BEST Western International has inked an agreement to manage a new mid-scale Best Western hotel in central Bangkok, the company’s seventh hotel in the Thai capital.
Located in the heart of Sukhumvit, Bangkok’s business and entertainment district, the yet-unnamed hotel will offer 75 rooms equipped with flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi.
It will also feature a restaurant serving local and international cuisine, a fitness centre and meeting spaces and is sheduled to open in 4Q2016.
MUSIC and arts festival cum cruise vacation, Shipsomnia, is offering an experiential 5D4N sailing to destinations in Asia aboard the Costa Victoria.
The cruise will set off from Singapore on January 2, 2016, sail to Phuket and Langkawi, and back to Singapore on January 6.
Costing about US$2.5 million to organise, the festival is expected to draw some 2,400 people from around Asia-Pacific and beyond.
A multi-language website with information on the festival vacation cruise has been launched.
The journey will feature some 30 DJs from around the world, alongside a world-class production with a steampunk twist. There will also be multi-city Asian club collaborations in May, involving parties hosted at these nightspots.
KUONI Group Travel Experts will gather more than 20 hoteliers from 10 European destinations in Singapore and Jakarta next week to meet with the trade and learn more about the preferences of South-east Asian travellers.
Led by Marco Russi, Kuoni Group Travel Experts’ vice president for hotel sourcing and reservations, the participating hoteliers will hail from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
In a statement, Kuoni said hoteliers will “learn more about the size, value and particular needs of South-east Asia’s group travel trade”, meeting with key travel consultants and tour operators through one-to-one appointments during the trip from April 15-22.
The trip aims to give the hoteliers insights into Indonesia’s pool of first-time longhaul travellers eager to see iconic European attractions, as well as Singapore’s mature travellers keen on destinations outside the capital and more bespoke itineraries.
Russi said: “South-east Asia presents enormous opportunity for the group travel industry with a mix of high-volume mature source markets and faster-growing ones.”
For Kuoni, Italy, France and Switzerland remained top for group travellers from Singapore last year, while the Netherlands took fourth place from Germany with a seven per cent rise in the number of room nights booked.
Croatia almost doubled last year for room nights ahead of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Albeit in smaller volumes, Ireland and Russia enjoyed the highest year-on-year increases in group travel from Singapore.
Indonesian group travellers most favoured France last year, which was followed by Italy and Switzerland. Interest in Turkey rose enormously and ahead of Norway, while room nights booked in Argentina, Slovakia and Slovenia more than doubled.
IT IS full sails ahead for the newly refurbished Royal Albatross, the only tall ship in Asia specially designed for luxury corporate and private charters as well as dockside events.
Owned and chartered by Singapore-based company Tall Ship Adventures, the ship berthing at Resorts World Sentosa has a sailing capacity for up to 149 guests for day and evening charters, featuring 185m2 of upper deck space, three purpose-built stages, a restaurant-grade galley, professional sound and AV systems and a fully air-conditioned interior.
“With Singapore being one of Asia’s most lauded business destinations, we believe that the Royal Albatross will serve to boost the local tourism and entice regional MICE operators and key international MICE organisations,” said Peter Pela, managing director and owner of Tall Ship Adventures, at yesterday’s press launch.
The hourly charter rate starts from S$5,000++ (US$3,688) for a minimum of two hours, including the cost of fuel and service of the crew, but excluding F&B charges.
For international voyages, the ship sleeps 10 guests overnight in its five en-suite cabins and is certified to sail worldwide unrestricted.
It also offers “luxury integration” – multi-hosted events where non-conflicting luxury brands can network and develop business at the same event.
“We can save them time and money by splitting charter costs, having one point of contact for logistics and entertainment and providing them with an events team that already understands their needs and how to best use our tall ship,” said Pela.
By Jerlene Ng
FEWER Japanese tourists are expected to travel overseas during the upcoming Golden Week holidays, down by around 0.4 per cent year-on-year.
Research by JTB identified some factors for the decline, the major one being the lack of consecutive national holidays.
Motohisa Tachikawa, spokesman for JTB told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Last year, the dates of national holidays meant that travellers only needed to take one day off from work to have a long holiday. This year, the way days fall means that they need to take two days off, and that is a lot more difficult.”
The second key factor is the weakening yen which, apart from forcing travel companies to raise their prices for overseas trips – JTB has increased the price of its Look JTB tours by three per cent – has also caused optional trips, restaurants and souvenirs to become relatively more expensive, putting tourists off.
The third factor, Tachikawa said, is concern over security in places such as the Middle East and Africa, as well as the recent spate of terrorist attacks in different parts of the world.
Consequently, the Japanese are opting for holidays closer to home, offsetting the fall in overseas travel. JTB expects 23.4 million people to travel within the country in late April and early May, a year-on-year increase of three per cent.
