Doubletree Opens Its Doors 5 August 2010

The much-awaited Doubletree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, which underwent a multi-million dollar renovation one year ago, opened for business Thursday.

The former Crown Princess Hotel, which has been refurbished into a stylish, upscale and full-service hotel, has begun receiving guests.

General Manager Ian Barrow said several visitors have checked in Thursday while a group of visitors from Singapore would check in Thursday night.

He told reporters here Thursday the Hilton hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Kuching and Batang Ai were performing well and the new Doubletree was set to record similar growth.

Managed by Hilton Worldwide, the hotel is owned by MGPA Asia Fund 2, and is part of an integrated property comprising a retail podium and office tower called The Intermark.

Doubletree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur features five food and beverage outlets including an all-day dining outlet, coffee shop, wine bar, nightclub, health club and saltwater swimming pool.

It also houses comprehensive conference and event facilities.

To attract more visitors, he said Doubletree was offering a promotional two night stay, for the price of one, starting from RM380.

"It is exciting to see the brand introduced for the first time in Southeast Asia, further expanding our current reach to 230 locations in 11 countries across five continents," Hilton Worldwide Global Head Doubletree Brand Rob Palleschi said.

The popular international chain was also in serious negotiations with a developer in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila to further expand its markets in the region.

"It has been one of the fastest growing upscale hotel brands, globally, and we want to have a hotel in each major and second town," he added


Source : Bernama
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel tourism news]

Dynasty, Empress hotels to be sold

Gula Perak Bhd's wholly-owned units, Dynawell Corp (M) Sdn Bhd and KSB Requirements & Rest Sdn Bhd, will dispose of their hotels, The Dynasty Hotel Kuala Lumpur and The Empress Hotel, Sepang to Time Glory Investment Ltd for RM193.9 million cash.


Source : BTimes
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China's tourist arrivals in Malaysia rise 28%

China's tourist arrivals in Malaysia surged 28 percent in the first half of 2010, a visiting Chinese official said here on Tuesday.

To date, tourist arrivals between China and Malaysia have reached two million a year, and the number was expected to hit four million after some years, Shao Qiwei, director of China National Tourism Administration said.

Shao, who arrived here leading a Chinese delegation, met Malaysian Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen on Tuesday.

At the joint press conference, Shao said that the Chinese government encouraged Chinese nationals to not only visit but also to invest in Malaysia.

He said that China was willing to cooperate with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries to explore the vast potentials in the cruises travel sector.

According to Shao, the largest cruise in the world that can accommodate six thousand travelers have hired 4,000 employees on board, implying that the sector can ease the problem of unemployment.

Source
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Malaysia To Attract 36 Million Tourists By 2020

Malaysia is targeting to achieve 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in tourism receipts by 2020, said Tourism Deputy Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit.

He said the ministry had drawn up strategies to build density, develop clusters and high-value sectors in the industry.

Events such as the Genting Trailblazer, organised by Genting Malaysia Bhd, would befit the ministry's marketing efforts to strongly promote Malaysia's nature-based products and activities to a growing number of environmentally-conscious travellers, he said.

"As one of the 12 mega-biodiversity country in the World, Malaysia has a huge potential to use these resources in a sustainable manner for wealth creation," he told a press conference after launching the Genting Trailblazer 2010, here Tuesday.

In this regard, Dawos highlighted that sports and adventure tourism events such as the Genting Trailblazer could be developed into high-value products that had great potentials in contributing significantly towards the growth of the tourism industry.

Meanwhile, Senior Vice President Public Relations and Communications of Genting Malaysia Bhd Datuk Anthony Yeo said, the sixth edition of Genting Trailblazer came with an eco-friendly theme to promote a green mindset to preserve the local natural environment, specifically for the rainforest.

The event themed "An eco run in a million-year-old rainforest" showed that the group was keen to showcase the wonderful bio-diversity and splendour of the world's oldest rainforest surrounding Awana Genting Highlands, he said.

"Trailblazer is committed to the environment, echoing the Ministry's call for 1Malaysia Green, 1Malaysia Clean campaign.

"We will be working hand-in-hand with Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) to further promote the love of nature and minimal disruption to the environment, and also to promote 'Zero Waste' to deter the public from littering and to reuse available resources," he added.

The two-day event to be held from Oct 30 is now open for online registration at www.gentingtrailblazer.com or email to trailblazer@genting.com until Sept 30.


Source : bernama
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel tourism news]

Strong Recovery in Southeast Asia

The ASEAN Hotel Review launched in May 2010 is the latest sub-regional report from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the global hotel industry. The monthly report compiles year-to-date and current month hotel performance information for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam within the economic, social and cultural bloc of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The report details nationwide performance for the six countries plus details on 11 key destinations.

Hotel Performance for the year to June 2010 versus YTD 2009 (US$)

	Occ	ADR	RevPAR
Indonesia
Bali	7.8%	10.7%	19.3%
Jakarta	4.9%	16.3%	21.9%
Bandung	7.8%	17.9%	27.1%
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur	12.3%	12.2%	25.9%
Philippines
Manila	8.0%	6.3%	14.9%
Singapore	23.2%	13.5%	39.9%
Thailand
Bangkok	0.7%	0.2%	0.9%
Chiang Mai	35.9%	-8.5%	24.3%
Hua Hin	4.9%	2.2%	7.3%
Phuket	24.8%	9.6%	36.7%
Vietnam
Hanoi	22.0%	-8.2%	12.0%
Ho Chi Minh	25.9%	-9.4%	14.0%

Source: STR Global

The overwhelming message in the above table is a region in the midst of a strong recovery. All markets in the report showed positive growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the year-to-date June 2010, even if the comparison with the same period for 2009 needs to be tempered by the weak performance of last year.

