KINGFISHER Airlines has launched daily services from the three South Indian cities of Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapalli to Colombo.

The flights are operated using ATR 72-500 aircraft.

Manoj Chacko, executive vice president, commercial, Kingfisher Airlines, said: “The addition of these new routes further strengthens our route network and we now offer enhanced connectivity especially into and out of South India.”

Kingfisher Airlines flies to 59 Indian cities and eight international destinations. The carrier operates with a fleet of 66 aircraft.

THE INDONESIA Ministry of Culture and Tourism will cease to function as the government authority overseeing cultural norms and values, as part of an on-going cabinet reshuffle which saw the appointment of Sapta Nirwandar as vice minister of tourism last week (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 14).

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s role as the government agency responsible for national cultural development will be transferred to the Ministry of Education.

Dr Wiendu Nuryanti, currently professor of architecture and tourism planning with the department of architecture at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, and senior consultant with the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of State Enterprises, has been earmarked for the post of vice minister of culture.

Meanwhile, Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik revealed that the tourism authority had been designated a new role—to develop the country’s creative economy.

“There is a relatively new world economic movement and development, and that is the creative economy. The (Indonesia) President wants this sector to be developed very seriously. This will be incorporated with the tourism sector,” he said.

According to Wacik, Indonesia’s creative industry has the potential to generate up to 100 trillion rupiah (US$11.2 billion) annually. Currently, it contributes some 80 trillion rupiah per year, he added.

DEUTSCHE Bahn (DB Bahn), the German national rail operator, has appointed GSAs in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore as part of efforts to increase its Asia-Pacific customer base.

Bangkok-based Magellan Corporation was chosen as its Thailand representative in March this year, while Deks Air Travel & Tours was installed as its GSA for Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 27) and Malaysia one month later.

Rudi Fisher, who was appointed as head of DB Bahn sales for Asia in January, said the regional expansion actually started about two years ago, with representatives previously being appointed in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Taiwan, the UAE and Vietnam.

Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea have been identified as the main markets for DB bahn in Asia-Pacific, while Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan have been earmarked as emerging markets, Fisher added.

OUTRIGGER Hotels & Resorts has entered into an agreement to purchase the management rights and associated real estate assets of Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise.

The sale includes the management rights from Colryan for up to 414 hotel rooms, and the real estate assets from Seasilver Hotels comprising reception, conferencing areas, and restaurant and bar.

The deal is expected to be completed by end-2011 or early-2012, after which the property will be rebranded Outrigger Surfers Paradise.

The addition of Outrigger Surfers Paradise boosts Outrigger’s Australia portfolio to four properties, offering a total of 1,000 rooms.

RED Planet Hotels has reported over 3,000 rooms under development for the Tune Hotels brand in a portfolio of 19 properties spanning three countries – Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The announcement comes exactly 12 months after the hotel management company passed the 1,000-room mark, posting growth of 200 per cent over the past year.

Red Planet, which has a franchise agreement with Tune Hotels, and operates its portfolio under the Tune brand, will have six Tune Hotels open by March next year, and 15 properties operational by December 2012.

Red Planet CEO Tim Hansing said: “This year has been a year of acquiring and building. We will continue with this pace of growth for the foreseeable future. In December we will open our first Tune Hotel in Thailand, after which we will open an average of one hotel every month.”

Hansing said the company would use revenue from the soon-to-be operating hotels to invest and increase its room inventory further – targeted to increase by a minimum of 2,000 rooms per year over the next five years.

“Once this opening schedule is underway we will look to raise additional funds to allow our pace of strategic growth to increase so we can open a hotel every two weeks,” Hansing said.

Red Planet will soon have sites for hotel development in China, which will also be operated under the Tune brand.

XIXUAN Spa Hotel Hangzhou opened its doors on August 1.

The 68-room luxury boutique hotel, one of three inaugural properties currently being managed by Xixuan Spa Hotels, features a 2,500m2 underground medispa—a relatively new concept in China—where guests are able to access aesthetic, wellness and beauty treatments to stave off the effects of aging.

The hotel’s two restaurants serve a mix of Eastern and Western dishes infused with organic ingredients, while a three-storey library housing a 6,000-book collection doubles as an event space.

The concept of a medispa hotel materialised when Susan Lo, founder and CEO, Xixuan Spa Hotels, discovered that a growing number of wealthy Chinese nationals were heading to Europe for beauty and wellness treatments.

“I saw the opportunity to bring these therapies back to China,” she explained. “I am not saying don’t go to Europe, but now, you will be able have follow-up treatments without the need to head abroad.”

