Singapore ranks among the cities with the highest average room rates

HOTEL room rates for corporate bookings continue to rise significantly even as economic sentiment remains gloomy in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a study by HRS.

The HRS Hotel Price Radar Q1 2016 report showed that the cities of Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore have the highest average room rates, costing S$287 (US$207), S$264 and S$271 on average per night respectively.

Of the three cities, Tokyo sees the highest growth with rates raised by 19 per cent compared to last year, and Singapore by 6.9 per cent. Sydney, meanwhile, maintained its rates.

Throughout Asia-Pacific, Bengaluru experienced the greatest surge in room rates with costs going up by 32.6 per cent on average this first quarter compared to 1Q2015.

Not all results were positive however, with Beijing and Kuala Lumpur seeing declines of 1.2 per cent and 9.8 per cent in average room rates respectively. HRS expects corporate booking rates in Beijing to rise in the following quarters as government infrastructure spend comes into play.

Todd Arthur, managing director for HRS in Asia-Pacific, attributed the overall positive changes to developments in the MICE segment.

“Insights indicate that business travel in the region has stayed resilient, even though the year has so far been characterised by uncertainty for most economies, and this could be largely attributed to positive movements in the MICE industry,” he said.

“We are observing an increasing take-up of MICE opportunities, especially, with countries channelling investments towards developing (them) in the form of new tourism policies, increased business events, high-level dialogue sessions and overall travel infrastructure. We anticipate stronger business tourism in the upcoming quarter.”

FIJI Airways and Jetstar have announced the launch of an interline partnership to provide a seamless, single ticket journey from 21 destinations in Asia to Fiji and onwards in the South Pacific, via Singapore.

Customers of both airlines will be able to book flights and check-through baggage when purchasing tickets from Fiji Airways’ sales channels such as its website, online travel sites, sales offices and reservation centres.

This new agreement between the Fijian flag carrier and Jetstar will connect Fiji Airway’s recently-launched Singapore-Nadi route, to Jetstar’s network from Singapore. On April 5, Fiji Airways commenced twice-weekly direct flights to Singapore.

While this agreement covers all 73 destinations served by the Jetstar Group, the immediate take-up will be for Jetstar destinations from Singapore.

Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways managing director and CEO, said: “This interline agreement opens new travel possibilities for the growing number of South Pacific travellers looking to explore Asia.”

The Jetstar-Fiji Airways interline agreement builds on Jetstar’s growing base of 46 established interline partners that include Qantas, Air France-KLM, British Airways, United and China Eastern, just to name a few.

Jetstar currently also has existing codeshare agreements with Qantas, Japan Airlines, American Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Finnair, LATAM and Emirates.

SOME destinations in South-east Asia saw arrivals from Beijing shoot through the roof in 1Q2016 amid heightened efforts to tap the Chinese market.

In 1Q2016, outbound traffic from Beijing to Vietnam, for example, was up 208.3 per cent to 22,531 while the Philippines received 12,624 visitors from the Chinese capital, a staggering 366.2 percent increase.

Malaysia also saw an improving trend, having rebounded from negative growth and welcoming a sustained level of Beijing visitors at 32,216 .

In line with plans to grow the educational product segment, the Philippine Department of Tourism is selling English as a Second Language (ESL) programmes to the Chinese market, said Genesis Raenani G Renos, administration officer with the Philippine Department of Tourism at the Beijing International Travel Expo last week.

She added: “(The Xiamen-Cebu route) which started in March 2016, regular charters in the summer for the Beijing-Cebu route, as well as the year-round Beijing-Borocay service are (also) set to spur demand.”

Similarly, in Malaysia, Air Asia is increasing its Beijing-Kuala Lumpur service from seven to 11 flights per week starting this summer. In July, Malaysia Airlines will roll out over 40 charter flights between Tianjin and Kota Kinabalu, said Tourism Malaysia’s tourism attache, Nor Aida Ismail.

