Global Hospitality News - ARCHIVE 2002

For today's latest Hospitality Breaking News  Click Here

Shortcut to News Archives

2002
January 2002 |  February 2002 |  March 2002 |  April 2002 |  May 2002 |  June 2002 |  July 2002 |  Aug 2002 |  September 2002 |

News Archive for September, 2002

September 1 - 15, 2002

September 2, 2002

Hilton Group sells 10 UK hotels for ?335.7 million, enters 27 year leaseback
Hilton Group said it has completed the sale of 10 UK hotels with 2,043 rooms to a Limited Partnership for ?335.7 million cash and entered into 27 year turnover based operating leases on the properties. The net proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce net borrowings within Hilton, it said.

For details,Click Here
Shangri-La banks on China's future growth   
The growth potential of China's markets is well known, but if there is any concern, it's that growth may come too fast, according to Al Wymann, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group director of operations in China.  

For full report,Click Here
Study Finds Mississippi, Nevada Lead Nation in Hotel Job Growth
Hotel employment, which rose by 16 percent nationwide during the 1990s, more than tripled in Mississippi during the same period, making Mississippi the nation's leader in the rate of new hotel job growth, according to a new study released today by the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute. 

For detailed report,Click Here
Marriott, Hilton top customer satisfactions survey
Marriott International and Hilton Hotels Corp. have earned their gold stars, at least when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to an industry survey released last Thursday.  

For details,Click Here
U.S. tourism to Canada back to pre-Sept. 11 numbers
Travel from the United States to Canada rose between January and March, the first such increase since Sept. 11, new travel figures revealed yesterday. In all, 2.3 million tourists arrived in Canada from the United States in the year's first quarter, up 3.3% from the same period in 2001, according to a Statistics Canada report released last week.

For details,Click Here
RCI eyes expansion in Asia, China
Resorts Condominium International (RCI) is keen to expand in Asia by working with hotel brands and mixed-use resorts in the region. Chief executive Kenneth May said it would do this by offering solutions for owners and hotel management companies.  

For further details,Click Here
Singapore Visitor Arrivals in January - June 2002 dropped by 17%
Visitor arrivals to Singapore in January - June 2002 dropped by 1.7% over the same period in 2001, to a total of 3,680,504 visitors.

For full details,Click Here
Hong Kong visitor arrivals jump 16.5% in July 2002
Visitor arrivals in Hong Kong in July 2002 jumped 16.5% year-on-year to 1,368,693, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced today (28 August). This is easily the highest July total on record and the second highest figure recorded in any single month, after the 1.40 million achieved in April this year.

For detailed report,Click Here
Japanese Hotel Operator Chisan Goes Bust
Hotel chain operator Chisan Corp. last Monday filed for court protection from creditors, marking the second-largest Japanese corporate failure this year in terms of debts, Teikoku Data Bank Ltd. said.  

For details,Click Here
Sanctuary Resorts expands in Asia
Sanctuary Resorts, the Hong Kong based resort management company of holistic resorts, has signed a management contract with recently opened Layan Beach Resort & Spa Village, in Phuket, Thailand.  

For details,Click Here
Hello, is anyone at home?
The pilot of a passenger flight who tried to land at an airport in a southern Swedish town found no one at the control tower to give him clearance.

The controller had failed to return from holiday, and no one had noticed that the tower was not staffed until the pilot called in.

The Scandinavian Airlines System's flight carrying 30 passengers from Stockholm was left to circle the airport at the Kristianstad while central traffic authorities called in another controller.

There was never any danger to the passengers or crew. There were plenty of alternative airports and the aircraft had fuel enough to divert to many of them had it been necessary," said an SAS spokeswoman.

No truth in the rumour that the airport is to get a new call sign: AWOL.

September 3, 2002

Hilton chief puts faith in a passionate game
David Michels  may be one of the world's best-known hoteliers but at the moment the Hilton Group chief executive is relieved he also runs the UK's biggest betting shop chain. With the hotel industry going through its most torrid time since the Gulf War, the buoyant trading enjoyed by Britain's bookmaking industry has proved a boon, limiting the half-year profit decline announced on Thursday to just 10 per cent.

For full story,Click Here
Singapore:  Education gap plugged
The two existing institutions, Shatec and TMIS (Tourism Management Institute of Singapore), say they welcome the setting up of HMS. Pakir Singh, chief executive of Shatec, the most established hospitality training body in Singapore, said, "I welcome it. It completes the whole training cycle.

