AUSTRALIA introduced three-year, multiple entry tourist visas for Chinese visitors to Australia in a move that’s been welcomed by the country’s tourism industry.

Last Friday’s announcement comes just a year after the same extension was granted to business visas for Chinese and three months on from a landmark air services agreement that will see air capacity to Australia triple over the next 18 months to 67,000 seats per week from China.

“With growing affluence and a rising middle class, China is a huge growth market for Sydney Airport, with Chinese passengers set to become our largest international visitor market by 2016,” said Kerrie Mather, managing director and CEO of Sydney Airport.

China is currently Australia’s second largest inbound visitor market. Close to 790,000 Chinese travellers visited Australia in the year to September 2014, with 47 per cent of arrivals being repeat visitors.

Andrew Robb, Australian federal minister for trade and investment, said the government is determined to help Australia capture more of the rapidly growing Chinese tourist market.

“Chinese tourists are increasingly more discerning and looking for an authentic Australian experience,” said Robb. “Repeat visitors are an increasingly important market sector as they tend to stay for longer periods and are higher yielding in terms of their spending.”

Managing director of Melbourne-based Australian Tours Management, Eng Waa Teh, said: “I believe it’s a great move by the Australian government to facilitate this visa assurance for the Chinese visitors. It will hopefully improve the numbers of Chinese visitors to Australia.”

THE US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has restored India’s aviation safety rating to Category 1 one year after lowering it to Category 2, citing the lack of full-time flight operation inspectors as a key reasons.

India has taken corrective actions to address FAA’s concerns, said US Department of Transport secretary, Anthony Foxx, who made the announcement on his visit to New Delhi last week.

“(Return to Category 1 status) means our International Aviation Safety Assessment officials have determined that India complies with the safety standards set by ICAO,” Foxx said in a media statement.

India launched an aggressive overhaul of aviation safety standards after demotion to Category 2 last year, mandating a recertification of all local carriers and employing 35 full-time flight operation inspectors.

An FAA review took place in December 2014, followed by subsequent meetings with India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and a visit by FAA officials last month.

The new safety rating is expected to benefit Jet Airways and Air India, the two Indian carriers that currently fly to the US, as it permits carriers to add flights to the US and codeshare with US airlines.

However, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the Indian government should be more proactive about aviation safety.

Associate manage of CAPA India, Vishal Bhadola, commented: “India’s safety oversight regime needs a fundamental restructuring as growth will bring more challenges, and our under-preparedness might become visible again if long-term strategic correction is not initiated.

“The first step is to have a technical professional head the DGCA. Without that, a real change will not be possible.”

A NEWLY forged collaboration will allow tour operators to upload supplier rates to booking systems automatically to save hours and hours of manual data entry, a longstanding bugbear within the travel industry.

Creating this solution are TourConnect, which offers traditional travel suppliers online tools for distribution, and tour operator software solution provider Tourplan, both of which reached an agreement last week.

The integration allows tour operators to load partner suppliers’ rates directly onto their systems at “the touch of a button”, with the first version of the integration to be rolled out for the 2016-2017 contracting season.

Mike Herrmann, president and founder of TourConnect, highlighted the scope of the problem to TTG Asia e-Daily. “Many tour operators have developed their own website to let suppliers load rates directly into their system (to solve the manual entry problem); however, that’s a problem because that means a supplier then has to go into each individual system to load their rates. It’s also just shifting the burden of data entry to the supplier.”

TourConnect offers the world’s first solution that “skips the manual loading part of the process regardless of what booking system the tour operator is on”.

“The integration with Tourplan is simply the first booking system we are proving this with.  We can add more tour operators and more booking systems because we are a neutral third party,” he explained.

“As we add more partners, it means suppliers can enter their rates one time, in one place, but have them automated into many tour operators. This entering of rates once is truly where the skipping of the manual data entry is achieved.”

Asked how TourConnect helps tour operators that its suppliers work with but who are not under Tourplan’s network, Hermann said TourConnect provides a “clean” and standardised PDF sheet with supplier rates that makes processing easier.

But he added: “Our tour operators often introduce us to the booking management systems they are using, as we can integrate with any booking system.

“Our ultimate goal is to automate the entire rate process for everyone in the industry, regardless of the system they are on.”

THE travel industry and national governments are officially cracking down on unruly travellers, with new rules and regulations in place to ensure troublemakers do not get off scot-free.

Singapore’s civil aviation body told local daily The Straits Times that it is working with the government to ratify the Montreal Protocol, which was drawn up the global aviation community last year to address the issue.

It lists offences such as noncompliance with safety instructions and physical or verbal abuse of cabin crew, and would allow authorities to charge and persecute unruly passengers who fly on non-local carriers, said the report.

Currently, Singapore can only hold accountable passengers arriving on Singapore Airlines and other local airlines.

Over in Beijing, China’s new regulation took effect last week, in response to the many reported incidences of ill-behaved Chinese travellers, according to Xinhua and AFP.

Chinese tourists who display anti-social behavior or damage private property, among others, will have their names recorded by provincial authorities and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) for two years.

Exactly what kind of “correction measures” are in store for the blacklisted is not known, though CNTA has said it is able to share this information with other institutions including public security, customs, transport authorities, and the central bank, said reports.

IN ITS first foray into the Indian market, Vantage Hospitality Group has inked a tie-up with Miraya Hotel Management to bring two properties under its economy hotel brand.

The two properties, one located in Sitarganj in Uttarakhand state and the other in Yercaud, Tamil Nadu, are to be rebranded under Value Inn Worldwide in the next two months.

But the US-based group, which has 1,200 properties across the US, Canada, South Korea, Indonesia and Mexico, has bigger plans for India.

