THAILAND’S position as a top tourist destination is helping to fuel the expansion of Emirates’ capacity and network in Asia, according to Jabr Al-Azeeby, the airline’s manager for Thailand and Indochina.

Said Al-Azeeby: “2013 was a magnificent year for us. Demand picked up so much that we are serving six daily flights with the addition of a second Airbus A380 Dubai-Bangkok service since October 27 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 28, 2013).

“We are already seeing high load factors averaging 85 per cent year-round in and out of Thailand…We (expect to) see very big growth in 2015 when the ASEAN Economic Community starts, with Bangkok as the regional hub.”

The Dubai-based airline currently offers 2,000 daily seats on its Bangkok-Dubai flights; including services to Hong Kong, Sydney and Christchurch, the number of seats out of Thailand total 3,000 daily, Al-Azeeby revealed.

He does not rule out the possibility of further raising Emirates’ Bangkok-Dubai capacity in future although any expansion of its daily Dubai-Phuket service (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 14, 2012) is limited for the time being due to current capacity constraints at Phuket International Airport.

With its growing capacity to Bangkok, the carrier has already observed stronger demand from Europe during Thailand’s current peak season, while its connections to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and Argentina (Buenos Aires) have fuelled “huge demand” for South American outbound travel to Thailand via Dubai, he remarked.

Meanwhile, Emirates has also seen strong performance on its Thai outbound services. Among the new destinations launched this year, including Clark, Tokyo (Haneda), Stockholm and Warsaw, the last has received “nice demand from Thai operators using the Polish capital as a gateway to Central Europe”, according to Al-Azeeby.

New cities coming onto Emirates’ flight network in 1Q2014 include Kiev (January 16), Taipei (February 10) and Boston (March 10); other new destinations are expected to be announced after the financial year ends on March 31, 2014.

Emirates will also highlight stopover benefits in Dubai such as a free 36-hour visa offer, special hotel rates starting at US$40 a night, and exclusive tours and excursions priced from US$25, which together will cost travellers less than US$100 for Dubai layovers, Al-Azeeby revealed. The carrier is set to complete the installation of onboard Wi-Fi across all its fleet soon.

In September, Emirates rolled out ultra-luxurious private jet services worldwide on Airbus A319 aircraft, offering 19 seats with onboard amenities such as flat beds and showers.

“We are looking forward to private jet service demand in Thailand,” said Al-Azeeby.

CYPRUS Tourism Organisation (CTO) has plans to open a representation office in India next year, having concluded its maiden two-city roadshows in New Delhi and Mumbai last month as part of its efforts including workshops and fam trips to enhance its presence in the country.

Vassillis Theocharides, director, CTO, said: “We are looking to appoint a representation body next year. However, we have to work on ad hoc projects first. Our present focus is to create awareness of Cyprus in the Indian market. We have not set targets as far as numbers are concerned.”

CTO will roll out an online training programme, www.agentslovecyprus.com, for the Indian and Middle Eastern markets by end-November.

The NTO is targeting the Indian MICE and wedding segments. Theocharides said: “We are open to organising marketing campaigns with partners who can send large groups to Cyprus. We will bear 75 per cent of the campaign cost. We will also hold personal meetings with Indian corporates.”

Guldeep Singh Sahni, president, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, said: “Although Cyprus is a small country, one can indulge in a lot of activities there. Cyprus is an affordable destination and quite near to European destinations we have been selling.

“Arrivals to Cyprus from Russia and the UK are very high at present. I think India will grow as one of the significant markets for Cyprus in the near future,” he added.

TOURIST destinations in Visayas devastated by super typhoon Haiyan can bounce back in three to six months, the lead time for the recovery of Asian destinations similarly affected by natural disasters or terrorist attacks in recent history, according to Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks.

Tracking what he called the “big event syndrome”, Barnett noted a three- to six-month recovery for Japan’s east coast from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami; Bali from the series of bombings in 2005; and Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka from the 2004 tsunami.

“Tourists will come back quickly to the affected destinations in the Philippines. People want to help. Overseas Filipinos will come back. People will travel out of sentiment. People who don’t know the Philippines will visit,” said Barnett.

“People are travelling on short notice, on shorter-term period, on LCCs,” he added.

He said several things can be learned from the “big events syndrome” of the past, including turning the negative into positive.

“One of the things we learned from the Bali bombings is that the tourism sector is speaking with one voice, telling the people that the hotels are okay and everything is fine.”

In Thailand, in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, the government intervened and pressed the insurance companies to pay the owners of damaged hotels and resorts quickly.

