A YEAR after its successful transformation to an LCC, Hong Kong Express has grown passenger numbers by 123 per cent and is charting an aggressive expansion strategy.

The airline will add 12 new destinations for 30 in total, while building its fleet from eight to 15 aircraft by end-2015. Daily flights to Tokyo (Narita) will start from December 8.

Deputy CEO Andrew Cowen declined to name the new destinations but explained the airline’s network balances on “three legs” – Greater China, South-east Asia and North Asia. He also mentioned that HK Express prefers to fly to secondary Chinese cities with no existing LCC competition.

Explaining the rationale for the new Tokyo (Narita) service, Cowen said: “Japan has risen as a top destination for Hong Kongers. Our fares are 70 per cent lower than a full-service carrier’s. We have also observed more business travel demand from SMEs in Hong Kong, Macau and cities in the Pearl River Delta. They couldn’t afford to fly to Japan before but our fare enables them to do that.”

He added that the airline’s new initiatives including priority check-ins and pre-booked meals could attract this segment.

Cowen said a new method of payment for customers who do not use credit cards will also come into play before year-end, which allows payments to be automatically deducted from bank accounts.

ACCOR has opened the 266-room Novotel Tangerang, the group’s first Novotel branded property in the Banten area.

Located on top of Tangcity Superblock in Tangerang City, the hotel is expected to cater to family, business and MICE travellers.

Gerard Guillouet, COO, Accor Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said: “Tangerang is the third largest urban centre in the Jabodetabek (Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi) region after Jakarta and Bekasi. The development of Tangerang City and its surrounding infrastructure has brought a positive impact to the hospitality industry.

“Strategically located, only 25 minutes from the airport and providing easy access to Jakarta, the hotel offers (a choice of) accommodation… for all types of travellers visiting the area.”

Guillouet said since the hotel’s soft opening in March with 150 rooms, increasing to the total of 266 rooms recently, Novotel Tangerang has been well accepted in the market. Average occupancy for October is 70 per cent.

“This is in line with the other hotels we operate in Banten, which are running around 80 per cent occupancy,” he said.

Novotel Tangerang joins other Accor hotels in Banten, including Mercure Serpong Alam Sutera, ibis Style Jakarta Airport and ibis Gading Serpong. Ibis Budget Jakarta Airport will be built adjacent to the existing airport hotel and is scheduled to open early 2015.

Meanwhile in Myanmar, Accor also opened the third international brand hotel in the capital, The Lake Garden Nay Pyi Taw, last month.

Part of the MGallery Collection, the hotel is five minutes away from the Myanmar International Convention Centre and 20 minutes from the international airport. It offers 165 rooms, a 250-pax conference room, six meeting rooms and two boardrooms.

THE ASEAN Tourism Security and Safety Resource Centre will be launched next year to provide information on matters concerning disaster management, safety and security.

The online portal, to debut during the ASEAN Tourism Forum held in Naypyidaw in January, will be managed by the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta and will contain standard operating procedures and resources on safety and security such as managing bomb threats, pandemics and natural disasters.

Alexander Kesper, team leader ASEAN – EU Emergency Management Programme, said the materials were a collection of knowledge from ASEAN NTOs and the private sector.

“The information will be available for free on the website to tourism industry players and is meant to be a living project (to be continuously improved upon).”

Explaining that the new ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) brings opportunities as well as risks, Kesper said that when natural disasters occur in one country, it will have an impact on arrivals to other member countries, as South-east Asia is seen as a single region rather than individual countries.

Kesper was speaking yesterday at the one-day PATA Hub City Forum in Kuala Lumpur, which discussed the impact of AEC on regional tourism.

AEC2015 will transform the region into a single market and production base and, by 2016, open labour flows of skilled tourism professionals within South-east Asia under the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals initiative.

ASEAN authorities, however, are still working on concerns regarding the MRA.

