BUDGET carrier Tigerair yesterday announced it will launch a four-times-weekly direct service from Singapore to Ipoh, Malaysia’s fourth-largest city.

The new service will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays via an Airbus A320 aircraft, starting May 29 and subject to regulatory approval. Tickets for the new service will go on sale from April 20.

Tigerair CEO, Lee Lik Hsin, said: “We are excited to add Ipoh to our growing Asia network and be the first to operate jet flights in Ipoh. Tigerair already enjoys a significant presence in Malaysia and this addition will help meet demand for both leisure and business travel between Singapore and Malaysia.”

Ipoh will be Tigerair’s fourth Malaysian destination which currently comprises Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang.

FOUR Seasons Hotels and Resorts will open its first property in Seoul later this year aiming to tap the popularity of the South Korean capital among tourists and business travellers alike.

The 25-storey Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, developed in partnership with Mirae Asset Global Investments, will open on Sejongro Square in the city’s CBD.

The property will offer 317 luxury guestrooms, an exclusive “speakeasy” bar and a number of high-end restaurants. It will also have a selection of meeting rooms, a saltwater swimming pool and a state-of-the-art fitness centre.

It will target Chinese and Japanese visitors, who form the majority of foreign tourists to South Korea, as well as domestic tourists. Its central location is also expected to appeal to business people.

William Mackay, senior vice president for hotel operations Asia-Pacific, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “We continue to focus on expansion to meet demand in regional and international business centres, as well as establishing a presence in gateway cities.

“We want to be where our guests want to go, as well as the places they come from, as we continue to build brand awareness in emerging markets, including South Korea.”

“Luxury travellers in South Korea today, and Asia in general, have higher expectations than ever and we are focused, company-wide, on continuously evolving our products and services to meet their needs,” he said.

BELLS are ringing in Bali owing to the rise of Indian weddings held there despite the lack of direct flights between the two countries, say tourism stakeholders.

On the sidelines of the Indian Travel Congress 2015 held recently in Bali, Samabe Bali Suites & Villas general manager, Ralf Luthe, said the Indian wedding market for his property has been rising, mainly through word-of-mouth. It had been the venue for 20 Indian weddings over the last three years.

He added: “The wedding business is better than incentives because with weddings, the organisers don’t cut corners.”

Bali can also cater well to this market due to the broader size range of 150 people to bigger groups of 300 and more, according to I Nyoman Juniarsa, Grand Nikko Bali’s director of sales for leisure.

Vikkram Kumar Kalra, a wedding planner in Bali specialising in Indian weddings, handled seven Indian weddings in 1Q2015. He said: “Despite the lack of flights, Bali is seen as an attractive destination, has a similar culture with India and is known as the land of a thousand temples. Indian priests are also available in Bali while English is widely spoken at the hotels.”

Furthermore, contrary to popular belief,  the lack of direct flights has never been an issue, according to Cox & Kings’ associate vice president, corporate communications and CSR, Thomas C Thottahil. “Destination weddings are planned at least eight months prior, so there is never a shortage of seats. In addition, we do bulk bookings with the airlines, so we are able to negotiate for better airfares,” he said, adding that Cox & Kings has seen 10 to 15 per cent year-on-year increase in Indian weddings to Bali.

CHANGI Airport Group (CAG) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have agreed to invest S$35 million (US$25.6 million) to “shape and enhance long-term global perceptions of both Singapore and Changi Airport as destinations in their own right”.

Under the terms of the two-year partnership agreement signed, both organisations will embark on joint marketing campaigns globally and within mutually aligned key markets.

Plans include showcasing local brands, visual installations of local cultures and other Singapore-inspired displays across all of the airport’s terminals, intensifying marketing efforts across Asia-Pacific in close collaboration with trade partners to curate relevant packages and itineraries for travellers, and securing global media partnerships for branded content opportunities such as MasterChef Asia.

Soon, CAG and STB will also partner with Singapore Airlines for product development and marketing.

Lionel Yeo, STB’s chief executive, said: “Changi Airport is a key gateway into Singapore and the premier aviation hub in the Asia-Pacific region. CAG is thus an important strategic partner for STB in promoting a quality experience for today’s visitor.

“Singapore and Changi Airport are known for efficiency. There are many other rich aspects about Singapore as a destination that we would like visitors to know more about and experience for themselves. Hence, this collaboration is a tremendous opportunity for us to shape global perceptions by showcasing memorable facets of Singapore, and help generate a desire for the Singapore experience.”

In a joint release, both parties said the partnership is timely and valuable “against the backdrop of a challenging market environment”, and “represents the collective determination of both organisations to work towards sustainable annual growth in visitor arrivals of three to four per cent over the next decade”.

JAPANESE supermarket operator Kobe Bussan will branch out into the international hotel sector by opening a Japanese-style property in New York City in 2017.

The 91-room new hotel, to be located on 54^th Street in a seven-storey building that will also feature a traditional Japanese garden, will provide accommodation at “reasonable prices”, and target groups of tourists and families.

A number of rooms will have tatami floor mats, while all bathrooms will be fitted with the deep bathtubs common in Japan, as well as heated toilet seats that incorporate bidet functions. The hotel restaurant will serve Japanese cuisine.

Kobe Bussan opened the Shabu Shabu Kobe Japanese restaurant in Manhattan last September, and the company’s management said it is keen to continue to promote other forms of authentic Japanese culture.

A spokesperson for the project told TTG Asia e-Daily the cuisine and culture that are portrayed as Japanese in many other countries are frequently very different to the reality.

“New York is one of the biggest cities in the world and we consider it to be the ideal place to inform people of Japanese culture and to expand our concept,” she explained.

THAI aviation is facing a crisis after the UN’s industry watchdog raised “significant safety concerns” about the sector, spurring Japan and South Korea to curb new flights from a number of local operators.

The ICAO in January audited the local industry for the first time in a decade, with Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) reportedly only passing 21 of 100 requirements.

Thailand’s failure of ICAO’s audit and the barring of new charter flights to key destinations in the region will have a “tremendous impact” on business over the coming Thai New Year holiday, said Chotechuang Soorangura, associate managing director, NS Travel & Tours.

“(Some) 150,000 Thai passengers will be affected by the situation,” he said. “This doesn’t only impact Thais going overseas; charter flights normally need to fill up the seats for both inbound and outbound to be most cost-effective.

“Scheduled flights are also standing on the edge of a cliff. If the problem is not resolved soonest, the entire tourism industry will be hurt. Inbound will face another tough (price) war with fewer tourists coming in. This is a wake-up call for all authorities in Thai tourism to take action seriously and timely.”

Pornthip Hirunkate, vice president for marketing at 
Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), concurred ICAO’s decision would have a “colossal impact” on the Thai trade, adding that the aviation business requires long-term solutions for the issues raised, not quick fixes.

“This is a major travel period for Thais wanting to experience and explore (outbound) destinations,” she said. “With regards to inbound, both Japan and South Korea markets and other markets are not affected by these issues – it’s business as usual. TCT is actively taking the lead to find immediate resolutions to ease the situation.”

Meanwhile, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Thailand’s prime minister, said he will invoke article 44 of the interim charter, essentially granting him absolute power over most aspects of government, to establish a new aviation body to work with DCA to resolve the problem.

Bangkok Post reported that Japan may ease its ban on new flights from Thai carriers, including Thai Airways International, NokScoot and Thai AirAsiaX, if the new authority proved effective.

In an official statement Thai AirAsiaX said it will “continue operating flights to Japan as usual as well as to South Korea and that its passengers will not be affected in any way”.