Jakarta will get its first Park Hyatt hotel when the Park Hyatt Jakarta opens at MNC Center, Kebon Sirih in 1H2018.

Hyatt Hotels will work with Indonesian property developer MNC Land to develop the hotel on the top 20 floors in the latter’s 39-floor, mixed-use project. The hotel is expected to house five F&B outlets.

Park Hyatt Jakarta will join the four existing Hyatt-branded hotels in Indonesia: Grand Hyatt Jakarta, Grand Hyatt Bali, Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta and Hyatt Regency Bali, which is currently undergoing renovation.

Emirates has redeployed the Airbus A380 on its Dubai-Narita route since last Sunday to replace the smaller Boeing B777-300ER, in response to “the healthy demand for travel between Japan and Dubai”.

The airline previously operated the route with the superjumbo from 2012 to 2013.

On top of seating up to 515 passengers across three classes and two decks, the aircraft also offers the industry’s only onboard shower spa, 2,500 inflight entertainment channels, Wi-Fi and an onboard lounge for first- and business-class passengers serving canapés and cocktails.

Flight EK318 departs Dubai daily at 02.40 and arrives in Narita at 17.35. On the return, EK319 departs Narita at 22.00 on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and arrives in Dubai at 04.15 the next day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it leaves Narita at 21.20 and arrives in Dubai at 03.35 the following day.

The A380 was also deployed on Emirates’ Casablanca and Sao Paulo services on Sunday.

Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea continue to reign among the top destinations for Indonesian outbound travellers while interest in Australia is on the rise, observe industry members at the ASTINDO Fair in Jakarta last weekend.

Speaking to TTG Asia on the sideline of ASTINDO Fair, Ketut Wijaya, vice president consumer banking at BCA Bank, the official bank for the event, said: “We are seeing more travellers looking for (edu-tourism) when travelling with family, where their children can learn about local culture and tradition during their holidays.

Indonesians seek attractions they can’t find at home; Shikisai-no-oka, Hokkaido pictured

“Travellers tend to look for a destination which provide attractions they cannot find in the country. Japan is a good example for this, with its different climate, culture, cuisine and attractions (from Indonesia),” he said.

BCA Bank currently has some three million credit card holders and travel-related expenses rank among the top five spending for its members, said Ketut.

And as the middle class swells in Indonesia, cashbacks and instalment for package payment and overseas spending with zero interest from banks like BCA are important in stimulating traffic during travel fairs, said Rudiana, director of sales of WITA Tour and chairman of the ASTINDO Fair Organising Committee.

He added: “The aggressive promotional efforts from various NTOs and airlines, especially during travel fairs like this, help boost traffic.”

Social media remains a powerful influencer among Indonesians, pointed out Rudiana, as travellers tend to emulate the travel decisions of their friends and families. Japan’s sakura season is one classic example, so much so that rooms are hard to get during this period, he shared.

The seventh ASTINDO Fair was organised from March 24-26 in Jakarta with transactions estimated to reach between 75 billion rupiah (US$5.6 million) and 100 billion rupiah, 25 per cent higher than last year.

Garuda Indonesia Group in 2016 posted a net profit of close to US$9.4 million and consolidated revenue of US$3.9 billion, as Garuda Indonesia and Citilink Indonesia carried a total of 35 million passengers with a load factor of 73.1 per cent and 76.8 per cent respectively.

“The trend in growth for the world aviation industry, especially for the Asia-Pacific region, has been under pressure for the last five years, especially as a result of the global economic slowdown that has affected purchasing power, but the group can still maintain its positive performance,” stated president director of Garuda Indonesia, Arif Wibowo.

“Twenty-sixteen was a year of investment for the company, considering that we maximised utilisation of wide-body aircraft for the expansion of international routes in the middle to longhaul sectors. We expect the next fleet restructuring will happen in 2019,” he added.

The group brought in 17 new aircraft in 2016: four ATR 72-600 aircraft, four A330-300s, one B777-300ER aircraft and eight A330-200. By the end of 2016, it was operating 196 aircraft with an average aircraft age of 4.6 years.

Garuda Indonesia also began serving destinations like Medina and Mumbai, and domestic ones such as Sintang, Silangit, Nabire and Maumere, bringing its network to 19 international destinations and 64 domestic destinations.

Meanwhile, the group recorded an increase in scores of other income comprising ancillary revenue components, income sector strategic business unit and other subsidiaries, amounting to US$392 million, an increase of 13.7 per cent from US$344.6 million in 2015.

