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  • News: Westin Hotels to open 200th hotel in 2013

    Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide announced that its Westin brand expects to open its 200th hotel in 2013, driven by robust international demand and the outstanding success of the brand’s distinct wellbeing positioning. Westin will open 11 new hotels this year, the overwhelming majority outside america in fast-growing markets including China, India, Singapore and Panama.

    In line with global growth trends, the Westin brand is experiencing a surge in new hotel openings across Asia Pacific. Seven new Westin hotels will open in Asia Pacific in 2013, increasing the brand’s portfolio to just about 50 hotels inside the region by year’s end. Fuelling the brand’s growth inside the region is the rapid economic growth in China’s second and third-tier cities. New Westin hotel openings in China this year include The Westin Haikou, The Westin Sanya Haitang Bay Resort, The Westin Chongqing Liberation Square and The Westin Qingdao.  Westin may even make its return to Singapore with the hole of The Westin Singapore Marina Bay in late 2013.

    Demand for brand new Westin hotels in Latin America may be heating up. In exactly the past 18 months, Westin has grown its footprint in Latin America by nearly 50% as portion of the brand’s strategic expansion within the region’s fastest growing markets. This year’s opening of The Westin Panama increases the Westin portfolio in Latin America to 11 hotels, spanning five countries including Panama, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

    In North America, the Westin brand will add four new hotels to its portfolio this year.  As well as the outlet of The Westin Birmingham, Westin may be attracting a growing share of conversion opportunities in cities around the USA, with The Westin Houston Downtown, The Westin Sacramento and The Westin San Jose all opening in 2013, following renovations.

  • CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation announces new vessel

    CATC has committed to the development of a brand new, 150-passenger catamaran for KFT to feature to its 12-vessel fleet, with delivery anticipated in early 2014. Designed by Teknicraft of latest Zealand and constructed by All American Marine in Bellingham, Wash., the hot vessel will join two sister ships, the Aialik and Orca Voyagers.

    The ships’ design offers stability, spacious seating, wrap-around viewing decks, oversized, fog-free windows and LCD video monitors. A hydrofoil wing helps lift the catamaran up out of the water, decreasing drag, increasing fuel economy and making a smaller boat wake.

    “All of Kenai Fjords Tours’ vessels are custom-built for viewing Alaska wildlife and glaciers,” said Paul Landis, CATC president and chief operating officer. “We desired to develop the optimum vessel combining an unparalleled viewing experience with passenger comfort.”

    The investment inside the KFT fleet comes just weeks before spring construction resumes at the rebuild of Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge on Fox Island. Being built by Seward-based Harmon Construction, the lodge could be completed and available for guests beginning June 1, 2013. The recent, 3300-square-foot building boasts immense windows overlooking Resurrection Bay, a spacious dining area and lounge and a redesigned kitchen in order to allow for a brand new culinary program.

    “The Wilderness Lodge is an area for our overnight guests to collect, enjoy gourmet meals, and comfy up within the lounge with an excellent book and glass of excellent wine,” said Cathy Martell, general manager of KFWL. “Guests can be ready to enjoy gourmet Alaska cuisine and produce probably the most ‘tips and tricks of the trade’ home to their very own kitchens.”

    An evening guided sea kayak tour have been added to other lodge activities including national park ranger-led walks, naturalist presentations and guided daytime sea kayaking. Each stay on the lodge incorporates a wildlife cruise, which are upgraded to a countrywide Park Tour or Northwestern Fjord Tour.

    Kenai Fjords Tours and Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge are subsidiaries of CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation. Alaska Native owned and operated, CATC is the umbrella company for Alaska Heritage Tours, Kenai Fjords Tours, Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge, Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, and Seward Windsong Lodge.

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  • News: PATA connects Digital Innovation Asia to its annual summit

    Located alongside, the Digital Innovation Asia events are deliberately timed to guide into the PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Annual Summit on April 25-28, so that they can attract around 400 of probably the most senior travel and tourism executives. PATA has partnered with E-Tourism Asia the producer of Digital Innovation Asia (DIA) to stage digital events, which come with the Digital Innovation Asia Awards, Blogger Match-Up Asia, Speak-Up Asia, and the China Boot Camp.

    Kicking off Digital Innovation Asia (DIA) on April 23, hosted by ChinaTravelTrends.com, the China Boot Camp helps companies know the way to succeed in and fix with affluent and complex Chinese consumers. With China being the fastest growing source marketplace for many destinations in Asia and around the globe, and the complex social media and digital landscape being essentially the mostsome of the most influential medium in modern China, learning the best way to adapt to marketing to this new group of holiday makers is essential for any travel and tourism organization today.

    Followed by the primary Blogger Match-Up in Asia on April 24, hosted by the Aloft Hotel Bangkok, where speed-dating sessions connect bloggers from the region and from around the globe with travel and tourism providers from Asia. Workshops on learn how to deal and leverage citizen journalists provide vital knowledge and insight. A to not be missed session by the second one highest ranked Twitter account in Thailand (@Mr.scotteddy) with over 130,000 followers in precisely three years, will give insights on how even the smallest travel company with low budget may be effective and interesting on Twitter and other social media platforms.

    In the evening, the primary Digital Innovation Asia Awards (or DIA Awards) recognize the most effective in digital innovation within the travel and tourism industry from the region. Hosted by Bed Supperclub Bangkok, some of the innovative nightlife entertainment venues in Asia, the awards will recognize within the following categories: “Most Engaging Website,” “Most Viral Campaign,” “Most Creative Use of Technology,” “Most Inspiring Content,” and “Most Innovative Digital Organization.”

