US-based hospitality sales and marketing consortium Associated Luxury Hotels, which owns and operates Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), has acquired Frankfurt-based rival Worldhotels for an undisclosed sum.

Together, both groups will create a global portfolio of around 600 independent hotels, comprising 350 hotels under Worldhotels, predominantly in Europe and Asia-Pacific; and 250 hotels under ALHI, mostly in North America.

According to Associated Luxury Hotels chairman, David Gabri, the company will operate ALHI and Worldhotels as separate divisions, initially keeping the memberships and operations of each organization separate. Select member hotels and resorts within Worldhotels may be invited into the ALHI membership portfolio.

Gabri said: “Together ALHI and Worldhotels will create a powerful combination to provide guests, members and MICE planners a comprehensive sales and marketing infrastructure and an expanded array of services that will effectively compete with the world’s biggest hospitality chains.

Associated Luxury Hotels’ chief commercial officer Tom Santora added: “In contrast to the mega-brand conglomerates, the ALHI and Worldhotels’ portfolios consist primarily of authentic and unique independent hotels and resorts that are prized for their distinctiveness, individuality and character, which are highly sought after by today’s travellers.

“As the MICE, business travel and leisure markets demand extraordinary localised experiences over accommodations and sameness, the two portfolios stand prepared to provide comprehensive sales, marketing, distribution and hospitality services for independent hotels and resorts worldwide, and are ideally positioned to serve this need.”

In conjunction with the acquisition, Santora will assume the additional role as executive chairman of Worldhotels to oversee its strategic direction. Worldhotels’ CEO Geoff Andrew, meanwhile, will continue to lead the organisation from the Frankfurt headquarters.

Global bedbank and B2B service provider HotelBeds Group has announced plans to merge its business unit with US-based Tourico Holidays.

The merger will mark the company’s move into the next phase of development since it became independent last September with the backing of Cinven and CPPIB, said Joan Vilà, executive chairman of Hotelbeds Group.

“The proposed deal will enable us to enhance our footprint, especially in Tourico Holidays’ home market of North America whilst (Tourico) will benefit from belonging to Hotelbeds Group’s global network,” added Vilà.

“Together we will combine our best in class technology and distribution expertise for the benefit of both our hotel partners and clients.”

For now, it will be business as usual at both companies, while development of a long-term strategy to combine the businesses gets underway.

No date has been announced for the transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust approvals.

Photo credit: City of Sydney

The Lunar New Year may be coming to a close but for tour operators specialising in the Chinese market, the goodies are expected to keep coming through the year as Australia is set to welcome about 1.2 million tourists from China in 2017.

“Our bookings have increased by 30 per cent over the past year, said David Pang, marketing manager at Grand City Tours. “Based on 2016’s growth, we expect to increase our customer numbers to 240,000 this year.”

An AccorHotels spokeperson commented that the group has also seen strong Chinese growth, with their Sydney and Melbourne CBD hotels reaching more than 90 per cent occupancy during the recent Lunar New Year period.

The numbers echo an overall 19.7 per cent boost in bookings by Chinese visitors in AccorHotels’ online systems last year, helped by a move away from shopping tour groups in favour of FITs.

Other indicators point to Chinese visitors’ willingness to stay longer, spend more and explore destinations beyond Australia’s major cities as they “seek a higher-quality experience”, she elaborated.

Meanwhile, Pang said his company has doubled their daily tours to meet the rising Chinese demand, introducing new destinations like North Melbourne and Echuca. “We’ve also introduced experiences like learning to fly a small jet plane with a pilot,” he said.

However competing for the Chinese market can be hard work, according to Sandy Chen, marketing manager for Extra Green Holidays. “Fifty percent of our clients come from China but competition with cheaper (regional) destinations is our biggest challenge. The Chinese economy is also weakening and that doesn’t help.”

