SHANGRI-LA Hotels and Resorts will open the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, Shenyang on August 1, the second property in the city it will manage after Traders Hotel, Shenyang.

The property located on Qingnian Avenue in Shenhe District will open in time to host the attendees of the 12^th China National Sports Games in September.

There are 424 guestrooms each complete with amenities such as high-speed broadband Internet and Wi-Fi. The Horizon Club Lounge offering services such as complimentary breakfast, all-day refreshments, evening cocktails and free use of its meeting room for two hours per day.

Other F&B offerings include a specialty restaurant and bar Shinsen, all-day dining café Liao and Chinese restaurant Summer Palace.

For meetings, there are a 1,900m² pillarless ballroom, a 556m² ballroom and seven function rooms.

Health and recreational facilities include CHI, The Spa; a rooftop tennis court; 25m indoor heated swimming pool; Jacuzzi; sauna; steam bath and fitness centre.

TRAVEL metasearch engine Wego.com is set to step up investment in product and innovation, grow its team of top talents, and scale marketing to grow the Wego brand, having secured US$17 million in capital growth through the completion of a Series C preferred share offering.

This latest round of investment, led by Crescent Point with contributions from Victoria Capital and existing investor Tiger Global, raises Wego’s total capital to US$36 million.

With this latest move, Victoria Capital’s Paul Bassat and a representative of Crescent Point have joined Wego’s board of directors.

Wego has been on a roll this year, opening a Middle East and North Africa headquarters in Dubai (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 7, 2013 – http://ttgasia.com/2013/02/07/wego-establishes-hq-for-middle-east-north-africa/ ) and a Bengaluru office (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 18, 2013 – http://ttgasia.com/2013/02/18/wego-grows-india-presence-with-new-office/ ) in February.

ASIAN flashpackers – backpackers with bigger budgets – are muscling up as an emerging segment for Lub d Hostels, a high-end hostel chain in Bangkok.

Lub d Hostels’ marketing and sales strategies manager, Nalin Kalayanamitr, remarked that Asian flashpackers were increasingly making up a greater proportion of its guests.

Speaking at No Vacancy Southeast Asia 2013 in Bangkok, she said: “Since the second half of last year, we’ve noticed a significant increase in Asians, especially the Chinese. The UK used to be among the top source markets for our Siam Square property, but have now been replaced by South Korea and China, while Singapore is within the top five.

“Indonesia and the Philippines are also emerging markets for us, especially Indonesia, which is now among our top 10 source markets,” she added.

Of Lub d Hostels’ two Bangkok properties in Bangkok at Silom and Siam Square, the latter is seeing a spike in Asian flashpackers due to its proximity to shopping centres. With rates starting at 400 baht (US$13) for dormitory rooms, the hostels attract Asian guests of about 27-28 years old on average with university-level education.

On the differences between the Asian and Western clients, she said: “Asian guests like shopping more than the Europeans and are generally less outgoing, but our yaa dong (Thai fermented whiskey) parties held every Wednesday nights are also well-received among our Asians. Asians tend to come in groups of four to five people and the social media plays a big part for them – they love to tag themselves.”

In the pipeline is a third Lub d Hostel, which is most likely to be “near the border” in Thailand, but Nalin declined to reveal the exact city.

LEISURE farms in Taiwan are drawing more MICE and leisure travellers due to their appeal as integrated recreational areas combining accommodation, authentic farming experience and scenic locations.

According to Shinny Chiu, chief operation officer of international marketing at the Taiwan Leisure Farming Development Association, more than 200,000 foreign visitors visited leisure farms last year, up from an approximate 160,000 in 2011.

There are close to 300 leisure farms in Taiwan, and visitors mainly come from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, who can try their hand at sheep shearing, fruit picking and making glutinous rice balls.

Another highlight in leisure farms is the availability of fresh local food.

“All farms depend on their own local production for consumption, so they will use chicken, duck, fish or vegetables produced in their farms to cook for visitors to enjoy the freshness,” Chiu said.

Chiu said the Association also aimed to promote social education and environmental protection through such tourism activities.

Leisure farms are also tapping the regional MICE market, with many offering standard meeting facilities like conference rooms and projector capabilities.

While Chiu does not have the figures for MICE visitors, she said the number has “definitely gone up”.

While leisure farms are predominantly filled by leisure travellers, Chiu said more companies were now realising they can combine meetings with incentives at these farms.

“Meetings held in the farms bring people out of the traditional air-conditioned hotel which is more boring…Many are now looking for places that can bring them away from the busy city and leisure farms are the perfect option because they combine agricultural production, country living and natural ecology altogether,” she said.

Alicia Seah, senior vice president of marketing and PR, CTC Travel Singapore, shared that CTC had been partners with the Taiwan Leisure Farming Development Association since 2010 and had observed a 20 to 25 per cent year-on-year increase in visitor traffic growth from Singapore to these leisure farms.

Incentive groups were posting annual growth of 10 per cent, she added.

SEOUL Tourism Organization (STO) has ended its joint partnership with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in the management of the 14th Korea MICE Expo (KME), which opens today.

This year’s MICE tradeshow, held over three days at COEX in Seoul, is organised by KTO and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, KTO president and CEO, Charm Lee, explained that budget cuts had resulted in STO’s withdrawal from the event sponsorship.

