THAILAND Incentive and Convention Association (TICA) will be organising four incentive fam trips for corporate meeting planners, incentive houses and travel agents from Singapore, Australia, South Korea and the US to emphasise the country’s potential as a destination for business events.

The trips will kick off with 12 corporate meeting planners from Singapore from May 11 to 15. The second trip, targeted at incentives houses from Australia, will be held from June 14 to 19.

The two remaining trips, one for travel agents from South Korea and the other for incentive houses from the US, will be held in September and October respectively.

TICA president Sumate Sudasna said each trip would comprise a small number of hosted buyers, handpicked by the organisers to ensure quality and potential returns of investment, who will be treated to a high-end incentive itinerary in Thailand.

The trips will be co-organised by Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau.

By Sirima Eamtako

ACCOR is expanding its Australian network through new franchising and management agreements with a number of existing hotels.

Accor Australia vice president, Simon McGrath, said: “Our franchise network has grown by more than 200 per cent over the last three years. We expect strong growth again for 2011.”

Among the group’s additions in Australia are Mercure Sydney Potts Point, Grand Mercure Apartment Cable Beach Resort, Blue Mountains’ Fairmont Resort – an MGallery collection, and Mercure Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island.

Mercure Sydney Potts Point, formerly The Crest, has been reopened with 227 rooms after a two-year total renovation.

The 150-key Grand Mercure Apartment Cable Beach Resort is located on Cable Beach, popular with European travellers.

Fairmont Resort, under new ownership and management with Accor operating the hotel as part of its MGallery collection, is undergoing a major refurbishment of its rooms and public facilities, which will enable it to host large groups, conference and events.

SRI LANKA-based Jetwing is beefing up its hotel business, launching a new logo and identity in May and pouring new investment into hotels.

Hotels in its portfolio now carry the Jetwing brand, including Jetwing Blue (previously Blue Oceanic) and Jetwing Sea (previously Seashells), both in Negombo.

Jetwing has 12 hotels in operation in Sri Lanka, representing some 520 rooms. It is building two hotels, a 60-room in Colombo and a 100-room in Yala National Park, both slated to open in end 2012.

Chairman Hiran Cooray said during an interview at the recent ITB Berlin: “There is a lack of deluxe rooms in Sri Lanka and nobody invested in the past years (due to the political strife).”

“Now, (the investors) are starting to come back. We ourselves are more confident of investing more money into the sector. Since late last year, hotel rates have been booming, as Sri Lanka is back in demand.”

The country has about 14,000 rooms at the moment, he added.

Cooray said Jetwing was planning to expand its hotel business overseas in emerging markets such as Vietnam and Cambodia.

THE NATIONAL Tourism Council Malaysia (NTCM) will hold its inaugural B2C luxury tourism fair from May 20 to 22 in Kuala Lumpur.

NTCM president and Lifestyle & Luxury Tourism Fair chairman Shamsul Falak Abd Kadir said the fair would feature travel products and experiences for affluent customers, with exhibitors displaying a range of luxury properties, spa, cruise, golf and tour packages in Malaysia and abroad.

He added that 70 of the 100 available booths had already been taken up.

Apple Vacations & Conventions managing director, Desmond Lee, intends to sell tour packages to Scandinavia and Iceland, among other destinations. “We decided to participate, as the fair targets a very niche market. We believe sales will be good for we have seen a pick up in the luxury segment since 2010.”

Ministry of Culture and Tourism Indonesia’s country manager for Malaysia, Shafie Obet, said the Indonesian NTO was participating in the fair to raise awareness in the Malaysian market of luxury products in Indonesia. “We want to dispel the misconception that Indonesia only has mid-range products for the middle-income segment.”

Other participating NTOs include Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourism Australia and Macau Government Tourist Office.

UNITED Business Media (UBM), which is buying SATTE for UBM Asia from India’s Cross Section Publications, foresees the travel trade show, already the largest in India, becoming twice as big in three years.

In an interview, UBM Asia senior vice president, Michael Duck, said that apart from leveraging on the expertise of the existing India team, the company would also use UBM’s own operational expertise to bring about economies of scale and best practices to SATTE in areas such as marketing communications, stand contracting and global PR.

UBM owns and/or organises 14 exhibitions in India, running the gamut of industries, from food and fashion to pharmaceuticals. It also produces at least six publications and medical directories. It has five offices there, in Mumbai (the India HQ), Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

Duck said the partnership that Messe Berlin had with SATTE would continue. The show is branded as “in cooperation with ITB Berlin”, and Duck said following first meetings with Messe Berlin and the acquisition announcement, “they (Messe Berlin) had agreed to continue to support SATTE, as they believe the India travel market plays an important part of the ever-growing industry”.

“We at UBM Asia look forward to also seek opportunities/ways to improve and continue the relationship with them,” he added.

The only problem to growth is finding suitable venues in Delhi as convention space, he said. However, he foresees the problem to ease, as more hotels with convention facilities open in Delhi.

Other than space, the sky’s the limit for SATTE. “There is great hunger among India’s wealthy to explore new countries, so the outbound growth will continue to be good. But it is also important to position the show as inbound, as India is changing so much – look at the quality of airports, hotels and the increase in professionalism of the tourism industry staff. And we’re coming into it at the early stages still of the market, so there is tremendous potential,” Duck said.

