The new hotel, branded Uma Punakha, will have just 11 rooms and is the sister lodge of the famous Uma Paro (29 rooms) also under the same hotel chain.

The group plans to open the latest addition in September.

Uma Punakha

Uma Punakha is located on a hillside of Punaka Valley, around 10 km from Paro city.

Punakha is famous for two historical attractions; the Temple of the Divine Madman—a 14th-century fertility temple dedicated to the Tibetan Buddhist Saint Drukpa Kuenley and the Punakha Dzong, a fortress temple and one of the kingdom’s administrative centres where the current King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and his bride Jetsun Pema were recently married.

Activities offered by Uma Punakha are cultural sightseeing, white-water rafting, hiking and cycling under supervision of Uma’s qualified English-speaking guides.

COMO Hotels and Resorts is based in Singapore.

A former chief information officer and EVP distribution of Wyndham Worldwide, Mr Edwards will lead the company’s hotel division selling distribution and IT services to hospitality companies.

Jeff Edwards

Prior to Wyndham Worldwide, Edwards worked with Micros Systems Inc where he held a variety of senior roles including president and chief executive officer – Micros Fidelio, as well as executive vice president-Micros Distribution for North America.

Mr Edwards officially joined Amadeus 1 February and will be based in Madrid, Spain.  In the newly created  division in Amadeus, the company has hired three industry veterans – Thomas Drexler for Rail, John Jarrell for Airport IT and Jeff Edwards for Hotels.

According to a report in http://www.tnooz.com, an online news service on travel technology, Mr Babai is a key person behind a new wholesale tour firm focusing on group travel, known as G2 Travel.

Mr Babai, who sold GTA for an estimated US$1.1 billion, is apparently reassembling his former senior management team at G2 Travel from various GTA alumni, according to Toonz.

The only named employee so far is David Littlefair who will run G2′s offices in Bangkok after leaving GTA  September 2011 as managing director of operations in Thailand.

Other regional offices include Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Rome and Bucharest.

G2 says it plans to offer “group land services” such as hotels and other local products from around the world, with a particular focus on the Far East, but only as part of a third party, wholesale-type relationship with travel agents.

G2 is not using third party suppliers for Europe, however non-European destinations will be through third party suppliers, an official says.

Very little information is coming out of G2 so far. Mr Babai’s disappearing act (and previous well-known lack of enthusiasm for personal publicity) was intentional, with Cendant locking him down with a non-compete for six years after the sale of GTA in 2005.

GTA is now a Kuoni-owned company. For full story and other travel technology reports see http://www.tnooz.com

He was visiting the popular world heritage destination on behalf of employer, Burasari Hotel Group.

He previously worked for Diethelm Travel as a vice president sales and marketing based in Bangkok from 2002 to 2010 and with Siam Express as director of sales also based in Bangkok from 2001 to 2002.

Located in Ludhiana, Punjab region, the hotel is the group’s first property featuring 127 rooms. It is due to open in the second half of 2012.

“This project will mark the entry of the Amari brand into India and it is a very significant milestone for us,” noted ONYX Hospitality Group president and chief executive officer, Peter Henley.

“Ludhiana is a thriving city and we look forward to working with Apna Punjab Resorts Ltd,” he added.

Apna Punjab Resorts owner, Agyapaul Singh, commented: “As a brand new development and the first upscale all-suite hotel in the Punjab, Amari Ludhiana aims to be a leading venue for grand occassions,” Mr Singh added.

Located on Canal Road, a major bypass road in the city and in terms of area, Amari Ludhiana will be the largest hotel in the Punjab.

The property will also offer significant banquet facilities and be able to accommodate events for up to 2,000 people as well as parking for 250 cars inside the complex, It will also have a spa, gymnasium and retail spaces.

Saudi Arabia

Mr Gokongwei cited Saudi Arabia as an example, where only 165,000 passengers flew direct nonstop flights from Manila (Civil Aeronautics Board 2010 data), compared to 293,000 Filipinos travelling to Saudi Arabia in the same year. This means that nearly half of Filipinos who flew to Saudi Arabia in 2010 had to take multiple flights to get to their destination. With Cebu’s lon- haul operations, the budget airline will provide more affordable, direct flight options to Filipinos overseas, a population estimated to be 11 million worldwide. Since its inception in 1996, Cebu Pacific has offered short-haul flights for Filipinos working and residing overseas. Passenger traffic to and from Hong Kong, where the Filipino population is high, grew by 88% since CEB started operating flights from Manila in 2001. With the current fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline cannot operate long-haul flights. The carrier needs a new fleet,  possibly A330s that can fly 11- hour routes. The carrier plans to lease up to eight the aircraft.

Blaming economic conditions in Europe  Garuda said it was reducing  its daily service Jakarta – Dubai – Amsterdam to four a week starting 1 March.

