HILTON Worldwide and drinks company Diageo are joining hands to launch a tourism and hospitality conference in Singapore next year, focusing on industry topics for women.

Celebrating Opportunities for Women in Tourism and Hospitality in Asia will take place at Hilton Singapore on March 7, 2014, coinciding with International Women’s Day.

Organised in collaboration with knowledge parter the Singapore Committee for UN Women, the conference will feature a line-up of topics with insights into the benefits of investing in skills and training for women, gender discrimination and diversity in the workplace.

Attendees can expect to discuss and debate the opportunities, challenges and issues facing women in the industry in Asia-Pacific and globally, to provide a platform for engagement and share best practices in training, empowering, employing and promoting women.

The conference is part of Diageo’s Plan W programme that aims to empower women through learning.

For more information and registration details, visit www.womenhospitalityconference.com.

SYDNEY-BASED StayWell Hospitality Group has been denied permission to register its Park Regis hotel trademark in Singapore by a court ruling last Friday, which legal experts have said could lead to a name change for the hotel.

According to local broadsheet The Straits Times, StayWell’s attempt to register its Park Regis hotel trademark was opposed by US-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts and subsidiary Sheraton International, which owns the similarly named St Regis in Singapore.

Singapore’s Court of Appeal last week ruled that the Park Regis name resembled Starwood’s St Regis, and the naming could suggest that the two hotels are affiliated.

The Straits Times quoted Richard Doyle, executive director and corporate counsel for StayWell Hospitality Group, as saying that the company is “seeking legal advice relating to the court decision”.

He noted that earlier cases the group had faced over the same issue had been shot down in Indonesia and Britain.

Park Regis Singapore had opened here in 2010, while St Regis Singapore was registered in Singapore in 1995 ahead of the opening of hotel in 2008.

JAPAN is banking on its world-class manufacturing and agricultural sectors to draw more tourists under a new industrial tourism programme. Backed by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), it will target travel agencies and foreign companies interested in how Japanese businesses work.

Under the Industrial Tourism: Come See What Makes Japan Tick programme launched alongside its website (www.jetro.go.jp/en/ind_tourism) on November 20, a range of industrial tourism options are available across 24 destinations in Japan.

This includes trips to factories of household names such as Asahi and Kirin Beer in Hokkaido, Kikkoman Corporation in Chiba and Nissan Motor in Yokohama as well as museums like Kawasaki Good Times World in Kobe where automobile enthusiasts can get up close to Kawasaki vehicles or Noritake Gardens in Nagoya which allows visitors to paint on their own china.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily at the Visit Japan Travel Mart in Yokohama last week, Osamu Hisaki, creative industries planning division, creative industries promotion department of JETRO, said it is the first time JETRO is venturing into tourism.

“(In June), tourism was designated as a major field to work on for the Japanese economy. Based on this trend, JETRO prepared an action plan together with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport; and Tourism and Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO),” he explained.

Asked how JETRO intends to promote its newly launched offerings, Hisaki said: “With JNTO, we are considering participating in travel fairs abroad. In the meantime, we are working to increase the number of partner companies we have.”

Acknowledging that China, South Korea and Taiwan are “important customers” and major sources of visitors for Japan, he said that apart from those markets, JETRO is trying to reach countries with more than 10,000 arrivals a year.

PRELIMINARY traffic figures released yesterday by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) showed that growth in international passenger demand had maintained momentum in October.

Asia-Pacific airlines reported a strong 8.3 per cent increase in the number of passengers carried to a combined total of 18.5 million passengers.

In terms of revenue passenger kilometre, international passenger traffic grew 8.6 per cent, reflecting good demand on major longhaul routes. Combined with a 7.5 per cent expansion in available seat capacity, the average international passenger load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 77.2 per cent.

AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman, said: “Overall, a total of 182 million international passengers flew on Asia-Pacific airlines during the first 10 months of the year, a solid 5.9 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The continued recovery of the global economy boosted traffic for the region’s carriers, driving further growth in both business and leisure travel.

“The steady improvement in global business conditions, and the tentative recovery in consumer sentiment seen in the major developed economies, give us added confidence in future growth prospects, even though competitive pressures are still weighing heavily on both yields and margins for Asian carriers.”

HILTON Worldwide has entered into an agreement with Goverdhandham Estate to manage Hilton Garden Inn Jaipur/Amer Fort, which is scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2015.

Hilton Worldwide president for Asia-Pacific, Martin Rinck, said: “Jaipur is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India, and we anticipate opening our first hotel in the city early next year.

“India is a key strategic market for Hilton Worldwide. Presently, we operate hotels and resorts in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Vadodara, Pune, Goa and Shillim. Over the next eight to 10 months, we will be extending our network to Bengaluru, Trivandrum, Agra and Jaipur.”

Hilton Garden Inn Jaipur/Amer Fort will feature 125 guestrooms and suites, an all-day restaurant, a bar, a fitness centre, an outdoor pool and 138m² of conference and events space. Other services include complimentary Internet access, a 24-hour business centre and a 24-hour convenience mart.

The famous Amer Fort is located five kilometres from the hotel, while other historical and tourist attractions such as Jal Mahal Palaces, Albert Museum and Jantar Mantar can be reached within a 20-minute drive.

