SOFITEL Luxury Hotels ends its nine-year search for a hotel in Singapore with a deal worthy of popping a Cristal back at the corporate office.

At one fell swoop, the management agreement signed yesterday with Royal Group Holdings (RGH), as tipped by TTG Asia e-Daily on October 20, enables Sofitel to flag its new brand, So, on an iconic building circa 1927, in a location at the heart of the CBD, with a partner who told TTG Asia he was in it not for the money but the “legacy”.

Asok Kumar Hiranandani, RGH president, said: “For me, this is not commercial. If I can leave a legacy, it’ll be nice. The building is something you want to keep, like a piece of painting you want to hang on the wall.”

A hotel developer told TTG Asia if it was for legacy, Hiranandani was in it for the right reason. “It’s difficult to make money when you can carve out only that many rooms in a heritage building – because of the floor plate and plan – and adhere to conservation guidelines at the same time,” she said.

So Sofitel Singapore will have 135 rooms and suites, with floor areas between 24sqm and 140sqm, when it opens in early 2013. RGH is pumping in S$130 (US$103) million to S$150 million in the 60-year leasehold property which was up for tender in January.

– Full report, TTG Asia, October 28, 2011

BANGKOK, which has been warned to prepare for floodwaters travelling from the suburban areas into the inner city, is seeing a postponement of events scheduled in the Thai capital for this and next month.

Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) has reported postponements of four events scheduled for October. The Happy Workplace Forum 2011, the CSR Thailand 2012, the Furniture Fair and a concert by Kasikorn Bank have been postponed to either December or January.

Four other events scheduled for November – the Royal Project, the Krungsri Auto Car, a Carabao concert and the Commart – have also been postponed.

Meanwhile, World Didac Asia 2011, to be held in QSNCC, is still confirmed for October 26 to 28.

QSNCC’s newly appointed president, Sakchai Pattarapreechakul, said: “Our first priority is to offer utmost assistance to all concerns, including facilitating the postponements of events, and providing 500 food packs daily to flood victims from October 21.”

He added that it was too early at press time to estimate the impact from the flood.

However, Sakchai said that in its initial assessment, the centre had performed according to targets in the first 11 months of its fiscal year with the exception of its 12th month (November), depending on how the flood situation unfolds.

By Sirima Eamtako

Update (18.05, GMT+8): Airports of Thailand has confirmed Don Muang Airport’s closure from 7pm today. Nok Air has re-confirmed it will halt flight operations in and out of Don Muang through October 31. It did not mention whether it will resume flights from November 1.

AIRPORTS of Thailand said it would suspend operations at Don Muang Airport from 5pm today due to a flooded runway. Thai budget airline Nok Air had earlier announced it would suspend all flights from noon until November 1, while domestic carrier Orient Thai Airlines moved its flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport from 3pm. Both operate from Don Muang.

Nok Air CEO, Patee Sarasin, said: “The reason is because the water level is now at a critical (state in the) area at the northern part of the runway. (Passengers) can change (their) flights free of charge.”

The airline operates between Bangkok’s old airport and domestic destinations. It has yet to decide whether to divert its operations to Suvarnabhumi Airport, which at press time is operating as usual and deploying flood prevention systems.

Meanwhile, Orient Thai Airlines said its passengers scheduled to travel between October 12 and 31 were allowed to change flights and travelling dates at no cancellation charges.

GOA TOURISM is attempting to tap the outbound leisure market from Australia and New Zealand, having recently concluded a promotional tour of Sydney and Auckland.

The western Indian state tourism body previously made similar efforts to garner increased arrivals from the US and Japan.

Swapnil Naik, director of Tourism, Government of Goa, said the roadshow and networking meetings during the tour elicited keen interest among outbound tour operators in Australia and New Zealand.

“There has been keen interest expressed by the travel and trade fraternity in Australia and New Zealand on adding Goa to the travel itinerary of the local traveller,” he said. “This is Goa Tourism’s first attempt to reach out to this distant market, and we look forward to making it happen.”

An area of concern is the flight connectivity from Australia and New Zealand to Goa. Since Singapore is a transit point for many Australians and New Zealanders, the possibility of Singapore Airlines being requested to operate a direct flight from Singapore to Goa may be mooted.

Goa, which has so far received more than 900 inbound charter flights for the year, currently gets most of its inbound traffic from Russia, the UK, Germany and Israel.

THE MALDIVES, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2020, could significantly benefit from the Integrated Resource Model, a new branch of environmental science that could boost economic growth and reduce carbon emissions.

Developed by Peter Head of the Ecological Sequestration Trust, the model uses cloud computing to create ecological models that boost economic growth and reduce carbon emissions.

At the third annual Six Senses Slow Life Symposium, Head said that global computing power could be used to create a new development model for the Maldives.

“Integrated resourcing covers energy, food, water and waste management. It is the concept that no single environmental problem can be solved in isolation,” Head said, adding that the concept of sharing was vital in the fight against climate change.

