Mega Maldives Airlines has made its entry into the Indian market with the launch of thrice-weekly flights between New Delhi and Malé starting yesterday, November 15. This also marks the first direct service between the two capital cities.

“Maldives is witnessing an increase in popularity with Indian tourists. Over 52,000 Indians visited Maldives in 2015, a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent,” said George Weinmann, founder and CEO of Mega Maldives Airlines.

The carrier is operating the route using a Boeing 737-800 with a configuration comprising 12 business class seats and 156 economy class seats.

Mega Maldives will also begin twice-weekly flights between Mumbai and Malé next month. “Our plans are to begin direct flights from South India to Maldives,” revealed Weinmann.

“We have to take time to allocate the routes and schedules and plan them out. Probably, in about a year’s time or more, we will begin flights from South India.”

Karan Anand – head, relationships of Indian tour operator Cox & Kings, believes the direct service will be a boon for business.

He said: “We welcome Mega Maldives Airlines as direct connectivity between India and Maldives will benefit both countries. Historically, it has been observed that when airlines connect to source markets directly, tourism between both countries increase by at least 25 per cent.”

The entry of Mega Maldives into India comes at a time when Maldives is seeing a major decline in the number of Chinese arrivals.

Departure lobby of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2

Taiwanese are travelling less to Europe this year due to the region’s many high profile terror incidents and are instead heading to the US for their longhaul holidays, according to the chairman of Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF Taipei) C.T. Su.

As of September, Taiwanese outbound exceeded the 10 million mark, a year-on-year growth of over 10 per cent. While Taiwanese travel to Europe has declined, estimates by Brand USA indicate a growth in arrivals from Taiwan by 6 per cent.

Perry Li, spokesperson for Artisan Travel, who foresees a drop in travel to Europe this year, said: “The Taiwanese are worried about security in Europe and some have completely avoided going to destinations like Turkey and Paris while others have considered switching to travel to the US.”

Skylar Jiang, president of Skylar Travel, which specialises in Alaskan destinations, believes Taiwanese will avoid Europe and divert their travel plans to the US as well. “With Brand USA’s effort, the visitation from Taiwan to Alaska will be doubled this year,” she said.

Agreeing with the sentiment is Antonette Eckert, director of international tourism at the San Francisco Travel Association, which waved its flag for the first time at ITF Taipei held earlier this month.

“I am not surprised that more Taiwanese are travelling to the US because of the threat of terrorism in Europe,” she said, adding that they are making their very first presence at the tradeshow to make sure the mature Taiwan market is being tapped despite them not having offices there.

Wanda Group will soon break the record for the world’s largest indoor ski resort when RMB40 billion (US$5.9 million) Harbin Wanda City opens its doors in June 30, 2017.

Spanning 1.5 million square metres, the development’s main highlight is a 80,000m² indoor ski area with six ski slopes that can accommodate up to 3,000 pax at a time. There is also a 1,800m² indoor ice skating rink and a 15,000m² snow recreation area.

Other attractions include two amusement parks; an outdoor theme park with rollercoaster rides, live shows and parades; plus a movie theme park offering simulator rides, 4D shows and immersive theatrical performances.

As well, Wanda will operate three hotel brands within the resort to offer 1,095 rooms altogether, with more properties expected to be developed by third-party operators in the future. Other on-site facilities include a massive retail mall with a cinema, a 120m-high restaurant, MICE facilities and more.

Wanda Group marketing director Felicia Toh expects the domestic market as well as neighbouring Russia to form a majority of the clientele for Harbin Wanda City.

Kumamoto Castle in Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan

Prefectures in Kyushu are collaborating on an initiative to boost internationals arrivals to the island, following a government-led trend encouraging visitors to explore more of Japan.

To that end, the Find Your Kyushu campaign has been launched. “This campaign is rather unique in that all seven prefectures are collaborating to promote Kyushu as one destination,” said Miki Ito, spokesperson for tour operator OnJapan, which co-founded the campaign.

One of the campaign’s initiative was an event in Tokyo held earlier this month which offered showcases of the region, including musical performances, food and drinks, and workshops on making traditional crafts.

Misuzu Araki of the Fukuoka Prefectural Government’s Tokyo Office said that if Kyushu does not work together, tourists will not make the trip to the southernmost region of Japan’s main island. She added that the focus here is on repeat travellers.

“We are working in Tokyo to appeal to tourists who, on finding out about Kyushu, might visit there on their next trip or be persuaded to include it in their current travel plan,” she said.

Ito agrees, saying that “seasoned travelers or repeat travelers (to Japan) are now seeking different experiences at different destinations”.

As well, Meng Xu, spokesperson for HIS, which is helping to promote the campaign, said the travel agency is trying to be a bridge by introducing Kyushu’s nature and onsen attractions to tourists through its multilingual staff.

Still, challenges remain for Kyushu as a destination due to its lack of foreign language tourist information as well as poor local transportation infrastructure in rural areas, according to a representative from Kyushu Japan Holiday.

A tuk tuk driver waits for customers in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Members of the travel trade in Cambodia have welcomed a new tuk tuk booking app for helping increase safety and convenience for tourists.

PassApp Taxi, launched last month in Phnom Penh, allows users to book a tuk tuk – one of Cambodia’s preferred forms of transport – via the app.

While there is no shortage of tuk tuks in the Cambodian capital, EXO Cambodia general manager Pierre-Andre Romano said this brings many benefits for foreign travellers.

“It can be annoying for tourists to have to bargain for their ride, especially when they don’t know the standard, so it is good for this factor,” he said.

The app charges the first kilometre at a flat rate of 3,000 riel (US$0.75) with each additional kilometre costing 1,500 riel. Hailing a tuk tuk on the street requires haggling and can cost up to three times more.

Sambo Nov, assistant general manager at Sun and Moon Hotel, has been recommending the app to his guests, especially after dark when tuk tuks can be scarce in some places. She said: “It is very useful for guests who don’t know their location clearly or speak Khmer.”

Les Heng, general manager of tour operator Cambodian Experiences, added that the app also addresses security concerns. “Visitors know they are using a trusted driver and that offers extra reassurance.”

A similar app, Go Tuk Tuk, is set to launch within the next few months, with the added capability to pay for rides via Alipay, Paypal, debit cards and credit cards.

Ascott has opened the Metropole Bangkok, the first property under its The Crest Collection brand of luxury serviced apartments in Asia.

It features 116 apartments in studio and one-bedroom configurations and is sited in Bangkok’s Thonglor district.

Facilities in the complex include a swimming pool, fitness centre with cold onsen baths, a restaurant and lounge. Additional services such as laundry, dry cleaning and meal delivery are also available.

Bangkok is the only Asian location chosen for The Crest Collection, with all three other properties under the brand located in or scheduled for opening in Paris.

“Bangkok is one of Asia’s most dynamic cities and Thonglor is its most vibrant area, home to the city’s trendiest dining and entertainment,” said Jean Keijdener, Ascott’s country general manager for Thailand.

Ascott has 17 serviced residence properties located in Bangkok, Pattaya and Si Racha, with seven more scheduled to open between 2017-2024.

An aerial view of Colombo

Sri Lanka last week introduced a tax for online accommodation bookings, increased its airport embarkation tax to US$50 from the current US$35 and announced plans to launch a budget domestic carrier.

These proposals were made during the government’s budget speech for fiscal 2017, presented by finance minister Ravi Karunanayake on November 10.

The minister said a common platform will be established for the country’s hotels to integrate portals like Agoda, Airbnb and Booking.com, and through which taxes would be applied per booking.

Karunanayake said the move addresses concerns from hoteliers regarding OTAs expanding their operations without paying any tax.

Meanwhile, the increased embarkation tax replaces an earlier proposal by the government to impose a 15 per cent tax on all air tickets. The latter proposal was objected to by local travel agents.

No schedules were given on the implementation of these tax schemes. However, the government stated that a new domestic airline, formed jointly by the authorities and the private sector, is slated to launch before March 31, 2017.

