THAI Airways International (THAI) has reinstated its services to and from Japan to levels prior to the March earthquake and tsunami.

Pandit Chanapai, THAI executive vice president of commercial, said: “THAI has resumed all its regularly operated services on routes from Bangkok to five airports in Japan, back to the same level served prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake.”

He added: “Passenger traffic to and from Japan is regaining normal levels.”

Meanwhile, THAI will operate three additional flights per week on the Bangkok-Osaka (Kansai) route from November 16, utilising retrofitted Boeing 777-300 aircraft. With the introduction of these flights, THAI will operate a total of 17 weekly flights to Osaka (Kansai).

The carrier is also planning to adjust its winter programme for easier connections from Japan into Phuket.

THE SHANGHAI Marriott Hotel City Centre is scheduled to open in downtown Shanghai in September.

The five-star property will offer 664 rooms and 56 suites, an executive lounge, five F&B outlets, a spa and health club, a 25m swimming pool, a business centre, and an in-house meeting planner.

The hotel will have more than 2,000m2 of dedicated event space, including two ballrooms with 7-m-high ceilings, and 16 meeting rooms.

BUSINESS Events Sydney (BESydney) won business in 2010/11 that will inject an estimated A$186.5million (US$197.7 million) into the New South Wales (NSW) economy.

The 67 business events won by BESydney last financial year will attract an estimated 55,061 delegates, an increase of 28 per cent over 2009/10. The delegates are expected to spend a total of 205,385 days in the state.

Lyn Lewis-Smith, acting CEO and COO of BESydney, said the organisation would continue to work towards achieving Tourism NSW’s goal of doubling the state’s tourism receipts between 2010 and 2020, as well as contribute to the national target of doubling business event revenue from A$7.9 billion to A$15.8 billion by 2020.

Lewis-Smith said the Asian market delivered A$33.1 million of incentive business for Sydney last financial year. “Strong growth opportunities exist in the Asian market, and we will continue to evolve our strategies to win this business for Sydney,” she said.

A key event from the Asian region is the upcoming 2012 Worldwide Chinese Life Conference. The event will see 200 CEOs and approximately 4,000 representatives from mainly Asian finance and insurance companies visiting the city.

SINGAPORE Changi Airport kicked off a three-day Enchanting Japan fair at the airport’s terminal three today, bringing together various stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry to promote travel from Singapore to Japan.

Besides cultural and culinary exhibits, there will also be travel agent booths highlighting the various Japan travel packages avaliable.

The fair is an integral part of the Friends of Japan marketing drive, spearheaded by the Changi Airport Group (CAG), and backed by the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO), local travel agents and airlines.

Motonari Adachi, executive director, JNTO, said that the fair was a good platform to showcase Japan.

He explained that JNTO was adopting a multi-pronged approach to promote Japan, collaborating with the media as well as local travel agents, to stimulate interest and reassure travellers that it was now safe to visit the country. JNTO is currently focusing its marketing efforts on China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India.

“Ultimately, we hope to see the number of arrivals return to 2010 levels by the end of this year,” he said.

In addition to the fair, CAG has sponsored advertorial features in local dailies to introduce lesser-known Japanese destinations such as Kyushu and Shizuoka. It has also partnered with Chan Brothers Travel to send radio DJs on a three-week Japan tour in end-July, to provide first-hand accounts of their trips there.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines is working closely with CAG to offer promotional fares to Japan, via Singapore, to Indonesian, Indian and Australian travellers.

TAUZIA Hotel Management has opened the Harris Hotel & Convention Festival CTLink in Bandung to target the local MICE market.

The 180-room hotel, the eighth Harris property within the portfolio and second to open this year, has the largest convention hall in Bandung, with a capacity for 4,000 people, as well as seven breakout rooms.

The hotel is aiming to get 30 per cent of its business from MICE and the corporate market, especially from factories in Pasir Koja, Padalarang and Bandung city centre. Its location with direct access to the Festival Citylink shopping mall is also expected to attract weekend holidaymakers. Bandung is a popular getaway destination for Jakarta residents.

The hotel’s general manager, Anton Susanto, said: “We are targeting 75 per cent occupancy (in the next six months), with an average rate of between 390,000 rupiah (US$46) and 400,000 rupiah. We expect to be able to achieve 20 to 30 per cent higher rates next year.”

The hotel’s launch rate was 468,000 rupiah per night. Bandung city’s average rates range from 450,000 to 490,000 rupiah.

MALAYSIA is a steadily growing market for China, with an eight per cent increase in arrivals expected this year. Last year, some 1.2 million Malaysians vacationed in China, an increase of 7.85 per cent over 2009.

Cooper Huang, Malaysian Harmony Tours and Travel CEO, said major events such as the Shanghai Expo and Beijing Olympics had heightened interest in travel to China.

He said: “China is an ever-growing source of business for us, as it offers a wide variety of attractions. This is enhanced with the rise in low-cost and Chinese carriers, plus ground costs remain very low.”

“The overall cost is very competitive, and an eight-day package can be around 1,500 to 2,000 ringgit (US$498 to US$665).”