Lo added: “Our primary target market is affluent individuals who reside in China who want to get away for a short break. We are also targeting tourists from around the region, including Singapore, where there are direct flights to Hangzhou.”

Expansion plans are on the cards for Xixuan Spa Hotels, with Lo envisioning 10 openings in China over the next five years.

“I am working with developers to open four more hotels under the Xixuan label along the coastline from Hangzhou up to Nanjing,” she said. “The Ningbo government has also just invited us to manage a hot spring resort as well as another medispa.”

Xixuan Spa Hotels’ other existing properties are in Chengde and Huangshan.

SOUTH Korean budget carrier T’way Airlines will launch on October 14 its inaugural international service—once-daily Seoul-Bangkok flights—using an all-economy 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

According to T’way Airlines’ Thailand GSA, Buynow, the carrier’s first arrival flight is already fully booked, while the turnaround flight is 70-80 per cent occupied.

Originally established as Hansung Airlines in 2004, the carrier started domestic operations (Cheongju-Jeju) in August 2005, and subsequently creased operations in October 2008 due to budgetary constraints.

Hansung Airlines was re-launched as T’way Air in August last year, and launched domestic operations between Gimpo and Jeju a month later. It currently has a fleet of two B737-800 aircraft, and will be adding two more by year-end.

T’way Airlines will join a host of legacy and budget carriers operating between South Korea and Thailand, including Thai Airways International, Korean Air, Air Asiana, Jin Air, Jeju Air and Business Air.

By Sirima Eamtako

HAINAN Airlines will start twice-weekly Beijing-Male services from November 1.

The service will operate using a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with 34 first-class and 199 economy-class seats.

The airline expects to expand the service to thrice-weekly from January 10.

Hainan Airline’s move to operate flights to the Maldives comes after a recent spate of service withdrawals that seemingly spelled the end of its presence in South Asia (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 11).

At press time, reservations on the route were not yet available on the carrier’s website.

HYATT International is venturing into the mid-market segment in Asia, with plans already underway to introduce its Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands in China and India.

The continent’s first Hyatt Place will debut in Bangalore in 2012, while management agreements have already been signed for two Hyatt Places and one Hyatt House in Shanghai—to be launched from 2014 onwards.

Steve Haggerty, global head, real estate and development, Hyatt Hotels, said: “We have reviewed both China and India from the outset because of their critical mass to serve the market.”

“For China, we have been there for long time, and feel the market is ready because of proliferation of brands like old full-service hotels and inconsistent budget hotels,” he added. “There is a gap between five-star and budget hotels. The size of the market is large and it will be new proposition for China.”

The four properties in the pipeline are new-build products offering 100-250 rooms, located in urban or suburban locations. Hyatt Place offers limited services and at least one F&B outlet serving multiple cuisines, one to two small meeting rooms, and fitness facilities. Hyatt House, on the other hand, is an all-suite concept featuring larger rooms, small kitchenettes and social gathering areas, catering to customers looking for extended stays.

As for expansion plans, Hyatt Hotels senior VP for real estate and development in China, Nong Xia, said: “We will control the numbers and won’t compete directly with five-star or budget brands. Potential locations (in China) are Beijing, Hangzhou and Dalian at the first stage. Gradually, the brands will venture into second-tier cities.”

THE WORSENING flood situation in Thailand may have cost its tourism industry about 10 billion baht (US$324 million) in damages so far, according to the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).

TCT president Piyaman Techapaiboon told TTG Asia e-Daily the figure included a loss of about four billion baht from domestic travel, the main contributor to Central Plain tourism during the low international season of October.

Additional losses were calculated based on the ripple effects from the widespread flooding, which is expected to hinder inter-regional travel for company events and seminars scheduled this month.

Last year, Thailand generated about 400 billion baht from domestic tourism.

Piyaman said the tourism council would continue to assess the impact on a day-to-day basis, and was keeping a close eye on Bangkok in particular, amid news that the capital was bracing for floods this week (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 11).

As for international markets, Piyaman said: “Cancellations remain at a ‘normal’ rate. For instance, hotels on Sukhumvit Road have reported they are still running at a good occupancy, albeit seeing some impact on the local corporate market.”

In a bid to help affected tourism operators in flooded areas, TCT will be proposing that the government help shoulder staff wages and remove social security payouts in October.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand also has a loan scheme in place for tourism operators affected by natural disasters.

By Sirima Eamtako