A STRATEGIC partnership between China’s HNA Hotel Group and Spain’s NH Hoteles has resulted in the entry of an international business hotel brand into China, and the formation of a brand new hotel management company.

The partnership comes on the back of HNA Hotel Group’s acquisition of 20 per cent of NH Hoteles’ shares through a capital injection of 430 million euros (US$609 million).

The first milestone for the duo is the opening of a 210-key NH-branded hotel in Chongqing early next year, the first Asian property for the Spanish group, which has 400 hotels in 25 countries under its belt. The property, owned by HNA Hotel Group, will be managed by their joint hotel management company, which both will have an equal share in.

Steven Song, executive chairman and president of HNA Hotel Group, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the yet-to-be-named hotel management company would be responsible for hotel development and management projects in China.

NH Hoteles will add properties in Beijing and Nanjing soon after, and the group’s chief strategy & development officer, Francisco Zinser Cieslik, said the expansion would focus on primary and secondary cities in China.

“Our hotels in China will adapt to the Chinese market, which means the decor will have a mix of European and oriental flavours, and more F&B outlets will be offered,” he said.

NH Hoteles will also bring its signature staff development programme to China. Its virtual university, which offers online training to improve employees’ skills and career advancement opportunities, has helped the group achieve an enviable staff turnover of less than five per cent. Cieslik said the industry average in Europe was 15 per cent.

Training programmes will be adapted to the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, HNA Hotel Group is pushing ahead with its expansion plans for Tangla Hotels & Resorts, which debuted its first property in Beijing in 2009 under the flagship Tangla label.

Tangla Hotels & Resorts has three other brands – ultra-luxe Tangla Grand Place, boutique-style Tang Hotel and business-class Gardenlane Select.

By the end of the year, Tangla Hotels & Resorts will open a Tang Hotel in Sanya and a Gardenlane Select in Haikou, as well as a Tangla in Shenzhen. A Gardenlane Select in a hot springs area in Beijing is also being planned.

The flagship Tangla brand will also head overseas with a hotel in Brussels, Belgium, and another in the east coast of the US, said Song. Construction of the Brussels hotel will begin early 2012.

“China has opened its doors to international trade for many years now, but there is still no homegrown hotel company that has gone worldwide. We acknowledge that we are a young company, but we can go far by positioning ourselves as a five-star oriental brand (in overseas destinations),” he said, adding that the brand’s homegrown status will help to attract Chinese travellers.

GROWING interest in Malaysia among travellers from the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan has prompted travel agents in those markets to commence chartered flights starting December.

M. Wahid, director, Tourism Malaysia South China, told TTG Asia e-Daily that these flights will take off from Chengdu and Kunming to Sabah, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur.

He pointed out that Sabah, on the northern side of Malaysia’s Borneo island, has also been gaining much popularity among Chinese travellers from Guangzhou. However, he did not elaborate on the number of chartered flights planned.

“Malaysia is now concentrating on attracting the high-end segment from China,” he said.

In the past six months, Malaysia received 560,000 arrivals from mainland China, a six per cent increase compared to the same period in 2010.

By Amee Enriquez

TAIWANESE sellers who were anticipating a jump in the number of younger mainland Chinese visitors after the China government approved Taiwan-bound FIT traffic starting June 28, say the market needs more time to take off.

The FIT visas, valid for stays of up to 15 days, are available to residents of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, with a quota of 500 arrivals per day (about 15,000 per month).

Taiwanese travel agents TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to said although the number of mainland FIT travellers to Taiwan was steadily increasing, most are middle-aged or retired visitors on business or VFR trips.

Even though Taipei-based Phoenix Tours handles about eight per cent of total FIT business from the mainland (more than 300 customers per month), the company’s general manager, Spicer Lee, said only 10 per cent were travelling for leisure.

“I think it’s because the FIT visa regulations were only recently introduced, and the segment needs more time to mature. Most of our business from mainland China still consists of the older crowd,” he said.

Ivan Lin, vice president, inbound tour department, China Travel Service (Taiwan), agreed with Lee, saying that most of his income from serving mainland FIT customers was earned through visa processing fees, with the rest from booking accommodation, mini tours, car rental and airport transfers for those on leisure trips.

Only 10 per cent of the 400-500 mainland FIT customers Lin handles per month are on leisure trips, staying an average of four to five days, in three-star hotels or homestays. The rest participate in exhibitions, conventions and meetings, or visit relatives and friends, he said.

According to Lee, the main obstacle in growing this segment lies in the rules requiring mainland FIT visitors to apply for a travel permit in their hometowns.

“It would be great if they were allowed to apply at their place of residence, the number of which also needs to be increased from the current three,” he said.

“Once the rules are relaxed, we can even expect FIT traffic to surpass group traffic, like in Hong Kong, where more than 60 per cent of mainland Chinese visitors are FITs, and about 30 per cent are on group tours.”

Meanwhile, Taiwanese sellers are pressing on with efforts to grow the mainland FIT segment. China Travel Service (Taiwan) is planning to increase promotional efforts targeting mainland FITs through mainland travel agents and introduce one-day and customised tours, while the Taiwan Visitors Association has been running roadshows in various Chinese provinces.

THAILAND-based airlines are offering to rebook or refund passengers scheduled to travel during the current flood crisis.

Thai Airways International has announced that all tickets issued on or before October 28 on its website, ticketing offices and travel agents in Thailand, with the travel period from October 1 to December 15, can be changed with no additional fees. However, the national carrier said the new travel date must occur by December 31, and changes must be made by November 30.

