The Hong Kong trade is mulling redress for affected airline customers after the issue of hidden passenger security charges charged by airlines was brought to light.

The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) had increased passenger security charge from HK$33 (US$4.25) to HK$45 in June 2014, but HK$50 was levied by airlines instead, according to industry members.

Hong Kong International Airport

Society of IATA Passenger Agents (SIPA) chairman, Larry Lo, said: “I was aware of the situation but not in a position to take any action until my new role in SIPA was announced last summer. There was a need for me to find out what the charge was based on as it’s unfair to consumers.”

According to Lo, AA claimed that it was not aware of the overcharge, as the HK$45 charge was rounded up to the nearest HK$10 automatically by the fare calculation system and the extra HK$5 were pocketed by airlines.

“To (cancel out) the (extra) charge, IATA finally assigned a new tax box for the security charge effective for sales and travel from May 1, 2017… hence allowing for single-dollar calculation,” Lo revealed.

Lotus Tours, managing director and COO, Ken Ng, did not receive any customer complaints but sees potential refund issues in redemption tickets like Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo Club. “As the extra dollars went into airlines’ pocket, hopefully SIPA will follow up but for sure, it’s hard to make the refund to respective passengers,” he said.

Hong Kong’s legislative council member Wayne Yiu Sze-wing likewise reckoned it would be hard to refund consumers as the sum is bundled with airfares, and pointed out that agents also benefited from this as their commissions are calculated on total airfare.

According to Travel Industry Council, over 8.9 million air ticket transactions were recorded in 2016 which amounted to HK$27 billion.

The site of the former Suan Lum Night Bazaar in Bangkok’s downtown will soon be home to a mega project that is being jointly developed by TCC Assets (Thailand) and Frasers Centrepoint.

Dubbed One Bangkok, the 16.7ha mixed-use project will be the largest private sector property development initiative ever undertaken in Thailand with an estimated investment value of approximately US$3.5 billion.

Rendering of the new development

One Bangkok has been touted by TCC Group chairman Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi to be “a global landmark that will enhance Bangkok’s and Thailand’s stature on the world stage” when it opens in 2021 and fully completes by 2025.

The “integrated district” will be home to five office towers built, five luxury hotels, three ultra-luxury residential towers and retail spaces, in addition to civic areas, art and culture facilities, and eight hectares of greenery and open spaces.

The development is located in the heart of Bangkok next to Lumphini Park, with direct linkages to the city’s mass transit systems and easy access to the expressway network. The land is being leased from the Crown Property Bureau.

Barely a week after its intentions to buy a French events management company was unveiled, AccorHotels has now acquired VeryChic, a digital platform that distributes luxury travel products to registered members through flash sales.

VeryChic offers luxury hotel rooms and apartments, cruises, breaks and packages via its website and mobile application, with over 50 per cent of sales volume coming through the latter.

The platform was created in 2011 and today has 4,000 sales on offer, 3,000 hotel partners across about 40 countries and a member base of five million.

Steven Daines, AccorHotels’ COO new businesses and CEO hotel services for Africa & Middle East, commented: “Our ambition is to support VeryChic in its international expansion to consolidate its leadership and benefit from its expertise to provide a portfolio of incredible locations and attractive offers to our guests, while presenting our hotels with a complementary solution to optimise room distribution.”

Hervé Lafont, founder, chairman and CEO of VeryChic, said: “VeryChic is a distribution solution that enables hotels both to reach and retain new guests. The combination with AccorHotels will allow VeryChic to roll out globally the services that we have been providing to hotels for the past five years and to offer our members the opportunity to discover the most beautiful locations in the luxury hotel sector.”

Malaysia’s introduction of multiple-entry visas for up to 15 days for Indian tourists has received positive feedback from the trade, as members see greater potential to position the country as a hub for intra-region packages.

KL Tan, vice president, inbound and domestic at Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), said: “Travel agents and tour operators should capitalise on packages not only in Malaysia but ASEAN, as the multiple-entry visa allows tourists from India to use Malaysia as a hub to visit neighbouring countries. We hope to attract more Indian tourists to Malaysia and ASEAN.”

Bohey Dulang Island near Sipadan. Sabah Borneo

Ganneesh Ramaa, manager, Luxury Tours Malaysia, concurred: “Multiple-entry visa of 15 days is good enough for a genuine tourist to visit multiple destinations in ASEAN using Malaysia as a hub. Both Malindo Air and AirAsia offer attractive airfares.

“Without the multiple-entry visa, we lose out to Bali as Indian tourists used Kuala Lumpur as a transit to continue their journey onwards to Denpasar. (The new visa move) also makes Malaysia more competitive with regional destinations. Indonesia and Thailand, for example offers free visa on arrival,” he added.

