BEST Western International (BWI) has opened a new hotel this week in Buriram, becoming the first international hotel group to launch in Thailand’s north-eastern city.

Best Western Royal Buriram Hotel in the centre of the city offers 79 rooms featuring amenities such as complimentary Wi-Fi, 32-inch LCD televisions with international satellite channels, minibars and room service.

Facilities include an all-day dining restaurant serving both Asian and international cuisines and an outdoor swimming pool with sun loungers.

Fast-growing Buriram is the gateway to attractions including the Angkor-style temples of Phanom Rung Historical Park.

BWI is also present in Bangkok, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Khao Lak.

INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) and Indonesian property developer Duta Anggada Realty have signed an agreement to develop Holiday Inn & Suites Jakarta Gajah Mada, scheduled for opening in 2015.

Located in Jalan Gajah Mada in north Jakarta, the 447-room property is a mixed-use development that will not only feature hotel rooms, but also serviced apartments for guests who want to book extended stays at the hotel.

The property opposite the LTC Glodok Mall is a short drive from Jakarta’s central business district and easily accessible from Jakarta International Airport.

Based in Jakarta, Duta Anggada Realty is under Duta Anggada Group, a group of companies with more than 40 years of experience in the residential, office and retail sector.

IHG COO for South-east Asia and resorts, Clarence Tan, said: “Indonesia has seen very strong economic progress and industry trends have really fuelled the demand for our Holiday Inn brand.

“The property will be our first in Indonesia to answer the increasing demand for travel in Jakarta, especially (from) those who now need to stay for longer each time they visit.”

Currently in South-east Asia, Indonesia is where IHG has the largest development pipeline, with over 20 hotels slated to open in the next few years, including six Holiday Inn and more than 10 Holiday Inn Express hotels to cater to the country’s growing midscale market.

THE Lion City will get a touch of pizazz next year when the inaugural Singapore International Jazz Festival (Sing Jazz) kicks off at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

Slated to run from February 27 to March 2, Sing Jazz will feature a stellar line-up of jazz and R&B artistes including Jamie Cullum, Natalie Cole, James Morrison, India Arie, Incognito, Gregory Porter, Allen Stone and Dirty Loops, alongside regional and local jazz players.

The festival is organised by Orbis Festival Productions in collaboration with MBS and counterpart festival, Java International Jazz Festival (Java Jazz).

Sing Jazz will also host clinics led by festival artists and facilitate exchanges between local talent and Java Jazz.

Java Festival Production founder and chairman, Peter Gontha, commented: “Java Jazz already attracts well over 100,000 attendees each year to Indonesia. Together with Sing Jazz, we intend to make South-east Asia the world’s premiere jazz destination.”

“Our distinctive offerings enable us to showcase international and regional jazz at its very best, albeit with a uniquely Asian vibe.”

Tickets for Sing Jazz are already on sale, with prices starting from S$78 (US$62) for a one-day general admission for adults.

Elsewhere in the region, the Hua Hin Jazz Festival has declared it will make a comeback to the beaches of Hua Hin, Thailand in June 2014 (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 13, 2013).

QANTAS yesterday announced it had signed a codeshare agreement with China Southern Airlines and is exploring other possible areas of cooperation with the China-based carrier.

The terms of the deal will allow Qantas customers to book China Southern services from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to Guangzhou and four more onward destinations in China namely Xiamen, Kunming, Fuzhou and Urumqi. China Southern commenced a daily Airbus A380 service between Sydney and Guangzhou in October.

China Southern passengers can also reserve seats on 10 different Qantas routes in Australia and to New Zealand. The new codeshare services will be available for booking and travel in early 2014.

In addition, both airlines are looking into partnering up in other areas, including pilot training assistance from Qantas.

Qantas already has existing commercial relationships with China Eastern Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways.

Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Group, said: “Partnership is key to our strategy in Asia and we’re very pleased to now have China Southern as one of our codeshare partners in the world’s fastest growing aviation market.”

“This is great news for the increasing number of Qantas customers travelling to China for business and leisure because it simplifies their journey and opens up new destinations.”

A sixth of Qantas’ revenue now comes from Asia, he said.

