Singapore is trying to entice investors in its Tourism Unlimited program, designed to benefit companies packaging and selling travel to Asia. The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board is encouraging promotions that could be tested in Singapore before expanding regionally. The board envisions a range of initiatives that includes theme restaurants, travel, leisure, entertainment and retail businesses, and the arts as a means to attract visitors. Singapore is actively promoting tourism under agreements with India, Vietnam and Indonesia. U.S.
Hotel management company Doubletree Corp. has entered into an agreement in principle to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of RFS Inc. in exchange for three million shares of Doubletree stock. RFS manages and leases 48 hotels.
United is donating to the Colorado Avalanche Community Fund $146,000 that it collected during the Thanksgiving holiday. The carrier offered special fares in conjunction with Denver radio stations, generating $292,000 in ticket sales, and is contributing half of the amount to charity. The fund makes donations to organizations that provide services for abused children.
Sabre Interactive Technology has selected Silicon Graphics's WebFORCE product line as the "platform of choice" to power its on-line reservations function in a new World Wide Web product, Travelocity. The Web travel service will debut in March. Sabre is using multiple silicon servers for the development, production and certification of the new Web site. Silicon said Sabre will begin soon to use WebSpace Author, the company's VRML authoring tool, to create 3D worlds.
States are following through on their pledge to take responsibility for their part in implementing the National Tourism strategy. Greg Farmer, undersecretary of Commerce for travel and tourism, said last week, following the first meeting of the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism Implementation Team, that most of the recommendations will be implemented or initiated by the end of the first quarter of 1996 (DAILY, Dec. 18). Travel Industry Association national chair Sandra Fulton said the conference has "created a sense of responsibility" across the industry.
Mexican carrier Taesa Airlines has signed close to US$100 million in contracts for charter work this winter with flights from Mexico to the U.S., Canada and South America. Under the contracts with Canadian tour operators, Taesa will fly from Victoria and Kelowna to destinations such as Los Cabos, Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta. The airline will base eight aircraft in the U.S. and operate flights from Boston, Dallas, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Oklahoma, Cincinnati and Louisville to Cancun, Cozumel, Ixtapa, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.
Sabre computer reservations system is planning to impose a fee next year for canceled bookings and will join other CRSs in eliminating non- participating carriers in the standard availability schedule. On Feb. 1, Sabre will keep 12 cents of the airline fee for canceled bookings in North America and 14 cents for bookings everywhere else except Europe. The CRS has not yet decided whether it will impose a fee on European bookings or at what level. A Sabre spokesman said the fee is necessary to cover costs as transactions - and cancellations - increase.
Prestige Airways, a Manassas, Va.-based charter operator, launches scheduled service today. The carrier is starting flights from Washington Dulles Airport to Miami, St. Thomas and St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prestige, previously known as Paradise Airways, recently changed its operating name to avoid confusion with another carrier, Paradise Island Airways. The airline operates four 727-200s configured for 164 passengers. The company is operated by Navcom Av II, which is owned by Elijah Jackson, a pilot who worked 16 years for FAA.
Stocking its larder for the five days up to and including Christmas, British Airways expects to serve 225,000 passengers up to 1,300 turkeys, 45,000 mince pies, 2,000 Christmas puddings, 350 gallons of cream and a metric ton of brussels sprouts. Plus 6,500 bottles of champagne to wash it down.
Organized tour takers want to be educated, the National Tour Foundation has found. According to the Tour Traveler Index, published by the foundation, 70% of tour travelers would prefer taking a nature walk with a naturalist than going it alone, they want longer museum visits - a half-day instead of two to three hours - 76% are more interested in a river cruise with narration than without, 62% prefer to learn something that can enhance their daily lives, and more than half on a farm tour want to see the animals close up, while 73% want to meet the family.
Bally Entertainment Corp. has opened Bally's SaloonGambling HallHotel in Robinsonville, Miss., under a joint venture with Lady Luck Gaming Corp. The casino is the closest gaming facility to Memphis, Tenn.
New Zealand's tourism growth rate was slower than expected in 1995, and predicted travel levels likely will not be reached. The New Zealand Tourism Board predicts the country will see 3 million visitors annually by 2000, but for the year ending August 1995, it had only 1.38 million visitors. The numbers concern hotel developers who, according to a recent Ernst&Young study, are headed for a profitability plateau with a near- term oversupply of rooms.
