Kapuas Pandaw

Luxury river cruise expedition Pandaw has recently acquired a new ship, the Kapuas Pandaw, which will be deployed on its new West Kalimantan, Borneo itinerary starting in February 2017.

Originally christened the L’Amant, this 12-cabin river ship was built in Saigon in 2006 and was plying the Mekong Delta offering deluxe cruises before being bought over by Pandaw.

Sailing on board the Kapuas Pandaw, the one-week full-board expedition will cover the upper part of Indonesia’s Kapuas River system between Sanggau and Lanjak, a voyage of over 500km passing through ancient rainforest and mountain ranges.

Prices start at US$2,327 per person for seven nights, based on a twin-share main deck stateroom.

(From left) Air India’s Pankaj Srivastava and Vietjet’s Dinh Viet Phuong signing the MoU in New Delhi on December 10

Vietjet and Air India have entered into a MoU to cooperate on air services between Vietnam and India, which will see both airlines joining forces to commence direct flights between the two countries, with the first planned route connecting Ho Chi Minh City and New Delhi.

The partnership will also see both airlines working together to expand the capability of sales distribution, and implement tourism and trade promotions.

“We hope that Air India’s aviation experience and capabilities will help Vietjet better access India – a potential market with a young and dynamic population of more than 1.2 billion people,” said Vietjet’s vice president Dinh Viet Phuong.

As well, Vietjet welcomed passengers onto its debut flight between Hai Phong and Seoul on December 12.

The route will operate every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and depart Hai Phong’s Cat Bi International Airport at 11.45 and land at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport at 06.00. The return flight will take off at 07.15 and arrive back at Hai Phong at 10.40. All times are local and flight time per sector is approximately five hours.

Artyzen Hospitality Group (AHG) has signed a second Artyzen Hotel in China in the Sifang Collective, 30 minutes from Nanjing, a site known as an ‘architecture wonderland’.

The Sifang Collective complex, situated in a preserved forest, showcases the collaborative work of more than 20 world-renowned architects, including Ai Weiwei and the first Chinese winner of the Pritzker Prize Wang Shu, who have designed a variety of functional spaces and art exhibition venues over the course of 10 years.

The 200-room Artyzen Sifang Nanjing will be set amid the Sifang Art Museum, which when combined with the conference centre and events space, are ideal for hosting product launches, fashion shows, film shoots, wedding receptions, AGMs or large corporate events, the company said in a statement.

The conference centre, designed by Irata Isozaki, includes a gallery space, various conference halls and auditoriums, and a selection of the museum’s permanent art collection, allowing visitors and business travellers to hold meetings and events while being immersed in a total artistic experience.

Allan Yip, AHG vice president of marketing, distribution and brands, said: “We look forward to welcoming guests to this one-of-a-kind destination at the end of next year.”

This will be the second Artyzen after the Artyzen Habitat Hotel which opened early this year in Shanghai’s Lingang New City.

AHG is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings whose portfolio also comprises Zitan and citizenM.

Owing to higher fuel costs and a slowing global economy, IATA is forecasting the global airline industry to post a net profit of US$29.8 billion in 2017, lower than the cyclical peak of US$35.6 million expected for 2016.

This will translate to a 4.1 per cent net margin based on an expected total revenue of US$736 billion, breaking a three-year run in which the world’s airlines have posted record profits year-over-year.

Meanwhile, IATA has also trimmed its 2016 profitability outlook to US$35.6 billion from US$39.4 billion projected in June, due to slower global GDP growth and rising costs. This will still give the industry its highest absolute profit generated and highest net profit margin (5.1 per cent).

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, said: “For most other businesses, this would be considered a normal level of return to investors. But three years of sustainable profits is a first for the airline industry. And after many years of hard work in restructuring and re-engineering the business the industry is also more resilient.

IATA projects that North America will chalk up the strongest performance, with net post-tax profits to reach US$20.3 billion in 2016 and US$18.1 billion next year.

Net profit in Asia-Pacific is expected to be the second highest at US$6.3 billion in 2017 (down from US$7.3 billion projected in 2016) for a net margin of 2.9 per cent.

This is followed by Europe (US$5.6 billion; down from US$7.5 billion); the Middle East (US$300 million; down from US$900 million) and Latin America (US$200 million; down from US$300 million). The worst financial performance is expected from African carriers, with a net loss of US$800 million, broadly unchanged from 2016.

The demand stimulus from lower oil prices will taper off in 2017, slowing traffic growth to 5.1 per cent (from 5.9% in 2016). And although capacity expansion is expected to slow to 5.6 per cent (from 6.2 per cent in 2016), capacity growth will still outpace the increase in demand, thus lowering the global passenger load factor to 79.8 per cent (from 80.2 per cent in 2016).

Still, the negative impact of a lower load factor is expected to be offset by a higher world GDP by 2.5 per cent in 2017 (up from 2.2 per cent in 2016). Along with structural changes in the industry, this is expected to help stabilise yields, which have fallen each year since 2012 in dollar terms.

