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.

SRILANKAN Airlines is expanding its international network and resurrecting old routes as a suite of new aircraft come on board.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily in his first interview since taking over on August 1, the flag carrier’s new CEO, Kapila Chandrasena, said he was planning to start services to Seoul, as well as re-launch direct flights to Australia.

“We also want to engage a point in Africa because we see a lot of Chinese traffic to Africa,” he said. “We have direct flights to Colombo, and from here if we can offer (flights) to an African destination…then there is an opportunity.”

The expansion comes amid recently kick-started flights to Moscow (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 22), and to Zurich starting December 23 (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 1).

According to Chandrasena, SriLankan will increase its fleet to 28 aircraft from the current six A340-300s, six A330-200s and six A320-200s in operation, with another A330 due to be delivered by end-October.

Other plans include stepping up frequencies and operating direct services to China, where the airline currently has weekly flights via Bangkok to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

By November, SriLankan will fly direct to at least two of these destinations, Chandrasena said.

SOUTH-EAST Asians are becoming increasingly enamoured with Southern Austria and Germany, according to Munich-based destination-marketing consortium Jewels of Romantic Europe.

The alliance, which was formed 12 years ago, comprises of Bayern Tourismus Marketing (Bavaria Tourism), Zugspitze-Top Of Germany, Salt Mine Berchtesgaden, Prien at Lake Chiemsee, Munich Tourist Office, Munich Airport, KulturGut AG, Tirol Tourist Board, Innsbruck Tourist Office, Swarovski Crystal Worlds and Salzburg Tourism.

Florian Pötsch, head of travel industry and hub marketing, business division aviation, Munich Airport, last week told an audience of travel agents and tour operators in Singapore that South-east Asia was now the “fastest-growing market for the Bavaria-Tirol-Salzburgerland region, expanding at a rate of three to six times greater than all other sources”.

Pötsch said the number of overnight stays made by South-east Asians travelling to Bavaria rose by 15.1 per cent, Tirol by 20.9 per cent and Salzburg by 36 per cent in the first seven months of the year, compared to the same period last year.

Comparatively, other segments had grown by only “six to 12 per cent on average”, he added.

According to Ralf Zednik, director of sales at the Department of Labour and Economic Development, City of Munich Tourist Office, South-east Asian markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, alongside mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia, were the primary targets for the alliance.

“The alliance supports agents in South-east Asia in various forms – including marketing, public relations, as well as monetary contributions where we see fit,” said Zednik.

ORCHID Hotel Singapore has been put up for sale by exclusive agent Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

Located in the Tanjong Pagar area, the new-built 272-key property is being offered with the advantage of vacant possession of brand and management.

Tom Oakden, executive vice president of Investment Sales Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said: “The sale of Orchid Hotel is a rare and exciting opportunity for an owner operator or investor to acquire and re-brand a significant hotel asset in the heart of Singapore.”

According to Oakden, the last hotel sold by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in the open market in Singapore with vacant possession was the Crown at Orchard in 2005.

“The Orchid Hotel will certainly appeal to a much wider audience of buyers than we have seen for encumbered assets, as has been the type of sale that has dominated the Singapore hotel investment market in recent times, with sales such as Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 7), Park Regis and ibis Bencoolen,” he said.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is conducting a two-stage sale process with Expressions of Interest being requested in early November.

MALAYSIA’s hosting of the annual PGA Tour-accredited CIMB Asia Pacific (Golf) Classic from October 27 to 30 is a cost-effective way of penetrating the US market, according to tourism minister Ng Yen Yen.

“By playing host to the tournament, 48 slots of 30-second-long television commercials on Malaysia will be shown on US golf channels,” said Ng.

“By viewing the tournament on television, and seeing the quality of the golf courses and beauty of the country, they (US nationals) would be motivated to travel here.”

Taking place in Malaysia for the second consecutive year, the event is being sponsored by CIMB to the tune of RM40 million (US$13 million). “Our (Tourism Malaysia’s) contribution is about 10 to 20 per cent of this amount, which was obtained from the subvention fund,” said Ng.

This year’s edition is also expected to attract a higher number of visitors compared to last year, when it drew over 20,000 spectators—50 per cent of whom were from overseas.

“To date 365 packages (made available through Tourism Malaysia’s network) worth RM1.2 million have been sold. This excludes FIT travellers,” said Ng.

MST Golf Vacations manager – tour operations, Aung Ching Ching, said the annual tournament would help promote golf tourism in Malaysia. “Golfers will want to play on the same course as the top professionals,” she explained.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism expressed interest in supporting a long-term programme to develop the country’s golf tourism segment. The Malaysian Golf Tourism Association (MGTA) was also formally registered this month.

MST Travel’s Aung said: “With the existence of MGTA and greater promotion of golf tourism, we expect to increase the rate of sale of our golf packages.”