Hotel industry and travel news from around the Asia Pacific region; this week: Travel trends of Singaporeans, Bespoke and Louvre Group partner, Laos starts cruising and more...
IHG and Pro-Invest Group Collaborates For Holiday Inn Express Portfolio in Australia
The first Holiday Inn Express Sydney, Macquarie Park is expected to open next year in partnership with hotel developer and operator, Pro-Invest Group. A total of A$150 million was invested into Pro-Invest Group’s Australian Hospitality Opportunity Fund by International Hotel Group (IHG). Another hotel expected to open in the pipeline for 2016 is Holiday Inn Express Brisbane, Spring Hill. The upcoming properties in the portfolio will be part of IHG’s Rewards Club â€" the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 80 million members worldwide. Pro-invest Group aims to announce more acquisitions by the end of this year. Meanwhile, there are negotiations on another five sites in Australia for the 15 hotels expansive portfolio.
Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia Collaborates with Louvre Hotels Group
On October 15 2014, Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia (BHMAsia) will represent and expand Golden Tulip brand by Lourve Hotels Group in Thailand aiming to boost both management and development potential of the brand portfolio in the country. Currently, European brand, Golden Tulip has 30 projects in Indonesia and looks forward to developing its presence into Thailand. BHMAsia too, plans to expand its design hotel brand X2 (CrossTo) into more Asian and European destinations through Golden Tulip’s extensive network, which includes Indonesia as well in order to meet their goal of 30 X2 properties in Asia by 2019.
New Luxury River Cruise to Sail Laos in 2015
Laos Pandaw, a new luxury ship which is operated by Pandaw, a luxury river cruise expedition company will set sail on its first 10-night itinerary through Laos in November, 2015. Another ship by Pandaw, the MV Mahabaahu is also expected to sail next March on the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. Futhermore in Vietnam, a Red River expedition will be offered through Halong Bay on Angkor Pandaw which begins in July 2015. Both the river cruise and luxury sea cruise segment have been identified as upcoming trends for the adventurous, high end traveller by Virtuoso, the world’s leading network of luxury travel agencies. As these two segments continue to gain momentum in  Asia we can expect to see more river cruise destinations emerging.
New Okinawa Base for Japan’s Low Cost Carrier, Peach
Peach Aviation as branched out to Okinawa from headquarters, Osaka-Kansai International Airport. Its 17th flight route offered is from Naha, Okinawa to Taipei, Taiwan which commenced on 20th September this year. With the growing interests of internationals visitors travelling to less frequent areas of Japan such as Okinawa, Peach Aviation aims to connect with Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore though future flight routes to theses destinations have yet to be agreed. In addition to being an important resort market for the domestic market, Okinawa is also being considered as a future entertainment and casino destination, should gambling legalised in Japan.
Golden Mynamar Airlines Expands International Routes
Thrice-weekly flights to Chiang Mai are a first step for Golden Myanmar Airlines to expanding its international routes. The airline also flies to two other international destinations; Bangkok and Singapore from Yangon. The airlines intend to add route to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur next, to further expand to key feeder markets in the region. In August, Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation announced that the new Hanthawady International Airport, outside Yangon, will soon break ground once an operator has been selected. At the moment, Myanmar has three international airports: Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Thaw with Yangon International Airport being the main gateway to the country. It is however, reaching its ceiling and needs to be expanded to manage 3.5 million passenger arrivals by 2015 instead of its current capacity of 2.7 million passenger arrivals. Myanmar ambitious tourism arrival targets will require expansion and modernisation of its airport infrastructure.
Travel Trends of Singaporeans
This year’s top five most popular destinations for Singaporeans to visit are Europe, Japan, China, Korea and cruise holidays as observed during the NATAS fair in August. Last year, Skyscanner also revealed the top cities which interest Singaporeans. : Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Bali were ranked at the top 5 respectively. Both platforms have identified a growing trend of long haul and exotic destinations to be in demand. In 2013, four European destinations emerged in Skyscanner’s list of ten fastest growing destinations from Singapore and destinations such as Turkey, South Africa, Russia were more in demand during NATAS 2014. This reflects that Singaporeans more and more pursue holidays which are off the beaten track and are looking further afield for novel and memorable experiences.
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