SOFITEL Philippine Plaza is taking aim at the burgeoning medical tourism sector in South-east Asia by opening its own in-house aesthetic centre.

Vietura is a 20-room facility offering a range of customisable programmes including face contouring, body sculpting, weight-management, and remedies for complexion problems and digestive disorders.

It is helmed by chief practitioner Mary Jane Torres with a staff of 12 registered nurses, a dietician and a lifestyle coach.

“Manila is a tremendous destination for international travellers who want cost-effective aesthetic treatments,” said Goran Aleks, general manager, Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

“Watching them exit the hotel for wellness clinics (downtown) sparked an idea: why not take it to the next level, and develop a concept that goes beyond the quick fix to full-on behaviour modification?”

Located in a discreet corner of Sofitel, the aesthetic centre can be accessed via the back of the property and does not come with a common waiting area, allowing for more privacy as guests are directly ushered into the treatment rooms.

SINGAPORE is planning for even busier air traffic as the government ponders a fourth runway, in addition to upcoming developments such as a new mega terminal and third runway.

According to local daily The Straits Times, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore is investigating the need for a fourth runway, which industry watchers say is likely to be built on the same site as the third runway.

Changi’s third runway will be ready by the end of this decade, said Singapore’s minister for state transport, Josephine Teo, last week. The runway will be redeveloped from an existing one currently used for military purposes on a reclaimed piece of land near the airport (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 19, 2012).

Just last month, Changi Airport Group announced that Terminal 4 would open by 2017 (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 14, 2013).

Changi Airport witnessed a throughput of 51.2 million passengers last year. Added capacity will allow the airport to handle up to 85 million passengers annually, as compared to the current projection of 73 million by 2018.

MALINDO Air is set to take to the skies later this week with cheers from the trade, who welcome the increased capacity and promotional fares on the airline’s first routes to Sabah and Sarawak.

A member of Lion Group, the Kuala Lumpur-based carrier will commence thrice-daily services to Kota Kinabalu on March 22 and four-times-daily services to Kuching the next day, on 180-seater Boeing 737-900ER aircraft.

Malindo Air’s commercial director, Rajasegaran Rajoo, said the airline was looking at connecting Kuala Lumpur to three more points in Sarawak, namely Sibu, Bintulu and Miri by June.

The self-proclaimed “Malaysian hybrid” offers low fares coupled with services offered by full-service airlines such as refreshments, 45-inch seats in business class and 32-inch seats in economy.

Inbound tour operator, World Avenues executive director, Ally Bhoonee, said: “Malindo’s promotional airfares will improve domestic tourism between East and West Malaysia, and provide more flight options and timings for travellers. Hopefully, the increase in seat capacity will also see a reduction in airfares in these sectors, which are currently dominated by Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia.”

Malindo’s one-way, all-in promotional airfare, starts from RM38 (US$12) to Kuching and RM68 to Kota Kinabalu.

In comparison, promotional airfares as seen on AirAsia’s website on Saturday priced the earliest Kota Kinabalu flight at RM134 all-in, and the cheapest flight to Kuching on the same day at RM124 all-in.

Sabah Tourism Board chairman, Tengku Zainal Adlin, said what was more important was the increase in seat capacity. He noted there was a shortage of seats on the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu sector, especially during the school holiday season.

INDONESIA’S Lion Air will today sign a deal with Airbus for over 200 A320 medium-haul jets.

According to news agency AFP, the multi-billion dollar deal marks the first order Lion Air is placing with Airbus, having been equipped solely by Boeing thus far.

Airbus’ new deal with the budget airline will be close to the tune of US$20 billion or more, given that a standard A320 model is priced at US$91.5 million, while the company’s newer fuel-efficient model, Neo, commands more than US$100 million apiece, reported AFP.

On the other hand, Garuda Indonesia is slated to take the delivery of 24 new aircraft this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 12, 2013).

AS PART of a strategic move to align service standards with Philippine Airlines (PAL), Airphil Express is now officially PAL Express, effective March 15.

PAL Express will don PAL’s sunriser livery and logo on its tail and fuselage, and offer passengers full service including free refreshments, reading materials, etc.

