AccorHotels will introduce its first Pullman hotel in Japan with the launch of the 143-room Pullman Tokyo Tamachi in fall 2018.

Developed as part of the MSB Tamachi mixed-used complex, the upscale hotel will feature facilities such as meeting rooms as well as various dining concepts. It will also be directly connected to JR Tamachi Station’s east exit, and is a three-minute walk from the Toei Subway Mita Line.

Currently, AccorHotels has 12 hotels in its network in Japan under the Swissotel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles brands.

Here’s our weekly roundup of new air routes.

Hong Kong Airlines makes North American debut
Hong Kong Airlines will launch a daily service between Vancouver and Hong Kong on June 30.

Utilising an Airbus A330-300, flights from Hong Kong will depart at 12.30 and arrive in Vancouver at 10.10 the same day. The return leg will depart Vancouver at 12.10 and arrive in Hong Kong at 16.50 the following day.

Air China launches Beijing-Zurich service
Air China has begun flights from Beijing to Zurich, a route that was initially discontinued in October 1999.

The outbound flight departs the Chinese capital at 02.35 and arrives in Zurich at 07.25, while the inbound flight departs Zurich at 12.55 and arrives in Beijing at 05.05 the following day. The four-times weekly route will be serviced by an Airbus A330-200.

Hainan Airlines commences flights to Tel Aviv and Beijing
On September 12, Hainan Airlines will begin a direct service between Tel Aviv and Shanghai, after the airline’s Tel Aviv-Beijing service launched in April last year.

The route will be serviced by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. From September 12 to October 28, outbound flights will depart Pudong International Airport at 01.25 and arrive in Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport at 08.30 on the same day, while the return flight will depart Tel Aviv at 13.55 and arrive in Shanghai at 05.30 the following day.

From October 29 to March 22, 2018, flights will depart Shanghai at 01.25 and arrive in Tel Aviv at 07.30, while the return leg will depart Tel Aviv at 12.55 and arrive in Shanghai at 05.30 the following day.

In addition, Hainan Airlines will start flying to Brussels from Shanghai on October 25, making it the carrier’s second direct flight from Brussels to China after the Brussels-Beijing service.

This thrice-weekly route on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will be serviced by a Boeing 787-900 aircraft. HU7922 will depart Brussels at 12.30 and arrive in Shanghai in 05.30 the following day, while HU7921 will depart Shanghai at 01.25, touching down in Brussels at 07.30 on the same day.

Lucky Air flies to two Philippine destinations
Lucky Air on June 1 commenced thrice-weekly flights between Kunming and Cebu. This comes on the back of the airline’s twice-weekly Kunming-Manila service launched earlier on May 26.

The Kunming-Manila route will operate every Monday and Friday, with flights departing Kunming at 00.25 and arriving in Manila at 03.40. The return flight departs Manila at 04.40 and arrives in Kunming at 08.00.

Meanwhile, the Kunming-Cebu flight will fly every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Flights will depart Kunming at 13.40 and arrive in Cebu at 18.15, while return flights will depart Cebu at 19.15 and land in Kunming at 23.20.

Singapore Airlines boosts frequency to Paris
Singapore Airlines will increase the flight frequency from Singapore to Paris to 10 per week, up from the current seven during the northern winter operating season (October 29, 2017 to March 24, 2018).

The three additional flights will operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport as SQ334 (Singapore-Paris) and SQ333 (Paris-Singapore), starting from October 30.

SQ334 will depart Singapore at 02.30 and arrive in Paris on the same day at 09.30. The return flight, SQ333, will depart Paris at 18.00, and arrive in Singapore at 13.40 the following day.

The additional flights, as well as the seven existing flights, will be operated with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, rather than Airbus A380-800s which currently serve the Paris route.

Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts will be the official hotel operator for a planned mixed-use development scheduled for completion in Melbourne’s CBD in 2022.

Artist impression of the mixed-use development

Shangri-La Hotel, Melbourne is expected to feature 500 guest rooms and facilities including a sky lobby, restaurants, spa, fitness centre, pool and ballroom.

The second tower in the development by Malaysia’s S P Setia will include some 300 luxury residential apartments as well as office space. A sky bridge will connect the two towers, and retail space will occupy the lower floors.

The two-tower luxury complex will be located on Melbourne’s Exhibition Street and overlook the UNESCO World Heritage Carlton Gardens.

Wuhan International Tourism Expo (WITE), the first of its kind to be held in Central China, will be inaugurated in November this year.

To take place at the Wuhan International Expo Center from November 23 to 25, 2017, the event will cover an estimated area of 10,000m2 and feature 300 exhibitors from across 30 countries such as Ghana, Malaysia, Malta, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the US.

The three-day expo is expected to attract over 4,000 trade visitors on the first two days and some 10,000 members of the public on the last day.

The first day will see a panel discussion featuring leaders in the aviation industry in ASEAN and China. The second day will focus on big data and analytics and travel technologies, with workshops running concurrently.

As the organiser, Conference & Exhibition Management Services (CEMS) will be running pre-event roadshows in various cities and regions within China to create awareness for WITE 2017. Participating exhibitors will be invited to join the pre-event publicity campaigns to attract buyers.

“Wuhan is one of the fastest growing outbound tourism markets and it ranked ninth in China’s outbound generating market in 2016,” said Edward Liu, group managing director of CEMS.

For more information, visit www.WITEChina.com.

Luxe City Guides has launched Luxe Directory, a B2B tool allowing hotel concierge teams, travel consultants and remote concierge service providers to create personalised shortlists and share them with travellers.

Travel consultants can choose from a database of more than 6,000 recommendations, organised by category and location. The directory currently covers 30 global destinations and all relevant categories such as accommodation, dining, shopping, activities and spa and beauty.

In addition, Luxe Directory can be personalised to allow companies to add new content and recommendations in their database, place their logos and create custom emails and PDFs to share with clients.

The directory can be accessed via any browser and on any device. For more information, view the Luxe Directory presentation at www.luxecollaborations.com/directory.

Travel retailer Flight Centre Singapore has launched a series of Game of Thrones-themed tour packages visiting iconic set locations of the HBO series in Europe during winter.

In Dubrovnik, Croatia, travellers can visit King’s Landing – the main filming location of the show – as well as Gradac Park, the site of the Purple Wedding, and the abandoned Hotel Belvedere, where The Red Viper met his end.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

A tour to Iceland will traverse from Reykjavik — where the scenes Beyond the Wall, and with the White Walker’s, were filmed — to Thingvellir National Park, home to two of the Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir hotspring.

There are also tours to Alcazar of Seville, where the 14^th-century Spanish castle was the setting for the Water Gardens of Dorne.