The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has opened reservations for the inaugural season of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, set to take the seas in February 2020.
The first of three yachts in The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection will cruise a wide variety of destinations, including the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada and north-eastern US. Voyages will range from seven to 10 nights with ports including Barbados, Cartagena, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Mykonos, Portofino and more.
A rendering of the ship
The 190m-long yacht can accommodate up to 298 passengers and feature 149 suites, each with its own private terrace. There will also be two 158m2 Owner’s suites, each featuring its own whirlpool. Guests onboard will enjoy all-inclusive luxury sailing experience – which covers onboard activities, entertainment, beverages, meals, Wi-Fi, water sports and onboard gratuities.
Experiences available for an additional fee include a culinary experience at Aqua – the yacht’s signature restaurant by Michelin-star chef Sven Elverfeld – spa treatments and excursions offered through The Shore Collection.
The yachts of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection are also available for private charter.
Madame Tussauds Hong Kong launched Trump Live in Hong Kong, making the US president the first to have his likeness brought to live by the brand’s Asian estate.
During his surprise visit, the live impression of president Trump tried his first ride on the Peak Tram and met the wax figure of himself at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.
After greeting his friends president Xi of China and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, “Trump” also jumped at the opportunity to discuss “social media strategy” with American supermodel, Kendall Jenner.
The new President Trump figure is dressed in his recognisable Republican red silk-tie, navy power suit and Made in America flag lapel pin.
Constant fresh offerings at Mandarin Oriental, Macau
The plunge in mainland Chinese arrivals to Macau, coupled with the addition of 5,000 hotel rooms since 2015, created a challenging period for the territory’s hoteliers.
However, the industry is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as average occupancy rates rose to 86.9 per cent in 2017 to match the 2014 heyday levels, based on figures from MGTO, with both integrated resorts and non-gaming hotels benefiting from the business rebound.
Constant fresh offerings at Mandarin Oriental, Macau
Jill Goh, general manager of The Mandarin Oriental Macau, said: “Since the downturn, various new initiatives have been introduced by the city and hospitality sector. Many attractive world-class resorts and hotels were opened in the last two years with diversified offerings that cater not just to (the gaming crowd), but also to families and meetings.
“We enjoyed a positive start to business this year, and I expect continued growth with the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge,” added Goh, who has brought in wellness consultants, up-and-coming chefs and bartenders over the past two years to add to the hotel’s offerings.
Two years ago, Best Western Hotel Sun Sun readjusted its business strategy by reducing the target ratio of Mainland Chinese visitors to 60 per cent from 90 per cent, and has been refining its offers in the hopes of drawing more international traffic from South-east Asia, COO Charles Huang told TTG Asia.
After the successful debut of the Macau Street Art Festival last November, which brought the Praça de Ponte e Horta neighbourhood to life with artists, DJs, rappers and artwork, Huang intends to make it an annual event.
“Business started picking up in early 2017 and our occupancy hit 93 per cent on average,” he said. “Looking ahead, a full makeover in 2019 will give us a brand-new image and competitive products.”
Artyzen Hospitality Group’s area vice president, Macau operations Rutger Verschuren said: “After the challenging years of 2015-16, the overall hotel performance is living up to the sector’s expectations again. We look forward to good years ahead.”
Grand Coloane Resort, whose target markets are families and corporate travellers from nearby cities and South-east Asia, will roll out more outdoor activities to enhance its staycation and activity packages. “We need to show the other side of Macau besides gaming, luxury and bling,” Verschuren said.
Pattaya was given the spotlight as the host destination for Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) this year, with organiser Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) placing an emphasis on romance and luxury under the theme “Million Shades of Romance” at its annual tradeshow.
Commenting on the choice of Pattaya for TTM+ 2018, which was held last week at Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Tanes Petsuwan, deputy governor for marketing communications, TAT, said: “After two years of positive response in Chiang Mai, we wanted to show the new image of Pattaya and overthrow old perceptions of the city. Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers, with the Ocean Marine Yacht Club, Cartoon Network Amazone, F&B venues, Ramayana Water Park, international golf courses, etc.”
In recent years, Pattaya has been striving to show itself to be more of a upscale and family-orientated destination, with the opening of attractions such as Cartoon Network Amazone (pictured)
Located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, Pattaya is expected to benefit from the Thai government’s “multimillion infrastructure investment” currently underway as part of the Eastern Economic Corridor development plan, Tanes added.
