THE newly-rebranded Tigerair is upgrading its destination offerings with a new daily service to Yangon, commencing October 1.

On Mondays and Saturdays, flights depart Singapore at 12.00 to reach at 13.30. Return flights leave Yangon at 14.20 and reach Singapore at 18.45.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, Yangon-bound services take off at 17.00 and touch down at 18.25. Return flights depart Yangon at 19.05 and arrive in Singapore at 23.35.

Tigerair’s chief commercial officer, Alexander Knigge, said: “Yangon is increasing in popularity as a destination for businessmen from Singapore because of the vast opportunities available today. It is also fast becoming an attractive tourism spot for Singapore residents, drawing a constant stream of visitors to its rich heritage.

“This Singapore-Yangon route will also enable Tigerair to serve both the 50,000-strong (Myanmar) community here, and their family and friends back home who want to stay connected with one another.”

To commemorate the new service, Tigerair is dangling promotional fares for the route starting from S$26 (US$21), excluding tax and fees. Available for sale until August 5, fares are valid for travel between October 1 and November 13.

THE Hertz Corporation has named Discover the World Marketing its general sales agent in the Philippines, where the latter is charged with growing outbound car rentals from the country.

Hertz cited Discover’s “proven track record” in the travel industry as reason for the appointment.

Discover will manage sales and customer support throughout the Philippines and leverage its position in the country to promote Hertz. The company has already established a local reservations office and call centre to service the trade and corporate market.

It will also work closely with Hertz Philippines, which is operated by Hertz licensee Exclusive Cars International, on outbound and inbound opportunities.

Michel Taride, group president, RAC International, Hertz Corporation, said: “We view the Philippines as an important and growing source market for our international car rentals, especially as visitor exports are expected to increase 8.2 per cent from 2012 to 2022, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.”

Francis E Juico, country director, Discover the World Marketing Philippines, said: “Hertz is the first major car company to appoint an outbound representative in the Philippines. Our country continues to enjoy a vibrant outbound travel market for both leisure and business. We look forward to promoting Hertz to more than 2,000 travel agencies and various corporate clients, and collaborating with Hertz Philippines.”

Hertz is launching a discount for 25 per cent off Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Collections for customers residing in the Philippines in commemoration of the new partnership. The discount is valid until August 30 for car rentals picked up by December 15.

The promotion code for the discount is (PC) 191096, and must be mentioned at time of reservation.

AIRASIA’S longhaul affiliate, AirAsia X, has added a fifth Australian destination to its flight network with a new Adelaide link.

Beginning October 30, Singapore residents can fly to Adelaide via Kuala Lumpur, through the AirAsia Fly-Thru service.

AirAsia operates 12 daily flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and AirAsia X will initially ply the Kuala Lumpur-Adelaide route four times weekly after its launch, and increase the service to daily for the peak December to February period.

The new route will be operated with a 377-seater Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Speaking at a special ceremony in Adelaide, AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani said: “We are thrilled to announce that AirAsia X is finally jetting into Adelaide, which means now every Adelaidian can fly to South-east Asia and beyond and vice versa.”

“Australia is one of our core markets where AirAsia X will see its wings expand and the Adelaide route has been a priority. Our goal since launching our first Australian service on the Gold Coast in 2007 was to operate in the five major states, and we are proud to have accomplished this within six years,” he added.

To celebrate the launch of the new route, AirAsia X is offering fares from Singapore to Adelaide starting from S$149 (US$117) on economy and from S$489 for premium. Promotional fares are available for booking online until August 4, for the travel period October 30, 2013 to August 5, 2014.

INDIA continues to lead as Sri Lanka’s largest source market and a target for the country’s promotions efforts, despite a 1.7 per cent fall in the number of arrivals year-on-year.

According to statistics from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Indian arrivals dipped to 83,981 in 1H2013 from 85,426 in 1H2012.

“Tourism is one of the largest contributors to the emerald isle’s GDP. Last year we recorded a 17.5 per cent rise in tourist arrivals with over 1.5 million visitors, of which 176,000 were from India,” said Upekkha Samaratunga, consul general of Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

“A major component of the Indian arrivals was MICE, followed by FITs and families. India is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest source markets in South Asia and has large outbound MICE activity,” she continued, sharing that the Sri Lankan government was focusing on the Indian MICE segment this year.

