According to the Civil Aviation Department of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, an aircraft registered in Hong Kong may not fly for the purpose of public transport unless the operator holds an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) granted by Director-General of Civil Aviation. Granting of an AOC by the Director-General is cognizant of an applicant’s previous conduct and experience, equipment, organization, staffing, maintenance, and other arrangements. The AOC award to TAG Aviation Asia, therefore, attests to the carrier’s competence regarding its ability to conduct safe operations.

The carrier recognizes that by becoming an air operator in Hong Kong it has accomplished a major milestone and seeks to grow its business and that of the aviation industry to cater for the increasing demand in the Greater China region. In a response to growing demand for services and to facilitate the expansion, the carrier has hired additional staff and moved into larger offices in Wanchai.

In welcoming TAG Aviation Asia’s business expansion, the head of transportation at Invest Hong Kong, Mr. Benjamin Wong, notes that the carrier’s continued investment and expansion in the city is an illustration of the opportunities in, and strong support of, Hong Kong’s aviation industry in the face of the current economic challenges. With growing interest from the Greater China region, much optimistic about the long-term development of the aviation industry in Hong Kong is therefore expected a consequence.

The recognition of the quality of service provided by companies like TAG Aviation Asia in Hong Kong helps strengthen the industry and the city’s position as a regional aviation hub. Established in Hong Kong in 2006, TAG Aviation Asia is responsible for the Asian expansion of parent company TAG Aviation’s global business aircraft services. TAG Aviation Asia offers its clients the benefits of centralized aircraft operations support and local service to Asian clients and joins a network of TAG subsidiaries around the world in locations in the USA and in Europe. The company currently operates over 200 business aircraft worldwide. Having obtained the Hong Kong AOC, TAG Aviation Asia is now able to offer commercial flights to their clients in Hong Kong-registered aircraft amid the adverse economic climate.

Source: ASIA Travel Tips.com at www.asiatraveltips.com

Participation in this scheme is expected to raise the center’s bar higher and help discover new ways that can reduce the impact of events on the environment. The centre has been a leader in environmental practices over the past six years. Since 2003 it has increased recycling volumes by 184% annually and in 2008 it recycled an impressive 46% of its exhibition waste stream. Its efforts to divert material from landfill prevented the creation of 636 tones of greenhouse gas – an achievement equivalent to taking 298 cars off Australian roads for a year.

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre is one of the first Australian venues, and one of only a handful worldwide, to have undertaken the accreditation process and in becoming a silver Green Globe benchmarked venue. This comes two years after the centre became one of the first two convention centers in the world to receive a Green Globe benchmark accreditation for its environmental programs.

This award is part of wider efforts towards enhancing sustainable tourism in the world. In Australia, Sustainable Tourism CRC and its commercial arm EC3 Global have been invited to provide strategies to address the effects of climate change on the country’s tourism industry. The Tourism Industry Action Plan on Climate Change report opens much needed dialogue across industry as to the challenges faced by tourism stakeholders and presents a plan to combat the potentially devastating effect climate change could deliver to Australia’s third largest industry. The report asserts that benchmarking, sustainable best practice, carbon neutrality, and aggregate destination carbon footprints must become a part of tourism industry practice.

As the world leader in sustainable tourism technology, EC3 Global’s proven role in these areas is vital. The use of current EC3 Global technology to develop a new carbon offset scheme and a way to measure and track destinations have been recommended by the Sustainable Tourism CRC report. These existing services, particularly in benchmarking carbon footprints, is meant to assist tourism organizations actively assess their current environmental performance and to help decrease their environmental impact in the future.

It is envisioned that Australia’s AUD 20.5 billion per annum industry can significantly reduce its carbon emissions by adopting EC3 Global’s scientifically accredited services and in the process help to maintain Australia’s attractiveness as an inbound and domestic tourism destination.

Source: Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at www.scec.com.au

Première passengers who book their tickets between May 29, 2009, and June 1, 2009, may additionally avail of a special return fare of INR 60,000 to London via Mumbai. This offer also extends to travelers on the Mumbai-London sector. For passengers unable to complete their travel bookings in the specified time period, the airline also offers Première travelers from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara a special return fare of INR 89,000 to London via Mumbai, for sale and travel with immediate effect. This offer also extends to travelers on the Mumbai-London sector.

Additionally, Jet Airways is also offering Première travelers from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Pune, Goa, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad a special return fare of INR 94,000 to London via Delhi, for sale and travel with immediate effect. Travelers from Delhi may avail of a special return Première fare of INR 106,000 to London for sale and travel with immediate effect. With this campaign, the carrier is indeed attempting to be among the leader on the UK route, basing this on the strength of the carrier’s product quality and high service standards.

