INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) will launch the first-ever Crowne Plaza hotel in Central Java on January 22.

Owned by the Golden Flower Group and managed by IHG, the Crowne Plaza Semarang, located within the city’s central business district, will offer 270 keys – including one presidential, four junior and 20 executive suites.

Ian Reid, general manager, Crowne Plaza Semarang, said: “Being the first Crowne Plaza-branded hotel in Central Java – and the second in Indonesia following Jakarta – Crowne Plaza Semarang will add to the thriving tourism and economic activities in this part of the region.”

Facilities will include restaurants offering local and international cuisine, a business centre, a health club, an outdoor pool, and a sauna. The hotel will also feature the largest pillar-less hotel ballroom in Central Java, complete with a wedding chapel and gallery, and able to accommodate more than 2,000 pax.

“The opening of Crowne Plaza Semarang underscores IHG’s strong expansion in South-east Asia,” said Alan Watts, vice president of operations, South-east Asia at IHG.

Crowne Plaza Semarang will be IHG’s seventh property in Indonesia; two of which are under the Crowne Plaza brand. The group currently has a pipeline of 32 hotels and resorts under various brands across the region.

The first quarter of the year will see four other openings in South-east Asia – Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam, InterContinental Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort, InterContinental Danang Resort, and Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit 22.

LA RESIDENCE Hotel and Spa in Hue, a member of Accor’s MGallery collection, has opened a new representative sales office in Ho Chi Minh City.

In addition, Nguyen The Tap has been appointed as assistant director of sales for the property, based in Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen, who currently performs a sales role for Emeraude Classic Cruises on Halong Bay, will join forces with La Residence’s director of sales, Dang Phuoc, to manage sales efforts for the five-star resort.

MYANMAR’s tourism stakeholders have expressed concern over the lack of hotel and transport capacity in the country, even as the government has revealed it is considering the implementation of tourist-friendly policies in the areas of hotel development, air access and visas (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13, 2012).

Figures provided by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism show arrival numbers jumped more than 26 per cent in the first 11 months of 2011, following a record-breaking 2010. More than 343,000 tourists visited Myanmar between January 1 and November 30 last year, up from 271,547 during the same period in 2010.

A source from the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) confirmed that the country was enjoying “solid increases” in tourist numbers, with all major hotels in Yangon and other key destinations being consistently booked out. An arrivals increase of at least 20-25 per cent is targeted for the 2011/2012 fiscal year, which ends in March.

While growth in 2011 was driven by inbound from Asia, a shift in clientele is expected next year, with more bookings from the US, Australia and the UK, which in the past mostly adhered to tourism boycott policies.

Daw May Myat Mon Win, assistant general manager for marketing and operations at Yangon’s Chatrium Hotel, said: “There will be a significant increase in leisure travellers from the UK, Scandinavia, the US and Australia from 2012 onwards.”

She said the number of business travellers would also increase with the opening up of the economy. Key leisure destinations such as Bagan, Inle and Ngapali would attract the high-end of the leisure market, while Yangon, as the key commercial hub, would see more of the corporate market.

“I feel the increase (in arrivals) will not be lower than 25 per cent,” she said. “That means the rates will definitely go up to cater for increased demand.”

JETSTAR will launch a new four-weekly Osaka-Singapore Airbus A320 service (via Manila) on March 25, which will add about 1,400 seats per week in and out of Japan.

The route expansion follows a doubling of capacity on Jetstar Asia’s Osaka-Taipei-Singapore route, and the recent announcement of a new Jetstar Airways Tokyo-Manila-Darwin service.

CEO of the Jetstar Group, Bruce Buchanan, said the extra capacity would give Japanese travellers more choice, as well as heighten potential for increased inbound numbers from Singapore and the Philippines.

“Since the start of this year, we’ve announced a total of more than 5,000 additional seats per week in-and-out of Japan,” he said.

Jetstar’s international network will link with a domestic platform when Jetstar Japan begins operations before year-end. The fledgling carrier recently submitted its Air Operators Certificate application to Japanese authorities.

THE VICTORIAN state capital, which is gearing up to host Amway India this December (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 10, 2011), is hungry for more Indian meetings and is devising “smarter” ways to get them.

One of these strategies is a new partnership the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau (MCVB) is exploring to ink with nine-month-old Hyderabad Convention Visitors Bureau (HCVB) – a toddler in the game but the only regional CVB in India.

MCVB director-International Meetings, Edwina San, envisioned “cyber cities” such as Hyderabad and partners like HCVB as door-openers to a bigger database of India corporate planners. “They, in turn, are hungry to learn from us. There are also bid opportunities and sharing of association meeting leads,” she said.

The Amway India Leadership Seminar in December will also provide new learning points for MCVB. It will be the largest group, 4,400 pax, in one wave to descend on Melbourne, posing its own set of logistical and security challenges that the city is preparing to tackle head-on, said San.

Melbourne hosted a bigger, 7,500-pax Amway China in 2008, but that group came in four waves.

– Full report in TTGmice, February 2012 issue

MACAU’s inbound visitor numbers hit a new high in 2011, according to the country’s Statistics and Census Service department.

Arrivals during the period January–November 2011 increased by 12.2 per cent year-on-year to nearly 25.4 million, eclipsing the 24.9 million recorded for the whole of 2010.

Mainland Chinese visitors (14.6 million) accounted for more than half the total, a 22 per cent jump over the same period last year. Also on the rise were arrivals from Hong Kong (6.9 million) and South Korea (360,000), up by 1.9 per cent and 20.9 per cent respectively.

