LUXURY boutique hoteliers remain unfazed by the unfolding global economic uncertainty, and are resolute in carrying out their expansion plans.

Business performance has been good at Como Hotels and Resorts, according to its vice president of business development, Harry Apostolides, who spoke to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of Resort Development World Asia 2011.

“Our properties in the Turks & Caicos, Maldives and Bali have had credible performances so far this year,” he said. “Even our London properties, the Metropolitan and Halkin, have done well.”

Apostolides said Como would be opening a 40-room property in Niseko, Japan, alongside condominium units in 2013. This adds to the 108-room hotel already being developed in Phang Nga Bay, Phuket (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 12), scheduled for completion by 2012.

Meanwhile, Alila Hotel & Resorts COO, Guy Heywood, revealed the group was poised to double in size to 18 properties by 2015. “Some 15 projects are in the offing from 2013 onwards. Four will be in Indonesia, some will be in China with the remainder in Vietnam and the Middle East,” he said.

Heywood emphasised that even though Alila’s plans might seem ambitious at first glance, the group was keen to ensure all new properties are “true to the brand, delivering on its promises”.

“We want to grow in a controlled manner, and ensure that we expand for the right reasons,” he said.

Heywood added that plans were afoot for the group’s first spa venture in Indonesia, which will be attached to an unrelated hotel. “Alila hopes to follow Six Senses into the spa operations arena. But our future expansion plans will depend highly on how the spa actually performs,” he said.

“We anticipate that we will be highly selective on where we will set up our spa operations, but we hope that this move will help us to build our brand.”

MALAYSIA’S Tune Hotels will welcome guests in Thailand and India by next year, as part of the low-cost brand’s expansion across Asia.

Hat Yai will get Thailand’s first Tune Hotel in December, followed by Pattaya next February.

Giving the update during a presentation at Economy Hotels World Asia 2011 yesterday, Thai AirAsia spokesperson Topaz Subunruk said: “Economy hotels have grown in line with low-cost carriers and we are open to supporting our sister hotels.”

At least two more Tune Hotels are slated to open in Thailand, she added. AirAsia and Tune Hotels are both part of Tune Group.

Other countries with Tune projects in development include China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, India’s first Tune will open by next July, said Umesh Luthria, executive director of Apodis Hospitality Group, which has a joint venture with Tune to develop 20 hotels in India by 2013/2014.

Luthria said the group still had “some homework to do” before rolling out the brand. This includes finalising the design of the hotels, as the current version of Tune is undergoing a revamp, starting with the downtown Kuala Lumpur property (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 12).

Said Luthria: “We think we will compete quite well in this segment, as there are not that many big names within India.”

He told TTG Asia e-Daily that Apodis was also in the process of acquiring a local brand, which had five hotels across India, with between 40 and 60 rooms each. These were design-led, hybrid bed-and-breakfasts, which could function as corporate guesthouses and cater to business travellers, he added.

Additional reporting by Linda Haden

THE MALDIVES government intends to halve its proposed Tourism Goods & Services Tax (T-GST) hike in 2013 from four to two per cent.

The government began collecting a 3.5 per cent T-GST in January (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 26), and was planning to progressively increase it to six per cent next year, and 10 per cent in 2013. The T-GST in 2013 will thus be fixed at eight per cent.

Economic Development Minister Mahmood Razi was recently quoted in Maldives newspapers as saying that the government agreed to reduce the final tax rate at the request of tourism industry stakeholders.

The local tourism industry was earlier critical of the tax plans, but in recent months the view has mellowed.

Shafray Fazley, managing director of Viluxor Holidays said the travel trade was not drastically affected by the taxes, as the Maldives was an expensive destination anyway. “Most tourists to the Maldives don’t find the tax a burden,” he said.

David Kevan, partner at UK-based Chic Locations, said his company recently received new contracts based on the higher tax levels, but did not notice that much of an impact.

However, Fazley added: “From an agent’s point of view, increasing taxes can be a hassle when updating records, systems and our loyal partners.”

