MALAYSIAN outbound group travel to Australia’s state of Victoria has given way to a larger FIT segment, creating a fertile market for the trade.

Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Marketing interim CEO, Julie Sampson, told TTG Asia e-Daily during the Melbourne Style on Show in Malaysia: “The FIT market from Malaysia started growing after AirAsia X launched flights between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne in late 2008.

“It opened up a new wave of travel. They (travellers) don’t pre-book everything from their travel consultant anymore. FIT travellers tend to do their research from websites and book day tours when they arrive at the destination.”

Gray Line Australia’s sales and marketing manager, Glen Driver, said: “A large part of our FIT business today are Asians, with Malaysians being a big part of it, thanks to AirAsia X services from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. Three to four years ago, our clients were mainly New Zealanders, Americans and Europeans.”

He noted that Asian FITs were inclined towards experiential activities such as helicopter rides, wine and gourmet tours, while also visiting tried-and-tested attractions.

On how her company targets this new segment, Sampson said they “educate the trade to keep their websites updated and to include day tour programmes on their websites”.

The Puffing Billy Railway marketing manager, Nadine Hutchins, said travellers would be able to experience driving a train after the relaunch of the refurbished Climax Locomotive this September. The company advertises its offerings in the Melbourne Official Visitor Guide, and works with inbound tour operators in Australia to get bookings.

Malaysia is Victoria’s fifth-largest tourism market and generated 94,000 visitors for the year ending March 2013, an eight per cent year-on-year rise. Growth is forecast at 4.7 per cent annually until 2022.

Melbourne Style on Show in Malaysia is a super trade mission to South-east Asia, uniting 445 delegates and 315 Victoria sellers over two days. Tourism Victoria is also due to take the event to Singapore and Indonesia.

SRI Lanka, hoping to double accommodation capacity on the island, is actively encouraging local families to open their homes to foreign visitors – and earn money in the process.

The government is dangling several incentives, including a grant of up to one million Sri Lankan rupees (US$7,800) to match any investment homestay operators make in upgrading their product.

Locals can also avail of free training and advice from accountants, architects, marketers on housekeeping, cooking and free publicity offered through the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s new programme launched last week.

Anura Lokuhetty, deputy chairman and CEO, Serene Pavilions boutique hotel, said homestays and community tourism were positive ways to bridge the demand-supply gap for accommodation and could add another 1,000 to 1,500 rooms to inventory.

The hospitality veteran also pointed out that the homestay concept provided visitors the opportunity to get a feel of the local culture and people, and live like a local.

Nilmin Nanayakkara, managing director, Nkar Tours & Travels, said community tourism helped the economic benefits of tourism trickle down to the villages. Homestays would be attractive to university students, backpackers and travellers seeking a different experience.

“We handle the Scandinavian inbound market where many clients are university students and they would love this cost-effective (option),” he commented. But he cautioned that Sri Lanka needed “good-quality homes”.

Homestay prices begin at US$20 per night inclusive of breakfast, compared to other forms of accommodation that charge upwards of US$40. About 160 homes with two to four rooms each are listed on the Sri Lanka Tourism website for homestays. The country aims to attract 2.5 million visitors by 2016, five times the 500,000 arrivals in 2009.

A SPATE of accidents involving China’s Xian MA60 aircraft has cast doubts on the aircraft model and prompted aviation authorities in Indonesia and Myanmar to take measures.

A Merpati-operated MA60 crash-landed in East Nusa Tenggara last week, sparking safety concerns (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 11, 2013).

However, the airline has said it will continue to deploy its MA60s unless told to do otherwise by Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation.

Herry Saptono, corporate secretary for Merpati, was quoted in Antara News Agency as saying: “(Merpati’s) MA60s are fit to fly (so) we will continue to utilise the aircraft.”

