APPLE Vacations & Conventions will operate six direct charter flights between Kuala Lumpur and Hokkaido this month, with the first service launched last Sunday from the Malaysian capital to the Japanese city and onwards to Taipei.

Malaysia Airlines’ A330-300 aircraft will be utilised on the Kuala Lumpur-Hokkaido leg, while China Airlines’ A330-300 aircraft will operate the service from Hokkaido to Taipei.

The final departure from Kuala Lumpur to Hokkaido will be on December 29, returning on January 3.

According to Desmond Lee, the travel firm’s managing director, Hokkaido had always been the company’s best-selling destination during the year-end school holidays.

Lee said: “The charter services offer convenience to travellers, as there are no direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Hokkaido. It usually takes about 15 hours on a scheduled airline with transit in Osaka, Tokyo or Seoul. Our direct charter service to Hokkaido takes only eight hours.”

“We offer all inclusive packages of either six days/four nights or seven days/five nights, priced from RM6,000++ (US$1,964). That works out to be about 20 per cent cheaper than a similar all-inclusive package on a (scheduled) flight,” he added.

This is the third year that Apple Vacations & Conventions is operating charters to Hokkaido during the year-end school holidays. New to the table is the combination of Hokkaido and Taipei charter service on December 9.

Said Lee: “We were testing the Malaysian market to see if there is demand for twin city combinations. We saw a full charter on this flight and in future we will look at organising more charters, twinning Hokkaido with another city.”

LANGHAM Hospitality Group has inked an agreement with Huatang Grand Hotel Company to manage a new luxury hotel in Datong, Shanxi, China.

Langham Place, Datong, slated for a 2014 opening, will be located in Yudong New Area, the future commercial centre of the Chinese city.

Carrying a five-star label, the hotel will have 293 guestrooms, including 37 suites, extensive banqueting venues, and innovative dining venues including Ming Court Chinese restaurant, a sister outlet of the group’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong.

Langham Place, Datong will also come with its award-winning Chuan Spa, providing guests with a range of wellness and beauty treatments based on the philosophies of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The spa will have private treatment and relaxation rooms, as well as water and heat therapies.

A swimming pool and a comprehensive fitness centre add to the hotel’s list of leisure facilities.

UPGRADING and refurbishment works at Centra Coconut Beach Resort Samui will be completed by the end of this year, allowing it to ring in 2013 with new features and facilities.

Highlights at the revamped property include Cense by Spa Cenvaree, a fitness centre, and a remodelled beachside pool area with a swim-up bar within a lagoon pool.

The resort’s lounge and restaurant will also offer new outdoor seating, while bicycles will be provided to all guests who wish to explore the vicinity. Table tennis will also be featured in the resort’s leisure activities.

Chris Bailey, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Centara Hotels & Resorts, said: “The Centra brand is all about delivering quality without the extra facilities that may be above the needs of our guests, and Centra Coconut Beach is…an outstanding example of the brand.”

THE combination of being in the second fastest growing economy in Asia and having a stable political environment is benefiting the luxury hospitality sector in the Philippines’ capital city, according to a C9 Hotelworks report.

The Manila Hotel Market Update report, released by C9 Hotelworks, noted that the country’s economy had grown 7.1 per cent last quarter, just a few points behind China.

The report pointed to an aggressive pipeline of growth and investment in the luxury sector, with 5,797 hotel rooms opening in the upper tier of the market over the next five years, representing a 37 per cent growth to existing supply. The development will include the introduction of international hotel brands such as Raffles, Fairmont, Grand Hyatt, Shangri-La, Sheraton and Westin.

The research also detailed a rise in overall average room rates of six per cent and occupancy in luxury accommodation of 72 per cent. Business visitors to Manila take up 57 per cent of total occupancy, followed by leisure travellers and the MICE segment at 21 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Said C9 Hotelworks managing director, Bill Barnett: “Step back in time three decades and hotel headlines would be surprisingly similar to those today – Manila Bay asserting itself as a tourism hub in Metro Manila, and a new business district flexing its muscles within the competitive hotel landscape.

“But this time around it is Manila Bay featuring the evolution of Pagcor Entertainment City and Resorts World, while the new CBD is not Makati but neighbouring Bonifacio City. This is the new storyboard of Mega Manila.”

At the end of 2011, Manila had 15,567 hotel rooms with 57 per cent of these being in the upscale tier. While luxury supply once grew at only 3.2 per cent between 2004 and 2011, there is now significant demand at the top end of the market.

THE Indian government announced last week it would be injecting Rs60 billion (US$1.1 billion) into the floundering Air India, although industry insiders TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to likened the move to flogging a dead horse.

