ALL international arrivals to Batam, Bintan, Karimun and Tanjung Pinang from tomorrow will be able to avail of a seven-day visa-on-arrival (VOA) for a US$10 fee. This is in addition to the existing 30-day VOA available for US$25.

Batam City Tourism Office head, Yusfa Hendri, was quoted by Antara News Agency as saying: “Currently, the seven-day visa is given only to groups with a minimum of four people travelling together. (As of July 1), it will be available to all travellers.”

The dual visa arrangement has been afforded to these gateway destinations in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, in response to an appeal by tourism stakeholders there.

Hendri said: “The new policy is good news for the tourism industry here, as it will attract more international tourists through (these gateway destinations).”

International visitors to these areas are mostly travellers from Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, as well as tourists transiting through Singapore. The majority of them stay less than seven days.

For other gateway cities in Indonesia, only the 30-day visa for US$25 is available, which can be extended up to an additional 30 days.

THAI Airways International (THAI) will start a direct, thrice-weekly Phuket-Copenhagen service from November 11.

This comes shortly after the Thai national carrier unveiled Brussels as its 72nd destination (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 28).

The Phuket-Copenhagen service will be THAI’s first longhaul route between Phuket and Copenhagen.

The airline activated from today reservations for the flights, which will be operated using Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

Meanwhile, THAI is planning to increase the frequency of its Bangkok-Copenhagen service, from a daily flight to 10 flights per week, also using B747-400 aircraft.

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) is growing its fleet by leasing 15 new Airbus A330 aircraft, to be delivered between 2013 and 2015.

The aircraft will be used on routes within Asia, as well as to points in Australia and the Middle East, according to a press release by SIA.

SIA CEO, Goh Choon Phong, said: “The A330s will enable us to add more capacity on regional and medium-range routes, and further strengthen SIA’s network offering.”

“We cannot say at this early stage which specific routes they may be used on,” an SIA spokesperson added.

The A330s, leased for a minimum of six years, with an option to extend, will join 19 other A330-300s already in service.

The aircraft will seat customers in a two-class configuration, but the number of seats has yet to be determined.

VIRGIN Australia will be dissolving ties with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) as it seeks regulatory approval for its recently forged alliance with Singapore Airlines (SIA) (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 7).

Virgin and SIA intend to formalise the partnership, established earlier this month, through an application lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The two carriers have requested the ACCC’s approval for an initial 10-year term to “ensure adequate time to achieve a return on investment”.

Virgin is also looking to cease its reciprocal frequent flyer and interline arrangements with MAS, and launch new arrangements with SIA.

Virgin and SIA have agreed to codeshare and cooperate on pricing, scheduling, marketing and sales on Australia-Singapore routes, as well as international and domestic connecting flights.

MAS will be joining the oneworld alliance in late 2012 (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 6) and intends to seek closer cooperation with Qantas.

CONCERNS have been raised over Malacca’s status as a heritage destination, with its latest tourism offering, a Hard Rock Café, set to open in 2012.

The F&B outlet will be located on Jalan Hang Jebat, directly facing the national heritage-gazetted Stadhuys and Christchurch buildings, built in 1650 and 1753, respectively.

Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, president of Heritage of Malaysia Trust, said: “A new single-storey building in a UNESCO World Heritage Site would not normally raise any red flags, but how well can Malacca’s cultural history mix with a cafe representing American rock ‘n’ roll?”

“The sustainability of Malacca’s future is based on its ability to continue to draw visitors because of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as its heritage values and cultural authenticity,” he said.

“We have reservations that even if the presence of the Hard Rock Cafe Melaka draws in large numbers, both in terms of visitors and revenue generation, the authenticity of this unique historical city will be surely compromised.”

The balacing act between heritage preservation and tourism development in Malacca has recently come under scrutiny.

The local travel trade is opposed to a “heritage conservation tax” that will be levied on all hotel guests from September (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 3).

A planned 15.9 million ringgit (US$5.2 million) monorail service has also been criticised as being unnecessary for such a small area, and a 10 million ringgit rollercoaster ride with one kilometre of track will soon be launched as a tourist attraction.

LE RICHEMOND hotel in Geneva will join Dorchester Collection’s growing portfolio of luxury hotels from August 1.

Set on the banks of Lake Geneva, the 109-room property will be London-based Dorchester Collection’s first third-party management agreement, and follows a change in ownership of the hotel.

Francois Delahaye, Dorchester Collection’s COO, will be responsible for the property, and will oversee the integration of Le Richemond into the Dorchester Collection brand.

The hotel will undergo a refurbishment, primarily of its public areas including the restaurant and bar, as well as its suites. It will remain open during this time.

Le Richemond will be Dorchester Collection’s eighth hotel when the management agreement commences.

The group will open its ninth hotel, 45 Park Lane, London, in September, and re-open Hotel Bel-Air, which has been closed for major renovations, in October.

