SOME 86 per cent of Asian hoteliers intending to open new properties in the coming year will be opening them in Asia, signalling a deep-seated belief in the ascendancy of the region’s tourism market.

According to the second TripBarometer study conducted by TripAdvisor this year, 34 per cent of Asian hoteliers will be opening new properties in 2014, double the global average of hoteliers expanding their portfolios.

Asia’s hoteliers are ranked the third most optimistic in the world, with 74 per cent of them feeling positive about their business’ profitability in the year ahead.

This puts Asian hoteliers above the global average of 67 per cent, though Central America and North America came in higher at 79 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.

In line with their positive outlook for the Asian hospitality scene, 58 per cent of Asian hoteliers will be raising rates in 2014, mostly to cope with rising overhead costs (58 per cent) and increased demand (38 per cent).

In the meantime, only 51 per cent of global hoteliers intend to hike their rates.

Hoteliers in Asia are also looking to invest in their current properties for better business. Fifty-four per cent will step up marketing and advertising in 2014, 52 per cent want to train staff up, while 51 per cent will embark on small-scale renovations.

TripAdvisor’s earlier edition of the survey this year found 72 per cent of Asian hoteliers feeling upbeat about the future and only 42 per cent with plans to raise room rates (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 20, 2013).

On the consumer side, 42 per cent of Asian travellers are going to up their travel budgets for 2014, though 85 per cent of global tourists intend to travel domestically next year and 65 per cent of Asian travellers will stay within their home regions over the next six months.

AXESS International Network (AXESS) and Travelport today jointly announce their partnership to roll out a new Japanese GDS in early October.

Now in its final stages of user testing, the new upgraded travel-booking platform powered by Travelport, will be made available exclusively to AXESS-connected travel agents from October.

The partnership was first announced in April 2012 when AXESS selected Travelport as its technology partner. Since then, the two companies have been working closely to assess the needs of the region’s resurgent travel industry and to design a new, enhanced GDS to meet the demands of Japanese travel consultants and travellers.

Japan’s GDP has been steadily increasing over recent quarters by around one per cent.

Replacing the current AXESS CRS but retaining its existing AXESS CREA agency desktop and a number of other popular AXESS applications and solutions, the new AXESS host system will benefit from Travelport’s technology infrastructure and will be hosted in its Atlanta (US) data centre.

The upgraded GDS technology will provide travel consultants and their customers numerous new benefits including up-to-date web services solutions, powerful low fare, air shopping technology through Travelport’s fares and shopping platform, enhanced hotel and car content, and improved airline connectivity.

Under the partnership, AXESS will also benefit from Travelport’s US$300 million IT investment, on an annual basis.

AXESS-connected travel consultants will migrate to the new AXESS host system in phases starting October 1, with completion scheduled for end-March, 2014.

BUSINESSES on Koh Samet are still reeling from July’s oil spill, despite assurances from officials that the destination is clean and safe.

At an event in Bangkok last night to promote tourism on the island, tourism and sports minister Somsak Phurisrisak, said the travel industry needs to focus on communicating the fact that the island has been given a clean bill of health (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 2, 2013).

“Koh Samet is safe. We need to focus on promoting a positive message about Samet going forward,” he said.

Most visible traces of the oil spill were cleaned up within 10 days of the oil washing ashore on Ao Phae beach in late July, with the remaining slick dispersed by chemicals. However, recent media reports about tar balls, a mixture of oil and sand, washing ashore on the mainland and about higher levels of toxins being found in local seafood have done little to restore confidence in the island.

Local businesses have seen trade plummet as a result. Said one resort operator based on Ao Phae beach, who declined to be named: “Business is very difficult now. Although the island is clean, every time there’s something in the media about oil being spotted, we get cancellations.”

Thanadet Setachandana, owner of Udi’s Scuba Diving, said public confidence in the island’s safety has suffered a severe blow: “We can see the beach at high tide and low tide and there is no oil. The problem is people are worried about toxins from the oil or the chemicals used to disperse it that they cannot see.”

