DIETHELM Travel Malaysia and Golfasian, a Bangkok-based inbound operator specialising in golf tours to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, have partnered up to promote golf tourism in Malaysia.

Golfasian will undertake the sales and marketing of golf tours to Malaysia on behalf of the venture, while Diethelm Travel Malaysia will provide on-the-ground services. The venture will operate as a business unit within Diethelm Travel Malaysia.

“Golf is very popular in Malaysia and we believe there is considerable potential to develop this business,” said Diethelm Travel Malaysia managing director, Manfred Kurz.

“Malaysia has exciting courses, beautiful holiday destinations, wonderful sightseeing and relaxation. We have high hopes of attracting more visitors on specialist golf trips, as well as holidaymakers who want to play golf among their other activities.”

Golfasian managing director, Mark Siegel, said: “There is considerable potential for more foreign golfers to visit Malaysia. It is the third largest golf destination in South-east Asia and is destined become bigger in the future.”

Golfasian and Diethelm Travel Malaysia will showcase the new joint venture at the International Association of Golf Tourism Operators convention in Kuala Lumpur from April 22-24.

This year, Golfasian is expecting a lift in inbound golf tourism bookings to more than 6,500 to all its Asian destinations.

MALDIVES inbound numbers suffered a 4.7-per cent year-on-year drop in February as the destination struggled to keep its political crisis under control.

Last month, arrivals fell to 83,252, compared to 87,392 the previous February, when arrivals had grown by 13.4 per cent against the same period in 2010.

Arrivals from China, the Maldives’ top source market, were the worst affected –hit by a 34.8 per cent decline to 12,237 visitors.

Second-placed UK dropped to third with a 6.8 per cent dip to 9,006.

There were positive signs, however, as France leapt above the UK, gaining 4.9 per cent to 9,742 arrivals, and Germany rose by 25 per cent to 8,591.

Maldives travel consultants handling the Chinese market attributed the big drop in arrivals to charters flights being suspended when the crisis broke out. These charter services are expected to resume by April.

THAILAND Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) president, Akapol Sorasuchart, is leaving at the end of this month after nearly two-and-a-half-years in the role.

Akapol did not cite reasons when tendering his resignation on February 29. However, the local media had widely reported on his struggle against a plan by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism & Sport to take control of TCEB, which is currently under the Prime Minister’s Office.

TCEB’s 80 million baht (US$2.6 million) to 100 million baht annual budget was also reportedly cut by 20 million baht during last year’s flood crisis, before being scrapped altogether.

Akapol’s resignation is a blight on Thailand’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 in Ayutthaya.

In interviews with the local media, Akapol admitted that his biggest concern was “the continuation of our work, especially the World Expo, as bids will be tendered in June 2013”.

Officials from the Bureau International des Expositions are scheduled to visit Thailand early next year to ascertain the destination’s readiness to host the expo.

UNITED Airlines (UA) has entered into a codeshare agreement with All Nippon Airways on the Japanese carrier’s once-weekly Manila-Tokyo (Narita) service, effective April 1.

According to James Mueller, UA vice president for Asia Pacific, the codeshare will allow the airline to connect the Philippines, via onward flights from Japan, to key hubs in the US such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and Houston.

In addition, UA’s Manila-Guam and Manila-Palau (Koror)-Guam flights will provide an alternative connection from the Philippines to the US, via Honolulu.

“Filipino travelers flying United will have the option to fly to Guam or Honolulu (into the US) and return via Tokyo,” said Mueller.

With the new link established, UA are pursuing American business and leisure travellers to the Philippines, as well as overseas-based Filipinos returning home. From the Philippines, UA is targeting business and premium travellers to the US.

UA reopened its Philippines country office last October after exiting in 1998. The carrier has since merged operations with Continental Airlines’ former GSA in the Philippines, Aerotel Manila.

THE STAR Alliance Chief Executive Board has accepted a bid from Taiwanese carrier EVA Air to join its ranks.

