IN A radical departure from its traditional model of not investing in real estate, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group in Asia-Pacific will soon announce several property deals which sees it pumping in cash alongside partners, as it brings the midscale Park Inn brand to India, China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Speaking exclusively to TTG Asia e-Daily, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s Asia-Pacific president, Simon Barlow, said the company would launch the next iteration of Park Inn in India on April 2 through the first of such business deals in the region.

The “fresh, fun, colourful, lively and funky” three-star Park Inn brand would be “positioned between a Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express and between an Ibis and Novotel from both an investment and consumer perspective”, he explained.

Said Barlow: “We’re introducing a very successful brand in Europe to Asia-Pacific. We think the timing is absolutely right because of the burgeoning middle-class wealth that is causing so much more domestic travel in India and China.”

While most of Carlson Rezidor Asia-Pacific’s pipeline today is in the upper upscale segment (Radisson Blu), its future growth will slowly lean towards the midmarket.

Going forward, Barlow listed three broad ways the group would invest in Asia: through joint ventures that deliver multiple hotels, single strategic hotels, and leases or income underwrites.

“We are investing because we need to in order to grow and catch up with large competitors,” he said.

Barlow added that Carlson had traditionally been a franchise organisation. However, following its recent marriage to The Rezidor Hotel Group, its contract make-up is now mainly 60 per cent franchised and 40 per cent managed/leased. Going forward, the group intends to focus more on management.

In the second half of this year, Carlson Rezidor Asia-Pacific will also reintroduce the four-star Radisson brand. Having rolled out Radisson Blu in the region last year, it now hopes to draw attention to a refreshed Radisson, which counts the Crowne Plaza, Novotel and Four Points by Sheraton among its competitors.

INDIA-based Kingfisher Airlines hit rock bottom yesterday with the cancellation of an additional 48 flights, bringing its current schedule to 120 flights. It is operating only 28 of its once 64-strong aircraft fleet.

Meanwhile, the reduction of seat capacity has led to a sudden rise in airfares across the board, including a Rs5,000 (US$102) increase on one-way business class fares on the Delhi-Mumbai sector. Since December, fares have gone up by 18 per cent since the fallout from Kingfisher and Air India flight cancellations.

The debt-ridden airline started its winter schedule of 418 flights last October with all 64 planes, but truncated its operations in November to 269 flights following accumulated losses due to high taxes on jet fuel and freezing of its bank accounts resulting from outstanding tax liability. Since then, several leased aircrafts have been released because of cash flow problems.

Although the airline was seeking restructuring of its debt with a consortium of Indian banks, earlier this week the banks have refused to supply more capital to the struggling carrier unless it offers more equity and pumps in sufficient funds of its own.

“If the banks find it good business, they will loan money (to Kingfisher). At the same time, the government is not going to ask banks to loan money to any private industry,” civil aviation minister, Ajit Singh, has been reported as saying. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation may seek punitive action against the airline for failure to adhere to its flight schedule.

To add to its woes, 30 senior pilots have quit – dissatisfied with delay in salary payments – to join IndiGo. The LCC is said to be India’s only profitable airline.

JETSTAR and Jet Airways have signed an interline agreement, aimed at making flight transfers between India and Asia-Pacific destinations more seamless.

By flying through Jetstar’s hub in Singapore, Jet Airways’ passengers travelling from locations including New Delhi and Mumbai can easily connect to destinations in Japan, China, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.

Through this partnership, Jet Airways customers will be able to book a single combined ticket on Jetstar, Jetstar Asia or Jetstar Pacific flights as part of a single integrated transaction and travel itinerary sold on a Jet Airways e-ticket. This applies to customers who purchase via travel consultants or through Jet Airways’ reservations call centre.

Jetstar will accommodate the existing baggage allowance offered on Jet Airways’ flights. For international-international flights, bags will be through-tagged. Complimentary offerings such as meals and comfort packs will be provided on connecting Jetstar longhaul services.

Jet Airways COO, Sudheer Raghavan, said passenger loads between India and Asia-Pacific were “growing”.

Added Jetstar Group COO, David Koczkar: “India is one of the region’s strongest travel markets and a top inbound market for both Singapore and Australia. This innovative agreement will allow both airlines to cater for the growing appetite for air travel from the emerging Indian middle class.”

THE WEST Indian state of Gujarat is undergoing a transformation, with international brands turning up in succession and a tourism marketing body that is making its presence felt at major marts around the world.

Inaugurating the second edition of the Gujarat Travel Mart, Vipul Mittra, principal secretary – tourism, civil aviation and pilgrimage, Government of Gujarat, said: “We are embarking on a large-scale promotion of Gujarat as a tourism destination. We have invited buyers and media to avail of several post-event tours for familiarisation with our diverse products: deserts to wildlife, culture to beaches and medical tourism to Buddhist trails.”

A large number of erstwhile palaces and princely homes have been turned into hotels in Gujarat; chains including Starwood, Marriott, Ramada and Banyan Tree have expanded here; and several more hotels are in the pipeline.

Sajan Gupta, director, Vayu Seva Tours & Travel said: “Gujarat is developing multiple new tourism attractions and packaging them very well. Connectivity and infrastructure are good; we hope to get substantially more inbound tourists this year.”