Jet Airways offers daily direct flights to London Heathrow from Mumbai and Delhi. Thanks to the increase in airline activity, Indian outbound travel is set to grow further while additional arrivals are expected from the UK this year – a precursor for the anticipated boom in arrivals for the 2010 Commonwealth Games hosted by India.

The carrier currently operates a fleet of 86 aircraft, which includes 10 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 12 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 50 classic and next generation Boeing 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft, and 14 modern ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft. With an average fleet age of 4.53 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleet in the world. Flights to 63 destinations span the length and breadth of India and beyond, including New York (both JFK and Newark), Toronto, Brussels, London (Heathrow), Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Jet Airways currently operates over 334 flights daily.

Source: Jet Airways at www.jetairways.com

With the airliner servicing London Heathrow, UK tourists travelling to and from Thailand will now be able to enjoy a seamless A380 experience between the two destinations. The in-flight product of Emirates’ A380 now includes onboard shower spas in its first class service and even an onboard lounge for first and business class customers to enjoy. With flat-bed massage-equipped private suites in first class, a new generation of intelligent seating and flat-beds in business class, mood-lighting, and an in-flight entertainment system featuring over 1000 channels of on-demand entertainment, the Emirates’ A380 is one of the finest premium commercial products currently trotting the sky.

In a three-class configuration, the aircraft has 14 first, 76 business, and 399 economy class seats spread over two levels with the upper deck dedicated to first and business class passengers only. Acclaiming the arrival of Emirates’ A380 Airbus as a positive development for Thailand’s tourism industry, the Thai deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport takes delight at the carrier’s choice of Bangkok as the first country to serve as its Far East gateway for the revolutionary A380 product. As a consequence, the ministry is currently marketing and enhancing its trade campaigns focused on promoting Thailand as an ideal holiday destination in the Middle-East. The daily services to Bangkok on EK 372 is scheduled to depart Dubai at 09:40, arriving in Bangkok at 19:00, turning around as EK 373, and departing Bangkok at 21:25, arriving in Dubai at 00:30 the next day.

Source: ASIA Travel Tips.com at www.asiatraveltips.com

James Chappell, Managing Director of STR Global, notes that the Asia Pacific region, along with the Middle East, has come into a similar cyclical movement as Europe and North America, though with a few highlights still such as Bali, which increased its occupancy by 21.5% in RevPAR (in local currency), and Seoul, which equally reported a 16.3% increase (in local currency).

Seoul was the only city in the market to report an increase in occupancy, up 10.5% to 83.3%. Bangkok on the other hand reported the largest decrease in occupancy dropping 33.6% to 44.3%. Bali reported the largest increase in ADR, which rose 17.4% to USD 123.39. Two other markets reported increases in ADR namely the Japanese cities of Tokyo (+10.9% to USD 227.09) and Osaka (+5.8% to USD 122.82). Mumbai, however, led with the highest ADR decrease dropping 41.1% to USD 163.30. Other markets that reported ADR decreases of more than 30% include: New Delhi (-38.6% to USD 174.29); Beijing (-32.3% to USD 97.48); and Sydney (-31.3% to USD 119.92).

Bali was indeed the only key market to report a RevPAR increase (+5.0% to USD 78.83) while New Delhi reported the largest decrease dropping 52.7% to USD 101.33. Three other key markets that reported large RevPAR decreases include: Mumbai (51.4% to USD 95.56), Beijing (-51.2% to USD 50.46), and Bangkok (-47% to USD 39.74).

Source: ASIA Travel Tips.com at www.asiatraveltips.com

The secret of this success is to stay ahead of competitors by marketing harder and smarter by adopting a proactive approach to highlighting Australia’s distinctive qualities. Indeed Australia offers a wealth of incredible locations, venues, and facilities for business events and, with the shift in exchange rates, presents great value for money to international customers.

Included in the extensive trade marketing program for 2009/10 is a new print advertising campaign, an expanded media buy, a four tiered PR campaign to generate more content about Australia’s offering, an enhanced Business Events Australia website, a year round buyer and agent family program, participation at key international trade events such as the 12th annual Team Australia Business Events Educational (TABEE) in Asia, and a trade incentive showcase called the Dreamtime.

The 2009/10 program also includes a partnership with the industry to deliver a strategy for the associations market. The new print advertisements is to be featured in key trade publications in UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and USA, in order to present a dramatic representation of the innovation that takes place in Australia. Through this marketing strategy, the Business Events marketing program is, therefore, intended to make a powerful statement about Australia’s business events proposition for the corporate meeting and incentive market. According to the Head of Business Events Australia, Joyce DiMascio, the print advertising campaign intends to communicate the message of Australia as a place that ‘engages, challenges, provokes and transforms’ in an original and creative way.

