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  • Mantis to open St. Helena resort hotel

    Mantis has announced its latest project could be the development of a five star hotel at the island of St. Helena, a British overseas territory located within the South Atlantic Ocean.

    As probably the most distant places on earth, greater than 2,000 kilometres from the closest major landmass, and with its rich natural world, the island certainly fits with Mantis’ mantra of ‘unearthing the exceptional’.

    A team of six from Mantis including founder and chairman, Adrian Gardiner, visited the island in January of this year and identified Ladder Hill Fort because the location for the five star hotel, that will have 45 bedrooms including ten self-catering units, in addition to a cafe, spa and fitness facilities.

    Over the subsequent six months Mantis with Enterprise St. Helena may be undertaking a feasibility and costing exercise with the purpose of commencing building towards the top 2013 and opening the hotel in 2015.

    The island, that’s currently accessed by the last commercially operating Royal Mail Ship, would be opening its own airport in January 2016.

    A major priority for the project would be the restoration of the building, ensuring it’s sensitive to its history, the surroundings and the local people, something which Mantis has experience of from the 2011 refurbishment of 16th century country house hotel, Ellenborough Park, Cheltenham.

    As well as its development knowledge, Mantis can be bringing its hospitality, education and conservation experience to the island with initiatives to develop skills locally in addition to support the natural environment.

    The 47 square mile island has a population of four,257.

    Adrian Gardiner, founder and chairman of Mantis, said: “St. Helena is exclusive – the waters that surround it, the forest, the possibility of the hospitality industry – and i’m hugely excited for our brand to be inquisitive about this major tourism development for the island.

    “The Mantis mantra is unearthing the outstanding and St. Helena isn’t any doubt some of the exceptional.

    “We plan so as to add value wherever we will be able to to make the tourism industry in this island a hit drawing on our own experience, from supporting the island’s marketing plans to training its community and championing conservation work, a difficulty very on the subject of my heart.”

  • Focus: Hitit Computer Services signs agreement for the Amadeus acquisition of Hitit Loyalty Division

    Hitit Computer Services, a brand new generation airline solutions and services provider has signed an agreement with Amadeus, a number one technology partner for the worldwide travel industry for the Amadeus acquisition of the Loyalty Division of Hitit Computer Services.

    Hitit Computer Services has grown to become a popular supplier of a broad range of airline solutions and services the world over. In conjunction with Hitit’s Crane PAX/DCS within the Passenger Services domain, Hitit also offers Crane Plus, for end-to-end solutions and services for core airline operations.

    The acquisition reflects Hitit’s commitment to excellence, as its Loyalty Division, underlying technology, team and take care of its customers is preferred not just by most visionary airlines, but in addition by Amadeus, probably the most prestigious travel IT providers within the Airline industry.

    Apart from the Loyalty Division departure, Hitit Computer Services will remain unchanged and should continue to function under the former shareholder structure, offering new generation PSS and other core airline solutions as before. Hitit will continue to give fully-fledged loyalty and customer care features integrated into its Crane PAX.
    Nur Gokman, Founder and CEO, Hitit Computer Services said: “I am proud to determine one in every of our divisions excelling at its domain to be the alternative of the world’s leading airline technology company. i’m certain that the Loyalty Division will prosper under the Amadeus leadership and we are going to be watching for their success, watching them with pride. ”

    ”We, nevertheless, as Hitit Computer Services, will continue to serve the industry just as before with services and products that might meet the desires of the foremost visionary players within the market”, she said.

    Julia Sattel, SVP, Airline IT, Amadeus said: “This is a vital milestone for both Amadeus and our Airline IT division especially. Loyalty is without doubt one of the key drivers connected to the core passenger servicing business of any successful airline, and with the ability to offer this service allows us not to only increase the cost of our Altéa proposition but in addition to broaden our IT portfolio to raised serve existing and future customers.

    About Hitit – Founded in 1994, Hitit Computer Services is a provider of recent generation airline, airport and travel industry software services that support the foremost complicated and critical needs of the industry. While Crane PAX/DCS address the reservation, ticketing, check-in and departure control needs, Crane Plus covers all of the other operational needs with Crane SP for schedule planning, Crane CREW for crew planning, Crane OCC, for operation control, Crane CA for cost accounting and Crane RA for revenue accounting.

    Renowned for its close partnership with its customers, Hitit receives excellent reception for its services and products in addition to its excellent customer care. Due to the, Hitit has expanded its customer base to over 30 countries and customers in an exceedingly few minutes, culminating in Hitit being placed in Deloitte’s ‘Fast 500’ list for the last 6 years and moving from being a native player in Turkey, to Europe, establishing an exceptionally strong footprint within the Middle East and Africa and extra expanding to the Pacific, Far East and India.

