TTG Asia
Asia/Singapore Saturday, 25th April 2026
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New hotels: Alila Villas Koh Russey, Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel and more

By TTG Asia
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Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel, Hong Kong
The first-ever city resort hotel by the Marriott brand comprises three towers – The Pier Wing, Marina Wing and Club Wing. All the 471 rooms, spread across three categories, are located in The Pier Wing and Marina Wing. The Club Wing houses the executive M Club, which is scheduled to open early next year. Amenities on-site include four restaurants and bars, a large lagoon pool that includes adjacent children’s pools, gym, Harnn Heritage Spa, and the largest pillarless ballroom, measuring 1,200m2, on Hong Kong island.

Alila Villas Koh Russey, Cambodia
Alila Villas Koh Russey, the brand’s first resort in Cambodia, occupies its own private island in the Koh Rong archipelago with 50 pavilions and 13 villas. There are two restaurants on-site: Horizon, which serves up à la carte breakfast and dinners with an emphasis on French and French fusion fare; and the Beach Shack, offering Khmer cuisine, seafood and light dishes. Other facilities include the beachfront Spa Alila, infinity pool, fitness centre with private yoga room – where complimentary yoga and Tai Chi classes are held daily.

Mӧvenpick Resort Kuredhivaru Maldives, Maldives
Nestled on a private island in the Noonu Atoll, the resort features 72 overwater pool villas, 30 beach pool suites and three beach spa pool residences. All accommodation options include private plunge pool. There will be four restaurants on-site, as well as facilities such as a kids’ club, diving and water sports centre, gym, yoga pavilion, and the Sun Spa by Esthederm.

Hyatt Regency Xuzhou, China
The new hotel is located in the 14 uppermost levels within Xuzhou’s tallest tower, the 266m-tall International Finance Center in the heart of the CBD. There are 344 guestrooms, including 25 suites, four executive suites and a presidential suite. Rooms feature panoramic Yunlong Lake or city views, and come equipped with complimentary Wi-Fi, a coffee machine and a 65-inch Smart TV. There are four F&B options, a 25m-long indoor pool and a fitness centre. Event planners may avail the 2,445m2 of event space on the fifth floor, the largest space being the 1,100m2 Regency Ballroom, or nine meeting rooms for smaller gatherings.

Easing of Dutch travel warning stokes Myanmar’s hopes for European recovery

By Marissa Carruthers
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Ngapali Beach in Thandwe, a town in the Rakhine State

Hopes have been raised that European interest in Myanmar will grow after the Dutch government recently softened its safety travel advice.

On October 10, the official Dutch travel safety advice for Myanmar was downgraded to the safest level for main tourist areas, where Yangon, Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake now feature as green on the map.

Ngapali Beach in Thandwe, a town in the Rakhine State

This brings the country’s safety warnings over Myanmar in line with Singapore, Australia and Europe.

Travel restrictions have also been lifted on Southern Rakhine State, home to Ngapali Beach. On the map, it has shifted from red to yellow. Dutch authorities have also deemed it safe to visit Lashio and Hsipaw, as well as encouraged the use of tourist guides while trekking.

The move has prompted hopes that interest in Myanmar from the Netherlands and other European countries will be rekindled.

Edwin Briels, general manager at Khiri Travel Myanmar, said: “Generally the Dutch market, together with the UK and Scandinavian markets, are the most sensitive (when it comes to) bad publicity about human rights issues. These markets react very hastily and stop travelling (to affected locations) without realising this causes problems locally for individual people who have nothing to do with the situation.”

Sammy Samuels, managing director of Myanmar Shalom Travels, believes the downgrade will lead to an increase in Dutch travellers, while also encouraging other European countries to reinvest in the country.

Said Samuels: “We definitely hope the downgrading will help stimulate growth from other European markets, and that other European embassies based in Yangon will follow this example and actively advocate to their governments and citizens that Myanmar is safe.”

Hla Aye, Union of Myanmar Travel Association chairman, said the country’s tourism industry has suffered from huge dips in European and other longhaul markets this year. He expects it will take at least two years for the trade to recover.

The travel warnings were first put in place following the Rohingya crisis in northern Rakhine State. As of August, Dutch tourist arrivals registered a decrease of 26 per cent as compared with the previous year.

