OPENING its doors in Seoul on May 1 is the new 27-storey Shilla Stay Seodaemun.

Located close to Seoul’s financial and retail hubs, the 319-room hotel is a one-minute wak from the subway station and is near tourist attractions, including the Seoul Museum of Art.

Guests can choose from the Standard room (20.6m²), the Deluxe room (24.6m²) or the Grand room (58.5m²). Amenities include a restaurant, meeting room and fitness centre.

The hotel is releasing a grand opening package for guests staying at the hotel from May 1 to 31. Prices start from 169,000 won (US$156) per night for a weeknight stay or 229,000 won for the weekend, coming with a free breakfast for two, gift hamper, free Wi-Fi and access to the fitness centre.

DUSIT Fudu Hotels and Resorts will launch a luxury Dusit Thani Resort in Zaozhuang, Shandong province in 2018.

When it opens, the Dusit Thani Thai Cultural City Resort Zaozhuang, Shandong will be the first internationally branded and luxury five-star resort in the city.

The hospitality company signed an agreement with Zaozhuang Thai Cultural City Development, which will develop the only Thai cultural city in China to celebrate and showcase Thai culture including upscale Thai retail brands and cultural performances.

Zaozhuang in southern Shandong province is two hours from Beijing and three hours from Shanghai by train, and the resort is a further 15-minute drive from the city’s high-speed train station.

The 257-key Dusit Thani Thai Cultural City Resort Zaozhuang, Shandong will offer conference, an international all-day dining restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, and Dusit’s signature Benjarong Thai restaurant.

DINOSAURS are here to stay at the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, which will open its doors to the public from tomorrow.

Home to over a million plant and animal specimens, the seven-storey 8,500m² museum in the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Science is the city-state’s first and only natural history museum.

It will feature three main stars, Prince, Apollonia and Twinky, three 150-million-year-old diplodocid sauropod dinosaur skeletons.

Visitors can also expect to see more than 2,000 specimens, divided into 15 zones, in the exhibition gallery. The main gallery showcases the history and biodiversity of plants and animals, while the heritage gallery, Singapore’s natural history and treasures.

Predicting this new spot will attract visitors who are natural history buffs, Judy Lum, group vice president sales and marketing, Tour East Singapore, said: “Natural history has a wide appeal, and I foresee this will draw interest (especially) from educational institutions, visitors from North Asia and visitors from longhaul destinations.”

Star Holiday Mart general manager, Dominic Ong, said clients are already requesting the museum be included in travel itineraries.

However, the museum has announced that admission tickets are valid only for a duration of 90 minutes, with six such sessions a day starting at 10.00 and ending at 17.30. Each slot can take about 200 people, and tickets must be pre-booked through ticketing agent Sistic.

This administrative measure will help to maximise the visitor experience as large crowds and long queues will inhibit visitors from enjoying history and science, said the museum’s website.

Ong, who will include this new spot in his packages according to requests, added that this time restriction factor will further help tour operators in time management.

Tickets are now available from Sistic and start at S$15 (US$11) per adult for local residents. Standard tickets are S$20 for adults and S$11 for children.

THE world’s first rooftop ‘glamp’ site, St Jerome’s – The Hotel, will be launched in Melbourne on May 20.

The pop-up, luxury camping ground will inhabit the vacant rooftop of Melbourne Central shopping centre for approximately six months and will be home to 25 standard ‘rooms’ and five ‘suites’ – four- and five-metre canvas bell tents.

St Jerome’s – The Hotel is the brainchild of Jerome Borazio, who co-founded the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Melbourne in 2004, which now tours eight cities worldwide including Singapore.

The hospitality entrepreneur has partnered with local premium camping goods supplier, Homecamp, to provide the tents and Deon St Mor, founder of MOR Cosmetics, to set the creative direction and outfit for the hotel.

The five-star site overlooking Melbourne’s city skyline will feature a guest-only communal lawn and bar, 24-hour concierge service, free tai chi and meditation classes each morning and free breakfast hampers.

“It’s all about repurposing a space that’s been unused and adding some real life to it,” said Borazio. “I wanted to create an outdoor experience that people could really benefit from, not just build another bar on a rooftop.

“As a resident of the CBD for over 20 years, I want others to be able to experience every element of this city in the most real and unique way. It’s about the opportunity to showcase Melbourne – and offering people a place to really connect with it.”

While Borazio is yet to partner with any travel consultants, he said: “We’re always excited about the possibility of working with the right people.”

A night at St Jerome’s – The Hotel will cost A$330 (US$258). Bookings can be made at www.stjeromesthehotel.com.au.

INDIAN business travel looks set to continue in dramatic growth with spending forecasted to increase 9.8 per cent in 2015 and 10.9 per cent in 2016, the first year of double-digit spending gains since 2011, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation’s GBTA BTI Outlook – India report.

The report also showed Indian domestic business travel will hit double-digit growth in 2015 and 2016, growing 10.1 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively.

However, international outbound travel from India is much more volatile, pressured downward by slower growth in China over the last few years. Outbound travel spending is expected to grow 7.9 per cent in 2015 and 7.3 per cent in 2016.

“India is poised for economic harmony as the region is strongly growing in the short term and is also in an excellent position for the long term,” said Michael W McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO.

“If India continues on its current growth path, it will be a world leader in business travel for decades to come.”

TR Ramachandran, GBTA group country manager India and South Asia, explained: “The combination of an aspirational middle class, positive government reforms and strong economic sentiment has resulted in an increased demand for business travel.

“The shift towards electronic payments is making it easier for companies to track travel expenditure and more convenient for employees to manage their spending when abroad and reconcile their expenses on return.”

Meanwhile, India has announced a new tourism policy to be launched next month that will likely focus on various issues including tourism infrastructure, which has been a challenge to the industry, the report highlighted.

ADELAIDE will welcome its first five-star hotel in nearly three decades, to be built in the CBD for opening in 2018.

Sofitel Adelaide, to be managed under Accor, will be part of a 32-storey, mixed-use development, where the top eight levels will comprise 80 apartments and the remaining floors will contain the hotel’s suites and facilities.

The hotel will include 250 rooms and suites, with facilities including a restaurant, four bars, ballroom, swimming pool, health and fitness centre, meeting and conference rooms and the Sofitel Club Lounge.

TO FURTHER help airlines and travellers cut costs, Changi Airport Group (CAG) will lower its service charge for passengers transiting in Singapore as of July 1.

Senior minister of state for finance and transport Josephine Teo announced at the group’s annual airline awards ceremony that the charge will be reduced by S$6 (US$4.50), from S$9 to S$3, reported local broadsheet The Straits Times.

CAG will also lower franchise fees for ground handlers by 20 per cent, making it more affordable for airlines to use the airport.

The same report quoted Teo as saying passenger movement in the first few months had not grown strongly, thus reflecting the tepid mood in air travel, and adding that the programme will be extended beyond this year to help airlines and passengers cut costs of up to S$180 million over the next two years.

The new concessions are in addition to those from the Growth and Assistance Incentive programme launched by CAG last year, which was aimed at lowering costs for airlines, boosting passenger traffic and improving operational efficiency at Changi Airport.