JEBSEN Travel & Tours Services will be organising a fam tour for travel agents, corporate clients and the media when Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Voyager docks in Port Klang on April 14.

The 700-guest luxury vessel is making her maiden call to South-east Asia (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13).

Currently on a 165-day World Cruise, the ship began its journey in San Francisco on January 13 and will complete its itinerary in London on June 7.

Embarkation points in South-east Asia are Bangkok on April 9 and Phuket on April 16. Ports of call in the region include Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Port Klang and Penang. It will then sail to Chennai, Sri Lanka, Cochin, Mumbai and onwards to Europe via the Middle East.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ representative in Malaysia, Jebsen Travel & Tours Services managing director Lim Chee Tong, said the liner had all-inclusive fares and accommodation onboard would be suites with balconies.

AIRASIA Incorporated, the Philippine-based affiliate of AirAsia Group, will have its first aircraft arriving at its Clark base in August.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Expedia-AirAsia event yesterday, Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said existing routes from Clark would be operated by AirAsia, Inc. while four new routes were also being considered. Singapore and South Korea were cited as possibilities.

Flights would be operated by an all-Airbus fleet, which would comprise around two aircraft to start.

In addition, Fernandes said AirAsia’s Vietnam affiliate would be launched shortly after its Philippine venture gets off the ground, adding that announcements will be made soon.

He also reaffirmed expansion plans in Japan despite the bleak situation there, sharing that Osaka was next on the list.

Said Fernandes: “We’re very very committed towards Japan and looking to open routes to more cities. We’re not cutting back flights, we’re not cutting any expenditure.

“Travel is a great way to get away from some of the reality of what’s going on. We’ve actually seen bookings increase…In terms of people going back to Japan, that’s only a matter of time.”

MYANMAR’S airline industry is set to further heat up with Air KBZ beginning operations on a daily Yangon-Nyaung Oo-Mandalay-Heho-Yangon flight and a daily Yangon-Myeik-Yangon flight on April 1.

The airline was scheduled to launch late last year, but was unable to secure aircraft. Air KBZ will initially use one 64-seat ATR 72-500 aircraft and will increase to four later in the year.

Air KBZ CEO, Oakkar Tun, said the airline has received permission from the Department of Civil Aviation to operate both domestic and international flights, but would only start with domestic flights.

It plans to fly to other domestic destinations such as Tachileik, Kengtung, Myitkyina, Sittwe, Thandwe, Pathein, Lashio, Putao, Kawthoung, Dawei, Mawlamyine and Kalay from May.

Managing director Moe San Aung conceded that April was “not the right time to launch the airline”, but explained that the decision was made to get ready for the upcoming tourist season.

Air KBZ is owned by Myanmar’s Kanbawza Group of Companies, which holds an 80 per cent stake in Myanmar Airways International (MAI). A bilateral agreement with MAI for its domestic ticket booking system is on the cards.

Air KBZ will join Air Mandalay, Air Bagan, Myanma Airways and Asian Wings in local skies, the latter being the newest addition (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 31).

YESTERDAY afternoon’s planned resumption of flight and ferry services to Koh Samui (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 29) were scuppered due to continued inclement weather on the island and surrounding areas.

Thousands of tourists on the island were again left stranded, as flights were cancelled for the second day in a row and three metre-high waves in the seas between Koh Samui and Surat Thani forced the suspension of ferry access.

The Bangkok Post reported yesterday that Bangkok Airways flight PG103, which left Suvarnabhumi airport at 1.55pm bound for Koh Samui, was unable to land due to strong winds and was forced to return to Bangkok.

All 53 of Bangkok Airways’ flights in and out of Koh Samui were cancelled yesterday, the carrier announced on its website.

Malaysian news agency Bernama reported that Malaysia-based low-cost carrier FireFly had also suspended its operations between Subang and Koh Samui due to flooding at the island’s airport.

Local weather officials have warned that torrential rain and flooding in most southern provinces could continue over the next few days.

THE REGION’S booming online travel market has pushed Expedia, Inc. and AirAsia to join forces and establish a 50:50 joint venture company, said to be the first of its kind between a low-cost carrier and an online travel agent.

Under the agreement announced today, a new company will be formed to operate Expedia-branded businesses in Japan, India, South-east Asia and other East Asian markets, as well as AirAsia’s packaging and hotel booking websites, AirAsiaGo and GoRooms.

The joint venture will have the exclusive online third-party distribution rights in the region for AirAsia and AirAsiaX flights and travel packages. In addition, Expedia will also be the exclusive third-party travel provider for AirAsia inventory on its sites worldwide.

At the helm of the Singapore-based company is vice president and managing director of Expedia Asia Pacific, Dan Lynn, who will be relocating from Sydney.

Said the new CEO: “Expedia brings global strength in our supplier relationships, a very strong technology background and an understanding of online marketing. AirAsia complements that with its unique understanding of the Asian markets, its very compelling and unique inventory that is low-price but high-quality and its very deep understanding of social media.”

AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said: “We think we have a ‘Rolls-Royce partner’ here. (Expedia is) going to take our content around the world, which will help AirAsia and AirAsiaX promote our flights in markets that we haven’t reached before. Plus, we’ll be able to get new ancillary income.”

