AUSTRALIA-BASED StayWell Hospitality Group is set to open its maiden Park Regis property in the pink city of Jaipur.

The 72-room Park Regis Jaipur, which is currently known as Holiday Inn Jaipur, is scheduled to begin operations with its new identity on July 2, following a refurbishment.

The hotel group signed a long-term franchise agreement with Craft Palace Hotels, which owns the property, to introduce its second brand in India.

Park Regis Jaipur is the first of 11 hotels StayWell is looking to open in India by early 2016. “The mid-market is growing much quicker than the luxury segment in India, so a lot of our future new openings will be under the Leisure Inn brand,” said Rohit Vig, managing director of StayWell Hospitality Group in India.

StayWell presently has two hotels bearing the Leisure Inn name.

It is also in talks to acquire a hotel group, which will make it the third-largest hotel group in India, but details are still under wraps.

Separately, StayWell is also introducing a new boutique brand along the lines of Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ W, with its first property scheduled to open in London next year.

Vig revealed that the group will probably bring the new brand to India by end-2016.

THE MICE hub of the Visayas will get its first major convention centre in the SMX Convention Centre Cebu when the new facility opens its doors in 2017.

Revealing the news to this publication at the Asia Premium Travel Mart was Dexter Deyto, vice president and general manager of SMX Convention Specialists, that will start construction on the convention centre this August.

SMX Convention Centre will be part of a development built on a piece of reclaimed land in Cebu city and modelled on Manila’s Mall of Asia to come with a hotel and indoor arena for sports, concert and other events.

The size and capacity of the convention centre in Cebu is still being determined.

Meanwhile, the group’s existing trade halls within SM Department Store in Cebu City will likely be maintained, said Deyto.

He observed that while Cebu is the MICE hub in Visayas, the city does not have a convention centre. The opening of SMX Convention Centre Cebu will therefore help fill up hotel rooms in the city.

The Cebu property is SMX’s fifth, joining its other convention centres in Manila, Bonifacio Global City, Davao and Bacolod.

INDIAN flag carrier Air India is launching new daily service linking capitals New Delhi and Colombo, starting from June 15.

According to Thanuja Lankatilaka, general manager at Indu Sky Aviation, Air India’s GSA in Colombo, an Airbus A321 will be deployed on this route with 170 economy seats and 12 business class seats. Flights depart Colombo at 08.20 while return journeys depart New Delhi at 12.05 daily.

News of the new service first broke in March this year when Indian prime minister Narendra Modi came to Sri Lanka, announcing a new Air India flight from New Delhi to Colombo and visas on arrival for Sri Lankan nationals, said Lankatilaka.

The service is Air India’s second Sri Lankan flight, as it currently flies daily between Colombo and Chennai.

SriLankan Airlines and India’s Jet Airways and SpiceJet also offer flights between the two neighbouring countries.

ASIAN incentive delegates are Sydney’s highest-yielding business visitors, outspending leisure visitors by an average of 6.5 times, according to a recent study by Business Events Sydney (BESydney).

The CVB also found that international incentive delegates to Sydney can spend up to 9.4 times more per day than holiday visitors – A$1,418 (US$1,091) compared to A$151 – and five times that of other business visitors.

Developed in collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney, the study analyses the corporate incentive market with a focus on Asia, while measuring the expenditure of delegates and organisers of Asian incentives in New South Wales.

Shopping pursuits were revealed as a key part of the delegate experience for Asian visitors, because shopping overseas demonstrates affluence and achievement, and most expenses were already covered by the incentive trip itself.

‘Quality of goods’ and ‘value for money’ rated highly for these delegates, who are most likely drawn to Western brand names.

Shopping experiences rated highly in incentive destination choice, and the highest expenditure across incentive event and nationality went towards clothing, handbags and shoes, followed by souvenirs, jewellery and toys.

But at the same time, Asian incentive delegates were also found to be knowledgeable and savvy travellers who want more immersive experiences.

Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of BESydney, said: “This is the first study we’ve undertaken on the corporate incentive market from Asia and it’s an important one for us. We’ve seen 20 per cent year-on-year growth over the past decade in the value of events secured from Asia and this market now accounts for almost half of the business we secure and deliver each year.”

She added that the study would help improve understanding of the Asian incentive traveller and enable cities to further refine the delegate experience according to the growing and changing needs of the market.

Incentive travel currently makes up about 25 per cent of the global business travel industry revenue and has been rising for the past two decades.

DRIVEN by strong MICE business, the Henann Group of Resorts is building 10 additional properties in its stronghold Boracay, as well as Palawan and Bohol.

“MICE goes to different destinations every year. We had nothing to offer as we were only in Boracay (before) so we decided to expand,” said Isabel S Garcia, the group’s assistant vice president for sales – Boracay area.

“All our properties will have function rooms and will cater to the MICE market.”

The Filipino hotel development and management company will build five more resorts in Boracay, where it is already the biggest developer with almost 800 rooms.

Already under construction is the 110-key Henann Prime Resort, opening in 3Q2016, while the company recently broke ground for the 180-key Henann Crystal Sands and 130-key Henann Palm Beach Resort, both scheduled to open in 4Q16.

Negotiations for two more resorts in Boracay are underway.

Garcia said Henann is also investing in three properties in Palawan, including Henann Malkapuya Resort in Coron with 130 water villas and a 2017 launch date, and two hotels in Puerto Princesa that are still in the planning stage.

Over in Bohol the group soft-opened its flagship property earlier this month. The 400-key Henann Resort Alona Beach Panglao comes with an adjacent convention centre with capacity for up to 1,000 pax.

Garcia said Hennan will “test the waters” in Bohol before deciding when to open its second resort near the Bohol Beach Club, also in Panglao.

ONLINE travel guide Go-Myanmar.com has relaunched its website with a travel consultant log-in page for the first time, as well as up-to-date information, improved usability and enhanced content and design.

The site, which offers travellers information on travelling in South-east Asia’s newest tourism darling, has seen growing interest from trade partners as well for its expertise.

Explaining to TTG Asia e-Daily the rationale for including a section for trade in Go-Myanmar’s new layout, founder Marcus Allender said: “Because of our popular and wide-ranging Myanmar destination and activities coverage, Go-Myanmar.com gets a lot of interest from agents as well as FITs. With the new website it made sense to create a dedicated area which provides details on our team, the services we provide, and our strengths as a DMC.

“Although we are popular with independent travellers, we have done a lot of work with travel consultants too. We know the Myanmar market inside out and we are comfortable with handling large groups and logistically challenging trips, so working with travel consultants is a natural fit.”

Allender added that this included everything from taking hundreds-strong MICE groups to Nay Pyi Taw, to large adventure groups travelling by car or motorbike overland from neighbouring countries.

“But of course we ultimately need a totally dedicated service for travel consultants and B2B customers, and that is what we are working on now. Watch this space,” he shared.

The new website also includes a Youtube channel with videos of destinations, a Myanmar audio language guide for key phrases and an expanded tours section.

“An internet- or app-based approach to country guides is always going to be more flexible and up-to-date than the print alternative,” Allender said. “Although Internet access in Myanmar remains patchy, it is improving – and you do not necessarily have to be online to use an electronic guide.”

About 85 per cent of the website’s traffic comes from outside Myanmar, and the website saw 184,000 unique visitors with 684,000 page views last year.