SYDNEY is set to take centre stage as the host city for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals.

Imagine Cup, described by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as “the Olympics of the software world”, is a competition that challenge students to help solve the world’s toughest problems by converting their ideas into reality through harnessing imagination and technology.

More than 400 student finalists from 100 countries will gather in Sydney to compete in this event.

Jon Hutchison, CEO of Business Events Sydney (BESydney), which has been working on this bid with Microsoft Australia since 2008, said: “It’s a great opportunity to showcase Sydney globally.

“The benefits of hosting this prestigious competition are above and beyond the estimated AUD$6.6 million (US$7.1 million) dollars it will contribute to the Australian economy, and of course the ongoing ripple effect of this profiling opportunity in more than 100 countries.”

ASIA World Destination Management (AWDM) is seeing a return of confidence in Bangkok as a MICE destination. The Thai capital has attracted some 60 per cent of all the DMC’s confirmed MICE groups between January and May.

AWDM director Max Jantasuwan attributed the sudden upsurge in Bangkok’s popularity to pent-up demand over the last two years due to Thai political uncertainty. He said another reason for the recent success could be the DMC’s and Bangkok suppliers’ ability to meet last-minute requests.

AWDM received five last-minute bookings for Bangkok from blue-chip medical companies from Europe and Asia-Pacific between April and May, with a range of 60 to 100 foreign delegates each. On the other hand, enquiries for Phuket, which was in demand last year, have slowed down.

Despite the positive signs, Jantasuwan said onward bookings for Bangkok for the rest of the year were slow, although he was anticipating a high conversion rate of last-minute enquiries into bookings.

The DMC has so far bagged a 450-pax, two-night conference in Bangkok from Asia-Pacific in June, and another 450-pax, one-week conference in Bangkok and Phuket next year.

By Sirima Eamtako

THAILAND-based Six Senses Resorts & Spas is planning to float a holding company in Colombo to handle all its resorts and spas in South Asia, according to its founder and CEO, Sonu Shivdasani.

In an interview with TTG Asia e-Daily last Friday, Sonu, who spends five months of the year in the Maldives, said the group was planning to launch a public share issue in Colombo in the summer (June to August).

“It makes sense for me to locate this holding company in Colombo because of its close proximity to the Maldives,” he said.

Six Senses’ four properties in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India will be brought under the Colombo-based holding company once it has been established.

The company has spas at two hotels in Sri Lanka and is setting up – as a joint venture with Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Group – a resort with 54 villas in southern Bentota and 15 tents on an island along the Madu Ganga river.

Six Senses is also contemplating a health resort either in Sri Lanka’s central hills or Niligiri mountain in South India.

THE TRAVEL trade in eastern Indonesia fear that Merpati Nusantara Airline’s tragic accident in Kaimana, West Papua last weekend has made it more difficult for them to sell the destination.

The region has already been finding it a challenge to attract visitors after the EU banned all Indonesian airlines in 2007. In addition, travellers are also not covered by travel insurance should they choose to fly on any of these airlines.

Incito Tours Makassar managing director, Sebastian Ng, said: “Except for Batavia Air, which has been exempted from the ban, other airlines serving eastern Indonesia are still on EU’s black list. Travellers who still want to fly need to sign a letter that they are flying at their own risk.”

“A number of European tour operators had previously dropped flight itineraries to Flores and Komodo, and now only sell live-a-board tours,” Ng added. “Moreover, there are some routes in the region that are only served by Merpati. With this accident, things may get worse.”

Flores Exotic Tours director, Leonardus Nyoman, said the accident would worsen Merpati’s already dismal image.

“International travellers had been avoiding flying the airline even before this accident because of its unreliable schedule, delays and cancellations due to engine problems,” he said. “They would fly Merpati only when there was no other choice.”

INDONESIA-based Tauzia Hotel Management will be providing “behind-the-scenes” management services for Worldhotels’ new branded solution in the ASEAN region, following the strategic partnership last week between the two companies.

Under a white-label services arrangement, the Tauzia team would be working behind the scenes, providing best practices, technical support, as well as hotel management services to hotels under the Worldhotels branded solution, said Worldhotels vice president Asia-Pacific, Roland Jegge.

“The branded hotel solution was developed because we saw there was demand from some of our hoteliers for additional support and more prominent use of the Worldhotels brand. It offers one of the most flexible models in the world for upscale hotels,” he said.

Tauzia Hotel Management president director, Marc Steinmeyer, said: “Expanding the Worldhotels brand is the perfect opportunity for us to enter into the upscale segment, and to widen our reach beyond Indonesia and into more ASEAN countries.”

Steinmeyer is looking to manage three to five properties within the next three years, in Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, and in neighbouring countries.

MALAYSIA-based tour operators strong in the outbound market to India are hoping for the country’s visa restrictions to be eased soon to encourage more travel there.

Since last January, the Indian government has imposed visa restrictions in a bid to counter terrorist threats. Tourists from all nations can only make two visits to India even while on a six-month multiple-entry visa and must wait 60 days before making the second visit.