WILDLIFE Reserves Singapore (WRS) has decided to can its annual Halloween Horrors event at the Night Safari.

The popular month-long activity, which has run for the last five years, was due to begin from September 30.

About 1,000 tickets, which had already been sold online, will be refunded.

WRS said in a statement that it was refocusing its energies on other events with an Asian focus.

“Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) will refocus our energies on events and activities on family wholesome themes and festivities like Moon Nights, Deepavali, and others,” said Isabella Loh, WRS group CEO.

“For the month of October, we will organise a special Deepavali event at the parks, celebrating the festival of lights,” she added.

SINGAPORE’S secondary civilian airport, Seletar Airport, has extended its runway by about 250m, paving the way for larger jet operations, heavier take-off loads, as well as for business jets and charter flights to take advantage of its enhanced facilities.

Managed by Changi Airport Group (CAG), Seletar Airport is due to resume normal operations from today.

Lim Ching Kiat, Seletar Airport general manager, and senior vice president, market development of CAG, said: “The upgrading of the facilities at Seletar Airport will better support our airport partners’ growth plans. We believe that this region presents strong growth potential for business aviation, general aviation, and maintenance, repair and overhaul activities.”

According to a statement from CAG, Singapore has seen strong growth in the business aviation sector, with aircraft movements growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent from 2007 to 2010.

CAG expects the growth in traffic at Seletar Airport to continue in the coming years, driven by the increase in private jet usage in Asia, as well as the Singapore government’s efforts to develop Seletar Aerospace Park into a world-class aerospace facility.

Yap Ong Heng, director-general, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said: “The transformation of Seletar Airport and its surrounding areas into the Seletar Aerospace Park will support the aviation industry to tap Asia’s strong growth momentum, to expand business aviation, general aviation and aerospace activities in Singapore.”

THE NEWLY opened Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) office in Taiwan is rolling out a series of promotions to lure Taiwanese travellers to the destination.

“We’ll have advertising, we’ll have tour packages, and in November at Taipei Travel 2011, we’ll be working with 14 to 16 Taiwanese travel agencies,” said HKTB’s marketing and PR manager, Linda Wu, adding that “Hong Kong materials adapted for Taiwan” would be used at the offset.

“HKTB will leverage mega-events to attract (Taiwanese) visitors, such as Hong Kong Halloween Treats in October, the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Month in November, and Hong Kong WinterFest in December,” Wu added.

For the past two decades, HKTB had been represented in Taiwan by Swire International Travel Services, a relationship that ended when HKTB opened its office on September 5.

Likewise, Taiwan ended its third-party representation in Hong Kong through Chung Hwa Travel Service, when the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office set up shop there in July.

Asked to explain the timing of these changes, Wu said it was due to the improving relations between Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

According to Wu, Taiwan is Hong Kong’s second-largest source market, contributing over two million visitors last year. HKTB hopes to keep arrivals growth at three to five per cent annually.

Meanwhile, another boost for HKTB could come from a change in visa regulations, effective September 1.

Previously, Taiwanese nationals required a visa to stay in Hong Kong. Under new regulations, those with a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents are allowed to visit Hong Kong for seven days, with an extension of up to 30 days, regardless of whether they possess an entry/exit endorsement for the mainland.

By Glenn Smith

INDONESIA’S MG Holiday will open an office in Beijing in October, the travel agent’s third in China after Shanghai and Shenzhen, to leverage on the growing demand for travel to Indonesia, particularly for MICE.

MG Holiday managing director Raymond said the move was part of plans to boost the company’s inbound traffic from China. “Beijing has big potential. In fact, we have seen growing volume from there”, he said. “Therefore, we deem it the right time to open an office in Beijing.”

Raymond said MG Holiday had been focusing its China efforts in the country’s south, with emphasis on leisure travel and Bali as the main destination, but was now looking to expand its portfolio to target the high-end segment.

“To enable this, we have partnered with an agent in China who handles the government, corporate and MICE market, and introduced Jakarta and other business cities like Medan and Surabaya,” he said.

