THAILAND’S political crisis, which began last November, has not dented tourism in Phuket and Koh Samui, according to research by C9 Hotelworks, which cites increased airlift as the key driver of booming arrivals at both destinations.

Koh Samui received 1.7 million visitors last year, 88 per cent of who were from overseas with western Europeans accounting for half of all arrivals to the island.

C9 Hotelworks managing director, Bill Barnett, said growth in passengers travelling through Surat Thani airport, which increased 32 per cent, indicated the coastal town is now fully established as a second gateway to Samui, where Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on air access through its privately owned airport.

“Airlift is the key indicator for Samui’s growing business. Samui airport is capped at 36 flights per day. Surat Thani is Plan B for many travellers. It’s why you’re seeing more Thais travel to the island. Low-cost carriers like AirAsia provide a cheaper option and there are now direct flights to and from places like Malaysia as well as non-scheduled (charter) flights from China,” explained Barnett.

Increased throughput last year saw occupancy, ADR and RevPAR at the island’s hotels increase by five, seven and 14 per cent respectively, even though capacity at Samui International Airport reached 86 per cent.

Charter flights brought some 60,000 visitors through Surat Thani while visitors to the island from Russia and China rose 171 and 127 per cent year-on-year respectively.

Phuket posted record arrivals with 3.2 million people passing through the island’s international airport, representing growth of 26 per cent from 2012. China and Russia led the market, increasing 67 and 41 per cent year-on-year respectively.

ADR rose three per cent to US$147 with only a minimal decrease in occupancy, which fell two percentage points to 74 per cent. RevPAR was flat at US$110.

This positive performance saw Phuket outperform Bali, a key regional competitor, according to Barnett, who said overnight arrivals and increased access via Etihad had catalysed growth in mid- and longhaul arrivals to the destination.

THE search and rescue operations of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 continues into its fifth day, and the authorities have found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew onboard.

Although the aircraft is equipped with a continuous data monitoring system, which transmits data automatically, MAS reported there were no distress calls and no information relayed.

At press time, it is still unknown what went wrong with the aircraft or where it could possibly be.

Meanwhile, the two individuals travelling on stolen passports on the lost flight have been identified as Iranians Pouria Nour Mohammad Merhdad, 19 and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Erza, 29.

Speaking at a press conference in Lyon yesterday, Interpol secretary-general Ronald K Noble said the two had flown to Kuala Lumpur using their own passports and then switched to the stolen passports to board MH370.

Investigations revealed that Pouria Nour was on his way to join his mother in Germany. Noble said: “The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident.”

The press conference was held hours after Malaysia’s inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said the Malaysian police are investigating if the stolen passports are linked to passport theft or forgery rings in Thailand.

The investigation is focused on four main areas – hijacking, sabotage, psychological and personal problems of the passengers and crew.

On psychological and personal problems, Malaysia’s The Star quoted the inspector-general as saying: “Maybe somebody on the flight bought a huge sum of insurance and wanted his family to gain from it, or somebody who owed somebody else a lot of money, you know – we are looking at all possibilities.”

THE former director of Singapore-based Mandarin World Holidays (MWH) has been convicted of two charges under the Travel Agents Act, Chapter 334, for conducting the business of a travel agent without a valid licence.

According to Singapore Tourism Board (STB), two similar charges against Tan Siew Choo were taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing. She was fined S$3,000 (US$2,364) for the two proceeded charges.

MWH’s travel agent licence was first suspended from April 3, 2010 to July 1, 2010, following complaints received that it had been carrying out the business of a travel agent in a negligent and unprofessional manner.

STB received 28 complaints against MWH between 2008 and 2010. The agency’s licence was subsequently revoked on September 20, 2010 after it was found offering travel-related services during the suspension period.

During a raid by STB on October 13, 2010, however, MWH was found to be providing travel-related services despite having its travel agent licence revoked earlier.

As this was a clear contravention under Section 6 of the Travel Agents Act, STB commenced investigations and subsequent prosecution against MWH.

Section 6 of the Travel Agents Act stipulates that any person found guilty of engaging in unlicensed travel agent activities faces a maximum fine of S$10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

PREFERRED Hotel Group has partnered Himalayas Hotels & Communities to add two hotels, Himalayas Qingdao Hotel and Himalayas Nantong Hotel, to its China portfolio.

Anthony Ross, executive vice president, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, said the partnership is a significant development, as it “exemplifies our commitment to expand the group’s brand into secondary cities across China”.

Both properties will represent the first lifestyle hotels to open in their respective cities and both are situated within larger development complexes offering shopping, dining, and entertainment options.

In addition, both properties feature paperless guestrooms, encouraging guests to pursue environment-friendly travel practices by doing everything from check-in to check-out using each property’s on-site technological offerings.

