STARWOOD Hotels and Resorts is expecting its properties in Thailand to register a positive performance in 2011, with even better results in 2012, as the hotel chain continues to expand its portfolio in the country.

The chain’s 16 operating hotels in Thailand recorded either improved or similar results in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to its sales and marketing regional director for Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, James Ramage.

“Business is slowly coming back to Thailand,” he said. “While there’s a soft situation in European arrivals, there is increasing growth from the emerging China and India markets, as well as a potential to grow the business from within the country.”

Ramage said Starwood would seek to attract the high-end leisure and business segments out of China and India through the expanded presence of the chain’s brands in Thailand.

By the end of the year, Starwood will have eight of its nine hotel brands in Thailand, with the exception of its Element brand. The chain opened its 16th property in the country, The St Regis Bangkok, on April 1 and is slated to launch the Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 in October.

Last year, it opened Westin Siray Bay Resort and Spa, Phuket, W Retreat and Residences, Samui and Four Points by Sheraton, Sukhumvit 15.

In the pipeline are Four Points by Sheraton Phuket, Patong, Aloft Phuket Patong, Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Golf Resort and Spa, W Bangkok and Vana Belle Samui Resort and Spa.

By Sirima Eamtako

MALAYSIA’S Sunway Lagoon is rebranding itself from a theme park into an events venue for local and global markets. A slew of new attractions is set to enhance its Asia’s Best Attraction status, awarded from the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions.

Sunway Lagoon CEO, Aaron Soo, explained to TTG Asia e-Daily that they were removing the word “theme park” from its name as it “gives the perception of a small, one-park attraction”.

“We have evolved greatly over the past five years. The term “theme park” does not do us justice. We are now far bigger than that,” he said.

“From having just the Water Park and Amusement Park, we are now a multi-park destination including a Wildlife Park, Extreme Park and Scream Park, offering a total of 80 different attractions with many fabulous ideas as an events venue.”

“We are also looking into promoting international performing arts,” he added.

Following the successful staging of Peter Pan The Musical at its Amphitheatre last December, the RM2.0 million (US$664,000) Magical Musicals, produced by award-winning British West End veterans Chris Colby and David Kort, will be staged in June.

A 5D theatre will also be introduced at the Amusement Park, while a giant water slide, The Tornado, is currently making its debut at the Water Park.

By Ellen Chen

A ROOM boom will be descending on Macau before the year is over, but not all travel agencies are predicting a reduction in room rates in the face of heightened competition.

Galaxy Macau will be opening in four days’ time, adding 2,200 keys to the destination’s room inventory through Galaxy Hotel, Hotel Okura Macau and Banyan Tree Macau, while the 4,000-room Sheraton Macao Hotel and 341-room St Regis Macao will be opening on the Cotai Strip by year-end.

Singapore’s CTC Travel vice president (Private Collection & MICE), Dennis Soon, said strong demand in Macau, especially during the weekends when room rates are double that of weekday rates, would prevent prices from slipping substantially.

Soon cited Singapore as an example of added inventory having little impact on escalating rates. “Marina Bay Sands added (2,561) rooms, but room rates at other hotels in the country are still climbing,” he said.

Richard Yu, inbound/MICE manager of travel agency and DMC Macau.com, said: “I wish room rates would fall. Macau would then be in a better position to encourage longer stays by leisure and incentive groups. Groups now tend to visit Macau for a day, and proceed to Zhuhai or Zhongshan in China for the rest of their programme.”

“But I doubt the international hotel brands will reduce rates much in reaction to competition because they have a brand image to maintain,” he added.

Charles Leong, managing director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Singapore, remains optimistic, steadfastly believing that the expansion of Macau’s room supply will “create great competition for the hotels and great bargains for consumers”.

“When you have 6,500 more rooms coming into Macau, even if demand is high, room rates are bound to soften,” he argued.

SINGAPORE-based travel agency Citystate Travel Group yesterday launched Citystate Destinations, a wholly-owned subsidiary focusing on the high-end market.

Citystate Destinations will initially provide coach services to local and international travel agents within the country, and will eventually offer complete inbound services pending approval of their travel agency license.

The new company will also be obtaining its Malaysian coach license in due course, with a view to providing comprehensive travel programmes covering both Singapore and Malaysia.

THE TOURISM boards of Hong Kong, Macau and China’s Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Jiangmen have come together for the first time to promote multi-destination packages to South-east Asian markets.

As part of a joint promotional roadshow, sellers from the five destinations have created a series of value-for-money multi-destination tour itineraries.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) executive director, Anthony Lau, who was in Singapore today to meet with the travel trade, said the growth momentum in arrivals from Singapore to the Pearl River Delta region is expected to pick up speed due to the strong Singapore dollar and economy.

Lau explained that the five Pearl River Delta cities offer Singaporeans good accessibility through Hong Kong and Macau, great diversity of attractions and cultural experiences, as well as visa-free arrangements.

Victor Lin, senior manager of China International Travel Service Zhongshan office, said he hopes that joint-destination promotions like this would help his agency grow incentive business from multinational companies.