ASIA could account for as much as 80 per cent of Finnair’s revenue by 2020, up from the current 60 to 65 per cent, according to CEO Mika Vehvilainen, who revealed a vision 2020 for the carrier to be “the most desired alternative” between Asia and Europe.

Finnair plans to double the number of departures into Asia to 140 per week, from 74 now, by 2020. Vehvilainen told TTG Asia e-Daily that this would be a combination of new destinations in China, Japan and South-east Asia, and additional frequencies on existing routes, although he would not be more specific with details.

The airline flies to 10 Asian destinations, the latest being direct flight Helsinki-Singapore flights launched a few months ago (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 4). The 11th Asian destination, Chongqing, China, will be launched in July next year (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 6).

Since 1995, Finnair has been building its case as the ‘shortcut between Asia and Europe’, with flight time to Helsinki being less than 10 hours from all its Asian destinations except Singapore (11.5 hours). With two-hour transfers from Helsinki to more than 50 European destinations, it has been able to siphon off business travellers between the two continents, and now aims to be among the top three in transit traffic between Asia and Europe by 2020.

“Of 30 million passengers between Asia and Europe, half can fly direct, hub to hub, e.g. Frankfurt to Shanghai, London to Beijing, etc. The other half must transit (due to an absence of direct flights) – that is the market we’re after,” Vehvilainen explained.

Vehvilainen said the future was not so much in European corporate travel going into Asia, but Asian business travel going into Europe.

The biggest limitation to expansion in Asia was aircraft capacity, Vehvilainen said. But Finnair has 11 Airbus A350 aircraft on order, with an option for eight more. A “very large part” of the additional capacity from the new A350s, which will take to the skies from 2014, will be deployed to Asia, he said.

“We’ve had an Asian strategy since 1995. Without Asia, we would not exist today…certainly Finnair wouldn’t be the size and scale it is today without Asia,” he said.

– Full report in TTG Asia, September 30 issue

A TEAM from Singapore’s island resort of Sentosa went last week on a three-city tour of India, its leading source market. Representatives of the resort’s various attractions gave presentations highlighting product offerings, and interacted with agents in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi.

Sentosa Leisure Group assistant director, leisure sales and international marketing, commercial division, Steven Chung, said: “India is our top source market and we’re here to show our appreciation.”

During this summer’s peak India outbound period from April-June, Sentosa recorded a 25 per cent increase in India visitors to 253,000. Seventeen per cent of total arrivals to Sentosa last year were from India.

Mumbai-based Travel Forte director, Rosita Haribal, said: “All our 500 plus clients visiting Singapore visited Sentosa. Songs of the Sea, Siloso Point, Underwater World and the cable car ride are popular activities. Some also enjoy beach walks, the Butterfly Park and overnight stays on the island. High-end travellers may even try the new luxury cable car.”

Another travel agent in Mumbai, Kesari Tours director, Sudhir Patil, said: “Sentosa is a popular attraction in Singapore for our clients, and we’ve been receiving better support (from Sentosa) since last year, when they started India roadshows and introduced the Preferred Partner Scheme.”

Sentosa’s Preferred Partner Scheme offers exclusive support to 12 agents in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. Club 7 holidays and Sachin Travels have replaced Yatra.com and Jagdish Air Travels in this year’s lineup, which also includes Kesari Tours, Cox & Kings, Kuoni, Thomas Cook India, JTB Travels, Mercury Travels, Saltours International, MakeMyTrip, TUI Select Vacation, and D Paul’s Travels & Tours.

By Anand & Madhura Katti

MEGA Maldives Airlines has launched the only direct service linking the Maldives and South Korea.

Mega Maldives spokesperson Muzaffar Naeem said the flag carrier would operate Seoul-Male return flights once every five days, using a leased Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with 12 business-class, 42 premium economy-class and 196 economy-class seats.

The airline, which began operations in January this year, runs similar services to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

Maldives saw a 54 per cent increase in South Korean arrivals last year to 24,000, compared to the year before. However, the number dipped 11.1 per cent to 11,525 in the first seven months of 2011, compared to the corresponding period last year.