Artist impression of the Wyndham Legend Halong lobby

HALONG Bay’s first-five star hotel, Wyndham Legend Halong Bay, is slated for a June opening in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province.

Located close to Halong Bay Pier, the property features 217 rooms – including a Penthouse Suite – with views of the ocean and Bai Chay Bridge. Facilities include five restaurants and bars, an outdoor swimming pool, fitness centre, spa and Kids’ Club.

Barry Robinson, president and managing director, Wyndham Hotel Group South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim, said: “Tourism is on the rise in Vietnam and Halong Bay is gaining more attention from tourists who are interested in seeking out the town’s natural beauty and local culture. (Wyndham) is the first global hotel chain to enter the market with an upscale property to meet the growing tourist demands for a premier hospitality product.”

Wyndham Legend Halong Bay also offers over 1,055m² of flexible function space with four event halls and two boardrooms for meetings and events. The largest grand ballroom can accommodate up to 1,280 guests for a seminar or 650 people for a gala dinner or wedding.

Managed by Kosmopolitan Hospitality, the US$40 million property is owned by Ha Long Star Service & Tourist Joint Stock Company.

Gaurav Sundaram, president, ProKonsul has also been named regional director, GBTA India 

THE Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has launched GBTA India, and is looking to establish a broad-based membership among the Indian business travel community and develop quality educational content and events.

India is currently the 10th largest business travel market in the world, but with double-digit growth rates expected for business travel spend, the region will likely be a top-five business travel market in the next 15 years.

“The business travel market in India is one of the healthiest in the world and given its exponential growth rates, there is a clear need for innovative education and training to ensure there are enough qualified business travel professionals to keep up with the rise in demand,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO.

GBTA has partnered ProKonsul, a specialised business travel management consultant, to deliver its core activities of education, research, advocacy and networking in India and Asia-Pacific.

Gaurav Sundaram, president, ProKonsul, said: “GBTA’s entry into India and its partnership with ProKonsul represent very strong commitments to one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.The Indian market has a significant demand for professional education, quality research and industry networking opportunities that GBTA has global leadership in.”

Industry stakeholders in India likewise welcome the move.

“GBTA will significantly improve the standards of professionalism in the business travel industry in India through its focus on education and research. In ProKonsul, GBTA has a very strong local partner,” said Subrato Sarkaar, joint president-corporate administration for the multinational Aditya Birla Group.

Ankur Bhatia, director, Amadeus India, commented: “We believe that this is a natural progression to India’s projected growth in business travel.”

David Craig, Tourism New Zealand general manager Asia: Hosting is what New Zealanders do best

NEW Zealand has bagged hosting rights to Amway China’s 2018 Leadership Seminar, its biggest incentive business to-date since entering the MICE market three years ago.

The event will see Amway China sending 10,000 elite distributors to Queenstown for a five-day programme that is expected to generate a revenue of NZ$50 million (US$34.3 million) and an estimated shopping consumption of NZ$10 million.

The event will play a prominent role in promoting New Zealand’s tourism and economic development, said a media release by Tourism New Zealand.

Amway China’s president, Audie Wong, shared that New Zealand was chosen for its “excellent hard and soft tourism conditions” and “high flexibility and creativity it exhibits as a business events destination”.

Commenting on the win, New Zealand prime minister and minister of tourism John Key said: “This is by far the biggest incentive business New Zealand has ever won, and it sends a strong message that New Zealand is a serious contender in the global incentive market.

“China is now our second-largest and fasting growing tourism market, contributing nearly NZ$1.7 billion to the economy in 2015. And Chinese tourists have the highest daily spend of any of our visitors.”

Key pointed out that in 2013, the New Zealand government committed an additional NZ$34 million over four years for the purpose of securing international business events and incentives like the 2018 Leadership Seminar, because of the value they bring to the economy.

David Craig, Tourism New Zealand general manager Asia, said: “Hosting is one of the things we New Zealanders do best. In Maori, we use manaakitanga to express our concept of hosting: we view our visitors as friends. Precisely because of this, I firmly believe that New Zealand can provide distinctive incentive business experiences, just as our slogan Naturally Beyond Convention implies.”

The winning bid was supported by Tourism New Zealand, Immigration New Zealand, Queenstown Council, Destination Queenstown and Air New Zealand.

Jose Alberto Ocasio has been named general manager of the Mövenpick Resort Boracay

SWISS hotel company Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has appointed Jose Alberto Ocasio to steer the launch of Mövenpick Resort Boracay in July this year.

Ocasio started his hospitality career with The Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in the US, beginning as a front desk agent/night relief manager. He worked his way up the ranks, holding various positions at three other Ritz-Carlton hotels, including in Philadelphia and Bahrain.

He also held general manager positions at Banyan Tree Club & Spa, Seoul, Banyan Tree Hotel and Resorts/Angsana Velavaru, the Maldives, and Banyan Tree Hotel and Resorts/Angsana Laguna Phuket, Thailand.

“We are very pleased to have landed someone of Jose’s talent,” said Andrew Langdon, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts senior vice president Asia.

“He has spent his career in key roles at some of the best brands in the world, and as such he is ideally placed to further enhance the Mövenpick brand in this high-potential market.”

The 333-room Mövenpick Resort Boracay, which sits on Punta Bunga Beach, is the second Mövenpick-branded property in the Philippines. It comprises a village community-style cluster of nine low-rise buildings set in a natural environment and around a multi-level lagoon pool. Facilities include eight restaurants, a Kids Club, a wellness centre and the Mövenpick’s Beach Club.

Genting Hong Kong’s new shipyard in Warnemunde

GENTING Hong Kong has acquired Nordic Yards’ three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemunde and Stralsund, Germany for 230.6 million euros (US$260.6 million) and is now better equipped to fulfil ship orders for its growing global cruise fleet.

The newly acquired yards, together with the previously purchased Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, will be managed as part of the Lloyd Werft Group.

“Ownership of the yards provides certainty that we can build a fleet of high quality cruise ships at a pace dictated by our growth rather than constrained by supply,” said Lim Kok Thay, chairman and CEO, Genting Hong Kong.

Explaining the supply-side constraints, he said the “cruise ship order book continues to reach all-time highs with orders placed as far out as 2026, 10 years from now”.

Built originally at over one billion euros, the three shipyards have covered drydocks and building halls, allowing for high labour productivity and completion quality as cruise ships can be constructed regardless of weather conditions.

Wismar and Warnemunde shipyards are capable of building cruise ships of 200,000 gross tons each, the prevailing size of the new generation of cruise ships currently being ordered, while Stralsund facility has a ship lift to launch completed cruise ships and megayachts.

Genting Hong Kong will further invest about 100 million euros in thin steel fabrication facilities, cabin module factory and other improvements.

The upgraded yards will be able to support the building of two mega cruise ships and a mid-sized cruise ship or megayacht a year by the next decade.

Genting Hong Kong will also be signing a significant new multi-ship order with the Lloyd Werft Group on May 10, shared Rüdiger Pallentin, managing director of Lloyd Werft, adding that these orders will help support the German and European shipbuilding industrial sector and employment during the current shipping downturn.

As well, the company will open the new Lloyd Werft Design Center in Bremerhaven on May 9, which will house more than 250 designers.