Sanjay Kaul, managing director of the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat said: “We are employing the largest promotional budget for tourism in the country, and our initiatives will yield very rich results soon. We will be present in all major international travel marts to showcase our tourist attractions to the world”.

The state NTO is also banking on its latest commercials featuring Indian movie icon Amitabh Bachchan, which have grabbed eyeballs both in India and overseas.

Held at the new Mahatma Mandir Exhibition and Convention Centre, this year’s Gujarat Travel Mart saw 124 sellers attending compared to last year’s 64. It also attracted 200 buyers from 30 countries and 100 Indian buyers.

SINGAPORE’S Chan Brothers Travel has established a new department – Convention & DMC – catering to luxury inbound and outbound leisure as well as MICE clients.

The department is currently in the midst of negotiating with a range of transport providers, hotels and restaurants to develop experience-based products.

Headed by Jennifer Tan, a former event sales senior manager at Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Convention & DMC is currently building up its team. Tan envisions that the department will be fully operational by mid-2012.

She told TTG Asia e-Daily: “The new department will act as a one-stop shop for discerning clientele. For now, our main target markets will be China, Indonesia and Hong Kong for both inbound and outbound.” She was not able to estimate how the department would do, sales wise.

Chan Brothers Travel is also in talks with the Singapore Tourism Board to garner marketing support for the services its new department will provide.

BEST Western International (BWI) will launch a series of new hotels in Malaysia this year, including its first in the capital.

The chain already operates three hotels in Malaysia – Best Western Kinabalu Daya, Best Western Sandakan Hotel & Residence and Best Western Marina Island Resort Pangkor.

In 2012, BWI will add two more hotels: the Best Western Premier Dua Sentral in Kuala Lumpur and Best Western Wana Riverside Hotel in Malacca. A further six properties will join the portfolio between 2013 and 2015. BWI will operate 15 properties in Malaysia by the first quarter of 2015 across nine destinations, including Ipoh, Klang, Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya.

Its newest, the Best Western Premier Dua Sentral, is a 364-room property located within the capital’s new business and transport hub. Opening in the second quarter, the hotel will have several restaurants, a spa and swimming pool, and eight function rooms.

“With excellent air connections, especially via low-cost carriers, a strong economy and a diverse range of visitor attractions – from idyllic beaches to high-tech cities – the future of Malaysian tourism looks incredibly bright,” said Glenn de Souza, Best Western International’s vice president, international operations – Asia & the Middle East.

WITH a new CEO on-board, Singapore-based travel search engine Wego.com yesterday announced its plans to go global with the launch of 34 new country sites in 20 different languages, targeting both developed and emerging markets worldwide.

All sites were soft-launched in December, along with a radical design and new search features. Initial reactions have been positive, with traffic up 22 per cent from December 2011 to January 2012.

CEO Ross Veitch – who took over from Martin Symes, now non-executive chairman – said: “The user data that we’ve compiled over the years identified a host of opportunities outside of Asia. Users from Europe, the Middle East and North America have discovered Wego, and now use us to search for flights and hotels.”

Veitch added that Wego was poised to seal strategic deals with travel distribution companies based in Indonesia and Malaysia by the second quarter, although he declined to reveal more.

According to Wego’s COO, Craig Hewett, Europe and the US have been the main generators of growth.

Both Veitch and Hewett are co-founders of Wego, with the former the company’s previous chief product officer.

Hewett said: “Martin Symes decided to leave his position as CEO due to personal commitments back home in the UK. He will still play an active role in the company as non-executive chairman, but will be making decisions at the board level, steering the direction of the company. Ross and I will handle all day-to-day operations.”

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily from the UK, Symes said: “Having been involved in Wego for nearly six years, I decided to step down from the day-to-day CEO role to give me the flexibility I need for my travel schedule. In the last 18 months, I’ve had to commute to Europe for family reasons.”

When asked if his departure as CEO would put a damper on growth for the company, Symes said: “Not at all. We’ve got a good team in place now, and I felt it was the right time. I’m still actively involved on the board level. Ross is perfectly capable, and I speak to them on a daily basis.”

Added Symes: “There are also a couple of other things I want to get involved in.” Queried if this would involve an online business again, he would only say: “Travel is my forte, whether it’s offline or online. I’ve got a few ideas.”

Additional reporting by Grace Chiang

LOSSES at SriLankan Airlines are expected to rise sharply this year, and the country’s national carrier intends to reduce flights to London and divert most of them to China, beginning April.

The state-owned airline is also considering leasing some of its 13 slots at London’s Heathrow airport to recoup part of its losses, the Colombo-based Sunday Times reported last week.

Losses for the year ending March 31, 2012 are expected to exceed the budgeted loss of Rs8.3 billion (about US$70 million), the paper quoted chairman Nishantha Wickremesinghe as saying. He explained that much of it was due to high fuel prices – 60 per cent of the airline’s operational costs are spent on fuel.

Fuel prices rose by as much as 49 per cent in Sri Lanka last week on a range of products, triggering countrywide protests.

Although the airline had increased flights to India, South-east Asia and Europe in recent months, Wickremesinghe said this did not lead to a jump in revenue, due to the financial crisis in Europe.

An airline official could not be reached by TTG Asia e-Daily at press time.