SRI LANKA is planning to sign a new air services agreement with the UK to boost flight frequency between the two destinations for the 2011/2012 winter season.

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Minister of Environment, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, said services would be increased from the current 14 a week to 21 a week.

All the current services are operated by national carrier SriLankan Airlines, which flies twice daily to Heathrow and back, and is the only turnaround flight to the UK. The carrier has been under pressure to increase frequencies due to growing demand.

Once Sri Lanka’s largest tourism source market, the UK has slipped to number two, with India now in the lead.

BASED on a new law to be implemented this year, tourism-related businesses in Indonesia will have to consider a candidate’s competency certificate during recruitment, a change that several industry members are concerned about.

Speaking at a workshop yesterday, Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism expert staff, who is also the ASEAN Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee chairman, I Gusti Putu Laksaguna, said: “The Tourism Law No. 10/2009 has stipulated that all tourism professionals must have competency certificates. So when a tourism company recruits employees, the candidates must be able to show them certificates according to their competence.

“If one applies to be a general manager (GM), it is not enough for the person to say he or she has been working as a GM for so many years anymore. He or she must be able to show a certificate of competence.”

Laksaguna said government regulation backing the new law, including the kind of sanctions to be meted out, is being finalised and will be implemented this year.

He expects this competency standard to prepare Indonesia for the ASEAN Economic Community, which aims to transform the region into a single market by 2015. ASEAN has agreed on a Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals and an ASEAN Common Competency Standards Framework for Tourism Professionals.

However, National Tourism Professional Board chairman, Ade Suryanto, noted some reluctance in the industry to adopt the certification.

“What we need is a kind of pilot project for a hotel to see how the certification programme will impact their revenue,” he said.

Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association executive director Carla Parengkuan said: “There are many new hotels opening all over the country and therefore, demand for the middle and top management level staff is very high. As such, whoever can afford to pay high salaries will get staff.

“To make the certification work, we need the government, together with the industry associations, to set up a salary range for every competency standard.”

THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) is teaming up with the public and private sectors to help revive tourism for the south, where eight provinces were hit by floods last month.

TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni said affected operators of tourism-related businesses in the south would be hosted at a special 150-booth consumer fair, to be held from May 26 to 29 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

A slew of activities has also been lined up for the flood-hit areas, including a TAT Golf Challenge in Surat Thani in May, a corporate social responsibility project to build 84 dykes on Koh Samui in June, and a car rally on the Bangkok-Surat Thani-Nakhon Si Thammarat route and a bicycle tour on the Chumphon-Ranong route in July.

“This will help restore confidence in land travel, as road links were reported to be damaged during the floods,” said Suraphon.

The NTO is also preparing to launch a new website, www.travelsouththailand.com, which will offer real-time tourism updates on the south. Fam trips for corporates, as well as agents and the media, are also in the works.

The eight provinces in mid-southern Thailand that were affected by last month’s floods are Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Chumphon, Phatthalung, Trang, Phang Nga, Songkhla and Krabi.

By Sirima Eamtako

PERTH Convention Bureau’s (PCB) Christine Allen has resigned from her position as managing director. She will continue in her role until the end of the financial year, according to PCB chairman Ian Laurance.

Laurance explained: “Christine is reluctantly stepping down as managing director because of changes in her personal circumstances. Her departure will be a great loss to the bureau and to the business tourism industry in Western Australia.”

He added: “Last year, PCB achieved its best year on record, securing convention and incentive travel business worth more than AUD$93 million (US$98.5 million) to the Western Australian economy. This was a wonderful achievement and a testament to her outstanding and innovative leadership.”

During her time as managing director, Allen guided the PCB through a significant transformation, including a substantial increase in state government and industry funding, the creation of a “business events” brand for Western Australia, and the development of a business model that was driving the bureau’s increasing sales success.

Allen said PCB was “heading towards another record result”, and was poised to achieve even greater things in the future. “Business tourism is the shining star of all the tourism sectors in Australia at the moment, and it is extremely satisfying to have been a part of that success story,” she said.

Laurance said the board would be looking for a replacement who could bring “a similar level of commitment, passion and business acumen to the managing director’s role”.

CAPITALAND’S wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, Ascott, has extended its footprint to Frankfurt, where it has acquired a turnkey serviced residence property slated to open in 2014.

Investing €28 million (US$40.4 million) into its latest buy, the new 165-unit Citadines Messe Frankfurt increases Ascott’s Europe portfolio to over 5,300 apartment units in 48 properties across 22 cities.

In January, the company had signed a sale and purchase agreement for Citadines St Michaelis Hamburg, scheduled to open in 2013.

CEO Lim Ming Yan said: “Europe is a key market for Ascott in its international expansion. With this acquisition, we are on track to achieve 7,000 apartment units in Europe by 2015. Germany is Europe’s largest and strongest economy where we already have properties in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg.

“Besides building upon our strong presence in Germany, Paris and London, we will also look for opportunities to expand into Central and Eastern Europe.”

Located in the city centre across from the Frankfurt Messe Trade Fair Area, the Citadines will offer a range of apartments, from studios to two-bedroom units. There will also be amenities, including meeting rooms, a fitness centre, a business centre and a breakfast lounge.

WITH MICE visitors spending three to four times more than the average leisure traveller, the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) is eager to boost the popularity of the country as a MICE destination through increasing the number of convention centres.

