Hong Kong Airlines and Asiana Airlines have entered into a codeshare partnership, increasing flight options to passengers travelling between Hong Kong and Seoul.

With this partnership, airline customers can choose from five daily flights between the two Asian cities.

Li Dianchun, chief commercial officer of Hong Kong Airlines, said: “We launched the daily flight service from Hong Kong to Seoul last December, which was our first route to (South) Korea. From then we have been actively exploring ways to improve schedule options on this route.”

Flights are now open for sale.

Amadeus has created a new position, head of commercial Asia-Pacific, airlines, saying the region is driving its airlines business into one of its fastest-growing business units.

The role is held by Cyril Tetaz, who retains his current role as regional director for Japan. He reports to Hazem Hussein, executive vice president, airlines, Amadeus Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Tetaz, who has been with Amadeus since 2004, will be directing all commercial relationships with Amadeus’ airline customers in the region.

Tetaz chosen for newly-created role in Amadeus’ airline businesss

Meanwhile, Jonathan Tong and Abdullah Ozkececi move to Amadeus’ Singapore hub as head of airline IT solutions and head of airline IT sales respectively for Asia-Pacific, Russia, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Singapore-born Tong moves back home after two years at Amadeus’ R&D hub in Nice. Ozkececi has been with Amadeus since 2011 and was head of airline commercial for Turkey and Ukraine.

Tong and Ozkececi succeed Charles Rogier and Christian Baillet respectively, both of whom have taken up leadership positions within Amadeus’ Central Europe airlines team.

Singapore remains the world’s most liveable locations for Asian expatriates, but the gap separating it from Brisbane, Sydney and Osaka is closing due to air pollution, according to the latest Location Ratings survey published by ECA International.

“With low crime rates, decent medical facilities and excellent infrastructure, it comes as no surprise why Singapore tops our rankings time and time again,” said Lee Quane, regional director – Asia, ECA International.

Singapore still the most liveable city for Asian expat; Marina Bay pictured

The bad news? “We have witnessed a gradual decline in Singapore’s overall quality of living in the past five years due to the deteriorating air pollution situation, while cities such as Brisbane, Sydney and Osaka have all improved in terms of their overall liveability,” Quane said.

Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney occupy joint second place globally and in Asia-Pacific. Regionally, the most notable climb was by Australia’s Darwin, which rose from 24^th place to 15^th place in the global rankings as its housing situation has improved. Over the past five years, Darwin has climbed 39 places globally.

Osaka has the best living conditions of all locations researched in Japan, and is ranked fifth globally. All Japanese cities included in ECA International’s rankings are positioned within the global top 15 with Nagoya in at ninth; Tokyo and Yokohama sit in joint 11^th position.

Hong Kong has fallen to 29^th position in the global rankings and remains the 15^th most liveable location in the Asia Pacific region. Back in 2013, Hong Kong was 11^th worldwide and ninth in Asia-Pacific.

“The gap between Hong Kong and Singapore… has widened over recent years, due to worsening socio-political factors and curtailments to political freedom witnessed over the past 12 months,” said Quane.

Kuala Lumpur continued sliding downwards outside the global top 100. In 2013, the former was in 25^th place regionally and 113^th globally; this year, it came in at 27^th and 118^threspectively.

“In recent years, we have seen an increased threat from terrorism in Malaysia. While the Sabah region of the country is considered particularly dangerous for foreigners, risks have also increased in Kuala Lumpur in recent years. The impact of the seasonal forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia has also increased,” observed Quane.

Of China’s tier-one cities, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou all saw marginal improvements over the past year in terms of infrastructure. Shanghai rose three places in the past year to sit in 107^th spot globally and remains the most liveable of the mainland Chinese locations assessed. It also saw the most significant improvements, with quality of health services, availability of goods and services and infrastructure all picking up.

Various Indian cities have seen marginal improvements. Bengaluru, ranked 174^th globally, scored most favourably, followed by Mumbai and Pune (joint 183^rd). New Delhi (205^th) is the least liveable.

Along with Beijing, New Delhi has the worst score for air quality globally, but has moved up three spots from last year’s rankings owing to improvements in other categories. Chennai (195^th) is the only Indian city to fall in global rankings this year, with increasing air pollution and severe flooding responsible.

