NEW
VENTURE FOR MILLENNIUM HOTELS AND RESORTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST Millennium
Hotels and Resorts is launching two new five star hotels in the The
Millennium Hotel Abu Dhabi stands on Khalifa Street on the Corniche in The
Royal Suite will accommodate up to 24 people for formal dining and A
state of the art business centre will be located on the Ground floor. A
Moroccan restaurant will be the highlight of the hotel's dining To
launch this first class hotel, Millennium Hotels and Resorts has The
250 room Millennium Hotel Sharjah is also currently under construction Chief
Operating Officer of Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Tony Potter, said: ACCOR SET TO BOOST UK PRESENCE Accor’s presence in
the UK hotel market is set for a major boost this year with eight hotels
opening and a total of 2,217 bedrooms under construction. The France-based
hotel group plans to have 91 hotels in the UK by the end of 2004. The openings range
across its economy, mid-price and luxury chains, but focus on the
mid-market. The group is set to open one Etap, three Ibis hotels, three
Novotels and one Sofitel within the year. Philippe Baretaud,
development director of Accor UK economy hotels, said: "If you look
at the Accor network in Europe, unlike France and Germany, the UK presence
is weaker, which is not in line with its market importance. We are
pursuing intensive development here." A further three deals
are awaiting planning approval. They are for a 104-bedroom Ibis in Dundee,
a 160-bedroom Ibis in West Street, Leeds, and a 151-bedroom Novotel in
Greenwich, London. The full list of
Accor’s opening schedule in the UK is London City Airport,
81-bedroom Etap, March 2002 Source: www.caterer.com
Krishnakumar
did not reveal names of the firms that his company was holding
negotiations with. "We
are simultaneously identifying companies (for acquisitions). The money we
plan to raise will be ready within two weeks and soon after we will
start," he said. The
company plans to raise around 75 million dollars through bonds and a
Japanese loan. Fifty
million dollars will be mopped up through the bond issue and the rest by a
low interest Japanese yen loan equivalent. "The
Japanese yen loan instrument reflects a low cost of interest and the
premium bond has the possibility to be converted into capital within 10
years. So we are able to replace high cost borrowing with much lower cost
money," he said. Krishnakumar
said the 75 million-dollar war chest was more than sufficient for buying
other hotel companies. "We
will hold a small amount of equity and the rest will come from other
partners," he said. The
Taj Group of hotels is India's largest hotel chain with over 50 hotels in
36 locations across South Asia. - Agence France Press
The
report, to be released in the newspaper's Monday edition, said the
government was also planning to relax visa restrictions for tourists and
increase spending to promote the industry. This
was "despite an abundance of favourable conditions." Khin
Nyunt, who is also the military junta's number three, said closer
cooperation between the government and private sector was a practical
solution for the problem. Duncan
MacLean, a member of the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board, said further
cooperation with the Hotels and Tourism Ministry would help the
development of the industry. "The
board is struggling to have an impact on tourist numbers because of a
limited budget and has proposed a fund raising scheme to finance its
promotional activities," he said. The
United States and European Union have imposed sanctions and investment
restrictions on the Myanmar junta, which took power in 1988 in a bloody
military coup, until "definite and positive" progress is made
towards restoring democracy. - Agence France Presse PATA ANNUAL
CONFERENCE AIMS FOR GREEN Organisers of the 51st PATA Annual Conference in New Delhi,
India, April 14-18, are aiming to make a minimal impact on the environment
and a maximum impact toward sustainable tourism. "Everything that
uses energy emits carbon dioxide," said Mr. Mandip Singh Soin,
Founder and Managing Director of Ibex Expeditions and head of the
environmental subcommittee for the India Organising Committee. Mr. Soin is
planning a tree-planting project to offset the carbon dioxide emissions
and to leave a greener city for future generations. Visit www.pata.org
for Conference registration forms, updated programme information and pre-
and post-Conference tour options. Or fax: (66-2) 658 2010. E-mail: conference@pata.th.com PATA
STRATEGIC INFORMATION CENTRE WORLDWATCH * The volume of e-mails sent each day is expected to double
in the next four to five years. With 16 billion messages arriving
worldwide each day already (184,000 per second) many workers are already
feeling swamped. So what will it be like when the volume rises to more
