A GROWING appetite for upscale travel among Hong Kongers has led FIT specialist Travel Expert to enter the wholesale group tour business through new brand Premium Holidays, while Morning Star Travel Service and Goldjoy Holidays have jointly rolled out Luxeworld.

Veteran Simon Wo, who left Jetour last summer followed by a short stint with Westminster Travel, now heads a new team of 20 staff at Premium Holidays specialising in mid- to upmarket themed travel products.

Playing down the competition, Wo said: “For the last 25 years, the wholesale market has been dominated by the top three players, Jetour, Charming and Kuoni. There hadn’t been any new players and we strongly believe there is room for us.

“Apart from distributing through Travel Expert’s 64-strong retail network, we also work with other small- to medium-sized agencies, totalling 100 outlets.

“Longhaul will be our focus from the outset, followed by shorthaul markets in the second phase. We’ll opt for something not available in the Asian market and characterised by smaller group size, lowering the risk of cancellations due to insufficient participants.”

The first themed 10-day tour will depart on June 3, taking clients to Eastern Europe to witness Bulgaria’s rose festival, and Romania and Serbia. It took only two to three weeks to secure the required 25 to 35 participants to make up the tour, Wo added.

Similarly, Morning Star and Goldjoy’s Luxeworld partnership offers “premium tailor-made products so the group size would not be big”, according to Morning Star’s general manager, Dannia Cheung.

According to Luxeworld’s website, nine destinations are covered, namely Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. A special hotline has been set up for enquiries.

Morning Star currently runs 12 outlets while GoldJoy has one.

THAILAND’S new visa regulations aimed at curbing border runs are unlikely to significantly affect tourist arrivals and multi-country tours incorporating the kingdom, said travel specialists.

Thai immigration authorities had on May 10 implemented new rules for travellers entering the country overland, restricting entry permits and visas on arrival granted at the country’s land borders to a single 15-30 day stay, depending on the visitor’s nationality. A full tourist visa obtained from a Thai embassy or consulate will be needed to return to the country.

The move effectively closed a loophole whereby people wanting to stay or work in the country without having a long-term visa could simply leave and re-enter the country via a land border with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia or Malaysia every 30 days.

A statement issued on the Immigration Bureau’s website said the regulations will be enforced at Thai airports from August 12.

Andre van der Marck, general manager Khiri Travel Thailand, said while the new rules could potentially affect the travel plans of tourists wanting to travel overland to more than one of Thailand’s neighbouring countries without having to obtain a multiple-entry visa from a Thai embassy or consulate before arriving in the kingdom, he does not expect business to be affected significantly.

“As a hub for regional travel, some of our programmes are designed along the relaxed entry regulations for Thailand and have a few short entries in between travels to neighbouring countries – including overland travel,” he said. “Even with this stricter enforcement, we don’t think clients will have to apply for multiple-entry visa in advance.”

Visa regulations in other ASEAN countries are a far greater impediment to multi-destination travel than the new Thai regulations, he added.

Exotissimo Travel Thailand also expects to see little impact. Its general manager, Michael Lynden-Bell, said: “Most of our regional overland tours start in Thailand and go outbound. We have a few that come inbound, but a 15-day visa is still going to be enough time for our clients visiting Thailand.”

THE Ritz-Carlton has partnered with Oberoi Realty to open an iconic property in Worli, a thriving business district in central Mumbai in 1Q2017.

Made of steel and glass, the 238-key hotel will have a residential complex built alongside it, also to be managed by the luxury hotel brand. It will cost approximately Rs7.5 billion (US$126.4 million) to build.

The hotel will have F&B offerings such as an ocean-view bar and two specialty and fine-dining restaurants, a spa, and 1,200m2 of banquet and meeting spaces for high-profile events and society weddings for which Mumbai is renowned.

Paul Foskey, executive vice president, hotel development – Asia-Pacific of Marriott International, said in a press statement: “This hotel is part of Marriott’s rapid expansion, which will entail the opening of at least one hotel a month for the next few years across the globe.”

Mitesh Dani, managing director, Mumbai-based Parul Tours, said: “The introduction of a luxury brand like The Ritz-Carlton will add value to the high-end hospitality business in Mumbai and attract more business travellers to the city.

“The exclusive F&B offerings associated with the brand will augment the MICE segment too.

NATIONAL carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has reported a net loss of RM443 million (US$137 million) for the three months ending March 31, almost double the loss of RM279 million in the same quarter last year.

Core airline revenue increased by eight per cent year-on-year on the back of a 19 per cent increase in capacity, but overall group performance was dragged down by weak cargo and other revenues resulting in a marginal two per cent growth.

Despite 18 per cent growth in traffic, severe yield pressure due to excess industry capacity and a disadvantageous cost structure caused earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation to fall to negative RM101 million compared to RM30 million this time last year. Airline yield dropped nine per cent year-on-year.

MAS Group CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said: “Traditionally, the first half is always weaker following the heavy travel period of the previous year-end holidays. The net loss this first quarter is not unexpected.

“However, the results were made worse with the impact on air travel in general following the disappearance of MH370. The whole market has reacted by slowing down demand.

“While the search for MH370 continues today more than two months since it disappeared, our group needs to accelerate efforts to improve its revenue stream and better manage our high costs which have increased in line with greater capacity.

“This need has become even more urgent for MAS’ future survival and sustainability in a market that is not showing any signs of letting up on competition.”

Operations were slowed for several weeks since early March when MH370 disappeared. Marketing activities were also halted out of respect for the families of those on board the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft.