    For more:www.hititcs.com

  • News: Autograph Collection raises the royal bar In UK

    The Autograph Collection, Marriott International’s exclusive portfolio of upscale, independent hotels continues to grow in Europe with the introduction of 2 new extraordinary travel experiences this spring.  Threadneedles, within the heart of London‘s financial district, and The Glasshouse in central Edinburgh, Scotland, will represent the Autograph Collection’s first hotels within the Uk. The additions are set to expand the exclusive portfolio of upscale, independent lifestyle hotels to incorporate greater than 40 exceptional hotel experiences within the United states of america, Europe, Caribbean, and South America.

    The Autograph Collection currently offers just a few passionately independent hotel experiences throughout Europe, including the spectacular Fontecruz Lisboa Hotel in Portugal, Hotel De Bourgtheroulde within the historic city of Rouen and the Hotel L’Hermitage Gantois in Lille.

    Last month, the Autograph Collection revealed its entree into Germany with the outlet later this year of the Hotel am Steinplatz, routinely recognized as certainly one of Berlin’s most iconic gathering places.

    The vision behind the Autograph Collection is to provide an evolving group of independent, upscale hotels that every fall under distinct categories of travel experience including Culinary Delight, Artistic Getaway, Historic Exploration or Sporting Adventure. Each independent hotel is thoughtfully chosen for its quality, originality, bold character and capacity to supply guests a variety of unique and unexpected experiences fitted to their individual sense of fashion and adventure.

    “This is an exhilarating time for the Autograph Collection in Europe as we add experiences in two of the United Kingdom’s most necessary destinations,” said Amy McPherson , president and managing director for Marriott International in Europe. “Autograph Collection offers an enviable range of artistic, culinary and cultural adventures for our guests and these two iconic hotels can be valuable additions.”

    Autograph Collection continues to supply travelers with a number of exciting travel experiences worldwide, soon to incorporate:

    Threadneedles, London
    The Square Mile’s original luxury boutique hotel, Threadneedles is found within the heart of The town of London, just minutes from The Bank of britain, St Paul’s Cathedral, Borough Market, and The Royal Exchange. The previous Victorian banking hall, a Grade II listed building and the previous head office of City Bank, blends the normal with the contemporary. The lobby is dominated by an elaborately hand painted stained-glass dome, which dates back to 1856, and the hotel’s fashionable restaurant and bar, Bonds, are set inside the former main banking hall, retaining many original Victorian features.

    The Glasshouse, Edinburgh
    Situated on the foot of Calton Hill and built into the 150 year old facade of the girl Glenorchy church, The Glasshouse is considered one of Edinburgh’s best known boutique hotels. The Five Star hotel, that is located only a short walk from Princes Street and Edinburgh castle,  offers a singular roof-top garden – a two-acre area of elegantly landscaped gardens that may even be used as a covered event space.  Several of the guest rooms offer exceptional views over the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh New Town.  A lot of the remaining guest rooms open onto (and supply access to) the hotel’s private roof-top garden.  The Glasshouse has won several awards since its opening in 2003, including being voted by Conde Nast Traveller magazine as one of many “Top 50 Hottest Hotels,” and winner of the “Most Stylish Hotel” by the Scottish Style Awards. In January 2013, it was awarded second place within the Sunday Times Travel Magazine’s survey of best UK city hotels.  The hotel is currently undergoing refurbishment and is because of join the Autograph Collection upon completion in June.

    All Autograph Collection hotels take part in Marriott Rewards, Marriott International’s award-winning guest loyalty program, where guests can earn points at greater than 3,200 hotels in 68 countries. Besides their placement on Marriott.com, each property is showcased in its own unique way at the Collection’s award winning standalone site, www.autographhotels.com. 

    Autograph Collection hotels are located in progressively more key travel destinations around the globe including The Algonquin and The Carlton hotels in Ny, The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, the Boscolo Budapest Hotel, the newly opened The Stones Hotel – Legian in Indonesia, The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa in Colorado, and the AC Baqueira Ski Resort in Spain.

  • Seychelles tourism maintains their presence in China

    The Seychelles islands are going after their share of the Chinese market with the tourism board and its partners participating on the International Tourism Expo of China for the 3rd year running.

    A tourism delegation comprising members of the Seychelles Tourism Board and its partners who remain serious in eager to work with the Tourism Board to develop a much better presence out there were in attendancve.

    The Seychelles Tourism Board is being represented at ITE by its Chief Executive Officer, Elsia Grandcourt; the Regional Manager, Jean-Luc Lai- Lam; and Senior Marketing Executive, Stephanie Lablache; and supported by partners Air Seychelles, Head of Sales, Cindy Vidot ([email protected]); Creole Travel Services, Business Development Manager, Rose Sham ([email protected]); Masons Travel, Marketing Coordinator, Hilda Camille ([email protected]); and Berjaya Hotels&Resorts, Director of Sales&Customer support,Eric Lee ([email protected]).

    Together they’re representing Seychelles at ITE, which started on June 13 and should end on June 16.

    This year is the 27th edition of ITE, Hong Kong’s only international fair and probably the most earliest established in Asia covering mainland China, particularly southern China.

