THE first seaplane service in Kerala is off to a flying start, with four more seaplane operators expected to launch such services by 4Q2013, connecting state cities to its extensive network of backwaters.

Kerala tourism minister, A P Anilkumar, said: “Seaplane services will allow tourists to travel from Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Mangalore to several points in the backwaters like Alleppey, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kasargode and Ernakulam. Water dromes with floating jetties (for seaplane landings), have been built.”

Tourists can now travel between destinations and access the destinations and hotels located along Kerala’s backwaters without relying on the state’s roads, which are patchy in places.

Air Travel Enterprises chairman, EM Najeeb, said the new means of transport would “up the quotient for higher-end tourist inflow and allow quicker and more scenic transfers”, and enhance Kerala’s image as a “special place to visit”.

Kerala Seaplane Services is one of four seaplane operators slated to begin service later this year. It plans to commence business on August 1, after the monsoon season, and offers three 10-seater and one four-seater planes for transport and charter rentals.

It also intends to sell packages for transfers, including a City Joyride package traversing Kochi-Trivandrum-Calicut-Alleppey, a 20-minute ride at Rs3,000 (US$53) per pax.

PHUKET and its neighbouring islands will see a rush of increases in air capacity over the coming months as both LCCs and full-service airlines launch new flights and ramp up existing frequencies.

Shanghai-based LCC Spring Airlines will launch thrice-weekly flights from Shanghai Pudong International Airport using Airbus A320 aircraft on June 26. Phuket will be Spring Airlines’ second Thai destination after Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi.

Malaysia Airlines launched an additional daily service on the Kuala Lumpur-Phuket route on June 1. The route was hitherto served 19 times a week and is now run 26 times instead, injecting 1,162 seats per week in each direction.

More capacity injection can be expected when the winter schedule comes into effect in late October 2013. Aeroflot, which normally starts a thrice-weekly seasonal service linking Moscow-Sheremetyevo and Phuket from Christmas Day, will this year bring forward its commencement to October 27.

An Airbus 330-300 will be operated from October 27 to December 24, after which the larger Boeing 777-300ER will be deployed.

THAI Smile will also be adding services from Phuket in the winter 2013 season. The Phuket-Delhi route will be served four times weekly, up from the current twice-weekly operation.

Phuket-Kuala Lumpur services will be increased from the current four times weekly to daily, while Phuket-Mumbai will receive a three-times-weekly service – up from the current twice-weekly schedule.

DESPITE already having four properties in the pipeline, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and Philippine property giant SM Hotels & Conventions have begun charting further expansion plans, particularly for the mid-scale Park Inn by Radisson brand.

“Four is only the start and we are currently working with SM in identifying additional locations throughout the country (to develop new properties),” said Lyle Lewis, vice president-Philippines and Japan, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

The Park Inn by Radisson brand is targeted at MICE and domestic travellers, and four are currently in the works, one each in Clark (to open in 2014), Quezon City, Bacolod City and Iloilo.

Carlson Rezidor presently manages the five-star Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu and Park Inn by Radisson Davao. Besides the Park Inn by Radisson brand, the group is also eager to open a second Radisson Blu hotel in the country.

“A priority with Carlson Rezidor is to get the Radisson Blu brand into Manila as we see it as a natural extension to (Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu),” said Lewis, who is also the general manager of the latter.

He said that Carlson’s partnership with SM Hotels & Conventions “positions (Carlson Rezidor) well to meet the demands of the expanding market”.

“The local developer’s strategy is to build hotels near convention centres in areas where there are also SM department stores,” he added.

AIRASIA will launch four-times-weekly Singapore-Makassar flights on July 1 to meet market demand for the route, bringing AirAsia’s Indonesian destinations to six.

The service operates on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, leaving Singapore at 10.45 and reaching Makassar at 13.15. Flights out of Makassar to Singapore run on the same days, leaving Makassar at 07.40 and arriving in Singapore at 10.10.

