People should be travelling  - -  WHO

A message from Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) President and CEO, Mr. Peter de Jong sent to all PATA members:-  

I want to share with you my personal impressions of a presentation by Dr. David Heymann, Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), which I attended on April 28 in Bangkok. Dr. Heymann was in Bangkok to address the heads of state of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) plus China (PRC) and Hong Kong SAR on the SARS situation facing the region.

At a time when the SARS paranoia is having a devastating effect on our industry, I felt it important to listen to this authoritative WHO spokesperson who came to share the latest findings on SARS with Asia’s government leaders, and report these findings to you, our members.

Dr. Heymann said, in effect, there was nothing about the SARS virus that should prevent people from travelling. He was concerned that the WHO’s efforts to keep the public informed about the spread of the virus had had the unfortunate effect of discouraging travel to, from and through our region.

Dr. Heymann regretted the public perception that travellers were exposed to undue risks of contracting SARS. He said: "We want tourists to understand risk is greater, as they perceive it, than it actually is."

He told the press: "We realise that the travel industry is hurting and we want to help get the risk perception right. Now that effective monitoring and exit screening is in place, there is no good reason why people shouldn't be travelling in the same numbers as previously."

Importantly, Dr. Heymann confirmed that the travel experience was NOT a  contributor to the spread of SARS. He emphasised that the public perception of this virus, which has caused a serious downturn in travel and tourism, was based upon an inaccurate interpretation of information that had been provided by the WHO to governments and the public.

I think it is extremely important for PATA members and the travel and tourism industry at large to know that this information came from a senior executive of the world’s foremost public health authority. It is essential that this reassurance be communicated onwards throughout our industry and to the public.

Dr. Heymann reported the good news that Vietnam had successfully managed to contain the spread of the disease and that SARS had "peaked" in several other countries (but not China (PRC)). If this trend continues, it will probably result in several other destinations being taken off the WHO list of SARS-affected areas in the coming days and weeks. Today, April 30, the travel advisory for Toronto was lifted. These are encouraging signs.

Dr. Heymann admitted: "SARS has had an unnecessarily negative impact on the economy, travel, trade and tourism because of unrealistic fear. The public must make better judgements."

It is PATA’s role to provide accurate and balanced information so that the public can make informed travel decisions.

For too long the public perception has been that travellers and the travel industry were the culprits and conduits responsible for the transmission of SARS. I am relieved to learn that our industry is not to blame, nor should our customers be penalised or discouraged. Travel is as safe today as it was several months ago. 

Together, let’s get this message out to the global marketplace ­ quickly and effectively.

Peter de Jong
PATA President and CEO

IH&RA Foundation for the future awards bursaries to promising young professionals

Eight young hospitality professionals from China, India, Romania and the Caribbean have won places in  the 2003 Summer Scholarship Programme run by the IH&RA (International Hotel & Restaurant Association) Foundation for the Future.

This year`s winners -- chosen from a field of 34 candidates -- come from companies large and small and will follow summer courses at Cornell University, Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne, Hotelschool the Hague, and Johnson & Wales University.

According to Dries de Vaal, Chairman of the Foundation for the Future, the programme is designed to give international experience and training to outstanding young hospitality professionals who might not otherwise have the opportunity to go abroad. Scholars are between 24 and 35 years old.

"When the Selection Committee meets," he says, "we look at all the applications and ask ourselves where a Foundation for the Future scholarship could make the biggest difference in a promising career." Decision-making isn`t always easy, he points out, "especially when the applicants are as strong as they were this year."

The 2003 Scholarship Selection Committee met in London on March 27th and included representatives from Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne, Hotelschool the Hague, Johnson & Wales University and the Savoy Educational Trust, along with Trustees of the Foundation.

Funding for the annual Summer Scholarship Programme comes from sponsors` donations, donations in kind by hospitality schools, and proceeds from the Silent Auction held during each IH&RA Annual Congress.

Six Continents and the Swedish Hotel & Restaurant Association have given generous donations to the Summer Scholarship Programme in 2003, and join a distinguished line of regular supporters that includes the American Express Foundation. Johnson & Wales University has awarded two places for Foundation scholars - one each in their Culinary Arts and Hospitality programmes - and the Savoy Educational Trust is providing one place each year for five years for study at a UK institution or placement in a London hotel.

