TTG ASIA’s ongoing Facebook competition has found its lucky December winner in Karen Low, a travel consultant with Citystate Travel in Singapore.

Low won for herself a three-night stay in an executive suite at the Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre, including daily breakfast and executive lounge access, after ‘liking’ the TTG Asia Facebook page and subscribing to the travel trade magazine.

The prize up for grabs this month is a four-day three-night stay at The Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers in Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Members of the travel trade industry stand to win prizes every month by ‘liking’ the TTG Asia Facebook page, and increase their chances by subscribing to the magazine.

For more details, visit www.facebook.com/ttgasia

PHILIPPINE low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) will commence from March 23 onwards thrice-weekly Manila-Xiamen-Manila services, the carrier’s 18th international destination.

CEB will deploy an Airbus A319 aircraft on the route, offering 150 seats in an all-economy configuration.

The airline, which flies thrice-weekly to Beijing and Guangzhou, and daily to Shanghai, had earlier announced plans to boost its Manila-Beijing-Manila services to four-weekly starting January 7.

“CEB looks forward to expanding its network in China, especially with Xiamen and Fujian province being the well-known hometown of about 85 per cent of Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines,” said CEB vice president for marketing & distribution, Candice Iyog.

“We flew 30 per cent more passengers to mainland China in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the same period the year before. CEB will continue to grow its China market with its trademark low fares and destination offerings,” Iyog added.

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) has adopted a new management structure, effective January 1, to ensure the success of its overhaul efforts launched in December last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 8).

Changes include the appointment of two new senior executives from outside the airline, the departure of four senior staff members, and additional responsibilities and portfolios for the group CEO and group COO.

MAS group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said: “The organisation (re) structure signals a new era for the Malaysia Airlines group. It involves the setting up of several new business units and the renaming of existing functions, as well as the introduction of new leaders to take over from familiar faces.”

The airline’s two new appointees are Hugh Dunleavy, head of the newly formed network, alliance, strategy & planning division, and Shihaj Kutty, who will lead the revenue management division.

Dunleavy previously held senior positions at WestJet Airlines, Lufthansa Systems, Star Alliance and Air Canada, while Kutty was head of pricing at Etihad Airways. Both will be joining the airline by mid-January.

Those leaving are executive vice president of commercial strategy, Dr Amin Khan; assistant general manager of revenue management, Sharifah Salwa Syed Kamaruddin; head of aerospace engineering, Mohd Roslan Ismail; and head of MASkargo, Shahari Sulaiman.

As part of the restructuring, the heads of customer experience, operations, human capital, and network, alliance, strategy & planning will now report directly to Ahmad Jauhari, who also takes on the role as CEO of longhaul operations.

Meanwhile, in his capacity as deputy group CEO and CEO of shorthaul operations, Mohammed Rashdan Mohd Yusof will head the airline’s shorthaul business, group finance, and aircraft finance & management, while overseeing commercial matters in the interim.

Reporting by N. Nithiyananthan

THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) is ramping up its Beautiful Thailand campaign efforts, and is also planning to launch next year a new Thailand Welcomes the World campaign, as part of its strategy to boost the country’s image after the recent floods.

The NTO is hosting a series of fam trips for more than 350 travel experts and media representatives from 23 countries from December 6-18, to see for themselves that the flood crisis is now well and truly over.

“Our major focus now is on bringing back tourists’ confidence in Thailand,” said TAT governor Suraphon Svetaserni.

Meanwhile, a new campaign, Thailand Welcomes the World, will be launched next year to improve Thailand’s image in overseas markets. Special emphasis will be placed on creating a good first impression when tourists arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport, through providing better services and conveniences.

Thailand welcomed 17.1 million international visitors between January and November, a 21.1 per cent jump over the same period last year. ASEAN remains the country’s largest market, contributing 4.9 million visitors (a 22 per cent increase), followed by Europe at 4.4 million visitors (up 13.6 per cent), and North-east Asia at 4.3 million arrivals (up 34.2 per cent).

Thailand is anticipating about 18.3-18.6 million foreign arrivals and 703-716 billion baht (about US$23 billion) in tourism revenue for this year. Last year, the country received 15.96 million international visitors, and generated 593 billion baht in revenue.

