THE inaugural Borneo International Bird Race is due to take place in May and June across Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak, and has already confirmed participation from international bird enthusiasts.

Organised by Sandakan Borneo Bird Club with support from the respective tourism boards, the event will be launched on May 31 at Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei.

The race will kick off on June 1 at Ulu Temburong, continue at Borneo Highlands Resort in Sarawak on June 4, Kinabalu Park in Sabah on June 6 and the Rainforest Discovery Centre Sandakan on June 8.

Participants must take part in the entire race and aim to identify the most number of species within 24 hours for each leg.

Organisers are expecting bird clubs from 10 countries to send three representatives each. Countries that have confirmed their participation so far are India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, said Roger Rajah, manager of AsiaMemories Brunei and organiser for the Brunei chapter of the race.

According to him, bird watchers from Malaysia and Brunei are forbidden from joining the race as they would have an unfair advantage.

Rajah added: “It is a good opportunity for inbound operators in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei to package tours as participants tend to come with their families.”

MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts has signed two new agreements to manage properties in Asia – one in Enshi City, China and another in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Marking its debut in China, the 250-room Mövenpick Hotel Enshi is set to open in Hubei province this summer and will feature two restaurants, a bar, club lounge, 515m² ballroom, eight meeting rooms, a pool, spa and fitness centre. It is said to be the first five-star hotel in the city.

Mövenpick Hotel Enshi will be followed by a 380-room resort on Phoenix Island, Sanya, a 350-room property in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia and a 300-room hotel in Jiading, Shanghai. All properties will be ready by 2015.

Meanwhile in Thailand, where Mövenpick is already operating two resorts in Phuket, a new management contract has been secured in Hua Hin.

The 190-room Mövenpick Resort & Spa, Hua Hin will offer landscaped gardens, two restaurants, a lobby lounge, ballroom, spa, pool and function rooms. It will begin welcoming guests within the next three years, as will five other properties Mövenpick has planned – two in Chiang Mai and one each in Koh Samui, Bangkok and Pattaya.

The two new signings are in line with Mövenpick’s global strategy to open 100 hotels across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia by 2015, or 25 properties in each region.

Mövenpick currently operates seven properties in Asia.

JAPANESE-backed Pulchra Da Nang is one of the latest newcomers to Danang, which has seen a room boom over the last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 25, 2013).

Having soft opened last month, the 31-villa Pulchra Da Nang is the sole Japanese resort investment in the area and is the second resort investment by P&I Enterprise, the first being Pulchra Cebu in the Philippines.

Located 15 minutes away from Da Nang International Airport, Pulchra Da Nang occupies 10 hectares of beachfront land and its villa designs are inspired by Cham architecture.

Amenities include a pool, poolside bar, restaurant, spa, roof deck lounge, library and gift shop.

ABACUS International has rolled out a first-of-its-kind automated exchange solution for non-published fares, aimed at tackling the rising trend of net fares flooding Asian markets.

Net fares are an increasing component of Asian airlines’ distribution strategies, with key Asian travel markets now issuing between 40 and 60 per cent of all tickets via net (non-published via ATPCO) fares, according to Abacus.

Martin Symes, vice president, marketing, Abacus International, said: “The new automated exchange function in Abacus FareX helps to save time, reduce errors while driving additional revenue for travel (consultants) and airlines.

“Reissuance required on net fares is a common challenge that takes up a great deal of (travel consultants’) time. This new capability helps our (consultants) increase productivity and avoid the hassle and risk of error in manual reissuance.”

The automated exchange process for reissuance of net fares within Abacus FareX is covered by the same Fare Guarantee associated with published airfares.

The new solution will first be used by launch partner, Singapore Airlines, before being introduced to other partners.

Airlines will also benefit through rapid distribution of net fare content and reduction in the administrative overhead associated with processing airline debit memos.

GLOBAL travel wholesaler GTA has extended its partnership with Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts to offer more than 50 accommodation options in Indonesia.

The agreement offers travel agencies more choice in accommodations in Indonesia and is in line with GTA’s strategy to “grow where the future is”, given the country’s increasing economic power and rising popularity as a destination.

Martin Jones, GTA’s vice president for sourcing Asia-Pacific, said: “ As demand for FIT to and within the region increases, travel sellers around the world will surely welcome this new partnership and our ever-expanding portfolio of hotels throughout South-east Asia and beyond.”

Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts’ finance director, Johanes Widjaja, said: “As Indonesia prospers and attracts greater interest from home and overseas, a deeper relationship with GTA will help us encourage even more international visitors to travel here and help Santika secure its future success.”

Widjaja added that the partnership was part of Santika’s plan to expand across Asia and even Australia, beginning with the impending launch of Amaris Hotel Bugis in Singapore.

RAFFLES Hotels & Resorts is eyeing a slice of the booming tourism pie in China’s Hainan province and will leverage its serene location on Clearwater Bay to set it apart from the competition.

Clearwater Bay, touted as Hainan’s new tourism hotspot, lies on the island’s south-east coast and spans 600km². Developed by Hong Kong’s Agile Property Holdings, there will be a total of six international hotel brands in the area, with Raffles Hainan being among the first to debut. There will also be three 18-hole golf courses, a shopping mall, a 200-berth marina and a water sports hub.

Featuring 299 guestrooms and 32 villas, Raffles Hainan marks the group’s second property in China after Raffles Beijing Hotel. It also aims to set a new precedent for high-level meetings and events in Hainan with its 790m² ballroom, seven meeting rooms, a VIP meeting room and boardroom.

Although a 40-minute drive from Sanya Phoenix International Airport, Raffles Hainan’s general manager, Herbert Laubichler-Pichler, said this would be its “winning factor” in luring travellers away from Hainan’s popular seaside tourist city Sanya, which is becoming increasingly crowded.

In 2011, over 30 million tourists flooded Hainan (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 3, 2012), with the bulk arriving from China.

“(Clearwater Bay) is something new and…we aim to use this novelty factor as our competitive advantage,” Laubichler-Pichler added.

He also revealed that the hotel would focus on attracting Chinese visitors before moving on to target the rest of Asia, including Singapore and South Korea.

SOUTH-east Asia’s second Premium Outlets is being planned for Penang, to be located within Batu Kawan’s Bandar Cassia, the newest and largest township on mainland Penang.

According to Singapore’s The Business Times, the new 16.2-hectare “game changer” will be sited next to the Second Penang Bridge interchange. The bridge itself is scheduled to open in September.

Formerly a backwater, Batu Kawan is seeing rapid development and rising land and property prices ahead of the bridge’s opening.

The state government will invite qualified companies to submit a request for proposal for the Premium Outlets, with a May 6 submission deadline, reported the paper.

Johor Premium Outlets, a joint venture between Genting Group and Simon Property Group, has proven popular with Singaporean tourists after its launch in end 2011, and is thought of as a catalyst project within Iskandar, a special economic zone in Johor.