LINDSEY Ueberroth has been promoted to CEO of Preferred Hotel Group, and will continue to serve as president.

Ueberroth, 38, joined Preferred Hotel Group in 2004 and has served in several roles.

She took the role of president in 2010.

SRI Lanka enjoyed an unprecedented wave of tourist arrivals from China last month, with figures surging by 224 per cent year-on-year.

Arrivals for the month of January stood at 10,779, up from 3,328 in the same month last year, making China the largest inbound market after India and the UK.

Shafraz Fazley, managing director of Viluxor Holidays, said the flow was mainly due to the Lunar New Year holidays. “We had 60 groups totalling over 1,000 visitors who visited between January 25 and February 7,” he told TTG Asia e-Daily.

Sri Lanka has been stepping up marketing and promotion efforts in China with television campaigns and fam trips for Chinese travel consultants and media. Sri Lanka Tourism officials say China, currently the fifth largest inbound market, is likely to edge out Germany for third place this year.

Fazley, whose company handles the largest number of Chinese tourists in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives, said that while many Chinese travel consultants who visit on fam trips are impressed by Sri Lanka’s tourism offerings, a shortage of Mandarin-speaking guides and translators is deterring growth.

“We could have tripled arrivals during the Chinese New Year if not for the shortage of Chinese-speaking staff. We had to fly down 10 of our staff from the China office to handle the situation here. Sri Lanka needs to (address this language issue) if we are to increase the number of Chinese tourists,” he said.

THE Malaysian travel trade is optimistic about Lufthansa’s new Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur service and believe the flights will increase interest in Malaysia as a destination.

Lufthansa will kick off five-times-weekly flights from Franfkurt to Kuala Lumpur and onward to Jakarta from March 30. Presently, the airline flies to Kuala Lumpur four times a week via Bangkok, thus sharing seat allocation with Bangkok-bound passengers.

Cherry Lee, executive director at World Express Tours Malaysia, commented: “The increased seat capacity is good for travel consultants handling German inbound travel, as it will allow for more people to travel non-stop from Frankfurt to Kuala Lumpur.”

She added: “We will promote eco and nature tours in Borneo, Taman Negara National Park and the islands off Terengganu.”

Manfred Kurz, managing director of Diethelm Travel Malaysia, said that with signs of a recovering European economy, he anticipated a 10 to 20 per cent increase from German-speaking markets for 2014.

This year, Kurz said the company would place emphasis on destinations such as Langkawi and the islands on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia such as Redang, Perhentian and Tioman, through newly created itineraries.

GARUDA Indonesia is partnering Singapore-based investment company Gallant Venture to turn Bintan Island into an international tourism destination with its own airport and centre for aircraft maintenance.

The two companies inked an MoU earlier this week to collaborate on the project, which will see the development of one runway and one terminal in the first phase. The terminal will be linked to a ferry terminal to serve ferry services to and from Singapore and Bintan.

An aircraft maintenance centre will also come up as part of the 177-hectare Bintan Aerospace Industry Park in the existing Bintan Industrial Estate, comprising maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity for aircraft and components, manufacturing and assembly of aircraft engines and components, an aviation training and academy, and research and development.

A township will also be built to house employees and provide sports and wellness facilities.

Garuda Indonesia’s subsidiary, Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia, will establish a joint venture company with Gallant Venture for the operations of MRO of aircraft and components at the Bintan Aerospace Industry Park.

Eugene Park, CEO of Gallant Venture, said the island’s infrastructure would be beefed up to support growing tourism. “We are extending our road network, power, potable water and telecom facilities to the new airport and its adjacent aerospace park.”

Garuda Indonesia’ president and CEO, Emirsyah Satar, said: “The new operation out of Bintan will help strengthen Garuda’s network development, with a potential to connect East Indonesia with West Indonesia and become the meeting point for our international flights to Europe and the Far East.”

“With our regional fleet stationed in Bintan, Garuda will be able to more competitively service second-tier tourist and business destination cities within ASEAN,” he added.

Bintan, located in the Riau archipelago in Indonesia and close to Singapore, has already been earmarked for a host of tourism developments including luxury resort The Sanchaya (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 14, 2012) and Far East Hospitality’s Quincy hotel (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 20, 2013). Both form part of the Lagoi Bay Bintan (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 30, 2013) development.

Last month, Indonesia’s Lion Air announced it is making Bintan’s next door neighbour, Batam, its second major hub for operations with plans to launch more domestic and international services from the island (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 28, 2014). The group has also been building up an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility on Bintan.

BELT-TIGHTENING by corporates and high weekend hotel rates have resulted in Singapore contributing less traffic to Hong Kong and Macau last year.

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), traffic from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2013 fell 3.9 per cent to 700,065 arrivals, while across all markets overnight business dropped five per cent though total leisure visitor numbers grew two per cent.

The number of Singaporean travellers to Macau last year decreased by eight per cent to 189,751, but the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) said Singapore remained one of its top 10 source markets.

Both NTOs are reaching out to the trade for better visitorship figures.

Simon Wong, regional director, South-east Asia, HKTB, said: “In the pipeline for 2H2014 is a B2B platform called Partnernet, which will be rolled out in South-east Asia to allow local travel consultants to engage directly with trade partners in Hong Kong.”

Along with the Hong Kong Specialists Programme that has yet to be launched, travel consultants can access the latest news on Hong Kong and HKTB’s various statistical reports to keep up-to-date, he added.

Macau is targeting new segments such as seniors and office ladies to improve arrivals, said Charles Leong, general manager, MGTO representative in Singapore.

Grace Tong, marketing manager, MGTO representative in Singapore, added plans were afoot to offer Hong Kong-Macau twinning programmes in the second- or third-quarter of 2014.

NOK Air has sealed a deal for 15 new Boeing 737 aircraft worth a total of US$1.5 billion, with the first to be delivered in July.

According to Singapore’s The Business Times, the LCC has placed an order for eight B737-800s and seven B737-Max 8s. Half of the new fleet will be used to replace older aircraft in Nok Air’s stable.

The airline, which Thai Airways International owns a 39.2 per cent stake in, presently operates 14 leased B737s.

The same report quoted Patee Sarasin, CEO of Nok Air, as saying regional expansion to Vietnam and Myanmar is being planned.

Nok Air and fellow LCC Scoot announced plans in December last year to collaborate on a medium- to longhaul LCC based out of Bangkok. It is also diving into the travel agency market with the establishment of a travel agency arm, Nok Holiday (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 8, 2013).

NATIONAL flag carrier Maldivian is looking to begin charter services from capital Malé to New Delhi in the next two to three months, pending approval from India.

According to Hussain Lirar, deputy tourism minister of the Maldives: “Last year, 30,000 Indians visited the Maldives. We are targeting 50,000 Indian arrivals in 2014 and we hope that direct connectivity between New Delhi and Malé will help us to achieve this target.”

A trade source told TTG Asia e-Daily the airline has decided on a thrice-weekly frequency. Maldivian currently runs flights to Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai.

However travel consultants are sceptical of the likely impact on traffic. Riaz Munshi, vice president of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, said ticket prices were a key consideration.

“I think India is not ready for a charter service between the two countries,” he said.

Others felt destination awareness was a bigger obstacle. “There is a need to educate the trade about the various tourist offerings in the Maldives as they are the people who sell the destination. This, combined with roadshows and trade and media fam trips, will help to increase Indian tourist arrivals to the Maldives,” said Vineet Gopal, managing director, Engee Holidays.

Meanwhile, Lirar said the Maldives is inviting the Indian private sector to help develop its north and south regions for tourism.