Himalayas Qingdao Hotel is scheduled to open end-March 2014, and is located in the seaside Laoshan District, just 10 minutes by car to Shilaoren Beach. It offers 208 guestrooms including 24 suites, an all-day dining restaurant, a lounge bar, a full-service Health Club and Spa Himalayas, and 1,000m² of flexible and well-equipped function space.

Himalayas Nantong Hotel at the mouth of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province is scheduled to open end-April 2014. It offers 80 guestrooms including 16 suites, and signature restaurant Jiu Jian Tang.

To celebrate the partnership, Himalayas Qingdao Hotel is offering a special free-night offer. From now through May 31, 2014, travellers can book one night and stay a second night for free. Packages start at RMB 1,388 (US$226), inclusive of breakfast for one person, service charge and tax. Terms and conditions apply.

MYANMAR’S Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has issued 166 hotel licences in the past year to accommodate its growing number of tourists.

The ministry’s director-general, Aung Zaw Win, said: “We are granting on average three new hotel licences per week. This will help us reach our target of 35,000 hotel rooms for 2014.

“The new hotels are focused around the most visited destinations of Yangon, Mandalay, Inle and Bagan. Together they provide over 7,800 rooms.”

Of the 166 hotels, 35 are international brands and the remaining local guesthouses.

Arrivals to Myanmar are growing rapidly with total visitors in 2013 at 900,161 compared to 593,381 in 2012 – of which in both years approximately 70 per cent were leisure travellers, according to PATA.

While the increase in accommodation choice is generally welcomed by agencies, not all are happy with the lack of regulations for licence granting.

Anne Cruickshanks, Myanmar manager at Grasshopper Adventures, highlighted: “These licenses need to be granted with some stronger stipulations regarding quality control and environmental regulations.

“Several of the larger properties developed recently or currently under construction are devastating once-lush landscapes and not adapting proper waste disposal practices which are, in the short term, harming the environment leading to long-term impacts on the tourism industry.”

SILVERNEEDLE Hospitality’s upper midscale hotel brand, Country Comfort, is offering a new franchising model, passing on all savings from negotiating the lowest possible costs for all furniture, fittings and equipment (FF&E) with its suppliers directly to franchisees.
The group’s Singapore-based executive vice president for brands, Sean Flynn, said: “As a franchiser, we take a long-term view of aligning our economic interests with the franchisees’ so we will be one of the few hotel franchisers that will not make any money off the franchisee’s capital expenditure.”

The FF&E cost of a Country Comfort room will be 25 per cent lower than the average FF&E cost of a midscale hotel room, according to the 2013/2014 HVS Hotel Development Cost Survey.

Quality fittings in the Country Comfort franchise include the SilverNeedle DreamWeave Sleep System comprising the highest quality pillow-top mattress with gel-infused memory foam, Egyptian cotton 300 thread count per inch linens and a selection of premium pillows.

Guests will also enjoy an energising high pressure shower experience and quality bathware from the high-end German brand, Bravat.

Meanwhile, SilverNeedle aims to take Country Comfort, already established in Australia and New Zealand, to other parts of Asia-Pacific, specifically South-east Asia, North and South Asia. The group is in discussions with interested franchisees in Japan, Malaysia, Macau, Vietnam and Australia.

WYNDHAM Worldwide has partnered Unique Mercantile India to bring American brand Howard Johnson, popularly known as HoJo, to India, with a plan to establish 35 mid-market hotels in the country by 2020.

The first HoJo is scheduled to open in 2Q2014 in Bengaluru, located near major corporate offices and offering 117 rooms and suites with an outdoor swimming pool, a spa, fitness centre and conference space.

HoJo is a 60-year-old brand with 500 properties worldwide. Unique Mercantile India will invest Rs20 billion (US$329.5 million) to grow the brand in India.

Unique’s director, Rahul Rai, said: “We aim to invest in both incomplete and existing hotels which are not performing very well, to convert them into HoJo properties with international standard services.

“We chose Bengaluru for the first property as the city has embraced all international brands enthusiastically.”

Smitha Prasad, regional manager for business development of Bengaluru-based Comfort Leisure, said: “HoJo is a very well-known American brand with good recall for the business traveller.

“Since the features of the HoJos in India will be designed to appeal to the local market, we expect to see a large number of Indian business travellers and North American travellers to India patronising this brand across the country.

“Credible mid-market brands like HoJo will be a resounding success in India.”

TRAVEL agencies Malaysia anticipate dampened demand for outbound tours during the upcoming MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur, which starts this Friday and runs through the weekend. However, none interviewed have seen cancellations.

Their projection follows the recent disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) Beijing-bound flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 after its departure from Kuala Lumpur (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 10, 2014).

Sedunia Travel business development manager for wholesale, Gary Oh, expects medium- and longhaul packages to be affected. “Since the incident, longhaul bookings have slowed down…However, outbound tours to regional destinations are still holding strong,” he said.