For further details,Click Here
Six Continents Hotels to expand the number of Holiday Inn hotels in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific
Six Continents Hotels is gearing up to expand even further the number of Holiday Inn hotels in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific over the next three years following strong performances from the brand, according to Six Continents Hotels Chief Operating Officer for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Phil Lee.

For further details,Click Here
"Rooseum Lobby at Radisson SAS Hotel Malm?: Suggestions for Empty Spaces, by Luca Frei"
Rooseum Lobby is a new collaborative project between Rooseum and Radisson SAS Hotel Malm? that gives Rooseum the opportunity to present contemporary art outside the institution and the public a chance to experience art in a different context. Four young, Malm? based artists will work in the hotel space during 2002: Christina Erman Widerberg, Andreas Nordstr?m, Luca Frei and Anna Ling. Now it's time for Luca Frei.

For further details,Click Here
World tourism study puts Scotland last
Scotland has come bottom in a league table of tourist destinations across the world. A study by consultants forming part of an official inquiry into the industry gave Scotland less than half marks for current performance. And it said lessons should be learned from the way tourism was treated in places such as Ireland, Catalonia in Spain, the Veneto in Italy and Ontario in Canada.

For further details,Click Here
Tourism touted as solution to global poverty at Earth Summit
International tourists could help address global poverty, tourism industry officials at the World Summit said last Friday. Tourism "brings money to rural areas, creates lots and lots of jobs and helps to create small businesses -- from transport to accommodation," said Dawid de Villiers, of the World Tourism Organization. International tourists spent an estimated $462 billion last year.  

For details,Click Here
Hideous Sydney Hilton to be reborn
Sydney's Hilton Hotel was a "very ugly, intrusive element on the streetscape" and would be "reborn with a new purpose" after a planned $400 million revamp of the site, the architect of the redesign said. But a news conference to announce details of the redevelopment was dominated by questions about workers' entitlements after Thursday's news that 467 of the hotel's staff would be laid off when it closes its doors on November 29.  

For details,Click Here
Upscale, Down Fee
This fall, grand hotels are cutting their rates like never before

This autumn is unlike any other in the travel business. A widely anticipated summer recovery in tourism appears to have fizzled, forcing hotels and resorts to extend-or even sweeten-existing specials. "There are more deals out there, and they're concentrated in the weakest parts of the travel industry," says Mary VanMeer, editor of the bimonthly online newsletter ThriftyTraveling.com. 

For further details,Click Here

September 4, 2002

Golden Tulip secures ?33m to build up UK presence
e-Tid.com  -  Golden Tulip UK  has raised ?33m in equity and debt funding to launch an expansion programme intending to add at least 30 properties to the four in its UK portfolio.

For details,Click Here
The clock is ticking for Six Continents
Daiy Mail  London  - The clock is ticking for Six Continents. The former Bass, armed with a GBP 3bn war chest from the sale of its brewing arm, has given itself until December to find a suitable acquisition or return the money to shareholders.Broker Morgan Stanley added to the pressure. It downgraded the operator of hotels and pubs including Holiday Inn, Inter-Continental and All Bar One to 'underweight'.

For further details,Click Here
Australia: Alarm bells as tourism falls into black hole
Australia's tourism boom is headed for a bust, with the Federal Government warning that the industry hailed as our economic saviour is sliding into crisis because of its failure to "face reality"

For details,Click Here
Forgetful guests leave valuable haul
Guests are more likely to leave their own valuables behind than walk away with hotel bathrobes, according to one London hotel.

For details,Click Here
Six Continents Hotels Launches New Online Site For Last Minute Getaway Travelers
Consumers Can Now Conveniently Book Last Minute Travel Deals Online; Six Continents Hotels Inc., the world's leading global hotel group, announces the launch of a new online site for the convenient booking of affordable last minute getaways.

For details,Click Here
Marriott UK returns to positive returns
e-Tid.com  -   Whitbread's pre-close trading statement reveals that Marriott's UK hotels have 'returned to positive territory in recent weeks,' with like-for-like growth since the start of March only 1.9% short of the same period last year.

For details,Click Here
Singapore relaxes rules for conversion of hotels
Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority and tourism board are relaxing the rules safeguarding Singapore's hotels from being removed or converted. With the revision, only hotels standing along two core "spines" will be protected. 

