INDIA’S Ministry of Finance now includes hotel projects under its harmonised master list of infrastructure sub sectors, allowing large capital-intensive hotel projects access to loans with longer repayment periods.

According to the October 7 notification from the ministry, the change is for hotel projects costing more than Rs2 billion (US$32.3 million) and convention centres of over Rs3 billion in any part of India.

Such projects will be entitled to long-term loans with repayment tenures of 15 years at lower rates of interest, higher debt-to-equity ratio, access to more funds through low-cost external commercial loans and financial assistance including takeout financing from specialised agencies such as IDFC, India Infrastructure Finance Company and the new Infrastructure Debt Funds.

The Reserve Bank of India last year also began including three-star or higher categories of hotels located outside cities with populations bigger than one million to its infrastructure lending list.

Applauding the move, Vivek Nair, honorary secretary of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, said in an email to TTG Asia e-Daily: “In the present environment of high interest rates where the industry is also witnessing a temporary demand-supply mismatch on account of the economic slowdown, we have been persistently articulating that proactive policy action was imperative to insulate the requisite long-term investment in the sector from cyclical macroeconomic volatility.”

Indian hotels are expected to require investment of Rs1.3 trillion for the 180,000 classified guest rooms predicted to be built by 2017.

However, Crowne Plaza New Delhi Okhla’s general manager, Barun Jolly, commented: “It is a good move, but we really have to see how well it is implemented and how easy is the process of disbursement. If executed well, it will lead to growth of a lot of hotels in Tier Two and Tier Three cities. Development of hotels in these cities will greatly augment domestic travel too.”

MILLENNIAL travellers are big on loyalty and mobile technology when it comes to leisure and business travel.

According to Expedia.com and Egencia’s Future of Travel report, half of millennials (defined as those between 18 and 30 years of age) say loyalty programmes are important when booking flights (48 per cent) or hotels (51 per cent). Conversely, only three out of 10 travellers in the 46- to 65-year-old bracket found loyalty programmes important for flights (31 per cent) and hotels (30 per cent).

When it comes to booking business travel, 32 per cent of those 30 and under report using a smartphone and 20 per cent use a tablet, compared to just 12 per cent for smartphone and nine per cent for tablet for those over 45.

The importance of online reviews for all travel-related services was also underscored. Millennials on business were most likely to post a negative review online though only 33 per cent have done so. Nevertheless, 77 per cent and 82 per cent of millennials on business and leisure trips considered reviews “very important” or “somewhat important”.

Results also showed that millennials travel the most – 4.7 times per year on business and 4.2 times for leisure compared to 3.6 and 2.9 for 30- to 45-year-olds and 4.2 and 3.2 for 46- to 65-year-olds.

Millennials were found to be more comfortable mixing business and pleasure, with 62 per cent having extended a business trip for a personal holiday compared to 51 per cent of 31- to 45-year-olds and 37 per cent for 46- to 65-year-olds.

They are also freer with their company’s money when travelling – 42 per cent said they would spend more of their company’s money on high-end meals, while only 26 per cent of those aged 46 to 65 would.

The global study drew its conclusions from the responses of 8,535 employed adults in 24 countries between August 20 and September 12.

ROSEWOOD Hotels & Resorts has been appointed to manage the ultra-luxury Rosewood Bangkok, scheduled to open in 2017. The agreement with Thailand-based hospitality investment company Rende is Rosewood’s fourth in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

The 146-room property will be located in Bangkok’s central business district along Ploenchit Road, adjacent to Ploenchit Skytrain Station, part of a luxury enclave encompassing several embassies and new residential towers, offices and upscale retail outlets. Room categories include the 64m² Pool Sky Villas with large terraces and private plunge pools.

New York-based architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates will reflect Thai culture in its design, with Rosewood Bangkok comprising two connecting high-rise structures inspired by the wai, the Thai gesture of greeting.

The hotel will also feature two restaurants and bars, the signature Sense spa, a swimming pool and a fitness centre.

Meeting facilities at the hotel include The Pavilion, a residential-style meeting and function space, and the top-floor Sky Villa event venue offering panoramic views of Bangkok.

Said Sonia Cheng, CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group: “As one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Bangkok is a key strategic location for Rosewood to further strengthen its foothold in Asia.”

ABU Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) has embarked on a promotions drive to draw even more arrivals from China and South Korea after witnessing strong traffic from North Asia in 2013.

Between January and August 2013, the number of Asian travellers staying at the emirate’s 146 hotels and hotel apartments rose 26 per cent year-on-year for a total of 313,221 visitors. This growth was buoyed by a 40 per cent surge in Chinese arrivals.

China accounted for 27,378 visitors and 50,246 guest nights, a 43 per cent year-on-year increase, while 9,879 South Koreans visited Abu Dhabi, a 27 per cent year-on-year increase for 25,712 room nights.

Mubarak Al Nuaimi, director promotions & overseas offices, TCA Abu Dhabi, said: “We have a particular challenge with the length of stay of Chinese guests – which is currently less than two nights – and we are working closely with our stakeholders to provide specific tailored products for these guests.