INDIA will see the arrival of a Ritz-Carlton in 2012, even as the brand continues to plant flags across Asia, targeting 15 new hotel signings in the region by 2015.

“We are very excited to be introducing The Ritz-Carlton brand to India next year with the opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Bangalore. This will be a new market for the brand in Asia, and we feel confident of continued growth in key gateway cities in India,” The Ritz-Carlton Asia area vice president Victor Clavell told TTG Asia e-Daily. The 250-room property will also have extensive meetings and events space and a floor devoted to high-end retail stores.

“China is our fastest growing market, and we expect to open six hotels in China in the next six years alone. We are expanding away from the main metropolitan hubs, and have recently signed hotels in Chengdu, Qingdao, Wuhan, Dalian and Haikou,” he said. The brand currently has 17 hotels operating in Asia.

Noting a shift in spending power from the West to East, Clavell said Asia was very much “leading the way in the luxury hospitality sector”. He added that customers were now expecting more than the usual luxury experience, a trend its new brand platform hoped to address.

Launched in September, a large part of its Let Us Stay With You positioning revolves around creating unique memories.

“We want guests who stay with us to take something away with them when they leave – an emotion, a memory, a feeling, an experience that will stay with them for years to come,” said Clavell.

The new brand platform includes components such as an online portal with personal stories, a mobile app and the use of social networks like Foursquare.

He said: “We feel this will differentiate us from other hotels, and enable people to engage with The Ritz-Carlton and experience our hotels and our service on an emotional level.”

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) has followed up promptly on its business plan (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 8, 2011) announced last week by revealing details of loss-making routes to be axed from 2012.

Based on an internal document made available to TTG Asia e-Daily, the first route to be terminated on January 7 will be the daily Langkawi-Penang-Singapore one.

The following services will also cease:

• twice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Karachi-Dubai flights (January 12)
• twice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Damman flights (January 13)
• daily Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya flights (January 30)
• thrice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Johannesburg flights (January 31)
• twice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Cape Town-Buenos Aires flights (February 1)
• thrice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Rome flights (February 2)

Group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said: “The withdrawal accounts for almost 12 per cent of our passenger capacity, and we estimate that the ongoing route rationalisation will have a profit impact of RM220-302 million (US$69-95) for 2012.”

“The above route rationalisation is expected to have minimal impact on Malaysia’s position as a top tourist destination in Asia as we will work aggressively with our codeshare partners (to address the gaps). We also hope to return to these markets after we have stabilised our business,” he added.

With the termination of these routes, MAS will focus on the ASEAN region, South Asia, Greater China and North Asia where the demand outlook is said to be strong. As a result, the airline will increase frequencies to key regional cities.

MAS assured it would honour all forward bookings ticketed to date on the affected routes.

By N. Nithiyananthan

THE SEVEN members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which have been receiving double-digit growth in arrivals from Asia, are banding together to capture a bigger market here, making their first unified roadshow appearance in Asia this week.

After making a stop in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, the Seven Emirates, One Destination roadshow made its way to Singapore on Thursday, with a 20-strong contingent comprising of airlines, hotels, DMCs and tourism authorities. Organised by the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities (NCTA), a federal tourism body formed in 2009 to represent all UAE members, workshops were also held.

Mohammed Khamis Al Muhairi, director general, NCTA, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “It is not a destination branding per se. Instead, we want travel experts and consumers to differentiate between the various emirates and to know what each one has to offer – be it heritage, city life or beaches.”

He explained that Singapore and Malaysia were chosen for the roadshows because both markets had delivered “good volumes” and had “excellent air connections with the UAE”.

Khamis said: “The Asian market is a strong one, and it will continue developing. We anticipate a 10 to 15 per cent growth in volume next year.” The number of arrivals from Asia jumped by 18 per cent from 2009 to 2010.

“We are now introducing the other emirates that are not so known by the Asian market,” he said.

However, Singapore-based travel professionals pointed out that Dubai continued to be the most popular choice and the UAE was often not seen as a destination.

Elizabeth Chua, executive director, Universal Travel Corporation said: “The majority tends to stay for only one or two nights as part of a stopover, and only does so after a travel consultant persuades or recommends the option to them.”