For details,Click Here
Times has Starwood on/Whitbread off Travelodge shortlist
e-Tid.com  -  The Sunday Times reports that Whitbread has lost interest in buying Travelodge and Little Chef while Starwood is tipped to have made the shortlist.

For details,Click Here
Australia's newest five-star resort main feature: luxury tents
Fifteen luxury tents with panoramic views of Uluru have become Australia's newest five-star resort. Designed and constructed by Bovis Lend Lease for the General Property Trust, the "Longitude 131" resort has been hailed as an example of excellence in design and environmental management.

For details,Click Here
TUI launches German no-frills airline
Jumping onto the no-frills bandwagon, Germany's TUI Group chief Michael Frenzel said the company would launch a new no-frills airline, Hapag Lloyd Express. The budget carrier would commence flights from Cologne-Bonn airport from December with one-way ticket starting at 25 euros (US$25) excluding tax for European destinations. Flights within Germany would start at 10 euros before tax. 

For details,Click Here
Niche Show Grows Bigger and Better
Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) 2002 promises buyers and visitors more to explore and experience in its new location, Thailand. 

For details,Click Here
China Finds Its Shangri-La In Tourism
Never mind that the new name of this town has no meaning in the local Tibetan language. In the global vernacular of yearning, it conjures up images of a place not unlike this one -- of villages beneath jagged peaks, and red-robed monks walking slowly past mud-walled homes to the monastery.

For full report,Click Here

September 5, 2002

Thistle Hotels' interim profits boosted by disposals
Thistle Hotels says trade is starting to improve as it posts increased half-year profits. Interim pre-tax profits are ?57.9 million, up from ?29.4 million last time.  

For details,Click Here
Carlson on the move
Carlson Hospitality Worldwide is consolidating its brands and moving its business. The brands - Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Regent International Hotels and Country Inns and Suites - will now be run as a single business unit called Carlson Hotels. They will retain their brand names for consumer purposes.  

For details,Click Here
News @ PATA DE
JONG HIGHLIGHTS INTRA-REGIONAL GROWTH

PATA President and CEO Mr. Peter de Jong addressed the World Travel & Tourism Council Retreat in Agra, India, August 23-25. In a presentation entitled "The Sinews of Revival," Mr de Jong told delegates: "During 2001, only 21 percent of total international arrivals [to the Pacific Asia region] originated in non-PATA markets. Almost 80 percent of arrivals in that year came from within the region. That becomes very apparent in the case of Southeast and Northeast Asia and illustrates why they were less affected by the economic, political and social ills that beset the world during 2001."  

For the rest of this weeks PATA news and update,Click Here
Thailand Travel Mart 2002 Plus to position Thailand as Greater Mekong Suregion Tourism Hub
Senior executives of about 500 top companies from Thailand, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries and around the world will be meeting in Bangkok between  September 17-20, 2002 for the Thailand Travel Mart 2002 Plus, the annual trade show.  

For details,Click Here
Six Continents hotels launches advanced reservations system - Holidex Plus
Six Continents Hotels today announced the successful migration of all Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts' properties worldwide to a new state-of-the-art reservations system, HOLIDEX Plus. The adoption of HOLIDEX Plus is part of the group's next generation systems initiative to move the core business systems of Six Continents Hotels to the cutting edge of technology, which will result in maximization of revenue and greater operational efficiencies. In 2001, Six Continents Hotels' reservation network produced 27.7 million room nights, amounting to US$2.8 billion in total revenue generated through the system.  

For further details,Click Here
Fat And Happy In Oak Brook And Beijing
Fast-food notes from all over: Kentucky Fried Chicken is opening the first drive-through restaurant in the People's Republic of China. Meanwhile, McDonald's has launched plans to reduce the fat--well, at least one kind of fat--in its French fries.

The two stories seem unrelated but are actually tightly linked, and together raise the age-old question: If people are too lazy (or busy) to walk from the car to the burger counter, does it really matter if the fries have a little less fat?

For details, Click Here
New Headquarters for Pernas Hotel Management
Pernas Hotel Management (PHM), the managers of Malaysia's Mutiara Hotels and Resorts, has relocated its Corporate Office Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur from Ampang Business Avenue to the 29th Floor of the Mutiara Kuala Lumpur property.

