THE upmarket Amari Galle Sri Lanka, to be operated by Onyx Hospitality Group, is set to open in late-2016 and will mark the introduction of the Amari brand in Sri Lanka.

Amari Galle will be located at the southwestern coastal region of Sri Lanka, on a beachfront approximately 90 minutes by car from Colombo.

The 172-key property offers rooms and suites all with direct sea views, an extensive multi-tiered pool deck with direct beach access, Amari’s signature Breeze Spa, two restaurants, banquet facilities and a fitness centre.

Peter Henley, president and CEO, Onyx Hospitality Group, said: “We are strategically expanding our presence beyond Thailand across the Asia-Pacific region, and excited to introduce our flagship Amari brand to Sri Lanka. Tourism in this country is thriving, and there is growing interest amongst international travellers to Galle.”

Onyx currently operates Ozo Colombo and Ozo Kandy in Sri Lanka.

TOURISM Australia has launched a global campaign featuring Australia’s aquatic and coastal destinations on January 25, the eve of Australia Day.

Themed There’s Nothing like Australia, the campaign highlights experiences from every Australian state and territory including a helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles; swimming in Sydney Harbour; snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef; kayaking through Katherine Gorge; driving on the beach in South Australia; cycling around Lake Burley Griffin; sailing through the blue waters of Rottnest Island; and walking the recently launched Three Capes Track in Tasmania.

Virtual reality (VR) technology and user generated content (UGC) will also feature heavily in the promotions and will complement other existing Tourism Australia marketing activities, such as its food, wine and indigenous experiences.

“This campaign has been designed to be incredibly immersive and capture what it feels like to be in Australia and to experience for yourself being on, in or near the water,” said Lisa Ronson, chief marketing officer, Tourism Australia.

“By using VR and 360 (degrees) technology, we hope to inspire prospective travellers considering Australia for their next holiday and get them to take that crucial next step towards making a booking.”

Tourism Australia will spend A$40 million (US$28 million) over the next six months unveiling the new campaign, firstly in the US with a joint campaign with Virgin Australia before heading to other key international markets.

Redang Island

MALAYSIA’s Terengganu state government is stepping up promotions to attract niche market segments such as cruising, medical and sports tourism, diving and angling in order to boost tourist spend and length of stay in the state.

Through the Visit Terengganu Year 2017 campaign, the local government hopes to reach 5.5 million tourist arrivals by next year. However, Wan Abdul Hakim Wan Mokhtar, Terengganu state deputy EXCO on tourism, stressed at a press event this week that “the numbers are not as important as the quality of spend of tourists per night.”

With the theme Beautiful Terengganu, the campaign will leverage on its well-known snorkelling and diving islands, Redang and Perhentian, to promote tourism in the mainland and to increase the average length of stay of foreign visitors from 5.2 to 6.5 days.

Visit Terengganu Year 2017 is also a catalyst for the state’s larger agenda of attracting some 6.5 million arrivals over the next five years. Besides domestic tourists, the state is also targeting arrivals from China, India, South-east Asia and Europe.

SINGAPORE’s Changi Airport logged healthy growth numbers last year with passenger traffic and aircraft movements rising 2.5 and 1.4 per cent year-on-year, or a total of 55.4 million passengers and 346,330 landings and take-offs respectively.

The month of December broke monthly traffic records with a 3.9 per cent increment compared to the same period in 2014, for a total of 5.29 million passenger movements.

Thailand, Vietnam and China were the fastest growing source markets, registering 12.5, 7.2 and 7 per cent increases respectively. Meanwhile, arrivals from Indonesia declined 7.3 per cent and from Hong Kong by 1.2 per cent. Changi Airport attributed the declines to the strength of the Singapore currency.

Still, Indonesia remained as Singapore’s top source market with the Singapore-Jakarta route being the busiest for the airport, recording 3.79 million passenger movements last year. Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Manila were the next four busiest links.

Part of the growth came from the commencement of new and returning carriers at the airport. Air New Zealand resumed operations on the Singapore-Auckland route while the likes of Batik Air, Thai Lion Air and Myanmar National Airlines improved traffic flow within South-east Asia.

Eight new passenger destinations were also added in 2015, including Changchun, Quanzhou, Sanya and Yinchuan in China, as well as Cairns in Australia, Lucknow in India, Luang Prabang in Laos and Pattaya (U-Tapao) in Thailand.

“We have seen both full-service and low-cost carriers add capacity in recent months and this has resulted in stronger passenger growth of about 5 per cent for the second half of the year,” said Lee Seow Hiang, CEO, Changi Airport Group.

“Going forward, economic uncertainty in many markets, made worse by lacklustre business and consumer confidence, may dampen travel demand in the near term. However, low fuel prices should support airlines’ profitability.”