A ban on liquor sales at establishments within 500m of state and national highways, effective April 1, has struck a serious blow to India’s hotel industry.

Hotel sources said about 50 per cent of hotels in the country come under the ambit of the ban. This includes the Oberoi Gurgaon, Westin Mumbai, Le Meridien Kochi and Radisson Guwahati, to name a few.

With ban, over 100,000 establishments expected to close, hotel and restaurant federation says

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India estimates it would result in the closure of more than 100,000 establishments and a loss to both states and the industry to the tune of 20,000 crore rupees (US$3.2 billion).

The association has decided to take legal actions against the order.

The impact on banquet business is expected to be massive. Sudesh Poddar, director, Nataraj Group of Hotels, told TTG Asia half of a hotel’s revenue comes through F&B sales. “We expect that 60-70 per cent of the banqueting business of hotels close to the highways will be gone,” he said.

S M Shervani, managing director of The Shervani Group, expects many hotels will be forced to close down. “At a time when we are competing with global markets, the move doesn’t augur well for the industry,” he continued.

Moreover, Shervani said: “The liquor ban has hit badly entrepreneurs who have taken loans to invest in building hotels.”

Many owners of new projects in West Bengal are now considering using the land for a mall or a housing complex instead, said Vinaay Malhotra, senior vice president, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India.

“The owners of new Marriott property that was coming up in Guwahati have now slowed construction down,” he told TTG Asia.

Bespoke Executive Search, a division of US-based MG Consulting, has opened with offices based in North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific.

It said its partners are all seasoned hoteliers, while a few have worked outside the hotel industry, hence can offer additional expertise not only to the travel trade but also to NTOs and hotel development companies.

Founding partner Robert Dodds is a specialist in corporate and regional executives, and has over 30 years’ experience as vice president of human resources with leading hotel chains such as The Peninsula Group, Marriott International and InterContinental Hotels Group.

Partner for Asia-Pacific, Susan Likert, is a specialist in rooms division and housekeeping and has held executive positions with hotel groups such as The Peninsula Group and the former ITT Sheraton.

Other global partners include Helmut Leuck (North America) and Mauricio Tommasi (Latin America).

The demonetisation crisis might have put a dent on Indian outbound travel to Malaysia in 2016, but Malaysian agents are finally seeing signs of recovery from the market following a booking uptick for the Indian summer holidays starting end-April.

Arokia Das, senior manager at Luxury Tours Malaysia, said: “Forward bookings for the summer holidays look very good. We hope to see a double-digit growth compared with last year. Indians who postponed their travels late last year due to the demnetisation crisis are now booking (for summer).”

More demand for Langkawi (pictured) 

Another inbound tour operator, S Jayakumar, operations manager at Dayangti Transport & Tours, agreed: “In 1Q2017, we saw a five per cent drop in arrivals compared with the preceding year as travellers postponed their travels due to the demonetisation crisis.”

He added: “I am optimistic about arrivals in May. We started promoting Johor as a new destination for the Indian market because of Legoland Malaysia and that is selling well with family travellers.”

Nanda Kumar, managing director, Hidden Asia Travel & Tours, is expecting the bulk of summer holiday bookings to arrive after April 15 as Indians are latst-minute travellers.

“This year, we are seeing more demand for beach stays such as Langkawi and Pangkor Island,” he shared. “Many who are opting for Resorts World Genting are looking at the destination as a day trip from Kuala Lumpur.”

Tourism Malaysia is targeting one million Indian tourists this year, a big jump from the 638,578 arrivals from India received in 2016.

The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) has set up a new panel tasked with stimulating and sustaining outbound demand, which is being tested by declining travel interest in the 20-30 age group and terrorism concerns.

Heading the Japan Outbound Tourism Council is Jungo Kikuma, JATA vice-chairman, who said: “The Japanese outbound travel market has matured and it is important… to re-discover and re-establish overseas travel destinations as desirable destinations,” Kikuma told TTG Asia.

Kikuma: inbound-outbound balance for sustained growth

While over 17.1 million Japanese travelled overseas in 2016, up from 16.2 million in the previous year, outbound tourism has been affected by external factors, Kikuma admitted.

Terrorist attacks around the world have created uncertainty in Japanese travellers and fewer Japanese in their 20s and 30s show interest in travelling abroad.

