JOHN Keells Holdings (JKH), Sri Lanka’s largest hotel operator, is looking to plug its Chaaya brand, with several rebrandings of the group’s properties in the country.

“Given the positive outlook for tourism, we expect to make substantial investments in the leisure industry in Sri Lanka,” said JKH chairman, Susantha Ratnayake.

The Coral Gardens Hikkaduwa, currently undergoing refurbishment, will be re-launched as Chaaya Tranz Hikkaduwa in November.

Yala Village, a hotel in a wildlife park in the south, was closed in May for expansion and refurbishment. It will be rebranded as Chaaya Wild Yala and open in November.

The brand new 200-room Chaaya Bey Beruwala in Sri Lanka’s south will be ready by May 2012.

Meanwhile, in the Maldives, JKH has divested its stake in Cinnamon Island Alidhoo and acquired (on lease) the Chaaya Island Dhonveli.

Ratnayake also revealed that the group’s leisure arm was working with its property group to explore the economic feasibility of establishing multi-functional, integrated developments in Sri Lanka.

TOURISM receipts for the year in the Maldives will be three to four times more than previous estimates because of the tourism goods and services tax (GST) instituted in January (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 26), according to President Mohamed Nasheed.

“Previously, we estimated that the Maldives’ tourism receipts for the year would be around US$700 million, but since we started collection in January of the 3.5 per cent tourism GST, it has come to light that the figure will be around US$2.5 to three billion,” Nasheed said last Friday, during a meeting with media and tourism industry leaders.

Secretary general of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, Sim Mohamed Ibrahim, suggested that the new figures were overly-optimistic, “as a lot of it is guesstimate”.

“Tourism income varies depending on season, occupancy and volume of business,” he explained.

“If they (the government) are projecting the figures from January to March (the Maldives high season) for the rest of 2011, the figure will be very rosy. It may be a few years before we can calculate this accurately.”

TAUZIA Hotel Management yesterday opened in Jakarta the 88-room Harris Suites fX Sudirman. This is the group’s seventh Harris-branded property and third in the Indonesian capital.

Tauzia Hotel Management president director, Marc Steinmeyer, said: “This hotel is important for us, as it marks Tauzia Hotel Management’s entry on Jalan Sudirman, the most elite area in Jakarta and even Indonesia.”

The hotel, located on top of the fX Lifestyle X’nter Mall complex in the heart of the CBD, has also taken over the management of 10 boardrooms in the mall known as fPods, with capacities ranging from six to 16 persons.

The entry of the mid-scale Harris is expected to fill the gap of such facilities in the area. With the exception of the mid-scale Hotel Atlet Century Jakarta, there are only five-star hotels in the vicinity.

The other Harris properties in the Jakarta are located in Tebet in the south, and Kelapa Gading in the north.

Meanwhile, Tauzia is expanding its Indonesian portfolio to reach 49 hotels by 2013.

The group currently has 35 hotels under development, the majority of which are in the mid-scale and budget categories. Four Harris-branded properties are scheduled to open this year in Bandung, Batam, Bali and Sentul.

When asked whether he thought the market would be able to absorb the openings, especially in view of other hotel chains also keen to get in the act for mid-scale and budget properties, Steinmeyer said: “There is a market, and big, but, yes, there could be an oversupply in the next few years if the development is not controlled.”

ACCOR will expand its portfolio in Vietnam, with three new hotels in Hue, Danang and Sam Son.

Novotel Hue will be a newly-built 230-room hotel located in the centre of Vietnam’s ancient capital, with facilities including three F&B outlets, a ballroom, meeting facilities, as well as a swimming pool and spa.

Novotel Danang Han River will be the second Accor property in Danang after Mercure Danang opens later this year. This 346-room hotel will be located near the Han River in the city centre.

Mercure Sam Son will be a new hotel of 200 rooms in Sam Son, a coastal city in Thanh Hoa province, 170km south of Hanoi.

Accor now has development commitments for a total of 15 properties and 3,700 rooms in Vietnam.

These commitments include the 279-room Mercure Danang, due to open in August.