He added that the airline’s management was still waiting for the results of the National Transportation Safety Committee investigation into last week’s incident, but admitted that the Ministry of Transportation had the power to ground the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s Civil Aviation Department has already grounded the MA60 after a Myanma Airways flight skidded off a runway in southern Myanmar on the same day as the East Nusa Tenggara incident.

According to news agency AFP, it was the second such incident in under a month for Myanma Airways.

JETSTAR Australia will commence flights between Perth and Lombok, Indonesia on September 24, subject to government and regulatory approval.

The four-times-weekly service will be the first non-stop service from Australia to Lombok, operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays by an Airbus A320.

“For a long time, Australians have loved holidaying in Indonesia so it’s exciting to introduce a direct service to a new and emerging holiday destination,” said Jetstar Australia and New Zealand CEO, David Hall.

“Indonesia has always been an important part of the group’s international network and we’re committed to enabling new travel opportunities for visitors to Indonesia as well as Indonesians keen to explore the region.”

HYATT Hotels last week officially opened Gurgaon’s maiden Hyatt property in the Hyatt Regency Gurgaon, adding more than 3,716m² in meeting and event space to the city.

The hotel is strategically located off the Delhi-Jaipur Highway and spread over 2.4 hectares of land and will offer 451 rooms and 37 suites when fully operational in September. Currently, 231 rooms are available.

Meeting facilities in the hotel occupy the ground floor, including the pillarless 3,000-pax Regency Ballroom which is 1,924m² in area and has 8.5m high ceilings, eight meeting rooms, a boardroom, and a dedicated pre-function area for each venue.

Federico Mantoani, general manager, Hyatt Regency Gurgaon, said: “There was a need for a large MICE hotel that offers state-of-the-art facilities in Gurgaon as it is one of the corporate hubs of the country. Our property will fill this gap. Hyatt Regency Gurgaon will offer unparalleled services to the MICE segment.”

“There are a lot of MICE-specific hotels that have come up in the NCR region. Hyatt Regency Gurgaon will provide an ideal venue for hosting large conventions,” remarked Chander Mansharamani, managing director, Alpcord Network Travel and Conferences.

The hotel is home to four F&B outlets: fine-dining, specialty restaurant Lavana, which serves Awadhi cuisine; Kitchen District; The Lounge for tea, coffee and alcohol; and the Long Bar, which features a 5.5m long counter and serves cocktails.

ENCOURAGED by the results of its newly-opened properties, Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts is planning to grow its hotel portfolio in the Philippines.

The company is planning six more hotels under its four-star Seda brand hotels and will diversify its portfolio with the addition of Seda Suites for all-suite hotels, Seda Resorts for resorts, and larger properties of 400-500 rooms. Seda hotels offer between 150 and 200 keys.

Hotels already confirmed include the Seda Nuvali in Laguna, scheduled to open in 1Q2014; SedaCircuit Makati and Seda Vertis North in Quezon City.

Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts COO, Al Legaspi, who led the opening of the 150-key Seda Centrio in Cagayan de Oro last weekend, said the company would continue to choose locations where it has mixed-use developments for hotel development. “That’s the model for Seda. We want to be in areas where we synergise with malls, residential (properties) and offices.”

Ayala also has six hotels under a new, yet-unnamed value brand in the pipeline, with locations most likely outside of Metro Manila.

“We always looked at hotels as a support business – where we had larger developments, we’d put a hotel there, just to prime the area,” explained Legaspi. “Three years ago, we saw opportunity in the hotel business…so we made this a core business.”

Legaspi also shared that Ayala would look to sell rooms through OTAs as doing so could secure as much as 30 per cent of business. It would also look at regional third-party management contracts in future within the region, where it has received offers.

The company this year launched the Fairmont Makati and Raffles Makati (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 5, 2012), Holiday Inn & Suites Makati, and three Seda hotels.

THE West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) regional government has rolled out a new campaign – Tambora Greets the World 2015 – to mark the 200^th year of Mount Tambora’s eruption, with special attention on Sumbawa.