But numbers are climbing. “Growth has been highly positive,” said Vincent Lee, managing director, Luxury Tours & Travel. “Since we started offering the UAE in 2010, a couple of hundred customers have made bookings with us.”

PHASE One of the Laguna Lăng Cô integrated resort development in Vietnam is set to roll out over the next 12 months.

Angsana Properties Lăng Cô, a 197-unit condominium-style resort, will open in mid-2012. An 18-hole championship golf course designed by Nick Faldo is slated to open in the second quarter of next year. Banyan Tree Lăng Cô, a cluster of 129 luxury villas, will launch sales in early 2012.

Developed and managed by the Banyan Tree Group, Laguna Lăng Cô will offer more than 2,000 keys under the management of eight international branded hotel and resort operators, as well as various spa, convention and recreational facilities.

Residence owners at Angsana Properties Lăng Cô, which was launched for sales in September, are entitled to Angsana Properties Owners Club membership, meaning that they will be able to avail of complimentary stays at other Banyan Tree and Angsana resorts worldwide.

“This is the formula that has proved so successful at our flagship development, Laguna Phuket,” said Michael Ayling, managing director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels.

Residence owners are also guaranteed a six-per cent fixed return on investment for six years, and 60 days of complementary use each year. When owners are offsite, Ayling explained, purchased properties are included in the hotel inventory, where Angsana management looks after the investment.

AIR travel between Taiwan and South Korea is expected to surge next year following an agreement last month to launch new flight services and increase the number of seats available on existing routes between the two countries.

Changes to the bilateral air services arrangement will include the resumption of flights between Seoul’s Gimpo Airport and Songshan Airport in Taipei.

“The Gimpo-Songshan route is expected to be open around March 2012, with seven weekly flights to be permitted for each airline from the two countries,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s
Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs was quoted by Yonhap News as saying.

Gimpo and Songshan Airports are located in the respective suburbs of Seoul and Taipei, while their respective alternatives currently in use, Incheon and Taoyuan Airports, are situated about an hour beyond the cities’ limits. The Gimpo-Songshan route will save travellers up to an hour of ground travel on both ends.

“For travellers between Taipei and Seoul, (the new route) will reduce ground travel,” said Hamilton Liu, spokesperson for China Airlines. “I would expect more business travel and economic activity between our two countries.”

Air capacity allocation between Seoul (Incheon) and Taiwan’s Taoyuan will also be boosted by 2,000 seats per week, bringing the total to 5,500 weekly seats for each side.

The capacity hike will involve increasing the number of flights allocated to each side’s airlines from 18 to 22 every week.

A source at Taiwan’ Civil Aeronautics Administration cautioned that additional seat allocations to airlines would not take place until the agreement has been ratified, possibly before year-end.

South Korea welcomed 406,300 Taiwanese visitors last year, up from 380,500 in 2009. Taiwan also recorded an increase in South Korean visitors, from 167,600 in 2009 to 216,900 last year.

By Glenn Smith

WYNDHAM Hotel Group is planning to introduce more of its brands into China to add to the five existing ones in the market: Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Super 8 and Wyndham.

Brands under consideration for the hop over include TRYP by Wyndham, a select-service, mid-priced city brand; Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, which offers extended stays in studio, one- and two-bedroom suites; and Wingate by Wyndham, positioned as a four-star, mid-priced brand.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s president and managing director for Asia-Pacific, Ken Greene, said: “Apart from the proposed 350-room Planet Hollywood Hotel in Boao on Hainan Island, I’d love to see all the (above-mentioned) brands in 2012, at least to sign agreements.”

In the last year, the group has opened 141 hotels in Asia-Pacific, with 131 of these properties in China. According to Greene, the group’s chairman wants Wyndham’s footprint in China to equal that of its US operations (5,832 hotels).

In terms of brand performance in China over the past year, Greene said occupancy at Super 8 properties had fared well given its relatively large distribution of 275 premises, while Wyndham posted better RevPAR.

Greene added: “Shanghai did not fare that well (in 2011). After Shanghai (World) Expo, (the market there) started catching up, but our large footprint and distribution of properties affected the result. In 2012, the city should normalise and enjoy the same level of growth as before.”

Meanwhile, after doubling manpower in its Hong Kong office last year, the group intends to add eight staff to its 23-man Shanghai team over the next few months to boost management capabilities and expand franchise operations.