Thai hospitality company Dusit International has come together with Colours International, operator of the E-Hotel chain in Japan, to launch a new joint venture Dusit Colours.

Dusit Colours aims to develop and operate Dusit-branded hotels and hotel management related education in Japan. As part of the agreement, both companies will work closely to develop a distinctive hotel franchise model formed by the best of Thai and Japanese hospitality cultures and traditions.

The joint venture company will explore opportunities in several major Japanese cities, including Kyoto, as candidate sites for hotels under Dusit International’s five-star Dusit Thani brand, and other Dusit hotel brands, including dusitD2, DusitPrincess, and Dusit Devarana.

Suphajee Suthumpun, group CEO of Dusit International and director of Dusit Colours, said: “In the next three years we aim to broaden our portfolio to have more than 50 per cent of our operations outside Thailand, and entering key markets such as Japan will be essential to reaching this goal.”

Dusit International owns 49 per cent of the company, while Colours International owns 51 per cent.

American Airlines has announced a US$200 million equity investment in China Southern Airlines, representing 2.76 per cent stake, which will see the two begin codeshare and interline agreements later this year.

“China Southern’s extensive network within China touches developing and thriving markets that only a Chinese carrier can reach,” said Robert Isom, president of American Airlines.

China Southern Airlines

“We are two of the biggest carriers in the world, and our networks are highly complementary, with the potential to offer China Southern and American customers an unmatched range of destinations in two critical markets for business and leisure travellers.”

China Southern’s chairman, Wang Chang Shun, also expects the relationship “to better connect two of the world’s largest aviation markets and leading economies”.

China Southern’s primary hub is located in Guangzhou with the majority of its transpacific flights positioned there, while American flies to Beijing and Shanghai from its hubs in Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth and Los Angeles.

With the codeshare, American customers will be able to access nearly 40 destinations beyond Beijing and more than 30 destinations beyond Shanghai. China Southern customers will gain access to almost 80 destinations beyond Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York’s Kennedy Airport in North and South America.

American currently offers daily service from Dallas Fort Worth to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai; Los Angeles to Hong Kong and Shanghai; and Chicago to Beijing and Shanghai. All flights to Beijing and Shanghai are operated on its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, while its Hong Kong flights are operated using its flagship Boeing 777-300.

Hilton has signed a management agreement with TPD Company, a subsidiary of Laos’ TK Group, to manage the 160-room DoubleTree by Hilton Vientiane scheduled to open in early 2020.

DoubleTree by Hilton Vientiane will mark the group’s entry into Laos and the brand’s debut in the capital city.

Located on the intersection of Rue Setthathilath and Rue Manthatourath, the property is close to That Dam, an iconic stupa in the city centre, and attractions such as the Presidential Palace, Sisaket Temple and Lao National Museum. Local markets, such as the Talat Sao Morning Market and Riverside Night Market, are also easily accessible from the hotel.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris have integrated their respective Golden Circle and InnerCircle loyalty programmes with the Warmer Welcomes partnership, following their strategic alliance that was announced last November.

Members of both loyalty programmes will receive reciprocal benefits and the opportunity to earn their preferred loyalty currency for stays at any of the 200 Shangri-La or Taj property located in 131 destinations across the globe.

Pudong Shangri-La East Shanghai

To celebrate its debut, Shangri-La is rewarding Taj InnerCircle members staying at Shangri-La with triple Taj Inner Circle Points (TIC Points). Similarly, Shangri-La Golden Circle members staying at a Taj property will receive triple Golden Circle Award Points (GC Award Points). This is valid from now through June 30, 2017.

Shangri-La Golden Circle and Taj InnerCircle members who wish to take advantage of the inaugural offer must first link their account at the respective programme’s website for automatic status matching. Shangri-La’s Diamond members are aligned with Taj’s Platinum membership level, while Golden Circle Jade members are awarded Gold status of the Taj InnerCircle programme.

Tourism players in Jeju are struggling to attract visitors after the Chinese government banned travel agents from selling package tours to South Korea.

The resort island usually attracts three million Chinese tourists a year, but arrivals have plummeted more than 44 per cent in the three weeks since the ban was imposed.

Tourists at Seongsan Ilchulbong or Sun Rise Peak, Jeju

Brian Kim, assistant manager of the Jeju Tourism Organisation (JTO), observed: “Almost all flights and cruise ship port calls have been cancelled, which is a very serious problem for the tourist industry here.”

In response, the JTO is stepping up marketing efforts elsewhere in Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, Kim said, but the impacts on businesses are expected to be severe. “We see the problem continuing for at least one year,” Kim said.

As well, the provincial government is attempting to lend a hand to the tourism sector through a price slashing campaign. Access to 28 tourist sites across the island will be complimentary throughout April, while hotels, attractions, souvenir shops, restaurants and golf courses are cutting prices by up to 65 per cent.

