SINGAPORE’s Frasers Hospitality has opened a new serviced residence, Fraser Suites Geneva, in Switzerland.

Sited within the shopping and business district of Rue Du Marche, the 67-unit property boasts fully-furnished contemporary serviced residences ranging from studio to one-bedroom units.

Amenities include complimentary high-speed Internet access, all-day gym, business facilities, as well as 24/7 reception and concierge services.

The opening brings Frasers Hospitality’s Europe portfolio to 4,300 units spread across 55 establishments in the region, including pipeline properties.

Thorsten Kirsche (left), president of Asia-Pacific, Carlson Rezidor and Marco Li, chief executive, ROFO Real Estate Development.

CHINA will be expecting its second Radisson Red hotel with the opening of Radisson Red Guangzhou South Station in 1Q2018.

The 160-key new-build hotel will be sited across from Guangzhou South Railway Station, 40km away from Guangzhou International Airport.

Part of a mixed-used development which includes office space and a shopping mall, the new property features multi-functional design solutions, integrating separate places, such as the hotel’s lobby, restaurants, bars and meeting spaces, into one.

The hotel will also boast a sky lobby and infinity pool, as well as Red’s signature F&B outlets Ouibar and Ktchn, which serves locally-sourced ingredients alongside local coffee and beer.

The signing of Radisson Red Guangzhou South Station has brought Carlson Rezidor’s Asia Pacific pipeline to 91 hotels.

JETSTAR Asia will be increasing its flight services between Singapore and six destinations, namely Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Hong Kong, Shantou, Haikou and Hangzhou, to cater to the increasing demand over the Lunar New Year holidays.

Flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Penang will see eight and nine additional services respectively on February 4 to 7, 11, 12 and 14, 2016.

Five flight services will be added to the Singapore-Hong Kong route which will operate on February 5 to 7, 11 and 12, while three additional services will operate on February 8, 9 and 14 on the Singapore-Shantou route.

Lastly, two additional flight services will each operate on the Singapore-Haikou and Singapore-Hangzhou routes on February 9 and 13 as well as on February 8 and 13 respectively.

These flights will operate on top of the airline’s regular scheduled services from February 4 to 14.

Bangkerohan River

DAVAO’s travel trade has come up with attractive rates and new products to better leverage on Cebu Pacific’s recently launched twice-weekly direct flights from the city to Singapore, the second carrier to do so after SilkAir.

Assistant tourism secretary Art Boncato notes that currently, passenger traffic mainly consists of travellers heading to Singapore and not the other way around.

Jennifer Caneda, tour coordinator, House of Travel, said the Visit Davao Fun Sale, which will run from March 25 to May 21 this year, will have more participating tour operators, hotels and shops offering bigger discounts of up to 50 per cent off their products.

Hotels are also offering special rates for groups booking a minimum of 15 rooms, on top of the contracted rates for the whole year.

Michael Walohan, supervisor, Blooms Travel and Tours, said that for adventure seekers, a tour of Talikud Island was soft launched recently at reduced rates and as part of new itineraries.

Walohan added that other tours will also be offered this year in cooperation with the Philippines Department of Tourism, including a pub crawl, food market visit and one which features Muslim-friendly tourism products.

THE World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in its latest Visa Openess Report, has revealed that travel visa requirements globally have dropped to its lowest level in history.

As of last year, 39 per cent of the world’s population could travel for tourism without obtaining visas prior to departure, compared to 23 per cent in 2008.

Breaking the numbers down further, on average, 18 per cent of the world’s population was able to travel to a destination without a visa in 2015, while another 15 per cent could receive a visa on arrival, while six per cent was able to obtain e-visas.

As well, emerging economies remain more open than advanced economies. At the regional level, South-east Asia, east Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania remain the most open areas while central and north Africa, as well as north America were in 2015 the most restrictive.

“Prioritizing travel facilitation is central to stimulating economic growth and job creation through tourism. We are pleased to see that a growing number of governments around the world think likewise,” said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai.

“The current security challenges should not deter us from advancing visa facilitation. On the contrary, enhancing security and facilitating tourism travel should always go hand in hand.”

He added: “In fact, at a moment when safety and security are top of the agenda for all of us, we need to work closer together to promote a safe, secure and seamless travel environment by using the possibilities offered by technology and international cooperation in data sharing.”