GrandLotus Travel Agencies managing director and Malaysian Indian Tour and Travel Agents Association president, K Thangevelu, said: “It’s unfair to have a blanket restriction worldwide. Malaysia has one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world, and a large number from our Indian community have roots in India and travel there frequently. This visa ruling has disrupted their travel patterns.”

“Nowadays, air travel is more feasible, frequent and cheaper than ever before, sometimes costing less than their visas. So it doesn’t make sense to impose a restriction like this.”

Ganesh Travel Agencies managing director, A Sevaguru, said that it is not only Indians who enjoy visiting India nowadays, as the country is a popular travel destination. “As more airlines are flying to India on attractive rates, visitors are going for mono destinations in India,” Sevaragu said.

India’s External Affairs Minister, S M Krishna, told an India-based newspaper recently that exceptions were being made to bona fide tourists and visitors, and that the government was reviewing some of the restrictions.

By Ellen Chen

THE SINGAPORE Tourism Board (STB) has launched a second tender for the management and operation of Singapore’s second passenger cruise terminal in Marina South.

STB deputy director (cruise), Remy Choo, said: “We aim to have the terminal operator appointed by early fourth quarter of 2011 at the latest. The construction of the ICT is on track for completion by end-2011, and the terminal is expected to be fully operationally ready from second quarter of 2012.”

The first operator tender for the International Cruise Terminal (ICT) was released on September 23, 2009. Only one bid, from the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC), which manages three ferry terminals and a cruise centre, was received at the time. According to Choo, the tender was not awarded “after careful evaluation”.

“STB subsequently engaged both local and international cruise lines and terminal operators further to establish the adoption of the best business model, to make it more attractive for potential bidders to participate,” he explained.

Christina Siaw, CEO of SCC, has confirmed her company’s intention to bid again to manage the ICT. “We bring to the table our award-winning expertise and processes honed over 19 years as Singapore’s only and Asia’s oldest cruise terminal,” she said. “We have the ability to harness economies of scale and leverage on the network effect from two terminals.”

The new tender is open to local and overseas companies with experience in passenger terminal operations and passenger handling. The management contract will run on a 10-year lease term, with the option to renew fo five more years.

Information on the tender procedure is available on the Singapore government’s e-procurement portal, GeBiz (www.gebiz.gov.sg) under the reference number STB/CPD/11-12/RT3. Tender application closes on July 29 (16.00 GMT +8).

MARRIOTT International signed an agreement with Indonesia-based property developer Lippo Karawaci last week to operate two more JW Marriott-branded properties in Jakarta by 2015.

The new five-star hotels will be built in The St Moritz mixed-use complex in West Jakarta and in Kemang Village in South Jakarta, for a total investment of one trillion rupiah (US$112 million).

The JW Marriott in The St Moritz, scheduled for launch in 2015, will have 208 rooms. The one in Kemang Village, scheduled to start operations in 2013, will have 275 rooms.

SINGAPORE-based hospitality group Grace International soft-opened its second boutique property, The Saff, in Chinatown late last year. Occupancy has been “better than expected” so far, according to The Saff’s marketing manager Velda Mah.

Business travellers make up 30 per cent of the clientele, Mah said, adding that the 79-room hotel is working closely with online travel agencies to move its rooms, as its target market is largely the “Internet-savvy”.

“The Saff is different from The Scarlet (Grace International’s other boutique hotel),” she explained. “It is more eclectic and cultural, compared to The Scarlet’s glamorous Baroque style. The Saff is also priced lower than The Scarlet, with published rates starting from S$230 (US$186).”

Meanwhile, Grace International will close The Scarlet’s Desire restaurant for a complete overhaul. The revamped outlet will open this September as a chic bistro under a different name, and will continue to welcome corporate and private events, said Mah.

The group is also surveying North America for opportunities to take its boutique hotel business beyond Singapore’s shores.

AIRASIA X, the longhaul affiliate of Malaysia-based low-cost carrier (LCC) AirAsia, recorded stellar results for the first quarter of the year.

The airline carried 640,000 passengers in the first quarter of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 56.5 per cent. It added six new routes during the same period, to Mumbai, Delhi, Tehran, Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris, while its aircraft fleet size increased from eight to 11.

AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani, said: “Our continued rapid growth trajectory is testament to the breakthrough longhaul model that we have pioneered, which unlocks significant latent demand that exists between South-east Asia and the major markets in North Asia, Australia, India, Middle East and Europe, which are unserved by traditional low-cost carriers.”

AirAsia X’s first quarter passenger traffic grew by 59.8 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 billion Revenue-Passenger-Kms (RPKs), making it the second largest LCC in South-east Asia, after AirAsia Malaysia.

Its capacity grew by 48 per cent during the same period to 4.5 billion Available-Seat-Kms (ASKs), resulting in a load factor of 81 per cent, an increase of six percentage points over the same quarter last year.