Air India will receive Rs20 billion by January 2013 and the balance in 2Q2013, to go into its working capital and fund new aircraft purchases. The financial boost is part of the Indian government’s Rs300 billion bailout plan for the national carrier, which will be paid out in phases until 2020-21.

Earlier this year, the government cajoled a consortium of lending banks led by the State Bank of India to restructure Air India’s debt into long-term instruments and interests totalling Rs180 billion. The carrier’s debts and accumulated losses stand at Rs437.8 billion.

But some travel trade players are sceptical about the effectiveness of the plan.

Kapil Berera, CEO, Astral Travels and general secretary of the Society of Foreign Travel Operators, said: “No amount of fresh funds will turn around Air India as it has more employees than required, which affects its fixed cost. Its fleet utilisation is below par and its management-employee relationships are in tatters.”

“We cannot afford to spend good money on a bad asset. Air India is a business venture – if it does not make money it should be allowed to die.”

Ashwani Gupta, managing director, Dove Travels, said: “There are too many maladies that the airline suffers from, like the wastage of money through unprofessional management, an excessive number of employees on payroll and the lack of a sustainable, long-term strategy.”

Joy Peter, Intersight Tours director, was critical of Air India’s handling of its Middle Eastern routes, saying: “Air India has messed up its predominant position in high-yield routes to the Gulf countries. The co-existence of a full-service airline and LCC (Air India Express) has been mismanaged. If a professional management, not susceptible to government interference in operations, is brought in, Air India may have a slim chance of survival.”

INDIA’S airlines are launching new international flights between now and February.

On December 21, IndiGo will debut its first international flight out of Kolkata – a daily Bangkok-bound service with fares starting at Rs9,009 (US$166).

Aditya Ghosh, president, IndiGo, said: “The new flight to Bangkok is in line with our growth strategy. There are strong trade and tourism ties between eastern India and Thailand, and travellers need low fares from an Indian airline. We have also applied for rights to fly from Kolkata to Singapore and Dubai.”

SpiceJet will launch a daily New Delhi-Riyadh flight on January 4 and a four times weekly New Delhi-Guangzhou service on February 8, for which it is offering a promotional rate of Rs8,888.

Meanwhile, Jet Airways will commence a daily Mangalore-Dubai service on January 3 to coincide with the Dubai Shopping Festival, offering eight business class and 162 economy class seats.

Sajan K Gupta, director, Vayu Seva Tours, said: “The increase in international flights by Indian carriers and expansion of codeshare arrangements with international airlines on popular routes, allows us to create more cost-effective and multi-destination itineraries for our business and leisure clients.”

ASCOTT has won a management contract for its first Ascott-branded serviced residence in Surabaya, Indonesia, which is slated to open in 2014.

The 181-unit Ascott Waterplace Surabaya will be located within Pakuwon Indah, western Surabaya. Situated in an upmarket residential precinct, the property will sit opposite the Supermall Pakuwon Indah, which houses convention halls, shops, a cineplex, a supermarket and various dining outlets.

A choice of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments will be on offer, as well as guest facilities such as two swimming pools, a gym and a residents’ lounge.

Alfred Ong, Ascott’s managing director for Southeast Asia and Australia, said: “Ascott sees tremendous growth potential in Indonesia, which attracted a record foreign direct investment of S$7.2 billion (US$5.9 billion) in the third quarter of 2012. Besides having a strong foothold in Jakarta, we are expanding our presence in Surabaya with our flagship Ascott brand.”

Ascott Waterplace Surabaya will be the company’s third property in Surabaya, after Citadines Marvell Surabaya and Somerset Surabaya Hotel & Serviced Residence. With this addition, Ascott will have more than 2,200 apartment units across 10 properties in Indonesia.

HILTON Worldwide has inked an agreement with Travellers International Hotel Group to manage Hilton Manila in Newport City, the Philippines, its first property in the country’s capital.

Opening in 2014, the 350-room hotel will sit close to Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and 3.5km from Manila’s central business district, Makati.

To be developed by Alliance Global Group and Genting Group, the hotel will be connected to a 30,000m² entertainment and hospitality complex. The 10-storey hotel will offer an all-day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant, a bar and lobby lounge, a fitness club, an indoor pool and a spa, as well as event spaces.

“Manila is the political, economic, social and cultural centre of the Philippines and a leading gateway destination in South-east Asia. The announcement fully demonstrates our ongoing commitment to growing aggressively in Asia-Pacific and re-establishes both Hilton Worldwide’s and the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand’s presence in the Philippines,” said Andrew Clough, senior vice president, development, Middle East & Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide.