CHANGI International Airport has raised its Passenger Service Charge (PSC) for departuring passengers by S$6 (US$4.80), effective next April.

The marked up fee of S$19.90 will apply to all airfares booked from November 2012, for travel on or after April 1, 2013.

Taking into account the S$8 Passenger Security Service Charge (PSSC) and S$6.10 Aviation Levy imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, departing passengers will have to fork out a total of S$34 once the new tariff kicks in.

The S$9 PSC and S$3 PSSC for transfer and transit passengers remain the same.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the fee amendment would help to bankroll new developments required to accommodate growing passenger traffic and cover the airport’s escalating operational costs.

Over the next five years, CAG is committed to a more than S$2 billion expansion and enhancement programme. Two upcoming projects – the construction of Terminal 4 and expansion of Terminal 1 – will raise handling capacity of the airport from 66 million to 85 million passengers per annum (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 19, 2012).

PATA Travel Mart 2013 will take place in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in China, in September next year.

After Hong Kong (2006), Hangzhou (2009) and Macau (2010), Chengdu will be the fourth Chinese city to host PATA Travel Mart.

João Manuel Costa Antunes, PATA chairman, said: “The successful bid of Chengdu to host PTM2013 is meaningful, not only because it will be the first time for a main event of the association to travel to the Midwest of China, but also because Sichuan will be able to show to Asia-Pacific travel industry stakeholders its rich tourism resources and the amazing reconstruction (efforts) four years after the devastating earthquake.”

Martin J Craigs, PATA CEO, said: “PATA has been working closely with Chengdu in many capacities over the past few years, including the development of tourism training, co-branding a seminar on global tourism trends, and destination marketing. We are confident that Chengdu will be able to attract a good quality and quantity of international visitors and buyers to PATA Travel Mart 2013.”

Mu Tao, deputy director of Chengdu Municipal Tourism Administration, said: “Hosting PATA Travel Mart will boost Chengdu’s brand and image; it will also spur the continued growth of the business travel and exhibition economy.”

THE MALDIVES’ inbound numbers are finally starting to pick up, after the destination posted several consecutive months of dismal results following the political upheaval in February (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 8, 2012).

The Maldives received 59,379 visitors in June, a 6.1-per cent jump over the same period last year. This was a marked improvement over the corresponding dips in May (-1.4 per cent), April (-0.8 per cent), March (-4.7 per cent) and February (-5.3 per cent).

Over the first six months of the year, the Maldives welcomed 458,068 visitors, a 2.3-per cent increase compared to January-June 2011.

“While there was a slowdown in March, April and May, we are now witnessing a pick up in business,” said Shafraz Fazley, managing director of Viluxur Holidays Male, which mainly handles the Chinese market.

“There is no reason to believe that the political unrest will (continue to affect) our business.”

While unable to provide exact figures, Fazley said that his company’s June arrivals (from China) were fairly good, while “July has been a fantastic month”.

Anantara Resorts in the Maldives has also experienced a resurgence in business of late, said Etienne de Villiers, area public relations manager for the resort chain.

“Both the short- and medium-term pickup in reservations are positive, not just from China, but also from the Middle East, Germany, Australia and others,” he said, adding that one of the chain’s Maldives resorts, Anantara Kihavah Villas, had achieved 67 per cent occupancy in July, and 77 per cent thus far for August.

THE PUTERI Harbour Family Theme Park in Nusajaya, Johor is due to open its doors in mid-November.

Situated within the Puteri Harbour waterfront development that is scheduled to launch next January (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 25, 2012), the four-storey indoor theme park will house LAT’s Place, a restaurant that will bring the Malaysian cartoonist’s famed village boy character to life, and the first-ever Hello Kitty theme park outside of Japan.

Themed Attractions & Resorts (TAR), a subsidiary of the Malaysian government’s investment arm Khazanah Nasional, has poured in over RM100 million (US$32 million) to develop the new theme park.

TAR managing director & CEO, Ahmad Burhanuddin, told TTG Asia e-Daily that he sees the Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park complementing, rather than competing with Legoland Malaysia, which is due to open in Nusajaya in mid-September.

“Both theme parks combined will give tourists a reason to spend more than a day in Nusajaya,” he said.

“Families will have more things to do at the destination, so they (will) have more reasons to stay longer and spend more in Malaysia.”

TAR is targeting 500,000 visitors in the theme park’s first year of operations. Marketing efforts will be conducted together with Tourism Malaysia in key markets such as India, China and the Middle East.

BUSINESS and leisure travel between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan is set to take off following the implementation of a bilateral visa-free agreement on July 26, and the impending launch of direct flights by Air Astana.

Under the terms of the visa-free deal, Hong Kong passport holders are now able to avail of 14-day visa-free access to Kazakhstan, while Kazakh nationals can similarly spend 14 days in Hong Kong on a visa-free basis.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana will launch twice-weekly flights from Almaty – the former capital and currently the nation’s largest city – to Hong Kong on August 28. The service will be operated using Boeing 757 aircraft with 16 business-class and 150 economy-class seats.

