CENTARA Hotels & Resorts has taken over the management of the West Sands Phuket and rebranded it as Centara Grand West Sands Resort & Villas Phuket.

The five-star property located on Mai Khao Beach is set on 47 acres (19 hectares) of land, bordering 500 metres of beach frontage.

The resort features a waterpark with 12 waterslides and a 335-metre lazy river, several F&B outlets including a beachside barbecue and a Thai restaurant, a Spa Cenvaree, a fitness centre, tennis courts, and a kids’ club.

The present accommodation totals 316 rooms built under the first phase, consisting of 115 deluxe rooms, 97 one-bedroom suites, 36 one-bedroom grand suites, 18 two-bedroom grand suites, 12 three-bedroom penthouses and 38 beach and pool villas.

A second phase is to be completed in October next year, and a third phase in October 2013, which will take the total number of keys to 784.

THE BAY Hotel, owned and managed by Bay Hotels and Resorts, will open in Singapore around October-November.

The four-star property located on Telok Blangah Road and nearby to Sentosa will cater to both business and leisure travellers.

The hotel will offer 333 keys, including 42 standard rooms, 278 deluxe rooms, seven executive rooms and six suites.

There will be a swimming pool and a gym, as well as three F&B outlets, including an all-day dining venue serving pan-Indonesian and European cuisine, a lobby lounge, and a tapas bar and grill.

THE NINTH edition of Tourism Australia’s B2B event, India Travel Mission (ITM), will take place at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre from August 25-28.

Around 40 sellers from Australia and 90 buyers from across India are expected to participate in the event which will feature two new products – luxury lodges and self-drive tours.

Tourism New South Wales, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Victoria and South Australia Tourism Commission will be represented at ITM.

According to Tourism Australia country manager – India, Nishant Kashikar, the NTO is focused on targeting segments like DINKS, honeymooners, young couples, families and MICE from India.

COMPASS Hospitality, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Compass Capital International, has reported that year-to-date occupancies at its Bangkok properties have recovered to around 90 per cent, but that room rates remain under pressure.

According to executive vice-president operations, Bernard Ng, occupancies at Compass’ 20 hotels in the Thai capital – consisting of about 2,900 rooms, mostly in the mid-tier segment – dipped to 80 per cent last year, due in part to the political crisis in the country.

Ng said the rebound this year was originating from its main markets, including Japan, the Middle East, Europe and the US, in addition to growth from new markets such as India and China.

He added that rates remained stagnant due to pressure from existing supply and new competition, but declined to reveal any figures.

Compass continues to expand in Bangkok, where 19 of its 20 hotels are located on Sukhumvit Road. These include the 582-room Windsor Suites on Sukhumvit 20, which came under Compass management in January.

The 79-room Citrus Sukhumvit 13 is slated to open by year-end, and three more mid-tier hotels and one serviced residence are under construction. All will be located along Sukhumvit Road.

Elsewhere in Thailand, the chain manages four hotels – two in Pattaya and one each in Hua Hin and Koh Samui – with another two under construction in Phuket.

By Sirima Eamtako

PEACH Aviation, Japan’s first dedicated low-cost carrier (LCC), will start operations on March 1, 2012.

Co-owned by All Nippon Airways, Hong Kong-based First Eastern Investment Group, and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 10), the LCC will offer four daily flights from Osaka-Kansai Airport to Sapporo, and three daily flights from Osaka-Kansai to Fukuoka.

Pending approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Peach has not yet released information about its fares.

The carrier is expecting to grow its fleet of Airbus A320s to 10-strong, and operate the aircraft on domestic as well as regional routes.

Peach Aviation is one of two LCCs that ANA is establishing, the other being AirAsia Japan (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 21).

TIGER Airways is looking to generate between US$100 million to US$150 million through a rights issue, which will be underwritten by its two majority shareholders Temasek Holdings and Singapore Airlines (SIA).

The move comes shortly after Tiger Airways resumed domestic operations in Australia, following a six-week suspension by the country’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 10).

Although Tiger Airways has not yet confirmed how the capital will be utilized, the extra funds will come as a welcome relief considering its first-quarter loss of US$17 million, and the financial impact of the grounding on yet-to-be-announced second quarter results (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 5).

SIA and Tiger Airways requested for trading in their shares to be halted earlier in the day, pending the announcement of the rights issue.