Hotelbeds axes Tourico, GTA brands as integration gets underway

By TTG Asia
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Hotelbeds has unveiled a consolidated and refreshed identity as it combines operations under the Hotelbeds name, phasing out the GTA and Tourico Holidays brands that the company acquired last year.

Both Hotelbeds Group and its commercial bedbank brand, Hotelbeds, will both now be branded simply as Hotelbeds to underline the company’s core focus on the bedbank sector, following the sale earlier this year of its destination management division to TUI.

The refreshed Hotelbeds will reflect the core bedbank identity, while the group’s ancillary line will be named Beyond the Bed

The refreshed brand identity for Hotelbeds will be gradually introduced across all of its combined operations over the coming weeks and months, phasing out the GTA and Tourico Holidays brands.

The company has also renamed its ancillary product line, which Hotelbeds commercialises via its distribution channels, as Beyond the Bed. This includes the sourcing and distribution of transfers, activities, tickets, theme parks, car hire, travel insurance and specialist tours.

Joan Vilà, executive chairman, Hotelbeds, said: “The launch of a bold, refreshed identity for Hotelbeds under which we are combining the operations of Hotelbeds, GTA and Tourico Holidays, forms part of our clear strategy and roadmap to combine these top three leading players into one company and redefine the travel distribution landscape for the benefit of our partners.

“Much progress has already been made to integrate the three businesses at a commercial, operational and technological level, with cross-selling and technological solutions already in place,” he added.

New ‘So Sri Lanka’ campaign will go ahead despite political crisis

By Feizal Samath
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The campaign launch will proceed as planned at WTM London

Sri Lanka’s industry officials yesterday confirmed that the country’s new tourism campaign, So Sri Lanka, will launch as planned after obtaining support from the new government.

The destination marketing campaign was earlier in limbo after the sudden sacking of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by president Maithripala Sirisena on October 26, which threw the country into a constitutional crisis.

The campaign launch will proceed as planned at WTM London

But now, the So Sri Lanka campaign will be launched as planned on November 5 at WTM London. The campaign will filter into a larger three-year long destination marketing campaign starting in 1Q2019.

This certainty was reached after industry officials met on Tuesday with the new tourism minister Wasantha Senanayake, who reassured officials that the campaign can proceed as planned.

Sri Lanka Tourist Hotels Association’s president Sanath Ukwatte, who was present at the meeting, said they presented the new campaign to Senanayake, who then agreed to its continuation.

“He (minister) gave his okay to the campaign,” Ukwatte said.

Although tourism promotion and marketing campaigns are normally done by the official Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) in consultation with the private sector, SLTPB’s managing director Sutheash Balasubramanian was not present at the meeting.

Balasubramanian, who ends his contractual term today (Thursday), said he would not be attending the WTM, but confirmed that the new minister agreed to proceed with the campaign.

So Sri Lanka has been in the works for the past three to four years, having made to jump through bureaucratic hoops, tender processes, various procedures and changing governments. The industry has been clamouring for a new promotion campaign since the aftermath a 30-year-long ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.

Video interview: Brand USA sees bigger budget for SE Asia, eyes incentives

By Raini Hamdi
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Brand USA is seeing promotional budget increasing for South-east Asia and is turning its attention for the first time to attracting incentive groups from the region to the US.

Louis Lu, Brand USA’s senior manager of global trade development, in a video interview at ITB Asia, said there had been no budget cuts for the organisation under the Trump administration, rather it was in fact seeing marketing dollars increase for South-east Asia.

That’s because partners are keen to tap arrivals from the region. Brand USA has some 800 partners in the US and do joint marketing efforts to drive international visitations, he explained. “South-east Asia/Asia is one of the most important markets we allocate budgets to every year. But when private partners participate, more funds are unlocked. Asia is already the big thing, not the next big thing, for our partners,” Lu said.

Brand USA is launching new initiatives to drive up traffic from South-east Asia, including tapping the region’s incentives market for the first time. The strategy is still “under construction”. “The US has a diverse offering and we want to target both mega groups from industries such as pharmaceuticals, insurance, finance, etc, as well as the top 200 companies for luxury incentives,” he said.