Ong Hong Peng, secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia, said a framework has to be put in place before the MRA is introduced.

The MRA comprises 32 job titles under six divisions (housekeeping, front office, food production, F&B services, travel consultants and tour operators) but ASEAN NTOs are still discussing “what levels will be open”, said Ong.

Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of tourism and culture, Malaysia, said in his keynote address: “Measures to enhance the capacity and capability of tourism industry players are being implemented to address the risk of brain drain.”

Meanwhile, the regional secretariat for the implementation of MRA will be established in Indonesia next year.

ABACUS International has unveiled a slew of new products to help travel consultants overcome content fragmentation and distribution challenges online as well as service customers on mobile.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Martin Symes, chief marketing officer, Abacus, highlighted key breakthrough product Abacus WorkSpace as the “point of sale system of the future”.

“This open-source platform brings a multitude of content distribution opportunities which will help streamline workflow and optimise operational efficiency, content aggregation and automation – all on a single desktop,” he said.

Built on the Sabre Red workspace product, the new platform will also give travel consultants access to the new web-based booking system Abacus ContentPlus.

Consultants therefore no longer have to log on to multiple systems given that all content sources are now accessible within a single point-of-sale – with super-PNR integration between Abacus ContentPlus and the Abacus GDS.

Other products and solutions announced during the biennial Abacus International Conference include travel itinerary app TripCase, Abacus Travel Plus aimed at wholesalers, and Abacus Mobile Connect, a tool that allows travel agencies to launch their own apps.

Asked what differentiates Abacus in the competitive GDS environment, Symes referred to the company’s regional strength in Asia-Pacific paired with Sabre’s global reach.

Steven Ler, senior vice president and head of supplier relations, UOB Travel Planners Singapore, said: “These (new products) are all good stuff but the question for travel agencies is will they know what is good for them…what travel consultants want may be different from what they truly need.

Ler suggested that Abacus offer advisory services to help agencies understand the requirements of their own businesses and situations.

Anthony Baby John, CEO of India-based Trinity Air Travel & Tours, whose company adopt some of the new Abacus products, said: “There are definitely major changes that we need to make, but we have to do it to keep up with the changing times.”

AIMED at offering travel management companies and corporate travel agencies enhanced security and control over transactions, Abacus is launching a new virtual payment solution in partnership with technology provider Conferma, slated to roll out by the end of this year.

Robert Bailey, president and CEO of Abacus, said Virtual Card Numbers (VCNs) are a “new standard” for online payments and can radically improve businesses’ ability to measure and manage its corporate spend.

While traditional corporate payment products – plastic corporate cards – have a 16-digit number that is used for multiple transactions, the new virtual payment technology means that each transaction is assigned its own unique 16-digit number for booking and payment, hence providing greater security.

Upon reaching the payment stage for a booking, Abacus VirtualPayment automatically collects the booking data and asks for details required by the traveller’s employer. In return, it will generate a one-off 16-digit VCN.

According to Bailey, VCNs can have many different controls applied, including specifying or limiting the amount to be paid, or specifying when a payment must be completed.

Bailey said: “The scale and diversity of bookings managed by Abacus (agencie make the process efficiencies in VCN technology very significant.

“What makes a VCN exceptional is that it becomes the unique identifier for both the booking and the payment. That means booking and payment data are automatically reconciled, removing the need for labour-intensive and time-consuming manual reconciliation or accounts payable processes,” he added.

Greg Thompson, banking partner development manager of Conferma, is bullish about the rising trend of virtual payment solutions. He said: “People are beginning to accept the idea of virtual cards today because it is so secure and it is risk-free.

“I am predicting that within five years, at least 90 per cent of all corporates will be switching to virtual cards,” Thompson added.

In March this year, eNett International rolled out a Virtual Account Numbers payment system in Singapore that automatically generates 16-digit MasterCard numbers for each booking transaction and enable automatic reconciliation at point of sale.