INDIA’S Jet Airways will suspend its daily Chennai-Kuala Lumpur flights on July 2, seven years after it commenced operations on this route.

The flight cessation was due to business realignment, rather than poor loads, according to a source. Passenger loads were good, averaging 75-85 per cent both ways.

Currently, Kuala Lumpur is the only Malaysian destination that Jet Airways flies to.

Sharitha Rajendran, travel consultant of Selangor-based Topaz Travels & Tours, said the suspension was a blow to the company, especially during the year-end school holidays as there was a shortage of seats. Business travel would also be impacted as the flight timings were ideal for a day trip to Chennai, she added.

Two other carriers plying this route with daily flights are Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia. Together they contribute a total of 2,926 seats weekly.

APPLE Vacations & Conventions, a Malaysia-based outbound tour operator, will unveil its new online booking engine targeting FIT travellers on July 1.

The launch of this booking engine was driven by the emergence of FIT travel and a slowdown in group travel bookings in its Malaysian office as well as its subsidiary, Apple Vacations Singapore.

The travel firm has invested some RM500,000 (US$158,000) on the booking engine, and has partnered Abacus and several global hotel wholesalers to draw on their inventory and provide instant confirmation of flights and rooms.

Desmond Lee, Apple Vacations group managing director, said the website, AppleBooking.com.my, will offer tour packages and is also able to list products according to pricing.

He said the company is targeting a revenue of RM10 million from Internet sales bookings in the next 18 months.

THE MALAYSIAN tourism ministry has implemented a star-rating system for spas in the country to improve the quality of the wellness industry.

As part of this initiative, authorities have inspected 402 spa establishments nationwide since March. Among the 147 qualified premises, 69 per cent were ranked with three to five stars, said tourism minister Ng Yen Yen.

“Spas which did not qualify for rating will be provided with advice on how to raise their standards, while those which are illegal will be weeded out with the support of local authorities,” she added.

A Tourism Malaysia spokesperson said the rating system will be publicised on the website, with further promotion from the Association of Malaysian Spas.

The rating will also enable spas to employ foreign therapists once they receive endorsement from the ministry, said Ng. The Malaysian spa industry currently faces an acute shortage of skilled therapists – foreigners comprise 60 per cent of the country’s 1,300 professional therapists.

To develop the local talent pool, the tourism ministry has jointly established the Centre of Excellence with the Ministry of Human Resources to offer six-month spa therapy training programmes. Graduates will be guaranteed employment in the spa industry upon completion, Ng said.

“Malaysia certainly can develop a unique spa brand based on the country’s Malay, Chinese, Indian and other therapy traditions, provided we do it well. Ultimately it is up to the qualified (spa) players to develop the brand,” she added.

Reporting by N. Nithiyananthan 

WYNDHAM Hotel Group is strengthening its presence in China by entering into franchise agreements with four different Chinese developers to construct new hotels under its Ramada brand.

“As China remains an important market for us, we (will) continue to look for growth opportunities in new cities and provinces,” said Frank Trampert, managing director for Wyndham Hotel Group in Asia-Pacific.

All four properties will open in 2013, adding to the group’s 46 Ramada hotels currently operating in China.

Set in Xingfu Town, Dujiangyan in Chengdu city, the 293-room Ramada Plaza Chengdu West is part of a large-scale commercial complex, and will feature a fitness centre, eight meeting rooms and three restaurants.

The 289-room Ramada Huizhou South, located near Dayawan Petrochemicals Industrial Park and about an hour’s drive from Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, will offer an outdoor pool, sauna, a ballroom and six meeting rooms totalling 2,000m².

The 179-room Ramada Kunming North will be situated in a 428-hectare real estate development area, which includes a horse racing club, two 18-hole golf courses, a conference centre, luxurious residences, entertainment facilities and a natural wetland park. The hotel’s business amenities include a grand ballroom, five meeting rooms and six boardrooms with over 1,000m2 space.

Ramada Hotel Pingtan, located in Pingtan’s Experimental Zone and 65km from Fuzhou Changle International Airport, will offer 150 rooms and four meeting rooms totalling 500m².

HONG Kong Disneyland is set to open Grizzly Gulch on July 14, the second and largest of three themed areas built as part of the resort’s US$460 million expansion plan.

Grizzly Gulch, which comes less than a year after the November 2011 debut of Toy Story Land, was created exclusively for the resort. Set in a Wild West-inspired landscape, it will feature a welcome show, photographic points, F&B outlets and the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, which are 24-pax terrain-style coasters running through the entire zone.

To drive awareness of Grizzly Gulch, the resort will leverage on webinars and online videos to showcase the new attraction to over 2,000 trade partners in the region. Three preview days for the travel trade will also be held consecutively in July.

The third themed area, Mystic Point, is scheduled to open in 2013.

LANDMARK Village Hotel in Singapore will offer a new Premier Room category once its US$2.2-million refurbishment is completed in December.

Currently, a single floor of over 30 renovated Premier Rooms has already been released for sales. Each of the rooms, measuring 32m2, features contemporary design, modern furnishings, a 40-inch LCD HDTV, a recliner armchair, an open-concept wardrobe, and a rain shower.

The rest of the Premuim inventory will come online by August 1, after which the hotel will turn its attentions to renovating its Deluxe Rooms.

Meanwhile, Landmark Village Hotel is offering discounted rates for the new Premier Room from now till September 25, 2012. Prices start from S$228++ (US$180++) (single occupancy)/ S$248++ (double occupancy) per night, including complimentary buffet breakfast and unlimited Internet access for one user.

Rates are subject to 10 per cent service charge and prevailing government taxes.

For reservations, call (65) 6512-2231 or email sales.landmark@stayvillage.com

THE INDONESIAN Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has earmarked seven specific areas in which it plans to develop its special interest tourism portfolio from 2012-2014.

These focus areas include cultural and historic tourism; nature and ecotourism; sports and recreation; cruises; culinary and shopping; spa and wellness; and events.

Speaking at a workshop in Puncak, West Java, last weekend, the ministry’s director general of tourism destination development, Firmansyah Rahim, said: “Within these (areas), we have narrowed down and placed development focus on specific locations and sub-themes to work on in the next two years.”

For example, underwater photography, a sub-category of sports and recreation tourism, will highlight destinations such as Raja Ampat, Wakatobi, Derawan, Lembeh, Nabire, Morota and North Halmahera. For shopping, featured destinations will include Jakarta, Bandung, Jogjakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Medan and Batam, while spa and wellness havens will comprise Bali, Jogjakarta, Batam, Bintan, Jakarta, Surabaya and Lombok.

Bondan Winarno, a culinary expert and Jalansutra cultural leader, said: “Culinary tourism has been neglected (by the Indonesian authorities) when it’s actually the most ready product for marketing and promotion.”

He urged the Indonesian government to promote the opening of Indonesian specialty restaurants overseas, similar to what Thailand did a few years ago.

Yos Dive Indonesia owner, Yos Amerta, said: “Why don’t we establish Manado as a hub to make it more convenient for North Asian travellers to visit Indonesia, so that north Sulawesi’s dive spots can also get a share of these tourists before they go on to Bali?”

“We keep targeting the longhaul sector, but overlook the markets in front of us. China is a potential market (for marine tourism), with Chinese groups in Bali spending US$350 per day, but (Indonesia) has not tapped this segment seriously,” he added.