In contrast, visitors from Taiwan (1.1 million) and Japan (355,000) decreased by 4.8 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

The number of arrivals by land via the Border Gate with Zhuhai in Guangdong province registered an increase of 16.9 per cent to 13.9 million arrivals.

There was also a 10.7 per cent increase in arrivals through the Macao Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal to more than 6 million. However, arrivals through the Taipa Ferry terminal decreased by 0.9 per cent to 3.1 million.

About 1.5 million visitors arrived by air at Macau International Airport, an increase of three per cent over the same period in 2010.

Reporting by Deborah Cornfield

THE MYANMAR Investment Commission (MIC) has put four buildings in Yangon up for tender in a bid to ease the capital’s shortage of hotel rooms.

The properties which have been made available for conversion into hotels include the Yangon Region Government office on Strand Road, an empty land parcel on the corner of Pyidaungsu Yeiktha and Pyay Road, a government housing complex on the junction of Ahlone Road and Khayaypin Road, and the five-storey Myanma Railway building on Merchant Street.

The tender, which closes on January 31, is open to both foreign and local companies. While details have not been released, the properties are likely to be leased for 20-30 years.

“We have received a lot of applications from both local and foreign companies, especially from around the region, to convert these properties into hotels,” said a spokesperson from MIC.

“We still need to negotiate with the different ministries, such as Hotel and Tourism, Home Affairs and Railways. After that, we will give approval to possible companies.”

Meanwhile, two historically significant buildings – the Secretariat and High Court – are due to put up for tender as potential museums, while the former Foreign Minister’s office on Pyay Road will be made available for conversion into serviced apartments.

GRAND Mercure Roxy Singapore has unveiled a host of revamped offerings, including 11 new deluxe poolside rooms, and renovated recreational and MICE facilities.

The deluxe poolside rooms feature private terraces and direct access to the swimming pool, which has been redesigned in a contemporary style. The gym has become more spacious, and features floor-to-ceiling windows, mirrored walls and a new suite of exercise equipment.

There is also an additional F&B outlet, breez bistro.bar, offering both local and international cuisine.

The hotel’s function rooms – Roxy 1 and Roxy 2 – now sport a marble style décor, and can be converted into a single function room (223m2), suitable for a 10- to 30-pax meeting.

TAIWAN and Hong Kong signed a civil aviation agreement in December, which will allow both sides to boost the number of regular scheduled flights between their main airports from 170 to 198 per week.

With the revised flight allocation scheduled to take effect from March, charter services from Taiwan to Hong Kong, already operated from Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung, will also be expanded to smaller local airports, which will be allowed to operate up to 28 charter flights per week.

Linda Wu, marketing and PR manager, Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), based in Taipei, said: “Right now, the agreement is signed, but they still need to work out the allocations of flights between Taiwan and Hong Kong airlines.”

“Naturally, HKTB hopes this will mean more Taiwanese will be flying to Hong Kong.”

Last year, inbound numbers from Singapore to Taiwan jumped 24.1 per cent to 299,000, compared to the year before, according to figures from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau. Inbound from Hong Kong and Macao to Taiwan grew 2.9 percent to 818,000 over the same period.

Spicer Lee, general manager, inbound department, of Taipei-based Phoenix Tours, attributed the strong growth from Singapore to increased flight frequencies, which were a result of an open skies deal signed last February (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 10, 2011).

“More airlines fly the (Singapore-Taiwan) route now,” said Lee. “There are the national carriers and budget airlines, like Tiger Airways, as well. They are all promoting the route.”

Meanwhile, HKTB’s Wu is anticipating a drop in airfares on the Hong Kong-Taiwan route once the agreement takes effect. “If flight frequencies increase, one would expect a drop in price due to supply and demand,” she said.

Wu added: “Lower prices would help (attract traffic from Taiwan), but last year, Hong Kong hotels raised rates by 30 per cent, and Taiwanese are still flying there. They know they can’t expect Hong Kong to be cheap. Instead, we believe they are looking for value.”

Reporting by Glenn Smith

ACCOR has taken over the management of Hotel Nikko Jakarta, which had been run by Nikko Hotels International for the past 39 years, and rebranded it as Pullman Jakarta Indonesia.

The property becomes the third Pullman hotel in Indonesia, joining the Pullman Bali Legian Nirwana and Pullman Jakarta Central Park, which opened last February and November respectively.

Accor vice president Indonesia, Singapore & Malaysia, Gerard Guillouet, said: “We are very excited with Pullman Jakarta Indonesia, as it offers not only a wider choice for Accor guests, but also strengthens our presence in the upscale market (in Indonesia).”

The hotel will receive a major upgrading of its recreation and meetings facilities, as well as its executive rooms, to enable it to target upscale and MICE travellers.

According to Franky Montung Setjoadinata, president director of the property owner, Wisma Nusantara International, renovations are estimated to cost in the range of US$5 million-US$10 million, and are scheduled to finish by mid-2013.

“We finished renovating 317 out of 427 rooms last year. What are left are the executive tower rooms, and the public and meeting facilities,” he said, adding that the average room rate was expected to increase by 30-40 per cent.

Setjoadinata attributed the management switch to “(identifying) a growing business opportunity in the MICE segment in Jakarta, and we felt that Pullman would be able to leverage in this area”.

He added: “Accor has managed our Novotel Bali Tanjung Benoa for many years, so we are familiar with the network, with the management team, locally and regionally. That was a major factor in us choosing Accor.”

Asked if the hotel would continue targeting the Japanese market, which makes up 50 per cent of its clientele, Guillouet said: “The Japanese will continue to be important for the hotel, but we need to create a balanced mix with other (domestic and overseas) markets.”