For details, Click Here

September 6, 2002

Starwood Names Hoyt Harper Senior Vice President Four Points by Sheraton; 
Hotel Industry Veteran to Lead Operations for the Number One Full Service Mid-Scale Hotel Brand  -  Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced  the appointment of Hoyt Harper II as senior vice president, Four Points by Sheraton, voted the number one mid-priced hotel brand according to the 2002 Business Travel News' "Annual Top U.S. Hotel Chain Survey."  

For further details,Click Here
TravelCLICK Issues Second Quarter Electronic Booking Results for Top Asia-Pacific Markets
TravelCLICK released results today for second quarter hotel room nights booked electronically through the Global Distribution Systems (GDS). All of the top ten markets show improvement over first quarter in both room nights booked and average daily rate.  

For full details,Click Here
TravelCLICK Issues Top Ten European Hotel Markets for Second Quarter - Based on GDS Bookings
Exclusive Database Details Trends in Hotel E-Commerce ;  All of the top ten European cities showed growth over the first quarter of 2002, with the most dramatic improvement seen in Oslo. Average daily rates, in most cases, strengthened versus the same period a year ago. However, a few of the top cities declined in room night bookings on a year-over-year basis.     

For full details,Click Here
Sylvan Learning to buy  Glion Hotel School in Switzerland 
Baltimore based Educational services company Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. (SLVN) said on Wednesday it would buy the parent of Glion Hotel School in Switzerland for $15.8 million cash, its third hotel management school acquisition in two years.

For further details, Click here
Yeo to head up HMS International Singapore
Yeo Khee Leng, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, is tipped to become the new chief executive officer of Hotel Management School International.

For further details,Click Here
Macau Tourism Week 2002 kicked off September 5
Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) yesterday convoked a press conference where Director of MGTO, Engo Jo?o Manuel Costa Antunes, introduced the "Macau Tourism Week", which will be marked with a series of activities.

For further details,Click here
Tokyo Inn to open its first overseas hotel in China
Toyoko Inn Co., an operator of business hotels in Japan, , plans to open its first hotel abroad in Shenyang, China, on Oct. 18, 2002.

For details,Click Here
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts once again ranks highest in latest J.D. Power and Associates Study
Luxury Hotel Operator Gets Top Marks For Luxury Hotel Guest Satisfaction - For the second time in a month, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world's leading operator of luxury hotels, received the highest ranking in a J.D. Power and Associates Study, this one measuring guest satisfaction. The company got the highest marks in the luxury hotel segment in the J.D. Power and Associates 2002 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study(SM), released August 29, 2002.

For further details,Click Here

September 9, 2002

France expects drop in 2002 tourism
Tourist numbers in France are likely to be down in 2002 but the fall will probably only be temporary, French Secretary of State for Tourism Leon Bertrand said on Monday. "It will be perhaps less good than 2000 or 2001... it has stagnated," he said, some three weeks before official figures are due to be published by his ministry.

For details, Click Here
Britain gets tourism boost
Britain's battered tourist industry has received a welcome boost. Latest visitor figures show foreigners made 2.9m visits in July compared with 2.2m in the same month last year. They spent ?1.4bn against ?1.3bn the year before, the Office for National Statistics said.

For details, Click Here
England, Wales and Scotland join forces with 'Tourism UK'
e-Tid.com  -  The English Tourism Council, Wales Tourist Board and VisitScotland have launched 'Tourism UK' - a federation for British tourism' to lobby the government for improvements in funding.

For details, Click Here
Sheraton's Promise to Guests: A Great Stay Or We Pay
Tired of shoddy service?  So is Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and the hotel company is putting its money where its mouth is with its new Service Promise. Beginning today, slow room service, a wake up call that fails to arrive, a lumpy bed, or even a missing bar of soap will not only get fixed on the spot when possible but will warrant guests' compensation at all 200 Sheraton hotels in the Continental U.S. and Canada.

For details, Click Here
News from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research
How have hotels responded to the industry crisis that worsened following the terrorist attacks last Sept. 11? How can airlines identify and control unruly passengers? How much debt is too much for hotel properties in crisis to take on? The answers to those, and many other questions relevant to hospitality and travel industry practitioners, can be found atwww.hotelschool.cornell.edu/chr

For further details,Click Here
Spending by domestic tourists declines in NYCNew
York's tourism industry suffered a blow of nearly $1 billion from domestic travelers last year because of the double-whammy of the recession and the terrorist attack, according to figures released Wednesday by NYC & Co., the city's tourism organization.

