INDIAN travellers are flocking Down Under for a taste of Australia’s F&B offerings and local sellers have responded with wine tours and food safaris catered to this segment.

Brigid Kennedy, executive officer, Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia, said: “We have seen the emergence of Indian tourists curious about wine and are designing special itineraries to cater visits to Hunter Valley, Margaret River, Jacob’s Creek and De Bortoli, and wineries in Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, combining wine tourism and gastronomy with leisure activities we believe Indians will love.”

Penny Rafferty, executive officer, Luxury Lodges of Australia, shared: “Across our lodges in Ayers Rock, Great Barrier Reef, Barossa Valley, Kangaroo Island and Margaret River, we are offering food safaris geared towards the Indian guest. Coupled with unique luxury residences, we foresee excellent growth from this market.”

Other eno-gastronomic tours available in Australia include truffle picking, grape plucking, wine blending and barbecue competitions.

Andrew McEvoy, managing director, Tourism Australia: “The world travels on its stomach. That need must be satisfied in the most complete way.”

Tourism Australia will conduct roadshows in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad between September and October to showcase Australia’s tourism offerings and boost inbound arrivals.

Nishant Kashikar, manger India, Tourism Australia, commented: “Our Tourism 2020 Strategy states that India’s overnight visitor spend has the potential to reach between A$1.8-$2.2 billion (US$1.6-$2 billion), and that visitor numbers could go up to 300,000 annually.”

Indian arrivals grew 4.8 per cent year-on-year in 1Q2013.

Air India also commenced daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne on August 29, connecting New Delhi with Australia after a 16-year hiatus (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 16, 2013).

JETSTAR Group has signed interline agreements with seven carriers to grow its traffic from Asia, Europe and the US.

Boosting Jetstar’s number of interline partnerships to 31 are China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Malaysia Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Turkish Airlines.

The newly sealed deals will allow passengers on said airlines to book interline itineraries containing a sector on a Jetstar Group airline.

Said Jetstar Group COO, David Koczkar: “Our growing shorthaul networks out of Singapore and within Japan and Vietnam provide some very attractive itineraries for global carriers to offer their customers.

“Through these new agreements, we are now able to connect passengers from places like Zurich to destinations like Phuket and Bali and travellers from Shanghai to Darwin and Perth via Singapore.”

The Group also has existing codeshare agreements with Qantas, Japan Airlines, American Airlines and Myanmar Airways International.

Meanwhile, Qantas’ retiming of Australia-Singapore flights has led to a “three-fold increase” in the number of passengers flying to popular holiday spots such as Phuket, Penang and Bangkok through Jetstar Asia, said Koczkar.

IN LIGHT of a budget cut and the weakening rupiah, Indonesia will “work smart” and home in on source markets that are already seeing an increase in arrivals.

Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, said during a press conference in Jakarta yesterday: “The weakening of rupiah creates a double impact on tourism. While it means travellers can stretch their money further, the marketing budget, which is in foreign currency, will decrease.”

Furthermore, Indonesia will trim the coffers of all its government agencies to fund next year’s general and presidential elections, with almost 50 per cent of the tourism ministry’s budget to be cut (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 30, 2013).

Said Pangestu: “We have to work smarter. We will do more targeted marketing. For example, in China, instead of television advertisements, we will do more online platform marketing, as more and more people there do their research online.”

The ministry is working on a Mandarin website as well as intensive, year-round programmes for China that are expected to launch before the end of 2013.

“The other way is to increase the cooperation with (travel-related) companies, such as airlines, banks, credit card companies, to do joint promotions,” Pangestu added.

TTG Asia e-Daily understands that the strategy, currently still a work in progress, will see Indonesia also focus on markets including Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Despite the budget reduction, Pangestu said the ministry is working with the travel industry to keep Indonesia’s positive momentum in tourism going.

“Data showed that tourist arrivals to Indonesia for January-July 2013 grew 6.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. This is higher than the global tourism growth average, which was five per cent, according to UNWTO data,” she said.

Visitor arrivals to Indonesia between January and July totalled 4.9 million, while 2012 saw 5.6 million inbound travellers.

MALINDO Air is adding another two international destinations to its network following the launch of its maiden flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka on August 28 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 14, 2013).

Daily Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta flights will begin on September 23 and Kuala Lumpur-Bali services on September 26. Both will be operated with 180-seater Boeing 737-900ER aircraft.

Inbound travel consultants in Malaysia said they would leverage Malindo’s new flights to sell packages including destinations beyond the country’s capital.

Raaj Navaratnaa, general manager of Johor-based New Asia Tours & Travel, said he would promote packages combining a one-night stay in Kuala Lumpur with two nights in Johor, as well as target Indonesian families with packages bundling Legoland and the Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park.

Meanwhile, Andy Muniandy, director of sales and business development at Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, said: “Indonesians from Bali and Jakarta usually come to Kuala Lumpur for shopping. For those who wish to stay beyond the average two or three nights, we will push East Malaysia, as Malindo offers good airfares from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah and Sarawak.”

With increased seat capacity between both countries, Ally Bhoonee, executive director of World Avenues, said he hopes to see 10 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of Indonesian travellers to Malaysia.

The company set up a marketing office in Jakarta two years ago.

HOTEL 1929 has been sold for S$35 million (US$27.5 million) but will continue to be operated by the same entity, controlled by Loh Lik Peng, under a leaseback agreement.

According to The Business Times, a company owned by Cheong Keng Hooi acquired the hotel on Keong Saik Road in a deal brokered by Historical Land.

Loh, founder of Unlisted Collection to which Hotel 1929 belongs, will continue running the property and its restaurant, Ember.

In an interview with the broadsheet, Loh said there were no intentions to sell the four-storey freehold property, but the “attractive offer” and “optimal timing” sealed the deal.

Unlisted Collection owns three boutique hotels in London and a hotel in Shanghai, as well as restaurants in both cities and Singapore.

It was also reported that the group plans to open a hotel in Sydney within the next two years.

SINGAPORE Changi Airport will get a fifth terminal that can handle up to 50 million passengers a year as part of an ambitious expansion plan spanning over a decade.

Announced at a media briefing last Friday, The Straits Times reported that the aim was “to seal the airport’s premier hub status”, in view of growing competition from other air hubs in the region and beyond.

Slated for opening in 2025, Terminal 5 will be bigger than Terminals 2 and 3 combined. It could either be a single building or a smaller facility connected to a satellite terminal through an underground rail link.

It will be located at Changi East, linked to the rest of the airport, and possibly have its own MRT station.

When completed, Changi expects the new terminal to catapult the airport’s total passenger capacity to 135 million annually, up from 66 million currently.

Meanwhile, Yap Ong Heng, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said there are plans to “stretch” the airports existing two runways. Singapore’s third runway at Changi East will be operational around 2020.

AMANRESORTS has expanded its South-east Asian footprint with the launch of its first property, Amano’i, in Vietnam.

Situated north-east of Ho Chi Minh City on the coast of Nui Chua National Park, Amano’i offers 31 Pavilions, private swimming pools and five Aman Villas, all with a view of Vinh Hy Bay.

Notably, Aman Villas consist of four or five free-standing bedroom pavilions, as well as living and dining pavilions and a private swimming pool. They also come with a live-in housekeeper and cook.

The resort’s recreational facilities include the full-service Aman Spa, a gym, a pilates studio, a lakeside yoga pavilion, two outdoor tennis courts and the expansive Beach Club.

Amanresorts is also in Phuket (Amanpuri), Siem Reap (Amansara) and Luang Prabang (Amantaka).