MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts will open nine new hotels across Asia by 2014, adding to existing properties in Thailand (two in Phuket), Vietnam (Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City) and one each in India (Bangalore), the Philippines (Cebu) and Singapore.

In Thailand, the 286-key Mӧvenpick Suriwongse Hotel Chiang Mai and 81-pool villa Mӧvenpick Resort & Spa Mae Nam Beach Koh Samui will open in third quarter 2012. The 250-room Mövenpick White Sand Beach Resort will open in Jomtien, close to Pattaya in mid-2013, while Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Bangkok will open with 266 rooms and suites, and 100 residences by end-2013.

Indonesia will get its first-ever Mӧvenpick in 2014, overlooking Jimbaran Bay in the south of Bali. The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran will offer 270 rooms including 70 suites, and an additional 70 branded residences. Facilities will include a 500m2 ballroom, a business centre, and several meeting rooms.

Further inaugural openings will take place in 2014 in Sri Lanka (Mövenpick Hotel Colombo), China (Mövenpick Hotel Shanghai), and Malaysia (Mövenpick Hotel & Convention Centre KLIA, Kuala Lumpur), while the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dharamshala will open in Northern India the same year.

In addition to these nine scheduled openings, further properties have been earmarked for Malaysia (Terengganu) and China (Sanya & Chifeng).

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily during last month’s ATF 2012 in Manado, Markus Mueller, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts vice president sales and markeing–Asia, attributed the group’s regional expansion spree to a realisation that Asian markets were showing the most promise in terms of growth potential.

“Nowadays, we are seeing more and more Asians than European customers (in our Asian properties)…(the clientele mix) has completely flipped around. Business from European markets is either stagnant or slowing down,” he said.

According to Mueller, a growing number of Mövenpick’s guests are coming from South-east Asia, as well as South Korea and India, where the group plans to ramp up its marketing efforts covering social media channels, as well as its partnerships with local travel consultants.

CEBU Pacific will launch thrice-weekly direct flights from Manila to Siem Reap starting April 19, representing a breakthrough on the monopoly on transit services to the destination.

Travellers from Manila usually access Siem Reap via Bangkok or Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City, with connecting flights offered by Bangkok Airways and Vietnam Airlines, respectively.

Manila-based Goldlink Travel & Tours operations manager, Allan Sze, said: “The ‘obstacle’ (previously was) the flight to Siem Reap, which from Manila is accessed by flying through Vietnam or Bangkok. That would cost you about US$500-600.”

“Cebu Pacific’s new flight will reduce flight costs by about half, to about US$300,” said Simon Ang, operations manager at Celebrate Life TLC Corp, a Manila-based travel firm that focuses on outbound to Indochina.

Ang is already blocking off group bookings in response to the new route. “I’m looking at three or four groups in April, and maybe six to seven groups in May. We foresee huge demand in the near future, and hopefully Cebu Pacific will increase the flight frequencies to Cambodia after a few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific is looking to lease up to eight Airbus A330-300 aircraft to launch longhaul flights of up to 11 hours in third quarter 2013.

Cebu Pacific’s president & CEO, Lance Gokongwei, said: “We are exploring serving cities where large Filipino communities reside – Europe, the Middle East, Oceania and the US.”

“Data indicates that more than half of Filipinos deployed in these regions take multiple stops and connecting flights, because no home carrier can fly them there non-stop,” he added.

The LCC is scheduled to launch two other routes on March 23, Manila-Xiamen (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 3, 2012) and Hong Kong-Kalibo (Boracay), both operated thrice-weekly.

FOLLOWING the collapse of Spanair, Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) codeshare partner on the Singapore-Barcelona-Sao Paulo route (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 30, 2012), the Singapore flag carrier is remaining steadfast in operating the thrice-weekly services.

SIA spokesperson Nicholas Ionides said: “We remain very committed to the Singapore-Barcelona-Sao Paulo route. We are discussing the matter with the relevant parties and for now, there is no change to our three-times-weekly operations on the route.”

