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Be Bold with TTG Asia. www.ttgasiamedia.com | www.ttgasia.com No. 1657/April 20 – 26, 2012 Serviced Apartments GDS Arabian Travel Room to grow New ways of connecting Market Special PAGE 9 page 12 Dubai’s growth spurt PAGE 15 www.ttgasia.com Prices in India www.ttgasia.com Playing catch up Most popular on upward climb Carlson Rezidor (as of April 17, 2012) Hotel Group is a New India visa centres in 1 Singapore unlikely to boost Industry braces for dearer rooms, leading team in travel the Champion- airfares and meals due to tax hike Clarification: New India visa ship, aspiring 2 centres in Singapore unlikely By Divya Kaul to promotion to boost travel NEW DELHI India’s service airlines to import their own avi- to the Pre- Macau lays claims to the tax hike from 10 to 12 per cent, ation fuel, which has long been 3 world’s largest Conrad, which came into effect on April a thorn in the flesh due to high mier League, Sheraton and Holiday Inn 1, will raise the prices of travel- prices offered by state-owned oil hotels ling to and within India, raising companies. says its APAC worries about the performance However, travel trade mem- Jetstar opens up Singapore- president Simon Nanning connections of the tourism industry. bers not only fear that the incre- 4 Jyotsna Suri, chairperson and ment in service tax will make Barlow. He lets Insight Vacations unveils managing director, The LaLiT India less competitive on the Gracia Chiang in 5 inaugural Asian programme Suri Hospitality Group, said: whole, but impact outbound “Our industry is (already) heav- and domestic travel due to the on his game plan New weekly remittance for India BSP leaves bad taste in ily burdened with multiple taxes higher cost of living. 6 – see page 6 travel consultants’ mouths like the Luxury Tax and VAT, as “The overall impact of the well as taxes levied by different two per cent increase in service Starwood appoints new states. This would adversely af- tax will affect foreign tourist ar- 7 presidents of Asia-Pacific fect the industry’s growth and rivals and outbound tourism,” and China result in higher costs for the said Biji Eapen, president, IATA Las Vegas Sands eyes Asian consumer.” Agents Association of India. expansion “The government ignored our Rajeev Kohli, joint manag- 8 proposals to remove service tax ing director, Creative Travel, Jet Airways looks to expand on hotels and restaurants and added that the approach taken 9 international operations imposed a hike instead, which had been myopic: “We should Singapore remains a hotel will increase the service tax on be looking at ways to make investment hotspot rooms from 5.1 to 6.2 per cent the pricing of our packages 10 and restaurants from 3.1 to 3.7 more attractive, thus increasing To read these news, go to www.ttgasia.com per cent (when taking into ac- demand, which automatically count tax abatement),” added leads to higher tax revenues,” he Kamlesh Barot, president, Fed- explained. eration of Hotel & Restaurant There is some silver lining Hong Kong ripe for more M&As Associations of India. though, one of them being a Airfares are also subject to an proposal by the finance minis- By Prudence Lui such moves. our business and strategies,” he increase, although the jump may ter for excise duty exemption on HONG KONG Westminster Arrow Travel managing di- said. not be as substantial because the certain food items prepared in Travel’s recent acquisition of rector, Tommy Tam, anticipated Fraser also pointed out that Indian government has allowed hotels and restaurants. Travelex Hong Kong has not that there would be more of such there were barriers to entry. been met with surprise from purchases in town, although he “With the large cash require- the trade, with some saying that expressed concerns over the mo- ments of corporate travel, I am Viewpoint What impact will there be? the market is poised for further nopoly of several big players. not sure many companies would consolidation. The deal has also For now, it seems that many be aggressively expanding in this “Consumers “The laws of been said to be significant, as do not view the enlarged entity segment.” will now have economics there has not been a similar one of Westminster as a threat. As for the SMEs that West- to shell out are sacro- of this scale in the last few years. David Fraser, managing direc- minster now wants to go after, 10 to 15 per sanct – the Swire Travel, director of cor- tor of Greater China for Flight competitor Incola Travel direc- porate travel, Dorothy Yeung, Centre, parent company of FCm tor and general manager, Angela cent more lower the explained that given