The 23-year-old Datai Langkawi will embark on an extensive 10-month renovation from September 4, 2017 before opening its doors again in mid 2018.

The redesign will include renovations to the resort’s guestrooms, suites and villas; the construction of a Nature Centre; additional spa pavilions; a refreshed retail space; and a fitness centre by the beach as well as an overall landscaping enhancement.

Leading the revamp is interior designer Didier Lefort of DL2A, who was part of the original design team for the property’s launch in 1993.

All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) new Tokyo (Narita)-Mexico City service will provide a much-needed option for the Asia-Latin America market, where trade flows are growing but flight connectivity limited.

Commencing from February 15, 2017, this trans-Pacific service will be operated daily on a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft and will mark ANA’s longest flight.

This service will especially benefit Japanese companies with business interests in Central and South America, said Tatsuo Matsumoto, head of sales in Japan for Kuoni Japan.

“This is a busy – and growing – business route, especially for the auto sector because many manufacturing facilities and related technology companies have operations there or are setting up in Mexico,” he added.

Besides, ANA’s good connectivity with other cities in East and South-east Asia makes the new Tokyo (Narita)-Mexico City route a strong choice for Asian travellers keen to visit Central America, Matsumoto posited.

Junichi Tanaka, president of Latin America travel specialists Turismo Latino, believes the new service will be popular both among outbound Japanese leisure travellers and visitors to Japan from the region.

“A route like this also helps us to expand our operations and business in South America because it is easy to transit through Mexico City,” he said.

Jaime Bautista, president and COO, PAL

Philippine Airlines (PAL), as part of its “nose-to-tail reinvention” currently underway, is aiming to become a five-star, full-service carrier by 2020, said president and COO Jaime Bautista on the sidelines of AAPA’s 60th Assembly of Presidents last week. The airline is currently rated three star on Skytrax.

When Bautista returned to PAL in late 2014 after Lucio Tan Group took back control of the airline from San Miguel Corp, initiatives were mapped out to remedy the carrier’s identity crisis and employees’ low morale.

This includes shedding PAL’s LCC inclinations and positioning it as the national carrier of the Philippines, a move that required a reconfiguration of the mono-class aircraft with tight seat pitch ordered by the previous administration.

Fleet modernisation is now in the works, with the delivery of Boeing 777 two weeks ago and another expected in mid-December, in addition to the five A321s in 2016. By next year, eight A330s will be reconfigured with business, premium economy and economy class seats for medium-haul flights to Australia and Honolulu.

As well, Bautista shared that “with limited capacity to grow in congested NAIA”, PAL is increasingly using other hubs like Cebu and Clark.

After launching the Cebu-Los Angeles service this year, the airline also plans to increase frequencies to Los Angeles and San Francisco and open routes to Chicago and Texas when it takes delivery of A350 in 2018.

Despite stepping up frequency to daily on the London route, expansion to Europe is on hold, said Bautista.

Jetstar Asia will be increasing flight frequencies on four of its routes from Singapore to meet the expected increase in demand over the 2017 lunar new year holidays.

From January 25 to February 5, the airline will add a total of 23 services – eight to Kuala Lumpur (January 25-February 1), seven to Penang (January 26, 29-31; February 2, 4, 5), three to Shantou (January 29; February 1, 3) and five to Haikou (January 26, 28, 30; February 4, 5).

The additional services to Haikou and Shantou are subject to regulatory approval.

Australia-based hotel and resort operator Mantra Group has secured five additional hotel signings, adding to its inventory 900 rooms across Australia and New Zealand.

The hotels are newbuilds Peppers Southbank (Melbourne), Mantra 900 Hay Street (Perth) and Peppers Queenstown Resort (Queenstown), in addition to Mantra Club Crocodile (Airlie Beach) and Mantra Observatory (Port Macquarie), which are being rebranded from the existing Club Crocodile and The Observatory respectively.

“The latest group of acquisitions reinforces the strong momentum in our growth strategy and highlights our ability to convert our pipeline,” said Mantra Group CEO Bob East.

In FY2016, Mantra Group increased its inventory by 3,000 rooms across 11 new properties, making it “Australia’s fastest growing hotel group for the year”, according to Mantra.

East added: “With seven acquisition announcements in the first five months of FY2017, we’re well-placed to exceed last year’s record result.”

Mantra currently operates the second largest network of accommodations in Australia by room number.

Industry players in Maldives are urging the government to spend more on destination marketing to coincide with the opening of an array of high-end resorts in the next 16 months.

More resorts are opening in Maldives in the next two years than in the past decade, with at least 1000 new rooms spread among 10 resorts being added from 2016-2017.

The suggestion for a bigger warchest was put forward by the travel trade during the Maldives Travel Conference, the country’s first such event, held earlier this month on November 19.

Speakers at the Maldives Travel Conference included PATA CEO Mario Hardy, UNDP Representative Shoko Noda, and the Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) chairman Mohamed Khaleel, who, during the conference, all alluded to the need for more robust funding for promoting Maldives.

Khaleel said a bigger marketing budget may be necessary in view of the new properties that are about to open and in consideration of stiff competition coming from other destinations.

Among the resorts due to open within the next two years are the Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah, the St Regis Vommuli Resort on Dhaalu Atoll, the Soneva Jani on Noonu Atoll, and the Hurawalhi Island Resort & Spa on Lhaviyani Atoll.

India has shown strong growth to the Netherlands this year and is projected to end the year with a 30 per cent increase in arrivals as compared to 2015, which saw 101,000 Indian visitors.

According to Carola van Rijn, project manager at The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, the increase is mainly due to Jet Airways establishing Amsterdam as its European gateway since March.

In terms of percentage growth, Indonesia comes second in Asia and is projected to end the year with a 20 per cent increase from the year before. In 2015, arrivals from Indonesia totalled 47,000.

Beyond arrival numbers, Rijn also hopes to increase the average stay duration of its Asian tourists.

She said: “To further increase the length of stay of longhaul arrivals, which currently stands at four days for Chinese visitors and three days for Indonesians and Malaysians, we are promoting destinations beyond Amsterdam. These include destinations such as Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam.”

The NTO has also developed several campaigns centred around famous Dutch themes, such as waterways and flowers, in collaboration with local operators, to inspire tourists to step off the beaten track and discover new places.

China’s Ctrip has signed a definitive agreement with Skyscanner for the acquisition of all of its shares at an estimated value of 1.4 billion pounds (US$1.74 billion).

The boards of directors of both Ctrip and Skyscanner have approved the transaction, subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of 2016.

Skyscanner’s current management team will to continue to carry out their own operations independently as part of the Ctrip group.

“This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies,” said James Jianzhang Liang, co-founder and executive chairman of Ctrip.

“Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale, and we will leverage our experience, technology and booking capabilities to help Skyscanner.”

Serviced residence operator Ascott is joining the co-living hospitality space with its latest brand offering, Lyf (pronounced as “life”), targeted at millennials.

Plans are for there to be 10,000 keys carrying the Lyf flag to be up and running by 2020.

Unlike conventional properties, Lyf establishments are run by residents themselves, community managers, city guides and bar keepers, among others, in hopes to bring in a sense of local communal living.

“Going beyond traditional hospitality concepts, Lyf signifies a new way of living and collaborating as a community, connecting guests with fellow travellers and change-makers,” stated Ascott in a press release.

Millennials currently form a quarter of Ascott’s customers with the segment expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.