The surge in Chinese visitors to Australia accelerated during August with a 22.3% increase over the previous year, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. This follows 18% growth in July, 11% in June, 8.2% in May and 7.5% in April. Visits by Australians to China also grew strongly during the month by 15.2%. Italy (+16%) and Vietnam (+24.6%) were also popular with Australian travellers.
All posts by Martin Kelly
AccorHotels Buys Mantra Group for $1.3 Billion, Expands to 300+ Properties in ANZ
AccorHotels today announced it has agreed to buy Mantra Group for $1.3 billion. Mantra’s board unanimously accepted the Accor bid, priced at $3.96 a share, a 23% premium to the last closing price of $3.23. Mantra operates 127 hotels, resorts and apartments in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Hawaii across three key brands: Peppers (28 properties), Mantra (75 properties) and BreakFree (24 properties). It has more than 5,500 employees. AccorHotels says it operates 200+ properties pre-acquisition.
Asia Pacific Dominates Global Aviation Passenger Traffic
Global aviation passenger numbers during 2016 grew 7% over the previous year, reaching 3.8 billion. Once again Asia Pacific aviation dominated with 35% global share at 1.3 billion passengers, up 11.3% on 2015, according to the 2017 edition of the IATA World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the yearbook of the airline industry’s performance. The top five city pairs were all in Asia, though US citizens fly more than any other nationality and three most popular airlines were all based in the United States. Highlights of the 2016 airline industry performance include: More
Mantra Group To Be French-Owned? Accor Launches Takeover Bid
French accommodation company Accor has made a bid to buy Mantra Group, a hotel and resort company that operates 128 properties with more than 21,500 rooms across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Hawaii. Accor is offering the equivalent of A$3.96 a share, well up on Mantra’s closing price of $3.23 on Friday. More
Secret Escapes Raises US$111m, Acquisitions on the Agenda
Secret Escapes Founder Alex Saint has flagged more acquisitions for the London-based luxury flash deals site after raising a further US$111m in cash and debt.
The Series D raising was led by Temasek, a Singapore Govt sovereign investment fund.
Existing investors Idinvest Partners and Silicon Valley Bank also participated, with cash and a debt facility respectively. More
Viator Launches Travel Agent Site, Offers 8% Commission
Viator tours and attractions product is now bookable by travel agents at 8% commission via a new purpose-built industry platform launched yesterday. Viator sells more than 70,000 products.
Mobile First? Not In Australia, Where Big Screens Dominate Travel
Australian consumers love their mobile technology as much as any nation – except when it comes to researching and booking travel, according to new research from Amadeus and YouGov. Here are the key regional findings:
“Australians under-utilise mobile technologies: Just 33% use a mobile for researching and 20% for booking a trip, compared to 54% and 46% respectively for APAC – most Aussies (81%) still do their travel research and booking on a laptop/desktop. Aussies also prefer email for updates/recommendations about their trip, while APAC travellers are more diverse in their preferences; including IM services, travel company apps and social media. More
Mark Rizzuto New CEO of Livn, Aims to Double Product in a Year
Kristy Edwards Now Leading Best Western’s Revenue Team
September 26, 2017: Kristy Edwards has been promoted to Senior Revenue Manager at Best Western Australasia, managing a team of four that works across its properties in Australia and New Zealand.
They’ve been having great success boosting performance at a range of properties leading to increased demand from Best Western members for their services.
“Our hoteliers are generally owner operators and exceptionally busy people who can’t spare the time to work on revenue management and demand generation, which is where we come in,” says Kristy. More
Best August Ever for Thai Hotels But New Supply a Future Threat
Thai hotels recorded their best-ever August occupancy rate at 81% while revenue per available room rose 6% over last year, according to STR. The reason is simple – a record 3.13 visitors for the ‘low-season’ month. But Thai hoteliers need to make hay while the sun shines. STR says Thailand has 100 hotel projects in the pipeline (21,615), equivalent to 11% of the country’s existing hotel supply.
Airbnb’s New Scorched Earth Government Relations Strategy – Attack The Law Makers and Damn The Consequences
In an extraordinary move for someone who should be smoothing the way in the halls of power, Brent Thomas, the Head of Public Policy at Airbnb in Australia, has effectively told the Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, that she has no idea about innovation and that her predecessor, Mike Baird, would be doing a much better job. More
Gold Coast Overnight Visitor Nights Breach 5m But Spend Down
Overnight visitor nights to the Gold Coast exceeded five million in a year for the first time but the average visitor spend was down. The number of day trips also fell, largely due to the River Rapids accident at Dreamworld last October in which four people died. More
Cute Orphans a Tourist Attraction but the Truth is Much Uglier
Tourism is not always a force for good, or indeed spreading the economic love, as is so often claimed by industry advocates. Orphanage tourism is a case in point. In Cambodia, for example, there are less orphans than in 2005 but since then the number of orphanages has increased by 75%. How can this be? The simple answer is demand and supply. More
Forget the Gravy Train, Take Tigerair to Canberra
Low cost carrier Tigerair Australia has expanded its services on the rapidly evolving and historically high-yielding Canberra route, where planes come stuffed with political fat cats and corporates, launching three return services between Brisbane and the national capital each week. It’s also boosted its Melbourne-Canberra service by an extra weekly flight. Tigerair’s Canberra expansion is good for competition but not for yields. Fares start at $49 ex-Melbourne and $69 ex-Brisbane.