Amsterdam is Garuda’s only destination in Europe, launched in June 2010 after the airline was removed from EU’s safety blacklist.

Instead the airline will focus on Tokyo and Taipei, with new services, Denpasar – Tokyo (Haneda) from 27 April, and Jakarta – Taipei from 19 May.

The five weekly flights to Haneda will use an Airbus 330-300 with 257 seats (42 in business class and 215 in economy class).

Upon initiating the Denpasar – Haneda service, Garuda will close the Denpasar – Nagoya service, 10 April, due to declining bookings.

The Taipei service will use a Boeing 737-800 with 156 seats (12 seats in business class and 144 seats in economy class).

Beginning in February 2012, Garuda will also increase the frequency of its Jakarta – Kuala Lumpur service to three daily up from the current two.

Domestically it will add flights on several route; Jakarta – Batam from four to five daily; Jakarta – Pekanbaru from five to six daily, and will begin a daily Bandung – Surabaya flight from 10 February.

Late last year, the airline increased services:

Denpasar – Sydney from six weekly to daily;

Denpasar – Seoul from five weekly to daily;

Jakarta – Melbourne from three to four weekly;

Denpasar – Melbourne from four to five weekly;

Jakarta – Shanghai, from five weekly to daily;

Jakarta – Beijing, from three to five weekly;

Jakarta – Seoul, from six weekly to daily.

Details of the agreement were announced by the hotel group last week. The new programme leading up to a Bachelor Degree on Hotel and Resort Management will start with the 2012 student intake.

Dusit executives said the partnership aims to raise the bar of hospitality education in Thailand and will be open for international students.

Cooperation between the two organisations was initiated by Dusit International as it saw the need to develop hospitality talent ahead of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) era in 2015.

The programme will be conducted in English and open to both Thai and international students. A launch date for applications as yet to be announced.

Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, established in 1893, claims to be the oldest hotel school in the world. Thailand has the largest group of Ecole graduates in Asia and the 5th largest worldwide underscoring the country’s close links with the school.

Dusit International has been in hospitality for 60 years making it the oldest and most reputable local hotel group. It has been a leader in training hotel staff since it was founded in 1948 by honorary chairperson, Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui.

It is also the most successful Thai hotel having established extensive brand recognition beyond Thailand and Southeast Asia with properties under its management in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The site is located 14km from the provincial capital and has 43 stone jars.

According to a report in Vientiane Times, the  site needs better road access and electricity but despite the drawbacks it was officially opened to tourists, 18 January.

When the site has been fully developed, it will have a surfaced access road, electricity, an information centre, parking, toilets, restaurant and a hotel.

Visitors can view the ancient jars, and visit a supply tunnel that was made during the Indochina War to transfer supplies and soldiers through the steep hillsides to avoid enemy bombing raids.

On Xieng Khouang Plateau there are more than 90 jar sites. Each site ranges from 1 up to 400 stone jars. The jars vary in height and diameter between 1 and 3 metres and were hewn out of rock for purposes that still remain a mystery.

In 2010, Keng Mountain was a production area for the large stone jars, but it could not be officially opened to the public due to the proliferation of unexploded mines and ordnance.

A survey of the stone jars production area was carried out in 2009 after jars were found in the mountain area.

Other three primary sites have been cleared of mines. They are: Thong Hai Hin (Plain of Jars) in Paek district, Thong Hai Hin Phu Salao area, in Paxay district, and Thong Hai Hin Lart Khai area, also in Paxay district.

The local department also plans to improve the access road to what is known as Elephant Cave (Tham Xang). Another attraction is So Mountain, the home of the ethnic Phuan people, who built ladders here to launch home-made missiles during the Boun Bangfai (Rocket Festival) over 700 years ago.

According to the report, authorities expect the rocket site, cave and the newly opened jar site to generate more income for local people through tourism.

The Plain of Jars has been nominated for World Heritage Site status due to its archaeological, historical and natural value.

Etihad Guest and Air Berlin’s topbonus frequent flyer programme members will earn awards and status miles when flying either airline.

Etihad Guest Silver, Gold and Gold Elite members will get additional benefits such as use of Air Berlin’s priority check-in, priority boarding and increased baggage allowances on all routes.

They will also be able to access reserved waiting areas at Berlin, Cologne and Dusseldorf airports. Similar reciprocal benefits will be available to Air Berlin’s topbonus members travelling with Etihad Airways.

Late December 2011 Etihad Airways and Air Berlin announced a strategic partnership as Etihad became Air Berlin’s largest shareholder increasing its 2.99% share to 29.2% through the purchase of US$95 million in new shares.

It is also providing US$255 million in loans to finance new jet purchases. The deal also includes a code-share agreement giving Etihad access to Air Berlin’s European network.