DUBAI is emphasising its shopping, culinary and family-friendly offerings to South-east Asian markets, part of the emirate’s efforts to boost arrivals from the region under its Tourism Vision 2020 target.

Launched one year ago, Dubai’s Tourism Vision 2020 target is focused on branding itself as a family destination to move from being just a renowned stopover hub, according to Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, director of overseas offices, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).

South-east Asia last year contributed 245,000 arrivals to Dubai’s total 11 million visitors, and the emirate is aiming for a 10-11 per cent growth in arrivals by 2025.

“This is quite small compared to the potential. From Indonesia, for example, we received 50,000 arrivals last year. The potential to grow is still huge. The family market is big here and the mid-range hotels give them an option,” said Saud Mohammed Saeed Hareb, senior executive – Europe region overseas offices, DTCM.

He told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Travellers from South-east Asia usually travel with families and enjoy shopping and gastronomy.”

Hareb was speaking in Jakarta last week, one of three countries in which DTCM was holding roadshows to highlight Dubai’s products and explore partnerships with local travel consultants. Roadshows were also held in Malaysia and Singapore.

The emirate will also welcome 20,000-30,000 new hotel rooms to the existing 85,000 by 2016. “Dubai has so many five-star and luxury properties and going forward, we are encouraging investors to develop the mid-market hotel segment by offering some incentives,” said Hareb.

On the newest developments in Dubai, Hareb shared: “We recently opened the Dubai City Walk in the downtown area from Burj Khalifa, with shops and restaurants where tourists can go and relax. The Walk, the beach at JBR, is also a new facility, with retail shops and cafes on the beach itself.”

New attractions such as Dubai Tram, Dubai Safari projects and the 14km Jumeirah Corniche will open by year-end while Wire World, the largest man-made adventure park, will open in November.

ALL watering holes within Kerala will be shut down by April 1, 2015 with only the bars in five-star hotels allowed to continue, announced the government of the state that boasts the highest national per capita consumption of alcohol.

Kerala’s government has ruled that the 418 bars that have failed to upgrade to local two-star standards will not receive renewed alcohol licences, and Kerala’s 318 existing bars will not be able to obtain new ones after March 31, 2015. It is exploring the possibility of terminating such licences earlier.

However, 23 five-star hotels will be allowed to continue running their bars.

Nothing has ben said yet about the fate of 111 bars selling only beer and wine, but industry sources believe they will be shut eventually.

Beverage Corporation’s 334 retail outlets selling alcoholic beverages will be closed in phases of 10 per cent every year, for a total prohibition on liquor sales by 2024.

Kerala has existing “dry” days on the first of every month when alcohol sale is prohibited, which it will extend to include Sundays, bringing the total number of liquor holidays to 52 days annually.

Riaz Ahmed, chairman, Abad Hotels and Resorts, said: “The absence of bars will bring down occupancy rates in four- and three-star hotels as well as negatively affect the hotels’ revenue yield with profits from F&B very significantly reduced.”

WITH its eyes set on China’s burgeoning, high-yield middle class, Tourism Australia is partnering a selected group of Chinese travel agencies for joint marketing initiatives.

The NTO announced this morning that it has invited 31 specialist China-based travel consultants to join its Key Distribution Partner (KDP) programme for China.

The Chinese KDP, a programme Tourism Australia has similarly launched in other markets such as Singapore, will be based mainly in top-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as secondary cities including Nanjing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Chengdu and Chongqing.

John O’Sullivan, managing director of Tourism Australia, said KDP forms a key tenet of Australia’s China strategy towards attracting more independent, higher spending Chinese visitors.

“The consultants we have selected already have a solid understanding of the Australian tourism market, as well as established relationships with exactly the type of high-yield consumer we want to engage with as part of our Chinese marketing activities. Under this new programme, we’ll be developing joint marketing activities with these consultants and strongly encouraging them to develop new and innovative Australian tourism products which will appeal to higher-yield Chinese travellers.”

Under the programme, Tourism Austalia will increase advertising spend, and develop new itineraries and programmes, all targeted at the high-yield middle class.