Saying it has new evidence of wrongdoing by Fine Airlines, the government of Peru has reiterated its request that the U.S. dismiss Fine's complaint seeking sanctions against Peru for barring the all-cargo carrier from operating in that country. In a diplomatic note to the U.S.
Air Pacific, Fiji's international airline, will add a second weekly nonstop between Los Angeles and Fiji on Jan. 9, using a 747. The carrier launched service in the market in July 1994.
P.F. Hartman, executive VP-personnel and organization at KLM, has been named executive VP-engineering and maintenance. He replaces R.G. van Groenwoud who, KLM said, wishes to pursue career opportunities outside of the company. C. van Wouderberg, executive VP-flight services, will take responsibility for personnel and organization. C.J.M. Gresnigt, senior VP- flight operations, has been named acting executive VP- flight services.
Air Canada launched service to Hong Kong yesterday and said it will be known in Chinese as "Maple Leaf Airlines." The carrier will operate three weekly nonstop flights between Vancouver and Hong Kong and add a fourth in April.
U.S. negotiators are reporting progress in talks with Thailand and China. The U.S. and Thailand made headway but did not reach an agreement after three days of talks that ended yesterday in Washington. "Very good progress was made, with the two sides finding a great deal of agreement on major issues," said a U.S. government official, adding, however, that items remain that will need further discussion. The two sides are slated to meet again during the week of Jan. 15 in Thailand, and one U.S.
The Leading Hotels of The World Ltd. will be the first hotel company to use two of Sabre Decision Technologies' new products - CRSView and QIK-RES. Leading Hotels represents 300 luxury hotels and resorts in 66 countries. It will integrate QIK-RES, a host reservations system user interface, with CRSView, a distribution analysis system, into its own reservations network. Sabre said its reservations system can reduce training time for sales agents by up to 30%.
Alaska Airlines has leased two new 737-400s from International Lease Finance Corp. for 10 years, with delivery planned in November 1996 and February 1997. The equipment is addition to 20 new 737-400s also leased from ILFC. In a separate transaction, Alaska agreed to buy from ILFC this month three 737-400s built in 1992 that it had been leasing. The purchase price is about $86 million cash, ILFC said.
American Society of Travel Agents has asked airlines to be magnanimous by passing along all possible savings to consumers if Congress allows the 10% ticket tax to expire. The tax is scheduled to expire Dec. 31 unless President Clinton signs a continuing resolution bill. "Currently, Americans who fly are paying more than $4.8 billion annually through the excise tax and another $195 million through the international passengers tax," ASTA President Jeanne Epping said. That money has the potential to create growth in domestic travel through lower fares, she said.
America West is expanding its presence in Detroit with new service from its Columbus hub, adding to previously announced service from Phoenix and Las Vegas that is to begin Feb. 15, 1996. The Detroit service is part of a growth plan launched in September, when the airline said it would add about 20 new jets to its fleet of 91 over the next two years, increase capacity 29% and departures 17%. The growth plan is the most aggressive America West has undertaken since emerging from bankruptcy in August 1994.
Standard&Poor's revised its ratings outlook on BE Aerospace Inc. to negative from stable after news that the company has signed a definitive agreement to purchase seat-maker Burns Aerospace. The rating affects $125 million in debt.
Summary of U.S. Major Carriers International Traffic April 1995 Revenue Average Passengers Length of Enplaned % Travel Carriers (000) Change (Miles) American 1,179 11.31 2,121 Atlantic 294 11.49 4,142 Latin 858 11.53 1,321 Pacific 27 2.98 5,558
United will inaugurate flights March 2 from Denver and Los Angeles to Vancouver. Awarded for the second year of phasing in open skies at the Canadian city (DAILY, Oct. 19), the new services "will provide better access to Vancouver" and offer "smooth connections for Vancouver passengers flying via Los Angeles to the South Pacific and via Denver to the Midwest and the East Coast," said Montie Brewer, United VP-resource planning. It will operate one daily flight in each direction in the markets, using 737- 300 aircraft.