“Our strong record in passenger (numbers) flown so far has proven that Indonesia is a strong market for us and we look forward to signing up more direct routes there to meet our customers’ demands,” said Logan Velaitham, CEO, AirAsia in Singapore.

To mark the introduction of the new route, AirAsia has rolled out promotional fares. One-way air tickets from Singapore to Makassar start from S$65 (US$52) for the travel period July 1 to August 15, and are available for booking now until June 16.

Early last month, SilkAir announced that it would commence thrice-weekly flights from Singapore to Semarang on July 29, and thrice-weekly Singapore-Makassar flights on August 1 (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 3, 2013).

ASCOTT will debut two new serviced residences in Jeddah early next year, having secured management contracts for Citadines Tahlia Jeddah and Citadines Al Salamah Jeddah.

The two contracts add 1,500 serviced apartment units to Ascott’s Gulf portfolio and are awarded by the Abdul Samad Al Qurashi Group, a Saudi Arabia-based conglomerate with operations in the region.

The 166-unit Citadines Tahlia Jeddah is located along Tahlia Street and close to many MNCs and Le Mall, a prominent shopping centre. It offers a range of studio to two-bedroom apartments.

The 136-unit Citadines Al Salamah Jeddah is situated north of Jeddah, 15 minutes away from the King Abdulaziz International Airport and close to Iceland Theme Park and Stationary Fantasies Water Park. Residents can choose from either a studio or one-bedroom apartment.

Apartment units at both serviced residences come with fully-furnished kitchens, living and dining areas and home entertainment systems. Other amenities include a residents’ lounge, café and gym.

Sym Lee, head for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Ascott, said Jeddah was “poised to be one of the region’s key cities for commerce”.

“Jeddah is also a popular destination for domestic and foreign leisure travellers. For the many Muslims pilgrims, Jeddah acts as the gateway city to the two holy cities, Mecca and Medina…We are confident that both Citadines Tahlia Jeddah and Citadines Al Salamah Jeddah will perform well in the market and they will pave the way for more Citadines serviced residences in the region.”

Ascott had last month unveiled the Ascott Olaya Riyadh, which is scheduled to open in 2015 (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 21, 2013).

SINGAPORE welcomed the largest ship to homeport in Asia over the weekend, when Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) Mariner of the Seas made its maiden call at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre on Saturday.

This marked the start of the 3,807-pax Mariner of the Seas’ Asian season in Singapore with three cruises of three to 10 nights to Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Shanghai.

The ship also replaces the 2,076-pax Legend of the Seas, which completed her Asian deployment in April (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 14, 2012).

Jennifer Yap, managing director, RCI (Singapore), said: “There is tremendous potential in the Asia market because the penetration rate for Asia is the lowest compared to Europe and North America.”

“If you see the Asian market as a whole, it is still in its infancy because a large majority (of Asians) have yet to board a cruise ship before. So by establishing greater presence in Asia, we aim to attract all these passengers onboard.”

Asians comprise 10 per cent of the cruise line’s passengers, with about 200,000 customers a year, with China and Singapore being the strongest regional source markets.

Mariner of the Seas offers a variety of Asian cuisine and visual entertainment programmes like acrobatic performances.

Unique onboard amenities and programmes include the 900-seat ice-skating rink, a full-sized sports court, in-line skating track, rock-climbing wall, mini-golf course, three-tier theatre, themed bars and lounges as well as a mezzanine split level nightclub. The DreamWorks parade stars characters from popular cartoons Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, with whom cruisers can interact.

From November 2013 to March 2014, Mariner of the Seas will return again to Singapore to offer a series of South-east Asian cruises.

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) will cancel its thrice-weekly Manila-Delhi service via Bangkok on June 15, but travel consultants do not expect any negative impact on the growing traffic between the two countries.

A PAL source who sought anonymity confirmed the “indefinite suspension” of the flight. While the Manila-Bangkok leg of the flight will be retained, the Bangkok-New Delhi leg would be dropped for commercial reasons.