“I am confident that the combination of visa-free travel and the launch of new direct services from Almaty to Hong Kong next month will result in major business and leisure traffic growth between these two destinations,” said Ibrahim Canliel, Air Astana vice president Marketing & Sales.

COX & Kings Global Services (CKGS) has kick-started its Schengen Visa & Residence Permit application service for the Royal Norwegian Embassy in India.

As part of the arrangement, CKGS will provide services such as disseminating information on visa and residence permits, pre-scrutiny of documents, and sorting of visa applications and passports received from the general public.

“The number of Indian tourists arriving in Norway has been on a steady incline,” said Ann Ollestad, Norwegian Ambassador to India.

“Our partnership with CKGS makes it more convenient for Indian nationals to acquire a Schengen visa or a residence permit, making it possible for diplomatic staff to focus on case handling, thus shortening the overall processing time and application procedure.”

To facilitate the receipt of visa and residence permit applications, CKGS has opened Schengen Visa & Residence Permit Application Centres in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune and Kochi.

Sanjay Bhaduri, CEO of CKGS, said: “We are certain that these centres will afford greater convenience to travellers wishing to visit Norway or the other Schengen countries.”

ORION Expedition Cruises has released its 2013 season brochure, detailing 33 voyages to 94 destinations onboard the Orion, an expedition cruise ship with capacity for 106 passengers.

Beginning with a golf cruise in New Zealand waters on February 16, 2013, Orion will offer a range of five- to 20-night itineraries to destinations including Borneo and Sulawesi, Australia’s Kimberley coast and Arnhem Land, the Great Barrier Reef, the Islands of Melanesia and New Zealand, the sub Antarctic Islands, and the Forgotten Islands of Sunda, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea.

Asian programme highlights for 2013 include a Borneo Discovery – including Camp Leakey, Borobudur & Sulawesi sailing scheduled to depart on September 29; and a Camp Leakey – Faces in the Forest (Borneo) – including Kuching, Natuna Islands & Bako National Park cruise scheduled to depart on October 25 and November 18.

Orion will end off its 2013 season with a 20-night Scott & Shackleton’s Antarctica – including sub Antarctic Islands cruise, scheduled to depart on February 8, 2014.

An electronic version of the Orion 2013 brochure can be downloaded fromwww.orionexpeditions.com/ebrochure

TTG Events, organiser of the upcoming IT&CM India 2012, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) to raise awareness and buyer participation for the inaugural event.

Under the terms of the partnership, TTG Events and OTOAI have agreed to pool their resources to enhance the quality and quantity of domestic buyer registration.

Formed in November 2011, OTOAI is a non-profit organisation comprised of outbound tour operators and travel agencies based in India. With a membership base of around 130 companies, OTOAI affiliates jointly account for around 30 per cent of all outbound business from India.

Vineet Gopal, joint secretary of OTOAI, said: “We maintain stringent criteria for active membership. Only organisations of a certain scale, with recommendations from overseas suppliers as well as national tourism offices, can become members of OTOAI. In addition, active membership will be renewed every two years, on condition that the applicant completes 20 hours of training/seminars conducted by the national tourism boards.”

Dove Travels and Vayu Seva Tours & Travels are among the confirmed OTOAI buyers who will be participating at IT&CM India 2012, which is scheduled to take place from August 21–23 at the India Expo Centre & Mart in Delhi NCR.

SOLARE Hotels & Resorts will bid farewell to founding president & CEO, Tony Virili, on October 31. He will be succeeded by Kentaro Ujiie, former president & CEO of PGM Holdings, one of Japan’s largest golf course owner-operators.

The impending change of leadership at Solare heralds the end of a golden era for Virili, who has been instrumental in driving the success of one of Japan’s most progressive hotel chains.

Virili’s most significant achievement was perhaps the massive rebranding exercise he implemented in 2004-06, which saw the group’s core brands repositioned under the Solare umbrella, and involved a ¥5.4-billion (US$69 million) refurbishment programme, plus the construction of 22 Chisun Inns, adding more than 2,000 rooms to the market.

Solare’s Loisir Hotel brand was also launched and the new Healing Oasis, Loisir Spa Tower Naha became Okinawa’s most luxurious city resorts. Meanwhile, the group’s diversified strategies included the franchise of brands such as Marriott, Mercure, Nikko and Sheraton.

In 2011, Virili oversaw measures to guard Solare against a slowdown in investment and the shift from travel agency bookings to online distribution channels.

He took the opportunity to drive Solare’s expansion via third party management, franchising, and an associate hotels programme – an initiative allowing independent hotels to operate under their own brands, but with the added connectivity of Solare’s online distribution and sales network.

“Think of a hybrid between an OTA and RoomKey.com,” said Virili at the time. “We want an online distribution portal where hotel groups not competing in each other’s market can add value, by offering to their own guests, particularly loyalty programme members, direct connectivity in the form of a real-time bookable inventory of associate hotels.”