NONGLUCK Narkman becomes director of sales & marketing at The Westin Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok effective May 6.
She has over 20 years of experience in both sales & marketing and conventions & catering fields, and has worked for brands such as Shangri-La, Conrad and Sheraton.
Prior to the appointment, she was director of sales & marketing at Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa before being posted to Sheraton Hanoi Hotel.
ALILA Hotels and Resorts has announced new general mangers for its four new hotels in Indonesia and China.
Eleanore Astier-Petin joins the pre-opening team at Alila Solo in central Java as general manager. Over the last decade, she has worked with luxury hotels and resorts, including the renowned Hermitage Hotel Jakarta. She will now oversee operations and management of the 257-key Alila Solo.
Pierre Lang will lead Alila Seminyak Bali, scheduled to open in September as the group’s fifth property on the island. With over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Lang has worked for international brands including Armani Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt.
Over in Jakarta, David Baldwin joins Alila SCBD Jakarta and will oversee its opening in early 2016. He brings to Alila 10 years of experience, having worked with leading hotels across the region.
Michael Brooks has been named general manager at Alila Anji Zhejiang. He is tasked with launching Alila’s first property in China, which will open its doors in 3Q2015. Prior to this, he was general manager of The World, a private floating community of 169 islands in Dubai.
FREE fuel vouchers and a night-time bonfire are being offered by the Sebel Kirkton Park for business events held at the resort between now and end-June.
Available via The Conference Shop – a new, free website service to help companies plan business events in regional areas – the special offer gives corporate organisers a A$500 (US$385) fuel voucher to cover the journey from Sydney, and a post-dinner bonfire under the stars, complete with mulled wine, hot chocolate and marshmallows.
Surrounded by Hunter Valley’s famous vineyards, the resort offers 71 rooms and free Wi-Fi to all delegates. Meetings can be held in its five conference rooms and four breakout rooms.
The offer is valid with a minimum spend of A$10,000. Special conference accommodation rates from A$155 per delegate per night are also available, including breakfast.
For more details, visit www.theconferenceshop.com.au.
THE Tokyo metropolitan government has announced the latest appointment of tourism representatives in 12 cities in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, to be overseen by the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The cities are Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Milan, Madrid, Sydney, Beijing and Seoul.
Chitose Maeda, director for city sales, tourism division, Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, said: “We are excited to work closely with our 12 representatives including the two additional cities, Beijing and Seoul, to promote Tokyo as one of the greatest tourism destinations in the world. All 12 representatives’ wealth of knowledge and well-established relationships in the industry make them a great asset to Tokyo.”
It is the first time the city appoints representatives in Beijing and Seoul.
Japan is working towards 20 million international visitor arrivals by 2020, when it will host the summer Olympic Games.
US-BASED MD Events has opened an office each in Singapore and Sacramento, bringing its current global network of operations to six.
The two new offices, joining existing ones in London, St Petersburg, Philadelphia and Hong Kong, will comprise three divisions to deliver MD Events’ specialisations in life sciences, corporate and destination management.
General manager Tarquin Scadding-Hunt said in a press statement that MD Events needs to base its services where clients need them.
Scadding-Hunt said: “Singapore is a hotbed of business for a number of industries, especially pharmaceutical R&D, which was demonstrated recently with companies like Takeda and GSK establishing a presence there.
“There (are) lots of activity in the US’ West Coast and we think it is a logical step to expand our footprint in the US.”
Jowyn Tan, account director of Asia and Australia, told TTGmice e-Weekly that she expects all three divisions in the Singapore office to flourish.
“Singapore is home to regional headquarters within Asia for the pharmaceutical industry and we are expecting at least a 30 per cent increase in meetings for the life sciences division within the next five years. The corporate division is specially tailored for our existing and new clients dealing in non-life sciences meetings. We will be increasing our client base to other industries including IT, electronics, banking & finance, and insurance, etc.
“Meanwhile, our DMC division allows us to demonstrate our knowledge of Asia and Australia. We will expand our client base to event companies that are not based in this region,” Tan said.
Commenting on the company’s decision to open a second office in the US, Agnès Canonica, general manager of the Americas, said: “(There are) many life sciences companies in the San Francisco and San Diego area. In addition, we are targeting IT companies on the corporate side of things, so our presence in Sacramento aligns with our growth strategy.”
Canonica revealed that most of the demand for the US, specifically the West Coast, is from the north-east corridor where most of its current clients are located.
“In a couple of years, we feel that will be spread evenly throughout the East Coast, Midwest (Chicago area) and West Coast, in addition to Canada, based on our diversifying marketing strategy.”
She expects demand from Asian clients to rise five years from now.