LEADING Spanish longhaul tour operator Nobeltours has been forced to stop selling packages to China after its inbound partners there refused to work with them any further.

Other operators have since been picking up the company’s bookings for China, during what is traditionally Spain’s busiest travel period.

One of Nobeltours’ local rivals, Catai, said they had already taken on 200 of the company’s China clients, and that more destinations were now being affected.

Nobeltours, which owns the Indoriente brand, has been operating for more than 25 years and was one of the pioneers in setting up longhaul packages from the country.

The Barcelona-based travel agents’ association, Unió Catalana d’Agències de Viatges Emissores, said seven of its members had been experiencing problems with Nobeltours of late.

Another Catalonia-based travel agent body, Asociación Catalana de Agencias de Viajes, said: “If they don’t clarify quickly what is happening in China, the effects could get worse.”

One agent said they had received an e-mail from Nobeltours explaining that the company was experiencing “ a critical economic situation” and could not guarantee ground services in China because of “serious problems” with their agents.

Spanish travel website, Hosteltur, has reported that Nobeltours’ problems began when they accumulated a debt of 200,000 euros (US288,000) with their China agents.

Although this debt has since been paid off, the agents demanded a deposit of 100,000 euros to keep working for Nobeltours.

When Nobeltours refused, the agents dropped them, and Nobeltours was forced to pass its clients on to rival operators.

THE THAILAND Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) kicked off last week its World Expo 2020: Believe in Thailand campaign to raise awareness and support for the country’s bid to host the event (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 20).

TCEB president, Akapol Sorasuchart, said Thailand would be competing against Turkey – the first country to tender the bid – and Russia, which was expected to table its bid before November 2.

The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the umbrella organization supervising international exhibitions, is slated to reveal the bidding result in June 2013.

If awarded host country status, Akapol said Thailand would spend some 31 billion baht on infrastructure and facility development to host the event in Ayuthaya’s Bangsai District, some 30 minutes by car from Bangkok’s city centre.

TCEB has spent about 50 million baht on the World Expo 2020 marketing and publicity campaign to date, after first stating its intention to bid for the event in late-2009.

By Sirima Eamtako

PANORAMA Destination has opened an office in Makassar, South Sulawesi and will soon open another in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara. The expansion is to meet the growing inbound numbers to destinations beyond Java and Bali.

Panorama Destination managing director, Rocky Praputranto, said: “We used to have local agents in the destinations to handle our clients, but with the growing number of tourists to areas like Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Nusa Tenggara, we feel the need to have our presence there.”

According to Praputranto, improved accessibility and infrastructure, as well as growing awareness on the impact of tourism on the local economy, had resulted in burgeoning demand for tours outside of Java and Bali.

“The domestic networks of Indonesian airlines have improved a lot (compared to five to ten years ago), accommodation facilities are better in terms of quality and number of rooms,” he said.

“Besides, with more airlines connecting the secondary destinations to regional hubs like Singapore and Malaysia, visitors now have a greater variety of overland tours.”

With the launch of Garuda Indonesia’s Singapore-Makassar flights last month, travellers planning to visit Sulawesi no longer need to fly to Jakarta to catch a domestic connection to Makassar, Praputranto said.

Similarly, demand for Komodo Island has been on the rise over the last couple of years, prompting Panorama Destination to open the office in Labuan Bajo, which is the gateway to the island.

“Apart from Komodo, our office in Labuan Bajo will redevelop the Trans Flores and other East Nusa Tenggara islands, which were very popular in the 1990s among the European market,” he said.

MYANMAR recorded a 40 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of independent foreign visitors over the first half of 2011. The rise in FIT arrivals has raised concerns among tour operators selling packaged tours.

Of the 172,244 arrivals recorded between January and June, only 5,525 came on group packages, down more than 60 per cent over the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

Seven Star Tours managing partner, Phyu Phyu Mar, said the company currently handled more FITs, who book flights and hotels rather than complete tour packages. The fluctuations in local exchange rate were among a number of reasons discouraging tourists from buying package tours, she explained.

A Yangon-based tour operator said hotel room rates were likely to jump by between 15 to 25 per cent, while most domestic airlines would hike fares by 10 per cent – or even higher for some remote destinations – during the upcoming high season from October to March.

Former Union of Myanmar Travel Association secretary, Hpone Thant, said group tour numbers could easily bounce back if tour operators designed more “interactive” packages and marketed them effectively”.