For details,Click Here
Sol Melia's Escarrer warns FY results to be lower than expected
Sol Melia SA's full-year results will be lower than expected in the wake of this year's disappointing tourist season, Expansion reported, citing comments by chairman Gabriel Escarrer. "Full-year results will not be as good as we had hoped," Escarrer was quoted as saying by Expansion.

For details,Click Here
Dallas Hotel Market Update Written by:  Rod Clough      HVS International
Dallas has been the site of declining hotel occupancy and average rate levels through the first half of 2002, influenced primarily by the downturn in the tech and telecommunications sectors as well as other secondary factors.  According to Smith Travel Research, occupancy for the six months ending June 2002 dropped to 57.0% for the MSA, off from almost 62.0% a year earlier.  After virtually closing the occupancy gap in April, May and June occupancy declines have been modestly lower than declines experienced in the first quarter.  

For details,Click Here
Hong Kong well placed to become Asia's leading cruise hub
Worldwide cruise passengers are expected to reach 13.6 million by 2005 and Asia-Pacific will be one of the fast-growing areas in this market, a study commissioned by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) reveals.  

For details,Click Here
Kempinski Introduces A 10% Rebate For Meetings Bookings
Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Europe's oldest luxury hotel group, has introduced a 10% rebate programme - called Meetings Bonus - to reward loyalty when booking events in its hotels in Germany. 10% of the rooms element of a first booking can then be used as payment for up to a maximum of 30% of the value of the rooms element of the second booking, even if this is at a different Kempinski hotel in Germany.

For details,Click Here
Boca Resorts to release Quarterly earnings on September 12, 2002
Boca Resorts, Inc. announced that it will release its results of operations for the three months ended June 30, 2002 on September 12th. The Company will host a conference call for investors that morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time.

For details,Click Here
QMH sees 'subdued' July/Aug
e-Tid.com  -   Hotel operator Queens Moat Houses has managed a ?1m pretax profit for the half, but warned that July and August have been subdued.

For further details,Click Here

September 10, 2002

Confessions of an upper, upscale hotelier
Juergen Bartels, CEO of London-based Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts, oversees more than 140 hotels and almost 40,000 rooms in 55 countries, with a ?1 billion-plus turnover.

To read the complete TravelWeeklyEast  interview,Click Here
Business Travel Will Pick Up With Economy
A year after the Sept. 11 attacks that put a chill on the U.S. travel industry, business travel remains well below year-earlier levels due to the sluggish economy, according to a survey released on Friday.  

For details,Click Here
Financial Incentives for Historic Renovations
Written By: Karen Starika

Some of our projects consist of the renovation of historic hotel properties, and frequently our clients are not aware that there are additional economic advantages they can obtain as a result of their efforts. There are several historic tax credit incentive programs available to owners and developers who rehabilitate historic structures, as opposed to doing a contemporary renovation.  

For details,Click Here
Vietnam's tourist sector up 10 pct y-o-y and showing no slowdown
International visitors are flocking to Vietnam, with figures released by Vietnam Tourism Administration (VTA) showing a year-on-year surge of 10 per cent. The news comes as a masterplan has been approved to develop three tourism zones and six tourism centres, including the already popular world heritage listed Halong Bay.

For details,Click Here
Banyan Tree to launch first upscale Angsana City Club in Taichung, Taiwan
Through a management contract with B & B International Development Co. Ltd, Banyan Tree Holdings, will make its first foray into Taiwan with the opening of Angsana City Club in Taichung. Slated to be Taiwan's finest and featuring the famed Angsana Spa and exclusive dining venues, the private membership club will open in December 2002.  

For further details,Click Here
Two Washington Hotels Break With Convention
All  it counter-convention. Washington hotels have always catered to the bland tastes of conventioneers, but the capital now has an oasis of lodging hipness created by the Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group of San Francisco.  

For details,Click Here
ANA Harbour Grand Hotel Sydney Acquired by GIC RE for A$206.5 million, the Largest Amount Ever Paid for an Australian Hotel
ANA Holding Pty Ltd has completed the sale of the ANA Harbour Grand Hotel Sydney (the ANA) to GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd (GIC RE). Sonnenblick-Goldman Company represented the seller. "The sale price of $112 million (A$206.5 million) is the largest amount ever paid for an Australian hotel, and the deal is one of the largest property transactions of any type in Australia this year," says Robert Stiles, Sonnenblick-Goldman's San Francisco-based managing director and principal who oversees the firm's Asian practice.

