MALAYSIAN inbound operators handling the Chinese market have reported many cancellations for tours in April and May, while the NTO has suspended activities on the tourism front in deference to lives lost in Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH370 as search for the wreckage continues.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Hamzah Rahmat, president of Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents said a meeting with members handling the Chinese inbound market will be called to gauge how badly business has been affected. He added: “I strongly believe this is temporary and things will get back to normal in a few weeks.”

Meanwhile, inbound business from China has been affected. Sunflower Holidays managing director, Mint Leong, said she has received cancellations for more than half her forward bookings for April and May.

“The cancellations are coming from all over China and are not restricted to Beijing. Some Chinese outbound travel consultants have stopped selling Malaysia,” she said.

Bernard Low, Freestyle Holidays’ managing director, also had more than 50 per cent of bookings for April cancelled and believes that forward bookings for May will be few. However, he was optimistic that tourism would recover “once the aircraft is found and there is closure for the families”.

Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of tourism and culture, said the Visit Malaysia Year2014 campaign in China has been stopped “until there is a definite conclusion to the fate of MH370”, Malaysian daily New Straits Times reported earlier this week.

Adam Kamal, deputy president of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, commended the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Ministry’s move, saying: “It is the right thing to do taking into consideration the sensitivities of families. Meanwhile the resources put in the China market can be utilised in other markets.”

The Twin Towers Alive 2014, a concert to mark the Formula One Grand Prix weekend in Kuala Lumpur, was also cancelled out of respect for MH370 victims following the announcement that the flight had ended in the southern Indian Ocean (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 25, 2014). The concert was originally scheduled for today and tomorrow.

HYATT Hotels Corporation will introduce its Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands to China beginning this year, with over 20 properties in the development pipeline.

The upscale Hyatt Place, and Hyatt House – targeted at long-staying guests – join four other Hyatt brands represented in China.

The first to open under the Hyatt Place brand is Hyatt Place Shenzhen, Dongmen, whose launch in 2Q2014 also signals the introduction of the brand to the Asia-Pacific region. Hyatt Place Shenzhen offers guests free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour gym and a Cozy Corner, among other facilities.

Hyatt Place hotels will land in Shenzhen, Foshan, Kunming, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongli (Hebei province), Wuxi, Luoyang, Moganshan (Zhejiang province), Sanya and Anshan (Liaoning province).

Hyatt House properties are scheduled for development in Shenzhen, Sanya, Shanghai and Wuxi.

BEST Western International has teamed up with Sri Lankan company Elyon Hotels to launch a series of hotels across the country, with the aim of adding a total of 700 rooms to its portfolio within five years.

The two parties will open the 60-room Best Western Elyon Colombo this summer. The city hotel will offer an all-day dining restaurant, specialty restaurant, bar, room service, fitness centre, meeting space and free Wi-Fi.

The opening kickstarts Best Western’s expansion plans in Sri Lanka under the new agreement, which will see Elyon identifying opportunities for new hotels. These will likely come up in destinations such as Colombo, Kandy, Mirrisa and Tangalle.

Best Western has set a target of more than four hotels and 400 rooms within the next three years and 700 rooms in five years.

Best Western’s vice president of international operations for Asia & the Middle East, Glenn de Souza, said: “The recent economic boom following the end of three decades of war has seen Sri Lanka develop rapidly.”

“Driven by strong interest from India, China, the Middle East and Europe, international visitor arrivals to Sri Lanka have been growing exponentially in recent years, reaching one million for the first time in 2012. This is expected to reach 1.5 million visitors in 2014, and as an international hotelier, Best Western has a duty to provide to this soaring number of travellers with quality accommodation options.”

ACCOR has clinched a deal for what’s likely to be a second Sofitel in Singapore and the property in question is the Sentosa Resort & Spa, which was snapped by the Royal Brothers Holdings in August last year.

Royal Brothers also owns the 134-room Sofitel So Singapore, which is opening in May. It paid a premium for this landmark building along Robinson Road, which is the former Ogilvy Centre. It is understood to have forked out easily above S$200 million (US$158.6 million) for the 215-room Sentosa Resort & Spa, an established, well-designed hotel whose origins could be traced back to Amanresorts’ Adrian Zecha and company, and which later became The Beaufort Singapore.

Sources said it is likely that the Sentosa resort property will be branded as a Sofitel, not a So. An official announcement will be made on April 16.

News of Accor’s new property on Sentosa Island was broken by TTG Asia at this year’s ITB Berlin. Sofitel So Singapore will work hand-in-hand with its new sister hotel and direct MICE traffic there, given its existing MICE facilities (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 18, 2014).