SCOTT Boyes, regional general manager of Accor NSW and ACT, has been elected to the Business Events Sydney’s (BESydney) Board of Directors following its annual general meeting on Tuesday.
He will take on the role of members director, after having received the most votes from BESydney’s strategic partner and members.
Gary Daly, general manager sales of Luna Park, and Kate Smith, managing director of WaldronSmith, are other members directors on the board.
PAHANG’S Bukit Gambang Resort City (BGRC), said to be the largest water theme park resort in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, has set its sights on the international MICE market to fill its inventory of event spaces.
First launched in 2009, BGRC opened a dedicated MICE centre in May, offering 10 meeting rooms and a pillarless grand ballroom that can seat 3,100 people in a banquet setting. The massive ballroom gained fame recently when it made its way into the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest pillarless ballroom in the country.
With the opening of the dedicated MICE centre, the resort city now boasts 31 event spaces including those in the Caribbean Bay Suites and Bukit Gambang Water Park Visitor Centre, and is supported by 1,866 guest rooms in Caribbean Bay Suites and the new-build Arabian Bay Resort.
BGRC’s current business mix comprises 60 per cent MICE and 40 per cent leisure, and guests are predominantly locals. But it is looking to capture more international interest.
Karen Tan, spokesperson of BGRC, said business and leisure travellers from China, India and Singapore were on its radar, and efforts to connect with these markets include participation in travel trade fairs and organisation of familiarisation trips for MICE planners.
BGRC will add 11 break-out rooms to its inventory next year, while a safari park, focused on education and conservation, will open in 2Q2013.
Patrick Andres (left) and Simon Nowroz
TRAVELPORT has appointed Patrick Andres as vice president and regional managing director for Asia-Pacific.
Andres replaces Simon Nowroz, who has moved to the new role of group vice president, business development (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 15, 2012), overseeing the strategic growth regions of Brazil, China, India and Japan.
In his new role, Andres will be responsible for Travelport’s commercial operations in Asia-Pacific, which include driving revenue growth, attaining new business and identifying strategic opportunities for the company.
Andres joins Travelport with 25 years of experience in the travel and hospitality technology industries. Most recently, he was vice president of Asia-Pacific for Sabre Hospitality Solutions. Prior to that, he worked for multinational firms such as IATA, Expedia and SAP AG.
Reporting to Jason Clarke, Travelport’s group vice president and managing director of global sales, Andres will be based out of Travelport’s Singapore office.
Nicolas Reschke (left) and Mayang Ismail
SUTERA Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah has appointed Nicolas Reschke as group director of sales & marketing and Mayang Ismail as director of marketing communications.
Reschke has worked with Marriott International for the past 15 years. His most recent role was as director of sales and marketing of the Courtyard by Marriott Nusa Dua in Bali.
Syntio Camilleri (left) and Elsie Boon
FOUR Points by Sheraton Sandakan in Sabah has appointed Syntio Camilleri as general manager and Elsie Boon as director of business development.
Prior to his appointment, Camilleri was the general manager of Sheraton Bandung. He was previously the executive assistant manager of Le Meridien Jakarta and The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa.
Prior to joining Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan, Boon was the director of business development at Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu.
SPECULATION that British Airways (BA) might discontinue services to Sydney in the aftermath of the Qantas-Emirates alliance has been laid to rest, as the carrier has elected to deploy its newest aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, on its London-Singapore-Sydney route starting March 30, 2013.
The new planes feature BA’s next-generation First Class, Club World, World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins.
In addition, flights on the London-Singapore-Sydney as well as London-Singapore turnaround service will be transferred to Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5, offering convenient same-terminal transfers to BA’s European and North American destinations.
Premium class travellers will also be able to avail of BA’s Concorde Room and Galleries Club lounges within the terminal.
Jamie Cassidy, area general manager for Middle East & Asia-Pacific, BA, said: “Our new initiatives mark a new chapter in our history with Australia, and underscores our commitment to the route. The enhancements are great news for our passengers from Singapore.”