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) and Ethiopian Airlines have expanded their codeshare agreement to offer more destinations to passengers of both carriers, effective December 3, 2013.

The codesharing will expand to Ethiopian Airlines-operated flights between Singapore and the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, via Bangkok.

On a reciprocal basis, Ethiopian Airlines will codeshare on SIA-operated flights beyond Singapore to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

In the coming weeks, SIA will also codeshare on Ethiopian Airlines-operated intra-Africa flights from Addis Ababa to Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo, Accra in Ghana, Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya, Kigali in Rwanda, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Entebbe in Uganda, subject to regulatory approvals.

DUBAI has been voted the host city for the World Expo in 2020, making it the first Middle Eastern city to host the mega event.

The voting rounds were held during the 154^th Bureau International des Exhibitions General Assembly in Paris on Wednesday. Dubai received 116 out of 165 votes, beating the final contenders – Brazil’s Sao Paulo, Russia’ Yekaterinburg and Turkey’s Izmir – with its bid themed ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.

Winning the right to host the Expo will have a significant impact on the tourism industry of Dubai and the UAE, according to Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre. He said: “Hosting Expo 2020 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that will be maximised to accelerate the growth of the tourism industry in Dubai, the UAE and the wider GCC region.

“A wide range of sectors will benefit, including construction, engineering and transportation, and of course the hospitality, retail and aviation sectors will experience a significant positive impact, further strengthening their already robust positions…There are currently 82,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms in Dubai and this figure is expected to double by 2020 to ensure the demands of the Expo visitors are met.

“DTCM will work with our partners in both government and the private sector to put in place the infrastructure and processes needed to meet the (huge) demand,” he added.

Between October 2020 and April 2021, more than 25 million visitors are expected to attend the World Expo 2020, 70 per cent of which will be from outside the UAE – the largest number of international visitors in the Expo history.

TOURISTS from South-east Asia are gaining a foothold on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route linking central Japanese prefectures Toyama and Nagano, a route regarded a rival to ever-popular Hokkaido.

Accessible only between April and November each year, the route offers visitors a chance to get up-close to the iconic snow walls in Murodo that reach almost 20m at their peak.

“Travellers can land in Nagoya and exit through Tokyo or vice versa, visiting destinations like Takayama or Shirakawago in Gifu prefecture and Matsumoto city in Nagano along the way,” said Ryota Nishiyama, chief for overseas sales centre, Tateyama sales promotion department of Tateyama Kurobe Kanko. “Our main rival is Hokkaido, and so we are working with the prefectural governments around us to challenge them.”

He added: “Thailand is our top source market in South-east Asia. The number of Thai visitors so far this year has hit 8,000, doubling last year’s 4,000. Singapore’s share has grown from 1,000 to 1,500 and Indonesia’s from 1,400 to 2,500.

Having recorded a 40 per cent rise in travellers to the Alpine Route, JTB Malaysia senior consultant for retail product, outbound division, Regine Ma, expects the surge to continue into 2014, boosted by AirAsia X’s recently launched service from Kuala Lumpur to Nagoya (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 18, 2013), a three-hour’s drive from Toyama prefecture.

Also improving access to the area is the shinkansen service that currently only reaches Nagano, which will be extended to Kanazawa by March 2015 to allow passengers to drop off at Itoigawa station closer to the Alpine Route.

Golden Discovery Express Bangkok CEO, Adith Chairattananon, sees potential in selling Alpine Route tours to the Thai market. He said: “Tateyama will be famous among South-east Asians within the next three to five years. Thai people want to see mountains and snow as they do not have that opportunity (in Thailand).”

Boby Hendry, director of Chan Brothers Travel Indonesia, said with increased promotions from the Japan National Tourism Organization, the Alpine Route is gaining traction among Indonesians, most of whom are second-time travellers to Japan.

Asked what is necessary to bring more people to central Japan, he said: “We need advertising support to promote the beauty of the area. With awareness, people will make enquiries and then we get the business.”

COME 2014, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) will focus on UNESCO World Heritage sites, the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and youth travel in Germany as part of its promotional activities in India.

The NTO will launch a new marketing campaign in March 2014 to promote Germany’s 30-plus UNESCO World Heritage sites among Indian travellers, revealed GNTB’s destination manager – Asia and Australia, Till Weigl, during a three-city roadshow organised by the German National Tourism Office (GNTO) India in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai earlier this week.

GNTB is also seeking more FIT and leisure arrivals from India. “Germany is well established as a MICE destination in India. Leisure tourism is slowly building up. We are looking to establish Germany as an affordable destination within Europe so as to attract price-sensitive travellers too,” added Weigl.

Marc Giesen, head of DB Bahn International Sales, one of the 11 German suppliers participating in GNTO’s roadshows, is keen to target “sophisticated Indians” through its rail products.

According to GNTO India director, sales and marketing, Romit Theophilus, the roadshows attracted 200 tour operators in New Delhi and Mumbai, and 150 tour operators in Bengaluru.

Germany recorded 550,000 overnights from India last year and 402,440 overnights from January to August 2013. Indian overnights are expected to register a marginal growth of 0.8 per cent by this year-end.