A TOTAL of 37 cities from around the world including Los Angeles, Rome, Berlin, Beijing and Moscow have come together to form a new global tourism alliance.

Dubbed the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), the non-profit, non-governmental organisation is now the fourth largest tourism coalition globally after UNWTO, WTTC and PATA. Headquartered in Beijing, WTCF is also the first-ever global tourism body to be based in China.

WTCF’s main agenda is to facilitate cross-city dialogue and sharing of research, including statistics and the latest trends, to support strategic tourism development. Plans are also in the pipeline to stage exhibitions to showcase the landscape, culture and history of individual cities.

Funding for activities will derive from a combination of membership fees, public and corporate donations, as well as government subsidies.

According to Chinese news reports, WTCF is in negotiations with additional cities, including New York and Nairobi, to join the alliance. WTCF hopes to grow its membership to 100 cities within the next three years.

Martin Craigs, CEO of PATA, said: “As long as they (WCTF) recognise the need for aligned advocacy, then this should add value to the industry activism happening worldwide. For instance, the WTCF should help to lobby foreign governments to lower taxes or simplify visa processing.”

Craigs has been invited to speak at WTCF’s first symposium, which is scheduled to take place in Beijing on June 25.

A POWER outage at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport yesterday resulted in a total of 27 flight delays for flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Power disruptions hit many areas in Central, South and West Jakarta from 13:15 pm yesterday and lasted for more than two hours, causing delays for fourteen Garuda flights, and trickling down to affect thirteen flights later on.

“(The outage) resulted in delays of between fifteen minutes and one hour,” said Garuda vice president corporate communications, Pujobroto.

Services that were disrupted included flights bound for Denpasar, Pekanbaru, Surakarta, Palembang, Semarang, Batam, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Hari Cahyono, corporate secretary of Angkasa Pura II Airport Authority, which manages Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, was quoted as saying that the facility was operating as per normal, with power supplied by eight backup generators.

According to Garuda’s Pujobroto, however, the boarding process at domestic terminal F, all work at the transfer desk, and the sorting of flight documents in the control room had to be conducted manually.

SILKAIR has started thrice-weekly flights to Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in China.

The service will depart Singapore on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and will be operated using Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft, both featuring business- and economy-class cabins.

Wuhan is SilkAir’s seventh destination in China after Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Shenzhen and Xiamen, and increases the number of destinations in the carrier’s network to 40.

SilkAir’s chief executive, Marvin Tan, said the new route would further strengthen its presence in China.

“We are delighted to add Wuhan to SilkAir’s expanding network. We expect this new destination to be popular for both business and leisure travel,” he said.

LOOKING to grow inbound traffic from India, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has thrown its support behind the promotion of certain cruise programmes originating from Singapore, such as Costa Victoria’s upcoming Singapore-Dubai sailing.

Trade reports from a range of Indian tour operators reveal that 24 per cent of Indians headed to Singapore also embark on cruises from the destination.

STB is keen to take advantage of this trend and market cruise options out of Singapore to Indian tourists. Although details of the promotional tie-up have yet to be revealed, G. B. Srithar, area director – South Asia Marketing (Mumbai) for STB, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the initiative would be linked to the NTO’s ‘Singapore – The holiday you take home with you’ campaign targeted at Indians.

“Singapore continues to evolve and one (upcoming) addition is the opening of its International Cruise Terminal in 2Q2012. The terminal will double Singapore’s berthing capacity and enable it to cater to some of the largest cruise ships in the world. The facility will turn Singapore into a major hub for cruises,” he added.

Veneeta Rawat, director, Amazing Vacations Mumbai said: “Promotional efforts by STB through campaigns with travel consultants will help cover a larger segment of the market. Since cruises are very popular with our clients, more options will elicit greater interest.”

The 1,928-pax Costa Victoria is scheduled to sail from Singapore to Dubai this November. Both cities are popular shopping havens for Indian leisure travellers.

Thomas Cook India and Mercury Travels Mumbai have been appointed to sell this cruise, while Lotus Destinations, Costa Cruises’ GSA in India, has been tasked with promotional duties.

FIREFLY has mounted twice-weekly charter services to Nanning in Southern China, operated using a Boeing 737-400 aircraft with 162 seats.

The services comprise of direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Nanning every Sunday, and flights from Kuala Lumpur to Nanning via Penang every Thursday.

Ignatius Ong, CEO, Firefly said: “Nanning is our first foray into China. We see demand for both leisure and business travel. We are also exploring the possibilities of flying to more cities in China using our B737 aircraft.”

This is the second time that Firefly and Guangxi China International Travel Service are operating scheduled charter services to Nanning. The first collaboration saw seven scheduled charter services between November 19 and December 31 last year.

With the new flights, Firefly becomes the only airline to operate direct services between Malaysia and Nanning. Without the direct connection, travellers have to fly six hours to get to Nanning via Guangzhou or Hong Kong.

TIARA Tunggal Cemerlang (TTC) Indonesia, an event organiser that holds B2B outbound travel marts in Indonesia twice yearly, will conduct its first-ever Philippine edition of the mart this August.

“After organising 16 TTC outbound travel marts in Indonesia over the last eight years, we are now stepping forward by organising similar (events) in the Philippines,” said Tedjo Iskandar, owner and director, TTC Indonesia.

The move was facilitated through a joint venture with Philippine wholesaler TGEH Holiday, which led to TTC Indonesia opening an office in Manila.

Thepphitak Phankwan, executive vice president, TGEH Holiday, said: “The idea (to organise a B2B outbound travel mart in the Philippines) came after my company joined TTC Indonesia, and discovered how effective a B2B table-top event could be.”

The Philippine mart will take place in Manila on August 28 and Cebu on August 30.

Iskandar is targeting 100-120 sellers from various countries, while Phankwan is optimistic that he will be able to attract 500 buyers from Manila and Cebu.

“Many of the suppliers and tour operators who participate in our shows in Indonesia also target the Philippine market, so we are confident of our first event (in the Philippines),” said Iskandar.

ACCOR is ramping up its commitment to sustainability with the launch of PLANET 21, a comprehensive programme that places sustainable practices at the core of its global business strategy.

“At a time when (Accor) is embarking on a phase of brisk expansion, we are reaffirming our commitment to responsible growth capable of generating shared value for all,” said Denis Hennequin, chairman and CEO, Accor.

With the enhanced focus on sustainability, Accor has made 21 commitments and is targeting the same number of quantified goals by 2015, including: employees trained in disease prevention in 95 per cent of hotels; 80 per cent of properties promoting balanced dishes; 85 per cent of hotels using eco-labelled products; a 15 per cent reduction in water consumption; and 10 per cent decrease in energy use at all owned and leased hotels worldwide.

Sophie Flak, executive vice president, Sustainable Development and Academies, Accor said: “Seventy per cent of our key account customers have integrated sustainable development criteria into their supplier policies, and one out of two take this criterion into account when choosing a hotel.”

Accor properties will only be allowed to use PLANET 21 messages if they comply with a certain level of sustainable development performance, or if they achieve an internationally recognised external environmental certification.

The name PLANET 21 is a direct reference to Agenda 21, the environmental action plan signed by 173 heads of state at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.