Posts Tagged ‘Asia’

Hotels drop room rates worldwide

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

A new report has shown that across the world have been forced to slash in order to attract customers as the global recession takes its toll on the travel industry.

The survey compiled by Hotels.com showed that rates in Sydney are on average 30 percent cheaper than a year ago, rates in Auckland have tumbled 40 per cent, while in Singapore they have fallen by 35 per cent and New York by 30 per cent.

The biggest slump in accommodation rates was seen in Moscow, with the average price of a room dipping by 52 percent, whereas rates rose by 12 percent on the resort island of Capri.

David Roche, president of Hotels.Com said he was expecting 2009 to be a year of dramatic price reductions across the world and, so far it has been.

On the other hand, the massive cuts have had an impact on stimulating the tourism industry, as long-haul travel is on the rise.

Hotels.com Asia Pacific managing director Johan Svanstrom said that long-haul inbound travellers would see lower hotel rates to help offset the perceived expense of getting there.

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Airbus and Boeing predict 2011 for recovery

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

International air travel deeply affected by the world economic downturn is beginning to level out but may not recover for another two years as travellers and business travel continues to cut back, both Boeing and Airbus said yesterday.

Randy Tinseth, a Boeing marketing vice president said passenger travel had faired somewhat better in the second half of 2009, but was still expected to slump between 6 and 8 percent for the year.

Even though the decline in air travel seemed to be slowing, airlines are starting to see higher capacity in the Chinese and Latin American markets.

He told reporters at the an Asian aerospace and aviation show in Hong Kong that some improvement was seen in traffic growth but there was still a long way to go.

Airlines have amounted massive losses since the beginning of the economic crisis which led companies to cut back travel and consumers to cut back on holiday travel.  The airline industry is already estimating losses of around $6 billion in the first half of this year and set to lose a total of $9 billion overall for 2009.

Boeing competitor Airbus has a slightly more positive forecast, saying that air traffic seemed to be bottoming out.

Global air travel is measured by a combination of revenues, passengers and distances flown.  It is predicted that all of these combined could slide between 2 and 4 percent this year, then grow flat or increase by 4 percent next year, an Airbus senior marketing vice president said.

Boeing also predicts that Asia will overtake North America as the world’s largest air travel market in the next 20 years, growing from 32 percent to 41 percent.

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Airlines ramp up swine flu prevention

Monday, September 7th, 2009

The airline industry ramping up measures to reduce the risk of transmission of swine flu by stowing pillows and blankets and issuing disinfectant wipes.

William Schaffner, head of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University medical school said that aircraft cabins have been renowned for spreading infection from one part of the world to another, as proven by the SARS epidemic

He also doesn’t believe that much can be done, as the airline industry has had to fight the pandemic, as well as global downturn in the travel industry.

Over 10 percent of flights between the US and Mexico have been cancelled since September last year, according to the Official Airline Guide.

Although the airline industry has no desire to play doctor, they are ready to stop a flight if need be, as the US Centre for Disease Control has set up a stringent policy on dealing with passengers who show symptoms of swine flu.  One such measure is to deny boarding to any passenger showing signs of a serious communicable disease, and that reporting of patients whose diagnosis has been confirmed.

Southwest Airlines spokesman, Paul Flaningan said that crew were trained to respond to sick passengers at the gate and in flight, and to work closely with medical personal to identify the appropriate course of action.

As a precaution, some airlines including Virgin American and Southwest have scrapped issuing blankets and pillows on some flights.

A Virgin America spokeswoman said that the airline has began issuing antibacterial hand-wipes and gels for use for guests and crew, as well as offering masks for those who request them.

In Asia, authorities have attempted to use specially designed cameras to detect passengers who have the illness, but experts believe that machines are not perfect.

Most other airlines have been painting a different picture on the swine flu pandemic, claiming that there is no greater risk of travelling by air than by using public transport, as the air inside the cabin is completely exchanged with air outside between 10 to 15 times per hour.

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Paris sees decline in tourist numbers

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Paris is hoping to boost tourist numbers by allowing more shops to open on Sundays, in order to boost tourism revenues that have been affected by the financial downturn.

The city registered a 11.1 percent drop in foreign tourist numbers in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year, according to figures released on Wednesday.

The largest number of foreigners to visit Paris, Americans, has dived over the past year due to the US economic troubles and the high value of the euro, but has picked up again in the second quarter of this year.

Director of the Paris Tourism Office, Paul Roll said the city is “counting on the Americans” in order to maintain tourist revenues and to compensate for the drop in foreign tourists.

He added that America’s economy was hit hard and early by the financial crisis but is expected to emerge quicker, while other economies were later to experience the slump.

The problems with the British economy have also affected cross-Channel travel, as the number of British visitors fell by 23.4 percent in the first half of this year.

Asian tourist numbers also dropped with Japanese visitors falling by 25 percent and Chinese by 17.3 percent.

