TWO Accor hotels in Australia have become the first in the country to roll out the group’s market-specific service initiatives targeting Indian guests.

Accor Australia introduced similar standards targeting Chinese visitors in April (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 1).

Staff at the Mercure Sydney and Menzies Sydney hotels have been trained to respect Indian cultural and religious differences, while a whole host of extras are available, including Indian dishes on F&B menus; welcome kits in Hindi; Indian adaptor plugs; Indian television channels and newspapers; and Indian snacks and drinks in the minibar.

Australia experienced 11 per cent growth in Indian visitors last year, with a total of 128,000 Indian arrivals who spent A$614 million (US$643 million) during their stay.

Meanwhile, Accor Australia representatives will be visiting India on trade missions to encourage more Indians to visit the destination. Accor sales staff will be travelling to Mumbai and Hyderabad, in conjunction with the Melbourne Convention & Visitors Bureau and Tourism Australia, respectively, to promote Australia as a leisure and business destination.

ZUJI is leveraging on the phenomenal growth of the low-cost carrier (LCC) sector in Asia-Pacific to capture a bigger share of the online travel market.

Darren Carbine, operations director, Zuji APAC, said he anticipated Zuji’s “growth (from LCC bookings) to be much in line with the overall growth trend for low-cost airlines in general”.

“Zuji actively engages with low-cost airlines across Asia-Pacific,” he said. “We are well-positioned to promote them and to leverage on their expansion plans. There is scope for huge amounts of growth.”

Carbine said LCCs operating in Asia-Pacific and subsequently, online air bookings, have great potential to grow due to the region’s geography.

“There are lots of regional airports and numerous destinations with high-density populations. There are more possibilities for the creation of inter-regional routes in Asia, compared to Europe for instance,” he explained.

According to Carbine, there is a clear shift to independent travel among Asia-Pacific consumers, and this is fuelling the growth of no-frills carriers, as well as the OTAs tied closely to them.

Zuji currently has partnerships with over 70 low-cost airlines worldwide. When probed, Carbine said there were no plans at the moment for new partnerships in Asia-Pacific, although Zuji is “never going to say never”, he added.

Carbine said the ambitious expansion plans of low-cost players in the region such as Jetstar and AirAsia had opened up numerous selling opportunities for OTAs.

“We can promote and sell hotel rooms and other ancillary products in tandem with low-cost flights. We are keen to market this aggressively,” he said.

THE ST. REGIS Tianjin, located in Heping district along the south bank of the Hai River, is scheduled to open in October.

The property will feature 240 rooms and 36 suites, six F&B outlets serving French, Italian, Mediterranean and Cantonese cuisine, a heated indoor swimming pool, an exercise room and an Iridium spa.

More than 2,700m2 of meeting and event space will be available, including the Sky Ballroom on the 15th floor. On the lower levels, venues include the St. Regis Ballroom, and 14 versatile event rooms, divisible into 22 spaces.

Damon Page has been appointed general manager of The St. Regis Tianjin.

THE KOREA Tourism Organization (KTO) opened earlier this month a representative office in Mumbai to promote South Korea to the west Indian market.

KTO Mumbai office manager, Naomi Lobo, who reports to the KTO office in New Delhi, said: “I’ll work with the travel trade, consumers, media and airlines in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa to introduce and promote Korea.”

“The focus will be on MICE, leisure travel and honeymooners. We’re also keen on tapping the Indian film industry to shoot in Korea.”

KTO is planning to highlight various facets of the destination and increase travel trade product knowledge through a promotional programme this year and next. The programme includes media publicity, participation in trade shows, fam trips, and a food festival on a pan-India basis.

Hana Travels director, Himanshu Yogi, said South Korea was a growing in popularity as a leisure and business destination for west Indians.

“There’s a lot of traffic from Maharashtra and Gujarat to Korea. Many business travellers from Mumbai travel to Korea,” he said. “It’ll help us a lot to have a KTO office in Mumbai. We hope that the office actively involves the trade in promoting visitors to Korea.”

South Korea received 86,547 Indian visitors last year, up 18.9 per cent over the year before. This year, a 20 per cent increase in Indian arrivals is expected.

By Anand & Madhura Katti

THAI Airways International (THAI) will be launching THAI Smile, a sub-brand airline, in July next year.

THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand said the new carrier would be positioned as a light-premium airline – charging higher fares than low-cost carriers, but lower than those of the national carrier – and use the same flight codes as THAI.

In-flights meals will be provided as part of the fares, while a loyalty programme is to be introduced.

THAI Smile will be operated under the newly established affiliated business unit, THAI Smile Air, with THAI vice-president corporate strategy and planning department Woranate Laprabang appointed as managing director.

In its first year, THAI Smile will be operating four 174-seat Airbus A320 aircraft on five domestic routes, linking Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai and Surat Thani.

THAI will be dropping these routes to make way for THAI Smile.

The new airline will be operating international routes, focused on Asian destinations such as China and India, from its second year, and will be growing its fleet to 11 A320s by 2015.

The launching of THAI Smile will not affect ongoing plans between THAI and Singapore’s Tiger Airways to establish Thai Tiger Airways, according to Piyasvasti.

