AIRASIA is facing legal action from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over certain misleading airfares published on its website.

The particular issue raised by the ACCC relates to whether AirAsia deceived Australia-based consumers by failing to reveal all taxes, duties, fees and other mandatory charges for flights out of Melbourne, Perth and the Gold Coast.

“The company takes its legal and everyday commitment to its consumers very seriously and will be carefully reviewing the contents of the ACCC’s claims,” the airline said in a statement.

AirAsia added that it was unaware until the issue had been raised by the ACCC, and that it had already taken corrective action to amend the offending airfares.

Reporting by N. Nithiyananthan

MIHIN Lanka will boost its Jakarta-Colombo services from thrice- to four-weekly starting February 2, and is looking to tap the budget traveller and backpacker segments to fill the extra capacity.

Mihin Lanka business development manager, Malintha Fernando, said: “The labour market currently makes up about 90 per cent of our load, and we want to balance and gradually shift it to more leisure market than labour market.”

While the labour market provides high load factors for the route, the yields are relatively low, according to Mihin Lanka sales manager Indonesia, Fonny Wijaya.

The airline has so far introduced 3D/2N and 4D/3N Sri Lanka packages starting from US$600 per pax, and is planning to launch Dubai and Maldives packages, both via codeshare with SriLankan Airlines.

“We have codeshares for all SriLankan services, so basically we can sell all destinations they have at more economical prices,” explained Fernando.

Wijaya added: “We managed to sell tickets to places like Milan, Rome, and London through our codeshare with SriLankan Airlines. Our prices during peak season were about US$300 lower than major airlines.”

Mihin Lanka operates Airbus A321 aircraft with 210 seats in an all-economy configuration.

SINGAPORE Changi Airport handled over 45 million passengers for the first time ever last year.

The airport egistered 46.5 million passenger movements and 302,000 aircraft movements in 2011, an increase of 10.7 per cent and 14.5 per cent over the year before, respectively.

December 2011 was also the airport’s busiest ever month with 4.53 million passenger movements, 11.4 per cent more than in 2010. There were 27,700 aircraft movements during the month, an jump of 16.0 per cent compared to December 2010.

Strong travel demand in Asia-Pacific was the key growth driver for Changi Airport in 2011. South-east Asia and North-east Asia were the two best performing regions registering double-digit growth, while traffic to and from South Asia and South-west Pacific also enjoyed positive growth.

Jakarta, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila occupied the top five positions among Changi Airport’s top 10 routes. Among the sectors with at least half a million passengers, Taipei, Manila, New Delhi, Melbourne and Hong Kong registered the strongest percentage growth.

In 2011, seven new carriers including Air Macau, Hong Kong Airlines, Finnair, TransAsia Airways, IndiGo and Lao Airlines joined the airport’s portfolio of airlines.

KOREAN Air launched twice-weekly direct flights between Seoul (Incheon) and Danang on January 19.

Danang, the flag carrier’s third destination in Vietnam, will be served by a Boeing B737-800 aircraft with 145 seats.

Korean Air currently operates 18 flights a week between Seoul and Vietnam, including seven-weekly services to Hanoi and 11-weekly services to Ho Chi Minh City.

SWISS-Garden International (SGI) Hotels, Resorts & Inns has been appointed to manage the Swiss-Garden Hotel Melaka, which is scheduled to open in 2014.

Offering an inventory of 306 rooms in a 32-storey tower, the hotel is part of a mixed use development project comprising a retail mall and serviced apartments. Facilities at the hotel include a grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 guests, and an infinity pool.

Located in the central Malacca district next to a monorail station and fronting the Melaka River, the hotel is within walking distance of Jonker Street and the city’s heritage precinct.

Swiss-Garden International vice president of business development and sales & marketing, Francis Lee, said: “The Swiss-Garden Melaka is an ideal avenue for our brand expansion, as the demand and growth opportunities for hotels and service apartments in Malacca have escalated.”

SGI currently manages and operates 10 hotels, resorts and serviced apartments in Malaysia and Australia, with a total inventory of 2,000 rooms.

Reporting by N. Nithiyananthan

IT’s almost business as usual in Thailand, as the hysteria propagated by the international media over the kingdom’s end-2011 flooding gradually ebbs away.

Numerous Thai hoteliers whom TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to reported that room and occupancy rates had mostly returned to levels prior to the flooding.

On the other hand, some travel experts like Alex Tan, area sourcing director, South-east Asia & China, Gullivers Travel Associates, said that some discounting could still be expected.

Tan explained: “In Bangkok, which suffered the most from the floods and ensuing negative publicity, some properties are still trading at rates slightly below the norm. Depending on the property and where it’s situated, this varies between 10 and 25 per cent.”

However, though room and occupancy rates in Thailand have mostly recovered, European bookings are still underperforming.

Amari Watergate Bangkok, part of the Onyx group, has seen its bookings from Europe plunge by 10 to 20 per cent so far this year compared to 2011, according to its director of sales & marketing, Khajohnsak Ngiempaisal.

“November to March is usually the peak period for Europeans but the market is relatively muted now,” he said. “Europeans usually book their holidays at the end of the year and many did not do so (last year) because of the negative media coverage at the time. Moreover, a number are bypassing Bangkok and flying directly to beach resorts like Phuket.”

According to Tommy Lai Chi-On, area director of sales Thailand-leisure, Anantara, Asian markets such as ASEAN, China and India are more resilient than Europe in times of crisis.

“Asia is a solid market,” he said. “Even during the floods, there was still a steady stream of guests from Asia, especially FITs who have been to Thailand before. They kept the occupancy and room rates afloat during a very difficult time.”

– Read more in TTG Asia, February 10 issue

CAMBODIA is emerging as a cultural destination where visitors expect more interaction with local people and culture, according to a report by SNV, a non-profit, international development organisation based in the Netherlands.

The Responsible Tourism Market in Cambodia report revealed that out of 1,200 visitors to Cambodia interviewed by SNV, 81 per cent said learning about culture and history ranked as their top priority, followed by 74 per cent who wanted to try local cuisine, and 62 per cent who wanted to meet and interact with local people.

SNV’s study also revealed that visitors would pay a premium for travel that included responsible elements.

Seventy-six per cent of respondents were willing to pay more for a tour that contributed to a community or environmental project, 68 per cent were willing to fork out more for a hotel or guesthouse that actively contributed to the local community or environment, and 63 per cent were willing to pay extra for accommodation with an active energy and environmental policy.

SNV Cambodia senior advisor for tourism, Trevor Piper, said the report’s findings come at a perfect time for the Cambodian travel industry.

“Over the past few years, the growth in the market for sustainable packages has become clearer,” he said. “Tour operators see the opportunity to respond to this market trend, while at the same time helping communities that have in the past seen limited benefit from the millions of tourist dollars that pour into Cambodia each year.”