Currently, SATTE’s size is around 6,500m2 nett. It is held in Delhi every January. This year’s edition, the 18th, saw close to 600 exhibitors and 9,300 attendees from more than 40 countries.

UBM is expected to complete the acquisition by the end of April following Indian regulatory approval.

MARRIOTT International’s largest hotel brand, Courtyard by Marriott, has opened its first hotel in Indonesia, the Courtyard Bali Nusa Dua.

The 250-room hotel is owned by PT Peninsula Bali Resort and will operate under a long-term management agreement with Marriott International, with Philip Spencer as general manager.

“We are very excited about entering into the Indonesian market,” said Janis Milham, vice president and global brand manager for Courtyard by Marriott.

“Global expansion is very important to Courtyard, as 25 per cent of our pipeline is outside of the United States. We have experienced significant growth in Asia recently where we are serving both business and leisure travellers.”

Over the next few years, Courtyard is planning to enter into several new countries, including Cambodia, Romania and Jamaica. The overall portfolio is expected to total more than 1,000 hotels in 40 countries by 2013.

WYNDHAM Hotel Group is strengthening its position in India, with its first Ramada Encore hotel to open in Bangalore at the end of 2011. The brand debut follows recent announcements of the chain’s expansion plans in the country.

The group’s first Wyndham Hotels and Resorts property for the market will be unveiled this year. It will also introduce the Days Inn brand, with three new hotels to open over the next few years.

Owned by J.A.K. Associates, the eight-storey Ramada Encore will be located 15 minutes from the city centre. Geared towards value-conscious guests, the lifestyle boutique hotel will have 90 rooms featuring contemporary décor.

Ken Greene, Wyndham Hotel Group president and managing director – Asia-Pacific, said: “India is a strong growth market for us with many opportunities, especially in the mid-scale space.

“The launch of the Ramada Encore brand allows us to diversify our offerings in the country and provide travellers with yet another choice within Wyndham Hotel Group.”

Ramada Encore’s amenities include a fitness centre, a multi-cuisine restaurant, a lounge bar and meeting facilities.

THAI Airways International (THAI) has temporarily shifted one of its three daily Bangkok-Tokyo (Narita) flights to serve Bangkok-Incheon due to poor performance on the Japan route.

THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand said the Bangkok-Tokyo (Narita) service, which normally enjoys about 90 per cent load factor during this period, had recorded just 50 per cent over the past two weeks.

The daily Bangkok-Tokyo (Narita) flight will be suspended from March 27 to April 26, and THAI will instead operate a special Bangkok-Incheon daily flight from April 5 to 26.

South Korea has progressively become a more popular destination for outbound Thais, and the airline is hoping that the special flight will help make up for the loss of revenue on the Japan route, said Piyasvasti.

THAI’s other services to Japan, including to Tokyo (Haneda), Fukuoka, Nagoya and Osaka, remain unchanged.

By Sirima Eamtako

APPLE Vacations & Conventions will organise a charter service from Kuala Lumpur to Busan to coincide with the Hari Raya Puasa festive period beginning in August. This is the company’s first charter to South Korea.

Departing on August 27 and returning September 2, the 288-seat flight will utilise Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) A330-300 aircraft.

Senior manager, procurement & marketing, Ellyza Lee said hot demand on the Kuala Lumpur-Incheon sector made it difficult to get seats on MAS and Korean Air during the peak outbound travel period.

Last year, during the same one-week Hari Raya period, the company managed to sell 20 series group departures to Incheon.

Its all-inclusive package will include tours to Busan, Seoul and Jeju Island.

KOH SAMUI’S air and sea access will begin to operate again, with the last backlog of stranded air passengers expected to be cleared within the morning.

Bangkok Airways, which operates the largest number of daily flights to and from Koh Samui, said there were about 80 passengers who remained today. Thirty-six flights on Monday and 54 flights on Tuesday were cancelled due to bad weather that left about 2,000 passengers stranded. The airline resumed operations yesterday with 38 flights, including six special flights, between Bangkok and Koh Samui.

Thai Airways International also resumed its twice-daily Bangkok-Koh Samui flights yesterday and added one extra return flight to help clear its own backlog of 600 passengers.

Both airlines are expected to resume normal operations today. Bangkok Airways will operate 56 flights, or at its normal daily capacity, including 33 flights on the Bangkok-Koh Samui service and a daily flight each on the Koh Samui-Hong Kong and Koh Samui-Singapore routes.

Some ferry services from Koh Samui to the mainland’s pier in Surat Thani have also resumed since late afternoon yesterday, said Saiphayom Somsuk, chief of Koh Samui Tourism Coordination Centre, Tourism Authority of Thailand.

She said tourists could continue their journey to Bangkok by air at Surat Thani Airport, which also resumed operations yesterday, or by road, which is almost back to normal conditions. However, rail service remains closed.

Saiphayom added that more ferry and katamaran services would be operated today from Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao to Surat Thani and Chumphon on the mainland, though these would not be running at the normal capacity.

By Sirima Eamtako