A SECOND earthquake shook quake-devastated Nepal yesterday, killing at least 48 and injuring over 1,100 people, according to Nepalese authorities.

News agency AFP reported that the 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit north-eastern Nepal at 19km deep, only to be followed by another 6.3 magnitude tremor half an hour later and subsequent aftershocks.

While two major buildings were destroyed in yesterday’s disasters, the districts of Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk absorbed most of the damage, as it did in the April 25 earthquake.

According to AFP, a US Marine Corps helicopter on deployment for earthquake relief nearby was reported missing. Six US Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were on board at that time.

AFTER years in the doldrums, the Network of Independent Travel and Allied Services Philippines (NITAS) has re-emerged with a new direction to foster a culture of networking and arrange B2B transactions between its members and wholesalers.

NITAS’ name change from the original Network of Independent Travel Agencies Philippines and new logo came into effect this month, and gives a more accurate reflection of what it does, said vice president Angel Ramos Bognot.

The NITAS will promote networking not just among travel agencies, hotels and airlines, but also with hospitality schools, restaurants, handicraft shops, and so on, both locally and abroad.

Agencies from Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka have indicated interest in joining, Bognot said.

The group is also actively organising business fam trips that will include meetings with wholesalers rather than just the usual site inspection, as it did with a fam trip to Osaka in February.

More trips are being planned in collaboration with Philippine Airlines and Turkish Airlines.

NITAS is also working on inviting its partners and suppliers to Travel Business Exchange for networking so they can do marketing, promotions and selling on-site, Bognot said.

Formed in the early 2000s, NITAS had over 1,000 members during its prime but was overtaken by the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies until former officers revived it nearly three years ago and formed chapters in Cebu and Mindanao.

INDONESIA would do well to mimic Bangkok’s experience in maintaining hotel rates at a reasonable level for a quicker recovery in the face of falling demand.

This was a key point raised by Jesper Palmqvist, area director of Asia Pacific for STR Global, who was speaking at the Hotel Investment Conference Indonesia in Jakarta yesterday.

“As seen in 2014 in Bangkok, where demand and occupancy took an even bigger hit than currently seen in Indonesia, hotels managed to not drop rates too much and as a result when demand came back, overall performance was up to normal standard quite quickly,” he said.

An STR Global Report also highlighted that there is still room for Indonesia’s room rates to grow towards levels befitting at least the major cities. It also noted Indonesia’s progress in doubling average rates over the last 10 years and moving away from rates generally regarded as “too low”.

After years of consistently strong growth in average daily rate alongside stable occupancy, the Indonesian government’s memo issued last November brought visible drops in demand and occupancy in many destinations across Indonesia by limiting government expenditure on conferences and meetings held in hotels.

As seen previously in China, centrally imposed cuts in government spending for meetings and travel that require hotel stays tend to have a very swift and wide-ranging effect on demand.

Furthermore, while Indonesia as a whole has seen occupancy remain fairly flat in the last seven years, with hotels working to improve daily rates, a surge in new supply most notably in Jakarta and Bali has left an impact on the industry.

STR Global figures showed that the number of people needing a hotel stay was down by five per cent year-on-year and occupancy tumbled 12 per cent in 1Q2015, even as national room inventory continued to grow at eight per cent.

Said Palmqvist: “The good news is rates remain positive compared to 1Q2014 at 3.4 per cent (in Indonesian rupiah). This number would most likely have been higher without the demand drop, but it’s still sending a positive signal of confidence from the hoteliers in the first few months.

ACCOR will launch a new lifestyle brand in Singapore with the opening of ibis Styles Singapore on MacPherson in 4Q2015.

The hotel will share an address with the upcoming MacPherson shopping mall as part of the same complex, situated on the corner of MacPherson and Aljunied Road. It is 20 minutes from Singapore Changi Airport.

Guests can make use of the 298-key hotel’s features including a 25m free-form pool, restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, pool bar and gym.

A free shuttle service to the city’s attractions will also be available.

The ibis Styles on MacPherson is owned by LVND Hotels, a consortium made up of Lian Huat Group, Nobel Design Holdings and 2E Capital.

INDIAN arrivals to Malaysia for this summer season have improved from last year despite the appreciation of the US dollar against the Indian rupee, said travel agencies that TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to.

Arokia Das, senior manager, Luxury Tours Malaysia, said: “We’re seeing pent-up demand from tourists who didn’t travel last year because of the Indian elections. We’ve also put in more emphasis this year on the luxury segment by customising products as this market is less volatile compared with the mass market.”

Meanwhile, Nanda Kumar, managing director of Hidden Asia Tours & Travel said: “For the family segment, tour packages that are selling well are those that include a theme park component such as Sunway Lagoon in Selangor or Legoland Malaysia Resort in Johor (Bahru). Tours combining Malaysia and Singapore are also doing well.”

Luxury Tours Malaysia has seen a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in demand for this summer, while Hidden Asia Tours & Travel has seen a 10 per cent increase in business from India as compared to last summer.

A Aruldass, managing director of Tourland Travel, said forward bookings for incentives from India from July onwards have also seen signs of increase.