Meanwhile, there have been suggestions for the airline to be privatised or allowed to declare bankruptcy so it could begin anew, or for its profitable units like engineering and shorthaul Firefly to be spun off in a public share sale, according to Singapore’s broadsheet The Business Times.

DORSETT Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong announces the appointment of Carlos Wong as the new director of sales & marketing.

In his new role, he will take charge of all planning and preparation of sales and marketing campaigns, sales strategy and annual budget.

Wong brings with him more than 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. He was previously with Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel.

STARWOOD Hotels and Resorts is looking for a buyer for the five-star Sheraton on the Park Sydney, which would continue to be managed by the group.

Sheraton on the Park Sydney is situated opposite Hyde Park in the central business district, close to Sydney’s luxury retail precinct. The hotel comes with 557 guest rooms and suites, a restaurant, a tea lounge, a bar, extensive conference and function space, leased retail space and a range of recreational facilities.

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has been appointed to market the freehold hotel. Expressions of interest are welcome until June 20.

Craig Collins, CEO of JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group Australasia, said: “Sydney’s five-star sector is currently experiencing the best trading conditions in many years with RevPAR growth of over 14 per cent for the first three months of 2014, compared to the same period last year.”

“We are anticipating very strong investor interest in this asset, particularly because of its trophy status, freehold title and exceptional trading profile. It’s important to note that a number of other five-star hotels have sold in Sydney over the past two years and are now in the hands of traditionally long-term holders. This may be the last chance for a considerable time for investors to acquire a prime Sydney hotel,” commented Collins.

PAN Pacific Hotels Group has bagged an agreement for its fourth hotel in Malaysia – the Parkroyal Langkawi Resort.

The hotel operator inked an agreement with Gagasan Langkawi for the 262-key property, which will open in 2017 on the prime beachfront location at Pantai Tengah Beach, adjacent to a retail and dining complex.

When finished, the hotel will offer 253 rooms and nine villas, an all-day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant, beach bar, spa, gym, family lounge, ballroom, meeting rooms and outdoor swimming pools.

The agreement for Parkroyal Langkawi Resort comes shortly after Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s announcement of expansion plans across Asia-Pacific, including opening Parkroyal and Pan Pacific brand hotels in Myanmar (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 2, 2014), Australia, China (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 11, 2014) and Indonesia.

SULAWESI will receive its first Starwood Hotels and Resorts hotel with the scheduled opening of Four Points by Sheraton Makassar by May 2015. It also marks the debut of Four Points by Sheraton in Indonesia.

Four Points by Sheraton Makassar is strategically located in the heart of Makassar’s developing business district at Jalan Landak Baru.

Offering 261 guestrooms, the hotel will also come with a swimming pool, full-service dining, a fitness centre and free Wi-Fi.

The hotel is being developed by IMB Group and will feature Makassar’s largest convention centre when complete. Meeting facilities include two ballrooms and 16 meeting rooms, totalling a meeting space area of approximately 6,500m².

Chuck Abbott, regional vice president, South-east Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, said: “As South-east Asia’s largest economy and the world’s fourth most populous country, Indonesia is one of the fastest growth markets for Starwood, and we look forward to opening our first hotel in the capital of South Sulawesi province.”

MALAYSIA Airlines MH370’s disappearance has helped to drive higher safety standards on the air and ground, with AirAsia Group to launch a passport screening system and Inmarsat offering an airline tracking service for free.

The LCC will become the first airline to fully integrate Interpol’s I-Checkit system into its check-in process later this month, to screen all passenger passports against Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.

I-Checkit screens the passenger’s travel document number, form of document and country code against the SLTD database without transmitting personal information. In the event of a match, AirAsia will refer the passenger in question to local authorities.

Currently in the pilot testing stage, the I-Checkit system will be deployed on the airline group’s entire network of 100 airports across Asia and 600 international flights per day to more than 20 countries worldwide.

AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said: “AirAsia is extremely pleased to be the first airline globally to collaborate with Interpol to implement I-Checkit. The partnership we have created will result in improved passenger security and will support our desire to offer low fares, but with the added assurance that this system and partnership provides.”

Said Interpol secretary general, Ronald K Noble: “AirAsia has established the new standard for airline security by screening the passports of all international passengers against Interpol’s database. After today, airlines will no longer have to depend solely on countries screening passports to keep passengers safe from terrorists and other criminals who use stolen passports to board flights. Like AirAsia, they will be able to do it themselves as well.”

Earlier this week, global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat also announced that it has proposed to ICAO a free global airline tracking service, for immediate implementation.

It will cover all aircraft equipped with its satellite connection or 11,000 commerical aircraft, close to 100 per cent of the world’s longhaul aircraft.

Furthermore the service extends to a ‘black box in the cloud’ service that will stream historic and real-time flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder information to authorised recipients under specific trigger events.

Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat, said: “Because of the universal nature of existing Inmarsat aviation services, our proposals can be implemented right away on all ocean-going commercial aircraft using equipment that is already installed. Furthermore, our leading aviation safety partners are fully supportive of expanded use of the ADS-C Service through the Inmarsat network. This offer responsibly, quickly and at little or no cost to the industry, addresses in part the problem brought to light by the recent tragic events around MH370.”

IATA last month convened a taskforce to relook the aviation industry’s approach to global aircraft tracking and passenger data, with director general and CEO Tony Tyler pledging: “We cannot let another aircraft simply vanish.” (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 1, 2014).