than 420,000 arrivals per second? * According to a recent OECD report, work-related migration
is on the rise. And not just to traditional favourites such as Canada, the
United States and Australia (to name a few). European countries are
witnessing the effect too, particularly Britain, Norway, Portugal and
Belgium. * Authorities in Europe are happy with the fact that of the
650 billion Euro which have been put into circulation so far, only 0.0008
percent have been stolen. Nevertheless, that still translates to 500
million missing Euro. * The days of tear
gas may be numbered. Scientists in the United States are working on the
development of an odour bomb for use in crowd control. The non-lethal
device would contain vapours so noxious that people in proximity to it
would have no choice but to flee the scene... * Researchers in India are beginning a project aimed at
cloning the Indian cheetah -- an animal that has been extinct for almost
50 years. PATANET QUICK LINKS Listen to PATAradio at http://www.travelmedia.com/PATAradio View special promotions at http://www.seeyouinpacificasia.com Register for the 25th PATA Travel Mart at http://www.patatravelmarket.com/page.cfm Register for the 51st PATA Annual Conference at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=2&ebid=29 Register for the Pacific Tourism Exchange at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=2&ebid=31 Visit PATA-member airlines at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=4 Explore our destination links at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=3 Order PATA publications at http://www.pata.org/frame3.cfm?pageid=6 Check out our press room at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=12 Post a job opening or find a position at http://www.pata.org/frame.cfm?pageid=7
Abdul
Rehman, a new member of an infant government, oversees the Ministry of
Civil Aviation. A more apt title might be Minister of Wishful Thinking. "I
am an optimist," Rehman acknowledged last week. And then: "What
are you interested in? You tell me, and we have it," While
launching a tourism industry for a country that the Western world views as
the font of 21st century peril may seem an absurd notion, Afghans are full
of reasons why it makes good sense. Some
say it's an expression of hope after five years of insularity encouraged
by the now-deposed Taliban - a belief that a fresh government and a new
era might bring a bit of modern society back to their long-neglected land.
The
presence of foreigners who aren't invading also offers a dual opportunity
- an injection of good economic karma, always tourism's chief perk, and a
chance to show a largely oblivious world the destruction wrought since the
Soviets invaded in 1979. "Afghanistan
was a very hot tourism spot. It was famous. Now it's famous all over
again," says Shah Mohammed, a book dealer at Kabul's
Inter-Continental Hotel, smiling wryly. He
still sells a 1977 tourism booklet packed with maps, ads (a "Turkman
yurt hotel" in Mazar-e-Sharif) and colorful photos of mosques,
mountains and an orderly Kabul that belongs only to yesterday. "Afghanistan
is a new travel destination," it enthuses. It also depicts Buddha
statues, many of which were destroyed by the Taliban, who believed the
figures insulted Islam. Today,
beyond safety, the question is where tourists might go - and how. Even
if air service to Afghanistan is restored, many Western travelers
accustomed to package tours in air-conditioned comfort would recoil at the
destruction and deterioration evident in even Kabul's best neighborhoods. Pothole-rutted
roads wreak havoc on the tailbone, and an entire swath of western Kabul is
a moonscape of bombed-out buildings, legacies of factional fighting in
1992-96. Amid
this devastation is a one-time prime attraction, the Kabul Museum, which
might have been the cornerstone of a cultural tourism push. Today,
emptied of objects, it sits in the sun, its windows long gone and roof
damaged by rocket fire years ago. Tacked near the entrance is a poster
identifying different varieties of land mines that passers-by should
avoid. Foreign
visitors are welcome. Doors open each morning at 8. "They
could see the destruction, and maybe they could help. That would be a good
use of tourism," said Jauma Khan, one of two guards patrolling the
museum Tuesday. Not
far away, at the ramshackle Kabul Zoo, Marjan the one-eyed lion held court
over a menagerie of 20 animal breeds. This, too, could be an attraction
again - with a cash infusion of, say, $ 2 million. Still, zookeeper
Sheragha Omar, another optimist, says foreigners should return. "It's
completely safe," he said, adding, "If they stay in Kabul, there
will be no problem." Tourism
in other regions is a distant dream. Even when the U.S. bombing stops,
many places are full of gun-toters with nothing to lose. And as other
countries have discovered, one tourist murder can sink an industry for
