Swissôtel Merchant Court in Singapore has completed an extensive renovation that saw a complete refurbishment of all its 476 rooms and suites, added meeting rooms, transformed F&B venues and a new in-house spa brand.

The revamp took 18 months to complete and was done in phases. In terms of design, all rooms have now taken on a brighter tone while maintaining the hotel’s mixed Swiss-Peranakan features. Similarly, corridors have taken on a lighter hue.

A key difference is the increase in the number of lead-in category rooms while maintaining the same total keys as before, as well as the addition of three new meeting spaces (adding roughly 150m² of space). This brings the total number of event venues to eight, and includes a renewed 680m² ballroom.

Peranakan restaurant Ellenborough Market Café, lobby lounge Crossroads Bar and poolside diner Blue Potato have also been revamped, with Ellenborough seeing the most striking change as it takes on a turquoise interior.

Pürovel Spa & Sport, an in-house Swiss spa brand, has been newly introduced as well, replacing the former Amrita brand by parent company FRHI Hotels & Resorts.

When asked what the biggest changes were, Rainer Tenius, general manager of Swissôtel Merchant Court, pointed to the bathroom upgrades.

“The bathrooms are completely new. We’ve replaced the bathtub showers with standing showers, for instance, in most of the rooms,” he said, adding that some bathtub showers remain to better cater to families and Japanese guests.

The last time the property underwent refurbishment was in 2008, revealed Tenius, who also took on the role of general manager at the hotel in that same year.

Aerial view of Sanya city and Dadonghai bay from Luhuitou Park, Hainan

Hainan is looking to build up its medical tourism offerings as a way to lure more international visitors to the Chinese island.

It will be one of the spearheads, along with increasing the number of cruise ship visits, for growing a foreign visitor market which only accounts for around 2 per cent of total arrival numbers, according to Chen Tiejun, deputy director of the province’s tourism development commission.

Speaking in Madrid at the end of a three-country European visit to present the island’s Discover Hainan campaign, Chen revealed that the domestic market will come first. “But within five years we should be ready to open up to foreigners,” he said.

“By then we should have the quality and standards of service in place to meet established international standards.”

Chen expects the approach to appeal especially to North American and European visitors looking for traditional treatments, who will be able to combine a health stay with the attractions a tropical island with beaches and a rainforest can provide.

As well, two new ports are due to open in the next few years. One will be sited at the northern end of the island, near Haikou, and should be ready by 2018.

The other, at Hong Tan Bay, serving the main southern resort city of Sanya, is scheduled for opening in 2020, coinciding with the launch of a new airport there.

Hyatt Hotels has unveiled a new global loyalty programme, World of Hyatt, set to launch on March 1, 2017.

The existing loyalty programme, Hyatt Gold Passport, will remain in effect through February 28, 2017. Qualifying activity beginning January 1, 2017 will count towards earning status in World of Hyatt.

New to the programme will be three elite tiers – Discoverist, based on 10 qualifying nights or 25,000 base points; Explorist, 30 qualifying nights or 50,000 base points; and Globalist, 60 qualifying nights or 100,000 base points.

“The programme will deliver on exactly what our members want – a broader range of benefits and more attainable rewards,” said Jeff Zidell, senior vice president at Hyatt.

Benefits include free nights at five different Hyatt brands and suite upgrades. Beyond offering traditional perks, World of Hyatt will also allow members to use their points to “make a difference in someone else’s life”, with more details set to be announced in the near future.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s Ramada brand has returned to Japan with the opening of 300-key Ramada Hotel Niigata in the peninsula’s west coast.

It takes over the site of former Niigata Tokyu REI Hotel after having undergone a year-long refurbishment. Franchise operator Benten Plaza Co. expects to open more Ramada properties in Japan in the future.

“We had two franchised hotels in Japan and exited the country in late 2013,” said Barry Robinson, president and managing director for Wyndham in South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim.

“There were a couple of unfortunate factors which severely impacted the tourism sector and prompted the property owners to cease operations, such as the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, followed by the Tohoku earthquake in 2011.

“Ramada’s return to Japan strengthens our foothold in Asia and furthers our global agenda to transform travel by making it more accessible for the masses,” he added.

Arrivals in Japan have experienced rapid growth in recent years, including nearly 50 per cent year-on-year growth from 2014 to 2015. Benten aims to tap into that growing demand.

Said Robinson: “Our Ramada brand, in particular, is a familiar and well-loved brand in the neighbouring regions of China as well as South Korea, where we will be the largest international hotel operator.

“We were approached by the owners of the hotel and it was the international strength of our brand that made it a clear choice for them to work with Wyndham, under the Ramada brand.”

From November 8-15, over a hundred traditionally-made paper balloons will be launched into the sky above Shan state, eastern Myanmar, in celebration of Tazaungdaing, or festival of lights.

This annual celebration will see large papier-mâché hot air balloons of different shapes and sizes launched in the afternoon from the festival grounds near Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state.

In addition, after sunset at 20.00, fire balloons will be launched. Once these fire balloons reach the height of 20m, fireworks attached to the balloons will explode into the night sky.

There will be specially-marked areas for foreign tourists to enjoy the launching of balloons from a safe distance. Moreover, the festival field will be filled with locals milling about for food, drinks and games. In a country where 84 per cent of households have no electricity, rides at the festival, such as the ferris wheel, are run without electricity.

Next year’s edition will be held from October 29-November 3, 2017.

Cebu Pacific ATR aircraft at Ninoy Aquino International Airport

Turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR foresees a spike in demand for smaller aircraft in Asia-Pacific, fuelled by regional airlines’ quests to increase connectivity, develop secondary markets and provide affordable transport.

Its studies showed that regional traffic demand in emerging countries would grow eight times faster than in more mature economies, with demand for new turboprops expected to reach 750 units over the next 20 years.

ATR currently corners over 90 per cent of small aircraft sales in South-east Asia with 337 ATRs in use by 60 airlines. It also opened an office in Beijing last year, already delivered 36 out of 100 aircraft ordered by Indonesia’s Lion Air, and delivered to Cebu Pacific (CEB) this month its first ever 78-seater ATR 72-600.

Two more ATR 72-600 will be delivered to CEB over the next few months as part of a 16-aircraft order for delivery running up to 2020 with the option to order 10 more, according to ATR global sales head John Moore.

The 78-seater aircrafts will all be used by CEB subsidiary Cebgo, progressively replacing its fleet of ATR 72-500s configured with 72 seats, to expand its domestic route network and frequencies, said Alexander Lao, CEB vice president commercial and Cebgo president.

Moore added that apart from six additional seats, the new ATR 72-600 series needs almost 50 per cent less fuel than bigger aircraft, feature advanced avionics and increased legroom and cabin space. It is suitable in the Philippines where only 30 of the over 100 airports can handle bigger aircraft.

Lorie Mandilag, senior reservations and sales officer at Adam’s Express Travel, said the additional ATRs are great for accessing and developing tourist attractions otherwise reachable only by land and boat. It will mean mounting more flights which will make air travel more affordable to more people.

“Sometimes Hong Kong and Bangkok are more reasonably priced than some Philippine destinations which have limited air service,” Mandilag pointed out.

Concurring, Grand Holidays reservations agent Matt Suzara said more aircraft for Boracay would mean competitive prices as the island resort is quite expensive due to strong demand yet limited air seats.

Suzara added that the Philippines has many hidden tourist spots that can now be reached by tourists with the availability of more aircraft.