For details,Click Here
UK Visitor numbers fail to pick up in July
e-Tid.com  - UK inbound tourism's uncertain spring/summer continues, with July's 'BITOA Business Barometer' showing visitor number down 4.68% on last year, a wider year-on-year gap than last month.

For details, Click Here
Novotel Hotel brand debuts in Japan
Accor's best-known hotel brand, Novotel, has made its debut in Japan when the former Koshien Miyako Hotel was rebranded to Novotel Koshien Osaka West following a major upgrade of all the hotel's rooms, function facilities and public areas.  

For details,Click Here

September 11, 2002

'Cool' Hotels equal  'Cool' Profits
It took Juergen Bartels time to realise that hotels pushing themselves as boutique, designer or "cool" were more than just a passing fad. "Of course, some boutique hotels are more outrageous than others. After all, who wants to sit on the lips of Mick Jagger?" After purchasing Le Meridien with the help of the banks, Bartels looked at a "cool" hotel next door to one he wanted to buy in England.

For the rest of this story,Click Here
News @ PATA
DE JONG REFLECTS ON 9/11

PATA President and CEO Mr. Peter de Jong told the September 9 edition of Travel Impact Newswire: "Exactly 12 months have passed since a brutal act of terrorism dealt a devastating blow to the global travel and tourism industry.... While it can be said that Pacific Asia, on the whole, hasn't suffered quite as much as some other regions have, PATA's research points out that travel and tourism in our region is still considerably down for many individual destinations and that recuperation for some is painstakingly slow." In an appeal for peaceful solutions, he said: "Travel and tourism is all about building bridges between cultures, learning to understand and respect divergent viewpoints." On Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 0730 Bangkok time, Mr. de Jong will participate in a live CNBC broadcast about how 9/11 changed the travel industry.  

For the rest of this weeks PATA news and update,Click Here
U.S. Hotel Room Revenues Down in August
U.S. hotel room revenues fell 3 percent to 5 percent in August, as sluggish demand from business travelers kept the industry in a rut, according to preliminary data released on Monday.  

For further details,Click Here
Yotel! to bring spaceship Japanese hotels to London
It is the dream hotel for businessmen who have their best night's sleep flying first class with British Airways. Yotel!, a revolutionary new "spaceship" hotel chain that aims to offer tiny but stylish rooms, will open in London next year.

For further details,Click Here.
UK tourism 'still fragile'
Only a small proportion of UK residents turned away from air travel to holidaying at home, after the events of 11 September, new research suggests. According to research from the English Tourism Council, 88% of UK residents said they did not change their travel plans, as a result of the terror attacks

For details,Click Here
Philippines sustains three months of growth
July was the third consecutive month the Philippines recorded positive growth and visitor arrivals for the first seven months of this year grew by 1.5 per cent. There were 1,127,143 visitors between January and July this year, compared to 1,144,230 for the same period last year.

For details,Click Here
Chicago still feels post-9/11 impact
One year later, corporate Chicago proved resilient to the panic, chaos and personal isolation that had been predicted to follow. Rather, it was the hangover from the prosperous but decadent '90s-accounting scandals, revelations of corporate looting, the stock market crash and economic downturn-that became a far greater challenge.

For details,Click Here
Millennium Hilton to stay closed until early 2003
The Millennium Hilton at 55 Church St. will remain shuttered at least until early next year as its owners work to refurbish the 561-room property, which is located directly across from ground zero.

For details,Click Here
Australia pins hopes on China, as tourists stay away
Hoteliers in Sydney could name their price for a room with million-dollar views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge during the 2000 Olympics in Australia. Now more than half the city's habourside hotel rooms stand vacant as Australia's tourism industry endures a two-billion-dollar (1.11 billion US) downturn that experts fear could be permanent.

For details,Click Here

September 12, 2002

WTO plays down Sept 11's long-term impact on tourism growth
e-Tid.com  -  The World Tourism Organisation has said that the 0.6% drop in year-on-year international arrivals last year reflected a bumper 2000, and that despite the US terrorist attacks, 2001's numbers were in line with the expected growth patterns before 2000's positive blip.