years. Rahman
freely admits all this but is undaunted. His plan is short on specifics
but long on ambition, understandable for a man in office for two weeks and
also responsible for resurrecting the aviation industry. He
talks of placing ads in international magazines, of developing
partnerships with other nations. This
week, his ministry is starting a course on tourism for new employees, who
he hopes will be young, savvy and English-speaking. If
only it were that easy. -
Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc
Although
none of the hotels had resorted to retrenchments or pay-cuts, many are not
recruiting en masse -- all except one. With
70 positions up for grabs, the two-day recruitment exercise at the
Ritz-Carlton Millenia looked like a mini job fair. Among
them were housewives returning to the workforce out of concern their
husbands might be retrenched next. And
besides those who had just lost their jobs, there were also fresh
graduates who could not find employment. "I've
applied to some 20, 30 companies but only one asked for interview, and
even after the interview, there's no reply," fresh graduate Betty Ho
said. "I'm
studying in banking and financial, like financial and investment analysis
but they're not recruiting. So I'm turning to other industries like
service industry," said Annie Cheah, another recent graduate. At
a time when most hotels are not hiring, such a mass recruitment is bucking
the trend. Ritz-Carlton
explains it is because their F&B section did well last year, and they
are optimistic about a good occupancy rate this year. "If
you're waiting till the last moment to recruit, then you won't be able to
train them to be ready to service the customers when they come in,"
Cecilia Chia, the hotel's director of human resource, said. Most
of the hotels that Channel NewsAsia spoke to do not expect occupancy rates
to increase till the second half of the year. And
many are hoping the Asian Aerospace Show in February will give the
industry the lift-off it needs. -
Channel News Asia SOL MELIA COMPLETES TRAINING PROGRAM FOR 500 TRYP
HOTEL EXECUTIVES Integration of Sol Melia and Tryp Hotels now finalized
business and leisure hotel sectors. It also gave a boost to
the company’s position as the third largest hotel chain in Europe and
its prime position in resort destinations such as Cuba and Tunisia. Above
all, however, this major deal allowed Sol Meliá to enter the prestigious
“top ten” of world hotel chains. The acquisition of Tryp Hotels meant
the addition of 60 working hotels and another 15 hotel projects being
designed or under construction December, 2001 - The Spanish hotel company Sol Meliá has
completed the training program it has carried out over the last six months
for more than 100 General Managers and Assistant General Managers and 400
Heads of Department from hotels that previously formed part of the Tryp
Hotels chain. After the merger of the two hotel companies, the main
objective of the program has been to transmit the business philosophy,
values, management techniques and operative priorities of Sol Meliá. The
final event took part in the Meliá Madrid Princesa Hotel and was presided
over by the Sol Meliá CEO, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume. The event was also
attended by the Executive Vice President for Europe, Andrés Encinas, and
other company senior managers. Brief History: December
2001- The Tryp Almussafes and Tryp San Lázaro join the brand designed for
Sol Meliá’s 4 star and superior 3 star city hotels. Sol Meliá and the
real estate company Metrovacesa have signed an agreement by which the
hotel company will lease two new hotels in Valencia and Galicia in Spain.
The characteristics and location of both hotels, specially suited for
business travelers, has led them to be added to the portfolio of the new
TRYP Hotels brand. The hotels are scheduled to open in 2003 and 2004,
respectively. The addition of the
TRYP Almussafes, located on the Juan Carlos I Business Park in Almussafes
(Valencia), and the Tryp San Lázaro, alongside the Convention Center in
Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), furthers Sol Meliá’s objective to
maintain its leadership position in Spain, and especially with respect to
the leadership in city hotels enjoyed by the new TRYP Hotels brand.
Metrovacesa is a
multinational real estate company, market leader in real estate rentals
and with more than 80 years of experience in the business. The company
currently has 6 hotels in operation and is developing 6 new projects to
double their hotel capacity. Once the rebranding
program is complete, TRYP Hotels will consist of 111 properties.
Over the next two or
three years, as all of the projects currently under development come on
line, the TRYP brand will include at least 160 hotels world-wide. |
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