BRG Group’s Nguyen Thi Nga and Hilton’s William Costley

Hilton has signed a management agreement with Victory Hotel Joint Stock Company, part of the BRG Group, for a 610-room dual-branded hotel scheduled to open in Hanoi in 2020.

The dual-branded property will feature Hilton Hanoi West Lake with 240 rooms and suites, plus 50 serviced residences, and the 320-key DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake. Located on Hanoi’s West Lake, both properties will offer a total of 2,993m² in meeting space.

This dual-brand hotel is Hilton’s third project with the BRG Group in Hanoi, after Hilton Hanoi Opera and Hilton Garden Inn Hanoi.

With this signing, Hilton now has six hotels in the pipeline across Vietnam including Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.

Chinese travellers are returning to Europe to usher in the Year of the Rooster, after numbers declined in 2016 likely over terror threat concerns, according to travel intelligence company ForwardKeys.

Although security concerns remain, bookings to Europe from the start of the Lunar New Year on January 28 were 68.5 per cent ahead as of December 30, 2016, compared with a 7.4 per cent fall in visitor numbers last year. However, ForwardKeys cautioned that the growth could have been due to bookings made at an earlier date than in previous years.

But when benchmarked against the equivalent period in 2015 before the impact of terrorism on European tourism, ForwardKeys found that bookings are still 56 per cent ahead.

Spain is the fastest-growing destination in Europe for Chinese travellers during the Spring Festival period (89 per cent), followed by the UK (88 per cent) and Italy (59 per cent). Despite suffering numerous terrorist attacks, France is ahead 49 per cent.

Central and Eastern Europe also see more bookings on the back of Russia’s popularity and Czech Republic’s improved connectivity. Turkey is the sole exception among top markets, lagging by 14 per cent as terrorism continues to hit the country.

ForwardKeys also revealed that overall number of Chinese outbound air travel bookings is up by 9.8 per cent for the January 18 to February 1 period. Departures are concentrated in the four days immediately before the 2017 Golden Week dates spanning January 27 to February 2, with an average length of stay of eight days.

Apart from the increase in outbound travel to Europe, bookings to South-east Asia are up 12.2 per cent, with growth led by Malaysia (46.3 per cent), Indonesia (44 per cent), Vietnam (37.8 per cent) and the Philippines (31.8 per cent).

Families of up to four people make up 51 per cent of Chinese travelling in this period. As well, travellers from first-tier cities – Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou – are more likely than those from smaller cities to travel beyond Asia (36 per cent) and use OTAs (26 per cent).

Australia’s Visit Sunshine Coast (VSC) is setting foot in Asia with the establishment of an office in Singapore, from where the new director of international marketing will be based to shore up awareness of the coastal region located one hour north of Brisbane in Queensland.

Rachel Meyer, currently VSC’s trade and international manager, will take up the newly created position to coordinate international marketing efforts with particular emphasis on Asia – Australia’s fastest-growing source of inbound business.

Speaking to TTG Asia, Meyer said: “Traditionally, Sunshine Coast has focused efforts on key western markets of New Zealand, the UK, Europe and North America. (But) with a large growing population of experienced travellers in Asia looking for more experiential products, we thought this makes an ideal time to grow our presence here.”

Said CEO of VSC, Simon Latchford: “With the expansion of Sunshine Coast Airport confirmed and the interest shown by international airlines in the region, it is important that we raise the profile of the Sunshine Coast in Asia’s key markets.”

Meyer will relocate to Singapore to fill the newly created role 

According to Meyer, the number of Asian travellers to the Sunshine Coast grew 24 per cent year-on-year from January to September last year, with most travellers hailing from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Through the new Singapore office, Meyer said VSC will undertake market research and conduct feasibility studies to identify new market opportunities for the Sunshine Coast, and will also work at cultivating key trade relations and increased collaborations with market experts.

VSC’s drive in Asia kicked off last week with a sales mission to Singapore, which saw the participation of over 40 product planners and senior frontline travel agents as well as key tourism and airline representatives from Singapore and Malaysia.

Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto

A new crop of high-end accommodation options in Japan is changing the country’s image as a limited luxury destination, providing a boost to inbound tourism players.

High-profile luxury openings this year include Hoshinoya Tokyo, Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho and Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto. A JW Marriot Hotel is planned for Nara City and a luxury hotel is expected in rural Gifu Prefecture, both by 2020.

Ashley Harvey, manager at inbound tour operator Walk Japan, sees “potential” for luxury travel to boom in Japan, especially as upscale accommodation options are no longer confined to just major cities in the country. “The regional luxury market has very recently started to grow.”

To tap the rising luxury sector, Walk Japan will in 2017 expand its programme offerings sixfold and strengthen its partnership with Road Scholar, which offers educational trips for the high-end market.

Mark Wong, vice president Asia Pacific, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, added that the growing English-language support via transport signs and service staff would increase agents’ ability to sell Japan to the luxury market.

“The traveller can now explore parts of local Japan on their own, many of which are still unexplored by the foreign eye,” he said.