Watch the video to hear Lu’s thoughts on tapping South-east Asia incentives, as well find out what other initiatives Brand USA has up its sleeve next year.

New York City is one such partner that is stepping up promotions in South-east Asia, having just opened a representative office in Singapore.

NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organisation for New York City, has also launched a 2019 – A Monumental Year campaign in the region.

Watch the video of Christopher Heywood, NYC & Company’s senior vice president global communications, explaining why next year is monumental for agents to send clients to the US.

As well, watch the video of NYC & Company’s managing director tourism market development, Matsuda Healy, share her targets for South-east Asia now that it has resources on the ground in the region.

After gaining The Farm, CG Hospitality to grow luxury wellness brand worldwide

By Rohit Kaul
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Chaudhary: Half a billion dollars planned for Europe expansion

Having recently acquired The Farm at San Benito in the Philippines, CG Hospitality – the hospitality arm of Nepal-based conglomerate CG Corp Global – now wants to turn this eco-luxury medical wellness resort brand into a worldwide chain.

“With the acquisition of The Farm at San Benito, doors have opened for us to take this brand global. Earlier, this was just a stand-alone property. In fact at present there are no existing chains of wellness resorts and this is the gap we are looking to fill. The idea is to replicate the high standard of experiences of The Farm brand in different destinations and cater to the growing wellness demand,” Binod K Chaudhary, chairman of CG Corp Global, told TTG Asia.

Chaudhary: Half a billion dollars planned for Europe expansion

The Nepali billionaire has plans to open four destination wellness resorts in the next three years under The Farm brand, with the first one located in the Balkans (The Farm Montenegro), followed by openings in Latin American markets such as Mexico.

CG Hospitality is also scouting for a possible location in the Himalayas, either in India or Nepal, to plant The Farm brand. “Our investment will be of at least US$ 100 million in each upcoming resort under The Farm umbrella,” shared Chaudhary.

Meanwhile, the company’s hotel investment team is also looking to acquire some 20 hotels in India that are facing financial distress, with a majority of these hotels expected to be branded as The Fern.

Chaudhary added: “We are also looking to enter new international markets like Europe. We have created a US$500 million fund for our European expansion, and have tied up with a major US-based hospitality brand for our European foray.”

As part of its diversification plans, CG Corp Global will also launch a major inbound tourism vertical in India by partnering with a Turkey-based company.

“The company we are entering into a joint venture handles big Chinese and Russian high-end tourists travelling to Turkey. The idea is to also promote India as an inbound destination among those clients,” said Chaudhary.

At present, CG Hospitality’s portfolio includes 95 hotels both owned and managed under a range of brands including Taj, Jetwing, Radisson, Alila, The Fern, Zinc Journey and Summit, in 12 countries including Nepal and Sri Lanka. The company plans to double its number of properties by 2020.

Video interview: a LINE to a whole new catchment of customers

By Raini Hamdi
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Japan’s Venture Republic is starting to roll out initiatives that leverage its new partnership with messaging giant LINE, which earlier this year acquired a 34 per cent equity investment in the company.

Venture Republic’s founder and CEO, Kei Shibata, in a video interview with TTG Asia, said the company has already launched its first initiative in Japan, which was making its hotel metasearch available on LINE. This offers users not only competitive prices, but loyalty points from LINE when they make a booking, he said.

Shibata is excited about a whole new catchment of customers using LINE, which is not only used in Japan but key Asian markets including Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. LINE has some 76 million monthly active users in Japan, or 80 per cent of the Internet population in Japan, while in Taiwan, “100 per cent of Internet users use LINE”, he said.

When asked what he expects from the partnership, Shibata said: “A lot. The user base that LINE has is tremendous… we see a new range of products and services to be available using their assets. This includes not only the messaging platform but the payment platform, loyalty programmes, location information, the list goes on.”

Watch the full video interview here: 

Shibata also believes there is a big future for push notifications.

“We see the future where if you’re a LINE user, you can get push notifications from us. Let’s say you’re out of town, LINE will recognise that you’re travelling. We can send push notifications to you about things to do in, say, Langkawi. (We have) have more than 30,000 travel articles (on our content platform) about things to do, places to stay, places to eat. With that mix of content, we can effectively reach out to you in destinations through push notifications.”

