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/

THE Department of Tourism’s (DoT) programme to eventually convert all hotel ratings to a five-star system has been rolled out at 694 of the country’s 6,873 accommodations so far.

Cesar Cruz, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association, said the DoT initiative would align the Philippines’ hotels more closely to regional standards in time for ASEAN economic integration in 2015.

“Undergoing review under the new process would give a chance for three-star properties to snag a four-star rating,” he noted of the new system’s flexibility.

“Likewise, five-star properties who have seen loss of a facility would still have a chance of maintaining their five-star rating, based on the new categories being used.”

Image Travel Corp’s vice president marketing, Emy Malate, commented that no matter what the system employed, travel consultants would use their own knowledge to explain the product to clients.

“We also have our own system of establishing (if the accommodation) is four- or five-star, although we are guided by DoT’s classification system,” she said.

Of the 694 hotels reviewed so far, 144 were surveyed by international assessors under the joint Asian Development Bank-Canadian international Development Assistance programme covering four pilot areas namely, Cebu, Palawan, Bohol, and Davao (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 12, 2013).

The rest, in other parts of the country, were rated by DoT-hired accommodation consultants according to the existing accommodation system, with the end goal of further upgrading those ratings to the five-star system.

SINGAPOREAN and Malaysian travellers are being told to Travel by ‘BMW‘ in Taipei, a campaign encouraging tourists to get around the Taiwanese city by bus or bicycle, metro, or walking.

The Taipei city government will introduce affordable BMW itineraries at upcoming consumer travel fairs in Singapore and Malaysia – the NATAS Fair held on August 29-31 and MATTA Fair from September 5-7.

The new campaign highlights Taipei’s tourist-friendly infrastructure including the soon-to-launch 12 metro lines, 4,000 public buses, and over 190 YouBike rental spots.

Explaining the service, Tien-long Sun, commissioner, Department of Information and Tourism, said: “Our YouBike service is promoted as a green LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) tool. Visitors can rent a bike from their starting point and return it at their desired destination.”

Such flexibility has made exploring the city hassle-free, he added. YouBike rentals are available within each of the city’s administrative districts.

In Singapore, it will promote itineraries such as a 4D3N tour visiting New Beitou for hot springs and culinary highlights to families, tours to shopping central Ximending and cable car rides for backpackers.

For the Malaysian market, BMW itineraries include halal-certified hotels and restaurants.

Taiwan welcomed 394,326 Malaysian travellers last year, and has a total of 52 accredited halal restaurants in Taiwan, 21 of which are in Taipei. More hotels, such as City Suites-Taipei Nandong, The Landis Taipei Hotel, Palais de Chine Hotel, Ambassador Hotel Taipei, Regent Taipei and Atami Hotel Taipei, are upgrading to offer Muslim-friendly amenities.

Taipei also features 6,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots that visitors can access by registering with their passports at visitor centres.