CHINESE online search giant Baidu has made inroads into the emerging travel search market in China with its purchase of local travel search engine Qunar.

Founded in 2005, Qunar enables Chinese consumers to make real-time searches for domestic air and rail tickets, hotels, as well as tour packages. The meta search engine also provides travel-related resources such as user discussion forums and group buying deals.

Baidu has agreed to invest US$306 million in Qunar, as it seeks to reap a share of the lucrative Chinese online travel sector. The investment will make Baidu the majority shareholder of Qunar.

After the investment is finalised in the third quarter of 2011, Qunar is expected to continue operating as an independent company, although both Baidu and Qunar will cooperate in certain areas of online travel search.

Baidu’s decision to acquire Qunar is being seen as a smart move, which will synergise and enhance the capabilities of both companies to capitalise upon the growth opportunities in the Chinese travel search arena.

Online travel transactions in China are increasing at an astronomical rate as the Chinese appetite for overseas holidays grows. According to internet market research company eMarketer, the Chinese spent US$15.4 billion on online travel bookings in 2011, up from just US$1.5 billion in 2006.

WYNDHAM Hotel Group will open three new Ramada properties in China, one of which will be the company’s first managed Ramada hotel in the country, and a resort in Phuket.

The new managed property in China, the Ramada Plaza Sanya, is scheduled to open in June next year, and will feature 496 rooms including 88 suites. Facilities will include a ballroom, meeting space, a business centre, an executive lounge, a spa, a swimming pool and a fitness centre. There will also be three restaurants offering all-day dining, Chinese cuisine and specialty dishes.

Wyndham has also signed two franchise agreements in China, one with Shaoguan Fengdu Real Estate for the Ramada Plaza Shaoguan City Center, and the other with Suzhou Dingfeng Real Estate Development for the Ramada Suzhou North.

The Ramada Plaza Shaoguan City Center, due to open in January next year, will feature 320 rooms including 32 suites. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, the Ramada Suzhou North will feature 278 rooms including 28 suites.

Meanwhile, the Ramada Phuket South Sea, due to open later this year, will offer 152 guest rooms with sea views. The new hotel, owned by Phuket development company South Sea Resort, will add to the five Ramada properties currently open in Thailand.

This is the second management agreement between South Sea Resort and Wyndham Hotel Group. The first was for the Wyndham Khao Lak, which is also expected to open later this year.

DB BAHN, the passenger services arm of the German National Rail company Deutsche Bahn, has appointed Deks Air Travel & Tours as its DB Agency for Singapore.

Passengers from Singapore can fly to Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich airports, and connect directly to Deutsche Bahn’s 320km/h high-speed Intercity Express trains, which run on an hourly schedule to major centres in Germany, and some cities in Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

All trains offer seating in first and second class, and have an on-board restaurant or bistro.

A German Rail Pass can be purchased from 175 euros (US$247), and is valid for any three to ten days during a chosen one-month period. It allows unlimited travel on DB trains, including high-speed ICE in both second and first class.

STARTING June 28, individual travellers from mainland China will be allowed to visit Taiwan on FIT visas.

The new visa rules will initially be available to residents of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, with a quota of 500 arrivals per day.

Travellers above the age of 20 must prove they have the equivalent of NT$200,000 (US$6,900) in the bank, or a verifiable annual income of NT$500,000. The maximum length of stay is 15 days.

Eligible travellers can apply through 33 travel agents designated to handle group tours to Taiwan.

One of four assigned travel agents in Xiamen, Xiamen C&D Travel has come up with five FIT itineraries ranging from four to six days. Their four-day Taipei package, including direct flight and five-star hotel stay, costs RMB$3,980 (US$615) per person.

In order to cope with burgeoning FIT demand, cross-strait flights will be increased from 370 to 558 per week. The additonal frequency will go to second- and third-tier cities. North China is now served by 44 weekly flights, Yangtze River Delta has 165 flights, and Pearl River Delta has 48 flights.

INDONESIA and Australia agreed last week to increase air passenger capacity between the two countries by 70 per cent to 25,000 seats per week, in view of increasing demand.

Indonesia Ministry of Transportation director of Air Transportation, Edward Silooy, was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying: “The current capacity of 14,800 seats is fully utilised, therefore, we have decided to increase it to 25,000 seats per week as demand continues to grow.

“Many Indonesians send their children to school in Australia, and there are a large number of Australians travelling to Indonesia for holidays,” he added.

Indonesia Air Carriers Association secretary general, Tengku Burhanuddin, said: “It is good that both governments have taken the move. The Indonesian airline industry needs more capacity.”

The increased capacity opens up opportunities for more Indonesian carriers to operate services to Australia.

While welcoming the move, the Indonesian travel trade has called on the government to prepare for the expected influx of arrivals from Australia.

The Seminyak, Bali director of sales and marketing, Gufron, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Bali can still absorb the capacity, but the government needs to prepare the infrastructure to enable tourists to disperse to areas other than South Bali.

“The travel industry in East, North and West Bali should start aggressively promoting themselves to tourists to get a share of the pie.”

NAY PYI TAW’S inaugural travel showcase, the Travel Mart and Food Show, will take place from June 28 to July 13 at the Thapyaygone Market in Zabuthiri township.

The event will feature more than 100 exhibitors, including the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, private sector associations, and destinations such as the Myeik Archipelago and Myitkyina.

Myanmar marketing committee chairman, Dr Aung Myat Kyaw, said his organisation would participate under the banner of the Myanmar Tourism Board.

