SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) has launched a new Visit Australia Airpass as part of its codeshare alliance with Virgin Australia.

Available for purchase from today, the airpass offers SIA and SilkAir’s international customers the opportunity to visit up to 10 domestic destinations on any single trip to Australia.

The airpass covers a total of 29 Australian cities and offers a choice of itineraries across 61 domestic routes operated by Virgin Australia.

SIA’s executive vice-president of commercial, Mak Swee Wah said: “Our customers now have the opportunity to discover Australia’s unique landscapes and experiences from the benefits our alliance with Virgin Australia has to offer. The airpass is an easy and attractive way to tailor itineraries across Australia.”

Terminal transfers, in-flight entertainment and meals are included in the deal, which comes with reciprocal frequent flyer programme benefits and lounge access for eligible customers.

SINGAPORE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Singaporeans to postpone all non-essential travel to Thailand’s troubled south, following last weekend’s bomb blasts in Yala and Hat Yai.

Explosions caused by car bombs, which had led to the fire at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai, killed 14 people and left another 340 injured.

According to the ministry, 31 Singaporeans in Hat Yai, including ten who were at the affected hotel, are safe.

The ministry has urged all Singaporeans to defer travel to the southern Thai provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla for the time being.

Singaporeans who need to travel to these provinces are advised to monitor local news and developments, take all necessary precautions for their personal safety, and to purchase comprehensive travel insurance.

TRANSASIA Airways’ revenue grew 4.62 per cent year-on-year to NT$8.74 billion (US$296 million) for the financial year ended December 31, 2011.

Net profit jumped to NT$664 million, while earnings per share for the year under review finished at NT$1.34, making it the best-performing airline in Taiwan, TranAsia said in a statement.

“30 per cent of our total revenue in 2011 came from cross-straits operations, 28 per cent from international routes, 23 per cent from the domestic market and the other eight per cent from charter business,” said Vincent Lin, chairman of TransAsia Airways.

In line with plans for further network connections and fleet introductions to Asia, TransAsia has purchased nine ATR72-600 aircraft, which will be mainly deployed on domestic routes. This will add to the 20 already purchased and the 18 currently in operation. The new order of ATR72-600s will be delivered from 2014 onwards.

The carrier has also purchased two Airbus A330-300s, with the first to be delivered this November. This adds to an existing order for six A321NEOs (with an option for another six) and six A321-200s. TransAsia is scheduled to take delivery of all Airbus aircraft by 2020.

“We have plans to grow each segment with scheduled flights to Japan launching in the first half of 2012, and later to Bangkok, Malaysia and Indonesia,” said Lin.

“We will also welcome a few new destinations in (mainland China), including Hangzhou, Sanya and other second tier cities with promising opportunities this year.”

TransAsia, which underwent an IPO last November, is planning to issue up to 50 million shares through private placement to international investors.

INTEGRATED resort Laguna Phuket is placing its service staff through Mandarin language classes and partnering with local universities to hire Mandarin-proficient students as temporary helpers, in anticipation of a mega Amway China event scheduled to take place from April 15 – May 15.

Laguna Phuket will play host to some 15,000 Amway China representatives over the course of 21 days, with daily arrivals expected to number more than 600. Each group will spend five days at the integrated resort, where they will participate in various business sessions, grand dinners and tours.

Debbie Dionysius, assistant vice-president of destination marketing, Laguna Phuket, told TTGmice e-Weekly in an interview that 19 individual group programmes would run during the event, in addition to 21 grand buffet dinners for up to 1,000 guests each in a 55m x 40m marquee next to a lagoon.

“The event is practically a buy-out of the resort, and there won’t be many guests not associated with Amway China,” she said.

“Banyan Tree Phuket will host the VIPs and many private functions. Other participants will stay at Angsana Laguna Phuket, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket and Laguna Beach Resort. Other hotels such as Best Western Allamanda Laguna Phuket will take Amway’s support staff and (contractors) involved in the event.”