He said: “One of the challenges for Malaysia is competition from neighbouring countries that are offering e-visa such as Singapore or visa-on-arrival such as Hong Kong and Thailand.

“Feedback from travel consultants from India is that the process of getting a Malaysian tourist visa is too long and that the visa processing fee is expensive.”

INDONESIAN hoteliers are putting on their thinking caps to find ways to keep business afloat amid a challenging year that has seen the continuous development of new hotels and a dampened meetings sector.

Recent government regulations to cut officials’ travelling budget and limit the number of meetings held in hotels has taken its toll on the hospitality sector, and forced hotels to rethink strategy.

East Java hotels that participated in B2B tabletop sessions at Majapahit Travel Fair (MTF) in Surabaya last week told TTG Asia e-Daily they were looking at growing their share of leisure market from neighbouring countries.

Oval Hotel Surabaya, for whom a major source of revenue is the meetings business, is one of them. Said executive assistant manager Lenna Martika: “The dip in the government meetings (business) has made us turn to other markets instead, leisure being one of them.”

She said participating at MTF was one way to achieve the target.

Similarly, JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya is diversifying into areas through partnerships with tour operators, OTAs and corporate travel sources. Satriya Tanuwidjaya, the hotel’s director of sales, said: “We are coming up with special offers for tour operators and corporates at this show.”

In the nation’s capital, Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) Jakarta Chapter is planning to join forces with the Jakarta City Government Tourism Office and other parties to create special programmes for tourists.

Linda Muchlis, IHRA Jakarta board member, explained: “Jakarta does not have a stop-over package and we need to create some.

“The city has the Jakarta Great Sale festival, which is gaining popularity not only among Indonesian travellers but also among those from neighbouring countries. We will tie up (with the retail association or shopping malls) for additional programmes.”

MORE than a quarter of Asian travellers have their hearts set on summering in Europe this year, an option made even more attractive of late thanks to the cheaper euro.

Sojern’s Global Travel Insights Report for 1Q2015 captured travel data from over 800 million data points internationally and offers a glimpse into global travel trends for the summer season of 2015.

Europe is predicted to trump as the most desirable destination this summer, registering double-digit percentages of travellers in each region – North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific – searching Europe online.

According to Sojern’s number crunching, 33 per cent of APAC travellers were mulling spending the summer holidays in Europe, with London being the most popular pick for a holiday. Paris was the next most preferred European holiday spot, coming fifth in a list still largely dominated by regional destinations.

Bali came in second, followed by Los Angeles, Singapore, Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Sydney, Incheon and Tokyo, to round up APAC’s top 10 summer picks.

Among Middle East and Africa travellers, this was 45 per cent. One-fifth of North America travellers (22 per cent) and slightly more Latam travellers (30 per cent) wanted to go to Europe, while most Europeans intended to stay home to enjoy their vacation (71 per cent).

The report also found that APAC travellers preferred to travel in the months of June and July, and are also likely to take the shortest breaks this summer with trips planned for two days or less.

AIRASIA Group has been forced to delay its return to Japan’s skies as the transport ministry in Tokyo is being “meticulous” on the airline’s operations before granting approval.

The Malaysia-based group initially set up a budget airline with All Nippon Airways in 2011, but that deal was terminated two years later.

AirAsia has since signed an agreement with online retailer Rakuten and a number of other Japanese companies and planned to relaunch its services from Chubu International Airport, near Nagoya, this summer.

“I understand that the bureaucracy side of the procedure is slowing things down,” Geoffrey Tudor, an analyst for Japan Aviation Management Research, told TTG Asia e-Daily. “It is taking more time than they expected to receive approval to operate because of the meticulousness of the transport ministry.”

TTG Asia e-Daily understands that this likely pushes AirAsia Japan’s launch into next year.

It has been suggested that the Japanese authorities are being even more careful than usual after AirAsia’s flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea while en route from Surabaya to Singapore in December.

Given the rapid expansion of the sector, LCCs operating out of Japan are having problems recruiting sufficient qualified pilots and also struggling with Japan’s high operating costs. Peach, which flies primarily from Osaka’s Kansai airport, is the only budget airline close to being in the black.

BECOMING the first airline to operate the world’s newest aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region, Qatar Airways’ inaugural Airbus A350 XWB service from Doha landed in Singapore Changi Airport yesterday.

The airline is the global launch customer for the aircraft and remains the only airline to currently fly the wide-body A350 XWB so far. Following Frankfurt, Singapore marks the second route for the aircraft.

The A350 WXB features the Oryx entertainment system with up to 2,000 entertainment options, advanced air-conditioning technology and LED mood lighting, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity.

Qatar Airways currently operates a twice-daily service to Singapore with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Starting June 1, Qatar Airways will add one more daily flight to Singapore, with all three daily flights operating on the A350 XWB by mid-August.

Flights from Singapore will leave for Doha at 02.30, 10.30 and 21.20 every day, while flights will depart Doha for Singapore at 02.25, 07.00 and 20.25 daily.