“Our main focus will be to expand to Tier Two and Tier Three cities in India where there is a great demand for hotels for the middle class. We plan to grow through rebranding of existing hotels and greenfield projects as well,” said Roger Bloss, founder, president and CEO, Vantage Hospitality Group.

Apart from Value Inn Worldwide, Vantage Hospitality will also open properties under its mid-scale brand, Value Hotel Worldwide. Seven more openings are expected under these two brands within the next six months in destinations including Pune, Surat and Goa.

Miraya Hotel Management plans to invest Rs7 billion (US$112.3 million) in acquiring assets in India. About 70 per cent of Vantage Hospitality’s India properties will come under the Value Inn brand, and the rest, Value Hotel.

“Our aim is to be 100 hotel-strong in the next 10 years,” said Sudhir Sinha, managing director of Value Inns and Hotels India. “Owners who are part of our franchise model will also benefit from Vantage’s global reservation system, revenue generating programmes and other resources.”

Meanwhile, the travel trade welcomed the expansion.

Arun Anand, managing director of Midtown Travels, observed: “There is an undersupply of economy and mid-segment rooms in all the metro cities and more so in the rest of the country.”

“Introduction of these economy and mid-segment brands in India will cater to the market, which is looking to stay at branded hotels that offer rooms and other basic services at reasonable prices,” said Rajji Rai, chairman, Uniglobe Swiftravel.

SOUTH Korea, Japan and China, so disagreeable in the realm of history and geopolitics, have come together to promote the cause of regional tourism.

Japan’s tourism minister Akihiro Ota met with South Korean counterpart Kim Jong Deok and Li Jinzao of the China National Tourism Administration, marking the first time in four years the tourism ministers held trilateral talks, according to Jiji Press.

The meeting yielded an agreement to cooperate towards 30 million arrivals by 2020, when Japan hosts the 2020 summer Olympic Games.

Media in Japan also reported that the three countries would collaborate on a Visit East Asiacampaign to draw more tourists during Games.

Japan alone has already set a target for 20 million arrivals by 2020.

FOLLOWING an A$3 million (US$2.3 million) refurbishment, Quality Hotel CKS Sydney Airport has reopened.

Under the Choice Hotels Australasia umbrella and managed by the Lancemore Group, the hotel has upgraded its reception and common areas, restaurant and all 121 guestrooms.

One of Sydney’s nine on- and off-site airport hotels and positioned as an affordable, boutique offering, Quality Hotel CKS Sydney Airport features premium King Koil beds, a gastro pub and bar, and a conference room that converts to a cinema by night.

King, twin, triple and family rooms are available, as well as overnight parking and return airport transfers for all flights.

“Quality Hotel CKS Sydney Airport will be working closely with the local industry as part of the Choice Privileges programme,” a Choice Hotels spokesperson said. “Trade partners have been invited to view the property during development and will attend the launch this month.”

A NEW incubator and accelerator programme aimed at nurturing start-ups in the travel, payments and retail verticals in South-east Asia was launched last Friday, backed by the big names behind AirAsia Group.

Called Tune Labs, the programme will dispense RM5 million (US$1.4 million) to support regional entrepreneurs and was founded by Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and Lim Kian Onn.

Tony Fernandes said in a release: “It has always been a personal goal of mine to promote and grow the start-up scene in South-east Asia. There is a lot of talent in the region which, to date, has lacked the access and opportunities that are readily available to budding entrepreneurs in the West.

“Through Tune Labs, my partners and I seek to provide the guidance and mentorship that we found hard to come by in the early days of building AirAsia and envisage a structured environment to encourage, validate and ultimately implement exciting, new ideas that will hopefully revolutionise and change the way we go about our everyday lives.”

Tune Labs consists of two distinct paths for applicants to develop and cultivate their ideas.

The first component, the incubator, will be conducted three times a year. Each session is a 12-week bootcamp for applicants with early-stage ideas with the aim of transforming those ideas into commercially viable propositions.

The accelerator programme provides entrepreneurs with access to capital and partnership so they can launch validated ideas and business plans – which may also include graduates from the incubator programme – in the market.

Both programmes give participants access to partnerships developed over the years by the founders, the established infrastructure and support system of Tune Group and the ability to leverage in-house technical and software development capabilities.

Lim Kian Onn said: “Tune Labs allows aspiring entrepreneurs to concentrate solely on developing and growing their ideas. The ability to utilise the wider Group’s assets coupled with essentials like office space, finance and legal – will significantly reduce costs and improve management focus.”

Further information on Tune Labs and information on application are available atwww.thetunelabs.com.

A BIGGER budget, more roadshows and a new campaign slogan are being rolled out for the Indian market in the year ahead as Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) seeks to capitalise on its gains from last year.

Anthony Lau, executive director, HKTB, shared that the India market expanded at one of the fastest rates last year, growing 18.7 per cent year-on-year.

“While growth was robust, it was not an easy year as we faced fierce regional competition. But we aim to capitalise on this by increasing our core marketing and promotional budget by 50 per cent compared to last year,” he said.

Hong Kong budgeted HK$9.1 million (US$1.2 million) for marketing in FY2014-2015, working out to HK$13.7 million for FY2015-2015.

The NTO has introduced it My Time for Hong Kong slogan to India, and will launch an extensive media campaign with an emphasis on TV commercials and digital channels including social media.

To highlight Hong Kong’s MICE potential, HKTB is planning roadshows in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai this August. It will also welcome about 30 travel consultants from India to Hong Kong for a tradeshow in December.

The NTO is also in talks with Indian producers to film two Hindi soap operas in Hong Kong.

Peter Hoslin, regional director Europe and new markets, HKTB, said: “We received 60.1 million international travellers overall, which is 12 per cent growth. Mumbai and Delhi still remain key source cities, but we are also focusing on other cities from which we have direct connectivity like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.”