CITITEL Hotel Management (CHM) is expected to open two new properties in Penang’s George Town by 4Q2014.

The Wembley – A St Giles Premier Hotel, Penang, a property with 415 rooms, will house a grand ballroom with a seating capacity of 1,200 pax, several meeting rooms, a café, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a health centre, an executive lounge and a helipad that will mark the first for a Penang hotel as well as in the northern region of Malaysia.

Adjacent to the hotel will be the 234-room Cititel Express Penang, the third Cititel Express after Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu.

Located on Magazine Road in the heart of the city’s commercial and government district, the development will also include retail shops, restaurants, a food court and car park bays for more than 500 vehicles.

Both hotels boast easy access to shopping complexes and UNESCO-listed cultural and historical sites in the vicinity.

KEMPINSKI Hotels is in talks with three different developers for the addition of new properties – one each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Kochi.

“We expect to add these properties to our portfolio in next three to four years. Being in the high-end luxury business we are not looking to expand in a big way,” Duncan O’Rourke, COO, Kempinski Hotels told TTG Asia e-Daily.

Each of its new properties will offer between 150 and 250 rooms.

O’Rourke said that the company has no plans to invest in any of these projects but sign management comtracts for them, adding: “We are also looking at managing residential complexes in India.”

Kempinski Hotels, which ended a 25-year association with The Leela Group last year, has one hotel in India – Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi, owned by real estate developer Ambience Group.

“We are investing in two more five-star properties in Gurgaon and Udaipur which are expected to be ready in the next four years,” said Raj Singh Gehlot, chairman and managing director, Ambience Group, who said management agreements would be offered to Kempinski and The Leela Group.

Kempinski Hotels has over 70 hotels in operation at present and it plans to take its portfolio to 112 hotels by 2017.

CHINESE arrivals to Spain continue to surge with a 24.7 per cent rise in the first quarter of 2014, making the country second only to Japan.

The latest figures follow a 35 per cent increase last year which took the total to a record 252,099 Chinese visitors.

Spain’s ambassador to Beijing, Manuel Valencia, said that with visa applications in all three of its consulates in China rising by more than a third, double-digit growth is expected to continue over the next few years.

Apart from setting out to attract shoppers, he said the country’s cuisine is also proving to be a big draw.

Average expenditure by the Chinese rose 14 per cent to over 2,000 euros (US$2,724) last year, almost double the budget among European visitors.

Spain is also pinning its hopes on peak-hour TV series, Divas hit the road, that has proved popular with Chinese audiences and is based on a group of Chinese celebrity tourists, he said.

However, the destination still lags behind major European rivals Italy, France and the UK in overall tourism numbers because of the low number of direct flights, Valencia added.

Last year’s figures show Japan remained top of the Asian tourist table to Spain, but with only four per cent growth to 374,175 arrivals. South Korea was in third place, up 21 per cent to 110,263. This was followed by India, up 21 per cent to 73,493; Indonesia, up 39 per cent to 57,288; and the Philippines, up 1.8 per cent to 48,250.

QATAR Airways is retiming five US-bound services and introducing two new US destinations, as it attempts to lure more Indian travellers to connect at its new home at Hamad International Airport.

The carrier flies daily from Doha to Kolkata, and from tomorrow will offer connections of 50-60 minutes via the new Hamad International Airport to New York, Houston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Flights out of Doha to Miami will begin on June 10 and Dallas, July 1.

According to the airline, passengers from Kolkata are likely to reach their US destinations in 21-24 hours and return flights have durations of 19-23 hours.

Henry Moses, country manager (India), Qatar Airways, said: “Kolkata-US is one of the fastest-growing routes in India and we see tremendous potential from this market. We are serving many routes with multiple frequencies, ensuring maximum connectivity and the shortest travel times.”

Rajendra Churiwala, director – eastern region, IATA Agents Association of India, commented: “Major cities in the US are in high demand for business travel, family vacations, visiting friends and relatives, medical care and American university-bound students. Shorter connection times in Doha will certainly increase outbound travel and also favour the use of Qatar Airways.”

MEGA Maldives is resuming thrice-weekly flights to Chengdu, Chongqing and Hangzhou this summer season after having suspended these services last year.

CEO George Weimann said since the airline wanted to consolidate operations to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, it had stopped seasonal flights to the three second-tier cities last year.

“With the markets developing, we plan to return to (China) on a seasonal and all-year basis. We’ll be flying three times a week across the year (for some routes) and in others, three times a week during the season,” he told TTG Asia e-Daily.

Mega Maldives has a 35-40 per cent market share of inbound traffic from China, the Maldives’ biggest source market.

The three-year old airline, which presently only flies to Greater China and Palau island in the Pacific Ocean, is also opening routes to Jeddah and Jakarta in the next few months.

“The timing will depends on the arrival of new aircraft,” Weimann said. The carrier plans to increase its fleet to between six and eight aircraft by the end of 2014 by leasing Boeing aircraft.

CHANGI Airport Group (CAG) has joined hands with Princess Cruises and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in a multimillion dollar tripartite to grow Asia’s fly-cruise sector and promote demand for cruise products from Singapore.

Joint promotions began last month throughout Asia and include China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan, for Princess Cruises’ sailings in Asia, Australia, the UK and US.

“Through this complementary partnership, STB and CAG will work together to promote the concept of flying into Singapore to cruise. We are excited that Princess Cruises has come on board, and look forward to more cruise lines joining us in tapping on the immense potential of cruising in South-east Asia,” said Neeta Lachmandas, assistant chief executive, business development group, STB, in a press release.

Said Lim Ching Kiat, senior vice president for market development, CAG: “This second tripartite collaboration with the Carnival Corportion’s group of cruise brands further highlights our synergistic efforts to grow the fly-cruise segment in Singapore.

“With Changi Airport’s strong connectivity to destinations across the world, this serves to complement STB’s vision of making Singapore a global cruise hub, while supporting Princess Cruises’ new offerings in Singapore.”

CAG and STB set up the first tripartite body in 2012 with Costa Cruises, another cruse line under Carnival Corporation, and provided it with support to intensify marketing efforts to Asian consumers.

Presently, members of the collaboration already work individually to promote fly-cruise itineraries. CAG partners airlines and travel consultants on marketing campaigns in countries such as China and India, while STB teamed up with the Asia Cruise Association to facilitate training programmes for travel consultants across South-east Asia last year.

SPICEJET is in talks with an investor for the sale of a minority stake in the loss-making LCC, revealed a top official from the airline last week.

“We are in discussions with an investor for selling a minority stake and will sooner or later make an announcement in this regard,” said Sanjiv Kapoor, COO, SpiceJet, who refused to divulge further details.

SpiceJet posted a net loss of Rs10.3 billion (US$176.3 million) in 2013/2014 and is now looking to raise funds through foreign investors and financial institutions, an option open to airlines since the Indian government last year implemented a policy allowing foreign carriers to own up to 49 per of domestic airlines.

Jet Airways became the first to use the option when it sold a 24 per cent stake to Etihad Airways (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 4, 2012).

Meanwhile SpiceJet has sought regulatory approval from India’s aviation authorities for 7,000 weekly seats to Qatar. It already flies to Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat.

Speaking on the carrier’s expansion plans, Kapoor said that the airline may add Dhaka to its international network and more flights to Dubai once repair works there are complete.

He also denied media reports that SpiceJet in discussion with Qatar Airways for the sale of its overseas parking slots