The IH&RA Foundation for the Future 2003 Summer Scholarship Programme winners, in alphabetical order:

• Ms Melissa Dow, Coconut Court Resort, Christ Church - Barbados
• Mr Jun Peng, White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou -- China
• Mr Corneliu Posea, Bazna Spa, Sibiu -- Romania
• Mr Abhijit Saha, The Park Hotel, Bangalore -- India
• Ms Indrani Sanyal, The Park, Kolkata -- India
• Mr Zubin Songadwala, ITC Hotel Grand Maratha Sheraton, Mumbai -- India
• Ms Xuetong Wang, Qilu Hotel, Jinan -- China
• Mr Xiaoguang Yao, Hai Tian Hotel, Qingdao -- China.

These scholars join more than 180 alumni who have participated in the Summer Scholarship Programme since it was founded in 1987. Each bursary is worth approximately USD $4 000, and covers tuition, fees, materials and, in most cases, accommodation.

Whitbread beats the gloom in hotels 

Evening Standard -- LEISURE group Whitbread reported a modest rise in full-year profits growth despite suffering along with the rest of the industry in its Marriott 4-star hotels. Strong results from its budget Travel Inns, David Lloyd Leisure and Brewers Fayre estates helped offset flat profits at Marriott, where sales slipped 3% amid tough conditions in London.

Chief executive David Thomas said Marriott had outperformed the doom-laden upmarket hotels sector.

He added: 'I am hopeful that an early end to the Middle East conflict will be beneficial both to consumer confidence and to the outlook for our markets - particularly in four-star hotels. Until conditions are more clear, however, I am continuing to take a prudent view of capital expenditure and other costs in order to protect cashflow and earnings.'

Thomas has sold the company's original brewing and pubs interests over recent years and has now struck a deal to sell 34 Beefeater sites.

Operating profits for continuing businesses came in slightly below analysts' expectations at £214m against £213.4m a year earlier before a slew of exceptional items relating to restructuring. Sales were £1.95bn against £2.17bn a year earlier and the dividend increases from 12.75p to 14.3p.

National Cornell study finds most hotels making no changes in safety, security staffing or procedures in year after 9/11

Most hotels made no changes to safety and security staffing or procedures in the year following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, possibly because they already were in good shape.

Exceptions: modest improvements to staffing and procedures were made at hotels in New York, New Jersey and the central southwest. The news is from a national survey of hotel managers conducted at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Professor Cathy Enz, executive director of the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell’s Hotel School, in conjunction with Smith Travel Research, surveyed 1,033 hotel managers throughout the United States shortly after the attacks in 2001 and then surveyed 492 general managers in October 2002. The surveys’ final findings were released today (April 28, 2003).

Although the study did not ask managers to specify the security procedures their hotels took, Enz said some procedures might include plans for evacuation in case of emergency, the protocol for verifying identification of guests at check-in and the practices used to secure access to interior hallways, elevators to guest rooms and other areas.

Some, but not many, U.S. hotels added security staff or made changes in their existing safety and security procedures. While a substantial proportion of managers indicated they made no changes, some – primarily luxury and extended-stay hotels – said they were adding security staff or updating security policies. When the sample was broken into segments, the study found that hotels in two very different regions of the country, one mostly rural and one mostly urban, were more likely to be making changes to safety and security staffing and procedures (the more-rural region was the central Southwest: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana; the more-urban one was the mid-Atlantic: New York and New Jersey).

“It appears that most hotels are standing pat with their existing safety and security procedures,” Enz commented. “However, the difficulty in making a conclusive determination from a study such as this one is that no baseline exists for hotel security standards. Thus, there’s a strong probability that many hotels already had effective safety and security staffing and procedures in place before the Sept. 11 attacks. On the other hand, one might have expected the responding general managers to report a move toward an even higher level of changes in staffing and procedures following the attacks.”

A report on the study, titled “Changes in U.S. Hotel Safety and Security Staffing and Procedures during 2001 and 2002,” is on the CHR’s home page, www.chr.cornell.edu.

An earlier study by Enz on hotel safety and security features, released in September 2002, showed most U.S. hotels ranking high on safety and security indices that looked at such features as security cameras, interior corridors, electronic locks and sprinkler systems. That study, titled “The Safety and Security of U.S. Hotels: A Post-September 11 Report,” also is available on the CHR Web site.

Based at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, the Center for Hospitality Research informs scholarship in hospitality with an industry perspective. The center’s mission is to bring together the best insights of scholarship in hospitality and industry expertise. Development of the CHR’s research efforts is augmented by industry perspective from its advisory board and its 26 industry sponsors and friends. All CHR studies are posted on its Web site, listed above.

Wyndham seeks fresh financing

Struggling Wyndham International Inc. has become the latest hotelier tapping asset-backed securities to solve financing problems.