The carrier’s frontline staff are undergoing training to ensure PAL and PAL Express customers receive the same standards of service. Policies, procedures and standards are also being adjusted.

However, a press statement said the two carriers “will remain distinct and independent airline companies”.

Ramon S Ang, president, PAL, said of PAL Express’ rebranding: “It’s not just a name change, but an alignment of two standards into one. With this rebranding, PAL and PAL Express will be full-service carriers in terms of service, but LCC in terms of managing costs.”

ROYAL Caribbean International has announced 34 itineraries for the Alaskan cruise and cruise-tour season between May and August 2014, which are already open for booking.

The cruise line will dispatch its revitalised Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas on seven-day sailings for the 2014 season, departing from Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington.

Radiance will alternate north- and south-bound routes between Vancouver and Seward respectively. Passengers will be taken through the Inside Passage and Hubbard Glacier, and call on Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway. The ship’s Alaska season will be bookended by a roundtrip from Vancouver, calling at Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Ketchikan, and cruising up Tracy Arm Fjord to see Sawyer Glacier.

Rhapsody will ply the waters between Sawyer Glacier and Seattle, passing through the Inside Passage. It will dock at Juneau, Skagway and Victoria, British Columbia. There will also be two itineraries calling at Ketchikan instead of Victoria, sailing from Vancouver to Seattle.

Royal Caribbean Cruisetours can also combine a sailing aboard Radiance with a three- to six-night land tour adventure, allowing travellers to spend at least one night in Denali National Park and one leg on the Wilderness Express, a glass-domed train car, for example.

The other option is for cruises on any of the two ships to be paired with one of four pre- or post-cruise land tours throughout the Canadian Rockies and the Okanagan Wine Valley, the latter a new addition for 2014.

THE Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has rolled out incentives targeted at the wedding and student segments.

MGTO will reward groups of at least 50 people who stay a minimum of two consecutive nights at Macau’s hotels with MOP$300 (US$37.50) per overseas guest. Applications for the scheme must be submitted to MGTO 15 days before the first day of the event.

Overseas weddings are gaining traction among Gen Y Indians. Said Anshuman Mitra, managing director, Starlite DMC, a major wedding organiser: “This will be a year of weddings in Macau if they can also facilitate the ancillaries that are needed for Indian weddings, as these are easily available in Thailand.”

MGTO’s India representative, SanJeet, said: “In 2013, we expect to capture a bigger market share of outbound tourists from key tourist markets like Kolkata.” The NTO is intending to call on the trade in cities it has not ventured to before, such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati, Indore, Kolkata, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram.

In addition, MGTO is looking to bait school groups by increasing its incentives for this segment. MOP$300 per person will now be offered instead of MOP$200, plus welcome gifts.

Sanjay Maniar, director, Travelaid, who specialises in school group tours, said: “There is already good interest from school groups for Hong Kong and Macau. The MOP$300 incentive will certainly encourage greater numbers. Instead of the usual one-night stay, two-night stays will become more feasible.”

JAPAN may have ceded its position as Asia-Pacific’s largest travel market to China, but it will retain the crown as the region’s biggest leisure and unmanaged business travel market for online bookings.

According to PhocusWright’s Japan Online Travel Review, the East Asian nation continues to face economic stagnation and a sluggish recovery from the March 2011 earthquake. Growth in the overall travel market has been forecast to slow to two per cent by 2015.

But Japan’s online travel market, the biggest in Asia-Pacific and third largest in the world, is proving to be the silver lining. The study predicted that online travel would sustain double-digit growth through 2014.

“Japan’s travel industry has endured numerous challenges to growth for some time now, but the country’s substantial online travel market should not be written off,” said Douglas Quinby, senior director, research, PhocusWright.

“In fact, by 2015, the value of Japan’s online travel gross bookings will still be more than double that of China.”

Aviation was also another bright spot. The emergence of LCCs – some with the backing of legacy carriers – has helped to spur air travel demand.

The report also expected that supplier websites, buoyed by LCC gains, would grow faster than OTAs through 2015.