SINGAPORE-based Ariva Hotels & Serviced Apartments has opened the doors of its latest property, the colonial-inspired M Boutique Hotel by Ariva.

The 93-room boutique property in Ipoh, the capital of Perak, blends classic shophouse architecture and the hotel’s industrial exterior with contemporary art and furniture design.

Facilities in the hotel include a gym with the latest fitness equipment, the Signature Old Town White Coffee Café, meeting and event spaces for up to 70 guests, and the soon-to-open Myth Eatery & Bar that will serve contemporary fare prepared with ingredients from local sustainable sources.

Ariva Hotels & Serviced Apartments is a management company set up in Singapore in 2009. It currently has 5,000 units in its portfolio across cities such as Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuching, Medan, Penang, Qingdao, Semarang, Singapore, Tianjin and Yangon.

INDIA’S aviation authority has granted Malindo Air an operating licence for proposed flights between India and Malaysia, a move that could lead to cheaper fares on the route.

Malindo will kickstart daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi on December 30, daily flights to Trichy on January 2 and daily flights to Mumbai on February 15.

Chandran Rama Muthy, CEO of Malindo Air, said in a statement: “The decision to start our services to these long-awaited new routes emphasises the value and importance of tourism, trade and business links between India and Malaysia. We believe these new services will support Tourism Malaysia’s Visit Malaysia Year 2014 (VMY14) campaign.”

Eva Ristina, executive director at Kuala Lumpur-based inbound operator Tina Travel & Agencies, said Malindo’s entry is very much welcome as it will add much needed seat capacity especially on the Mumbai and New Delhi routes.

Seat capacity on the routes fell following AirAsia X’s exit early last year, when the LCC suspended its four weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai on January 31. Daily service to New Delhi was stopped on March 22 (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13, 2012).

Both the Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi route and Kuala Lumpur-Mumbai route are currently monopolised by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 27, 2012).

MAS offers twice-daily services between Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi, and six flights weekly to Mumbai.

Eva added: “Hopefully MAS will relook their pricing strategy as there is now competition on the Kuala Lumpur-Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi routes.

“With lower fares offered by Malindo Air, Indian outbound tour operators will be able to work out lower packages rates for Malaysia, which will make the destination more competitive. The new services are timely in anticipation of VMY14.”

SHANGHAI will become home to the world’s largest integrated indoor winter resort in 2018, to be known as Winterland Shanghai.

The resort is a project by Singapore-based property developer KOP Properties and will reportedly cost 13.5 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion).

According to Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times, Winterland Shanghai will feature the world’s longest indoor ski trail, a water park, a tree-lined hiking trail and a beach club.

The paper quoted company chairman Ong Chih Ching as saying that the resort would also offer housing, office, retail and hotel space besides its winter attractions.

KOP has inked an agreement with a local district government in Shanghai for the resort, and construction on the 18-hectare piece of land is scheduled to start in 3Q2014.

TOURISM Malaysia is going deeper into cyberspace with the recent launch of its integrated digital marketing programme, intended to complement existing marketing efforts for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014.

Said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister of tourism and culture: “Global media consumption is rapidly shifting towards the digital world, thus it is apt that Tourism Malaysia follows suit and goes where the future lies.

“Social media and social networking are on a steady rise, reaching out to nearly one in four people around the world. The number of social media users are expected to rise from 1.5 billion in 2012 to 1.7 billion this year, which is an increase of 18 per cent.”

The integrated digital marketing programme was designed to support VMY 2014 promotions and includes video content on YouTube and TrulyAsia.TV, the ShareMy initiative to encourage tourists to explore Malaysia virtually in the online social realm, as well as Facebook and Twitter presences, the Tourism Malaysia website and a mobile travel app, known as The Malaysia Trip Planner.

The Malaysian government has allocated a budget of RM1.2 billion (US$374.2 million) over a two-year period starting this year for the implementation of VMY 2014 programmes, as well as advertising and promotional expenditure.

VMY 2014 will be officially launched on January 4, 2014 at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. With over 200 tourism events scheduled throughout the whole of next year, the government is targeting 28 million tourist arrivals and RM76 billion in tourism receipts.