INDONESIA-based Tauzia Hotel Management will be providing “behind-the-scenes” management services for Worldhotels’ new branded solution in the ASEAN region, following the strategic partnership last week between the two companies.

Under a white-label services arrangement, the Tauzia team would be working behind the scenes, providing best practices, technical support, as well as hotel management services to hotels under the Worldhotels branded solution, said Worldhotels vice president Asia-Pacific, Roland Jegge.

“The branded hotel solution was developed because we saw there was demand from some of our hoteliers for additional support and more prominent use of the Worldhotels brand. It offers one of the most flexible models in the world for upscale hotels,” he said.

Tauzia Hotel Management president director, Marc Steinmeyer, said: “Expanding the Worldhotels brand is the perfect opportunity for us to enter into the upscale segment, and to widen our reach beyond Indonesia and into more ASEAN countries.”

Steinmeyer is looking to manage three to five properties within the next three years, in Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, and in neighbouring countries.

MALAYSIA-based tour operators strong in the outbound market to India are hoping for the country’s visa restrictions to be eased soon to encourage more travel there.

Since last January, the Indian government has imposed visa restrictions in a bid to counter terrorist threats. Tourists from all nations can only make two visits to India even while on a six-month multiple-entry visa and must wait 60 days before making the second visit.

GrandLotus Travel Agencies managing director and Malaysian Indian Tour and Travel Agents Association president, K Thangevelu, said: “It’s unfair to have a blanket restriction worldwide. Malaysia has one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world, and a large number from our Indian community have roots in India and travel there frequently. This visa ruling has disrupted their travel patterns.”

“Nowadays, air travel is more feasible, frequent and cheaper than ever before, sometimes costing less than their visas. So it doesn’t make sense to impose a restriction like this.”

Ganesh Travel Agencies managing director, A Sevaguru, said that it is not only Indians who enjoy visiting India nowadays, as the country is a popular travel destination. “As more airlines are flying to India on attractive rates, visitors are going for mono destinations in India,” Sevaragu said.

India’s External Affairs Minister, S M Krishna, told an India-based newspaper recently that exceptions were being made to bona fide tourists and visitors, and that the government was reviewing some of the restrictions.

By Ellen Chen

THE SINGAPORE Tourism Board (STB) has launched a second tender for the management and operation of Singapore’s second passenger cruise terminal in Marina South.

STB deputy director (cruise), Remy Choo, said: “We aim to have the terminal operator appointed by early fourth quarter of 2011 at the latest. The construction of the ICT is on track for completion by end-2011, and the terminal is expected to be fully operationally ready from second quarter of 2012.”

The first operator tender for the International Cruise Terminal (ICT) was released on September 23, 2009. Only one bid, from the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC), which manages three ferry terminals and a cruise centre, was received at the time. According to Choo, the tender was not awarded “after careful evaluation”.

“STB subsequently engaged both local and international cruise lines and terminal operators further to establish the adoption of the best business model, to make it more attractive for potential bidders to participate,” he explained.

Christina Siaw, CEO of SCC, has confirmed her company’s intention to bid again to manage the ICT. “We bring to the table our award-winning expertise and processes honed over 19 years as Singapore’s only and Asia’s oldest cruise terminal,” she said. “We have the ability to harness economies of scale and leverage on the network effect from two terminals.”

The new tender is open to local and overseas companies with experience in passenger terminal operations and passenger handling. The management contract will run on a 10-year lease term, with the option to renew fo five more years.

Information on the tender procedure is available on the Singapore government’s e-procurement portal, GeBiz (www.gebiz.gov.sg) under the reference number STB/CPD/11-12/RT3. Tender application closes on July 29 (16.00 GMT +8).

MARRIOTT International signed an agreement with Indonesia-based property developer Lippo Karawaci last week to operate two more JW Marriott-branded properties in Jakarta by 2015.

The new five-star hotels will be built in The St Moritz mixed-use complex in West Jakarta and in Kemang Village in South Jakarta, for a total investment of one trillion rupiah (US$112 million).