Nor Aida added that the tourism board is looking to accelerate the pace of promotion by partnering with eight key local agencies and is working tactically with Air China after it resumed the Beijing-Kuala Lumpur service in late 2015 after many years.

Also with a view to tap the Chinese market, Hanoi Department of Tourism, deputy head of travel management division, Nguyen Huu Viet, said: “Apart from traffic via Chinese border crossings, we’d like to attract more air travel.”

Photo credit: Wildlife Alliance, a non-profit that runs eco-tourism activities in the area

CAMBODIA’s eco-tourism industry looks set to receive a boost after the Cardamom Mountains were granted National Park status.

The move will see the 1.1 million-acre mountain range – traditionally rife with illegal logging and poaching activity – receive special legal protection, such as having more park rangers in place and the power to prevent private companies from land-grabbing and setting slash-and-burn forest fires.

“The Cardamoms has become a popular, off-the-beaten track destination for eco-tourism in Cambodia, and this status will help to preserve the area,” said Socheat Sen, spokesperson of tour operator Discover the Mekong Travel.

With this also comes the hope that the eco-tourism industry in the Cardamoms, which serve as one of Asia’s remaining elephant corridors and South-east Asia’s largest continuous rainforests, will flourish.

Yulia Khouri, ambassador for NGO Wildlife Alliance, said: “Eco-tourism is the only way to ensure people visit the protected forest, witness its beauty and not leave the damaging human print on the environment. National park status will help to protect this.”

Brahm Dhammajat, spokesperson of Metta Nature, which operates treks through the Aral mountain area of the Cardamoms, added: “The status will help create more eco-tours and eco-treks, which will provide more sustainable income for communities. It also makes the world realise the importance of this beautiful place.”

SUSTAINED growth in passenger markets, lower fuel prices and operating efficiencies last year have aided Asia-Pacific airlines to return to profitability in 2015, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) revealed.

According to AAPA’s preliminary figures, Asia-Pacific airlines recorded US$6.9 billion in combined net earnings last year, marking a major upswing from net losses of US$1.2 billion in 2014.

This was despite operating revenues falling 5.6 per cent from US$176.8 billion in 2014 to US$166.9 billion. Passenger revenue decreased 5.4 per cent to US$128.4 billion, due to a decline in yields despite the growth in traffic demand.

The revenue contraction was offset by a 12.6 per cent fall in combined operating expenses to US$153.0 billion, driven by a 31.4 per cent decline in fuel expenditure to US$41.2 billion.

Within the year, global jet fuel prices dropped significantly by 43.5 per cent to an average of US$64 per barrel. As a result, the share of fuel expenditure as a percentage of total operating costs declined 7.4 percentage points to 27 per cent.

“Asia-Pacific carriers saw a welcome return to profitability in 2015, after suffering aggregate losses in the previous year. The region’s carriers registered a significant operating margin of 8.3 per cent, compared with the one per cent margin achieved in 2014,” Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, commented.

Looking ahead, he said: “Asian carriers are encouraged by the sustained growth in passenger demand, but continue to face a challenging operating environment characterised by intense competition, cost pressures and volatile currency markets.”

An aerial view of the current Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in the Maldives

A NEW passenger terminal will be built at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport by the Saudi Bin Ladin Group (SBG). Scheduled for completion in 2018, the new terminal will increase the airport’s handling capacity to more than seven million passengers, up from the current three million.

The contract for the new terminal was inked between managing director of Maldives Airports Company Adhil Moosa and SBG representative Abdul Aziz Bin Laden last Sunday. Singapore’s Surbana International has been appointed as the consultant to the project.

Moosa unveiled during the signing ceremony that the 78,000m² terminal will have 40 departure gates, 38 immigration counters, 12 shaded jetties, six aero bridges (which can be converted to four bridges), a state- of-the-art baggage screening and an explosives detection system.

Last month, president Abdulla Yameen unveiled an ambitious plan to develop the country’s main international airport, including a 65m-wide runway, with US$800 million worth of foreign loans.