According to event liaison manager, Setia Budiarto, 200-300 Mandarin-speaking students have been engaged to help during the event, and dry-runs for all staff will begin a week before April 15.

Dionysius added that Laguna Phuket’s Amway China win had led to a rise in Chinese enquiries for the resort.

“Since we were contracted for the Amway event two years ago, we have seen a lot of interest from Chinese companies, with most being direct selling companies. Most of the events enquired were for incentives,” she said.

“In fact, China is our main source market for MICE, apart from Australia. Hong Kong is strong now too, but not for such big events – mostly normal sized corporate groups of 50-200 pax.”

STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts will bring its Luxury Collection concept to Jakarta when it opens The Keraton at The Plaza on April 30, 2012.

Inspired by the Javanese word for ‘palace’, The Keraton at The Plaza will occupy the eighth to 22nd floors of the Keraton building, which is located on Jalan Thamrin in the Indonesian capital.

The hotel will offer 140 rooms and suites, including four 135m2 Keraton suites. F&B options will include an Indonesian restaurant and a lounge.

The hotel will also feature facilities such as a swimming pool, a health club and spa, a business centre, and a boardroom with capacity for 10 pax.

Starwood’s other Luxury Collection propeties in Indonesia include The Laguna Resort & Spa in Nusa Dua, Bali, and The Sarasvati, Bali, which is due to open in January 2014.

GROWING consumer affluence in Asia Pacific has played a key role in the robust expansion of Food & Hotel Asia (FHA), a biennial food & hospitality trade event in Singapore that combines elements of exhibition, conference and culinary competition.

Comprising five specialised trade shows – FoodAsia, Bakery&Pastry, HotelAsia, HospitalityStyleAsia and Hospitality Technology – FHA2012 will span across nine halls at Singapore Expo, featuring 52 international pavilions and more than 2,600 exhibitors from 65 countries/regions, up from 2,400 in 2010.

More than 54,000 government and trade representatives from 90 countries/regions are expected to attend the event, which runs from April 17-20.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, FHA organiser Singapore Exhibition Services chief executive, Stephen Tan, said: “Even with the growth of FHA this year, we have not even reached the ceiling.”

“Consumer affluence (has been) creeping into countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, and numerous states or provinces in China in the last few years, shifting the trend towards a desire for imported food and quality restaurants. That affluence has also created demand for better hotel services.”

“Wine & Sprits Asia, which broke off from FHA in the last edition and is now run independently alongside FHA, is seeing 20 per cent more exhibitors,” he added.

When asked if the event would need to be shifted to a larger venue in 2014, Tan said: “We have an understanding with Singapore Expo that Hall 10 will be at our disposal for the 2014 edition, which means we will have an additional capacity for 10,000 pax. Plus, we can utilise Singapore Expo’s new MAX Atria.”

“Frankly, there are no alternative venues for FHA. Even if we were to combine (spaces at) Marina Bay Sands and Suntec (Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre), they would still not be able to support FHA.”

ASIA’s travel industry lags behind the West in delivering revolutionary products and ideas, according to a panel of experts at the inaugural edition of Travelthink with Google in Singapore.

Rob Torres, managing director of Travel – Google, believes travel firms in Asia, both online and offline, have failed to embrace and leverage new technologies.

“Nothing has really changed since the Internet explosion of the late 1990s,” he said. “OTAs have reached a comfort level and are stuck, thinking they don’t need to keep innovating. Many firms in Asia across the travel spectrum are followers, not leaders.”

According to Steven Greenway, Scoot’s head of commercial, airlines were the least innovative of all travel segments. “They are highly resistant to change and innovation, not only because it is a difficult task, but because it is a costly exercise,” he said.

Juney Ham, CMO, Airbnb said the reality was that small start-ups were Asia’s primary drivers of travel innovation. “Larger players in the travel space are just happy to go along with the status quo, and are happy to keep things going the way they have always been,” she said.

