China Tickets

Spring Festival Tourism Revenue Up 23.6%

musiclover — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:16:53 +0000

The tourism sector in China recorded a 23.6 percent year-on-year increase in revenue during the Spring Festival holiday period to 101.4 billion yuan, while the number of tourists rose 14.9 percent to 176 million, according to the National Tourism Administration.

Thirty-nine major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Tianjin received a total of 66.59 million tourists, of which 11.54 million stayed overnight.

Of the total revenue, airlines accounted for 5.5 billion yuan, while the rail transportation sector earned 3.05 billion yuan.

Revenue obtained by the 39 major cities hit 38.38 billion yuan.

Shares of Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart (600655) rose 2.72 percent to trade at 9.06 yuan per share at 10:10 today.

Spring Festival Tourism Revenue Up 23.6%

musiclover — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:48:06 +0000

Thirty-nine major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Tianjin received a total of 66.59 million tourists, of which 11.54 million stayed overnight.

Of the total revenue, airlines accounted for 5.5 billion yuan, while the rail transportation sector earned 3.05 billion yuan.

Revenue obtained by the 39 major cities hit 38.38 billion yuan.

Shares of Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart (600655) rose 2.72 percent to trade at 9.06 yuan per share at 10:10 today.

Better-off Chinese travel abroad for Lunar New Year

musiclover — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:04:30 +0000

As millions rushed to board a homebound train before the Chinese Lunar New Year, a growing number of avid travelers decided to spend the most important holiday far away from home.

China Youth Travel Service (CYTS), a leading outbound tourism service provider, has expected a 35-percent rise in the number of outbound tourists during the holiday week from Jan. 22 to 28.

The Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day, also known as the Spring Festival, falls on Jan. 23 this year.

“The Spring Festival travel rush has spread to other countries, as many better-off Chinese people decide to celebrate the traditional holiday in a different way,” said CYTS’s vice president Li Jing.

China’s Hainan Airlines ranked as world’s 5th

musiclover — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:23:24 +0000

China’s Hainan’s Airlines was among the world’s top five safest airlines in 2011 for having had no death or aircraft losses in its 19 years of service, the German aviation accident investigation agency JACDEC (Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre) said in a recent annual report.

The Hamburg-based agency, which has tracked the world’s airlines accidents since 1973 and enjoyed a global reputation, published its latest “Aviation Safety Ranking” in German monthly magazine “Aero International.”

Based on its global network and database, the JACDEC rated 60 largest carriers from every continent in terms of casualties and aircraft losses. It said 2011 was the safest year of civil aviation since the end of Second World War, even with more aircrafts flying in the air.

China’s Hainan Airlines ranked the fifth safest airline with a safety rate of 0.006, following All Nippon Airways, Finnair, the Etihad Airways, and Cathay Pacific Airways.

Founded in 1933, Hainan Airlines began its first international route in 2001 and soon extended its service to major cities in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America with some 400 routes.

In December last year, Hainan Airlines was named for the second time as “the Best Airline in China” in the GT Tested Reader Survey Awards, organized by the U.S. magazine Global Traveler.

Chunghwa Telecom to buy shares in China Airlines

musiclover — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:57:51 +0000

Taiwanese operator Chunghwa Telecom has received board approval to participate in China Airlines’ secondary equity offering up to a maximum amount of TWD 3.5 billion, at the issue price of TWD 11.73 per share, after confirming China Aviation Development Foundation’s (CADF) participation in the offering as aforementioned. However, if China Airlines’ average closing price for the five business days prior to the payment date is lower than TWD 10.57, which equates to the airline’s net book value per share in the third quarter 2011, Chunghwa will not participate in the offering. China Airlines’ closing price for 16 January is TWD 14.30. The company plans to extend the reach of its cloud services business to include tourism, one of the six emerging industries, through equity investment and alliances. The alliance with China Airlines could enable Chunghwa Telecom to use China Airlines’ expertise in both the airline and tourism industries, and position Chunghwa Telecom to expand the scope of its ICT business to tourism and related businesses. The outstanding shares in China Airlines will total 5.2 billion after this offering. Chunghwa Telecom is expected to acquire a maximum of 299 million shares, accounting for 5.74 percent of China Airlines shares after the offering.

Chinese carriers could be banned from Europe

musiclover — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:22:29 +0000

Chinese airlines could be banned from operating to Europe if they persistently refuse to pay charges for their carbon emissions, the European Commission has warned.

The China Air Transport Association, which represents the country’s four major airlines, including flag carrier Air China, is reported to have said that it would not comply with the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), which came into effect on 1 January.

In response, the European Commission pointed to the ETS directive, which allows for the imposition of an operating ban on any airline which consistently breaks EU law.

