Ribbon cutting to celebrate the new route at Noi Bai International Airport

Vietjet has launched two new connections from Hanoi, with flights heading to Taipei having commenced since October 30 and a domestic service to Hue starting today.

The flight to Taipei takes off from Hanoi at 14.05 and lands in the Taiwan capital at 18.00. The return leg then departs Taipei at 19.10 and arrives in Hanoi at 21.20.

This is the LCC’s third Vietnam-Taiwan connection, after Taipei-Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Tainan-HCMC. A route from Kaohsiung to HCMC will be in service from December 12.

Meanwhile, the new domestic flight departs from Hanoi at 12:35 and arrives in Hue at 13.45. The flight then returns at 14.20 and arrives in Hanoi at 15.30.

With the additional services, Vietjet now offers more than 20 routes connecting Hanoi with key destinations in Vietnam and Asia.

SriLankan Airlines will be flying to 11 new destinations in Asia and the Middle East, mostly replacing the operations left behind by its now defunct LCC subsidiary Mihin Lanka.

The destinations replaced are Lahore-Pakistan, Jakarta-Indonesia, Dhaka-Bangladesh, Muscat-Oman, Bahrain, Seychelles, as well as Kolkata, Madurai, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya in India.

The 11^th destination, Gan island in the Maldives, was announced last week with four-weekly flights starting December 1.

Mihin Lanka was officially scrapped yesterday to lower burgeoning costs dragging down its parent national carrier. Most of the LCC’s 300 staff will be absorbed by SriLankan Airlines.

The addition of Kolkata, Madurai, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya makes SriLankan Airlines the foreign airline with the largest network there.

Services to Lahore commenced on September 27 and since October 30, flights began to Jakarta, Dhaka, Madurai, Muscat and Kolkata. On October 31, flights began to Bahrain, Seychelles, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya.

Gan Island brings the total number of destinations served by SriLankan Airlines to 102 in 47 countries.

Swissôtel Merchant Court in Singapore has completed an extensive renovation that saw a complete refurbishment of all its 476 rooms and suites, added meeting rooms, transformed F&B venues and a new in-house spa brand.

The revamp took 18 months to complete and was done in phases. In terms of design, all rooms have now taken on a brighter tone while maintaining the hotel’s mixed Swiss-Peranakan features. Similarly, corridors have taken on a lighter hue.

A key difference is the increase in the number of lead-in category rooms while maintaining the same total keys as before, as well as the addition of three new meeting spaces (adding roughly 150m² of space). This brings the total number of event venues to eight, and includes a renewed 680m² ballroom.

Peranakan restaurant Ellenborough Market Café, lobby lounge Crossroads Bar and poolside diner Blue Potato have also been revamped, with Ellenborough seeing the most striking change as it takes on a turquoise interior.

Pürovel Spa & Sport, an in-house Swiss spa brand, has been newly introduced as well, replacing the former Amrita brand by parent company FRHI Hotels & Resorts.

When asked what the biggest changes were, Rainer Tenius, general manager of Swissôtel Merchant Court, pointed to the bathroom upgrades.

“The bathrooms are completely new. We’ve replaced the bathtub showers with standing showers, for instance, in most of the rooms,” he said, adding that some bathtub showers remain to better cater to families and Japanese guests.

The last time the property underwent refurbishment was in 2008, revealed Tenius, who also took on the role of general manager at the hotel in that same year.

Aerial view of Sanya city and Dadonghai bay from Luhuitou Park, Hainan

Hainan is looking to build up its medical tourism offerings as a way to lure more international visitors to the Chinese island.

It will be one of the spearheads, along with increasing the number of cruise ship visits, for growing a foreign visitor market which only accounts for around 2 per cent of total arrival numbers, according to Chen Tiejun, deputy director of the province’s tourism development commission.

Speaking in Madrid at the end of a three-country European visit to present the island’s Discover Hainan campaign, Chen revealed that the domestic market will come first. “But within five years we should be ready to open up to foreigners,” he said.

“By then we should have the quality and standards of service in place to meet established international standards.”

Chen expects the approach to appeal especially to North American and European visitors looking for traditional treatments, who will be able to combine a health stay with the attractions a tropical island with beaches and a rainforest can provide.

As well, two new ports are due to open in the next few years. One will be sited at the northern end of the island, near Haikou, and should be ready by 2018.

The other, at Hong Tan Bay, serving the main southern resort city of Sanya, is scheduled for opening in 2020, coinciding with the launch of a new airport there.

Hyatt Hotels has unveiled a new global loyalty programme, World of Hyatt, set to launch on March 1, 2017.

The existing loyalty programme, Hyatt Gold Passport, will remain in effect through February 28, 2017. Qualifying activity beginning January 1, 2017 will count towards earning status in World of Hyatt.

New to the programme will be three elite tiers – Discoverist, based on 10 qualifying nights or 25,000 base points; Explorist, 30 qualifying nights or 50,000 base points; and Globalist, 60 qualifying nights or 100,000 base points.

“The programme will deliver on exactly what our members want – a broader range of benefits and more attainable rewards,” said Jeff Zidell, senior vice president at Hyatt.

Benefits include free nights at five different Hyatt brands and suite upgrades. Beyond offering traditional perks, World of Hyatt will also allow members to use their points to “make a difference in someone else’s life”, with more details set to be announced in the near future.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s Ramada brand has returned to Japan with the opening of 300-key Ramada Hotel Niigata in the peninsula’s west coast.

It takes over the site of former Niigata Tokyu REI Hotel after having undergone a year-long refurbishment. Franchise operator Benten Plaza Co. expects to open more Ramada properties in Japan in the future.

“We had two franchised hotels in Japan and exited the country in late 2013,” said Barry Robinson, president and managing director for Wyndham in South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim.

“There were a couple of unfortunate factors which severely impacted the tourism sector and prompted the property owners to cease operations, such as the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, followed by the Tohoku earthquake in 2011.

“Ramada’s return to Japan strengthens our foothold in Asia and furthers our global agenda to transform travel by making it more accessible for the masses,” he added.

Arrivals in Japan have experienced rapid growth in recent years, including nearly 50 per cent year-on-year growth from 2014 to 2015. Benten aims to tap into that growing demand.

Said Robinson: “Our Ramada brand, in particular, is a familiar and well-loved brand in the neighbouring regions of China as well as South Korea, where we will be the largest international hotel operator.

“We were approached by the owners of the hotel and it was the international strength of our brand that made it a clear choice for them to work with Wyndham, under the Ramada brand.”

From November 8-15, over a hundred traditionally-made paper balloons will be launched into the sky above Shan state, eastern Myanmar, in celebration of Tazaungdaing, or festival of lights.

This annual celebration will see large papier-mâché hot air balloons of different shapes and sizes launched in the afternoon from the festival grounds near Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state.

In addition, after sunset at 20.00, fire balloons will be launched. Once these fire balloons reach the height of 20m, fireworks attached to the balloons will explode into the night sky.

There will be specially-marked areas for foreign tourists to enjoy the launching of balloons from a safe distance. Moreover, the festival field will be filled with locals milling about for food, drinks and games. In a country where 84 per cent of households have no electricity, rides at the festival, such as the ferris wheel, are run without electricity.

Next year’s edition will be held from October 29-November 3, 2017.