Some audience members, such as Bev Taylor, marketing officer, Buffalo Tours Vietnam, disagreed with the panel.

“The level of innovation in Asia varies from organisation to organisation, and from country to country. Innovation is happening in Asia, but the level of sophistication might not be as high as it is in the West, due to limitations such as the adoption rate for new technologies, infrastructure and consumer behaviour,” he said.

Mice Monkey Shanghai co-founder, Mimi Vong, added that innovation in Asia was being hampered by a lack of talent. “In China for instance, young, brillant individuals prefer working for themselves rather than for companies,” she explained.

Dean Wicks, CMO and general manager, Australia and New Zealand, Wego said it was essential for online and offline travel firms to first identify specialist niches based on their core compentencies, before attempting to exploit technologies and deliver innovative products.

“One way to do this is by utilising social networks – it’s all about C2C now. Draw feedback from customer conversations and user content, and align strategies to these dialogues,” he advised.

THAILAND will get its first-ever Park Hyatt hotel when Hyatt Hotels Corporation opens the Park Hyatt Bangkok in 2014.

Located within Central Embassy, a mixed-use commercial development incorporating a retail mall and office tower on Wireless Road, Park Hyatt Bangkok will be the third hotel under Hyatt management in Thailand, adding to Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok and Hyatt Regency Hua Hin.

Room rates will be over US$300 a night – higher than the average for five-star hotels in the capital, and on par with the St. Regis Bangkok and Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.

The focus for Park Hyatt Bangkok will be on the Asian market, especially China, followed by the US and Europe. Clientele is expected to consist of 60 per cent corporate, 10 per cent MICE and 30 per cent leisure, compared to half corporate, 25 per cent MICE and 25 per cent leisure for Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok.

A second Park Hyatt in Thailand is currently being negotiated with a developer in Phuket.

Reporting by Chami Jotisalikorn

FIREFLY will launch two new routes, thrice-weekly Kota Bharu-Johor Bahru services on April 26, and four-weekly Subang-Hat Yai flights on May 2.

With the Kota Bharu-Johor Bahru flights set to link the respective state capitals in Kelantan and Johor, Firefly will be the first carrier to offer a direct connection between the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and Johor.

“The airline is targeting domestic traffic for this route, as well as Singaporeans keen on visiting Kota Bharu and other parts of the East Coast,” said Firefly head of marketing & communications, Angelina Fernandez.

COO Malaysia Airlines Shorthaul/Firefly, Ignatius Ong, said: “The rapid developments at Iskandar Malaysia have made Johor an increasingly popular destination for both leisure and business travellers.”

“(Johor) also serves as an affordable gateway to Singapore. We anticipate Malaysians using our new services to fly to Johor and travel onward by land to Singapore.”

According to Ong, Malaysians were drawn to Hat Yai for its shopping, culinary and city attractions, as well as its status as a gateway to the island destinations of Satun and Trang.

“We expect our load factor on the Subang-Hat Yai route to comprise Malaysians, as well as foreign tourists who choose to combine Malaysia and Thailand in their holiday itineraries,” he said.

ASTON International has signed a deal with Paramount Group, an Indonesian real estate developer, to manage a convention centre and three hotels with a combined inventory of more than 800 rooms in Jakarta.

Scheduled to open in 2014, the Paramount City mixed-use development in Slipi, West Jakarta will offer a convention centre with more than 5,000m2 of meeting and exhibition space, a 360-room four-star Aston, a 199-room three-star Quest, and a 250-room select service Fave.

Aston International vice president sales & marketing, Norbert Vas, expects Paramount City to put Jakarta on the map as an attractive MICE destination. “The new complex is unique in Asia as it is the only convention centre connected to various branded hotels in different categories,” he said.

Other facilities at the venue include a hospital, residential buildings, a 35-storey office tower and a 25,600m2 shopping mall.

Aston International also manages the Aston Paramount Serpong Hotel & Convention Center.