Bangkok Airways, Nok Air and Orient Thai Airlines are also offering passengers a full refund or a rebooking at no extra charge, if they are scheduled to travel between October and November 15.

Bangkok Airways said passengers travelling within Thailand between October 14 and November 15 can rebook a new travel date before December 15. Unused and non-refundable tickets issued by the airline, booked through their website, or issued by agents can also be fully refunded.

Nok Air, now operating between Suvarnabhumi Airport and nine Thai destinations, will be adding six more destinations from tomorrow. It is also offering a full refund for unused tickets, provided travel takes place before November 15.

Orient Thai Airlines, which also relocated its operations from Don Muang Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airport, said it would allow passengers scheduled to travel by November 15 to rebook up until December 15, at no extra charge.

Meanwhile, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has issued an update, clarifying that the flooding is mainly affecting central provinces along the Chao Phraya River, including Bangkok and Ayutthaya.

Other popular tourist destinations in the central region, including Pattaya, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi and Ko Chang, have not been affected by the floods. Provinces in the south of Thailand have also been spared.

TAT reiterated that Suvarnabhumi Airport, the main gateway to Thailand, remains open and is operating normally, handling 76 flights per hour.

According to the authority, the BTS Skytrain and MRT subway services are operating normally, while taxis and tuk tuks are operating on a limited basis. On the other hand, many bus routes have been rerouted or suspended due to the flooding. Express boat services on the Chao Phraya River have also been suspended.

TTG Asia Media has launched TTG China e-Daily, a free Chinese-language daily news email service for travel professionals in the Greater China region.

Published by the TTG China team, which introduced the first travel agent newspaper for Chinese-speaking industry professionals in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, TTG China e-Daily will be sent to over 30,000 travel professionals throughout the Greater China region from Monday to Friday.

Similar to its English-language counterpart, TTG Asia e-Daily, TTG China e-Daily will provide short summaries of breaking travel news stories of the day, with links to the TTG China website (www.ttgchina.com) for full stories.

To complement the launch, the TTG China website has also been revamped, and now includes sections such as Top Stories, Viewpoint, Tourism Data, Agent Talk, Case Study, Hot Moves and Hot Jobs, and Hot Deals, offering incisive analysis, key statistics, useful summaries and special trade promotions.

Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media, said: “TTG China e-Daily and the revamped TTG China website offer travel professionals in the Greater China region the relevant information they need to make key business decisions both domestically and abroad.”

“The travel industry can now enjoy timely and reliable travel updates on a daily basis from the most sought-after Chinese-language travel news title in the region.”

From November, readers of the monthly TTG China print publication will also be able to access the newspaper on the go with TTG China DIGITAL. This electronic flipbook version of the print edition will be available on online, desktop and mobile platforms.

Chinese-speaking travel professionals are invited to subscribe to TTG China e-Daily at www.ttgchina.com. A contest that rewards one lucky subscriber every month from November 2011 through February 2012 is also underway. Prizes include two-night stays at the following Hong Kong-based hotels: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui, Hotel ICON, Le Meridien Cyberport and The Mira.

SIX finalists are vying for PATA Singapore Chapter’s search for the most productive practice this year.

The six finalists, picked from 58 companies, are Mandarin Orchard Singapore, Fairmont Singapore, Dynasty Travel International, International Paradise Connexions Tours & Travel, Adrenalin Events & Education and Vital Shared Services (a department under Singapore’s finance ministry).

This is the second year the chapter is organising the competition, and this year’s challenge becomes more relevant in light of “tightening labour market conditions and economic uncertainties”, according to organisers.

The “Our Productivity Story” competition comprises three phases: essay submissions, seminar presentation and online video voting.

This year roped in 20 per cent more participants than last year.

The six finalists presented their productivity initiatives to a panel of judges at a tourism industry productivity seminar jointly organised by the PATA chapter and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) as part of the competition.

They are producing a short video on their productivity stories which will be posted on YouTube. The public may vote for the best story from November 14 to 30. The votes would contribute to half of the competition’s final results which would be announced during the annual Tourism Ball on December 3.

“I am encouraged to see the high quality of the finalists’ entries and the diversity of the productivity initiatives the participants of the competition had rolled out to improve their business competitiveness,” said Dr Robin Yap, chairman of activities, PATA Singapore Chapter.

THE MARRIAGE between the creative economy and tourism sectors under Indonesia’s newly-established ministry would create synergies that enable the destination to better sell itself.

Speaking at her first media briefing on Wednesday since being appointed Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr Mari Eka Pangestu said: “The creative industry has big potential to play a nation-branding role, which in turn will develop tourism.”

She referred to the positive effects brought about by homegrown luxury brand Bagteria, used by a world trendsetter like Paris Hilton, and La Glacon, a locally-designed Spring collection chosen by Lady Gaga for her US’ Harper’s Bazaar photo sessions.

“A number of cities in Indonesia, such as Bali, Batam and Solo, have actually used local creative products to boost (tourism).

“Pekalongan and Solo in Central Java are capitals of the batik industry. We can then form a corridor connecting these cities, package them and promote them for tourism,” Dr Mari said.

“The tourism sector is a consumer of various creative products from different industries,” she added, citing souvenirs as an example.

“Similarly in the film industry, being a venue for filmmaking is also part of nation branding,” Dr Mari said, adding that she expected more movies to be shot in Indonesia, following the success of Eat, Pray, Love and The Philosophers.

The Ministry is currently working on a roadmap stretching to 2014, which will include developing creative zones and corridors. It is scheduled to be ready by year-end.