CHEAPTICKETS, a B2C online booking engine, will dive into the Chinese market with the launch of its first website in China in January. India, Indonesia and the Philippines are also on the drawing board.

“Asia matters greatly to us. The penetration rate for online travel bookings in the region currently hovers around the five per cent mark. This is much lower than the 35 to 45 per cent exemplified in the US and Europe. There’s just so much pent-up potential here for us to leverage,” Andre Hesselink, CEO of CheapTickets.sg told TTG Asia e-Daily.

“Our research highlights that despite the gloomy economic mood, both the Indians and the Chinese will continue to have a relentless appetite for travel – be it abroad or domestically, driven by the forecast sustained growth in GDP as well as the rising number of middle-class consumers.”

As part of its strategy to infiltrate the Chinese market, CheapTickets has formed a joint venture with a local partner in China.

He envisions that within a year of the site’s launch, bookings for China would be around up to 10 times bigger than that generated in Singapore, currently CheapTickets’ core market in Asia (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 4, 2011).

A similar business in India is expected to follow in the first quarter next year. This new enterprise will operate out of Bangalore, where CheapTickets’ parent company, Travix International, currently has an office.

Both domestic and international flights will feature on the China and India websites.

Plans are also on the cards to export the brand to Indonesia and the Philippines. “However, CheapTickets will only be making its way to these countries sometime in 2014,” said Hesselink.

Travix International is a global online company that operates five brands in 15 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

THE PHILIPPINE Department of Tourism is concluding its marketing efforts for 2012 with a trade mission to North America from November 30 to December 7 in conjunction with Philippine Airlines, which will inaugurate its Manila-Toronto flight this week.

The roadshow, which covers Toronto, Montreal and New York, will also be a springboard for the Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA)’s formal launch of its Philippine Island Fun Caravan Getaways programme, also known as Island Getaways.

“For the past three years, we’ve been doing fam tours and exposure trips for our members as a part of the product development process. We were able to come up with 17 regional packages that represent the 14 regions of the country,” said Cesar Cruz, PHILTOA president.

City tours of Metro Manila as well as regional packages in the Islands Getaway programme will now be sold year-round by a 19-member PHILTOA consortium, which in turn will sell these to consumers or other travel companies.

Previously, these packages were only available during PHILTOA’s yearly Philippine Travel Mart show in Manila, traditionally held in September. PHILTOA has also partnered with a local telco to print brochures for international tour operators.

“The only area we didn’t include is Zamboanga; otherwise, all regions are represented,” noted Cruz. “(Next year is) election year. Traditionally, anything can happen.”

National elections coincide with government efforts to implement a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao, announced in October.

“If things turn out ok, it will be good for Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan,” added Cruz, referring to islands within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which, together with areas of neighbouring Zamboanga, have a long history of political unrest.

FAR East Organization is aggressively expanding in the hospitality sector, as it looks to snap up The Straits Trading Company’s (STC) hotel business, including some of its assets.

Subsidiary Far East Orchard (FEOrchard) has signed a non-binding MoU with STC to acquire its hospitality management business, including trademark rights to the Rendezvous and Marque hotel brands.

Under the agreement, FEOrchard will also seek a 50 per cent interest in three STC hotels in Australia – Rendezvous Studio Hotel Perth Central, Rendezvous Grand Hotel Melbourne and Rendezvous Hotel Perth.

If the deal is successful, STC will hold 20 per cent of the share capital of FEOrchard’s enlarged hospitality management company. The expanded portfolio will boast of over 30 hotels and service residences under five brands, and more than 6,000 rooms under management across Australia, New Zealand, China, Malaysia and Singapore.

Separately, Far East Hospitality Trust and Astor Properties, a member of Far East Organization, have also entered into a non-binding MoU with STC to acquire Rendezvous Grand Hotel Singapore and its retail wing Rendezvous Gallery Singapore.

Meanwhile, Far East Hospitality also announced today that its newest property, the 229-room East Village Hotel, would open on March 1, 2013.

JW MARRIOTT Thailand is in search of new core leisure business outside of Europe for its two resorts and city hotel.

“In the last 18 years, there has been a glut of new rooms in Bangkok. I don’t even know how it is to operate in a sellers’ market anymore,” said Peter Caprez, general manager of JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok.

“New hotels will always attract leisure business because they are new and they have attractive prices. There is an initial attraction, especially for Asian markets, to new hotels, but when things settle down and those hotels have to ramp up their rates, the business goes back to established hotels (like ours),” he remarked.

“JW Marriott Bangkok has cultivated the Middle Eastern market for 10 years now at a time when people were still looking at established markets, particularly in Europe,” noted Caprez.

The hotel chain also sees market potential in China, where it has partnered with Ctrip, and also in Mumbai.

JW Marriott in Phuket is also looking for customers beyond its traditional sources of Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland and the UK, with its eye set on Russia, Eastern Europe, China and India, said general manager Tony Pedroni.

JW Marriott in Khao Lak, on the other hand, is targeting Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia to fill its low-season, short-stay market, said general manager Ty Collins.

ACCOR says that the revitalisation programme for its economy brand family has helped it meet the growing need of Indonesian guests, drawing from results published in its Asia Economy Hotels Research 2012, which was carried out to understand the differing attitudes of business and leisure travellers in Asia towards economy hotels.

The research found Indonesian travellers had a strong preference for international economy brands over local brands. Indonesians are also more likely to consider economy hotels for leisure (41 per cent) than for business (33 per cent).

Accor regional director of sales, marketing & distribution for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, Adi Satria, said: “The research has been extremely helpful for us in our efforts to adapt the Ibis brand family for the Indonesia market.”

Accor now operates 19 Ibis family hotels in nine cities, segmented into Ibis, Ibis Styles and Ibis Budget. The group will open 28 more properties within three years, comprising of eight Ibis, nine Ibis Styles and 11 Ibis Budget throughout the country. Indonesian domestic travellers make up around 95 per cent of all customers to the group’s hotels in Indonesia.

Satria said: “The revitalisation of the Ibis family is very strategic for Accor, especially in Indonesia, where economy hotels represent the fastest-growing segment in the hospitality industry. As such, the economy segment forms a core part of our development plan in the country.”

The revitalisation programme for the economy brand family is ongoing, and all 19 properties will carry their new logos by the end of the year. Full implementation is expected to materialise by the end of 2013.

LUXURY hotel brand Jumeirah will make its foray into the Indian market in 2Q2017, having signed an agreement to manage a new hotel in Mumbai to be completed by then.

The 470-key hotel will offer luxury rooms, suites and apartments. Negotiations for similar tie-ups in other major Indian cities are underway.

Gerald Lawless, president and CEO, Jumeirah Group, said: “We are delighted to have initiated the first phase of our expansion into India with this landmark project, as the demand for five-star hotels in India is very strong.”

Inbound operators said Jumeirah’s entry into the market was a welcome one.

Rajendra Dhumma, director, Classis Travel and Tour, said: “Jumeirah’s presence in the Indian hospitality market will add a new dimension in luxury room offerings in India. The hotel’s central location in Lower Parel will most certainly be very popular with visitors to the city.”

“One can look forward to not only luxury rooms but also very high class F&B outlets in the property. Jumeirah is famous for its excellent culinary achievements, like at Burj Al Arab in Dubai,” said Sonal Swamy, director, Syrisa Travels.