The airline, still unnamed, will operate using Sri Lankan Air Force planes to destinations within the country. An initial investment of 50 million rupees (US$340,000) will be injected, said Karunanayake.

Currently, while the privately-owned Cinnamon Air operates flights to a few domestic destinations, the government wants a daily, more affordable LCC to help ease travel from the capital Colombo to popular tourist spots that take a long time to travel to by road.

(From left) Bob Chapek, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company; and Fan Xiping, chairman of Shanghai Shendi Group recently broke ground on the new Toy Story Land at Shanghai Disneyland

Shanghai Disneyland is set to get its seventh themed area, Toy Story Land, come 2018.

The new zone will be set in the backyard of Andy – the boy from the Toy Story movies – and will feature three new attractions and a character greeting area.

Currently, Shanghai Disneyland already has the Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue attraction themed after Toy Story. Shanghai Disney Resort is also home to the only Toy Story-themed resort hotel in the world

According to Shanghai Disneyland, characters and stories from the Toy Story franchise have strongly resonated with Chinese guests so far.

Meanwhile, Fan Xiping, chairman of the theme park’s developer, Shanghai Shendi Group, revealed that Toy Story Land is part of an accelerated expansion plan for the first phase of the theme park, and that more attractions will be launched in the future.

Yong kang Street in Taipei

Though Chinese groups heading to Taiwan have plunged, overall arrivals there have risen due to growth from other source markets, according to C.T Su, chairman of the Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF Taipei), which held its annual trade and consumer show earlier this month.

Total visitor arrivals in Taiwan for the first three quarters of 2016 reached nearly 8 million, up 4.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Su explained: “The Mainland Chinese market is estimated to drop 800,000 this year though we welcomed four million of them in 2015. But markets like South-east Asia, the US, South Korea and Hong Kong performed well with positive growth. As far as I know, only group tours are affected. Chinese FIT traffic has kept growing.

“What we can do is to focus more on promoting in South-east Asia. The Taiwanese government has added Thailand to its visa waiver programme since August to allow 30-day visa-free stays and the Philippines will be getting e-visa facilities. This really helped.”

Kathy Yuan, international affairs division section chief of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, confirms Su’s observation. “Since August, visitor numbers from Thailand has started to rise steadily… previously, our visa application procedure was quite stringent and required proofing documents.”

Easing of Taiwanese visa requirements and procedures were also made in the South-east Asian nations of Myanmar and Cambodia earlier this year.

Accommodations solutions provider HRS has rebranded its corporate business segment and at the same time unveiled its new multisource hotel booking solution.

The rebranding comes as HRS seeks to distinguish its full-service offerings for corporates from its leisure business, which is unmanaged and functions more like an OTA.

Its refreshed corporate brand boasts a new logo to encapsulate its range of solutions along the entire value chain, from purchasing, analytics, optimisation, rate negotiation and booking on all channels, through to its MICE segment tools via its Meetago platform.

“We recognised very early that companies are not just concerned with the number of hotels in the portfolio – they are looking for holistic end-to-end services that offer real added value,” said Tobias Ragge, CEO of HRS.

“Managed travel is a completely different environment to the consumer segment and HRS has offered much more than just a quick way to book an overnight stay for a long time. With our new brand presence, we are now looking to make this difference visually clear.”

Concurrently, HRS is showcasing its new multisource tool, announced at the GBTA Conference 2016, taking place in Frankfurt now from November 14-16.

The tool overhauls the technology behind its corporate booking platform and essentially allows the booking of rooms at the best available rate from an array of distribution partners, such as Expedia, eLong, MakeMyTrip and the main GDSs, without leaving the HRS ecosystem.

This means that unlike metasearch engines, users won’t be redirected to a third party site to complete bookings, while still having the convenience of comparing prices and availability across multiple channels on one interface.

“For customers, price remains the most important booking criterion. In addition, business travellers, in particular, want to book their hotel rooms quickly and with ease – without time-consuming price comparisons or redirection to unknown providers,” added Ragge.

Around 20,000 hotels currently use multisource. HRS plans to gradually convert its entire global hotel portfolio to the new booking procedure.