BA’s remaining turnaround service to Singapore will continue to operate with the Boeing 747-400. BA will take delivery of its first A380 in the second half of 2013, making it the ninth operator of this aircraft type.
TALKS to expand commercial air services between the Philippines and Thailand are set to take place in Bangkok on November 13-14.
According to Carmelo Arcilla, executive director, Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board, the negotiations seek to support the growth of tourism in the country.
He added: “Actual air negotiations are driven by a variety of triggers such as requests from local airlines on account of capacity or route expansion, requests from foreign governments for new or additional air services or routes, or simply to modernise the terms of existing agreements.”
The discussions come on the heels of the Philippines’ Department of Tourism’s ramped-up marketing focus on Thailand, which was recently grouped with Malaysia as a source market under the purview of its Malaysia-based marketing director (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 11, 2012).
Bangkok is a stopover for Philippine Airlines’ twice-weekly service between New Delhi and Manila. The national carrier and its sister airline, AirPhil Express, currently have the largest seat allocation on the Manila-Bangkok route, followed by Cebu Pacific.
VICTORIA has become the first Australian state to launch a marketing campaign targeted specifically at the Chinese outbound market.
Unveiled by Victorian premier Ted Baillieu during a trade mission to Shanghai in September, the A$8 million-plus (US$8.3 million) Open Up To More campaign centres around a 30-second television commercial depicting a young Chinese couple discovering Victorian landmarks such as Yarra Valley, Ballarat’s Sovereign Hill and the Great Ocean Road.
Lasting till May 2013, the campaign aims to drive traffic to Tourism Victoria’s new Chinese language website (cn.visitmelbourne.com), and will also incorporate advertising across various print and social media.
In addition, Tourism Victoria will work closely with Chinese airlines flying to Melbourne, and Australian tour operators specialising in Chinese inbound.
For the year ending June 2012, Chinese visitors had the highest expenditure of all international arrivals to Victoria, up eight per cent year-on-year to A$905 million. China also contributed the largest share of international visitors to Victoria with 280,100 arrivals, up 27 per cent year-on-year.
MARRIOTT International has unveiled plans to more than double the size of its Asia portfolio over the next few years.
With 132 hotels currently in operation and 143 properties in the pipeline in Asia, Marriott expects to grow its regional network to at least 265 hotels by 2016, encompassing more than 80,000 rooms in 16 countries.
The company already has 127 hotels opened and under development in China, and is also planning to beef up its India portfolio from 15 to more than 50 hotels.
Simon Cooper, president & managing director, Asia, Marriott International, said: “We have seen great growth across our portfolio and expect to be launching new brands in the region soon, with the introduction of Fairfield by Marriott in India next year and the launch of our Edition brand in Bangkok in 2014.”
Earlier this month, Marriott rolled out the Autograph Collection in Asia with the opening of The Stones Legian, Bali.
According to Cooper, China and India are “driving forces” for Marriott’s business in Asia, but the company is also “seeing growth with new signings and openings in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and elsewhere in the region”.
Having launched its Li Yu programme in July (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 5, 2012), the company is also training its associates and teams outside of China in anticipation of the expected 80 million outbound Chinese travellers this year.
TIGER Airways and Scoot have enhanced their network tie-up (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 2, 2012) by introducing joint itineraries to 13 more destinations in North Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and South-east Asia.
Starting October 31, travellers may purchase a single itinerary for travel from Sydney, the Gold Coast and Tianjin, served by Scoot; to Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Dhaka, Penang, Colombo, Kuching and Jakarta, served by Tiger, via a transit in Singapore.
This complements the existing cooperation to Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur, and brings the total number of destinations served under the Tiger-Scoot partnership to 16.
In addition, customers will be able to purchase flight itineraries originating from South-east Asia. New routes available on single-itinerary bookings include Jakarta-Tianjin, Hong Kong-Sydney/Gold Coast, Guangzhou-Sydney/Gold Coast, Hyderabad-Sydney/Gold Coast, Cambodia-Sydney and Chennai-Sydney.
Tickets purchased on these joint itineraries go on sale October 31, for travel from November 15.