Lin told TTG Asia e-Daily that at the moment, it was mostly leisure travellers who combined Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese cities on the Pearl River Delta. Corporate incentives make up a small percentage, and comprise mainly Chinese mainland companies.

TOURISM Malaysia’s survey of the high-spending Middle East market has revealed that tourists from the region prefer nature over other attractions.

Malaysia Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen said at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai that 57 per cent of survey respondents picked ecotourism as their activity-of-choice, above shopping, spa and wellness programmes, diving and golfing.

“Ecotourism is high on their list, as people in the Middle East enjoy the greenery they do not have, which can be found in abundance in Malaysia,” she explained. “It makes sense that they want to indulge in activities associated with nature when they go on vacation.”

Beyond well-loved destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi, Ng said that Arab travellers were becoming increasingly keen on exploring Malaysia’s resort islands such as Redang, Perhentian and Tioman.

She added that Arab tourists would also like to experience Malaysian culture, as well as areas combining adventure with nature, like Sabah and Sarawak.

Meanwhile, family-oriented theme parks such as Genting Highlands, Sunway Lagoon and A’Famosa Resort are expected to continue generating interest among Middle East tourists. “This is because the Arabs are more likely to go on vacation with their families than go on a group tour,” Ng said.

With Arab tourists spending an average of RM7,500 (US$2,505) per stay compared to RM2,300 for tourists from other markets, Ng said visitors from the Middle East were integral to Tourism Malaysia’s targets, as the country aims to encourage more long-stay high-yield visitors.

SYDNEY is set to take centre stage as the host city for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals.

Imagine Cup, described by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as “the Olympics of the software world”, is a competition that challenge students to help solve the world’s toughest problems by converting their ideas into reality through harnessing imagination and technology.

More than 400 student finalists from 100 countries will gather in Sydney to compete in this event.

Jon Hutchison, CEO of Business Events Sydney (BESydney), which has been working on this bid with Microsoft Australia since 2008, said: “It’s a great opportunity to showcase Sydney globally.

“The benefits of hosting this prestigious competition are above and beyond the estimated AUD$6.6 million (US$7.1 million) dollars it will contribute to the Australian economy, and of course the ongoing ripple effect of this profiling opportunity in more than 100 countries.”

ASIA World Destination Management (AWDM) is seeing a return of confidence in Bangkok as a MICE destination. The Thai capital has attracted some 60 per cent of all the DMC’s confirmed MICE groups between January and May.

AWDM director Max Jantasuwan attributed the sudden upsurge in Bangkok’s popularity to pent-up demand over the last two years due to Thai political uncertainty. He said another reason for the recent success could be the DMC’s and Bangkok suppliers’ ability to meet last-minute requests.

AWDM received five last-minute bookings for Bangkok from blue-chip medical companies from Europe and Asia-Pacific between April and May, with a range of 60 to 100 foreign delegates each. On the other hand, enquiries for Phuket, which was in demand last year, have slowed down.

Despite the positive signs, Jantasuwan said onward bookings for Bangkok for the rest of the year were slow, although he was anticipating a high conversion rate of last-minute enquiries into bookings.

The DMC has so far bagged a 450-pax, two-night conference in Bangkok from Asia-Pacific in June, and another 450-pax, one-week conference in Bangkok and Phuket next year.

By Sirima Eamtako

THAILAND-based Six Senses Resorts & Spas is planning to float a holding company in Colombo to handle all its resorts and spas in South Asia, according to its founder and CEO, Sonu Shivdasani.

In an interview with TTG Asia e-Daily last Friday, Sonu, who spends five months of the year in the Maldives, said the group was planning to launch a public share issue in Colombo in the summer (June to August).

“It makes sense for me to locate this holding company in Colombo because of its close proximity to the Maldives,” he said.

Six Senses’ four properties in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India will be brought under the Colombo-based holding company once it has been established.

The company has spas at two hotels in Sri Lanka and is setting up – as a joint venture with Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Group – a resort with 54 villas in southern Bentota and 15 tents on an island along the Madu Ganga river.

Six Senses is also contemplating a health resort either in Sri Lanka’s central hills or Niligiri mountain in South India.

THE TRAVEL trade in eastern Indonesia fear that Merpati Nusantara Airline’s tragic accident in Kaimana, West Papua last weekend has made it more difficult for them to sell the destination.

The region has already been finding it a challenge to attract visitors after the EU banned all Indonesian airlines in 2007. In addition, travellers are also not covered by travel insurance should they choose to fly on any of these airlines.

Incito Tours Makassar managing director, Sebastian Ng, said: “Except for Batavia Air, which has been exempted from the ban, other airlines serving eastern Indonesia are still on EU’s black list. Travellers who still want to fly need to sign a letter that they are flying at their own risk.”

“A number of European tour operators had previously dropped flight itineraries to Flores and Komodo, and now only sell live-a-board tours,” Ng added. “Moreover, there are some routes in the region that are only served by Merpati. With this accident, things may get worse.”

Flores Exotic Tours director, Leonardus Nyoman, said the accident would worsen Merpati’s already dismal image.

“International travellers had been avoiding flying the airline even before this accident because of its unreliable schedule, delays and cancellations due to engine problems,” he said. “They would fly Merpati only when there was no other choice.”