Back when the Spanish government first granted fifth-freedom traffic rights between Barcelona and Sao Paulo to SIA, it was reported that SIA’s prerogative to ferry passengers from Barcelona to Sao Paulo were contingent on a codeshare arrangement with Spanair.

When SIA launched this service last March, it cited the greater catchment of South-east Asia (especially Indonesia) and China, as well as Brazil’s hosting of more than 90,000 events annually – including a Formula One Grand Prix, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games – as key attractions for the route.

Singapore signed an open skies agreement with Brazil in 2010.

GARUDA Indonesia’s LCC subsidiary, Citilink, is one step closer to being spinned off from its parent airline (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 4, 2011), having been granted a scheduled commercial airline license by Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation.

Citilink is expected to receive its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) within the next three months, which will enable the carrier to operate independently of Garuda.

Garuda’s strategic business unit Citilink vice president, Elisa Lumbantoruan, said in a media statement: “With the issuance of the license and the AOC, Citilink will officially operate independently from Garuda.”

“This also means that Citilink will have to take various business expansions and actively participate in the national airline market,” he added.

Citilink currently operates a mix of nine Boeing 737-300 and Airbus 320 aircraft to provide connections between Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Batam, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Makassar and Medan.

As part of its expansion strategy, Citilink will operate a fleet consisting of one B737-400, six B737-300s and 13 A320s by year-end. The airline is scheduled to receive 25 new A320s between 2014 and 2018.

Meanwhile, new destinations earmarked for the year include Jogjakarta, Padang and Pekanbaru.

THE TAIWAN Tourism Bureau has appointed New Delhi-based Think Strawberries Luxury Travel Marketing as its marketing representative in India.

Think Strawberries, a niche marketing representation firm that promotes international travel products in India and Dubai, will be responsible for raising awareness of Taiwan as a MICE and leisure destination.

Meanwhile, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau will be organising a workshop in New Delhi on February 23 and another in Mumbai in March, to educate the Indian travel trade about the various products and destinations in Taiwan.

Several senior representatives from five leading Taiwanese DMCs, as well as Taiwanese tourism officials, will be present during the workshops. About 80 members of the Indian travel trade are expected to attend each session.

THE UNITED States has announced a series of initiatives to increase its share of the international travel market, especially from emerging economies with growing middle classes – such as China, Brazil and India.

The Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior will co-lead an interagency task force to develop a National Travel & Tourism Strategy, and coordinate with the Corporation for Travel Promotion (currently known as BrandUSA) and Tourism Policy Council to ensure private sector participation and cross-agency coordination.

The Departments of State and Homeland Security will work towards increasing non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China by 40 per cent in 2012, and are aiming for 80 per cent of these applicants to be interviewed within three weeks of receiving their application.

Other efforts include a pilot programme and rule change for visa processing in China – to simplify and speed up or even waive the non-immigrant visa process for certain applicants, as well as an expansion of the Global Entry Programme, which facilitates expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travellers upon arrival in the US.

In addition, Taiwan will be nominated to join the visa waiver programme, which allows participating nationals to travel to the US without a visa, for stays of 90 days or less.

Mike McCartney, president and CEO of Hawaii Tourism Authority, said: “The initiatives to increase the number of Chinese visas processed, and ensuring that visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks, are huge milestones for Chinese tourism to the US and Hawaii.”

According to McCartney, Chinese arrivals to Hawaii are expected to reach 125,394 this year, up 28 per cent over 2011. Chinese visitors spend US$380 per person per day, more than any other market, he added.

The visa waiver status for Taiwan would be another boon, said McCartney.

“Following the visa waiver programme with South Korea in 2008, arrivals from the region increased 35 per cent and have grown year-after-year,” he said. “We would anticipate seeing similar growth out of Taiwan.”