TRAVEL buyers will have a new hotel booking platform to shop on when Travelport Rooms and More rolls out progressively in markets worldwide from July.

The one-stop site pulls together content from over 20 aggregators and online travel agents, with more than 200,000 properties represented.

A new and improved version of existing online leisure portal Travelport Leisure, Travelport Rooms and More allows agents to compare deals across aggregators – thanks to meta-search technology from Sprice.com, which was acquired by Travelport last May.

The site can also be accessed via a single sign-on, with commissions from multiple sources collated and paid out monthly. Commissions are roughly between five and over 10 per cent.

When asked how the online platform compared to its GDS offerings, group vice president, global hospitality, Niklas Andréen told TTG Asia e-Daily that although the GDS served the business travel community well, leisure and mixed travel agents needed a tool that offered efficient access to information on amenities, consumer reviews and pictures.

“It is not one replacing the other, but rather each solving different problems,” he said.

Andréen said the classic GDS product was only meeting 10 to 15 per cent of the hotel needs of leisure and mixed travel agents, while the figure was 60 per cent for business travel agents.

Agents do not have to be Travelport GDS subscribers to use the new service. GDS users, however, would have the added benefit of integrating their air bookings with hotel purchases.

Travelport expects to have as many as 50 aggregators by year-end, having already secured a range of leading hotel and car content providers. These include Agoda, Kuoni Connect, LateRooms.com, Transhotel, Ctrip, Zuji, Cleartrip and TUI Cars. An arrangement with GTA, which Travelport sold to Kuoni, is being worked out.

This move is part of Travelport’s drive to grow its hospitality arm, having recently invested in a larger, dedicated team and created new helpdesks for hotel and car supplier customers (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 18).

THE KOREA MICE Expo (KME) opens today at Coex Convention and Exhibiton Centre, with some 205 domestic and 100 international buyers, and 175 South Korean and Japanese exhibitors in attendance.

Last year’s edition saw 205 buyers, of whom 87 were from overseas, and 131 exhibitors.

This is the second consecutive year that KME is being held in Seoul (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 10), after the Seoul Tourism Organisation (STO) secured rights to organise the event for three years.

Before 2010, KME had been held in various South Korean cities on a rotational basis.

Maureen O’ Crowley, Seoul Convention Bureau (SCB) vice president/MICE & international marketing department, told TTG Asia e-Daily that it is yet to be determined which city would host KME next after STO’s stint.

She said however, that SCB would “try to keep the show in Seoul”, as attendance had grown substantially since it started being held there.

THIS year’s edition of Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME), the country’s annual B2B travel mart, will be held in Bandar Lampung, the capital of Lampung province on the southern tip of Sumatra.

Entering its 17th year, TIME showcases Indonesian tourism to international markets, and helps promote the host city and province to travellers from around the world.

TIME 2011 steering committee chairman, Meity Robot, said: “The shifting of TIME to Lampung is aimed at promoting Lampung to international markets, and will attract more tourist arrivals to the destination.”

“It will also speed up the development and improvement of infrastructure, tourism facilities and tourism attractions, and encourage more investors to develop new hotels as well as tourist attractions in the region.”

The event will take place at the Novotel Lampung from October 12 to 14, and will coincide with the holding of Festival Krakatau, an annual cultural event that ends with a tour of the active Krakatau volcano.

BANGKOK hotels continue to receive forward bookings for this week and next, but the travel trade is taking a cautious approach as Thailand counts down to the July 3 general election.

Hoteliers and tour operators are unsure about what will happen after the elections, with last year’s prolonged political protests against the Democrat-led government still fresh in their minds (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 17, 2010 & April 27, 2010).

“We will have to see if the election result will be respected, said Destination Asia CEO and group managing director, James Reed.

Go Vacation Thailand managing director, Christoph Mueller, said European clients were still booking trips to Bangkok, as most of them were unaware of the upcoming election. “But let’s wait and see after the election,” he said. “I don’t think the situation can be worse than last year.”

Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa sales and marketing director, Ludovic Gallerne, said the property was on track to reach its 80 per cent occupancy target for this week and next, up by 18 to 20 per cent over the same period last year, when the Thai capital had just resurfaced following the political turbulence.

Pullman Bangkok King Power general manager, Marc Begassat, also reported high to peak occupancy at the hotel for this week and next. He said forward bookings were from all markets. “Hong Kong business and regional corporate meetings remain very strong,” he added.

Accor director of Thailand operations, Paul Stevens, reported a status quo on this week’s bookings for the chain’s 26 hotels and more than 7,000 rooms in Bangkok, but added that there was a slight dip in next week’s business for some properties, from regional and domestic markets.

CCT Group president, Vichit Prakobgosol, said the political uncertainty in Thailand had so far not affected his business from the Chinese market. “The business is even better than last year. Barring any incident after the election, we can expect phenomenal growth on the Chinese market this year.”

By Sirima Eamtako