SOUTH Korea’s Lotte Group will in May complete its acquisition of KT Rental, a major domestic company in the car rental sector, for about one trillion won (US$906 million) as part of its efforts to diversify its portfolio.

The auto rental company is being sold by KT Corp, South Korea’s second-largest mobile communications provider, which has been struggling financially in recent months.

Han Bo-young, a spokesman for Lotte, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Considering recent consumption trends in Korea and overseas, we believe that the auto rental and sharing services will show high growth in the long run. We also expect it to create synergy with our diverse businesses, from retail to tourism and financial services.”

International and domestic travellers are prime targets for Lotte, which plans to dramatically increase its car rental outlets through its existing retail facilities, but the company also intends to tap into the growing trend for long-term car rental services among local residents.

The new venture will help make Lotte a more influential player in the inbound tourism market by providing a range of connected services for tourists.

It also has its eyes firmly on overseas markets. KT Rental and Lotte already have separate presence in Vietnam, Han pointed out, which creates more opportunities for collaboration in the future.

INDIA has added Sri Lanka to the list of countries accorded visa on arrival (VoA) through the electronic visa authorisation, effective April 14, announced India’s prime minister Narendra Modi during a recent visit to the country.

Modi also revealed that Air India will commence flights between New Delhi and Colombo shortly.

Welcoming the move, Sonal Swamy, director of Mumbai-based Syrisa Travels, said: “Sri Lanka is a huge potential source market for India, and the VoA will boost Buddhist tourism leisure travel greatly and provide an impetus with anticipated growth of 25-30 per cent immediately.”

Industry members in Sri Lanka also laud the move.

Sasi Ganeshan, CEO, VMS Travels, said the VoA will tremendously ease the process of travelling to India. “Getting a visa can be a cumbersome process as it takes a minimum of three days and applicants also have to submit bank details,” he explained.

S Paramanathan, managing director, Atlas Lanka Travels, said: “This is a huge boost. The Indian agency that issues visas on behalf of the Indian embassy here is processing 600 visas a day – that’s the kind of demand for Sri Lankans visiting India.”

Nilmin Nanayakkara, managing director, Nkar Travels, believes the VoA could spur “weekend hoppers”, such as those seeking new destinations apart from Singapore, which also offers VoA.

According to latest available figures, some 300,000 Sri Lankans visited India in 2013 for business, leisure and pilgrimage, with the main destinations being Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.

India also granted Seychelles VoA from March 13, for a period of three months.

Additional reporting from Kolkata and Feizal Samath.

LUXURY helicopter tours for Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi Island, together with exclusive chartered flights to several popular tourist destinations around Malaysia, have been launched by AsiaHeli.com.

James Greaves, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based company which began operations this January, said: “Services are targeted at high-end tourists in search of breathtaking scenery and ‘time-saving’ charter flights.”

The tours include narration from the pilots. In Kuala Lumpur, customers may choose from 30-, 45- or 60-minute tours, with prices starting from RM1,105 (US$299) per person for a 30-minute flight.

In Langkawi, options of six-, 15-, 20- or 30-minute tours are available, with a six-minute flight costing RM185 per person.

There are also charter flights available from Kuala Lumpur to popular tourist destinations around Malaysia, including Tioman Island, Malacca, Cameron Highlands, Penang, Langkawi and Pangkor. Charter services to Singapore are also available.

AsiaHeli.com works with travel consultants and will discuss the commission structure upon enquiry.

TOURISM New Zealand and Changi Airport Group have come together to launch a life-sized Hobbit Hole as part of the NTOs Naturally New Zealand exhibition, in the departure hall of Changi Airport Terminal 3 to the public last Saturday, tentatively until April 5.

Local English-language newspaper Today reported that both parties, together with several partners including DHL and Singapore Airlines, are involved.

Russell Alexander, owner and general manager of Hobbiton, was quoted as saying: “Hobbiton sits in an idyllic landscape in New Zealand and we hope to give visitors a little taste of what New Zealand has to offer.

“You can smell the flowers; the props and the timber were all brought in from New Zealand. We have art directors and builders to make sure everything is made to look like our hobbit holes back home. There are 44 hobbit holes in Hobbiton… this travelling one is our 45^th.”

Jacqui Smith, a representative from Tourism New Zealand was also quoted as saying: “We know there is quite a big appetite for New Zealand in Singapore. The last film in the Hobbit trilogy is the highest grossing among the LOTR and Hobbit series here. Singapore is a key market for visitors to New Zealand and this year, we celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations as well.”

The same article reported that other activities, including food tasting sessions of New Zealand produce and a 5D simulator ride built next to the hole are being run in conjunction.

Visitor numbers from Singapore to New Zealand have continued to rise, increasing 8.2 per cent as of end-January 2015. Tourism New Zealand’s regional manager of South and South-east Asia, Steven Dixon, said in a press statement the rise is expected to continue with increasing air connectivity and promotional campaigns.

“We were very pleased to officially welcome our national carrier back to Singapore earlier this month and will be working closely to grow both demand and capacity for travel to New Zealand,” he said.

REGIONAL DMO Capital Region USA, which represents Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland, is keen to boost the China market with an extra US$800,000 marketing budget this year, having added Hong Kong to its annual sales mission in China.

Capital Region USA president & CEO, Matt Gaffney, said: “We visited Chengdu and Guangzhou before coming to Hong Kong. Our goal is to create awareness and educate the trade and media about our destination.