Air China, a member of the alliance since end-2007, has been appointed mentor airline to assist in Eva Air’s gradual integration.

“EVA Air is a very good fit for Star Alliance as the airline will add many new routes to our global network, with a specific focus on the growing Far East aviation market,” said Star Alliance CEO, Mark Schwab.

EVA Air’s network of around 60 destinations will add Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Surabaya in Indonesia as unique airports to the Star Alliance portfolio.

In addition, Taiwan’s geographic location will add to the quality of Star Alliance hubs in Asia, as it has the shortest average distance to all major cities in the region.

“After careful evaluation, we concluded that Star Alliance offers the best match for EVA Air,” said James Jeng, chairman, EVA Air.

“Our networks complement each other, and we will expand the existing alliance flight options in the growing cross-straits market. In addition, our partnership with Air China makes the Star Alliance especially attractive to us.”

Star Alliance will have eight member carriers based in Asia-Pacific by mid-2013.

CATHAY Pacific has added another daily flight between Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, ramping up its service on the route to four-daily, effective March 25.

The flag carrier has also expanded Hong Kong-Penang services from seven to ten-weekly, bringing the total number of flights it operates between Malaysia and Hong Kong to 38 per week.

Elsewhere, Cathay has hiked frequencies to Nagoya (from 17-weekly to three-daily), Singapore (from eight-daily to 61-weekly), Bangkok (from five- to six-daily) and Taipei (from 108 to 114 per week).

Destinations that saw a reduction in services include Bahrain (from daily to four-weekly), Abu Dhabi (from four- to three-weekly) and Sydney (down one weekly flight to thrice-daily).

PHILIPPINES’ AirAsia has launched its maiden services from Clark International Airport to Kalibo (Boracay) in the Visayas, and Davao in Mindanao.

The low-cost carrier, which received its air operator’s certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines last month, operates two new Airbus A320 aircraft on the twice-daily services from Clark to Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao and twice-daily flights from Clark to Kalibo International Airport.

“We picked Davao, because it is an important gateway to Mindanao, and Kalibo, because of Boracay, which is an international popular tourist spot. Our Clark to Davao and Clark to Kalibo flights will make air travel for Northern and Central Luzon passengers more convenient,” said Philippines’ AirAsia CEO, Maan Hontiveros.

Meanwhile, the airline has ordered two more A320s to be delivered within the year, and is planning to tap into the Northern and Central Luzon and Metro Manila markets.

SANYA Huayu Tourism, a mainland Chinese conglomerate with hotel, retail and property assets, is suing InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) for RMB 200 million (US$31.8 million) in damages, over claims that the hotel operator mismanaged its property on Hainan Island.

Huayu alleges that IHG’s China subsidiary, InterContinental Holiday China, progressively racked up more than RMB 200 million in losses after assuming management of the Sanya Huayu Crowne Plaza Hotel in 2005, forcing the hotel owner to suspend the contract halfway into the 12-year term.

According to Li Tao, head of Hotel Business at Huayu, InterContinental Holiday China “failed to provide professional hotel management services in accordance with the contract”. “The (IHG) management team fell far below Huayu’s expectations and its management of the hotel was a complete mess,” he added.

Huayu also accused InterContinental Holiday China of “a series of dishonest behaviors such as high-price procurements, intentionally concealing information, alteration of hotel RGI data, and deliberately causing damage and loss of large equipment” during its tenure.

In a report by the South China Morning Post, IHG was quoted as saying that it was unaware of any legal action by Huayu, and that the claims of mismanagement were unfounded.

“All accusations in Huayu’s so-called statement are completely groundless,” IHG said in a statement. “During the years of co-operation, every decision relating to operation and procurement was discussed by both Huayu and IHG. IHG has always strictly abided by the law and has been completely honest.”

Keith Barr, IHG’s CEO for Greater China, did not respond to attempts by TTG Asia e-Daily for an official comment from the hotel chain.