NTUC Club, the entertainment arm of the Singapore National Trades Union Congress, announced yesterday that it would pour some S$200 million (US$160 million) into revamping the Downtown East integrated complex in Pasir Ris over the next five years.

The Escape Theme Park, which ceased operations last November, will be demolished to make way for an expansion of the Wild Wild Wet theme park.

The project will also include a facelift for the 360-room Costa Sands Resort, which will gain an additional 40 rooms. Once completed, the overall area of the resort will increase from three to 3.8 hectares, offering a mix of hotel-style rooms and one- and two-bedroom chalets.

A meeting and conference facility, featuring a multi-purpose hall with space for up to 3,000 pax, will also be constructed.

The revamp will be carried out in two stages, with the first stage starting in 4Q2012, and the entire project scheduled for completion in the second half of 2017.

DESPITE the unfolding economic slowdown, Asian travellers remain bullish about their travel plans for this year, surpassing the global average in expected travel accommodation bookings, according to a new study commissioned by AsiaRooms.com.

The inaugural Traveller Confidence Index found that Asia scored 61.4 points, while Europe trailed behind with 55.9 points. The former was only bested by Latin America (66.7 points), and both were above the 60.8-point average.

As a region, Asia led in spending, and was also the least price-sensitive, independent market research firm VisionOne UK discovered, after surveying about 20,000 travellers worldwide during the first quarter.

Within Asia, Singapore came out tops for overseas leisure travel propensity at 67.9 points, compared to China at 62.8 points and Malaysia at 48.3 points.

Use of online channels for accommodation bookings was highest among Asian respondents (70.3 per cent), with China (57.5 per cent) ahead of the pack, followed by Singapore (57.4 per cent) and India (55 per cent).

AsiaRooms.com brand development lead, Clarence Lin, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the findings would help shape the OTA’s supply and marketing decisions. “For example, with China having the highest proportion of online bookings, we need to beef up on the kind of hotels that are popular with Chinese travellers. These could be resorts in more exotic and prestige locations. They are no longer just looking at Hong Kong and Macau, but places like the Maldives,” he explained.

“Knowing that Singapore and Malaysia are key, we also have to make sure we have adequate voices in those markets. We are spending and investing heavily in the two countries with our ongoing marketing campaign.”

According to Lin, the main source of bookings for AsiaRooms.com were Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

With an inventory of 60,000 properties, Lin said AsiaRooms.com was positioning itself as an Asian expert, backed by the “financial muscle of (its parent) TUI Travel”.

“At this point in time, we are growing the B2C market, as there are other brands within the TUI portfolio that deal with corporate wholesale business. We are quite clear about our strengths and competencies,” he said.

FIREFLY will ramp up its flight operations during the upcoming Hari Raya festive season in anticipation of heightened demand.

The carrier will operate five additional flights to Kota Bharu, three additional flights to Pekanbaru, and two additional flights to Medan from its central hub of Subang. From its northern Penang hub, one extra flight to Langkawi will be added.

These supplementary return flights are scheduled to depart on August 16, 17, 18, 25 and 26.

Ignatius Ong, Firefly CEO, said: “ Historically, the demand for flights on these routes during the Hari Raya period has always been high, but this year the demand has been even more so. Based on our advance sales figures, we can see that most of the flights on the key festive dates are (already) averaging 65 to 70 percent full.”

This year, the Hari Raya holiday in Malaysia falls on August 19-20, resulting in a long weekend, while the Malaysian National Day public holiday falls on a Friday just 11 days later.

“With two long weekends within weeks of each other, which also coincide with the one-week school holidays, we had anticipated higher demand from both Muslims looking to go for a short break as well as non-Muslim holiday-makers, and the sales numbers thus far prove this,” said Ong.

BORNEO Highlands Resort, a golfing haven located an hour’s drive southwest of Sarawak’s capital, Kuching, is widening its marketing efforts to tap government and corporate travellers interested in health and wellness programmes.

Since opening in 2000, the 30-key resort has mainly catered to golfing clientele. The property features an 18-hole golf course surrounded by greenery, two meeting rooms that can each accommodate 50 pax in a theatre setting, and cool temperatures ranging from 21-28 degrees Celsius.

Resort manager Zakaria Ismail told TTG Asia e-Daily that plans to branch into the wellness segment and to market beyond Sarawak were aimed at increasing average room occupancy – which rose from 20 per cent last year to 35 per cent this year.

According to Zakaria, traditional Chinese treatments and Ayurvedic offerings were in the pipeline, while a sales representative would be based in Kuala Lumpur to ramp up marketing efforts in key cities across Peninsular Malaysia. Beginning this year, the resort will also increasingly target overseas markets such as Singapore, Brunei, Japan and South Korea, he added.

“We have key elements to make this new (marketing) venture a success – fresh air and a peaceful atmosphere surrounded by nature, organic food in the restaurant and traditional massage treatments all make for healthy living. The resort and its surroundings are also Important Bird Areas,” said Zakaria.

The average room rate at the Borneo Highlands Resort is RM200++ (US$63++), inclusive of a one-day meeting package, meals, accommodation based on quad share, and return transfers from the foothills.

BATAM Fast Ferry and Penguin Ferry Services, previously the only operators of passenger ferry services between Singapore (HarbourFront) and Sekupang and Batam Centre, have been fined by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) for engaging in anti-competitive practices.

Hit with fines of S$172,906 (US$138,000) and S$113,860 respectively, the two ferry operators were found to have infringed Section 34 of Singapore’s Competition Act, which prohibits, among other things, agreements and/or concerted practices which prevent, restrict or distort competition.

Following up on a complaint by a member of the public in October 2009, CCS discovered that Batam Fast Ferry and Penguin Ferry Services had exchanged sensitive and confidential information relating to ferry ticket pricing, including quotations to clients.

There were instances of emails which were blind copied from one ferry operator to another in relation to confidential price information sent to clients, and instances of mutual price verification when clients requested for quotes for the purchase of ferry tickets.

The unlawful conduct involved ferry tickets sold to corporate clients and travel consultants, but excluded ferry tickets sold over the counter at published rates.

The duration of the infringing conduct for ferry tickets sold to corporate clients was from November 9, 2007 to November 17, 2009. For ferry tickets sold to travel consultants, the duration was from June 17, 2008 to May 20, 2009.

ASCENDAS Hospitality Trust has reduced the size of its planned initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore.

According to a Reuters report, Ascendas delisted the Pullman Ambassador Changwon Hotel in South Korea from its initial portfolio, slashing the IPO size from US$350 million to US$304 million – a 13 per cent drop.

Ascendas Hospitality Trust’s portfolio now comprises 10 hotels with 3,482 rooms. Seven of the properties are in Australia, constituting 67 per cent of the trust’s value; one hotel in Japan contributes another 24 per cent; while two hotels in China make up the remaining nine per cent.

Based on its preliminary prospectus, Ascendas Hospitality Trust has managed to secure three cornerstone investors for its IPO, including hospitality chain Accor Asia Pacific, Splendid Asia Macro Fund and Lianhe Investments.

The IPO was due to launch today and close on July 24, with its debut on the Singapore stock exchange scheduled for July 27.