“That’s the key to rebuilding, and something that maybe the Philippine Department of Tourism can do,” said Barnett.

However, he questioned whether the campaign brand, It’s More Fun in the Philippines, is relevant and appropriate in the aftermath of Haiyan.

THE Philippine and Indonesian travel trade can now make use of an e-trading platform, Standard Online Tourism Architecture (SOTA), developed by Malaysian IT company SOTA.

A one-stop platform, SOTA provides applications for the industry to have an online presence, engage their visitors and sell their packages online.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Tourism, Hospitality & Technology Conference 2013 in Kuching, SOTA founder and CEO, Rohizam Md Yusoff, said his company has been working with the Association of the Indonesia Travel & Tour Agencies and the Philippines’ National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, going on roadshows and conducting training programmes in major cities to introduce the platform to members of the two associations.

Currently, around 300 travel and tour operators in Malaysia, 80 in the Philippines and 70 in Indonesia are using the SOTA platform, which was developed in 2009.

SOTA has also recently developed an ancillaries platform and tied up with insurance companies and duty-free shops in Malaysia to offer online travel ancillaries products for its members to sell.

JW MARRIOTT became the first property to start operations in the New Delhi Aerocity last week.

JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity offers 523 rooms and is the largest property of the hotel chain in India. General manager Balan Paravantavida said: “At present, 418 rooms of the property are operational while the rest of the rooms will be opened in about 45 days.”

The property has one of the largest meeting and conference facilities in the region, offering 2,302m² in meeting space, including the 1,210m² Grand Crystal Ballroom and eight meeting rooms spread across two levels.

“We will be the much sought-after venue for international MICE events,” said Balan.

The ballroom and meeting rooms are fitted with state-of-the-art technology, a 41.8m² pre-function area and a professional event planning team.

Hotel projects in Aerocity had earlier faced delay pending clearance from the civil aviation authorities. The development, which comprises 11 properties that will add some 5,000 rooms to the region’s inventory, is 650m away from the runway of Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi.

The nine-month delay of JW Marriott’s opening has resulted in serious cost escalations by an additional US$15.9-23.8 million to around US$143.17 million, according to hotel sources.

THE Philippines will welcome a new boutique hotel in Malate, Manila in the first quarter next year.

Currently under construction, Amélie Hotel Manila will open with an offering of 70 rooms comprising single (24m²), double (33m²) and suite rooms (31m²).

All rooms are equipped with 32-inch flat-screen LED television and complimentary Wi-Fi. Other facilities include a multi-layered roof deck, a swimming pool, a multi-purpose hall, a gym and a viewing deck.

The property is managed by Paramount Hotels & Facilities Management Co.

AIRASIA has launched its zero-baht fare campaign again, this time with three million promotional seats available throughout AirAsia and AirAsia X’s extensive route network.

The zero-baht tickets are available for booking at www.airasia.com as well as AirAsia’s mobile apps and mobile site mobile.airasia.com from today until December 1, 2013, for the travel period May 5, 2014 to January 31, 2015. Seats are from a zero-base fare, with applicable taxes and fees, from 100 baht (US$3.13) one-way.

Domestic destinations featured in this campaign include Krabi, Phuket, Trang, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phitsanulok, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Hat Yai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Nakhon Phanom and Narathiwat.

International destinations include Yangon, Mandalay, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Xi’an, Kunming, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Bali, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur and Penang, among others.

Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, said: “This year we have continuously added more frequencies and new routes into our network such as Khon Kaen, Phitsanulok, Siem Reap and Kunming. Furthermore, starting from December 1, passengers will be able to conveniently connect to their preferred destination with our 30 new Fly-Thru routes via Don Mueang Airport without the hassle of collecting their bags at any stopover transit point.”

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) will continue to grow its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region over the coming years, with a particular focus on destinations within six hours’ flight of Kuala Lumpur.

Duncan Bureau, senior vice president sales & distribution, commercial at MAS, said the airline will increase its frequencies and add new routes within South-east Asia, India and Australia.

The airline has restarted services from Kuala Lumpur to Darwin on November 1 with five-times-weekly services and plans to further increase frequencies, after having terminated services to the Northern Territory in 2002.

Duncan added that the airline’s narrow body fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft will grow from the present 39 to 55 by 2015 and the additional aircraft used to service said routes within six hours’ flight time from Kuala Lumpur.

The airline will improve aircraft utilisation by upping operations of its B737-800 fleet from the present 11.5 hours daily. This will be done by cutting its current 1.5 hour turnaround time, revealed Duncan.

MAS has already raised utilisation from nine hours daily to its current rate over the past 18 months.