder in TMG.

Weston and his business partners, Nicola Jamieson and Dave Wallace, will continue to oversee both businesses’ day-to-day operations and will report to FLT New Zealand managing director David Coombes.

After news broke of Australian authorities thwarting an alleged “Islamic-inspired” plot to bring down an airplane, passengers are now advised to arrive at airports hours earlier to undergo additional screening as part of enhanced safety measures.

Airlines such as Tigerair Australia and Qantas are requesting that passengers arrive at the terminal at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights, according to travel alerts on their websites.

Passengers are also asked to limit the amount of carry-on and checked baggage where possible to help ensure efficient screening.

A Tigerair alert published on July 29 read: “The travelling public can expect to experience an increased level of security scrutiny at the airport but they should not be concerned about these precautionary measures. As the measures place an additional burden on the screening system, it may take a little longer than usual to get through the process.”

Since then, many accounts of delays and long lines at Australian airports have hit social media and news outlets.

The terror plot was brought to light after a counterterrorism raid across Sydney, which led to the arrest of four men.

At press time, little information on the suspects or the terror plot has been made public.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has appointed Gloria Guevara Manzo as its new president & CEO, replacing David Scowsill who left the London-based organisation after six years at the helm.

Guevara served as secretary of tourism for Mexico and CEO of the Mexican Tourism Board from 2010 to 2012, minister in the cabinet of President Calderón.

Prior to that she worked for global distribution system Sabre where she was most recently CEO of Sabre Mexico, reporting to the board of directors of a joint venture between Aeroméxico, Mexicana and Sabre Holdings.

She is currently special advisor on government affairs for the Centre on Health and the Global Environment at the School of Public Health, Harvard.

Guevara, a Mexican national, is married with a son and a daughter.