To encourage the growth of this segment, Sri Lanka will conduct roadshows and workshops in India between August and December to educate the travel trade on Sri Lanka’s MICE facilities.

SriLankan Airlines has also unveiled a MICE brochure for the Indian market and rolled out airfare discounts for both MICE and leisure tourists for the July-October period.

Sisira Abeyratne, manager-tours, Colombo-based Rosen Tours, said: “The Indian outbound market to Sri Lanka can grow much more if more flights are introduced and special fares offered during the Indian holiday season.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also has hopes for the performance of its other source markets. Rashmika Larence, manager at Colombo-based Walker Tours, said: “The Buddhist pilgrims from China and Japan are growing exponentially as the east coast is opening up many new resorts and the country as a whole is offering superior tourism products.”

Sri Lanka, which received about 16,582 tourists from China for the first half of this year, welcomed 512,281 tourists over the same period, registering 13.1 per cent growth. SLTDA is aiming for 1.3 million tourists this year, and 2.5 million by 2016.

RESORTS World Genting will splash out more than RM400 million (US$124.7 million) to build a Twentieth Century Fox theme park, following a licensing partnership signed between the two parties last Friday.

Scheduled to open in 2016, the new theme park will be built within Resorts World Genting grounds and feature over 25 rides and attractions based on some of Fox’s most recognisable and powerful film brands, including Ice Age, Rio, Alien and Night at the Museum.

Genting Malaysia’s president and COO, Lee Choong Yan, signed an agreement with Jeffrey Godsick, president, consumer products, Twentieth Century Fox in a ceremony last week, solidifying the partnership between both sides.

Lim Kok Thay, chairman and chief executive of Genting Malaysia, who was at the event, said in a release: “Twentieth Century Fox is one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of entertainment content in the world. The Fox brand is popular throughout the world because the studio has earned a reputation for quality, creativity and longevity. We’re honoured to partner with Twentieth Century Fox to realise the vision of a world-class integrated resort.”

The Genting Outdoor Theme Park will be closed from September 1 to facilitate the construction of the Twentieth Century Fox theme park.

HONG Kong-based Dragonair has announced a thrice-weekly seasonal service to Siem Reap, Cambodia, subject to government approval.

The service is scheduled to commence on October 29 and will be operated using Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, departing Hong Kong every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Dragonair currently operates 10-times-weekly flights between Hong Kong and Phnom Penh, and the Siem Reap service marks its second Cambodian destination.

Patrick Yeung, CEO, Dragonair, said: “Our new service to this increasingly popular tourist destination will further strengthen Hong Kong’s position as one of the world’s leading aviation hubs and further promote tourism and business ties between Hong Kong and Cambodia.”

AS OUTBOUND Chinese tourism continues to boom, luxury hotel group The Peninsula Hotels is padding up its hospitality experience for Chinese guests with the new “Long Qing” programme.

To be implemented at all of its nine hotels across Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and the US from August 1, the programme offers Chinese guests familiar home comforts such as dim sum, congee, soya milk and Chinese-language newspapers. In-room printed materials will also come in Chinese.

The name of the new amenity programme comprises two characters – “Long” means “dragon” and by extension, the Chinese people, while “Qing” implies emotion and experience away from home.

The Peninsula Hotels vice president of marketing, Robert Cheng, said: “The Chinese market is definitely important for us and the Chinese are especially ready to invest in experiences.

“We see a good mix of travellers in our hotels from China, South-east Asia and the US, but definitely the Chinese numbers are catching up.”

Although unable to provide specific figures on the proportion of guests from China, Cheng said the Peninsula hotels in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong saw the highest number of Chinese tourists. Thailand has a “good showing” and the Philippine hotel is experiencing double-digit growth in Chinese customers.

Cheng shared that Peninsula caters to the Chinese love of shopping with last year’s launch of the Lifestyle Academy programme at its Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing hotels, where stylists take guests shopping and dish out professional advice.

Based on United Nations World Tourism Organization data, China is the world’s top tourism market based on expenditure (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 8, 2013) and some 100 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel outside China by 2020.

The Peninsula Hotels will open its 10^th property in Paris at the end of next year. Most recently, the group has also announced new hotel expansion plans in London and Myanmar.