Lehman Brothers Inc. has agreed to provide $425 million in floating-rate financing for Wyndham.

Of this amount, $300 million to $350 million is secured by 17 Wyndham hotels, according to the Commercial Mortgage Alert. The remainder will come from a mezzanine loan.

Wyndham's financing move follow's last week's close of a $150 million loan to Irving, Texas-based Felcor Lodging Trust Inc. from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. secured by 10 Felcor hotels.

Sources close to the situation described the financing talks as preliminary.

A spokeswoman for Wyndham, the Dallas-based hotelier controlled by Thomas H. Lee Co., Leon Black's Apollo Management LP and others, would not comment Tuesday, April 29. Lehman Brothers did not return calls.

One investment banker expects up to 10 more similar deals to be completed by year's end.

These transactions are normally issues of commercial-mortgage-backed securities underwritten by a pool of mortgage loans on hotels. While hotels appear an unsafe investment these days, market watchers said they'll pay off more than investments in office buildings, especially for opportunistic investors.

"There is a greater sense that the hotel sector is operating at or near the bottom, while the office people think there could be some more decline in the sector," said Stephen D. Plavin, chief operating officer of Capital Trust Inc.

Capital, a New York-based mezzanine lender, has taken pieces of mezzanine financings before.

Though Wyndham's financing is part of an overall trend, it's still a bit shocking considering the company's recent track record.

Since Lee, Apollo and others injected $1 billion into the company in 1999, its debt has swelled to over $3 billion in 2002.

Wyndham reduced some debt with a $447 million sale of 13 hotels to Westbrook Partners LLC in fall 2002 but was having trouble attracting buyers for its debt.

Before the Westbrook deal, Wyndham was preparing for a $750 million junk bond offering. This was cut to $500 million, and the offer was eventually pulled back in June 2002, as investors sought a higher yield.

According to CMA, the Lehman Brothers financing will be used to pay off a $235 million mortgage loan from the New York investment banker slated to mature on July 1 and a $154 million balance on a loan from Bear, Stearns & Co.

Up next for Wyndham will be a decision on how best to pay off parts of $1.28 billion in bank debt maturing next June 2004. 

New figures confirm tough times ahead for Australian Tourism

TravelDailyNews.com   -  The Australian tourism industry had a tough first quarter, with international arrivals in February and March down compared to 2002 , according to new figures released, Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) Managing Director, Ken Boundy said.

"Despite a stronger start to the year, with international visitor arrivals for January up by 5 per cent, arrivals for February and March* declined by two per cent and 11 per cent respectively, signalling the start of a tough period for the sector," Mr Boundy said.

"This equates to around 40,000 less international visitor arrivals in the first three months of the year.

"The decline in February can largely be attributed to the looming conflict in Iraq and the uncertainty this created for travellers, particularly for those with travel plans to long haul destinations such as Australia. In addition, the change in timing of Chinese New Year shifted some arrivals from February to January.

"Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come for the industry, with arrivals to Australia during the second quarter of 2003 to be hit by the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). SARS has further compounded a series of events, which have troubled the sector over the past 18 months beginning with September 11 and Ansett`s collapse.

"The impact of SARS on Australian tourism escalates as consumers are continuing to delay or cancel travel plans and are reluctant to make or confirm holiday bookings. While the conflict in Iraq dented consumer confidence, SARS has had a more immediate impact, and it is uncertain how long this will continue to affect the sector.

"Early indications suggest that visitor arrivals during April and May will be down by around 20 per cent compared to last year, with SARS affected countries in Asia potentially falling by more than 30 per cent.

"In addition, operators in key markets are indicating that forward bookings are down by 30 per cent on previous years.

"European markets, including Germany and France, are also impacted by SARS as travellers are reluctant to travel to Australia due to stopovers in Asia."

Mr Boundy said the ATC would continue to monitor consumer sentiment to holidaying overseas and would introduce new advertising campaigns to stimulate travel as countries began to show signs of recovery.

"Both New Zealand and Japan offer opportunities for Australian tourism, as people from both countries look for destinations which are perceived as safe and near-by," he said. "The ATC is set to launch new campaigns in both markets to capitalise on these opportunities."

"We will continue to develop new strategies in all our markets to minimise the impact of recent events on tourism businesses across Australia."

* The ATC indicated that the March result is a preliminary estimate and that it will be revised when final data is available.

Latin America the percentage star for NH Hoteles 

e-Tid.com  -  Madrid-quoted NH Hoteles has reported turnover jumped 19.6% to €203.9m for the quarter to end-March 2003, from €170.4m a year earlier.