In terms of on-time performance, Garuda reached 89.5 per cent, up from 88 per cent the previous year, despite operational challenges that came with domestic service migration to the new Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta, weather factors, or force majeure.

Garuda Indonesia at this time recorded a market share of 41.7 per cent in the domestic market and 26.9 per cent in international markets.

Hotelbeds Group has entered into a partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to connect to the international hotel company’s CRS and 12 hotel brands.

This agreement will give the global bedbank access to IHG’s full network of 5,000 hotels in over 100-plus markets, including the InterContinental, Kimpton, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands.

Hotelbeds’ Adam Krzciuk Kuna (lef) with IHG’s Rubinacci

Hotels can control rates, inventory and availability via the hotel group’s CRS and these will be transmitted to Hotelbed Groups’ distribution network in over 120 markets. This will improve distribution of IHG´s hotels and increase sales from all source markets.

Andrew Rubinacci, senior vice president, distribution and revenue management at IHG, stated: “This is a landmark deal for us and helps further our wholesale strategy by moving towards dynamic pricing and away from property based static rate agreements.”

Carlos Muñoz, managing director of Hotelbeds Group´s Bedbank business, added that the partnership with IHG “demonstrates our shared confidence in the future growth of the B2B industry”.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a Good Host Programme to raise awareness and hospitality standards among tourism stakeholders in the country.

The Good Host Programme provides extra training for public and private sector employees through seminars that impart new ways of improving tourism products and services. Knowledge sharing and practical training will also be used to teach participants on how to impress visitors and exceed their expectations about Thailand and its offerings.

Programme speakers include Thon Thamrongnawasawat who will talk about the preservation of Thailand’s natural environment and culture, and English expert Chris Wright who will talk about marketing communications and dos and don’ts for people in the tourism sector. Also making appearances at the event will be good Samaritans Vithit Duangjumpol and Chat Ubolchinda, who rescued foreign tourists stuck in thick river mud in Krabi.

Some 1,500 representatives from the public and private sectors across the country have been invited to join the Good Host Programme, which kicked off with a three-day training session last week at the Thammasat Rangsit Convention Centre, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus.

Luxury hotel brand Aman will focus its expansion in the Western Hemisphere, after spending almost 30 years establishing its Asian foothold that spans 31 resorts, hotels, residences and expeditions across 20 destinations.

Eleven new hotels and resorts, each with a residential component, were signed in 2016 and are in development. These properties will be located in South America – the brand’s first – as well as South-east Asia, Japan, the US and Europe.

Sora Villa, Amanemu, Japan

Vladislav Doronin, chairman of the Aman Group, said: “Our strategy continues to place emphasis on seeking out new and outstanding destinations, as well as a continued commitment to curate resorts of architectural distinction by commissioning new and up-and-coming architects. We do not have plans to radically transform the brand.”

Recent Asia-Pacific additions to the collection include Amandayan in China, custom-built Phinisi cruiser Amandira in Indonesia and Amanemu in Japan. As well, another China property, Amanyangyun, will open on the outskirts of Shanghai in autumn 2017.

The company has also recently appointed COO, Roland Fasel, to oversee all facets of Aman’s hotel, resort and private residence operations.

To improve the confidence of visitors from South-east Asia amid security concerns about travel in Europe, the Paris Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB) is deepening its collaboration with tour operators through regular visits and promotion of new products in this source market.

While PCVB has no fixed targets for Asian arrivals this year, the South-east Asian markets are seeing “very good” performance with an annual growth of 15 to 20 per cent, PCVB leisure marketing manager Patricia Barthelemy told TTG Asia during the bureau’s South-east Asia roadshow in Manila last week, which also included stops in Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta.

Paris

“We want to regularly visit South-east Asia, not only PCVB but also our partners and suppliers,” said Barthelemy.

The bureau is already in regular contact with 50 major tour operators in South-east Asia. In the Philippines, “90 per cent of our operators are those who send clients to Europe”, she added.

Raymond Reedijk, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines country manager for the Philippines said that despite challenges in Europe, the airline has recorded encouraging signs since 2015. “Our forward bookings for summer look extremely positive. Europe is picking up (for the Philippines),” he commented.

Portia Taguinod-Santiago, operations manager, Alisto Travel and Tours, added that PCVB’s efforts to reach out to tour operators are helping to increase visitor traffic to France and Europe as airfares and tour packages become more affordable.

Furthermore, Filipinos tend to forget about threats after a few weeks and are even forming their own groups to Europe, said Rowena Maglinao, owner, Aerial Travel and Tours.