RAJASTHAN is inviting the private sector to take its pick from some 35 forts for conversion to hotels or other tourism-related products on 30-year leases.

Six forts have been identified for leasing in the first phase of the project, namely Jalore Fort, Sojat Fort, Shahabad Fort, Malkot Fort, Ramgarh Fort, and Shergarh Fort.

“We are looking to bring investment to our state. The leasing out process will help us to garner financial resources required for restoration and protection of these forts,” said SK Agarwal, principal secretary tourism, Rajasthan.

Tenders will be opened next month inviting expressions of interest under public-private partnerships.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan is also searching for private players to take over operations of properties currently run by Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation either through joint ventures, leasing out or sale.

However, a hotelier who wish not to be named said: “The state government needs a proactive approach if it is looking for private partners. The state’s maiden public-private partnership project, Tijara Fort, took more than 10 years to get operational. The private partner faced a tough time getting clearances and approvals.”

Rajasthan recorded 4.5 million international tourist arrivals in 2013 with arrivals growing at eight per cent this year.

PHILIPPINES’ hospitality companies that relied heavily on Chinese tourists are diversifying their markets in the wake of the travel advisory issued by China in September that has adversely affected business.

Boracay, the main destination for the Chinese which saw a 69 per cent plunge in arrivals, is courting South Koreans and Filipino travellers to make up for the loss, said Dionisio Salme, president of Boracay Foundation, which consists of the island’s over 50 resorts and other hospitality providers.

Salme said resorts that used to have big chunks of Chinese tour groups were forced to shut off some of their rooms. China is Boracay’s second most important market after South Korea.

He said Boracay Foundation and the local government unit are attending the World Travel Mart in London next month for the first time, to diversify their markets and tap Europe’s potential.

A China wholesale travel consultant who declined to be named complained that his company’s bottomline is heavily eroded, and is, along with other travel consultants, in dialogue with the Department of Tourism (DoT) to put an end to the travel advisory.

The DoT has urged Boracay hotels to reduce rates and a number of the hotels have since reduced published rates by 15-20 per cent, though the call remains largely unheeded.

Bonnie Javelona, operations manager of Southwest Tours Boracay, said the company’s volume of Chinese travellers to Boracay has been brought down by almost 1,000 arrivals per day.

Trudy Allen, chief executive of boracay.travel, said that while her agency has not been impacted as her clients are mainly Filipinos, she observed that some hotels have taken a huge hit because most of their guests consisted of large tours from China.

Clarification: This article initially stated that China had imposed a travel ban on the Philippines, which was incorrect and has since been amended for accuracy.

A SINGAPORE-BASED consortium has been awarded the contract to complete the construction of Hanthawaddy International Airport, which has been cited to service the growing number of tourist arrivals to Yangon.

A group including Singapore’s Yongnam Holdings, Changi Airport Planners and Engineers, and JGC Corporation of Japan were announced as the winners of the tender by the Department of Civil Aviation last week.

The tender had previously been awarded to a consortium led by South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corporation in August 2013, but was reopened in February this year when it was revealed that there were disagreements between Incheon and the government over airport capacity and how the project would be financed.

According to reports, the government wanted the facility to be able to accommodate 12 million passengers per year, two million more than Incheon.

The new project will be located on a 3,642ha site about 80km from Yangon, in Bago Region.

As Myanmar’s tourism industry sees substantial growth, the government has also announced plans to upgrade the airports at Yangon and Mandalay.

“I think Myanmar will benefit from a larger airport, as it will be able to receive more and bigger international flights,” Edwin Briels, general manager, Khiri Travel Myanmar.

“I expect that tourism will grow steadily over the next few years and it would be good to see direct flights to Europe and Australia, for example,” he said.

STAR Alliance will begin work on a hub in India next year, which will be completed in approximately six months, but has not decided which will come first – Mumbai or New Delhi.

This follows national carrier Air India’s entry into Star Alliance earlier this year.

The airline is due to shift from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 to Star Alliance’s new hub at Terminal 2, slashing transit times from two hours to one, said Justin Erbacci, vice president (customer experience and IT), Star Alliance.

Presently, Star Alliance’s Asian hubs are in Beijing and Bangkok and has nine other hubs across the globe.

Erbacci said Star Alliance is looking to expand its “seamless hub” project to Sao Paulo, Tokyo (Narita), and Los Angeles in 2015.

ONYX Hospitality Group will open its first resort in the Maldives as it remains on track to expand its portfolio to 81 properties and triple annual profits within 2018.

The 120-villa Amari Havodda, owned by Crystal Plaza Resorts, is tabled to open in 1Q2016.

Onyx CEO Peter Henley said: “Within the industry there is a sweet spot of 70 to 80 properties, once you’ve passed that tipping point, both guests and owners become much more aware of you and you can leverage that position (for future growth).”

Onyx’s group revenue is forecast to rise 13 per cent by year-end over 2013’s performance, despite the impact of Thailand’s political unrest on tourism this year. Said Henley: “We have achieved this because of good performance from our new properties outside of Thailand.”

He described the local hotel market’s performance this year up to September as “miserable”, but expects a recovery to take place within the first-half of next year, barring further unrest in the country.

The hotelier, which rebranded from Amari Hotels and Resorts in 2010, generates 80 per cent of its revenue from Thailand where 70 per cent of its 37 properties are located.

The group wants 70 per cent of the portfolio to be located outside of the kingdom by 2018, by which time Thailand is expected to contribute about 65 per cent of group revenue.

“We plan to stay within Asia with a focus on Thailand, parts of the Middle East, China and Hong Kong, and the corridor that runs from Bangladesh, through India, across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka,” Henley said.