“South Koreans stay longer; they’re particularly fond of our expansive and diverse golf offering. Golf is proving productive for us with figures revealing that our trio of world-class, championship-ready golf courses hosted a record number of overseas rounds in Q1 this year.”

To tap this segment, TCA Abu Dhabi has launched the Golf in Abu Dhabi initiative to attract customers from markets including the UK, Germany, China, South Korea and Japan.

Meanwhile, to drive the city’s ambition of becoming a top 50 destination for association meetings within the next five years, the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau was formed earlier this year.

Al Nuaimi elaborated: “We have had some successes from Asia and are now focusing on promoting our Quick Win Advantage Abu Dhabi programme for corporate meetings and incentives. We are receiving a number of enquiries from Asia, mainly from the IT and pharmaceutical sectors in India, Pakistan and Singapore.”

TCA Abu Dhabi will also lead a delegation to ITB Asia in Singapore this year, comprising Yas Island – Abu Dhabi’s entertainment district and home to the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – The Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi Grand Canal, Etihad Airways, the Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel, the City Season Al Hamra Hotel and Park Hyatt Saadiyat Island.

The NTO also plans to roll out a Korean language version of its online destination resource www.visitabudhabi.ae.

Said Al Nuaimi: “This is in the planning pipeline for early next year…The site is currently in Japanese and Mandarin, and Korean would be our 10^th language version.”

CORNELL University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have joined hands for the region’s first hospitality management programme for senior professionals.

The Cornell-Nanyang Advanced Management Programme, open to senior industry executives with more than seven years of managerial experience, will advance students’ knowledge of hospitality management in a multinational setting by combining industry best practices with cutting-edge hospitality management theory.

Lasting four weeks, the programme is taught by faculty from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration and NTU’s Nanyang Business School in two locations: Cornell’s Ithaca campus in New York and NTU’s Yunnan campus in Singapore.

Associate professor Nilanjan Sen, associate dean of Nanyang executive education at Nanyang Business School, commented: “As Asia’s hospitality industry grows rapidly, demand for senior hospitality leaders with exceptional skills in developing and managing change is on the rise.

“The Cornell-Nanyang Advanced Management Programme will leverage upon participants’ industry experience and equip them for higher responsibilities, putting them at the forefront of innovation amid Asia’s ever-changing business landscape.”

The first intake will be admitted in March 2014 and applications are now open.

Separately, Singapore’s Workforce Development Agency (WDA) is stepping up education efforts for the industry, having tripled the number of training places for tourism and F&B workers from 3,700 in 2011 to 11,400 now.

Training places for professionals, managers and executives in particular are expected to leap from 350 in 2011 to 3,350 in the next two years, with new courses to cover areas such as sports management, MICE and events.

New courses catering to SMEs in tourism and F&B will also be introduced.

These training places will be offered at WDA’s 10 training centres including five newly appointed institutes ­– Box Hill Institute Singapore, Eduquest International Institute, iFi Academy, Project Dignity and SHATEC.

Janice Foo, director, tourism division, WDA said: “To meet the changing landscape of the tourism and F&B industries, it is timely for WDA to boost the capabilities of the workforce and ensure that their skills are relevant and up-to-date. The appointment of the five CET centres will contribute towards developing a pool of productive local workforce to support the continued growth and effervescent developments in the tourism and F&B industries.”

THE popular beach destination of Boracay will get better air access with the upcoming launch of Manila-Caticlan services by two new airlines – Skyjet and Seair International.

Seair I (read as Seair one), will start Caticlan services beginning November though an exact date has not yet been announced, according to Patrick Tan, Seair I’s COO.

Said Tan: “We will be using our Dornier 328s, and it will be a luxury service – with a VIP lounge and check-in service from the lounge, so (guests won’t) have to check in at the counter.”

He added that the airline’s 35-minute service would be the fastest flight to Boracay.

Meanwhile, Seair I plans to set up a hub in Puerto Princesa, Palawan to cater to inter-Palawan flights. Although Tan declined to share more, he and Avelino Zapanta, Seair I president and CEO, have suggested in previous reports that these would include El Nido, Taytay and Cuyo links.

Seair I has no ties to Seair, now rebranded as Tigerair Philippines (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 18, 2013), and was launched in July 2012 to serve missionary routes such as Batanes and Palawan, routes formerly served by Seair.

Likewise, new domestic airline Skyjet will commence operations to Caticlan later this year.

The carrier, launched in February this year, currently operates thrice weekly flights to eco-cultural destinations, Batanes, Busuanga, Virac and Surigao.

Joel Mendoza, president and CEO, Skyjet and director, Batanes Cultural Travel Agency, said: “I want to replicate the success (we had in promoting) Batanes to other far-flung destinations.”

Skyjet operates two 94-seater British Aerospace BAe 146-200 jets, which Mendoza claims are “the safest aircraft for commuter regional flights…specifically built to run and land on short runways”.