JAPAN Airlines (JAL) will launch its inaugural service between Tokyo (Narita) and Helsinki (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 23, 2012) on February 25, 2013.

Operated every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on Boeing 787-8 aircraft with business and economy seating, the flight will depart from Tokyo (Narita) at 11.45 and reach Helsinki at 15.05. The return flight will leave Helsinki at 17.25 and land in Tokyo at 10.15 the next day.

JAL will raise the frequency to a daily in the first half of FY2013, subject to the delivery schedule of its Dreamliner.

To commemorate the new route, JAL is offering a special fare of ¥92,000 (US$1,170) to Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Ivalo, Kittila and Oulu in FInland, and Tallinn in Estonia. Tickets are available from now until October 31, 2012 for departures from February 25 till March 30, 2013.

LEADING Brisbane tourism players are confident that Australia’s third-largest city has sufficient hotel inventory to meet rising inbound and event numbers, including the 7,000 delegates and media due to attend the G20 Summit in November 2014.

To spur hotel development, Brisbane City Council has introduced a moratorium on infrastructure charges to encourage investment in four- and five-star hotels, while construction of the 180-suite Emporium Hotel Brisbane in the South Bank convention precinct is set to begin.

Brisbane Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, said hotel development was a priority for Brisbane and that he was working together with Brisbane Marketing, Brisbane City Council and the state government to encourage investment in the hotel sector.

“Hotel investment is a key focus for the city; this was reflected in my recent Economic Development Plan. Brisbane is gearing up to host all delegates and media for the G20 Summit 2014 and I’m confident we will be able to comfortably accommodate everyone,” he said.

Quirk added: “(In September), SilverNeedle Hospitality announced it would refurbish and extend the Brisbane Chifley Hotel, converting it from a 150-room to a 300-room hotel by 2014 (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 20, 2012).”

Pointing to the successful hosting of the International Geological Congress for 6,012 delegates in August, Bob O’Keeffe, general manager, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, said hotels in the city were well equipped to cater for mega events such as the G20 Summit and strong conference bookings over the next few years.

“We know which events we’ve gained from (the closure of) Sydney (Convention & Exhibition Centre), and our business has grown from 70-80 events a year to 130-plus,” he said, adding that a G20 task force had selected six to eight hotels for delegates and apartment-style accommodation for the 2,000-plus media contingent.

THE Indian government has granted international status to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi, Mangalore Airport, Tiruchirapalli International Airport and Coimbatore Airport.

India’s finance minister, P Chidambaram, said in a statement to the media: “All these airports are capable of handling medium capacity-range, long-range type aircraft and are also equipped with facilities for night operations.”

Of the 454 airports in India, 16 have been designated as international gateways while a few others have been granted limited international status to operate a small number of overseas flights.

Rajendra Churiwala, director-eastern region, IATA Agents Association of India, said: “More international airports mean more inbound and outbound tourists. This (development) is expected to provide impetus to domestic and international tourism and contribute to economic development of the concerned regions.”

Joy Peter, director, Intersight Tours Kochi, said: “Greater connectivity to smaller towns and cities will spread the physical reach of inbound tourists and create an impetus for growth of both inbound and outbound tourism.”

VETERAN UK tour operator Paul Graham died yesterday after succumbing to cancer.

Graham was a director with Silverbird and, in the past year, a valued member of Chic Locations. In his many years as a tour operator, he had built long-lasting relationships with suppliers from the Far East and specialised in selling destinations such as Hong Kong and Thailand.

Chic Locations’ David Kevan said Graham’s sense of humour never left him as he fought cancer, and that he was still checking on clients’ requests up to his last days.

“We wish him well in his journey now. He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him,” said Kevan.

Said The Minor Group Thailand’s Skip Heinecke: “Paul was a real professional and always a gentleman and a pleasure to work with. He will be missed by a great many of us.”

Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, general manager, The Regent Chalet, Regent Beach Cha Am – Hua Hin, added: “It is a shock for me to lose a good friend like Paul who has supported me for over 20 years since I met him. May he rest in peace. He will be missed by all of us.”