Apple Vacations & Conventions group managing director, Desmond Lee, added: “I anticipate our sales during MATTA Fair will be affected as some travellers may wish to defer their holiday plans. However, I don’t think there will be a drastic drop in package sales compared with the previous year.”

He noted a few enquiries from travellers who have booked MAS flights and wanted to change airlines. “They were concerned about their safety, but when they heard that had to pay a fee for changes, there was no further call for action. We have two full-board tours to Beijing next month and so far, no client has backed out.”

Similarly, Mayflower Acme Tours deputy general manager for channel management, Abdul Rahman Mohamed, anticipates a dampened mood for travel, but declined to predict the extent of the impact. His company has not received any cancellations of deferments so far.

“It shows Malaysians are confident about flying,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the search for MH370 is still ongoing. MAS issued a statement today saying that the Boeing 777-200 had undergone maintenance 10 days before its flight and no issues on the health of the aircraft had surfaced. Its next check is due on June 19.

The airline also said it is working closely with the government of China to expedite the issuance of passports for the families of the missing passengers who intend to travel to Malaysia, as well as with the immigration of Malaysia on the issuance of their visas into Malaysia.

MAS will deploy an additional aircraft to bring the families from Beijing from Kuala Lumpur today. Oneworld partners have also been engaged to help the families from other countries to travel to Kuala Lumpur.

TOURISM New Zealand (TNZ) yesterday announced the launch of its new trade website, which has been streamlined and simplified.

The site’s redevelopment was initiated to provide current and relevant training tools and resources, such as TNZ’s online modules and the 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist programme.

Based on research conducted with travel consultants and product managers in three key offshore markets, the site’s content was streamlined and top-selling tips added from TNZ’s Essential New Zealand mobile app, as well as links to newzealand.com to reduce duplication on destination content.

The product database was also simplified, while new suggested itineraries were developed and added for each region.

The website, http://traveltrade.newzealand.com, is now available in English, Korean, simplified Chinese and Japanese, and will be translated into French, Portuguese, Latin American Spanish and Bahasa Indonesian in the coming months.

LAST year was the strongest year since the global financial crisis in 2007 in terms of hotel investment growth in Asia, according to the latest figures from JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group.

Investment volumes in the region reached US$7.5 billion at the end of 2013, up 218 per cent over 2012 and defying all industry expectations.

JLL forecasts 2014 to be a similarly stand-out year, although transactions volumes are likely to fall on the back of limited supply, despite strong demand.

Singapore, Japan and China dominated in terms of transaction volumes. Japan topped overall investment volumes at US$2.7 billion, up 480 per cent over 2012, as hotel trading performance improved in line with the expansion of the domestic economy and renewed growth in corporate and leisure travel.

Capital values reached new records for the Singapore hotel market, resulting in transaction volumes of US$2.0 billion, over 10 times that recorded in 2012. This was predominantly supported by the sale of Grand Park Orchard hotel and Knightsbridge retail, the City’s largest single asset transaction to date.

China accounted for around 13 per cent of total investment activity, recording US$1.1 billion of transactions, as recent government announcements to improve access to financing drove investor sentiment over 2H2013.

Other markets that experienced strong growth in the region as a result of improved connectivity and burgeoning outbound travel from China include Hong Kong (US$486.7 million, up 19 per cent YoY), Thailand (US$337 million, up 31 per cent YoY) and the Maldives (US$267.6 million, up a huge 614 per cent YoY).

Mike Batchelor, managing director investment sales, Hotels & Hospitality, JLL, said: “Strong investor sentiment and, importantly, the availability of quality hotel assets were key reasons behind Asia’s impressive sales volume in 2013, which was hindered only by the availability of additional stock as many owners increasingly hold off selling assets in anticipation of further market growth.

“Mature hotel markets such as Singapore continue to be governed by well-capitalised, inter-generational investors and as stock becomes increasingly limited, investors are now starting to look further afield once again at new and emerging markets in the region.

“There remains no shortage of capital to be invested into the sector in 2014 (mostly from interregional Asian investors). However, improved trading performance and the tightening of cap rates have elevated the expectations of the region’s sellers.

“The resulting restricted supply will shape activity this year and, while overall deal flow will remain robust, we expect volumes to moderate in 2014 because of fewer landmark transactions and portfolio deals in the key gateway locations.”

On markets that will receive the most investor attention throughout 2014, Frank Sorgiovanni, vice president, research and strategic advisory, Hotels & Hospitality, JLL, said: “Japan, Indochina and the Indian Ocean may account for the majority of transaction volumes in 2014.

“Investors are gradually considering emerging hotel markets such as Myanmar and Sri Lanka where deals will be opportunistic. The Singapore and China markets will also remain strong on the back of robust investor appetite.”