WYNDHAM Hotel Group will launch its first property in Vietnam in early 2016 as part of its South-east Asia expansion plans.

Owned by Ha Long Star Service & Tourist Joint Stock Company, the 217-room Wyndham Legend Halong will be located in Halong City, the gateway to Halong Bay. Currently under construction, the US$40 million development will boast all-day dining outlets, meeting rooms, a pool bar and an onsite gym.

“Vietnam is a key tourism destination in South-east Asia, drawing just shy of eight million visitors in 2014, and Halong Bay is one of the country’s premier attractions,” said Barry Robinson, president and managing director, South-east Asia and Pacific Rim for Wyndham Hotel Group.

X2 River Kwai, located in Kanchanaburi two hours west of Bangkok, will introduce a new room category, XFloat Cabin, in November this year.

All six XFloat cabins are fully furnished and contemporarily designed, featuring amenities such as a bathtub, washbasins for two and a separate shower area. Guests can also access the upper-floor “moon deck” that is available in every cabin for a stargazing session.

Rates for the new cabins start at 6,669 baht (US$187) net per night. Visit www.X2Lobby.com or email book.rk@X2resorts.com for bookings.

AFTER a lacklustre performance last year, Changi Airport is once again logging strong traffic growth with 4.4 million passengers (a 3.9 per cent year-on-year increase) passing through its gates in September 2015.

For the whole of 3Q2015, passenger traffic climbed 5.8 per cent from the same period last year to 14.3 million, marking the airport’s strongest quarter ever. The boost in traffic comes on the back of a rise in passengers travelling on LCCs following a period of depressed demand, according to Changi Airport Group.

However, Singapore’s largest source market, Indonesia, saw a decline of 0.4 per cent in traffic during the quarter, while China logged the greatest growth with 14.9 per cent increase year-on-year. Along with these two countries, Malaysia, Australia and Thailand make up the top five inbound markets for Singapore.

As for the first nine months of this year, 40.9 million passengers travelled through Changi Airport, a 2.1 per cent hike from a year ago. Aircraft movements also grew by 0.8 per cent to 257,370.

While the Jakarta-Singapore route continues to be the busiest for the airport, the Bangkok-Singapore route registered the greatest surge in air traffic, growing more than 20 per cent between January and September.

As of October 1, 2015, more than 100 airlines operate at Changi Airport, linking the city-state to roughly 320 cities in about 80 countries and territories worldwide.

AMID a competitive global landscape, Singapore’s visitor arrivals and spending have declined for the first half of this year, with the leisure segment remaining the only bright spot for the city-state.

For 2Q2015, international visitor arrivals slid one per cent to 3.6 million while tourism receipts fell nine per cent to S$5.2 billion (US$3.7 billion) from the same period in 2014. Sharp declines in spending on major components such as accommodation, sightseeing, entertainment, gaming and shopping were the key cause of the loss in tourism dollars.

The dip in numbers were also heavily attributed to the steep drop in business and MICE arrivals (-8 per cent) and their spending (-16 per cent).

A total of 7.3 million visitors visited Singapore in the first half of this year, a three per cent decrease year-on-year. A corresponding decline in spending is recorded for the period, with tourism receipts estimated at S$10.5 billion (-12 per cent). Accommodation expenditure accounted for the largest year-on-year decrease (-19 per cent).

Indonesia remains Singapore’s top source market, despite logging a 14 per cent drop in arrivals in 1H2015 compared to the same period last year. China, the second biggest market for Singapore, meanwhile registered a nine per cent hike in arrivals.

The leisure segment showed promise however, with visitor arrivals and spending both increasing by one per cent for the January to June period this year.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is intensifying its marketing and partnerships in order to continue promoting the country as a quality destination, including the recent tie-up with China’s digital giants.

A 1,000m² lounge by SkyTeam has been launched at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), marking the fourth SkyTeam-branded lounge in the world after London Heathrow, Istanbul Ataturk and Sydney airports.

Located at Terminal 1 of HKIA, the exclusive lounge is open daily from 05.30 to 01.00 the following day, and can be accessed by first and business class passengers as well as elite plus members flying on any of SkyTeam’s 12 member airlines serving the airport.

The lounge is able to hold up to 230 people and includes features such as a yoga room, a noodle bar and a ‘living wall’ centerpiece which comprises more than 50 different plant species.

Other amenities include charging points, complimentary Wi-Fi, shower facilities, international cuisine buffet and bar.

SkyTeam’s managing director Michael Wisbrun said: “Our goal is to invest in shared facilities at airports around the world in order to deliver a consistently high level of service to our members’ customers as well as creating synergies for our members at airports served by multiple SkyTeam airlines.”

SkyTeam member airlines serving HKIA are: Aeroflot, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

FROM November 20, 2015, British Airways will increase the flight frequency on its Singapore-London route from thrice weekly to daily on an Airbus A380 aircraft.

However, the A380 service will temporarily serve the route thrice a week when the aircraft undergoes scheduled maintenance between December 25, 2015 and February 24, 2016. The A380 daily service will resume from February 25, 2016.

Special return fares starting from S$1,257 (US$896) are available for booking until November 16, 2015 for travel between November 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, inclusive of all taxes, fees and surcharges.

INDIGO Pearl has appointed Paul Jordaan as the Phuket luxury resort’s new general manager.

The South African native was most recently the general manager at Six Senses in Oman and Vietnam. He was also the general manager at other luxury properties such as Aman Resorts in India and Sri Lanka, as well as Elewana Afrika in Zanzibar and the Serengeti and Point Grace in the Turks and Caicos Islands.