Key projects include the high-speed railway connecting Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and U-Tapao airports and the upgrade of the Sattahip commercial port, all of which will help to position the city as a high-end travel destination, according to Tanes.
It is also this new image of Pattaya that sellers were eager to present to the international travel business community at TTM+.
“It’s no longer fair to associate Pattaya as a sex tourism destination. The ‘nasty’ destination image is no longer apt,” said Pathira Nakngam Riley, director of sales & marketing at InterContinental Pattaya Resort, pointing to Cartoon Network Amazone and Flight of the Gibbon as examples of family-oriented attractions that have opened in Pattaya in recent years.
In addition to TTM+, other prominent international events like the Wonderfruit festival, LPGA golf tournament and International Fireworks Festival are also helping “to change travellers’ perceptions of Pattaya”, shared Jan Jeerapat, managing director of J Corp, which manages a trio of hotels in Pattaya.
However, responses were mixed among international buyers that TTG Asia spoke to at TTM+, with opinions split as to whether they would market and sell the destination to their clients.
Philippe Roussel, tour operator at Asia Voyages France, opined that the greater array of hotels, restaurants and activities has made Pattaya a “better” destination choice that can be paired with other parts of eastern Thailand for touring.
On the other hand, David Kevan, partner and product person at Chic Locations UK, thinks Pattaya’s seedy reputation still lingers and its mass tourism appeal unlikely to find favour especially among Western high-end travellers.
Likewise, Asia DMC’s managing director Thailand Andre van der Marck said that Pattaya is “for sure” not for families, a key market segment for his company. Furthermore, with the investment pumped into eastern Thailand, he foresees a huge influx of the Chinese market into Pattaya.
But InterContinental Pattaya’s Pathira urges the trade to give the city a chance. She said: “We cannot change the history of Pattaya but we can certainly change travellers’ impression.”
TCWTA will make its official debut at PATA Travel Mart later this year
A new tourism body, the Twin Cities World Tourism Association (TCWTA), will be launched at PATA Travel Mart (PTM) 2018, which will take place in Langkawi from September 12-14.
Twin cities, also known as sister cities, are collaborations between two cities to foster friendship and understanding between different cultures, and to form strategic international business links between them.
TCWTA will make its official debut at PATA Travel Mart later this year
TCWTA aims to support and increase tourism and travel between the two cities, support and increase the exchange of ideas and concepts related to tourism and travel, and enhance and strengthen relations between the two destinations through tourism and travel.
The association’s founding president, Thomas Binder, mayor of Gossau-Zurich in Switzerland, will formally make the announcement at the Twin Cities World Tourism Forum during PTM 2018.
The board will comprise 14 members, including 13 mayors from countries worldwide while Hüseyin Baraner, the only non-mayor member, will be appointed general secretary. The board is expected meet once a year in the city of the president to exchange ideas, concepts and plans. A board meeting will also be held in Zürich or Gossau at a later date in order to sign the TCWTA charter.
TCWTA also plans to publish a Twin Cities Almanac to be presented at ITB Berlin, which will include an editorial note of the president, reports on the tourism and travel activities of twin cities, and interviews with mayors of twin cities on topics like desiderata, plans, projects and the tourism development of twin cities.
The TCWTA president is expected to visit a developing country in Africa or Asia once a year in order to research opportunities to take part in projects to further and support tourism and travel in twin cities located in regions without large financial funds.
Europe lifts blacklist on Indonesian carriers; state-owned Garuda Indonesia at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
The EU has removed all Indonesian carriers from its air safety blacklist following improvements in their air safety.
All Indonesian carriers were put on the EU air safety blacklist in 2007 over safety concerns but only seven were removed in recent years. This latest move sees more than 50 Indonesian companies taken off the list.
Europe lifts blacklist on all Indonesian carriers; Batik Air was removed from the EU ban much earlier
A total of 119 airlines remain banned in the 28-nation EU.
Not all banned carriers fly to Europe but blacklisting them has been a strong business incentive for companies to improve their standards and for countries to boost aviation safety, according to the EU.
The commission has also deployed a new warning system to prevent unsafe aircraft from entering the bloc without a valid safety authorisation.