Thanadet said while business is currently very slow, the timing of the spill may help reduce the number of cancellations from foreign tourists in the short term. Ninety per cent of his customers are from Scandinavia, most of whom would have booked their holiday before the spill took place.

SUNTEC Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre has turned in impressive results since reopening in June following yearlong major renovations.

In the space of merely three months, the convention centre has hosted a total of 96 events and welcomed 650,000 visitors through its new doors. It also boasts a back-to-back calendar lined up for the rest of 2013 and beyond, with returning customers like Spikes Asia and new customers like IFLA.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of the soft opening of Suntec City Phase 1 yesterday, Suntec Singapore CEO, Arun Madhok, revealed that about 60 to 70 per cent of the bookings in the last three months were made by returning customers, and that occupancy for October has reached about 80 per cent.

He added that while the convention centre is seeking a healthy mix of local and international events across different industries, it is targeting to attract more medical and IT events.

“Medical events are a growing market, and they typically comprise the hybrid of a conference and an exhibition, which Suntec Singapore can cater to very well with its new offering of space convertibility.”

Since June, the convention centre has hosted five to six medical events, apart from a number of consumer fairs and other trade events. In November, it will host the major IT trade event, CloudAsia, among others.

Last week, the convention centre invited a team from Marina Bay Sands to visit its new premises. Madhok believes in contributing to the high standards of the meetings business in Singapore and is unafraid to share on Suntec Singapore’s new product offerings with its competitors.

“The key in this business is to be the leader of change, rather than its follower. Competitors may wish to emulate us but it would take them a number of years to do what we have done. By then, we would have moved on to something new,” he explained.

When asked how long Suntec Singapore expects to take to recover the huge investment sum that went into its “modernisation” programme, Madhok declined to provide the specifics, but revealed instead that the convention centre is “way ahead of its business plan for 2014 and beyond”.

THE Philippines will welcome a third Marco Polo property, the 316-room Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, in the first quarter of 2014.

The property located at the city’s eponymous commercial business hub, minutes away from Makati, will be positioned as a five-star business hotel catering to discerning business and leisure guests, according to Juanita Lo, spokesperson of Marco Polo Hotels’ head office in Hong Kong.

Apart from the flagship Hong Kong hotel, Marco Polo Hotels also operates several hotels in China and a hotel each in Cebu and Davao in the Philippines.

When asked about the group’s expansion plans in the Philippines, Lo said it is employing “a broad strategy comprising of developing new properties, acquisition through management contracts, joint ventures with local partners”.

She added that as the Philippines’ hospitality industry grows, the key challenge is the high turnover in human resources. Marco Polo addresses this by offering training and certificate programmes for the growth and development of its employees.

“Proper training and growth opportunities must be implemented to retain experienced and skilled employees,” she said.

Marco Polo Ortigas Manila will have Continental Club floors, extensive meeting facilities, all-day restaurants, lobby lounge Sky Bar, indoor swimming pool, health club and spa facilities.

LANSON Place Hospitality Management, a Hong Kong-based hospitality investment and management brand in Asia, launched its flagship Lanson Place Bukit Ceylon Serviced Residences in Kuala Lumpur last month.

The property is the first Small Luxury Hotels of the World member located in the Kuala Lumpur central business district.

Offering 150 units in one- to three-bedroom configurations, apartments range from 85m² to 191m² in size. Units feature work areas with wireless Internet, an iPod docking station, 30 TV channels, and a fully equipped kitchen.

Other facilities include a gym, a library, an outdoor barbecue area, an Internet centre, a billiard area, a sky lounge called 163 Lounge with views of the KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers, and the 163 Garden on the 50^th floor.

The group intends to continue growing Lanson Place as a pan-Asian brand by exploring opportunities in main gateway cities throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It will open Lu Xiang Yuan Serviced Suites in Shanghai in July 2014.