CEBU PACIFIC is aiming to launch two new routes to Japan and increase flights to China with the addition of new aircraft.

The airline is planning new flights to Tokyo and Nagoya from Manila, although specific dates for the routes have not yet been announced, pending approval from Japanese authorities. Plans to increase flight frequencies to Guangzhou and Beijing were also disclosed, but no dates have been given.

Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution, Candice Iyog, said she was “optimistic that our entitlements to Japan will increase, so we can proceed with our expansion plans in the country.”

Supporting the expansion is the expected delivery of five Airbus A320 aircraft within the year, which will bring Cebu Pacific’s fleet to a total of 37 aircraft. The first of these Airbus A320s was delivered in January this year. “This will help us add routes, flights, and destinations in the Asia-Pacific region,” the airline said in a statement to TTG Asia.

Cebu Pacific’s flights from Manila to Hong Kong and Shanghai will also be upgraded from Airbus A319 to Airbus A320 aircraft starting October 7, increasing seat capacity.

The carrier’s 2011 first quarter passenger report revealed overall growth of 28 per cent across its North Asia destinations – Greater China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.

THE MALDIVES government has pulled its support for the New7Wonders of Nature competition, accusing organisers of demanding expensive license fees and sponsorship for continued participation in the contest.

Thoyyib Mohamed, Minister of State for Tourism, Arts and Culture, and chairperson of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), said in a statement issued yesterday by the government: “With regret, we are withdrawing from this competition because of the unexpected demands for large sums of money from the New7Wonders organisers. We no longer feel that continued participation in this competition is in the economic interests of the Maldives.”

MMPRC managing director, Simon Hawkins, said he believed the competition was more of a scam to get money than a fair contest.

New7Wonders said in a statement that the withdrawal by the Maldives would not affect the country’s participation in the contest. It said while the Maldives Ministry of Tourism would no longer function as the official supporting committee for the Maldives, proposals had already been made for a replacement.

This is the second controversy involving New7Wonders after it accused Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism of misleading the public earlier this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 11).

INDIA-based OTA MakeMyTrip purchased on May 9 a 79 per cent stake in Singapore-based Luxury Tours & Travel as part of its South-east Asia expansion plans.

As per the Share Purchase Agreement with Luxury Tours & Travel and its existing shareholders signed on February 9 this year, the initial purchase consideration was approximately US$3 million in cash.

MakeMyTrip will acquire the existing shareholders’ remaining shares over a three-year period ending June 2014.

Luxury Tours & Travel, a Singapore-registered and licensed travel agency started in 1985, provides hotel reservations, excursion tours and coach services to inbound and outbound travellers in Singapore and the region.

Amit Saberwal, MakeMyTrip’s senior vice president of retail and business development, moved to Singapore about a month ago to grow the company’s footprint in the region.

– Read more in TTG Asia, May 27 issue

THE GOLD Coast City Council has voted in favour of funding Gold Coast Tourism to the tune of AUD$11.4 million (US$12.1 million) per annum over the next five years, with an additional AUD$2.5 million for new growth initiatives.

Gold Coast Tourism chairman, Paul Donovan, said the confidence and support of the city council in funding tourism efforts is commendable. “This council is one of the few in Australia that truly recognises the significance of tourism, and is willing to fully support the industry,” he said.

The rejuvenated tourism plan focuses on high return destination marketing, with seven stimulus initiatives to increase visitor expenditure and average length of stay over the next 12 months.

The seven stimulus initiatives cover sport/event tourism, education tourism, China expansion and industry readiness, Gold Coast promotion on interstate and NZ television, aviation acquisition and protection, business events and conference growth, and Surfers Paradise Visitor Information Centre refurbishment.

MAJOR outbound operator Chan Brothers is growing its business, with new brands to be rolled out in the second half of the year and refinements to be made to its operations.

Chan’s World, to be launched in July, will target younger FITs and English-speaking groups who are looking for soft adventure holidays in destinations like Tibet and Nepal.

Premier Series, on the other hand, will be more mass-market, but will offer five-star hotel stays, meals at Michelin-star restaurants and more inclusions. This brand is slated to be launched in August, with prices that are at least 30 per cent higher than the usual tours.

Recognising a growing demand for cruise products, the company will also launch a dedicated cruise department in September. It already represents about a dozen cruise liners, but does not have an official division handling bookings.

“Singaporeans are looking for new products, and as a leading tour operator, we have to cater to it,” said group managing director Anthony Chan.

With the boost from these new businesses, he expects annual turnover to climb by at least 20 per cent from the current S$200 million (US$162 million).

The group is also looking to build its S$120-million “asset-backing”, which Chan said helped to “reinforce the whole idea of a trusted brand”. Chan Brothers today is receiving a platinum award as one of the winners of Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands 2011, the second time it has been lauded.

The company’s property portfolio ranges from office spaces to residential buildings across Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It is also looking to invest in a boutique hotel to complement its inbound operations.

SPA-related enterprises around the world are aiming to expand their operations to China and South-east Asia to tap into the positive economic growth and slew of hotel openings in the region.

A poll conducted among delegates at this year’s Global Spa Summit in Bali, consisting of top executives and leaders in the global spa and wellness industries, revealed that 30.1 per cent of respondents were hoping to expand their businesses to China. South-east Asian destinations garnered 21.5 per cent of the vote.

Asia Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition chairman, Andrew Jacka, said: “The Asia Pacific spa market has grown rapidly in recent years, often exceeding 20 per cent growth annually as the middle class expands.”