This year, the Tourism Australia stand at IMEX has partnered with 14 Australian convention centers, convention bureaus, and other tourism operators to provide Business Events Australia with access to an international market that allows the showcasing of the country to international buyers and association representatives. In this respect, Australia is set to host the premier incentive travel trade event – Dreamtime – in Sydney, the host destination, in October 2009. As part of the event program five destination educationals will also be held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Northern Territory, and Sunshine Coast/Brisbane.

Source: Business Events Australia at businessevents.australia.com

According to PATA Events Director Sheila Leong, the event organizers are utmost impressed with the quality of sellers for PTM 2009 with over 50% of available floor space now booked. The PTM 2009 organizers indicate making the right decision in staging this year’s Mart in Hangzhou and are enjoying fantastic support from the host city with further backing of the China National Tourism Administration.

Indeed PATA has gained sponsorship for the event from premier partners such as Amadeus and CNN which recognizes the value of participating in such a premier travel trade event by providing very practical and meaningful sponsorship. PATA is also very fortunate to have substantial support and backing from the Macau Government Tourist Office. This year the MGTO is the proud sponsor of the PATA Gold Awards Lunch and PTM2010 Invitation Reception dinner.

CNTA Chairman Shao Qiwei has in respect to PTM 2009 affirmed his commitment to strengthening collaborative ties with PATA to ‘facilitate prosperous tourism development in the region’. The CNTA has also called upon all 31 provinces across the PRC to join their participation in this year’s Travel Mart whose aim is to offer both public and private sector travel and tourism organizations opportunities to increase their exposures.

Source: PATA at www.pata.org

The debts have in turn put further pressure on asset values and limited the buyer pool. According to Robert Hecker, managing director of Horwath HTL, this is indeed good news for the sector, and Hecker encourages owners “to buy early before all the choice pieces on the buffet have been taken”.

Investors, however, were less bullish. Pacific Partners is eyeing opportunities in the mid-market sector in China, which it believes is under-served but growing rapidly. Suchad Chiaranussati, of Real Estate Capital Asia Partners, notes that at the rate RevPAR was going down, it was a good time to make moves on transactions. The challenge, however, remains in getting buyer inflation protected across all deals. The good news is that with the way costs have been pared down, all that was needed was a small recovery, which would go directly to the bottom-line, so that when recovery comes, it will be interesting in its returns. Mark Batchelor, a lead hotel investments sales businessman for Jones LaSalles Hotels across the wider Asian region, notes that that creativity was needed in the current economic climate especially for vendor-financed deals. In such a deal, there is confidence that profits will not fall. For Suchad’s company, hospitality represents about 10% of its portfolio, which he expects to increase to 40% in the future.

Pacific Partners, a dedicated hotel fund, notes that the hotel industry is a complex entity in that in economic downturns, it tends to be hit first and recovers the latest while other asset classes are less volatile. What is happening is that hotels are now being traded on capital value unlike the trophy transactions of yesteryears although it is a good time for trophy acquisitions, according to Eric Levy of Tourism Solutions International citing hotels in Tokyo and the Raffles Hotel Singapore as examples.

Japan, China, and Singapore show string outlooks, with the latter beset with its highly developed infrastructure and two integrated resorts development. Thailand, despite its current problems, had good long-term fundamentals as well as Vietnam. Investors note that the first wave of capital that will replace the vacuum left by funds such as Lehman Brothers would be Asian family money, followed by industry investors and private equity funds.

While capital will be hard to come by, less equity will be needed to get transactions going if assets are halved in value, notes Eric Levy of Tourism Solutions International. Investors are foreseeing a family in Japan buying a Western brand portfolio with deals also cited in Singapore and Vietnam through major consolidation or restructuring of a group that would change the landscape. Analysis and other investors opine that the money is on one of the major hotel groups such as Hilton International (owned by Blackstone) to be broken up or Starwood, which “had more brands than they know what to do with”.

Source: TravelMole at www.travelmole.com

From travel booking sites like eLong and Ctrip to airlines and hotel review sites, China’s travel industry players are indeed attempting at using social media profitably. Despite anxiety on the attributes of this new phenomenon, travel gurus, like William Bao Bean, a partner with Softbank China and India Holdings, warn that barriers are quite high for creating a standalone social network. The warning comes amid a backdrop of Lufthansa Airlines experiment with creating its own social network for the U.S. market, Genflylounge.com, which failed to generate the interest that the airline company had hoped for.