AIRASIA group CEO, Tony Fernandes, is planning to raise funds for expansion by listing AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia and Tune Insurance on the Malaysian stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, next year, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

AirAsia chairman, Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar, was quoted by AFP as saying that the triple IPO was slated for launch by early 2013, and that cash generated from the listing would be used to fund future expansion.

An unidentified source familiar with the deal told AFP that the three listings would be worth a combined US$400 million to US$550 million.

The planned IPO is timely given Bursa Malaysia’s growing reputation as a hotbed for successful stock listings. The bourse has seen three of the four largest IPOs in Asia this year, including those of pay-TV broadcaster Astro Malaysia Holdings, palm oil producer Felda Global Ventures Holdings and hospital operator IHH Healthcare.

OUTBOUND tourist traffic from China increased significantly during the recent National Day Golden Week from September 30 to October 7, with some Asian destinations on the receiving end of a bumper crop of arrivals.

A report jointly published by the China Tourism Academy – the research arm of the China National Tourism Administration – and online travel agency Ctrip revealed that the number of travellers heading overseas during the period rose by 50 per cent over last year.

The report attributed the strong outbound demand during the eight-day holiday to the relatively robust Chinese currency, simplified visa requirements and improving air connections.

The top 10 most popular destinations during the period were Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Maldives, the US and Cambodia.

According to Ding Jianmin, assistant general manager, Shanghai CITS International Travel Service, a large share of his clients chose to visit Hong Kong and Macau this year, while business to Europe declined.

Ding said four- and 10-day trips were the most popular, while older travellers tended to spend less than their younger counterparts. Those with a penchant for buying luxury goods probably spent more than RMB10,000 (US$1,592) on average per person, he added.

Data from Shanghai Spring International Travel Service showed that the number of customers travelling to Asia-Pacific rose by 30 per cent, with prices climbing by five per cent year-on-year due to rising airfares and hotel rates. The most popular destinations were Thailand, Russia, East Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Demand for Europe and the US also grew by 10 per cent over the same period last year, with destinations such as France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Guam especially popular.

Reporting by Hong Xu

KARIMUNJAWA, an archipelago of 27 islands off the coast of Indonesia’s Central Java province and situated north of Semarang, is fast gaining popularity among travellers from Singapore and Malaysia thanks to improved accessibility and heavy promotions by provincial tourism stakeholders.

This year, the Central Java Tourism Promotion Board estimates that arrivals to the destination to date are up 20-30 per cent over the same period in 2011.

The board’s director of market development, Marah Indra Madewa, said: “Karimunjawa has been one of our focus for promotions since last year, and it has started to gain recognition among Singaporean and Malaysian travellers who like beach holidays and activities, such as diving and snorkelling, thanks to direct daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Semarang by AirAsia, and from Singapore by Batavia Air.”

The Central Java provincial government is also planning to upgrade Dewa Daru Airport on Kemujan, one of the main islands in the archipelago, to attract more chartered and regular services to the destination.

The airport is capable of handling six- to 12- seater aircraft, and currently serves chartered flights from Semarang.

Normally a 4D3N package, the choice of activities in Karimunjawa includes island hopping, snorkelling, diving, swimming with sharks, and night fishing.

Madewa said: “Travellers have a choice to go directly from Semarang by fast boat, or overland from Semarang to Jepara (approximately 80km south-east of Karimunjawa) and visit the wood carving and furniture industry which Jepara is famous for, and (subsequently) take a three-and-a-half-hour speed boat ride to the islands from there.”

“On the way back, they have the option of staying one night in Semarang for shopping,” he added.

EVA Airways started thrice-weekly services between Taipei and Yangon on October 9.

Operated every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday on McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft, the new flights are expected to usher in an influx of North American visitors to Myanmar via Taiwan.

Taiwan’s national carrier, China Airlines, currently operates five flights a week between Taipei and Yangon, which will be boosted to seven flights a week from October 28.

EVA Airways is one of several international airlines, including Qatar Airways (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 5, 2012), Korean Air (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 19, 2012) and Singapore Airlines (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 5, 2012), to have added Yangon to their destination rosters recently.

All Nippon Airways will also offer the first direct link between Japan and Myanmar on October 15, operating three flights a week between Tokyo and Yangon.

Other international carriers preparing to fly to Yangon include Dragon Air, Condor, TransAsia Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.