Meanwhile, an India-based travel consultant confirmed that PAL will close its Delhi office next month. “(PAL) is not making money on the (Manila-Bangkok-Delhi) services. New flights should be marketed but PAL wasn’t doing enough of that.”

Glen Augustin, Team India head, market development group, Department of Tourism (DoT), said the cancellation would affect the NTO’s plans to facilitate a 300-pax Outbound Tour Operators Association of India convention in Manila this September.

However, Philippine travel consultants were less negative. “I don’t think (the consequences of cancelling Delhi flights) will really be negative. For one thing, PAL’s rates are high. The market is price-driven yet the airfare is high,” pointed out Kristine Shroff, marketing director, Shroff International Travel Care.

Travel consultants said airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific would likely fill the vacuum left by PAL as they already offer better connections on the route. Cebu Pacific in March applied with the Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board to be recognised as the official carrier to India.

However, DoT’s marketing office in India noted that other carriers operating India-Philippine routes had raised prices after news of PAL’s move broke.

Shroff said tourist traffic between India and the Philippines had been “good” during the last three years due to greater awareness in India about the Philippines through DoT’s promotional efforts.

“The market is ready and matured enough to consider the Philippines,” she added.

DoT statistics show that arrivals from India grew 22 per cent in 1Q2013 to 13,510, from 11,065 during the same period in 2012.

Additional reporting by Marianne Carandang

MALINDO Air has launched a two-month long incentive programme in the hopes of growing its 700-strong base of travel consultants by threefold.

Between June 1 and July 31, travel consultants who issue tickets for FITs via the airline’s B2B system will receive a cash reward. Consultants will earn RM8 (US$2.60) per passenger for meeting monthly sales targets of 100-250 passengers per segment, RM10 per passenger for 251-500 passengers, RM12 per passenger for more than 501 passengers.

Consultants also stand to earn RM50 per passenger per segment for business class tickets.

Commissions will be calculated at the end of June and July, and the incentive paid out by the 15^th of the following month.

Malindo Air CEO, Chandran Rama Muthy, said: “We are a (consultant) friendly airline and we wish to reward (those) who help us fly with high loads…Our services between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Kuching registered average loads of 80 per cent.

“The scheme is timely as we are about to launch new turboprop services out of Subang Skypark (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 20, 2013) to Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu and Penang on Monday (June 3) and commence new jet services from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Sibu (June 11), Miri (June 14) and Tawau (June 26)” (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 13, 2013) .

THE J Willard and Alice S Marriott Foundation has pledged RMB40.5 million (US$6.5 million) to expand existing hospitality curricula and programmes for universities and vocational schools in China.

Known as the Marriott China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI), Marriott Foundation hopes the scheme will prepare Chinese youth for careers in China’s tourism and travel industry, many of whom come from hard-pressed rural areas.

CHEI is now in the midst of identifying 10-12 pilot schools for the upcoming aademic year and aims to benefit some 20,000 students annually across 50 schools in five years.

San Diego State University has been nominated as CHEI’s academic advisor, and has identified opportunities that CHEI will pursue, including: professional development opportunities like internships, work experiences, site tours and interacting with industry insiders; industry-specific conversational English studies; faculty development such as exchanges with US universities and internships at hotels in China; development of content to augment existing curricula; and an annual teaching conference gathering leaders in hospitality education to share best practices.

“We are customising the programme based on input from the industry and the impressive vocational schools and universities in China, and we hope to be part of a community of hospitality educators,” said Carl H Wilson, director of San Diego State University’s school of hospitality and tourism management.

Marriott International has also come on board as CHEI’s industry advisor, and will provide input on curriculum relevance, data to measure programme outcomes, internship opportunities for students and also host faculty internships at partner schools.

The hotel group in April launched the Marriott Institute of Hospitality Education in partnership with Anhui Zhong-Ao Institute of Technology in China, offering a three-year diploma programme initially centred on hotel management (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 25, 2013).