Currently, Lufthansa’s social media tactics in China are now anchored by a partnership with Xiaonei.com, the so-called “Facebook of China, where the Company is using its presence at Lufthansa.xiaonei.com to interact with young consumers at the same place where the latter interact with each other. The choice of Xiaonei was based on it being the biggest network for students, with 22 million active users who are generally well-educated, between the ages of 18 and 25, and come from more than 3,000 universities. Indeed, Lufthansa’s 1,000-plus “friends” on Xiaonei.com share travel tips and have access to special deals and contests.

Social Networking Service (SNS) is foreseen as the new medium for tourism development. Despite being a relatively new phenomenon, media tools such as networking sites, bulletin board systems, and microblogging are gaining popularity. However, Jason Xie, eLong’s vice president of web and business development, is not so positive on the use of online social networking for travel industry players. The VP cautions that it is hard to have success with SNS in tourism while outlining three deficiencies: firstly that the ‘stickiness’ is not enough in that people travel maybe twice a year for tourism; secondly, travel itself does not generate sufficient content; and thirdly, travel information is destination-based. These deficiencies, the VP notes, bring SNS in conflict with travel information.

Mark Inkster, chairman of Yiqilai, a travel review site that relies heavily on user-generated content, disagre with Xie justifying sustained use of social media for fun and greater engagement with people as they seek to dream, plan, book, travel, and share their experiences. Despite eLong’s VP’s rather low perception on the use of SNS for tourism purposes, the company has a Yiqifei (”Fly Together”) program, which allows travelers to connect online with people who will be on their flight.

Ctrip, on the other hand, had tried and scrapped a similar program in the past, as have several companies like the now-defunct Intown2.com. Xie seems confident that Yiqifei will appeal to eLong’s customers. Yiqilai allows users on its own site to contribute content through wikis, BBSes, and interactive games. Its “Where I’ve Been” map app, which lets users place virtual pins on cities they have visited, is available on four different social networking sites including Facebook and Xiaonei, and is a top-rated app on 51.com.

Indeed, China presents an interesting set of challenges and opportunities to travel providers when it comes to social media. Its rapidly emerging leisure travel segment does relatively little online booking, but is otherwise very active online, where the country ranks higher in online social engagement than the United States and Europe. Forty percent of China’s online users are categorized as “creators”, compared to 14 percent in the United States, with the former’s online population deemed to be critics or commentators, compared to 16 percent of United States’ internet users. Strategists are however hard pressed at spinning that engagement into air ticket purchases and hotel bookings with questions persistently arising on measuring return on investment for social media projects during the summit. Indeed, Lufthansa’s use of SNS is yet to yield returns in terms of translating information exchange with product purchase through the use of its site, Lufthansa.com. Only time will tell.

Source: TravelMole at www.travelmole.com

The outlook report that this year carriers in all regions are expected to report losses including North America (- USD 1.0 bln), Europe (- USD 1.8 bln), Asia-Pacific (- USD 3.3 bln), Middle East (- USD 1.5 bln), Latin America (- USD 900 mln), and Africa (- USD 500 mln). IATA notes that the gloomy outlook was mainly due to the recession, which has caused steep drops in air cargo demand, low passenger demand, and large falls in yields. Proposed strategies to avert this crisis outline the need for governments to adopt liberal air policies in order to save the aviation industry. This, according to Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO, will require airlines to have the same commercial freedoms that every other industry takes for granted, notably access to global markets and capital.

Given that airlines will this year be caught in a ‘perfect storm’ of USD 9 billion losses and an unprecedented 15% revenue drop that will see industry revenues decrease by USD 80 billion to USD 448 billion, IATA calls for a major resizing and reshaping of the entire air transport value chain. Addressing the industry’s top leaders gathered in Kuala Lumpur for the 65th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit, the CEO notes that travel budgets are being slashed and consequently consumers will need to reduce their debt. As a means of building a stronger industry through resizing and reshaping, governments, partners, and airlines can use this crisis as an opportunity, advises the CEO.

As a head start to cost cutting, IATA’s Simplifying the Business program provides the lead. Indeed last year, 100% e-ticketing and the deployment of Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosks helped achieve USD 4 billion in cost savings as a beginning with further targets set on another USD 10 billion in savings by improving baggage management, travel processes and with e-freight.

To be effective, the burden of change must be shared across the industry value chain. This is proposed to be undertaken through a number of measures, which IATA outlines will range from modernizing work practices to accessing global capital. IATA seeks to continue pushing for similar global progress with its Agenda for Freedom—a group of 15 key government players in aviation policy. The group expects to deliver an important policy tool with governments signing a Multilateral Statement of Policy Principles. Indeed governments and partners must understand the struggles of the industry in order to survive in the current economic environment and where challenges must be turned into opportunities that are safe, eco-friendly, and profitable.

Source: e-Travel Blackboard at www.etravelblackboard.com