KAZAKHSTAN’S flag carrier, Air Astana, will strengthen its Asia network by increasing flight frequencies between Astana and Bangkok, and by introducing Astana as a stopover destination.

Peter Foster, president, Air Astana said “seasonal, twice-weekly winter flights between Astana and Bangkok will become year round from September“ this year. Daily flights between Almaty and Bangkok remain unchanged.

From September, Astana will also serve as a stopover for services between Hong Kong to Almaty, so as to provide convenience to business travellers from Hong Kong heading to Astana.

Foster revealed future network expansion plans in Asia include new services to Western and Central China, Singapore and Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Air Astana’s newly introduced Stopover Paid by Carrier programme to stimulate return traffic between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul via Almaty has seen four or five group bookings already, said Richard Ledger, vice president, worldwide sales, Air Astana.

Launched in May, the programme competes for business with Turkish Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, both of which have direct services between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul.

On the return leg under this programme, groups of 20 or more are eligible for complimentary arrival and departure transfers, and hotel accommodation with breakfast in Almaty city for a day.

Desmond Lee, group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions in Kuala Lumpur, said: “For Malaysian outbound travel consultants, it will be easier to convince their customers to travel with Air Astana to Istanbul if they create and market packages combining Istanbul and Almaty as twin cities.

“Istanbul is a well-known destination for Malaysians but more destination awareness is needed for Almaty.”

Meanwhiile, President N A Nazarbayev, last Friday announced that 10 more countries have been included in the visa-free programme for 15 days, effective July 15. They are: Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Monaco, Singapore, Australia, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

SINGAPORE’S representative on the international clubbing scene, Zouk, is ready to relocate after securing the lease for a space in Clarke Quay.

Currently situated on Jiak Kim Street where it has been since 1991, the long-standing party venue’s lease is set to expire in December this year.

Zouk will make its new home in a 2,787m2 site in Block C in Clarke Quay sometime between June and September 2016.

The 24-year old club is organising a series of 2015/2016 farewell parties to commemorate the move as well as its 25th anniversary in April 2016, while the annual ZoukOut music festival will continue to be held on Siloso Beach, Sentosa as always.

Founder Lincoln Cheng said in a press statement: “We are happy that Zouk has found a new home to move to, where it will continue its legacy for the next generation. The move to a new venue was inevitably, a foregone conclusion, so when the space at Clarke Quay became available, we set out immediately to move to the new venue, to make our new home at the earliest opportunity.

He added: “Clarke Quay has always been identified as one of Singapore’s key entertainment hubs, and with Zouk being the number seven club in the world, along with all our other prerequisites being met, we identified Clarke Quay as being the most ideal venue for us to grow our new roots at.”

AUSTRALIAN flag carrier Qantas revived services on the Singapore-Perth route last week, offering flights five times a week to the capital of Western Australia.

Flights are served by Boeing 737 aircraft.

The Perth-Singapore route was ceased in May 2014 as part of the A$2 billion (US$1.5 billion) cost reduction exercise.

QF72 is scheduled to depart Singapore this evening bound for Perth, one of five return services that Qantas will operate each week with its Boeing 737 aircraft. With a flying time of around five hours, the flight is scheduled to land at 11.40pm.

Qantas International CEO, Gareth Evans, said in a press statement: “There has been a fantastic response since we announced the new services in April, with customers jumping to book great deals to Perth and beyond.

“We’re seeing many of our customers choosing to make the most of the early evening departure from Singapore and the excellent connections it offers from the rest of Asia with our airline partners.”

“Many of our codeshare partners have also been attracted to our Singapore-Perth schedule, adding their code to the Qantas flights, with nine carriers now marketing the services to their customers,” added Evans. “This is great news for tourism in Western Australia, with the route being promoted to more international customers than ever before.”

AIR ticketing companies in Indonesia want Bank Indonesia (BI) to postpone the implementation of the rupiah as the de facto currency of choice until the end of the year, when the airlines, GDSs and IATA systems will be fully ready.
Announced earlier this year, the Indonesian central bank BI will disallow domestic transactions conducted in any currency but the rupiah from July 1, although foreign currency transactions made before June 30 with credit payment after July 1 will be allowed.

All stages of the ticket purchasing process are currently conducted in US dollars and Indonesia is not ready to do everything in rupiah yet, said Shirley Leiwakabessy, country manager Indonesia of IATA at an ASTINDO and ASITA Jakarta Chapter members’ meeting where IATA gave a presentation on preparing for the new regulation.