Intelligent Spa founder and managing director, Julie Garrow, said: “The majority of spa owners and managers in Asia Pacific are predicting double-digit growth in total spa revenue in 2011.”

Mandara Spa president and COO, Jeff Matthews, said: “Spa and wellness is growing fast in China and India, while Vietnam is coming up and is our most promising frontier to expand business.”

On the other hand, Indonesia and Thailand are mature destinations, according to Matthews. “For Indonesia, the growth is more in exporting expertise. We train and send Balinese therapists to Maldives and Dubai, for example.”

OUTBOUND traffic from India to the UK is expected to grow by 15 to 20 per cent this year, according to some Indian buyers who attended Destination Britain & Ireland APMEA in Bangalore, which concluded yesterday.

Ludhiana-based Systematic Air Travel director, Anand Jhamb, who has been promoting the UK for about five years now, said the number of his customers travelling to the UK had grown to about 15-20 per month now. The clients stay for an average of eight days, combining London with a few other cities in England and Scotland.

Jhamb said he was expecting the number to grow even further, by about 15 to 20 per cent this year, in light of the expected buzz around VisitBritain’s recently-appointed goodwill ambassadors, especially Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar. (TTG Asia e-Daily, 18 May 2011).

Jay Joshi, online support manager of Travel Designer India’s global reservation system RezLive.com, said Johar was a famous personality in India, and that his endorsement would help to attract more Indian travellers to the UK.

Gurgaon-based Dejavu Holidays director, Jaspreet Chopra, said the buzz around the recent royal wedding, and next year’s Olympic Games in London and Queen Elizabeth’s 60th anniversary on the throne, are also expected to increase outbound traffic to the UK by 15 to 20 per cent both this year and next.

By Sirima Eamtako

STARTING June 30, Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways will operate daily flights between Taipei and Singapore using a leased 154-seat Boeing 737-800.

Lester Song, assistant general manager of Maple Aviation, GSA for the airline in Singapore, said: “Our distribution channels in Singapore will include both travel agents and the airline’s website booking engine. Right now, the website is only in Chinese, but we are exploring the possibility of an English-language Singapore site. We will also have a presence on Facebook.”

“Attractive introductory fares are currently being mulled over and will be announced soon,” he added.

The full-service carrier will join five other airlines already operating between both countries – China Airlines, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar Asia Airways and Tiger Airways – and expects to deploy its own 162-seat Airbus A320 or 194-seat Airbus A321 by end-2011.

TransAsia Airways has ordered two A330-300s and six A321s. Its network includes seven destinations in Taiwan, 13 cities in China and Japan.

SPECULATION is rife that Australian national airline Qantas is planning to establish an offshore operation, involving its pilots and engineers, in South-east Asia. The airline has not commented on the matter yet.

Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) public relations officer, Anil Lambert, told TTG Asia e-Daily that although Qantas’ plan to ship its operations to Asia is mere speculation, “the airline’s refusal to deny or comment on this matter, its refusal to agree on the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) AIPA has brought to the table on behalf of its members, what AIPA members have been hearing, and the numerous media reports that were written last Friday including a report in The Australian, all seem to point in the direction that Qantas is pursuing the offshore option.”

Lambert added that AIPA members were gravely concerned about the speculation, due to the assumption that the main focus of offshoring operations would involve pilots, citing Jetconnect – Qantas’ subsidiary plying trans-tasman routes – as an example.

Until recently, Qantas’ New Zealand-Australia routes were flown using aircraft painted with its livery, using Qantas flight numbers, and with pilots donning Qantas uniforms. However, these routes were in fact operated by Qantas subsidiary Jetconnect, employing pilots and crew on overseas wages and conditions. Lambert said pilots were worried that this would be the first of several steps that Qantas would take to base operations out of South-east Asia at a cheaper operating cost.

Qantas pilots have been in a nine-month negotiation process, with the airline refusing to give in to their demands. The EBA has requested for job security clauses to include all viable, existing Qantas routes flown by Qantas pilots, and that whenever Qantas codeshares with another airline from within its organisation (e.g. Jetstar), it must be flown by pilots on the Qantas long-haul EBA. In addition, when a Qantas long-haul route is scrapped but replaced by Jetstar within 12 months, that Jetstar pilots be employed under the Qantas long-haul EBA.

Lambert added that Qantas has applied for a Malaysian Air Operators certificate. According to The Australian, this was denied by the airline’s spokeswoman, Olivia Wirth. But she said the airline’s international review was considering all options to include new products, new routes, existing and new markets.

By Faith Chang

THIS YEAR’S Global Spa Summit is taking place in Bali – the first Asian venue for the annual meeting of the world’s top decision-makers for spa-related industries – from May 16 to 19.

The summit, with the theme, Engage the Change. The Customer. The Money. The Future, aims to advance the spa and wellness industry in the world. Two hundred ninety-six delegates from 28 countries are at this year’s event.

Spa Finder CEO and Spa Global Summit founding board member, Pete Ellis, said: “We have to come to Asia because Asia is the heartbeat of spa. In Asia, spa is a century-old heritage. To the rest of the world spa is a relatively new industry.”

Mandara Spa Indonesia COO and Global Spa Summit co-founder, Jeff Mathews, said that the modern version of spa actually started in Bali around 1995 to 1996. “It was based on traditional methods, but the new type of scrubs, like papaya, have since been introduced. Today, spa is a US$260-billion business,” he said.