Malaysia-based hospitality and tourism training provider Aariana Hospitality International will soon expand its services to Singapore and Thailand.
Aariana will partner with the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) and local joint venture partners in Singapore and Thailand’s hospitality sectors to provide one-week certification courses aimed at addressing the shortage of certified hospitality professionals in the region, the company’s president & CEO, Reginald T Pereira, told TTG Asia.
Aariana’s courses will complement and not be a direct competitor of other institutions of higher learning
Singapore and Thailand were selected for Aariana’s expansion due to certification programme requests from hotels in these markets, Reginald revealed, adding that the institution will complement courses currently available in the market and not compete with institutions of higher learning.
Reginald: courses will help mitigate the shortage of certified hospitality professionals
“Our ultimate aim is to provide courses in supervisory roles, executives and general managers in both Singapore and Thailand, similar to what we offer in Malaysia. These courses are certified by AHLEI,” he added.
The training programme in Singapore will start in 3Q2018, whereas the one in Bangkok will begin in 1Q2019.
In Malaysia, Aariana Hospitality International has been providing training programmes to professionals in the hospitality and tourism sectors since its inception in 2014. Last year, 100 people received its professional certification.
Anthony Pang Ming-tung has been appointed as the country manager of Sabre Travel Network in Hong Kong.
In this role, Pang will be responsible for leading sales, tracking performance, business development and agency engagement in Hong Kong. He will also pursue key business opportunities for Hong Kong in line with Sabre’s long-term strategic plan in the North Asia markets.
A veteran in the travel and finance industries, Pang has held various management roles over his 30-year career, with 15 years as the managing director for Global Business Travel in Hong Kong.
More recently, Pang acted as president of CDD International Holdings – a China-based joint venture between China Travel Service, Dorsett Hospitality and Diamond Resorts International – where he set up entities across strategic markets in China, drove sales and directed strategic changes to match market demand.
Hawaiian Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL) have filed an application with the US Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism seeking immunity from antitrust laws to create a joint venture (JV).
The antitrust immunised joint venture (ATI-JV) will build upon the codeshare partnership that the two carriers initiated in March, allowing them to coordinate marketing and sales efforts, and share costs and revenue on their joint venture routes.
From left: Hawaiian Airlines’ Theo Panagiotoulias and Mark Dunkerley; and Japan Airlines’ Yoshiharu Ueki and Hideki Oshima first signed a comprehensive new partnership agreement last year in September which took effect in March 2018
In their application, Hawaiian and JAL demonstrate that the resulting efficiency will bring about consumer benefits including lower fares, increased capacity and enhanced consumer choice.
Both airlines estimate that the JV will bring an additional 162,000 to 350,000 passengers to Hawaii and contribute between US$184.5 million and US$402.3 million to the US economy annually, while generating between 1,855 to 4,049 US jobs.
If approved, the ATI-JV would facilitate Hawaiian Airlines’ enhanced access to 34 destinations throughout Japan, including Nagoya and Okinawa, as well as 11 points in Asia beyond Japan. JAL, in turn, will have improved access to Hawaiian’s Neighbor Island network as well as its non-stop flights to Honolulu from Haneda and Sapporo.
Hawaiian and JAL hope to win government approval later this year, allowing them to launch the JV in 2Q2019. If approved, this will be Hawaiian’s first JV, and the first JV in the US that does not involve one of the three largest US carriers.
Marriott is bringing back the W Hotels brand to Sydney, which will be built and developed by Grocon and funded by Greaton Group.
Sydney’s previous W hotel, in Woolloomooloo, now carries the banner of Hong Kong-based Ovolo.
The new W Sydney will be housed in The Ribbon development
Slated to open in 2020, the new-build hotel will be part of The Ribbon, a development said to transform Sydney’s skyline on Darling Harbour.
W Sydney will feature 593 guestrooms, suites and serviced apartments. Facilities include the brand’s iconic pool deck that opens out to views of Darling Harbour; two bars; a restaurant; the brand’s Away Spa; gym, and 925m2 of event space including a grand ballroom.
The opening of W Sydney will mark the third W in Australia alongside W Brisbane, just opened this month and W Melbourne, also opening in 2020. The Australian openings will bring W Hotels close to its goal of 75 hotels by the end of 2020.