the tight Travel Solutions, felt the level Wong, said: “We have our own when they price, the manpower supply situation in of competition would remain source of clientele and it is dif- stay at hotels higher the Hong Kong, taking the route of as status quo. “(Travelex Hong ferent from what the big brands in India.” demand.” acquisitions could help “avoid Kong) seems to be a good fit for handle. Our small corporates direct competition, and dimin- Westminster. I don’t believe that are loyal to our personalised and Iqbal Mulla Rajeev Kohli ishing turnover and profit”. (the acquisition) will impact value-added service, and won’t President Joint managing director However, she added that Swire FCm or have a big impact on the switch over for the sake of big Travel Agents Association of India Creative Travel Travel was conservative about industry. We remain focused on discounts.” ttgAsia Apr20 p01 newsgc.indd 1 4/17/12 6:10 PM NEWS APRIL 20 – 26, 2012 • TTG ASIA 2 Betting on booming growth Hotel developments flourish in the Philippines amid rising confidence and thriving inbound Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp Philippine By Rosa Ocampo ingly confident of entering the MANILA Riding on steady eco- hotel management arena, with nomic growth and a burgeoning the emergence of local hotel inbound market, the Philippines brands like Raintree, Bellevue, B is seeing a frenetic construction Hotels, Kukun and Go Hotels. of hotels and resorts, which is While oversupply concerns generally welcomed by the tour- remain valid, Clemente said “so ism sector that has suffered from long as there (are) right strate- acommodation shortage in re- gies that will support sustained cent years. development, everything will Some 2,304 rooms will be work well”. added to Manila this year, and Bueno explained that the close to 6,000 rooms will come NTO was supporting hotel de- online within the next three velopers by “investing heavily in years. infrastructure for more seamless Aileen Clemente, president, travel around the country and Philippine Travel Agencies As- aggressive destination promo- sociation, said that an expanded An artist’s impression of one of four major projects within Manila’s Entertainment City tions”. By doing so, the Philip- room inventory would help to pines will be able to accom- create destination demand, as Seventy per cent of the new Several upscale brands that Meanwhile, the Manila Bay modate the targeted 10 million the lack of suitable accommo- hotel projects are in Manila, have eluded the Philippine hos- area is slated for entertainment tourist arrivals in 2016. dation used to be a problem in said Rica Bueno, director, office pitality scene are finally entering and leisure developments, such She is optimistic that the tar- attracting tourists to the Philip- of tourism standards & regula- the market. Raffles and Fairmont as the Entertainment City, imi- get will be met, going by recent pines. tions, Philippines Department of are set to debut later this year tating the waterfronts of Hong trends. Tourist arrivals grew an Agreeing, Mellissa Ledesma, Tourism. She added that hotels while Grand Hyatt and Banyan Kong, Macau and Singapore. impressive 17 per cent to 411,064 director of sales and market- in the capital have the country’s Tree will follow suit in 2014. Hotel and resort investments in January, paving way for the ing, Shangri-La’s Boracay Re- highest occupancy rate, averag- The capital is also seeing a raft are also spreading beyond Ma- likely possibility of exceeding the sort & Spa, felt that the entry of ing 70 per cent last year. of hotel cum residence devel- nila, especially in the Visayas, targeted four million arrivals this renowned brands would attract The growing investment con- opment projects, such as Hotel ranging from budget to five-star year. Arrivals reached 3.9 million new markets and increase exist- fidence has also led to several vis- H2O, Shangri-La and Discovery properties. in 2011, exceeding the 3.5 mil- ing inbound business. ible trends in the hotel industry. Primea. As well, Filipinos are increas- lion goal. PUTRA WORLD TRADE CENTRE & SERI PACIFIC HOTEL Charter boost for Nanning KUALA LUMPUR . MALAYSIA By Linda Haden were warranted. Organized By: In Collaboration With: SINGAPORE The reopening of a direct She said: “We just don’t see the need to air link between Singapore and Nanning, charter non-stop flights to Nanning. Giv- China could help grow demand to the en that it is a second-tier city, demand for second-tier city, with the decision by ASA trips there is not as significant as first-tier Holidays and AZ Holidays to partner an cities such as Beijing or Shanghai.