For further details,Click Here
Accor First-Half 2002 Results Resilient
In an environment shaped by the impact of September 11 and the global economic slowdown, Accor maintained its EBITDAR margin for the six months ending June 30, 2002 at 26.0%, versus 26.7% for the prior-year period, while reporting earnings per share of EUR 1.12, comparable to the EUR 1.14 posted in first-half 2001.  

For details,Click Here
MWB takes control of Malmaison, appoints chief executive
Property developer Marylebone Warwick Balfour has taken full control of boutique hotel group Malmaison and brought in Charles Holmes, MD of Regal Hotels, as chief executive.

For details,Click Here
Florida Hotels Making a Comeback; Ernst & Young Report Shows Signs of Recovery as Orlando Tops Miami and Tampa
The Florida hospitality industry is beginning to improve, albeit at a slower pace than the nation. After surviving what may be its toughest twelve months in the past decade, the hospitality industry is beginning to show signs of life. After absorbing the deadly combination of the 9/11attacks, drop in the stock market, new supply pressure and prolonged reductions in corporate and leisure travel, the key markets of Miami, Orlando and Tampa, though behind 2001 performance levels are improving. 

For details,Click Here
PATA calls for visa shake-up
The Pacific Asia Travel Association has proposed a universal visa system, designed to improve border security globally.  

For details,Click Here
InnSuites Hospitality Trust (IHT) Reports Fiscal 2003 First Half And Second Quarter
InnSuites Hospitality Trust  reported recurring Funds From Operations (FFO) of $647,000 or $0.30 per basic share for the first six months of fiscal year 2003. The recurring FFO was a decrease from the prior year's recurring FFO of $761,000, or $0.36 per basic share. The effect of a $790,000 or 5% decrease in total revenue primarily caused by a soft economic environment and restrained travel was largely offset with cost-cutting programs.

For details,Click Here
Tourists switch to Asian destinations following Sept 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks in the US has clearly raised jitters among travellers, hitting global tourism where it hurts. Little wonder then, that many tourists have been switching destinations, many of them heading for Asian countries.  

For details,Click Here

September 13, 2002

Hotel Industry 9-11 Predictions: Who Was On, Who Was Off…
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels Report

It has been one year since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Following the tragedy, the country began to regroup and formulate predictions on the overall economic and various industry sector performances in the year that would follow.  In a report to be released later this month, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels examines which post September 11 predictions came to fruition and which did not and, in doing do, discusses the status and outlook of the economy, hotel sector and capital markets.    

For full report,Click Here
Asian hotel industry sees pick-up next year
It has been a tough year for the Asian hotel industry because of the effects of September 11 attacks and the global slowdown. But it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel after all as analysts believe there will be a pick-up next year.  

For details,Click Here
JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta wins best new Business Hotel in Asia
JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta was awarded the BEST NEW BUSINESS HOTEL IN ASIA by the Business Asia magazine and Bloomberg TV Asia Pacific. The award is based on stringent criteria such as quality assurance and guest satisfaction ratings. It is awarded to hotels that are open less than two years.

For details,Click Here
Gazprom Wades Further Into Hotel Management
With a history of bad business deals and money going missing, Gazprom is seldom referred to as an efficient manager in the country's natural gas sector. But that has not stopped it from giving hotel management a shot. Indeed, the Gazprom- controlled Radisson SAS Lazurnaya -- the first Russian firm to try its hand at hotel management -- plans to become the industry's leader.  

For details,Click Here
Posh hoteliers return to Sri Lanka
An operator of hotels for the super rich is reported to be preparing to invest $750m (?482m) in resorts in southern Sri Lanka as the prospects for peace improve. Aman Resorts International scouted locations in Sri Lankan sites earlier this year and recently bought the rundown New Oriental Hotel in Galle.  

For details,Click Here
Tourism Industry Grows Rapidly in Macau
Tourist  arrivals in Macau by group soared a year-on- year 47 percent in the first seven months of this year, led by a skyrocketing increase of tourists from China's inland. The Statistics and Census Services posted Wednesday that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) had 1.25 million group tourists in the seven- month period.

For details,Click Here
Hong Kong:  Luxury loses out to mainland bargain-hunters
About half of Hong Kong's 38,000 hotel rooms are still unreserved for the week -long National Day holiday as many mainland visitors have held off making bookings because of a rise in room rates and package tour prices.  

For details,Click Here
New Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor unveils policies
Mrs. Juthamas Siriwan, the new governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), has unveiled her visions and policies after being officially appointed today. 

For details,Click Here