Corporate Travel News For Asia

ACI World‏, via its official Facebook account, stated (06-Dec-2017) Vietnam, India, Iran, Colombia and Saudi Arabia are projected to be the fastest growing markets in the period from 2017 to 2040.

Auckland International Airport, via its official Facebook account, confirmed (07-Dec-2017) Philippine Airlines operates three times weekly nonstop Manila-Auckland service with A340 aircraft, effective 06-Dec-2017. The airline upgauged from an A320 aircraft, operating for the past two years via Cairns. While frequency was reduced from four to three times weekly, the larger 254 seat aircraft will add around 14,000 seats p/a to the route (NZ Herald, 08-Dec-2017).

Australia China Business Council (ACBC) reported (08-Dec-2017) research, conducted in partnership with LEK Consulting, shows that one million Chinese tourists arrived in Australia for 2017 year to date, and forecast Chinese arrivals will reach 3.3 million p/a by 2025. ACBC also reported Chinese visitors are the highest spending group of travellers to Australia and found Chinese travellers are more likely to buy Australian products upon their return, to study and to invest in Australia. [more - original PR]

Jetstar Airways commenced (07-Dec-2017) twice weekly Melbourne-Zhengzhou service with Boeing 787 equipment. The route is operated in partnership with China Comfort Travel, a local travel specialist which will sell flights and holiday packages directly to Chinese travellers. The carrier expects the route will bring an additional 35,000 Chinese tourists to Australia p/a. [more - original PR]

Fiji Airways announced (06-Dec-2017) plans to launch Nadi-Tokyo Narita service from 03-Jul-2018, subject to regulatory approvals. The carrier plans to operate three times weekly, offering over 80,000 seats p/a with a combination of A330-200 and A330-300 equipment. [more - original PR - Fiji Airways] [more - original PR - Tokyo Narita]

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo reported (05-Dec-2017) China is Australia's "fastest growing and most valuable tourism market", with the potential to be worth more than AUD13 billion (USD9.8 billion) by 2020. [more - original PR]

South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) reported (05-Dec-2017) tourism arrivals by Chinese nationals increased 56% year-on-year to 56,000 in the past year. SATC credited the increase to work by the South Australia State Government with Adelaide Airport and China Southern Airlines, which attracted a direct service from Guangzhou to Adelaide. Chinese tourism is also the top driver of spending growth, with expenditure up 74% to AUD352 million (USD266.3 million). [more - original PR]

Vietnam plans to add Australia, the UAE, Canada, India, the Netherlands and New Zealand to the list of nations which will be granted e-visas under the newly issued Decree 124/NQ-CP (VNA, 02-Nov-2017). Vietnam launched a two year pilot e-visa programme on 01-Feb-2017 covering citizens of 40 countries.

IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac noted (05-Dec-2017) airport infrastructure "is not being built fast enough to cope with growth" in passenger traffic. Mr de Juniac urged governments worldwide to "Work with the industry to plan and build the infrastructure that will be needed to power your economies", adding: "There is no time to lose". In the meantime, Mr de Juniac advised airports and governments to "allocate scarce capacity efficiently using global standards" and said the scarcity of airport infrastructure supply means slot coordination "is critical". He observed: "About two thirds of airports needing slot coordination are in Europe" but added bottlenecks are a global problem impacting airports in Sydney, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Mumbai, Mexico City, New York and Sao Paolo, "to name just a few". [more - original PR]

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport introduced (05-Dec-2017) Alipay payments at the Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann store, in partnership with VTB24. Alipay is also available at the airport's Urozhay and Kroshka-Kartoshka cafes. Alipay Russia and CIS business development director Bogdan Zadorozhny said: "The number of Chinese passengers in the previous year increased by 16%, Sheremetyevo is a key airport for Chinese tourists with 15 flights from 10 Chinese cities daily". [more - original PR - Russian]