One issue involves GDSs, which may not be able to display prices in rupiah because they only allow up to 11 alphanumeric characters, including the three-character currency code.

Shirley said a first-class ticket from Jakarta to Europe could cost up to Rp100 million (US$7,520) and the system cannot issue the ticket if displayed in rupiah. “To change this (in the GDS system) is not easy… They need investment, manpower and time to do it.”

“We have submitted a letter to BI asking for until the end of the year to solve this,” she added.

In the meantime, Shirley advised companies to contact airlines directly and arrange for payments in such cases.

Edward Jusuf, general manager of Golden Nusa Travel, pointed out during the meeting: “(Based on IATA’s presentation), if we only know the exact price in rupiah upon issuing the ticket, that puts corporate travel companies like us that have contracts with corporates, at the risk of losing out in terms of exchange rates.”

“Why don’t we postpone the implementation until all parties are ready? Please do not get us wrong – I prefer using the rupiah. If all parties were ready today, I wouldn’t have any objection to starting transactions in rupiah today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fajar Setiawan, assistant director of money management, BI, said: “We are studying the request from IATA. ASITA and ASTINDO members can also submit theirs.”

SHANGRI-LA Hotels and Resorts has opened the doors to its newest hotel in China – the Shangri-La Hotel, Hefei.

Situated between the Yangtze river and Chaohu lake, the 27-storey hotel on Suixi Road is half an hour’s drive to Xinqiao International Airport, Hefei Railway Station or the Hefei South Railway Station.

The hotel offers 401 guestrooms ranging from 45m2 to 135m2, all with full-length windows. The Executive and Speciality Suites come with separate living and sleeping windows, as well as marble-clad bathrooms with a separate bath, walk-in shower and TV.

Guests can expect the hallmarks of Shangri-La’s brand of hospitality, including free Wi-Fi throughout the property and paperless check-ins.

Other amenities the hotel is offering includes the Horizon Club on level 27, Shangri-La’s signature spa, and a 24-hour Health Club featuring personal training sessions, a 25m indoor pool, Jacuzzi, steam and sauna room, and a beauty salon are further offered.

F&B options at the hotel include Chinese restaurant Yang Zi Xuan; food theatre-style Café Wan serving up Western, Chinese, Japanese, local and South-east Asian cuisines and the Lobby Lounge.

Meeting planners will be happy to know Shangri-La Hotel, Hefei is equipped with a 1,400m2 pillarless Grand Ballroom that is capable of holding 900 persons, as well as a business centre and eight other function rooms for smaller-scale gatherings and meetings.

To mark the launch, the hotel is offering an introductory rate of RMB550 (US$89), plus 15 per cent service charge, for a Deluxe Room, dining credit and triple Golden Circle Award Points for members.

The offer is available until October 7, 2015 when booked www.shangri-la.com/hefei.

FOUR airport hotels are in the works as AccorHotels expands its reach across Australia and New Zealand with A$900 million (US$697 million) worth of new properties.

Of these projects, a fair number will be based at Australian airports, including Pullman Sydney Airport, Pullman and ibis Brisbane Airport, Mercure Newcastle Airport and the recently opened ibis Mackay Airport.

AccorHotels Pacific COO, Simon McGrath, said Australia is experiencing its strongest level of new hotel development in 20 years, reflecting the positive sentiment in both the travel and investment markets.

“Importantly, the hotel development boom is coming at a time of major investment in infrastructure, including airports and convention centres,” he said.

“The development of these facilities will be important to absorb the new supply, but equally, the construction of the new venues and attractions rely on new accommodation being added.”

McGrath also said that airline access has been crucial to Australia’s growth in inbound travel.

“China and India continue to be powerhouses, along with other Asian destinations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – all of which are growing airline services to Australian ports.”

HOSPITALITY group Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is set to launch its second Rosewood resort on Hainan island in 2018.

Appointed by Taiwan’s CMT Group, Rosewood will debut the Rosewood Clearwater Bay, Hainan on a secluded bay with 1.6km of pristine beach.

“By topography, design and intention, Rosewood Clearwater Bay will be a private and sophisticated sanctuary on the island,” says Sonia Cheng, CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group. “Its concept is timeless yet contemporary, melding strong architecture with breathtaking landscape, offering discreet yet superb service.”

The resort will feature 116 villas with full ocean views, with 95 units set within low-rise buildings. Each floor of the building will host two sky villas each, served by private elevators and enhanced by an outdoor terrace and private swimming pools.

Another 21 stand-alone beach villas offer 165m2 in space and equal-size outdoor space encompassing an arrival courtyard, garden, large private pool and high walls to ensure privacy. The 695m2 Presidential Villa will come with three bedrooms.