The total was boosted by €42m revenues from 45-strong German hotel chain Astron, which NH acquired for €130m in February 2002.

Excluding Astron and new hotels opened over the past 12 months, sales totalled €178.8m, 5.6% below the same period of last year.

Occupation levels across the group fell 1 point to 57%, while revenue per available room (revPAR) dropped 5.5%.

Sales at NH’s Spanish properties grew 0.3% to €811.1m during the quarter, with occupancy up 0.43 points at 63.2%. However, ‘due to an increasingly competitive market’ revPAR in Spain decreased by 2.16% to €58.5.

Elsewhere in Europe, overall sales fell 9.4% year-on-year, with Germany recording a 10.5% decline and a 2.3 point drop in occupancy.

Latin America performed ‘satisfactorily’, with a 22.3% increase in occupancy across the region, while in Argentina revenue in local currency jumped 183%.

Following the acquisition of Astron, Dutch chain Krasnapolsky and Mexico’s Krystal Hotels, NH Hoteles owns 242 properties with almost 35,000 rooms in 16 countries across Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Best Western International Announces Q1 Results

Management Realignment to Benefit Global Development Strategy

/PRNewswire/ -- Best Western International concluded the first fiscal quarter with the addition of 78 new hotels to the brand. The company's development team successfully signed 37 North American and 41 international properties through the first three months of the period ending Feb. 28. 

In North America, the 37 hotels contributed an additional 2,996 guest rooms to the brand.  Key additions increased representation in the brand's target markets which are downtown, airport and business corridors.  Those properties include the Best Western Miami Airport West, a new construction, 100-room property in Miami, Fla.; the Best Western Charlestnn Airport, 149-room conversion property in Charleston, SC; the Best Western South Miami, 117-room conversion property in South Miami, Fla. and the Best Western Kennedy Airport, 91-room new construction property in Jamaica, NY. 

"We are concentrating on continuing to enhance the quality of properties joining the brand and increasing consumer market share," said Mark Williams, vice president of North American Development for Best Western.  "We are changing the perception customers, hotel owners and developers have of Best Western.  As the brand continues to grow, they are recognizing we are a more viable and competitive hotel chain in the mid-scale segment." 

Internationally, development efforts were focused on targeted growth throughout Europe.  France and the Netherlanss each gained four new properties, followed by three in Italy and two each in Germany and Spain. 

The brand also added the first Best Westerniin Bulgaria, the Best Western City Hotel in Sofia. 

The South Pacific, Middle East and Asia also continued to see steady growth during the first quarter.  Australia led the way with seven new properties, while three new Best Westerns opened in Bahrain. 

In addition, expansion efforts continued throughout Asia where the brand welcomed three new hotels and added 700 rooms in China.  The new hotlls include the Best Western Kylin Hotel in Qingdao, 300 rooms; Best Western Mei Yuan Hotel in Hangzhou, 200 rooms and the Best Western Sun Sun in Macau, 200 rooms.

Staff Realignment 

Recent changes in Best Western's management structure will enhance future strategic development for the brand. 

David Kong was recently appointed senior vice president of Strategy and Global Development for Best Western.  He will continue to oversee strategic planning and development for North America and he, along with his team, will now lead development efforts throughout Asia.  Suzi Yoder will continue as vice president, International Operations and will handle development in Europe and South America.  Mark Williams will continue his focus on aggressive expansion in key U.S. and Canadian markets as the company's vice president of North American Development. 

"Our development team has worked diligently to increase Best Western's portfolio of hotels worldwide," said Kong.  "With our recent realignment, we have ensured hotel owners across the globe will continue to be educated about the value and reach of the Best Western brand and have strongly positioned ourselves for further success," said Kong.

Best Western International i  THE WORLD'S LARGEST HOTEL CHAIN(R) with more than 4,000 hotels in 80 countries and territories.  It is a membership association of independently owned and operated hotels that provides marketing, reservations and operational support to its member hotels.

For more information about Best Western, visit the Best Western Newsroom at www.bestwestern.com/newsroom .

** Thisppress release may contain certain forward-looking statements. Those statements are based on management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations based on information currently available.  Actual performance and results could differ from those expressed in this document.

For further information please contact:  Tiffany Collins-Tchida, Media Relations Manager, +1-602-957-5752, tiffany.tchida@bestwestern.com , or David Trumble, Director, External Communications, +1-602-957-5753, david.trumble@bestwestern.com , both of Best Western International.

SOURCE BBest Western International