By Sirima Eamtako

RELIANCE Travel launched its fifteenth franchise outlet this month in the suburb of Bukit Rimau, about 30km from Kuala Lumpur.

The company’s managing director, Tan Sin Chong, said: “This is our second franchise outlet for the year. As we have a target of opening three to four outlets a year, we have almost met our quota for 2011.”

Franchise owner, Steven Foo, said: “This is the only Reliance Travel outlet serving the communities of Bukit Rimau and Kemuning. It benefits them with the convenience of getting travel services almost at their doorstep.”

Foo’s investment in the 46.5m2 outlet was RM250,000 (US$84,000).

“We estimate our average monthly sales to be about RM400,000 to RM500,000,” Foo added.

Reliance had started franchising in 2001 “to expand (the company’s) distribution channels,” Tan explained.

“With rapid urbanisation of many parts of the country, urban centres have spread out to the extent that Kuala Lumpur today is one big metropolis,” he said. “By setting up franchise outlets in these urban centres, we can spread our wings and serve our customers better.”

He added: “By consolidating our presence (via franchising), the agency is also better positioned to withstand competition, especially from overseas.”

The franchise outlets now contribute 40 per cent to Reliance’s top line (sales).

“This translates to about two per cent contribution in terms of bottom line (profit),” Tan said. “This is because commission given to a retailer is higher than to an agent.”

By N. Nithiyananthan

COSTA Cruises has resumed its Japan itineraries, with the 1,680-pax Costa Classica, home-ported in Shanghai, scheduled to operate 12 trips to Japan and South Korea from August to October.

Costa Classica is offering five-day cruises from Shanghai to Fukuoka and Jeju (from August 26 to September 23); a seven-day cruise from Shanghai to Pusan, Fukuoka and Kagoshima on October 1; and a six-day cruise from Shanghai to Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Jeju on October 7.

In addition, Costa Cruises is also offering embarkation from Fukuoka for the Japanese market. The itineraries include five-day cruises from Fukuoka to Jeju and Shanghai (from August 28 to September 21); and a three-day cruise from Fukuoka to Jeju and Shanghai on September 25 and 29.

In 2012, Costa Cruises is planning to expand its Asia-Pacific operations, with the deployment for the first time of the 2,394-pax Costa Victoria, to replace the Costa Classica.

Costa Victoria will sail to an array of new destinations in Japan, including Hososhima/Miyazaki, Wakayama in Osaka, the popular sightseeing cities in the Kanto Area, as well as Yokohama and Tokyo.

JAKARTA will host the inaugural World Delta Summit at the Balai Sidang Jakarta Convention Centre from November 21-24.

The event is expected to attract some 1,500 delegates from 40 countries, including representatives from government agencies, the scientific community and businesses that have an interest in river delta and environmental issues.

“This first summit gears up to a higher level summit in 2013, when heads of state are expected to attend,” said Jakarta City Government Tourist Office marketing manager, Sri Juniarti, adding that the Indonesian capital was hoping to be appointed secretariat of the World Delta Summit and host of the 2013 event.

Juniarti believes the summits will help promote Jakarta as an international MICE destination.

Meanwhile, Jakarta, together with Palembang, will be the venue for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, scheduled to take place from November 11-22. The games will see a total of 5,500 athletes and sports officials.

Jakarta will also host the 10th Council for Promotion of Tourism in Asia from October 12-15. The event is jointly organised by nine Asian cities (Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo) to promote arrivals from Western countries, Oceania and other Asian source markets.

THAILAND’S tourism and sports minister, Chumpol Silpa-archa, said the country would be promoted under a Miracle Thailand campaign between 2011 and 2012.

He said the campaign would form part of the ministry’s upcoming four-year tourism plan, which is due to be presented to parliament on August 23 and 24.

The campaign, which will coincide with royal celebrations marking the Thai king and queen’s 84th and 80th birthdays, aims to boost both foreign arrivals and domestic tourism.

According to Chumpol, it will not affect the country’s existing Amazing Thailand campaign, which will be retained.

As part of the tourism plan, the ministry will also be extending its tourist visa fee waiver to markets such as China and Taiwan, retaining the tax deduction scheme for domestic travellers, setting up an investment fund for the private sector, and establishing a coordination centre for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

While declining to pin down any launch dates, Chumpol said: “(The initiatives) will come into effect before long, but the AEC centre will be opened immediately after the policy statement has been announced.”

He added that the overall goal was to more than double last year’s annual tourism income of 590 billion baht (US$19.71 billion) by 2015.

By Sirima Eamtako

YANGON International Airport is undergoing an expansion that will boost its annual handling capacity by 40 per cent.

A Department of Civil Aviation official said the project would increase the airport’s handling capacity from 2.7 million passengers a year, to 3.8 million by end-2012 or early-2013.

The expansion will also see more immigration counters installed in the departure and arrival lounges, to ensure a smoother flow of passengers, the official added.

In the first three months of 2011, the airport handled 510,000 international and 360,000 domestic passengers, a year-on-year increase of 21.65 per cent and 23.47 per cent, respectively.

For the whole of 2011, the airport is expecting an increase over last year’s two million domestic and international travellers.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to upgrade the ageing domestic terminal, which is handling far more than its capacity of 800,000 passengers.