Hong Kong top site for offices

HONG KONG, 21 July 2011 – The world’s biggest firms are increasingly setting up shop in Asia’s booming economies, a survey said Wednesday, as Hong Kong topped a list of the world’s most popular cities for global businesses.

The financial hub topped the list despite soaring property costs, which saw become the most expensive city to rent office space last year.

Asian cities grabbed four of the top five spots in the study by real-estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis, with Singapore in second place, followed by Tokyo, London and Shanghai. Read more

Bid to save troubled resort

SEOUL, 13 July 2011 – A group of 10 South Korean officials and business people crossed the border into North Korea on Wednesday to discuss the fate of a troubled jointly run resort in the communist state.

They will meet the North’s authorities at the scenic Mount Kumgang resort, said a unification ministry spokeswoman in Seoul, after Pyongyang last month threatened to dispose of all Seoul-owned properties there.

Initial negotiations two weeks ago produced no solid agreement on how to settle the dispute over the resort.

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Chinese travel solo to Taiwan

TAIPEI, 28 June 2011 – Nearly 300 solo Chinese travellers arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, officials said, the first individual tourists from the mainland in more than half a century after Taipei lifted a long-standing ban.

Travel between Taiwan and China stopped at the end of the civil war in 1949, and mainland tourists were previously only allowed to visit Taiwan in groups due to official concerns they might overstay their visas to work illegally.

Individual Chinese tourists are expected to generate up to T$19.5 billion (US$673 million) in additional tourism income each year, according to authorities, providing a significant boost to the holiday industry in Taiwan.

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Hong Kong a victim of success

HONG KONG, 1 June 2011 – Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific on Tuesday called for a new third runway at the city’s airport, saying the facility had become a “victim of its own success” as travel demand grows in the region.

The call was made as the city’s airport authority was set to begin a three-month public consultation on its new 20-year development blueprint, said to include plans for a third runway at a cost of HK$86 billion (US$11 billion).

“A third runway at (the airport) is going to be needed,” Cathay chief executive John Slosar said in Sydney, according to a statement issued by the airline in Hong Kong. Read more

Japan bites bullet on maglev trains

TOKYO, 31 May 2011 – Japan gave the go ahead last Friday for a magnetic levitation line that will shuttle passengers between Tokyo and Osaka in just over an hour using the world’s fastest trains.

Railway operator JR Tokai plans to lay the maglev line from Tokyo through the central city of Nagoya to Osaka, in western Japan, with trains travelling at a dizzying 500 kph (300 mph).

Spokesman Kazutaka Izumi said the company hoped to begin an environmental assessment in December with a view to starting construction in 2014.

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Japan visitor arrivals plunge

TOKYO, 20 May 2011 – Japan’s quake-tsunami disaster and nuclear emergency have led to a record 62.5%t plunge in foreign tourists, a government agency said Thursday.

There were an estimated 295,800 overseas visitors in April, down from 788,000 in April 2010, a second straight decline following a 50.3% year-on-year drop in March, the Japan National Tourism Organisation said.

The March 11 tsunami knocked out the cooling systems of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northwest Japan and emergency crews have been battling since to stop it leaking radiation into the air and the Pacific Ocean. Read more

PATA deficit spirals on paper

BEIJING, 12 April 2011 – Pacific Asia Travel Association’s 2010 balance sheet will show a loss of around US$419,000 much higher than earlier indications from PATA,  but mainly due to a series of year-end adjustments demanded by the US audit firm.

The deficit contrasts with an earlier figure of US$120,000 that was leaked to TTR Weekly late last year.

It was understood that US$100,000 of the 2010 deficit was due to termination pay outs to two staff  and a pay out to another executive who resigned, but negotiated termination benefits to guarantee a smooth and quiet exit. Read more

Amadeus sponsors HK power breakfast

BANGKOK, 14 January 2011 – Amadeus, is promoting its study “The Travel Gold Rush 2020,” at what it calls an Amadeus Power Breakfast to be held in Hong Kong, 18 January.

The seminar will take place at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, North Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, from 0800 to 1100. This event is free for corporate travel managers but seats are limited.

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HK fine tunes CNY celebrations

HONG KONG, 12 January 2011 – Hong Kong Tourism Board and Cathay Pacific Airways are promoting Chinese New Year celebrations to Thailand’s outbound travel market. The event  welcomes the Year of the Rabbit  from 28 January to 14 February.

However, the highlighted activities begin on 3 February with the Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade that starts at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza in Tsim Sha Tsui and ends outside the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers.

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Beijing confirms second airport project

BEIJING, 12 January 2011 – Beijing plans to build a second major airport in the next five years to keep up with an explosion in air travel in the fast-growing economy, according to a statement received by AFP Wednesday.

State media said the airport was expected to handle 60 million passengers a year, easing pressure on the existing Beijing Capital International Airport — the world’s second busiest hub with 73.9 million passengers last year.

The project has not yet been approved by the central government, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said in the statement.

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