At the same time, MATTA president Hamzah Rahmat is urging state tourism offices nationwide to leverage the latest visa initiative and promote their destinations. He said: “Not many Indian tourists are familiar with destinations beyond the traditional such as Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang and Resorts World Genting.”

On its part, MATTA will continue with its new initiative of organising sales missions in South Asia, encompassing its association members, hoteliers and local attraction operators. Tan said: “We wish to introduce new destinations such as Perak, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak to provide an opportunity for SME agencies to participate in the Indian market.”

For India, sales missions are planned for Bangaluru, Chennai and Kochi and in August, and Kolkata, Hyderabad and Visakapatnam in November.

Vietjet began a daily Hanoi-Siem Reap service on March 30, 2017.

Operated with Airbus A320 aircraft, flights depart Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport at 16.55 to arrive at Siem Reap International Airport at 18.40.

On the return leg, flights depart at 19.30 from Siem Reap and arrive in Hanoi at 21.15. The flight time per sector is approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.

Carnival Corporation has taken delivery of the 143,000-ton Majestic Princess, its first international luxury ship tailored for the China market.

On May 21, Majestic Princess will embark on the Silk Road Sea Route, a 49-day journey from Rome to Shanghai. During the voyage she will visit a total of 22 ports including Athens, Dubai, Cochin, Singapore, Port Klang and Xiamen before arriving in Shanghai, her new homeport in China.

Key Carnival Corporation executives at the handover of Majestic Princess

The Majestic Princess will then begin her first cruise from China on July 11 carrying 3,560 guests to a variety of destinations.

The new ship is currently on a five-day Adriatic Sea cruise round-trip from Rome with stops in Kotor and Corfu. Following her maiden cruise, Majestic Princess will tour Europe, and offer seven-, 14-, 21- and 28-day cruises departing from Rome, Barcelona or Athens.

Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has undergone an organisational restructuring resulting in the consolidation of all its commercial operations under subsidiary Mount Faber Leisure Group (MFLG) from April 1, helmed by managing director and board director Lim Suat Jien.

In addition to the Singapore Cable Car Sky Network and suite of leisure offerings at Faber Peak Singapore, MFLG has taken over management the Sentosa Merlion, Wings of Time, as well as retail and F&B businesses of SDC.

MFLG will manage SDC’s commercial offerings such as the Sentosa Merlion

MFLG has been rebranded One Faber Group to represent its expanded portfolio of offerings, operating as an autonomous arm and reporting to its board of directors.

Meanwhile, the reorganisation at SDC also sees the creation of the corporate and marketing group (CMG), led by assistant chief executive Chin Sak Hin, comprising finance, corporate planning, legal, human resources and administration, and information technology divisions. Also under CMG is a new integrated marketing division to enable the corporation to adopt a more effective guest-centric approach in promoting Sentosa Island as a whole.

And for greater planning and operational efficiencies, island investment, property and projects development as well as island operations divisions have been grouped together under the infrastructure, investment and island operations group (III) headed by assistant chief executive Jacqueline Tan.

Following JTB Corp’s acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Panorama Tours Indonesia in February, both partners have just unveiled their new identity, Panorama JTB Tours Indonesia, at The World of Holidays travel fair in Jakarta last week.

Commenting on the partnership, Royanto Handaya, CEO of Panorama JTB Travel Indonesia, said: “The business environment has changed dramatically with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) formation. Secondly, the AEC is developing cooperation with China, South Korea and Japan, and thirdly, the biggest economic growth is in Asia-Pacific. Therefore, our choice was to expand our business in this area.”

JTB makes the ideal partner because of its global reach as well as the fast-growing Indonesia outbound business to Japan in recent years, added Royanto.

“For us, partnering JTB means we are not only a Japan specialist but also an international player. While we are a major company in Indonesia, it would not be easy to expand outside the country on our own. People do not know us,” he said.

Apart from the outbound business, Royanto also aims to cater to the Japan corporate travel segment in Indonesia, a market that growing in tandem with more Japanese investment in the country.

Furthermore, Indonesia is an important source market for Panorama JTB Tours Indonesia to achieve its goal of becoming the top travel company in Asia by 2020, said senior director (corporate strategy) Hiroaki Izumi.

“JTB has been in Indonesia for many years, but our business was targeted at the inbound market into the country. JTB is well-known in Bali but perhaps not so in Jakarta (the major source of outbound market).

“For us to penetrate the market and expand (so fast) to achieve the 2020 target will not be easy. Therefore, we are happy to partner Panorama Tours,” he said.