When asked if the partnership would cannibalise sales on AirAsia’s own website, he said: “Who cares? AirAsia.com is a site that’s always trying to cope. Everytime we have a sale, our system falls over even though we double, triple, quadruple the capacity. We can’t cope with the demand. That’s why I said there’s no problem sharing some of that.”

Fernandes explained that the Expedia and AirAsia sites would be branded differently and target separate market segments. For example, Expedia may be more dominant in certain countries like Japan, where it is already established, while AirAsiaGo would be bigger in China.

Calling this new venture Expedia’s “Asia organisation”, president of Expedia Worldwide, Scott Durchslag, said: “This is going to offer a much more efficient and effective alternative for consumers to travel, so I think it will have a significant impact on traditional, offline travel agents. This is a big leap forward in terms of what’s possible.”

Expedia, which rolled out its Singapore website last month, launched its Malaysia and Thailand products today. It will continue to run a full-service business, offering other airline content.

THAILAND should capitalise on steady year-on-year growth of inbound cruise visitors to the country and improve its cruise infrastructure to attract even more visitors, according to the country’s largest inbound cruise handler, Regale International Travel.

Regale International Travel’s managing director, Jumpol Chadavadh, said Thailand would be able to attract more cruises, both new ships and increased frequencies of calls, if the country developed ports in other locations such as Pranburi near Hua Hin.

Despite last year’s domestic political turmoil and the European economic downturn, the company still handled some 90,000 passengers, surpassing its original target of 50,000, said Jumpol.

This year, the company is expecting to cater to about 120,000 passengers, with Jumpol saying the continued growth is the result of increasing number of cruise ships and ports-of-call. Cruise ships are now calling more often at Phuket and Koh Samui rather than just at Laem Chabang.

Meanwhile, cruise ships calling at several ports in Thailand and handled by Regale over the last two weeks include the 2,068-guest Queen Elizabeth and 2,620-guest Queen Mary 2. Both ships are scheduled to return next year and are expected to call at more ports.

By Sirima Eamtako

BEST Western International Indonesia is targeting 16 new hotel openings in the country by end 2012, adding to its current portfolio in Bali, Solo, Padang and Jakarta.

Best Western Indonesia’s CEO, Iwanto Hartojo, said: “We will open three more hotels by the end of the year, one in Serpong, West Java and two in Bali.”

Construction of The Sun Heritage Condotel in Kuta, Bali started in February and work on another property in Sentul, Bogor, slated to open next year, kicked off last weekend.

The other hotels expected to launch next year are in Bandung, Semarang, Palu, Samarinda, Banjarmasin, Jakarta and Manado.

TOURISTS stranded on Koh Samui after bad weather forced the closure of the local airport and suspension of ferry services yesterday are expected to resume travel later this afternoon.

Bangkok Airways’ press office said that depending on weather conditions, the airline would resume flights in and out of Koh Samui from 3.00pm today and would deploy an additional six Airbus A319s from Bangkok to clear the passenger backlog.

The airline was forced to cancel 36 flights between Samui and Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, U-Tapao (Pattaya), Hong Kong and Singapore yesterday due to unusually heavy rain and strong winds.

Passengers originally booked on the cancelled flights can rebook new flights at no additional cost.

Some hotels on the island have extended a helping hand to guests whose travel plans have been disrupted, with The Passage Samui executive director Tossapol Satitwittayakul saying his resort was offering a 60 per cent discount on rooms.

Guests on packages were being taken care of by their respective tour operators, according to Amari Palm Reef, Koh Samui’s general manager, Christoph Leonhard.

Anantara Lawana Resort and Spa’s general manager Lars Kerfin said he expected the problem to be short-term and that travellers would return to Koh Samui – which is still in the high tourist season until April – once the rough weather subsides.

By Sirima Eamtako

MYANMAR has granted visa-on-arrival (VOA) to foreign visitors arriving in Yangon on Myanmar Airways International’s (MAI) twice-weekly direct flights from Guangzhou effective March 21.

MAI assistant marketing manager Aye Mra Tha said the number of visitors arriving from Guangzhou was relatively small and that the airline was expecting the VOA service to help stimulate more interest in the destination.

Passengers arriving on China Southern Airlines’ direct service from Guangzhou will not be eligible for the VOA. The VOA was previously afforded to the airline’s passengers on flights from Siem Reap from February 23 (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 15).

TOURISM Malaysia’s Phuket office is working with Thailand-based media entertainment company, GMM Grammy, to highlight Peranakan heritage in Penang, Malacca and Phuket to the Thais.

GMM Grammy will produce a series of documentaries showcasing Peranakan culture in the two Malaysian destinations, as well as Phuket, to be aired on several Thai television channels starting next month, according to Tourism Malaysia’s marketing manager, Phuket office, Tanakorn Jaikla.

The office will also organise familiarisation trips to Malacca and Penang for outbound travel agents from Thailand.

Thailand is the third largest contributor of tourist arrivals to Malaysia, with 1.46 million Thai visitors recorded last year.