Cloud computing is just one example of sharing, as it shares computing processing power. Cloud computing is vital to his integrated resource modeling, which will be made available through open source on the “cloud”.

Head added that linking urban and rural development could boost overall agricultural output despite the loss of land for residential development.

MYANMAR’s domestic carriers, Air Bagan and Asian Wings, have inked a codeshare agreement for 13 selected destinations in the country.

Starting October 15, passengers who buy tickets on Air Bagan or Asian Wings will be able to take services from either carrier to Tachileik, Kengtung, Lashio, Myitkyina, Putao, Kalay, Monywa, Homalin, Kyaukpyu, Sittwe, Pathein, Thandwe and Bhamo.

Officers from both Air Bagan and Asian Wings concurred that the codeshare deal was aimed at giving them an edge over the competition in an increasingly tight domestic carriers market.

“As the number of domestic airlines is increasing this year, we are always aiming to give better service to customers than the other domestic airlines,” officers said.

U Tay Za from Htoo Trading established Air Bagan in November 2004.

Asian Wings’ backers remain – officially, at least – a mystery. The carrier was launched on January 27 this year and is headquartered in a Bahan township office formerly occupied by Myanmar Treasure Resorts.

Myanmar has three other private domestic airlines – Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways and Air KBZ – as well as state-run Myanma Airways.

Industry sources say foreign travellers comprise about 30-40 per cent of ticket sales on domestic carriers.

THE TRAVEL Agents Federation of India (TAFI) will hold its annual convention in Macau from November 22-25.

The event will take place at the 3000-suite Venetian Macau resort, while the theme for this year will be Addressing Change – Rebrand, Reposition and Relevant.

Last year’s edition in Dubai attracted 1,200 delegates. This year, higher numbers are expected. “We expect an immensely informative and productive convention in Macau,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman-east India of TAFI.

The Macau Government Tourist Office will host the opening dinner for TAFI delegates as well as city tours. A small travel mart on November 23 will showcase sellers and their products from Hong Kong, southern China and Macau.

Macau is an increasingly popular destination for Indian leisure and MICE travellers, attracting 170,000 Indian visitors last year, a five-fold increase over 2006. This year, about 200,000 Indians are expected to visit Macau.

WYNDHAM Hotel Group is adding to its 14 hotels in operation and 15 under development in India, with the franchise of three hotels – a Wyndham Grand property in Agra and two Ramada properties in Alleppey and Ghaziabad.

The company’s portfolio of hotels in the Asia-Pacific region currently consists of 425 properties and over 61,700 rooms under the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Howard Johnson, Days Inn, Super 8, Microtel Inns & Suites and Dream brands.

“With rapidly increasing tourism and business industries, India holds an abundance of growth opportunities for hotel companies,” said Ken Greene, Wyndham Hotel Group’s president and managing director of Asia-Pacific.

The 154-room Wyndham Grand Agra, scheduled to open by the end of this year, features 42 suites, a health club, outdoor swimming pool, five restaurants and cocktail bar spread over 18 acres of landscaped gardens. It is minutes away from the Taj Mahal.

The 112-room Ramada Alleppey, which includes 24 suites, will be located at the Punnamada River in Alleppey. It will feature river views from every guest room and access to the hotel via waterway. It is due to open in March 2012.

The 100-room Ramada Ghaziabad, B.S. Road, with 20 suites, is near new Delhi and is set to open in March 2016.

WESTIN Hotels & Resorts will open The Westin Xian on December 1, marking the entry of the Westin brand into China’s Shaanxi province.

“With economic progress and industrial development in the last few years, as well as a focus on developing Xian as a destination city, corporate and meetings demand in Xian has grown at a steady pace, in addition to the existing leisure demand,” said Magdy Anis, general manager of The Westin Xian.

Located in the Qujiang tourism district, directly opposite the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, The Westin Xian will feature 329 rooms and 32 one- to two-bedroom apartments.

F&B options will include an all-day dining outlet, as well as restaurants serving Cantonese and Japanese cuisine.

The hotel will also have a gym, an indoor swimming pool, a Heavenly Spa by Westin, as well as more than 3,300m2 of meeting space and three banquet venues.

THE TOURISM Council of Thailand (TCT), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, has organised two hosted tours for up to 1,000 people affected by the floods in the country.

The hosted tours are part of an initiative by TCT to convince overseas visitors that the majority of tourism sites remain undisturbed by floodwaters.

The first tour for 500 flood-affected individuals to Siam Park City, a water and amusement park, was conducted on October 22.

Another tour, with scheduled visits to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Grand Palace and Phra Chetuphon Vimonmangklaram Temple, will be held on October 30.

The tours are jointly supported by Siam Park City, the Thai Boat Association, Riverside Bangkok Hotel, Hong Thong Group, the Thai Restaurants Association, and the Tourist Guide Association of Thailand.