Overall, the number of travellers to the French capital fell by 7.5 percent to 15.9 million in the first 6 months of this year, the tourism office said, but couldn’t provide figures on overall tourism revenues.

Roll also said that he hopes a new law to allow an increase in the number of shops to open on Sundays could help bring more tourists to France over a full weekend.  Currently shops are closed in France on Sundays.

The tourism authority forecasts a decline of about six percent of tourists visiting Paris in 2009, including French visitors.

Thanks to AP.  For more information on this article visit their website.

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Etihad to increase winter services

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Etihad Airwyas has announced that its winter 2009-2010 schedule will feature a wider range of flights and improved connections.

The schedule will begin on 25th of October, and will be about 15 percent more extensive than last year, with a total of 950 flights operating per week.

Etihad will open new flights to Hyderabad in India, as well as services to Athens, Beirut, Cairo and Istanbul.

Chief executive for Etihad, James Hogan, said: “The winter programme for 2009-10 demonstrates our commitment to provide greater depth to the Etihad Airways global flight network.

“The increased frequencies will provide air travellers with a greater choice of flights into and out of Abu Dhabi and better connectivity with the rest of our network.”

The winter season will coincide with the delivery of three new Airbus A320 aircraft that will support its current services throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

The airline has weathered the downturn in travel rather well, as July 2009 has been the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s busiest since it began flying, with more than 616,000 passengers.

Quotes from justtheflight.co.uk.  For more information on this article visit their website.

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Jetstar commences flights to China

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Jetstar will begin to fly to mainland China from December this year.

The airline will fly four weekly services between Singapore and Haikou, capital of Hainan province, on December 16.

The budget carrier plans to increase its capacity from Singapore by 46 percent in the next year, following the arrival of further three A320 aircraft.

Chief executive of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, Chong Phit Lian, said that China was a clear focus of further growth.

“Haikou is a very solid entry into mainland China for Jetstar and we look forward to the opportunity for further growth from this market should conditions prevail,” Ms Chong said in a statement”

The airline’s plans to open routes to other parts of Asia, as Jetstar explore its options.

“There’s still India we haven’t flown to, and Laos we haven’t flown to,” Ms Chong said.

Jetstar have also announced new services to Phuket in Thailand, now flying twice a day to the Thai resort island beginning on December 15, and will increase the frequency from two to three times daily from Singapore to Bangkok.

Thanks to AAP for the above quotes.  For more information on this article visit their website.

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Europcar now on Twitter

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Car rental giant Europcar has began to use social-networking website Twitter in a bid to encourage people to hire cars for their summer holidays and weekend getaways.

The mass messages, known as ‘tweets’, offer promotions and ideas of places to go and information related with car hire.

The idea was conceived by web designers Fortune Cookie who will publish the tweets daily

The new campaign will be aimed at Europcar’s existing comments through regular email campaigns.

Head of eCommerce for Europcar UK, Danny Higgins, said the campaign was part of an online and offline strategy.

‘We’re very keen to explore new platforms such as Twitter to increase brand awareness and interact with new customers in a more personal and informal way’. He added.

Europcar intend to use the service to send a personal message, rather than a typical sales message to potential customers which will include destination advice and weekend getaway ideas.

Thanks to Europcar website for the above quotes.

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Airline Industry Pessimistic As Passenger Numbers Plummet

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

The airline business has lost confidence as uncertainty resurfaces about fuel prices and timing of a recovery.

Travel agents remain gloomy about prospects of a quick recovery, but some sectors of the aviation industry are reporting some moderation in traffic declines during the last two months.

The International Air Transport Associations’ business confidence index this month has dropped as airlines continued to fall in traffic volumes.

“Efforts to resize capacity to better match demand and cut costs have helped but have trailed behind the fall in traffic,” IATA said in its latest report.

“The expectations reported for the next 12 months have dipped into pessimism once more. Uncertainty around the timing of a recovery and the likely level of fuel prices compound the challenges facing airlines.”

Pessimism differed from market to market, with Asia more optimistic than others.  The low level of confidence was heightened due to May passenger numbers which has cast doubt that the full effects have bottomed out.

IATA reports that a stabilization in passenger kilometers flown have appeared due to a small increase in the average average distance flown and not due to leveling passenger numbers.

It is reported by IATA that the number of passengers flying business or first class was down by 23% in May, and travel between Europe and Asia had fallen by 26%.  The greatest fall in passenger numbers was in South America, which dropped by 62% due to the spread of swine flu.

“Premium travel numbers have now been in decline for 12 consecutive months,” the association said. “Economy travel numbers were also down by 7.6 per cent and total passenger numbers on international markets were down 9.2 per cent in May after a fall of 8.2 per cent in the first quarter.”

Quotes thanks to the Australian.  For more information on this article visit www.theaustralian.com.au

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