KUONI Group says it is making good progress with integrating Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) into its Division Destinations arm, a process that is expected to take four months.

Nearly two months following the acquisition of GTA from Travelport (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 6), Rolf Schafroth, the new CEO of GTA and Kuoni Destination Management (KDM), painted a positive picture of both GTA and KDM senior management working together to review current structures, businesses and processes, in order to shape the division for further growth.

The division will comprise half of Kuoni’s annual turnover, balancing the group in a new way.

Schafroth said: “It’s not an objective of the integration process to change the goals of GTA, or KDM. On the contrary, they remain very much unchanged. The focus is on the right organisation and activities to best cater and capture growth potential.”

“Both GTA and KDM have a clear and strong position in the market. We will continue to grow our market share, this is also much to the benefit of our clients and suppliers.”

– Read the full interview in Schafroth digests GTA acquisition, Editor’s Pick

INDONESIA president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has become the first Asian head of state to pledge his country’s support for the UNWTO and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)’s Global Leader for Tourism campaign.

As part of the campaign, UNWTO and WTTC are jointly presenting heads of state and governments around the world with an invitation to acknowledge tourism’s role in delivering on sustained and balanced growth, and to prioritise the sector high in national policies, in order to maximise its potential.

The campaign has already received the support of the presidents of Mexico, South Africa, Kazakhstan, and Hungary, while President Yudhoyono accepted the invitation extended by UNWTO secretary general, Taleb Rifai, during a recent meeting in Bali.

“We are delighted that Indonesia has joined this important campaign to raise international awareness of the relevance of travel and tourism. Indonesia is sending out a strong message that it recognises tourism’s potential as a force for development.” said Rifai.

President Yudhoyono said: “Tourism plays a significant role not only in the preservation of cultural values, but also in increasing people’s welfare. Tourism has provided job opportunities for millions of people across the globe. It is a leading export of developing countries, and a key stimulus in the transformation to a green economy.”

WTTC president and CEO, David Scowsill, added: “The importance of travel and tourism as a driver of Indonesia’s economy is clear. Over the next ten years, travel and tourism’s contribution to the country’s GDP is expected to grow by nearly six per cent per year.”

THIS YEAR will be crucial one for the Bangkok hotel industry, with a swathe of new supply set to descend on the market, in the process ramping up pressure on the city’s occupancy and rates.

In the first three months of the year, the inventory in downtown Bangkok – Sukhumvit, Ploenchit, Silom, Sathorn and Riverside – grew to 29,511 rooms, an increase of one per cent quarter-on-quarter and eight per cent year-on-year, according to commercial real estate company CB Richard Ellis Thailand’s MarketView Bangkok Luxury Hotel Q1/2011 report.

New hotels already opened this year in Bangkok include the 75-key Sivatel Bangkok, 370-key Novotel Bangkok Fennix Ploenchit, 224-key The St Regis, 50-ley Best Western Bangkok Hiptique, 78-key Best Western Plus@20 Sukhumvit, 188-room Ramada Encore, and 125-room Park Plaza Sukhumvit Soi 18.

The rest of the year will see 5,199 keys added to the Thai capital’s inventory, a 19 per cent increase consisting of 203 luxury rooms, 2,773 first-class rooms, 1,168 mid-range rooms and 1,055 economy rooms.

The deluge of keys will be provided by the 283-room Novotel Bangkok Platinum, 297-room aloft Bangkok, 39-key The Siam, 166-key Hotel Muse, 421-room Four Points by Sheraton Sathorn, 120-room Golden Tulip Mandison Suites, and 390-room Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn, all due to open this year.

Increased competition from the slew of new hotels is expected to push down ADR. “The performance of the tourism industry this year will also depend heavily on the outcome of the upcoming election (on July 3),” the report added.

In the luxury hotel sector alone, the report stated that ADR in the first three months of the year was down by 15 per cent to 5,789 baht (US$189), and RevPar declined by nine per cent to 3,685 baht. In US dollar terms, the ADR was US$191, a decline of nine per cent, and RevPar was US$122, a three per cent drop.

PHILIPPINE low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific has launched a new four-weekly Manila-Busan service, its fourth route to South Korea.

The airline also flies four times weekly from Cebu to Busan, two times from Manila to Incheon, and daily from Cebu to Incheon.

Philippine tourism department secretary, Alberto Lim, welcomed the development. “South Korea has become an extremely important market for us. Cebu Pacific has likewise been on its toes in delivering on this market, now with 29 weekly flights to South Korea including this new service to Busan,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific has signed an MOU with Airbus to acquire seven more Airbus A320s and 30 Airbus A321neos. The deal, worth US$3.8 billion, is the largest single aircraft order ever made by a Philippine carrier.

Cebu Pacific CEO and president, Lance Gokongwei, said: “Cebu Pacific has made the largest firm order for the Airbus A321neo aircraft in the world. These 220-seater aircraft will be a real ‘game changer’ for Cebu Pacific because the A321neo will have a much longer range. We will be able to serve cities in Australia, India and Northern Japan, places the A320 cannot reach.”

Cebu Pacific currently utilises 10 Airbus A319s, 15 Airbus A320s and eight ATR-72 500. If the deal is completed, Cebu Pacific will double its fleet by 2021.

The airline is also planning to launch two new domestic routes targeting central and southern Philippines, with services between Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi, and Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo, slated for October.

Cebu Pacific is targeting 12 million passengers this year, a 19 per cent increase over 2010.