Tian Xin, director for ASEAN countries of the China National Tourist Office, speaking at a roadshow in Kuala Lumpur to promote China in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, said: “We are confident that South-east Asian arrivals will continue to grow. The region is a strong emerging market for China and there is especially huge potential in the Muslim travel segment.”

Currently, there are 141 weekly flights between China and Malaysia, offering 51,000 seats.

By Ellen Chen

THAILAND’s MICE industry believes that inbound business will continue to grow from strength to strength, provided the political situation in the country remains on its current peaceful trajectory.

Destination Asia (Thailand) managing director, Pornthip (Addie) Hirunkate, said that after the recent Thai general election, the DMC had been receiving more requests from customers, and had also managed to confirm groups that were pending.

“Clients have more confidence in Thailand,” she said. “We anticipate that there will be more confirmed groups towards the end of the year, and are expecting about 15 to 20 per cent growth in convention and incentive business.”

Creative Destination Management managing director, Sumate Sudasna, said the country could expect a 20 to 30 per cent increase in MICE business from the fourth quarter of 2011.

He said the Eastern European market was especially promising given the robust economies there, while the traditional continental European markets such as Germany and the Benelux region looked likely to rebound.

Sumate also hailed the new thrice-weekly Bangkok-Brussels service by Thai Airways International, starting November 17, as an “excellent and timely stimulant”.

Centara Hotels and Resorts sales and marketing senior vice-president, Chris Bailey, said the group’s convention hotel in Bangkok – Centara Grand at CentralWorld – had been running at full house for awhile now. He said the property would also be running at full capacity in the months ahead, based on advance bookings from domestic and regional groups.

Bailey said business in 2012 could be even better. “We expect a rebound from longhaul markets, and from Russia, China and India, where we have just opened new sales offices in St Petersburg, Beijing, Shanghai and Delhi.”

The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau is expecting the Thai MICE industry to grow by 10 to 15 per cent this year, with 720,000 foreign MICE visitors and 57 billion baht in revenue. The bureau is anticipating one million visitors and more than 100 billion baht in revenue by 2015.

By Sirima Eamtako

NDONESIA AirAsia will suspend its four-weekly Hong Kong-Medan service from September 11.

The service was launched on January 16 this year, with expectations of strong demand from Hong Kong, for travel beyond Medan to Bandung and Surabaya.

Indonesia AirAsia was keen to build Medan into one of its hubs in the country.

With the suspension, there are now no airlines offering direct Hong Kong–Medan services, and connections are necessary via Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

CAPPING a week of new service debuts from Singapore to Ningbo (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 11), Beijing (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 13) and Hanoi, Jetstar is planning a slew of additional frequencies from its Singapore hub to existing destinations.

The carrier’s Taipei service will be boosted from August 5 by an additional six weekly flights to 13 flights per week, while its Hong Kong service will be ramped up by an additional seven weekly flights, between August 19 and September 14, to 24-weekly.

From August 18, Jetstar’s Kuala Lumpur service will grow by one additional weekly flight to 20-weekly, and its Ho Chi Minh City route will receive seven additional weekly flights to become 21-weekly.

In Indonesia, where Jetstar operates under the Valuair brand, its Bali service will get an additional four weekly flights to become six-weekly from September 7, while Jakarta will be served from September 14 by 19 weekly flights, up by one.

Jetstar’s four-weekly Singapore-Hanoi service utilising A320 aircraft is due to start from December 15. By end-2011, the carrier will be operating 17 Airbus A320s and three A330s out of its Singapore hub.

Jetstar Asia CEO, Chong Phit Lian, said Singapore Airlines’ plan to launch medium- to longhaul services from Singapore had not impacted its expansion plans.

“We will only go into new markets or expand in existing markets when we are ready to do so, and not because of competition,” she said. “We have always operated in a competitive market and the competition will always be there.”

SA TOURS is taking a stand against the allegations made by members of a 10-pax tour group who failed to board their flight to Shanghai last Sunday (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 12).

In an email statement to TTG Asia e-Daily, SA Tours spokesperson, Eva Wu, reiterated that while they regret the series of events that transpired after SA Tour’s third-party representative failed to receive the group at Changi Airport, the travel agency has already done “everything in their ability to rectify the situation”.

According to the tour group, no pre-departure briefing was conducted because of the representative’s absence, but Wu explained that for groups with no tour leader (as was the case in this instance), the briefing had already been done by a tour consultant when the final payment was made, two weeks before departure.

Wu said the group was also fully aware that there would not be a Singapore tour leader, but that they would be escorted once they arrived in Shanghai.

She said that during the four-hour standoff outside SA Tour’s office at People’s Park Complex, the group made derogatory remarks and stopped customers from entering the premises. They also rejected SA Tour’s offer of another flight on the same day.

“They demanded for S$10,000 (US$8,209) in compensation each, when their tour fare was S$500 (excluding taxes) per person. They insisted on making a scene outside our office, rejecting our pleas for them to discuss the matter with us in our office. They also made derogatory remarks and stopped customers from entering our office,” said Wu.

“Throughout the entire exchange, despite their behaviour, we tried our best to communicate with them in a calm and civil manner,” she added.

SA Tours is now cooperating fully with the Consumers Association of Singapore to resolve the dispute.