HONG Kong Disneyland is ramping up efforts to grow Indonesian arrivals to the resort by appointing liaison representatives in Indonesia, as well as launching a website and promotional brochures in Bahasa Indonesia.

Speaking at its inaugural trade and media business event in Jakarta yesterday, Hong Kong Disneyland vice president of sales and distribution marketing, Terruce Wang, said: “In the 2011 fiscal year, the resort experienced a 15 per cent increase in guests from Indonesia over the previous year, with over 70 per cent indicating an intention to revisit the park in the future.”

The resort recently appointed World Discovery Travel Network and its associated partner AVS Indonesia as its liaison representatives in Indonesia to tap business opportunities and enhance support for local trade partners, he said.

With the opening of Toy Story Land last year and the upcoming launch of Grizzly Gulch on July 14 and Mystic Point next year, Wang commented that the time was ripe for the park to establish a presence in Indonesia and boost the market.

“We have also opened our Halal-certified kitchen at the Tahitian Terrace in March to cater to Muslim travellers’ needs,” Wang added.

AIRASIA is establishing a strategic planning centre in Jakarta, called AirAsia Asean, and restructuring its management to focus on regional growth as the budget carrier enters its second decade.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia Group CEO, said the AirAsia Asean office in Jakarta would serve as the “nerve centre” of the company’s regional expansion.

A Jakarta base would enable the company to engage more closely with the ASEAN Secretariat headquartered in the Indonesian capital, as well as to raise the profile and branding of AirAsia Indonesia, which was scheduled for listing on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by end-2012, Fernandes explained.

“AirAsia Asean will also help us to ensure that our voice, concerns and appeals are heard much more clearly in the corridors of power within ASEAN.”

“While others focus largely on trying to gain market share in domestic markets, we seek to expand our footprint throughout the region. After all, no single domestic market in ASEAN, not even Indonesia, can match the potential of a regional market of 600 million people and a combined East Asian market of two billion,” he added.

The group headquarters will remain in Malaysia.

SABRE Holdings has entered into a new hotel agreement with TravelSky, a China-based air travel and tourism IT solutions provider.

“Our agreement gives our hotel partners a unique and extremely valuable channel to tap into the burgeoning Chinese marketplace, and provides our agency customers with significantly more choice and efficient access to Chinese hotel properties. TravelSky is a key player in China, and our alliance is an important step towards meeting the needs of travellers from the East and West,” said Hans Belle, vice president and general manager, Asia-Pacific, Sabre Travel Network.

The partnership will enable Sabre’s 350,000 global agents access to TravelSky’s 30,000 Chinese hotel properties, while TravelSky will provide its 7,000 agencies in China with access to more than 100,000 hotel properties on Sabre’s GDS.

Hotels who use Sabre’s SynXis Central Reservations System will be able to work directly with TravelSky travel agencies and leisure travellers in China.

“This is an important alliance for us as this hotel content was previously not available to our travel agencies or travellers in China,” said Xue Qiang, vice-president tour and transportation solutions, TravelSky Technology. “This agreement gives our agencies and travellers efficient access to an extensive range of Western properties, and helps both our companies meet our mutual objectives to deliver greater value to customers.”

A similar deal was also struck between Sabre’s Asia-Pacific subsidiary Abacus, and TravelSky to share hotel content with its agencies.

MANDARIN Oriental Hotel Group is set to open its inaugural property in Guangzhou later this year.

Located above TaiKoo Hui in Guangzhou’s Tianhe CBD, the five-star hotel is part of a 450,000m2 mixed-use development comprising luxury shopping outlets, office spaces and a cultural centre.

The five-star property, with interiors designed by Tony Chi & Associates, features 233 rooms, 30 suites and 24 serviced apartments. Each guest room offers spa-inspired bathrooms, with separate “wet” & “dry” rooms, circular bathtubs and rainforest spa showers.

There are five dining and cocktails venues, including a signature grill restaurant, a Cantonese restaurant and the Mandarin Cake Shop. Other facilities include a 750m2 ballroom, a nine-room spa, a fitness centre and a 25m heated outdoor pool.

AIR China and US-based low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways have entered into an initial interline agreement that is expected to develop into a codeshare partnership this autumn.

The two airlines will initially offer interline connections between their networks at New York (JFK) and Los Angeles international airports. Tickets are expected to go on sale later this summer.

Subject to government approval, the partnership will be expanded into a codeshare this autumn, with Air China placing its CA designator on flights operated by JetBlue.

Unveiling the deal on the sidelines of the IATA 68th AGM & World Air Transport Summit in Beijing, Dave Barger, JetBlue president & CEO said: “The Chinese market continues to be a key portion of the global economy, and so we look forward to connecting business and leisure travellers between both of these networks.”

Cai Jianjiang, Air China president, said: “The partnership with JetBlue creates many connecting opportunities at Air China’s two US gateways, New York and Los Angeles. It strengthens both our networks and benefits travellers of both countries.”

Air China offers one daily flight from New York and two daily flights from Los Angeles to Beijing Capital Airport. Separate from the JetBlue interline, Air China also operates once a day from San Francisco and Vancouver to Beijing.

Meanwhile, starting October 1, Air China will deploy brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its New York route. The plane, which offer eight first-class, 41 business-class and 259 economy seats, is already operated on its Los Angeles flights.