Honolulu, Hawaii

Having received clearance from the Federal Aviation Authority to fly to the US last month, AirAsia X has confirmed that it will begin four-times-weekly flights to Honolulu, via Kansai International Airport, from June 28, 2017.

Outbound agents are clearly anticipating AirAsia X’s new Kuala Lumpur-Honolulu service, as no other Malaysian carrier currently flies to the US.

Desmond Lee, group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions, who had arranged eight group departures to Honolulu last year, expects interest in the destination to spike this year thanks to the new flights.

Lee also indicated that his company will promote tours to Honolulu at the upcoming MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur next month.

Cooper Huang, CEO of Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel, said: “Honolulu is a popular destination in the US. Currently, we use foreign airlines via Singapore, Taiwan or South Korea for our tours there. We look forward to the new services by AirAsia X as it will save our clients time and cost.”

Huang said the US remains a popular holiday destination for the upper-middle income group, and despite Trump’s recent travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries “there has been no changes from the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur on visa screening procedures”.

To tap the increasingly affluent Arabian outbound market, International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) will debut ILTM Arabia, which will take place on April 24 and 25 and will be co-located with the Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Dubai.

The new show aims to access the high-net-worth travellers from the Arab and Gulf region, and will see participation of FSMagic and Quintessentially Travel, among other luxury buyers with presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Buyers will be fully hosted by ILTM and attend one-to-one, pre-scheduled appointments with up to 25 international luxury travel brands – a first for ATM.

Confirmed exhibitors at ILTM Arabia include Rosa Alpina & Villanocetta (Italy), Small Luxury Hotels of the World, The One Barcelona (Spain), Velaa Private Island (Maldives) and Vienna Tourist Board.

Alison Gilmore, portfolio director for ILTM, commented: “The Arabian outbound market is established and affluent, with a growing generation of individuals looking to spend their leisure time in the world’s finest places.”

The Arabian outbound travel market witnessed a nine per cent increase as high-net-worth travellers from the region continue to explore further afield – spending heavily on luxury accommodation and entertainment in 2016.

Recent research shows that expenditure on outbound travel from the Middle East has steadily increased from US$72.9 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach US$165.3 billion by 2025.

Phuket during the Christmas season last year

Demand indicators continue to be strong in Phuket with Russian arrivals rebounding and curbing a growth decline in Chinese arrivals, according to key findings in C9 Hotelworks’ Phuket Hotel Market Update for February 2017.

With total airport arrivals surpassing 7.5 million passengers, Phuket experienced a sharp year-on-year rise of 18 per cent compared with 13 per cent the previous year.

This is largely attributed to the 51 per cent increase from the Russian source market, which C9 said was prompted by the strengthening of the rouble against the Thai baht and political volatility in the Middle East that shifted Russian tourists to the island during high season.

For mainland China, Phuket’s top source market, growth rate for 2016 plunged from 35 to 11 per cent after a national-wide government crackdown on zero-baht tourism in September of last year. This impact is expected to soften in early 2017 with more Chinese travellers arriving this Chinese New Year.

The balance between two major source markets – with China declining two per cent in market share while Russia grew to 13 per cent – saw Phuket ending 2016 on a positive note as hotel RevPAR rose by four per cent.

RevPAR was propelled by a 6.3 per cent uptick in market-wide occupancy, according to data from STR. Overall, Phuket hotels achieved slightly more than 75 per cent annualised occupancy for the year and 3,804 baht (US$108.60) in ADR.

The Phuket market continues to attract new developments, with a total of 5,584 keys across 32 new hotels expected to come online by 2020.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism and Sports has revised hotel supply data collection to include both registered and unregistered tourist accommodation in late 2016, and Phuket now shows a total 81,727 keys in 1,744 establishments.

This shift, according to C9’s managing director Bill Barnett, demonstrates the Thai government’s focus on addressing the widespread proliferation of unlicensed accommodation, and the provincial administration has also issued an ultimatum for illegal hotels to either register or face legal action.