LCC VietJet is planning to launch two new international routes departing from Hai Phong, Vietnam to Seoul and Bangkok.

The Hai Phong-Seoul service will begin operations on December 12 with flights departing every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Flight durations last approximately five hours.

The VietJet service departs Cat Bi International Airport at 23.45 and arrive in Seoul at 06.00 the next day. The return flight from Incheon International Airport departs at 07.15 and lands in Hai Phong at 10.40.

Meanwhile, the Hai Phong-Bangkok route will have flights leaving every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday beginning November 9.

Flights depart from Hai Phong at 18.05 and arrive in Bangkok at 19.55. Return flights leave Suvarnabhumi Airport at 15.20 and land in Hai Phong at 17.10.

The new services will increase the number of routes operated by VietJet from Cat Bi International Airport to nine.

JAPAN experienced a 26.7 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in the January to July period of this year, surging way ahead of the modest global arrivals growth of five per cent over the same period.

Speaking on Wednesday, the opening day of the Visit Japan Travel & MICE Mart 2016, Mamoru Kobori, executive vice president of the Japan National Tourism Organisation said that Japan is on course to surpass the 20 million visitors expected this year.

“Inbound tourist numbers have increased remarkably since the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, with every year since then showing record-breaking growth,” he said.

The boon is coming on the back of a proactive government that relaxed or abolished visa requirements for a number of countries, a burgeoning middle-class with greater travel aspirations, increased connectivity especially by LCCs, as well as promotional efforts by travel operators and the JNTO.

Basking in the afterglow of the recently concluded 2016 Olympic Games, Kobori emphasised that it is now Japan’s turn, pointing to a number of major sporting events to be held over the coming years.

Besides the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Sapporo will host the Asian Winter Games in 2017, the Rugby World Cup will be staged across the country in 2019 and the Kansai region will be the venue for the World Masters’ Games in 2021.

In order to reach out to new markets, the JNTO is also preparing to open no fewer than seven offices before the end of March 2017. The new outposts will be in Madrid, Rome, Moscow, Delhi, Hanoi, Manila and Kuala Lumpur.

Kobori said that visa requirements for Russian tourists are expected to change soon, making it easier for them to travel to Japan.

Statistics indicate that 2016 will be an “epoch-making year” for the Japanese travel industry, he added, with the number of inbound travellers eclipsing the total number of Japanese travelling overseas for the first time in 45 years.

Chinese tourists at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand

THAILAND’s tourism confidence index has risen to 102 points for the fourth quarter period this year from 93 in the previous quarter thanks to a weakened baht and the start of the high season.

The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) forecast predicts that the number of foreign arrivals in Q4 will increase 17.7 per cent year-on-year to 9.15 million visitors.

Meanwhile, total arrivals for 2016 is expected to grow 13.5 per cent to 33.9 million visitors with tourist receipts amounting to 1.74 trillion baht (US$50 billion).

The index is based on responses from 600 tourism operators nationwide.

Despite fears over the zero-dollar tour crackdown, the index showed that the majority of operators remained confident, said TCT president Ittirit Kinglake.

Earlier on Tuesday, tourism and sports minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul discussed package prices with operators and agreed to setting a standard of a minimum of 1,000 baht per person per day.

On Wednesday, Kobkarn also raised the meeting’s result with representatives from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

Given the development, TCT members are now more sanguine that expected, explained Ittirit.

“Although authorities have not approved the (standard package prices) yet, this clearer picture will bring about a better sentiment for the rest of the year,” he said.

TCT further forecasted that Chinese arrivals to Thailand would increase 25.4 per cent to 2.65 million visitors in the third quarter.

The momentum is expected to continue to the end of 2016, with Chinese arrivals set to rise 43.4 per cent to 2.61 million visitors. This will set a new record of 10.9 million Chinese visitors for this year.

Song Zhiyong, president of Air China Limited; and Carsten Spohr, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, signing a partnership announcement between Air China and Lufthansa

AIR China and Lufthansa have entered into a commercial joint venture that will enable the two aviation groups to jointly operate all connections between Europe and China, building upon a MoU signed by the two entities in 2014.

As part of the new partnership, the two airlines will expand codesharing routes as well as implement flight timetable coordination and common fares at the start of the 2017 summer schedule.

The deal also extends to Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines.

“This ground-breaking joint venture will fundamentally strengthen our competitive position on routes between Europe and China. The significantly enhanced partnership will enable us to create additional benefits for customers,” said Carsten Spohr, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

“The Chinese aviation market is one of the most important growth markets worldwide. We want to profit from this growth together with our Star Alliance partner Air China,” he added.

For Air China customers, the expanded codesharing connections will enable them to more conveniently travel on routes to and from various destinations in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland via the Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna hubs.

In turn, Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines will gain access via the Chinese national carrier to additional routes in China.

Lufthansa and Air China have plans to cooperate even more closely in the future, including to optimise their corporate initiatives and explore opportunities with regards to frequent flyer programmes. Further destinations will also be added as part of the deal.