Currently, efforts are being focused on Japan because it has the largest number of LINE users. But down the line, Shibata plans to tackle other Asian markets where LINE has a big marketshare.

LINE has gone into the food delivery space and shopping, but not travel, which Shibata said is a new segment. “They’ve made a decent success in those two areas, so they know how to engage users and bring transactions to businesses,” he said.

He believes messaging apps are the big next wave of disruption. In Asia, that would be LINE, WeChat and Kakao but “LINE is perhaps the only pan-Asian native super app”.

André Brulhart leads Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay as new GM

By TTG Asia
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André Brulhart has been appointed the new general manager of Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay.

A Swiss national with three decades of hospitality management experience, the industry veteran first completed his management training with Mandarin Oriental, and entered the hospitality industry with Hilton, working at hotels in Hong Kong, Hawaii and Indonesia.

Brulhart then held senior management roles at leading Thai hotels including The Regent Bangkok, The Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Plaza Athénée Bangkok and Le Royal Méridien Phuket Yacht Club, prior to joining Centara in 2005 at the then Sofitel Centara Grand Central Plaza Bangkok. He also spent time in Vietnam with the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi.

THAI-China Southern partnership takes flight

By TTG Asia
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Ekniti Nitithanprapas (left), chairman of the board of directors, Thai Airways (THAI), met with Wang Changshun (right), chairman of China Southern Airlines, last week in Guangzhou. Both parties discussed topics such as route network, interline agreements, as well as tourism cooperation between Thailand and China.

Aviation roundup: Korean Air, AirAsia and more

By TTG Asia
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Korean Air links Busan and Danang
Korean Air has launched a daily service between Danang and Busan, operating on the B737-900. Flight KE465 will depart Busan’s Gimhae International Airport at 21.25, arriving at Danang at 00.20 the following day. The return flight, KE466, will depart Danang at 02.45 and arrive at Gimhae at 08.30.

AirAsia expands China network
AirAsia has extended its reach in China with the addition of a four-times-weekly service between Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, beginning December 2, 2018.

D7318 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 15.00 and arrive in Tianjin at 21.00 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. On the same days, return flight D7319 will depart Tianjin at 22.15 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.45.

AirAsia will also beef up its direct route between Kuala Lumpur and Changsha, doubling the current number of seats by operating its fleet of larger wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft commencing October 29, 2018.

There will also be a new flight schedule. D7352 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 18.10, and arrive in Changsha at 23.05 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On the same days, return flight D7353 will depart Changhsa at 23.50 and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 04.30.

Air NZ and SIA boost Auckland-Singapore services
Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have jointly launched their third daily flight between Auckland and Singapore since October 28.

The new service will operate daily during the peak northern winter season (October 28, 2018 – March 30, 2019), and five times per week during the northern summer season (March 31, 2019 – October 26, 2019).

This new flight will boost capacity on the route by up to 40 per cent and adding more than 165,000 seats annually between the two cities. During peak months, the airlines will jointly operate a total of 35 return services a week between Singapore and New Zealand, including Christchurch and Wellington flights.

Lufthansa ups frequency between Singapore and Munich
Lufthansa will increase its five-times weekly flight between Singapore and Munich to six-times weekly beginning April 1, 2019.

The route will be serviced by a A350-900 and feature 48 seats in Business Class, 21 in Premium Economy, and 224 in Economy class.

LH791 will depart Singapore at 22.55 every day except Tuesday, and arrive in Munich at 05.25 the following day. LH790 will depart Munich at 22.05 every day except Monday, and arrive in Singapore at 16.05 the following day.

This comes shortly after the airline reintroduced Singapore – Munich route in March 2018 with the Airbus A350-900. In total, Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS) offers 20 weekly frequencies from Singapore to Europe starting summer 2019.

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Sister Publications
TTG Asia TTGmice TTG India TTGassociations TTG Asia Luxury
TTG Asia | Ascott advances AI infrastructure with focus on agent-led travel
TTG Asia | Thailand recovers as Japan’s safety perception falls among Chinese travellers
TTG Asia | Navigating China’s digital discovery