The Novotel Danang Han River, 197-room Pullman Danang Olalani Resort, 350-room Pullman Vung Tau, 175-room Novotel Dalat, 234-room Novotel Phu Quoc Resort, 250-room Novotel Saigon Centre, and 222-room Mercure Hanoi Hado are due to open in 2012.

Launching in 2013 are the Novotel Hue, 290-room Pullman Saigon Centre, 300-room Pullman Hai Phong Island Resort, 120-room Mercure Son Tra Resort, 200-room Mercure Sam Son, 170-room Ibis Saigon South, and 338-room Ibis Saigon Centre.

HAINAN Airlines will introduce thrice-weekly direct services between Shenzhen and Kolkata from July 12, using Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a configuration of eight business-class and 154 economy-class seats.

K. Goswami, of Kolkata-based Travelcorp, said: “The timing of the new flight is great because our holiday season in October is just around the corner. Moreover, there has been increasing interest in FIT travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau over the past two years.”

The three-and-a-half hour flight to Shenzhen will offer onward connections to about 20 cities in China. Hainan Airlines will provide complimentary coach transportation from Shenzhen airport to Hong Kong, which is less than an hour’s drive away. Bus services from the airport to Guangzhou will also be available for a reasonable fee.

At the moment, Kolkata is linked to Kunming via flights operated by China Eastern Airlines. Kolkata has no other direct connections to China, and travellers usually have to transit through Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to go to China and Hong Kong.

Special promotional fares are being offered by Hainan Airlines for travel before July 31 from Kolkata to Shenzhen and several other destinations.

Kolkata, the main gateway of eastern India, has substantial trade links with China, while Indian participation in the Canton and Hong Kong trade fairs is becoming increasingly common.

By Sirima Eamtako

AIR China will host and chair the 68th Annual Conference of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and the World Civil Aviation Summit, to be held in Beijing in 2012.

The event will bring together executives and decision-makers of the world’s airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers and service suppliers.

IATA has 230 member carriers and holds its annual conference in different cities each year to release important industry economic data, produce industry projections and deliberate on crucial industry decisions.

WITH China and South Korea having agreed in May to establish direct flights between Seoul Gimpo Airport and Beijing Capital Airport, four airlines will be adjusting their Seoul-Beijing services from July 1.

This is to take advantage of Gimpo’s location nearer Seoul’s city centre.

Air China, which operates four daily flights on a Boeing 737-800 between Beijing and Seoul (Incheon), will be reducing this service to thrice-daily. One daily flight will be diverted to the Beijing-Gimpo route.

China Southern will be halving its twice-daily Airbus A321 service between Beijing and Incheon, and will be launching a daily Beijing-Gimpo flight.

Asiana Airlines and Korean Air, each operating thrice-daily services between Incheon and Beijing, will reduce these to twice-daily. The third daily flight from Beijing will be diverted to Gimpo.

CLAIMING resounding success for its first Global Deals, Dream Getaways sale in May (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 6), Malaysia Airlines (MAS) released a second wave of promotions yesterday. This time, up to 80 per cent off airfares to more than 100 destinations worldwide are on offer.

MAS executive vice president sales and marketing, Bernard Francis, said: “The offer covers all travel segments, for business and economy seats. It is an opportunity for everyone planning a romantic getaway, family vacation or group retreat. Even business travellers who have planned conventions or seminars can purchase these deals.”

One-way business-class fares range from US$94 for flights from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur, to US$417 for flights to regional destinations.

Commenting on the revived promotion, Elok Tour branch director, Pauline Suharno, said: “I guess MAS does not want to lose momentum, especially as Thai Airways also has economy- and business-class promotions going on.”

Wita Tour sales and marketing manager, Rudiana, said: “There seems to be a shift in marketing strategy by some Asian legacy airlines, to compete with the low-fare longhaul services offered by carriers like AirAsia X and the aggressive marketing of Middle Eastern carriers.

“With lower fares across the board, business travellers who usually fly economy are able to fly with premium airlines like Singapore Airlines. Malaysia Airlines is probably doing this mega-deals promotion to keep this market from shifting away,” Rudiana added.