This is Lufthansa’s third enhanced partnership in Asia, having entered into a joint venture with All Nippon Airlines and Singapore Airlines, signed in November 2015.

INDIA’s leading OTA Yatra has gone live with added attraction tickets, activities and tours content from BeMyGuest.

Yatra users can now access BeMyGuest’s inventory, currently the largest collection of Asian activities and tours globally, directly via Yatra.com and its mobile app.

All the travel activities and tours for the integration are available for immediate booking and features electronic delivery of vouchers and e-tickets.

“We are very excited to go live with Yatra, one of India’s fastest growing online travel agencies,” said Clement Wong, CEO of BeMyGuest.

“BeMyGuest has been working closely with Yatra to offer these activities, tours and attractions tailored to the demands of the fast growing outbound Indian market. The depth of our Asian content and our understanding of Asian travellers has made us the preferred choice when it comes to this partnership.”

From left: Bob Binder, Andy Stuart, and Jason Montague

NORWEGIAN Cruise Line Holdings has made three strategic changes to its leadership team.

Bob Binder, Andy Stuart, and Jason Montague have been named president and CEO of Oceania Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Regent Seven Seas Cruises respectively.

Binder is taking on the new post in addition to his current role as vice chairman of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a position he has held since 2011.

Prior to this, he served as president of Oceania Cruises, where he played a key role in the development and design of new Oceania ships and restaurant concepts for the line.

Meanwhile, Stuart, president of NCL, and Montague, president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, will add on the title of CEO to reflect their expanded roles with their respective brands, effective immediately.

All three executives will oversee sales, marketing, passenger services and revenue management for their respective brands and continue to drive the development of itineraries and onboard products to ensure each line delivers its brand promise.

All report directly to NCL Holdings’ president and CEO Frank Del Rio.

THE Thai cabinet approved a MoU on Tuesday demanding the Ministry of Tourism and Sport (MOTS) to establish standard package prices for Chinese arrivals in order to put an end to zero-dollar tours.

The agreement, which focuses on bilateral collaboration and on taking greater care of tourists, will be signed today by the MOTS and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). Also included in the signing is the commitment to improve the skills of tour guides to better serve the needs of Chinese tourists.

CNTA agreed to the policy despite concern surrounding Sino-Thai relationships as crackdowns on zero-dollar tours take place, signalling China’s willingness to improve its tourism standards.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) revealed that more than 3,500 agents were blacklisted for being involved in zero-dollar operations.

Thailand’s tourism and sports minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul and TAT executives will confer with major travel agents in China next month, and the minister expects the situation to normalise by end-October as pricing standards kick in.

MOTS said that even though the crackdowns will be painful in the short term with Chinese arrivals dropping and package tour prices increasing, it believes that it will be good for the tourism industry in the long run.

The ministry revised its projection of Chinese arrivals in Thailand downwards from 825,679 visitors to 690,375 this month. That figure is still higher than the same period in 2015 with 547,843 visitors.

In any case, a shortage of tour buses is expected after a giant zero-dollar tour network, including OA Transport, was busted earlier this month. Police shuttered 381 firms and impounded 2,155 buses in total. Some travel agents may be put out of business, according to MOTS.

However, TAT is still confident that 10 million Chinese tourists will visit Thailand this year as expected because of the upcoming high season. TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn also assigned TAT’s five offices in China to closely monitor the situation there.

TAT expects arrivals from China will grow 3.85 per cent to 10.8 million visitors to generate 574.9 billion baht (US$16.5 billion) in revenue (9.12 per cent up year-on-year) in 2017.

CHINA’s antitrust regulatory body has given the green light for the merger transaction of Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

With this, the final hurdle is now passed, allowing the two hospitality giants to together form the world’s largest hotel company under the Marriott banner.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce had earlier in August requested for an extension of the time period needed to complete its review of the Marriott-Starwood merger transaction, delaying the process.

Marriott also went through a short but heated bidding war with a Chinese consortium led by Anbang Insurance Group for possession of Starwood. The tussle saw Marriott emerge victorious and Anbang backing out in March this year.

Pending customary closing requirements, Marriott and Starwood in a joint statement said they will now proceed to seal the transaction in time for the market opening on September 23.

In conjunction with the merger closing, Starwood expects its NYSE-listed shares to cease trading before Friday.

Abdulla Ghiyas

PATA is partnering with the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) to share opportunities and resources between the two organisations, including the revival of a PATA chapter in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

An MoU was signed by Abdulla Ghiyas, president of MATATO, and Mario Hardy, CEO of PATA, during PATA Travel Mart 2016 held in Jakarta earlier this month.

“Signing of this MoU marks a success in our efforts to build corporation with international organisations and institutes, which we believe in the future will add value to our programmes and projects,” said Ghiyas.

“Going ahead, MATATO will be more engaged with PATA events and programmes worldwide, and we will be working together to host PATA events in Maldives in the near future.”

Under the agreement, both organisations will extend cooperation in areas of research and publication, advocacy, training and human resource development and destination marketing.

They will also work together to revive PATA Maldives chapter and bring PATA affiliated programmes to Maldives.