Beijing-based Zhonghong Zhuoye Group, a diversified holding company in the leisure, tourism and real estate sectors, will acquire Blackstone’s 21 per cent stake in SeaWorld Entertainment at about US$23 per share.

As part of the deal, SeaWorld will advise Zhonghong exclusively on the concept development and design of theme parks, water parks and family entertainment centres that will be operated by Zhonghong Holding – an affiliate of the group – in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

SeaWorld San Diego

The Chinese company has entered into a stockholders agreement with SeaWorld to increase the size of its board to 11, which will include Yoshikazu Maruyama, president of Zhonghong Group’s American operation, and Yongli Wang, chief strategy officer of Zhonghong Group.

The agreement also places restrictions on Zhonghong Group’s ability to sell its interest in SeaWorld for two years and on its ability to acquire more than 24.9 per cent of SeaWorld’s outstanding shares without the approval of the independent directors of SeaWorld’s board.

When the deal closes in 2Q2017, Blackstone and its affiliates will no longer hold any interests in SeaWorld or have seats on SeaWorld’s board.

Jakarta will get its first Park Hyatt hotel when the Park Hyatt Jakarta opens at MNC Center, Kebon Sirih in 1H2018.

Hyatt Hotels will work with Indonesian property developer MNC Land to develop the hotel on the top 20 floors in the latter’s 39-floor, mixed-use project. The hotel is expected to house five F&B outlets.

Park Hyatt Jakarta will join the four existing Hyatt-branded hotels in Indonesia: Grand Hyatt Jakarta, Grand Hyatt Bali, Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta and Hyatt Regency Bali, which is currently undergoing renovation.

Emirates has redeployed the Airbus A380 on its Dubai-Narita route since last Sunday to replace the smaller Boeing B777-300ER, in response to “the healthy demand for travel between Japan and Dubai”.

The airline previously operated the route with the superjumbo from 2012 to 2013.

On top of seating up to 515 passengers across three classes and two decks, the aircraft also offers the industry’s only onboard shower spa, 2,500 inflight entertainment channels, Wi-Fi and an onboard lounge for first- and business-class passengers serving canapés and cocktails.

Flight EK318 departs Dubai daily at 02.40 and arrives in Narita at 17.35. On the return, EK319 departs Narita at 22.00 on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and arrives in Dubai at 04.15 the next day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it leaves Narita at 21.20 and arrives in Dubai at 03.35 the following day.

The A380 was also deployed on Emirates’ Casablanca and Sao Paulo services on Sunday.

Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea continue to reign among the top destinations for Indonesian outbound travellers while interest in Australia is on the rise, observe industry members at the ASTINDO Fair in Jakarta last weekend.

Speaking to TTG Asia on the sideline of ASTINDO Fair, Ketut Wijaya, vice president consumer banking at BCA Bank, the official bank for the event, said: “We are seeing more travellers looking for (edu-tourism) when travelling with family, where their children can learn about local culture and tradition during their holidays.

Indonesians seek attractions they can’t find at home; Shikisai-no-oka, Hokkaido pictured

“Travellers tend to look for a destination which provide attractions they cannot find in the country. Japan is a good example for this, with its different climate, culture, cuisine and attractions (from Indonesia),” he said.

BCA Bank currently has some three million credit card holders and travel-related expenses rank among the top five spending for its members, said Ketut.

And as the middle class swells in Indonesia, cashbacks and instalment for package payment and overseas spending with zero interest from banks like BCA are important in stimulating traffic during travel fairs, said Rudiana, director of sales of WITA Tour and chairman of the ASTINDO Fair Organising Committee.

He added: “The aggressive promotional efforts from various NTOs and airlines, especially during travel fairs like this, help boost traffic.”

Social media remains a powerful influencer among Indonesians, pointed out Rudiana, as travellers tend to emulate the travel decisions of their friends and families. Japan’s sakura season is one classic example, so much so that rooms are hard to get during this period, he shared.

The seventh ASTINDO Fair was organised from March 24-26 in Jakarta with transactions estimated to reach between 75 billion rupiah (US$5.6 million) and 100 billion rupiah, 25 per cent higher than last year.

Garuda Indonesia Group in 2016 posted a net profit of close to US$9.4 million and consolidated revenue of US$3.9 billion, as Garuda Indonesia and Citilink Indonesia carried a total of 35 million passengers with a load factor of 73.1 per cent and 76.8 per cent respectively.

“The trend in growth for the world aviation industry, especially for the Asia-Pacific region, has been under pressure for the last five years, especially as a result of the global economic slowdown that has affected purchasing power, but the group can still maintain its positive performance,” stated president director of Garuda Indonesia, Arif Wibowo.

“Twenty-sixteen was a year of investment for the company, considering that we maximised utilisation of wide-body aircraft for the expansion of international routes in the middle to longhaul sectors. We expect the next fleet restructuring will happen in 2019,” he added.

The group brought in 17 new aircraft in 2016: four ATR 72-600 aircraft, four A330-300s, one B777-300ER aircraft and eight A330-200. By the end of 2016, it was operating 196 aircraft with an average aircraft age of 4.6 years.

Garuda Indonesia also began serving destinations like Medina and Mumbai, and domestic ones such as Sintang, Silangit, Nabire and Maumere, bringing its network to 19 international destinations and 64 domestic destinations.

Meanwhile, the group recorded an increase in scores of other income comprising ancillary revenue components, income sector strategic business unit and other subsidiaries, amounting to US$392 million, an increase of 13.7 per cent from US$344.6 million in 2015.

In terms of on-time performance, Garuda reached 89.5 per cent, up from 88 per cent the previous year, despite operational challenges that came with domestic service migration to the new Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta, weather factors, or force majeure.

Garuda Indonesia at this time recorded a market share of 41.7 per cent in the domestic market and 26.9 per cent in international markets.

Hotelbeds Group has entered into a partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to connect to the international hotel company’s CRS and 12 hotel brands.

This agreement will give the global bedbank access to IHG’s full network of 5,000 hotels in over 100-plus markets, including the InterContinental, Kimpton, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands.

Hotelbeds’ Adam Krzciuk Kuna (lef) with IHG’s Rubinacci

Hotels can control rates, inventory and availability via the hotel group’s CRS and these will be transmitted to Hotelbed Groups’ distribution network in over 120 markets. This will improve distribution of IHG´s hotels and increase sales from all source markets.

Andrew Rubinacci, senior vice president, distribution and revenue management at IHG, stated: “This is a landmark deal for us and helps further our wholesale strategy by moving towards dynamic pricing and away from property based static rate agreements.”

Carlos Muñoz, managing director of Hotelbeds Group´s Bedbank business, added that the partnership with IHG “demonstrates our shared confidence in the future growth of the B2B industry”.