Yet More Rooms on the way for Singapore as AccorHotels Prepares to open 800th Asia Pacific Property in the Lion City
The number is big but the timing could be better. Just one day after STR revealed that room rates in Singapore have declined for 18 consecutive months, AccorHotels has announced the Sofitel Singapore City Centre will become its 800th property in Asia Pacific region when it opens in October. More
Vietnam Tops Outbound Growth for July – Italy, China Also Strong
Vietnam was the fastest-growing international destination for Australians during July. More
China Propels Asian Cruise Growth, Numbers Double in a Year
China has been confirmed as the world’s most dynamic cruise market with annual growth of 76% between 2013 and 2016, according to an Asia Cruise Trends report from industry association CLIA. The report reveals that 3.1 million Asians took cruises in 2016, 55% more than in 2015. “Of these, 68% (2.1 million) were from mainland China, a market which almost doubled as it grew by 99% last year.” More
Best Western Expands Australian Network – New Properties in Albany and Karratha
September 7, 2017: Best Western Australasia continues to evolve and today welcomed two excellent new properties in Western Australia to its hotels and resorts network.
“It’s fantastic to see properties of this calibre joining Best Western – it’s testament to the exciting brand evolution and repositioning we’ve undergone over recent years,” said Mr Richards.
In both cases Best Western’s global marketing reach and strong loyalty program were factors in the hotels’ decision to join, said Steve Richards, Head of Commercial at Best Western Australasia. The new properties are: More
Australia Odd One Out – Domestic Demand Drop
Australia was the only major aviation market where domestic demand dropped during July, according to the International Air Transport Association. “Domestic travel demand grew by 7.9% year-on-year in July, in line with 8.0% growth recorded in June. China led all markets (+15.0%).”
| July 2017 (% year-on-year) |
World share¹ | RPK | ASK | PLF (%-pt)² |
PLF (level)³ |
| Domestic | 36.3% | 7.9% | 7.1% | 0.6% | 85.0% |
| Australia | 1.0% | -0.8% | -1.9% | 0.9% | 80.1% |
| Brazil | 1.2% | 3.9% | 4.3% | -0.3% | 84.2% |
| China P.R | 8.7% | 15.0% | 12.7% | 1.8% | 84.8% |
| India | 1.3% | 12.5% | 14.5% | -1.5% | 82.6% |
| Japan | 1.1% | 6.6% | 1.4% | 3.4% | 69.6% |
| Russian Fed. | 1.3% | 9.1% | 9.6% | -0.4% | 90.3% |
| US | 15.0% | 5.1% | 5.0% | 0.1% | 87.2% |
Livn’s Global Tours & Activities Now Live on Amadeus
September 6, 2017: Amadeus travel agents can now seamlessly book 19,000 global tours and activities in real-time thanks to a ground-breaking integration with Livn initially covering the Australia and New Zealand markets
The connection between the Livn tours and activities database and Amadeus Selling Platform Connect has just gone live following a successful trial among key agents, offering them a lucrative new income stream in a challenging marketplace.
It enables agents to instantly book an incredible selection of tours and activities around the globe from hundreds of leading suppliers like Intrepid Group, G Adventures, Disney, Gray Line, Pro-Dive and Tourism Holdings. More
Steady as she goes at Expedia says new CEO
Don’t expect much to change at Expedia following the departure of online travel savant Dara Khosrowshahi, who has taken the top job at Uber.
That’s the message from his replacement, Mark Okerstrom, the former Expedia CFO, pictured, who says the company will focus on building out its accommodation inventory and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. See Skift story.
The Winter That Never Ends – The Blizzard of Oz 3.0
Thoughts of global warming have been cast aside as Australia’s snow resorts enjoy the best late season since at least 2012 as the third blizzard in a month pounds the mountains. More
‘Cheap’ Decision Could Cost Scenic Tours $16m
A decision to make customers take a bus tour instead of the luxury European river cruise they were promised could cost Scenic Tours up to $16m. More
New Properties Boost Mantra Group Profits
Hotel and resort company Mantra Group boosted its net profit by more than 22% to $45.6m for the year to June 30, 2017. CEO Bob East said: “The majority of this improvement was driven by six new property acquisitions during the year supported by strong revenue growth from the key markets of Sydney, Melbourne, ACT, and Sunshine Coast.” More
Getting High and Making Money in the Aussie Alps
Lots of snow, blue sky and a gentle breeze. The view from 2000 metres at Thredbo, which has just posted an $18m profit More
Investors Buy The Future at Flight Centre
Flight Centre shares rose another 10% yesterday to $49.10 – the highest in three years – despite posting a profit before tax ( $325 million) that was -5.7% down on last financial year. The shares have risen from just $28.53 in late March. So why the surge? More
AOT – Helloworld’s White Knight Delivers
Retail and inbound travel company Helloworld has reported a $31 million net profit for 12 months to June 30 – up from $3.5 million last financial year – largely driven by by revenue growth of 8.7% in its Australian business and the contribution of recently-arrived AOT businesses. More
Steady Inbound Growth Trend Continues in June
Inbound tourism into Australia continued its steady growth through June. The United States + 13.7%, India +12% and China +11% were the fastest-growing major markets. More