SLCB general manager Vipula Wanigasekara said 80,000 MICE travellers, some 12 per cent of arrivals into Sri Lanka, brought revenues of US$50 million last year, while 85,000 are expected this year. Much of this traffic comes from India, with over 250 events in Colombo hosted by Indian companies since 2007.

Although Sri Lanka has just a few convention centres that can accommodate over 2,000 delegates, new facilities were underway in Colombo, Negombo on the west coast, Jaffna in the north and Hambantota in the south, added Wanigasekera.

The biggest facility being planned is a 200-acre (over 80 hectares) multi-purpose complex at Peliyagoda, near Colombo, built along the lines of Sentosa Island in Singapore or the Hyderabad Convention Centre. It will have a convention centre, a 200-room hotel and cinema halls.

Meanwhile, the Hambantota Convention Centre is due for completion by August, while a 100-acre site is being scouted for a facility in the northern city of Jaffna.

AFTER more than a 10-year wait, luxury hotel group The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts finally opened a hotel in Delhi on Sunday, realising its ambition of owning a property in India’s capital.

Earlier in 2004, legal complications had forced Leela to drop a plot of land it had acquired from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation in 1997. It later managed to grab a 1.2-hectare plot in Chanakyapuri at a record price of 6.11 billion rupees (US$137.64 million) in 2007.

Described by New Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as the city’s new iconic building, The Leela Palace Kempinski New Delhi is a premium business hotel with 260 rooms, including 19 suites. Rooms boast of designer upholstery and the latest digital technology. The property also offers banquet and meeting space spread over 3,048m².

Aside from specialty restaurant Jamavar and all-day dining The Qube, Leela will be incorporating franchised restaurants in a hotel for the first time, with international restaurants Megu (Japanese cuisine) and Le Cirque (classic Italian and contemporary French food).

By Anand & Madhura Katti

DUSIT International is accelerating its overseas expansion plans, roping in veteran hotelier Giovanni Angelini as its new vice-chairman, and growing its presence in China by opening two offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Angelini, retired CEO of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and presently CEO of Hong Kong-based Angelini Hospitality, will be looking after all overseas expansion of the Thai hotel chain. Dusit now operates and manages 22 properties in four countries and plans to open 10 more hotels in six countries.

In a bid to expand its footprint in China, Dusit will be opening a regional sales office in Shanghai on July 1 and a development office in Hong Kong on May 1, joining its existing regional sales office in Hong Kong. The group has also added Mandarin pages to its website and appointed Mandarin-speaking associates at properties in key locations.

China has been one of Dusit’s fastest growing markets in terms of visitor numbers to its properties in Thailand, Manila and Dubai over the past few years, according to the chain’s sales and marketing vice-president, Jennifer Cronin.

Cronin said Chinese guests at Dusit Thani Dubai accounted for eight per cent of the property’s business in the first quarter of this year, up from one per cent over the same period last year, while Dusit Thani Pattaya saw year-on-year growth of three to six per cent from the same market.

By Sirima Eamtako

EVEN if it may negatively impact tourism, news presenter Richard Quest made a case for media’s responsibility to accurately report what is happening on the ground during disasters.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of PATA’s 60th Anniversary & Conference in Beijing last week, the business travel specialist said: “The tourism industry would rather us shut our eyes to the unpleasantness, but we cannot pretend and wish things were normal. We have a responsibility to be honest.”

He added that the element of realism should prevail. “The travel industry is all about selling dreams and experiences. All too often, however, the industry blinds itself to certain impracticalities and realities.

“Some travellers would say it’s the perfect time to go to Japan, what with bargain flights and all, but honestly, would you want to go on a nice luxury holiday to Japan at the moment? Would you really want to go on a holiday in a country where there is a civil war or disaster?”

Quest also denied that the media often resorts to sensationalisation to attract more viewers.

“When a crisis happens, the expenditure for CNN goes through the roof,” he explained. “We have to fly people and equipment to location. The advertising revenue also goes down due to the increased frequency of breaking news segments.”

Quest, who over the last two decades has covered a variety of stories from Yasser Arafat’s demise to the Lockerbie bombing, said that he treads more carefully when it comes to crisis reporting.

“I ask myself: What is happening in the country at the moment? What is it exactly that I am saying? What are the effects of this is going to be? Could somebody interpret this as not being safe to be here?”

MAJOR outbound operator CTC Travel has started to offer seven-day tours to Hokkaido at almost half the price, and is planning a media fam trip to Japan in a bid to rebuild Singaporeans’ confidence in the disaster-hit country.

There will be four departures in May for these Ganbatte Japan tours, which go for a mere S$1,399 (US$1,129) compared to the usual S$2,388. The packages have reeled in 20 bookings to date, said the agency’s senior vice president (marketing & PR), Alicia Seah.

“It is a good sign, and with Tokyo Disney Resort now reopened, tourists will return to Japan slowly but surely,” she said.

Seah also hoped to organise a fam trip as soon – possibly on May 9 – in order to discourage travellers from cancelling tours booked for the May to July period.

“There are many areas in Japan that are not affected, and we have been getting updates about radiation levels in Japanese cities, some of which are lower than that in Singapore. But the words of the media will carry more weight, so we have partnered other industry players such as airlines to conduct media fam trips to destinations like Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kyushu and Hokkaido,” she said.