The JW Marriott in The St Moritz, scheduled for launch in 2015, will have 208 rooms. The one in Kemang Village, scheduled to start operations in 2013, will have 275 rooms.

SINGAPORE-based hospitality group Grace International soft-opened its second boutique property, The Saff, in Chinatown late last year. Occupancy has been “better than expected” so far, according to The Saff’s marketing manager Velda Mah.

Business travellers make up 30 per cent of the clientele, Mah said, adding that the 79-room hotel is working closely with online travel agencies to move its rooms, as its target market is largely the “Internet-savvy”.

“The Saff is different from The Scarlet (Grace International’s other boutique hotel),” she explained. “It is more eclectic and cultural, compared to The Scarlet’s glamorous Baroque style. The Saff is also priced lower than The Scarlet, with published rates starting from S$230 (US$186).”

Meanwhile, Grace International will close The Scarlet’s Desire restaurant for a complete overhaul. The revamped outlet will open this September as a chic bistro under a different name, and will continue to welcome corporate and private events, said Mah.

The group is also surveying North America for opportunities to take its boutique hotel business beyond Singapore’s shores.

AIRASIA X, the longhaul affiliate of Malaysia-based low-cost carrier (LCC) AirAsia, recorded stellar results for the first quarter of the year.

The airline carried 640,000 passengers in the first quarter of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 56.5 per cent. It added six new routes during the same period, to Mumbai, Delhi, Tehran, Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris, while its aircraft fleet size increased from eight to 11.

AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani, said: “Our continued rapid growth trajectory is testament to the breakthrough longhaul model that we have pioneered, which unlocks significant latent demand that exists between South-east Asia and the major markets in North Asia, Australia, India, Middle East and Europe, which are unserved by traditional low-cost carriers.”

AirAsia X’s first quarter passenger traffic grew by 59.8 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 billion Revenue-Passenger-Kms (RPKs), making it the second largest LCC in South-east Asia, after AirAsia Malaysia.

Its capacity grew by 48 per cent during the same period to 4.5 billion Available-Seat-Kms (ASKs), resulting in a load factor of 81 per cent, an increase of six percentage points over the same quarter last year.

BEST Western International has opened the BEST WESTERN Mangga Dua Hotel and Residence in Jakarta, the chain’s first property in the Indonesian capital, and its third in the country.

Offering 148 rooms and 20 suites, the hotel is situated in the Mangga Dua shopping area, close to major shopping malls WTC Mangga Dua and Mangga Dua Square. Also in the vicinity are the Jakarta Convention Center, corporate offices and banks.

Facilities at BEST WESTERN Mangga Dua Hotel and Residence include an outdoor swimming pool, a restaurant serving international food, a lounge bar, a steam room/sauna, a convenience store, massage service and eight meeting rooms with a capacity of 550 people.

THE BURGEONING hotel sector in the Middle East and North Africa is both a boon and bane to tourism, with oversupply threatening to derail overall profitability, according to a presentation at the World Travel Market Vision Conference – Dubai on Tuesday.

Euromonitor International travel and tourism industry analyst, Nadejda Popova, warned that oversupply was a pressing issue, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai the most exposed.

“Although arrival numbers are growing in these cities, supply is outpacing demand, resulting in lower than expected occupancy rates and RevPAR figures,” she said.

Popova pointed out that the Middle East benefits from some of the highest RevPARs worldwide, and “may be undergoing a small structural change post-crisis, as the luxury price proposition corrects itself”.

Popova also revealed new hotel development in the region had slowed as a result of the global downturn. However, she said the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan all have more than 3,000 rooms each in the pipeline, based on studies by hospitality research firm STR Global.

Asian hotel chains such as Dusit, Shangri-La, Banyan Tree and Anantara are all contributing to the expansion, opening properties in the UAE, Egypt and Oman. Budget hotels are also expanding, with Accor leading the way with four Ibis-branded hotel openings in the region by 2012.

World Travel Market exhibition director, Simon Press, said: “The Middle East and Africa are now an integral part of the global travel and tourism industry. The region’s inbound tourism numbers are growing, but hotels need to balance the expected increase in demand with the number of rooms available.”