Moreover, the rapid increase in inbound visitor numbers has resulted in seat shortages on flights, meaning it has become more difficult for Japanese travel agents to book seats.

“We hope to… strike a balance between inbound and outbound travel, because that will support mutual sustainable growth,” Kikuma said.

The council is funded by JATA, although additional promotional activities will be supported by participating companies and organisations in particular regions.

The council is partnering the Association of National Tourism Organisations. It has attracted 160 organisations and businesses keen on participating, ranging from JATA member companies to foreign embassies in Tokyo, national and regional tourism administrations with offices in Tokyo and tour operators.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is opening an office in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia and the second largest source of arrivals from Indonesia to Singapore after Jakarta.

This is STB’s 21st office. It last opened an office in 2007, in Moscow.

Surabaya

STB said the office will enable the board “to better consolidate and scale up its resources as well as sharpen its focus to tap into markets of Eastern Java (including Surabaya and Malang), Bali and Sulawesi (including Makassar)”.

Arrivals from the East Indonesian cities of Surabaya, Malang, Bali and Makassar totalled 234,300 in 2016, which comprised more than eight per cent of total Indonesian arrivals to Singapore in the same year. The compounded average growth rate of arrivals from these four cities from 2011 to 2016 is 6.5 per cent.

The tourism board plans to work with the six airlines with direct flights between Surabaya and Singapore to launch joint promotions. The six airlines are Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Garuda Indonesia, Jetstar, China Airlines and Tigerair.

Indonesia is Singapore’s top source of arrivals with 2.9 million visitors last year.

STB shared that visitors from Surabaya are, like those from Jakarta, mostly repeaters looking for quick and easy getaways. They are keen on shopping, entertainment and nightlife, and enjoy family friendly travel with emphasis on visiting attractions. There is also a growing interest in cruising out of Singapore.

But compared with Jakarta visitors, they have stronger preference for hotels within Orchard Road area.

They typically stay around three days in Singapore.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has struck a three-year partnership with The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia which will start this year with a Star Wars festival.

To be held from May 4-6 at one of Singapore’s attractions, Gardens by the Bay, inbound agents can entice clients to visit Singapore with the festival’s highlights such as SaberTrees, where the iconic Supertrees at the gardens will be transformed into lightsabers.

(From left) The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia’s Alex Baillie, Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry S Iswaran and STB’s Lionel Yeo

The latest hotel openings and announcements made this week

Hoshino Resorts KAI Anjin
Named after English sailor Anjin Miura, the waterfront hot spring inn in Ito, Shizuoka, Japan, offers 45 Western-style guestrooms. Each nautically-themed room boasts an ocean view and KAI’s luxury beds, as well as a separate living area with a sofa. The property’s piece de resistance is the grand outdoor bath on the top floor that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. As well, both the men’s and women’s areas feature granite indoor baths and stone outdoor baths. Other facilities include the San Buena Deck, built to resemble an actual ship’s deck.

Hilton Garden Inn Shanghai Hongqiao
The opening of Hilton Garden Inn Shanghai Hongqiao in Qingpu District marks the brand’s debut in the city. Part of the New Hongqiao CBD, the property offers 226 guestrooms complete with 43-inch HDTVs, complimentary Wi-Fi and ergonomic chairs. Amenities include two restaurants, a bar, pantry open 24/7 for snacks or a quick meal, gym and a self-service laundromat. As well, the property offers 500m² of meeting and banquet space for events that can accommodate up to 200 people.

Hyatt Place Rameswaram
Located in Rameswaram – one of India’s holiest pilgrimage destinations – the 101-key is the first Hyatt Place to open in the state of Tamil Nadu. Each room comes with a swiveling 42-inch HDTV, Hyatt Grand Bed and Cozy Corner sectional sofa. Facilities on-site include a restaurant, poolside bar, complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, 24-hour gym, outdoor swimming pool, as well as more than 440m² of function space.

Swiss-Belhotel Lampung
Swiss-Belhotel International has taken over the management of The 7th Hotel & Convention Center in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. The rebranded property features 167 guestrooms, with recreational facilities spanning a swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, bar and lounge, and the Swiss-Café restaurant. For events and meetings, the property has a ballroom which can accommodate up to 1,200 guests, and nine meeting rooms for up to 100 people.