There will also be 47 villa residences of up to six bedrooms in size available for purchase.

When complete, Rosewood Clearwater Bay, Hainan will also offer a bistro, a beachside grill and bar, a high-end specialty restaurant, a 320m2 residential-style Pavilion meeting and event space, as well as outdoor function areas.

These are further complemented by a spa with six treatment rooms, gym, tennis court, open-air tai chi and yoga deck, recreation centre, lap pool and children’s pool.

Rosewood Clearwater Bay, Hainan is the group’s fourth property on mainland China after the Rosewood Beijing opened last year. The Rosewood Sanya and Rosewood Guangzhou are both due to open in 2017.

JETSTAR Hong Kong was met with resistance from Hong Kong-based carriers when plans for the LCC were first announced in 2012. Another spanner has been thrown in the works as its application for a licence to operate scheduled flights has been denied.

The city’s Air Transport Licensing Authority rejected Jetstar Hong Kong on the grounds that the carrier’s majority foreign ownership make-up meant its main place of business was not in Hong Kong, reported The Australian.

An airline is only allowed an operating licence if Hong Kong is made its principal place of business and decision-making centre, according to Hong Kong law.

Jetstar Hong Kong is a joint venture between Hong Kong’s publicly listed Shun Tak Holdings, China Eastern Airlines and the Qantas Group, each holding one-third of the shares.

A Qantas Group press release said Shun Tak ultimately holds control of the airline with 51 per cent of voting rights, while 70 per cent of the Jetstar Hong Kong board is from Hong Kong.

Reacting to the news, Qantas said it “will work with its fellow shareholders in Jetstar Hong Kong to review the enterprise”.

Meanwhile Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said: “It’s the travelling public who have lost out, because the message from this decision is that Hong Kong appears closed to fresh aviation investment even when it is majority locally owned and controlled.

“At a time when aviation markets across Asia are opening up, Hong Kong is going in the opposite direction. Given the importance of aviation to global commerce, shutting the door to new competition can only serve the vested interests already installed in that market.”

ASTANA is extending its pilot programme offering visa-free entry for 10 countries in a bid to grow inbound tourism and reduce tourism trade deficit.

Piloted in 2014, the year-long scheme offered to 10 countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, South Korea, the UAE, UK and US – would have expired on July 15.

Under the new extension, the 10 countries initially given the visa-free entry will continue to enjoy the facility until 2016*. Kazakhstan is also including OECD countries and Singapore into the programme, though these markets will be brought on board gradually between now and 2016.

Timur Duisengaliyev, director of the Tourism Industry Department, said at a press conference yesterday that the pilot project had been reviewed and found to be most beneficial to business tourists.

“One year is not enough to benefit leisure inbound tour operators who need a longer duration to see results from their marketing efforts,” he said.

The Tourism Industry Department is looking at setting up overseas marketing representation offices in China, India and Russia, possibly by the end of 2015, as these three countries have the capability of “generating high volumes of inbound tourists” for Kazakhstan.

Duisengaliyev said the department is looking at Malaysia as a model to develop standards for halal tourism as well as international promotions.

Tourism is still a new industry in Kazakhstan and contributes about 1.5 per cent of the nation’s GDP.

[CLARIFICATION] Kazakhstan’s Tourism Industry Department has clarified that the visa free policy has been extended for only one year from July 15, 2015, and not up to 2017 as stated earlier

SRI Lanka’s Browns Group is developing two properties in the Maldives, including the transformation of the iconic Nasundhara Palace, one of the oldest hotels in Male.

Browns Hotels and Resorts CEO, Thilak Selviah, said the 34-year-old Nasundhara Palace, closed earlier this week for reconstruction, will be converted into a four-star hotel with 150-rooms and 100 apartments.

The 31-room, previously government-controlled hotel was a popular convention and meetings place in the city.

Last October the company signed an agreement with Nasundhara’s owner, Alpha Kinam Holdings and NPH Investment, under which Browns’ is investing US$9.5 million in the development and eventual control of the property.

Meanwhile, the company will also develop Bodufaru Finolhu in Raa Atoll to develop a resort, which it acquired from Bodufaru Beach Resort in a US$1.5 million transaction in January. The Maldivian company has a 50-year lease for this island.

Browns, relatively new to the Sri Lankan leisure sector, has three properties in Sri Lanka, totalling 308 keys. This includes an agreement with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to manage the five-star, 172-room Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort property on the southern coast, due to open later this year.