“The vast majority of international travel out of China is still booked through travel agencies, and under this programme we believe we’ve identified the best of the best, who have the commitment and capability to help us engage with this new breed of more sophisticated Chinese traveller seeking to build a much richer and higher quality holiday experience,” said O’Sullivan.

He added that Tourism Australia will encourage Australian tour operators to engage with these selected Chinese travel agencies as well.

China forms a key source market for Australia, with almost 760,000 arrivals spending over A$5 billion (US$4.7 billion) in the last 12 months.

AIRPORTS of Thailand (AoT) is preparing to scale up Suvarnabhumi Airport in the coming years, with a new terminal and monorail system on the table even as it juggles with plans to expand the existing facility.

The Bangkok Post reported that AoT is working on a 24 billion baht (US$752.3 million) proposal for the new terminal and monorail system that will give Suvarnabhumi the ability to handle 20 million more passengers a year, to be submitted to the Thai cabinet by end-2014.

AoT board chairman, Prasong Phunthanet, was quoted as saying that bidding will commence for the monorail system next year, and that the new terminal will be finished by 2018.

The same article said that plans to install an advance passenger processing system – that would allow Thai officials to call up passenger profiles from their countries of origin and check if departing passengers have been banned from leaving the country – at Suvarnabhumi remains under review, while proposal drafting for a third runway are also ongoing.

With these, the second phase of development for Suvarnabhumi Airport’s existing terminal is taking a back seat.

The National News Bureau of Thailand reported that expansion was aimed at increasing the international airport’s capacity from the existing 45 million annually to 60 million by 2017, especially with ASEAN economic integration expected to happen in 2015.

Traffic at the facility is already exceeding intended capacity, with 50 million travellers passing through each year.

A DEAL between Golden Land Real Estate and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will see the latter launch Fairmont Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province in 2018.

Fairmont Suzhou will form part of a mixed-use development offering office space, a retail podium, among others, in the heart of the Suzhou National New Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone – Suzhou New District, an area that is increasingly playing home to Fortune 500 companies.

“Fairmont Suzhou marks another key milestone for the Fairmont brand as we continue a steady and strategic pace of expansion into key Chinese markets,” said Jennifer Fox, president, FRHI International and president, Fairmont brand.

“Not only is Suzhou one of the country’s most popular travel destinations on a domestic level, it shows continued strong growth internationally and is increasingly attracting foreign investment.”

The luxury hotel will offer 390 guestrooms, five F&B outlets, 4,000m² in events space, a swimming pool, and a Willow Stream Spa.

Fairmont is scheduled to open a number of new properties in the coming years, including hotels in Chengdu (2015), Changsha (2017), Hangzhou (2018), Taiyuan (2019) and Nanning (2019).

FUJITA Kanko’s new flagship for its Hotel Gracery brand is said to give the hospitality company the largest share of Shinjuku’s room inventory, being the only hotel of its kind in Tokyo’s Kabukicho.

The hotel will occupy the eighth to 30th floors of entertainment complex Shinjuku Toho Building, which is under construction now in the nightlife hub of Tokyo. It will be officially launched in April 2015.

“We’re excited about opening this property as part of the new landmark development in Kabukicho, where there are no hotels of comparable size and quality,” said Akira Segawa, president of Fujita Kanko.

“We’ll offer just what visitors look for in a Tokyo hotel: safe, convenient and very comfortable lodgings with great style. Although Kabukicho is nicknamed ‘the sleepless town,’ known for its nightlife, our Kabukicho hotel will also be a good choice for business travellers – it’s a very safe and centrally located place.”

Hotel Gracery Shinjuku will be the latest push in Fujita Kanko’s aggressive expansion of the Hotel Gracery brand. New openings for the brand are scheduled for Okinawa in 2015 and Kyoto in 2016.

Fujita Kanko currently operates three Hotel Gracery properties in Sapporo and Tokyo.

Hotel Gracery Shinjuku will offer special opening rates for a limited time. For more information and reservations, visit http://shinjuku.gracery.com/