    Covering both corporate travel and MICE, in addition to attracting over 600 exhibitors from over 50 countries and over 6,000 travel agents and tour operators, ITE is the prime venue to further penetrate the Chinese market and attract potential holiday makers of the region and beyond, as over 80 percent of its exhibitors are from outside Hong Kong.

    This year on the Seychelles stand, a wheel of fortune was introduced whereby trade and public participants stand to win a round-trip to the Seychelles, including accommodations, transfers, and excursions, in addition to a Coco de Mer and other giveaways. This was to draw more visitors to the Seychelles stand and to furthermore increase the database of the region. The prizes were sponsored by local partners, namely Air Seychelles, Berjaya Hotels&Resorts Constance Hotels&Resort, Creole Travel Services, and Masons Travel.

    “China is considered one of our fastest-growing markets and with our national airline, Air Seychelles, direct through service into Hong Kong with a brief layover inAbu Dhabi, the Seychelles Tourism Board may be adding its presence out there if you want to serve Hong Kong and the encompassing regions,” said the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board.

    “There are prospects, and that i personally think that with more visibility, Seychelles is usually a new venture for the Asians as they’re continuously searching for new exciting destinations,” said Ms. Sham from Creole Travel Services.

  • News: First ILTM Africa opening forum debates

    The first International Luxury Travel Market Africa (ILTM) Africa (www.iltm.net/africa) opened today on the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town with a gap Forum that keen on the evolution and issues facing the luxurious travel marketplace for Sub-Saharan Africa. The forum welcomed all 70 African luxury travel experiences participating at ILTM Africa, in addition to the international Hosted Buyers, each specialising in creating and planning luxury travel inbound to Africa, plus a delegation of selected international and regional media.

    Minister Alan Winde, Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Western Cape Government, opened the forum by thanking Reed Travel Exhibitions for bringing ILTM Africa as a “vital new important platform for this region to showcase themselves to the luxurious travel buyers of the area.” Winde said that there has been a wealth of various tourist attractions from the wine lands to the V&A waterfront, now considered one of South Africa’s most visited destinations, to ancient art on rock forms and its amazing natural infrastructure. He also informed the audience that there’s to be a brand new luxury cruise liner terminal.

    An economic and political overview was presented by Clem Sunter, formerly Chairman of the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund – the premier corporate social responsibility fund in South Africa. He referred to how Africa is not any longer seen because the “hopeless continent” but the way it is now considered “a continent of immense commercial opportunity to which US and European companies are turning.” Consistent with the sector Bank, inside the next 5 years, 7 of the head 10 fastest-growing economies are African. Mr. Sunter mentioned how they’ve seen spectacular growth from tourists within the Far East and the way he views the resort of Sun City as “Macau with Lions.”

    The issues facing the posh travel industry in Africa was the topic for a panel discussion that included Tony Romer Lee, CEO, The gathering by Liz McGraw; Adrian Gardiner, Founder&CEO, Mantis Group; and Beks Ndlovu, CEO, African Bush Camps. The controversy addressed the change within the guest demographic from the early days of British travelers to the evolving impact of diversity and global reach that experience also meant a metamorphosis within the tourist’s expectations. The panel, though, believed “We have the depth of product to give everyone and meet all expectations in this continent.”

    Tony Romer Lee said: “This continent has a narrative to inform; guests will never forget the relationship they make with its people in the course of the places they stay. It’s unique. People come for thus many reasons, they would like to look all of it, but there’s a lot more than simply the plain attractions.”

    Adrian Gardiner agreed that what makes Africa “hot” is “experiences, experiences, experiences.” He said that Africa is “an amazing-value destination” and that experiential travel is booming to any such degree that Mantis has launched Mantis eXtreme if you happen to are looking to paraglide off Cape Town’s Table Mountain, or go shark diving, whale watching inside the Western Cape or diving the sardine run in Eastern Cape. In Zimbabwe, the corporate offers walking with rhinos, and white-water river rafting. Looking ahead, he predicts that Zimbabwe turns into the jewel of southern Africa’s tourism industry.

    The debate broadened to discuss the various needs of the international traveler and meeting the expectancies of these traveling from places comparable to China.

    David Chai, Director of Product Development-Travel, Tidesquare spoke from the audience about what his clients were searching for. “I am here representing the affluent Asian market traveler. People who have already done Paris, London, and Rome again and again, they don’t want more of an identical. We (as buyers) are here at ILTM Africa to appear for luxury experiences at a brand new level – our clients can communicate well in English and are prepared to pay for whatever they need. In the event that they come to Africa they expect the exotic, they seek an experience that cash can’t buy in the other country, whether a bucket shower or on the other end of the dimensions – Singita. They are going to be happy to attempt your food, but perhaps surprise them with white congee and you’ll have exceeded their expectations.”

    The ILTM Africa Opening Forum closed with a one-to-one interview in regards to the evolution of the posh travel industry in Africa with Colin Bell, one of several pioneers of sustainable travel inside the continent and founding father of Wilderness Safaris. He observed how luxury tourism is usually a technique to supporting conservation projects if tourism companies and comfort hotels integrate with local communities.