The Okura Prestige Saigon

Hotel Okura has joined hands with the Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) to roll out The Okura Prestige Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020, its first Okura Prestige property in Vietnam and third in the country managed by subsidiary Okura Nikko Hotel Management.

The hotel will be part of SATRA Tax Plaza, a 40-storey, multipurpose commercial complex under construction on the site of the former Saigon Tax Trade Center in District 1.

Facilities will include 250 guest rooms, Japanese restaurants, all-day dining, rooftop bar, multipurpose banquet/meeting rooms, gymnasium and outdoor pool.

Hotel Okura’s president Toshihiro Ogita said: “We are focusing on hotel development in Vietnam because of its stable and highly promising GDP growth rate, which is averaging 6.5 per cent annually, and its affluent and youthful population (under 30), which accounts for half the nation’s population.”

Okura Nikko Hotel Management, which operates Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City, has plans to expand its global portfolio to 100 properties, primarily in Asia, by 2020.

Coming up next in the region are Hotel Nikko Bangkok in 2018, and The Hotel Okura Manila Bayshore and The Okura Prestige Phnom Penh in 2019.

Santa Cruz Island, Zamboanga in Mindanao, Philippines. Photo credit: Rommel Natanauan, Department of Tourism

Mindanao will finally see greater attention given to its tourism development, after years of being sidelined by the more prominent Visayas and Luzon in the Philippines amid security concerns.

“The time has come for Mindanao, especially (undiscovered gems) like Zamboanga,” said assistant tourism secretary Frederic Alegre, who disclosed that more funds will be set aside for infrastructure improvement as well as marketing and promotions.

Alegre added that Santa Cruz Island – 20 minutes by boat from Zamboanga City and with a bigger land area than Boracay – will also be highlighted as a new destination.

While peace and order remains a concern in some areas, it shouldn’t get in the way of efforts to improve the destination, he added.

Butch Blanco, newly appointed tourism director of Region IX in western Mindanao, has plans to launch a beautification and restoration project for Zamboanga – known for its confluence of Spanish, American and Islamic cultural heritage – promote community-based ecotourism and restore the 18-hole Zamboanga Golf and Country Club, the country’s oldest.

The renewed focus on Mindanao brings long-awaited relief to tourism players in the destination, with Errold Lim Bayona, president of the Tour Guides Association of Zamboanga, dubbing the move as “a major development in more than a decade”.

Jerome dela Fuente, general manager of Limketkai Luxe Hotel in Cagayan de Oro, added: “There are many tourism opportunities in this sleeping giant. Zamboanga and other destinations can complement those already on Mindanao’s tourism map including Davao, Siargao and Cagayan de Oro.”

A group of South Koreans protesting on the streets in November, demanding President Park Geun-hye’s resignation

South Korea’s travel industry is largely unscathed by the political unrest that has gripped the country for the last two months, with some travel players even observing the spawn of a new tourist group keen to visit the rallies to mingle with the demonstrators.

“For now, there has been no impact at all,” Han Yeo-ok, general manager of the Korea Tourism Organisation’s Singapore office, told TTG Asia. “The events in Seoul have been very controlled and have only taken place in one part of the city centre on Saturday evenings.”

November and December are typically busy periods for visitors from South-east Asian nations, said Han, and the KTO is anticipating a record-breaking number of visitors to South Korea this year.

Min Woo, head of public relations at Hana Tour, said there was “some concern” in the early stages of the demonstrations against the administration of president Park Geun-hye. “But it has now become like a festival and many tourists are very keen to take part in it. There were fireworks last Saturday night because Park had been impeached on Friday.”

Hotel Lotte Seoul has similarly seen no impact on inbound business since demonstrations began in October, said international communications team associate, Lee Seon-yoon.

“Some hotels close to Gwanghwamun Square seem to be having even more guests visiting, but the general feeling is that there has been no significant difference because of these issues,” she said.

Alila Villas Koh Russey’s one-bedroom villa

The swelling ranks of high-end hospitality offerings, alongside improved infrastructure and expanding flight connections into the country, have made the Cambodian luxury tourism market ripe for growth.

Upcoming hotel openings include the 175-room Rosewood Phnom Penh in January and private-island retreats Six Senses Koh Krabey and Alila Villas Koh Russey in mid-2017, followed by Shangri-La, Okura Prestige and Hyatt Regency in the Cambodian capital over the next few years.

Travel bosses are expecting the entry of these upscale properties will expand the luxury travel sector beyond the Siem Reap core to other parts of the country and make Cambodia more appealing as a standalone destination with higher hospitality standards.

Andrew Booth, CEO and founder of Exotic Voyages, said: “We have been trying to offer Cambodia as a single destination as opposed to an add-on to Thailand. With more luxury brands moving into new regions, combined with amazing dining experiences, we see huge growth.”

Furthermore, these international brands also come with the benefits of global marketing of the destination, an area where Cambodia falls behind, pointed out Pierre-Andre Romano, general manager, Exo Travel Cambodia.

As well, a stronger demand for luxury tourism will also drive the demand for quality service within the industry. Andy Carroll, CEO, AboutAsia Travel, said: “It will help elevate the level of training and education for Cambodian staff.”