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NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com Travel Distribution World Asia takes off SINGAPORE ��� The second Travel Distribution World Asia saw a bevy of attendees on its first conference session with a great line-up of speakers from the travel trade. Among those was Mark Lankester, chief executive officer of Tune Hotels, Malaysia. Tune Hotels is part of the Tune Group, and low-cost carrier Air Asia. In his presentation, Lankester highlighted the hotels��� growth from its initial start-up in 2006. Currently located in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the UK and the Philippines, Tune has close to 27 hotels at the moment and is planning to touch on more markets; the likes of Africa, India, Italy and Saudi Arabia as they move along. Being a ���limited services��� concept accommodation, Tune works on the premise of being green by ensuring that guests takes on responsibility for the air-conditioning that they use (which is chargeable) at the hotel. ���I am most comfortable when I���m at home and we try to recreate the same concept with our hotels,��� said Lankester. ���We are, in a strange way ��� green,��� he added. Following Lankester���s presentation was that on Leveraging retailers and resellers for win-win partnerships. Duncan Bureau, senior vicepresident, Sales & Distribution for Malaysia Airlines, began with the announcement on the hike in the airline���s routes ��� from 68 today, to 859 on February 1, 2013. In terms of strategy, Malaysia Airlines will be focusing very much on the business travellers, in the next five years. ���Tomorrow, yet another important distribution channel for us, the oneworld network will commence. We are very excited to see what this will do for Malaysia Airlines. We are now relevant in many more markets than we were before. We are going to be more relevant to corporations; we���ll have access to the frequent business travellers,��� said Bureau. Scoot wins big at the 10th Annual Budgie$ & Travel Awards 2013 At the 10th Annual Budgie$ & Travel Awards 2013 which was held in the evening, Singapore-based low cost carrier, Scoot brought home big wins when Campbell Wilson was named the LCC CEO of the Year and Scoot, LCC of the Year. This year���s winners of the 10th Annual Budgie$ & Travel Awards 2013 are: ��� LCC of the Year ��� Scoot ��� LCC CEO of the Year ��� Campbell Wilson ��� Best Ancillary Revenue Strategy ��� AirAsia ��� Best New Route Launch ��� Jetstar Airways ��� Best Social Media Campaign ��� Cebu Pacific ��� Best Print Ad ��� Cebu Pacific ��� LCC Airport of the Year ��� New Kansai International Airport ��� Asia Pacific Hotel of the Year ��� Dusit Thani Maldives ��� Economy Hotel of the Year ��� POP! Hotels Indonesia ��� OTA of the Year ��� Hoteltravel.com Best-selling destination for 2012 SINGAPORE ��� Singapore emerges as the best-selling destination in the region ��� according to Hotelbeds, the global accommodation wholesaler. Sales for room nights across the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands (MEAPAC), has gone up by 31 per cent for the year 2012. As the region becomes more accessible internationally, it has not lost pace in the domestic scene. The growth is also attributed to the accelerated investments on infrastructure, more particularly in airports and hotels with airlines increasing their capacity and diversifying their routes. More than half of the room night sales from the international market had been done via an online booking platform; 48 per cent came from inter-regional travel. For 2012 the top selling destinations www.travelweeklyweb.com in MEAPAC are: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Shanghai, Guangzhou (China), Phuket, Koh Samui (Thailand) and Bali. The top outbound destinations for Hotelbeds Asian markets are Paris, London, Bangkok, Singapore, Bali, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Phuket and Dubai. Pablo Aycart, managing director, MEAPAC at Hotelbeds comments: ���The growth we have achieved so far in the region is due to the excellent relations our local teams have built with client and suppliers and the investments we have made in our people, technology and distribution. Our focus for 2013 is to continue to increase the hotel portfolio, develop the distribution coverage and continue with our source market and destination expansion across the region particularly in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China & Philippines.��� Hotelbeds is active in over 100 source markets selling into the region with the highest percentage of customers coming from Asia and Europe. FEBRUARY 2013 | TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA ��� | 3