The campaign aims to draw some two million domestic and international tourists to the province and follows the success of the Visit Lombok-Sumbawa 2012 campaign.

NTB governor, Muhammad Zainal Majdi, said: “In the last five years we have managed to develop tourism in West Nusa Tenggara with Lombok as a focus. It is now time to focus on the neighbouring Sumbawa island, as momentum builds up towards the 200-year (anniversary) of Mount Tambora’s eruption.”

In the run-up to 2015, the regional government has pledged to develop infrastructure and facilities on the island. “We are developing roads for better accessibility (within Sumbawa), inviting hotel developers to build accommodation, as well as packaging products,” said Majdi.

National and international festivals are also scheduled to take place in Sumbawa from now until 2015.

Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, pointed out that the island was endowed with underwater attractions to attract special interest tourists. Meanwhile, the province, particularly Lombok, was growing as a MICE destination.

According to data from Statistics Indonesia, the number of international arrivals to NTB grew from 364,196 in 2011 to 471,706 last year. January to April figures of 2013 showed a 49.1 per cent upsurge over the same period last year, the highest growth rate among gateways in Indonesia.

Domestic arrivals last year also doubled arrivals in 2011.

Word of the new campaign was first reported last year at the Lombok-Sumbawa Travel Fair in Jakarta (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 4, 2012).

SMALL Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), which has 123 member properties in Asia-Pacific, is looking to grow its regional portfolio further in important tourism destinations such as Chengdu, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.

Victor Wong, area and development director, Asia-Pacific with SLH, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the company had identified “properties that fit the SLH model” in several destinations that drew both leisure and business traffic, such as China’s Chengdu and Xi’an, Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang, and Manila in the Philippines.

“While we want to increase our presence in Asia, we will not merely go for quantity; we want fitting properties that reflect the character of SLH,” said Wong, explaining that qualified member hotels and resorts must have no more than 200 keys, a great location, a unique character that differentiates them from chain hotels, and offer personalised activities and value-added experiences for guests.

“Take for instance Pins De La Brume Hotel in Hangzhou, China, which joined us in May. It has only 42 keys and works with a nearby tea plantation to offer SLH guests exclusive activities such as introductions to the various tea grades and guided cycling tours with lunch with a local family,” he said.

Quality growth is now all the more possible for SLH due to an increasing selection of unique, small-scale hotels and resorts in Asia, according to Wong.

“In the past, Asian hotel developers tended to interpret luxury as gold-plated everything. However, the second-generation developers who have taken over their parents’ business were educated overseas and have travelled the world. They understand the boutique concept and dare to blend this with local elements.

“(The trend towards luxury boutique properties is also encouraged) by the rapid real estate development across China, which has left some hotel developers with only small plots of land, as massive ones have been granted to industrial, commercial and residential projects. Working with what they have, the new generation of Chinese developers today are building smaller, unique properties,” he said.

HONG Kong Disneyland (HKDL) has been transformed into the campus grounds of Monsters University, with a slew of new activities, merchandise and F&B options.

To celebrate the theatrical release of Disney/Pixar 3D’s animated film Monsters University, HKDL’s monster-themed features will run until September 1 and give visitors a taste of‘campus’ life.

Guests can have their photos taken and create personalised Monsters University Student Cards for HK$40 (US$5) at the Monsters University Administration Building. They may also purchase the limited edition Monsters University Student Card Package, which covers student card fees, a Monsters University meal package with meal box, a Monsters coaster and a Monsters lanyard with ID pouch.

Other activities include joining the Art Club’s Mike drawing lesson at Animation Academy, or donning Monsters University chef hats and aprons to create cupcakes under the Monsters University Chef Lecture at Disney’s Hollywood Hotel (from HK$898 per adult).

HKDL has also rolled out a menu of 15 new drinks and snacks available at 12 restaurants within the park and the resort’s hotels, such as summer drinks with fun names like Staring Mike and Sulley’s Blue Frightener.