“In 2015, we will work closely with Brand Story plus partner with Air China, which inaugurated its four-weekly, Beijing-Washington route last June. In fact, Asia is ranked as the top market, registering double-digit growth last year. It is a star in terms of arrivals. China even surpassed the UK for the first time, delivering the highest traffic of 285,000 visitors.

“Another favourable development is the reciprocal 10-year multiple-entry visa access policy for business and tourist travel in both countries since last November.”

Explaining the solo mission in China, president and CEO for Washington DC, Elliot Ferguson, said: “Unlike other popular states, we are not that well known, so it’s good to come alone and build (awareness of) our destination before joining hands with the others.

“We hope to build a relationship with travel consultants and target organising our first fam tour this year, followed by more next year. The consultants can spend three to four days in DC.”

Martens Law, assistant manager for international travel, Smartcom, said: “We have branches in the capital and regularly arrange trips for company partners and staff from China. Washington DC is a good option and I would like to learn what the destination can offer.”

FOLLOWING the opening of a global sales office in Bangkok, new Thai hospitality entrant Manathai Hotels & Resorts has rolled out beachfront resort Manathai Khao Lak.

Overlooking the Andaman Sea and a 90-minute drive from Phuket International Airport, Manathai Khao Lak features 158 rooms, the Pad Thai restaurant, facilities for kids, a swimming pool, fitness centre, private library, and meeting space for up to 30 guests.

The property is offering special opening rates from 4,895 baht (US$149) which include daily breakfast for two in a Deluxe Balcony room, until April 30, 2015.

Manathai Khao Lak also joins Manathai Hua Hin and Manathai Surin Phuket in the collection, with Manathai Koh Samui set to open in Q2.

ABACUS has signed an agreement with research company GfK to supply anonymised booking data for the latter’s Travelscan report.

Under the agreement, which follows National Association of Travel Agents Singapore’s earlier commitment to share with GfK its members’ weekly consolidated live booking data, GfK will receive a feed of the aggregated weekly live bookings of participating Abacus travel consultants, initially based in Singapore.

Rani Francois-Marie Saad, vice president for Abacus ventures and corporate development, said: “Big data now plays a central role in the travel industry…It is an opportune time for exploring multifaceted ways of improving market intelligence through Travelscan, to allow better predictions and in-depth knowledge of travel consumption in APAC for travel consultants.”

Future projects include integration of other datasets for travel consultants to measure their own performance against market demand.

ACCOR Ambassador Korea has opened its first ibis Styles property in Seoul to meet growing demand from leisure and business travellers.

The group already operates 15 properties in South Korea, including eight in the capital, but the 180-room ibis Styles Ambassador Seoul Myeong-dong is appealing to a younger clientele with a trendy interior themed on the movie industry, as well as a rooftop restaurant.

“Seoul is one of the top tourist destinations in Asia and a strategic market for us,” said Patrick Basset, Accor’s COO for Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.

“We’re seeing solid growth in the number of guests staying in our hotels throughout the country amid strong demand for quality, yet affordable accommodation in Seoul.

“This hotel will cater well to the design-centric, tech-savvy crowd, which is one of the fastest-growing segments on the international hospitality scene,” he added.

The property also has a selection of meeting rooms, as well as a gym, sauna and dining options.

Accor Ambassador Korea is a joint venture between France’s Accor and Korean hotel company Ambassador, and it opened its first ibis Ambassador property in the Gangnam district in 2003.

Basset told the local media that all the joint venture’s properties have shown annual growth of 10 per cent every year since they opened. The company plans to increase its portfolio to 23 hotels by 2017, including Grand Mercure and Suite Novotel properties.

Myeong-dong has emerged as a popular location for hotels developing new properties, in part thanks to a surge in Chinese tourists, who comprised over 40 per cent of the record 14 million foreign visitors to South Korea in 2014.

SWITZERLAND Tourism is aiming to grow the Indonesian FIT market as well as increase the length of stay of incentive groups.

At the Switzerland Travel Experience workshop held in Jakarta last week, Daniel Derzic, deputy head of mission, Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia, told Indonesian outbound executives: “Thanks to the rising (Indonesian) middle class, there is growth of FITs (into Switzerland). While serial trips from Indonesia will grow the most in the coming years, there will be a gradual shift to incentives and FITs.

“Although FITs are still the smallest category, we wants to focus more on this group in the future, tapping special-interest groups such as honeymooners, art enthusiasts, luxury travellers and students.

“(The majority of) travellers from Indonesia to Switzerland are on a Europe tour and we want to increase their length of stay, especially of incentive travellers.”

Ivan Breiter, director for South-east Asia, Switzerland Tourism, added: “We have seen good growth of arrivals from Indonesia since we opened a South-east Asia office in Singapore three years ago.

“We saw a year-on-year decrease – up to 20 per cent – in 1H2014 due to the election, but growth was strong again in 2H2014. Arrivals this January was up by almost 50 per cent year-on-year.”

Indonesian travellers’ total hotel overnight stays last year were 69,615, down nine per cent from 2013. But they were also among the big Asian spenders with US$318 per day, alongside China and India which recorded US$348 and US$298 respectively, according to Switzerland Tourism’s data.

While Indonesian outbound travel players TTG Asia e-Daily spoke with acknowledged rising interest for Switzerland, they are not anticipating major business growth with the country being more expensive than other European destinations plus the high Swiss franc against the US and Asian currencies.

Fachri Kurniawan, general manager, PanTravel, said: “Indonesian travellers spend a lot for shopping, but they are price sensitive when it comes to tours and accommodation.”

However, Derzic highlighted: “The Swiss franc depreciated in February, and the downward trend is continuing. I’m sure there will be a very acceptable situation for Asian tourists.”