STO vice president, Maureen O’Crowley, said: “We are disappointed not being able to support KME. We have had it for the past three years, and had done such an exceptional job in turning it into an international business events show.

“While we are not able to support the event this year, we do try to maintain a strong presence at the show. We probably have the largest booth here, with 33 sellers in the Seoul pavilion.”

Min Hong Min, executive director of KTO’s MICE bureau, said considerations were being made to host KME in other South Korean cities, although he declined to name which ones.

“Plans are still being drawn so we can’t say which city will host KME next. We should move the event around to spread the tourism benefits to other destinations. Any city in South Korea has ready infrastructure to host KME.”

AS PART of its initiative to boost inbound tourism, Japan yesterday announced that the short-term visa waiver for Thai and Malaysian nationals would come into effect on July 1.

The Embassy of Japan in Thailand yesterday made the announcement through its website that the short-term visa waiver for Thai nationals would come into effect on July 1, while a spokesperson from the Japan National Tourism Organization Singapore Office, which oversees operations in Malaysia as well, confirmed the implementation of the scheme for Malaysians.

Visa requirements will be waived for nationals of Thailand who stay in Japan for not more than 15 days, while those seeking longer stays or visiting the country for business will still need to apply for a visa.

Thais entering Japan may be asked by immigration officers to prove their purpose of visit to the country with relevant documents such as return tickets and the like.

For Malaysians, there is no need to apply for a visa even if they stay for more than 15 days as the waiver is valid for three months, as long as the traveller holds an ordinary biometric passport with an embedded microchip, compliant with ICAO standards.

Last year, Thai arrivals to Japan reached 260,859, up from 214,881 in 2010, while Malaysia sent 130,300 visitors in 2012, up from 114,519 in 2010.

Read more in TTG Asia June 28, 2013 issue

*Our article had earlier reported that Malaysian nationals intending to visit Japan for longer than 15 days would require a visa. This is inaccurate and has since been amended.

AIRASIA and ANA Holdings have officially split over irreconcilable differences and are laying AirAsia Japan to rest, with AirAsia announcing today that a termination agreement had been signed.

The parting of ways will see AirAsia’s 49 per cent stake in AirAsia Japan acquired by ANA Holdings for 2.5 billion yen (US$25.6 million), the return of all AirAsia aircraft leased to AirAsia Japan by November 1, payment of all outstanding fees from the lease and operations, and the cessation of use of the AirAsia brand by AirAsia Japan, also by November 1.

However, AirAsia Japan flights up to October 31 will continue as planned. AirAsia X operations to both Tokyo-Haneda and Osaka will not be affected.

Tony Fernandes, CEO, AirAsia Group, said: “I have great respect for ANA as the leading legacy airline in Japan but it is time for us to part ways and focus our attention on what we do best, which is running a true LCC.

“Despite cost issues, the AirAsia brand has resonated with Japanese customers and the trend we see for July and August is very strong for all of Japan. I remain positive on the Japanese market and believe there is tremendous opportunity for an LCC to succeed, as proven by the tremendous success AirAsia X has seen.

“We have not given up on the dream of changing air travel in Japan and look forward to returning to the market,” he added.

In a statement released earlier this month, AirAsia had said it was mulling the dissolution of the two-year old joint venture (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 11, 2013).

The AirAsia press release issued today said the LCC had faced difficulties due to a “fundamental difference of opinion between its shareholders” over business management decisions.

DESPITE the worsening of the haze situation as the smog moves north in Malaysia, major inbound travel agencies in Kuala Lumpur said there had been no cancellations or postponements in bookings so far.

The Air Pollutant Index (API), Malaysia’s version of the Pollutant Standards Index, hit critical levels over the weekend, prompting Malaysia’s prime minister to declare a state of emergency in Muar and Ledang in Johor on Sunday after API readings crossed 750, according to local newspaper The Star.

Tina Travel & Agencies managing director, Adam Kamal, said tours to Resorts World Genting and city tours around Kuala Lumpur were going on as usual. “Forward bookings from the Indian market are still coming in for Diwali and the year-end winter holiday season.”

Mani Ponniah, manager at Explore The Wonders Wholesale Travel, a company strong in Middle East inbound to Malaysia, said: “There are no cancellations because of the haze. However, we are keeping our partner consultants informed of the situation. There are still bookings coming in until July 10,  after which movement is slow during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Post-Eid bookings are still coming in.

“We are running tours as normal and these are mainly to Kuala Lumpur, Sunway Lagoon Theme Park, Resorts World Genting, Langkawi and Penang.”

Similarly Manfred Kurz, managing director of Diethelm Travel Malaysia, which handles traffic from the European inbound market, revealed that tours were running as usual on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. “However, we are receiving fewer forward bookings from Europe for July and August,” he observed.

Malaysia Airlines yesterday issued a press statement warning passengers of possible last-minute cancellations and retimings due to the “current haze situation which had deteriorated in parts of Malaysia over the last few days”.

It further stated that specific stations were under close watch for possible closure or interruptions, namely Kuantan’s Sultan Ahmad Shah Airport, Kota Baru’s Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Kuala Terengganu’s Sultan Mahmud Airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

When contacted today, Azmi Murad, senior general manager operation services at Malaysia Airports, said all Malaysian airports under its management were operating as usual.