It also plans to attract South Koreans who have cancelled their trips to China amid the political tensions.

Meanwhile, Hank Kim, owner and CEO of Jeju-based Core Travel, said: “I feared a problem like this would happen sooner or later, so we began to diversify our client base a while ago.”

“We are fortunate to have a lot of clients from the rest of Asia but a lot of companies have discovered that they were overly reliant on Chinese travellers,” he added.

Han Son-hwi, a spokeswoman for the Kal Jeju Hotel, said that the marketing department has been trying to attract more guests from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to make up for the Chinese cancellations since early March.

Right as Airbnb announced its rebranding in China, Chinese homesharing giant Tujia made known at its recent Open World Summit in Beijing that it will be pursuing a “3+1” development strategy for the year – undertaken from perspectives of consumer, host, property buyers and regionalisation.

With a focus on user experience, Tujia intends to upgrade products and services in three areas: select more resources and provide richer content to consumers; optimise services before, during and after the stay through addressing needs of safety, cleaning, search and payment; and upgrade user service guarantee.

In the third respect, it has already implemented a Concern-Free Living strategy combining house examination, premium hosts, two-way evaluation, Ctrip Credit, Zhima Credit and compensation.

The strategic plan is also related to upgrading and integration on the supply side, hence making property sharing easier for hosts from across the spectrum. To achieve this, Tujia would be gathering traffic, unify standards, improve efficiency and integrate fragmented resources.

Tujia also plans to establish a one-click management of eight platforms, including Ctrip.com and Qunar.com, to allow hosts to control price and availability, accept bookings and communicate with customers through an app.

As well, Tujia intends to provide operational training, security consulting, income management and other service support to help hosts become more professional.

On the front of property buyers and regionalisation respectively, Tujia will continue working the TuLifang Solution that combines housekeeping and property management as well as cooperate with regional governments and partners for integrated homestay services and poverty relief in the countryside.

To aid its strategy implementation, Tujia signed three partnerships at the conference, including with Scenario Lab to explore the innovative evolution of homestay products and build new IP.

Another signing is for the Beautiful Book House public benefit project, an innovative homestay project oriented towards helping children in the countryside.

Tujia also renewed its cooperation with Zhima Credit of Ant Fortune to provide more standardised services.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is eager to attract more Chinese visitors to the country by joining hands with Thai Airways International (THAI) to co-host a three-day fam trip of Phuket for travel agents and the media from China, as the airline inaugurates its first Beijing-Phuket flight this week.

THAI is operating four-times weekly Beijing-Phuket service using a 264-seat Dreamliner B787. The route is dubbed a “Phuket Express” service to highlight that visitors from China can now fly direct to the holiday island.

Bangornrat Chinaprayoon, director of TAT Beijing office, said: “This new THAI route is vital as Phuket becomes ever more popular with tourists and travellers from China who can now conveniently come here on weekends… This new air access will allow tourists from our largest market to fly here directly with no hassles and start enjoying the beach and local culture as soon as they touch down.”

Incoming flights from Beijing arrive in Phuket on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while outgoing flights depart on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, allow travellers from Beijing to fly to Phuket for long weekend visits. The flight time is about five hours and 35 minutes for both legs.

In 2017, TAT expects Thailand to attract at least nine million visitors from China and generate some 570 billion baht (US$16.5 billion) for the Thai tourism industry.

Cathay Pacific Airways and the Lufthansa Group have entered into a codesharing and frequent flyer agreement, which is expected to improve the carriers’ European and Australia/New Zealand connections respectively.

Through this partnership, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and Austrian Airlines will each be able to offer their passengers four new destinations in Australia and New Zealand via Hong Kong from April 26, 2017.

(From left) Cathay Pacific Airways’s Ivan Chu and Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Carsten Spohr

Passengers arriving in Hong Kong from Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will be able to transfer via Hong Kong to new destinations including Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Auckland.

In turn, Cathay Pacific passengers can now access 14 new European destinations through Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian connections from Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Zurich.

Thai LCC Nok Air and Henan Civil Aviation Development & Investment (HNCA) have recently signed an MoU to deepen their cooperation in developing an air network throughout China.

The MoU, signed by Nok Air’s CEO Patee Sarasin and HNCA’s chairman Zhang Mingchao, paves the way for both organisations to work together in areas related to tourism, culture, aviation and trade.

(From left) HNCA’s Zhang Mingchao and Nok Air’s Patee Sarasin shake hands after the signing

Patee said: “Henan is endowed with a superior geographical location, and it is one of China’s most significant transportation hubs. Potential air routes would enhance economic, social and cultural opportunities.

“This MoU marks a new milestone in the relationship between our nations with the aim to provide travellers from both countries with more positive options to choose from.”