SCOOT has selected Tianjin as its first destination in China, with four-weekly services from Singapore scheduled to begin in August.

Flights to two other secondary Chinese cities will be introduced before end-2012, but Beijing is not on the cards, according to a report by Channel NewsAsia.

Ticket sales to Tianjin are expected to start in the following weeks.

The medium- and longhaul low-cost carrier unveiled Australia’s Gold Coast as its second destination in February, having chosen Sydney as its first port of call.

BEST Western International has officially opened Best Western Premier F1 Hotel at Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, Metro Manila.

The hotel is the group’s pioneer property in the Philippines under its five-star Best Western Premier brand.

Best Western Premier F1 Hotel offers 243 rooms including 99 suites and three loft suites, and an all-day dining restaurant.

Leisure facilities include an outdoor lounge with three swimming pools, a fitness center, and a day spa. MICE venues include a 300-seat grand ballroom and six function rooms of varying sizes.

Best Western Premier’s portfolio in Asia includes eight hotels in China, six in South Korea, three in Thailand, two in India, and one each in Japan and Indonesia.

HONG KONG’s travel trade will see a change in industry regulator when the newly established Tourism Industry Authority (TIA) replaces the Travel Industry Council (TIC) within the next three years.

Under the proposed framework, TIA will act as an independent statutory body overseeing all regulatory and licensing functions of the TIC and Travel Agents Registry, including handling of complaints, managing the Travel Industry Compensation Fund, and censuring members who violate directives. Non-trade members will constitute the majority of its board.

TIC, meanwhile, has been earmarked for a non-regulatory role related to travel trade training and coordination for emergency incidents.

Since the start of the year, the Tourism Commission has been holding various meetings with the eight trade association members under TIC to discuss the revamped framework.

“During the meetings, there were no strong views among the trade against the overall approach of setting up an independent statutory authority to regulate the tourism industry,” a spokesperson told TTG Asia e-Daily.

“Some concerns were raised about the detailed arrangements under the new regulatory framework, such as the approach for raising the entry threshold for travel (experts) and the funding arrangement (including the level of fees) for TIA,” the spokesperson added.

Larry Lo, Westminster Travel managing director and TIC board member, said: “I welcome the new structure and hope TIA will benefit Hong Kong tourism and enhance both inbound and outbound business. It’s not TIC’s job to supervise inbound travel and tour guides. It functions more like a trade association and platform for the industry to voice and defend our rights while providing benefits.”

Kitty Law, director, First Marketing Hong Kong, said: “I believe TIC has no value to exist at all as there are alternative choices of trade associations. Unlike TIC, TIA is a proper statutory body supported by government funding, so it is a better option for the trade.”

EVA Air, which operates out of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei, will be confirmed as a new candidate for Star Alliance membership in the coming days, according to a reliable industry source.

The carrier indicated last November that it was looking to join an airline alliance – either oneworld or Star Alliance – within the next two years.

EVA Air’s services to 25 Chinese destinations are of particular value to the 26-member Star Alliance. The airline is expected to increase frequencies on these routes before long.

Star Alliance’s other members from North Asia include Air China, All Nippon Airways and Asiana Airlines. Eva Air’s main rival, China Airlines, joined Skyteam in 2011.

The process to join Star Alliance is expected to take between six months to a year.

BASE Entertainment Asia, the live entertainment production company which has brought in successful runs of Broadway and West End musicals such as The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, and Wicked to Singapore, is keen to ramp up its corporate hospitality business.

Corporate ticketing currently contributes 15 per cent of Base’s total revenue, with Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia as the main source markets for its corporate hospitality clientele.

With Base planning to add to its stellar lineup of shows later this year and in 2013, the company’s managing director, Milan Rovic, was highly optimistic about growth for the corporate segment of Base’s Asian business.

“We’ve seen firms (in Asia) hosting just one corporate hospitality event a year. (This has increased) to two or three a year now – figures that should increase alongside the number of productions staged,” he said.

According to Katie Marsden, head of marketing, product & business development at ticket-packaging firm Showbiz Asia, which Base works with to develop and sell corporate hospitality packages, more companies in Asia were employing corporate hospitality tactics to grow their businesses.

“Firms that we’ve worked with in the Asia-Pacific region are aware that corporate hospitality play a vital role when it comes to forging business relationships. To them, the rationale behind corporate hospitality events is no longer just about entertaining clients but optimising the ROI of an existing marketing budget,” she said.

AUSTRIA is gaining in popularity among Indian travellers. The destination drew 85,000 Indian visitors in 2011, a 41 per cent increase over the year before, according to the Austrian National Tourism Office (ANTO).

Christine Mukharji, market manager – India, ANTO, expects “a growth of at least 20 per cent in Indian inbound in 2012”.

Salzburg and Vienna, the capital, are ‘must-dos’ for Indian tourists familiar with The Sound of Music film, while Innsbruck, the capital city of Tyrol state in the west, offers alpine surroundings, handmade cuckoo clocks and a Swarovski Krystal World factory outlet.

According to Veneeta Rawat, director, Amazing Vacations Mumbai, Indian travellers to Austria were staying longer. ANTO figures confirm this: the number of Indian overnights rose 46 per cent year-on-year to 165,000 in 2011.

“We are seeing 50 per cent increase in the number of clients requesting for longer stays in Austria, some as much as four nights,” said Rawat.

“This is a good trend as we used to see one-night stays each in Vienna and Salzburg, but now, it could be at least three or four nights covering other regions like Innsbruck.”

ANTO is promoting new regions such as Zell am See, located two hours from Munich Airport and with snow all year round; Melk, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube river; and the resort area of Salzkammergut.

SRI LANKA is ramping up its infrastructure development to accommodate its fast-growing tourism industry, with a new high-speed rail link set to connect the international airport to the capital, Colombo.

The US$600 million project is an investment by Airport Express Air and Rail Company (AEARC) Malaysia, and will allow passengers to cover the 30-kilometre distance between Bandaranaike International Airport and Colombo within 25 minutes, compared to more than an hour by road.

The rail service will be able to ferry 400 passengers each time, and is scheduled to operate nine return trips a day.

Construction is expected to commence early next year, once feasibility and technical studies are completed and approvals from authorities are obtained, said AEARC chairman, Parimalan Michael.