A STAND-ALONE meetings and events facility at Parkroyal on Beach Road rolled out its red carpet to guests this week, marking the completion of the S$20 million (US$16 million) project.

Termed ‘The Ballrooms’, the facility is connected to Parkroyal on Beach Road via a skywalk and spread across 576m² for events of up to 860 guests.

David Donald, general manager Parkroyal on Beach Road, said: “This significant investment has been made in order to keep pace with consumer demand for more efficient use of space and the latest technology.

“The Ballrooms adds to Singapore’s proposition of being a MICE hub with exceptional infrastructure and a variety of options for hosting conferences, meetings and events.”

According to Donald, weddings make up 55 per cent of events held at Parkroyal on Beach Road and corporate events, 25 per cent. With this new facility, Donald said the hotel aimed to grow the share of corporate events to at least 35 per cent.

“Demand is coming in very fast with this opening and in particular for weddings – we have 38 lined up for the rest of the year.

“But we are looking to have more high-end corporate meetings as they provide large volumes and are more profitable,” he added.

The new facility offers two pillarless ballrooms with capacities of 540 or 320 guests, divisible into three rooms, and a boardroom for 40 pax. Donald highlighted the additional open courtyard, which is 420m² large, as the facility’s unique selling point.

He said: “We want to show our ability to be different, so such outdoor spaces can be used if meeting planners want to bring their meetings outside for a more suburban setting.”

While the new space is located minutes away from the more renowned Suntec International Convention Centre, Raffles Convention Centre and Marina Bay Sands, Donald considers the venue “ideal for secondary conferences, meetings and events prior and in relation to city-wide conferences and events”.

INDONESIAN flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is increasing capacity on its routes between Singapore and Jakarta by deploying large aircraft to meet strong demand.

In mid-August, Garuda exchanged 162-seater Boeing 737-800 services for 222-seater Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the 12.20 and 20.20 services departing Singapore, increasing capacity on each flight by 37 per cent.

The aircraft was also deployed for the 08.35 and 16.30 flights leaving Jakarta.

Garuda will further adjust capacity for the abovementioned flights on November 6 to meet higher projected demand by replacing the A330-200 with 257-seater A330-300 aircraft.

Another two daily B737-800 flights will be operated with the A330-200s instead.

Garuda will also move its check-in services at Changi Airport Terminal 3 from Row 1 to Row 5 beginning September 25.

EMIRATES will begin direct flights to Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport on February 10 next year.

The six-time-weekly service will be operated by a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with eight seats in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 304 in Economy Class.

Barry Brown, divisional senior vice president commercial operations East, Emirates, said: “Emirates SkyCargo has operated a dedicated freighter service to Taipei since 2003. Given its status as a global trading hub and the demand, it is a natural progression for Emirates to launch passenger services to Taipei.”

“We are confident that this new route will open up new trade opportunities across the Emirates network as well as support business and tourism travel to Taipei.”

The airline launched flights to Tokyo (Haneda) in June this year, and currently already flies to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has reduced its arrivals target for 2014, while the country’s tourism budget for next year is also set to almost halve.

Almost all government agencies are to receive smaller budgets next year as the government earmarks funds for the country’s general and presidential elections scheduled to take place in 2014, said Nia Niscaya, director of international promotions.

She commented: “There (will be) a significant slash in the marketing budget and we need to (prioritise).

“We will be refocusing on travel marts to maintain our presence at big, international promotional events. It is crucial for us to be present at such events to keep up (Indonesia’s positive image) and push for growth.”

Niscaya’s marketing department alone is due to receive Rp88 billion (US$8 million), nearly half of 2013’s Rp160 billion.

In the meantime, Antara news agency quoted Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, as saying that her office would revise its arrivals target for 2014 downwards from 10 million from 9.5 million.

She said: “We need to be realistic in setting targets, taking into account the condition in the field.”

Pangestu added that current projections indicated that the global economic crisis and slowdown would likely continue into the future as well, dampening travel.

MANDALAY will get its first hot-air balloon flights during the coming peak season in October.

The newly-launched Oriental Ballooning Company will run balloon flights every morning between October 25, 2013 to March 31, 2014. Subject to suitable weather conditions, flights take off just before sunrise and will cost US$320 per person.

Ma Ni Ni Khaing, operations manager from Oriental Ballooning, said the hot-air balloons were made by the UK’s largest and longest-running balloon manufacturer, Cameron Balloons, and are maintained by certified balloon inspectors working according to standards set by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

The company hires experienced UK commercial balloon pilot licence holders to operate the rides, and international insurance is included for passengers.

“We have a total of six balloons, among which two can carry four passengers each and the remaining four can carry eight passengers each,” she said. “Demand is really high from the European and Asian markets.”

Ma Ni Ni Khaing added that the company was awaiting approval from the Department of Civil Aviation to expand its services to Bagan and Inle Lake, and was also looking into other destinations such as Pindaya in Shan state.

Oriental Ballooning Company is a subsidiary of Amata Group, which is currently developing Amata Resort and Spa in Ngapali beach and Amata Garden Resort in Inle Lake.

QATAR Airways will up its game to remain on a par with rivals Etihad Airways and Emirates by giving its passengers more baggage allowance from September 1.

Economy-class passengers will be able to check in up to 30kg of baggage on most international flights, business-class travellers will get 40kg instead of 30kg, while first-class travellers will can take with them 50kg of luggage instead of 40kg, reported Bloomberg.

Most European, Asian and US airlines allow each economy-class passenger 23kg of luggage.

PHILIPPINE carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) is lobbying for an open skies agreement to be sealed between the Philippines and Japan, in order to penetrate deeper into the Japanese market.

CEB vice president for marketing and distribution, Candice Iyog, said the airline planned to “aggressively expand into Japan in the future”.

“Aside from Japan being one of the Philippines’ biggest trading partners, it is also home to 350,000 global Filipinos. CEB’s expansion in Japan will allow us to…boost business and leisure traffic,” she added.

The airline, in a position paper submitted to the Philippine Air Consultation Panel in August, attributed the negative two per cent compounded decrease in Japanese foreign arrivals between 2006 and 2011 to the lack of additional seat entitlements.

“An open skies agreement with Japan will benefit local tourism and trade, especially since we believe Japan can rival South Korea when it comes to foreign tourist arrivals,” Iyog said.

The CEB paper said such an agreement would speed up the acquisition of seat entitlements and allow CEB to immediately expand its Japan operations. The airline currently runs a thrice-weekly service from Manila to Osaka.

Japan has signed open skies agreements with Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Air consultation talks between the two countries will be held from September 11-13.