    The DIA Awards are judged by the brand new Digital Innovation Asia Council, an invitation-only forum of the foremost senior e-commerce executives and digital marketing thought-leaders from hotels, airlines, tourist boards, cruise lines, tour operators, and travel media from all corners of the Asia Pacific region.

    On April 25, the 1st Speak-Out Asia, hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, will launch at uber-trendy Zuma Restaurant on the St Regis Hotel Bangkok, and emceed by famous blogger, Thai-TV Show host, and co-founding father of travel company Smiling Albino, Daniel Fraser.

    The vision of the development is to wow, inspire, engage, and stimulate the audience, feature respected and well-known digital revolutionaries, showcase technology solutions, and source innovations from around the region. Apart from normal online travel conferences, Speak-Out Asia embraces the entire Visitor Economy – meaning it’s not pretty much marketing, sales, and distribution, but a novel forum to have a look at all aspects of tourism, including but not limited to e-visa, mobile crisis management, and social crowd-funding powered micro-financing. Speak-Out Asia will even feature Digital Aid Asia @ Speak-Out Asia. Digital Aid is an initiative to leverage technology in developing responsible tourism. This unique and critical session will analyze how digital and social media can combat human trafficking and child prostitution, an immense issue when tourism is increasing emerging tourism destination. The session is hosted by Destination Innovation Asia CSR partner SISHA.

    Mr. Martin J. Craigs, CEO of PATA said: “We are excited to be partnering with E-Tourism Asia, the producer of Digital Innovation Asia. This event is an ideal primer for next gen minded mentors the day before our summit. The growing importance of mobile, digital, and social media in Asia in ‘m-powering’ the total Visitor Economy is among the catalysts of travel and tourism growth inside the region. Speak-Out Asia won’t only be inspirational but may also be thought provoking by raising issues like crisis management, and human trafficking, and the way technology can play an essential role.”

    Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni, Govenor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand commented that: “TAT, which has made using social media a concern in marketing Thailand as an awesome tourism destination, is proud to be the rustic host of the 1st Digital Innovation Asia, including the DIA Awards and Speak-Out Asia. Thailand is worked up to welcome digital thought leaders from the region and world wide. Exchanging ideas with bloggers and influencers on social media platforms on the Blogger-Match-Up is the future of any travel and tourism organization, being it small or large.”

  • News: Leading cruise lines to debate industry trends in Miami

    Seven heads of leading cruise lines are set to talk about the industry’s current trends and future direction on the State of the Industry session slated for Tuesday, March 12, on the 29th annual Cruise Shipping Miami conference. The session also features Christine Duffy, president and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association, who will lead off with the State of the Industry address, and David Scowsill, president and CEO of the realm Travel and Tourism Council, who will provide the keynote speech.

    Panelists on the 9:30 a.m. session include Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International; Kevin Sheehan, chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line; Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises; Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines; Stein Kruse, president and CEO of Holland America Line; Pierfrancesco Vago, chief executive officer of MSC Cruises, and Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, chairman of Silversea Cruises.

    “We are bringing together key cruise line executives to deal with the trends and issues shaping the industry, including the on-board experience and attractions, newbuilds, ship revitalizations, globalization of the industry, technology and port and infrastructure development,” said Daniel Read, director of UBM’s Cruise Shipping Portfolio. “We sit up for a full of life and informative panel discussion from these engaging industry leaders.”

    The State of the Industry assembly has long been a mainstay of the conference program of the premier annual cruise industry conference. It’s the only plenary session of the four-day conference, and usually sets the stage for the 3 days of conference sessions to follow.

    The 2013 conference program have been revamped with a sequence of more concurrent 90-minute sessions and a bunch of first-time panelists.

    Developed by UBM Live to be more in-depth and content-rich, the conference lineup is the results of solid research and feedback from Cruise Shipping Miami attendees, cruise lines and industry organizations. Conference sessions are organized into four “streams” a good way to thematically link sessions daily Tuesday through Thursday. The streams are Shipbuilding, Operations and Technology; Destinations and Ports; Market Segments, and Product Development.

  • IHIF: Akkeron signs UK take care of Choice Hotels

    Choice Hotels International has announced a strategic relationship with Akkeron Hotels Group, a well-known regional hotel operator within the Uk.

    The deal will initially bring about nine Akkeron hotels operating under Choice Hotels franchise agreements inside the UK, representing a nearly 25 per cent increase within the Choice Hotels UK hotel portfolio and an extra 611 rooms.

    This agreement forms a critical component of Choice Hotels’ growth technique to offer financial support to reinforce development in key international markets, inclusive of Europe, because of the company’s capital as a targeted incentive to hotel developers and operators to go into into franchise agreements located in strategic locations and markets.

    Under the agreement, five Akkeron hotels in Bristol, Bury St. Edmunds, Colchester,
    Peterborough and Kings Lynn would be rebranded under the standard brand and another four hotels located in Winchester, Darlington, Ringwood and Stevenage will operate under the Clarion Collection brand.

    The newly branded Choice hotels, Quality Hotel Bury St. Edmunds, Quality Hotel Peterborough and Clarion Collection Cromwell Stevenage, are anticipated to return online inside the Choice Hotels Europe system by the top of February.

    The remaining Quality and Clarion Collection brand hotels are expected to come back online throughout 2013.

    “We are delighted to have entered into this relationship with Akkeron Hotels Group.

    “Akkeron is a sturdy hotel operator and a perfect company for Choice Hotels Europe to work with and grow its presence within the UK. The agreement initially will concentrate on rebranding nine hotels with the chance to talk about rebranding further Akkeron hotels at some point,” commented Duncan Berry, UK chief executive, Choice Hotels Europe.