The ASEAN Hotel Review shows that the affect of the on-going political crisis in Thailand has not significantly affected the hotel performance of the Thai coastal resorts of Hua Hin and Phuket. Conversely, the hotel market of the resort island of Bali underperforms in RevPAR growth when compared to the Indonesian destinations of Jakarta and Bandung, the West Java provincial capital. Nevertheless, Bali still records the highest actual occupancy (71 percent) and ADR (US$121) compared to the other Indonesian destinations for the first six months this year.

Singapore shows promising signs of recovery with occupancy improvements pulling up ADR. The newly opened Marina Bay Sands resort, which will have 2,500 rooms when completed, includes a casino and plenty of meeting space that provide an additional attraction and conference space to the city state. In Vietnam, the least established hotel market of the countries sampled, strong year-to-date occupancy growth results in steady improvements in RevPAR in spite of weak ADR changes.

The strength of long-term investor confidence in the region is indicated by the results of our separate Pipeline Report available from STR Global. The hotels in construction, final planning and planning are seen, by country, in the chart below with Thailand dominating development followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.

Source : STR
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Ipad Gets into Hotel Concierge Business

Is there anything Steve Jobs can't do? Not content to just woo us with iPads in hotel rooms, Apple is said to be looking into the hotel service industry in a much more direct way.

According to tech blog reports, Apple has filed patent applications for a few travel and shopping apps, one specifically designed to provide hotel amenities and services.

As CNET summed it up, "It also would appear to put some hotel concierges out of work."

With the ability to handle check ins and check outs, as well as room-service and movie orders, the hypothetical app would also let guests make local restaurant reservations, or source tickets to a local play.

We've heard this promise before—Eventi is one hotel rumored to be introducing a similar service-oriented iPhone app—but for the most part hotel apps are still offering more basic services like initial booking, maps and local tips.

The big deal about having Apple create their own app is of course that it would be more widely available to hotels. They wouldn't have to spend quite so much on designing their own software, and could focus on the range and quality of services to offer via the app.

We hate to say it, Mr. and Ms. Concierge—but if we were you, we'd be shaking in our well-shod boots right about now ...

Source : HotelChatter
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More South Koreans To Visit Malaysia With AirAsia X Daily Flights

Malaysia will receive more tourists from South Korea when budget long haul airline AirAsia X operates daily Seoul-Kuala Lumpur flights starting November.

Tourism Malaysia deputy director Said Zulkifli Said Ahmad said flights between Incheon International Airport (IIA) and KL International Airport (KLIA) will be launched in Seoul on Aug 2.

He said the Kuala Lumpur-Seoul daily flights would increase South Korean tourist arrivals to Malaysia to 300,000 compared to 250,000 last year.

"Tourism Malaysia will campaign hard as South Koreans usually travel during the winter months of November until February," he told Malaysian reporters at his Seoul office in Hansung Building here Friday.

Korean tourists who comprise mostly golfers, environmentalists and scuba divers love to visit Malaysia as the country has a lot of destinations to offer.

"They love Sabah for the many golf courses, rich marine life and the protected environment."

Tourism Malaysia is promoting the country via Korea Travel Fair (KOTFA), Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, Malaysian Food Festival and Busan Travel Fair.

Said Zulkifli said about 500 South Korean families had joined the MM2H programme. Some 90,000 Malaysians visited South Korea annually.

Malaysians captivated by TV series 'Winter Sonata' and 'Autumn In My Heart' usually visit Seoul Tower and shop at Itae Won, Dong Dae Mun and Nam Dae Mun.

He said Malaysia could market TV series to Korea now that the novel `Nyawa di Hujung Pedang' had been translated into Korean language.

The novel written by Ahmad Murad Nasaruddin was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during his visit to South Korea which ended yesterday.




Source : Bernama
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35pc of Malaysia tourism income from shopping by 2020

The Tourism Ministry is targeting to achieve35 per cent of income generated by the tourism industry from shopping activities by the year 2020, said its deputy minister, Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit, here.

He said more aggressive efforts were needed from entrepreneurs in thetourism industry, including owners of shopping outlets, by intensifying promotion outside the country to turn Malaysia into a leading shopping destination regionally and internationally.

"Currently, Singapore and Hong Kong are still among the favourite shopping destinations for tourists recording 35 per cent of their tourism income, withHong Kong recording almost 55 per cent, and we want to achieve the 35 per centmark by 2020," he said at the launching the Sarawak level of the Malaysian Mega Cheap Sale Carnival 2020, at the Sarawak Plaza shopping centre, here today.

He said that in terms of income generated by the tourism industry last year,28.3 per cent or RM15.11 billion of the RM53.4 billion overall income came from shopping while 31.1 per cent came from accommodation and 17.4 per cent from food and beverage.

The Mega Sale attracted 6.3 million tourists which was an increase of 12.4per cent compared to the figure recorded in 2008, where Malaysia only received5.37 million tourists, he added.


Source : NST
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