However, a spokesperson said this would be used only as a “last resort”. Other penalties could include a €100 ($130) penalty charge for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for which an airline has not surrendered allowances.

Airlines are due to surrender allowances for their 2012 emissions on flights to and from Europe in April 2013.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa has made it clear that it will pass on the cost ETS to its customers through higher ticket prices.

The German carrier expects the scheme to generate additional expenses of approximately €130 million ($169 million) in 2012.

These costs will be included in the existing fuel surcharge, the company said, which it last raised in December, two weeks before ETS came into force. The airline added it has “no immediate plans” to raise the fuel surcharge again, but did not rule out a later increase.

“European operators are now facing additional costs which will make flying within and via Europe more expensive for passengers,” said group board member Carsten Spohr.

The EU will provide 85% of the required carbon dioxide certificates free of charge in 2012, while 15% will have to be purchased by the airlines. In the 2013-20 period, airlines will receive 82% of their allowances for free, with 3% being reserved by the EU for new entrants and fast-growing airlines.

Lufthansa calculated that it will need to buy “at least 35% of the certificates it needs”, due to the group’s growth in recent years. The carbon credit allocations are based on average emissions between 2004 and 2006.

US carrier Delta has also tagged on a $3 surcharge on flights from the US to Europe.

Taj plans 2 hotels in China’s Yunnan province

musiclover — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:58:54 +0000

Taj group of hotels is to open its doors in Yunnan Province of China. The Indian Hotels Company Ltd on Monday signed a memorandum of co-operation for a joint venture with Yunnan Tourism Co Ltd to engage in the development, construction, operation and management of two hotels in Kunming Expo Garden situated in Yunnan province.

While the Taj Hotel, which will be a luxury full service hotel, resort and palaces with 200 rooms, the Vivanta by Taj will have about 300 rooms.

In a statement the company said that the MoC has been done with the support of Strategic European Investment Management Ltd, which is the representative of IHCL in China. The investments to be made in the properties were not immediately made public.

Taj already has management contracts in place for the Taj Temple of Heaven, Beijing. Besides, Taj will also manage a 300-room key luxury resort in Hainan Island, the company said in a statement.

PH tourist arrivals rise 12% from a year earlier

musiclover — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:46:06 +0000

The Philippines attracted 3.18 million visitors from January to October this year, with Koreans continuing to be the top tourists to the country.

According to data from the Department of Tourism (DoT), there were 3.18 million visitor arrivals to the Philippines during the 10-month period, a 12% increase from the 2.84 million arrivals a year ago.

“The month of July produced the biggest arrivals with 360,784 while the month of February posted the highest growth at 18.52%. Auguring well to the tourism industry is the consistent positive growths recorded on a month to month basis,” the DoT said.

Nearly half or 47.4% of the total arrivals came from East Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan and China.

Koreans were the number one tourists to the country so far this year. There were 756,863 Koreans visiting the Philippines from January to October, a 27.85% increase from the previous year. A spike in Korean tourist arrivals came in July and August, traditionally summer vacation months in South Korea.

Visitors from the United States came in second, with 493,861 arrivals for the 10-month period, a 3.7% rise from last year.

US-China flights unaffected by bankruptcy protection

musiclover — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:01:15 +0000

American Airlines, the world’s third largest airline, announced on Dec. 5 that its bankruptcy protection will not affect the flights between China and the United States, the two largest economies in the world. The airline will continue to provide passenger and cargo transportation services between the two countries.

At present, American Airlines runs the route between Shanghai and Chicago, Shanghai and Los Angeles, as well as Beijing to Chicago. The head of the company’s information management division said that over the past few weeks, American Airlines have felt the urgent need to apply for bankruptcy protection as high labor and fuel costs as well as global economic uncertainty have all increased its costs. American Airlines will continue business operations throughout the reorganization process.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Code enables American Airlines to maintain normal business operations while it works to establish a competitive cost and debt structure. The reorganization will have no direct legal impact on any American Airlines operations outside the United States.

As the third largest airline in the United States, American Airlines ordered 260 Airbus A320-family jets and 200 Boeing 737-family aircraft not long ago, which is the largest commercial-aircraft order in history. At present, American Airlines has annual revenue of 22 billion U.S. dollars with an annual passenger carrying capacity of 106 million and an annual direct operating expenditure of 20.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Qingdao airport to see over 160,000 tourists in 2011

musiclover — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:11:46 +0000

Qingdao Liuting International Airport in East China’s Shandong province had seen more than 150,000 tourists as of Tuesday this year, the Qingdao Airport Frontier Inspection Station said.

Statistics showed that Taiwan and Hong Kong became the most popular tourism destinations for Chinese mainland tourists at Qingdao Liuting International Airport.

The arrival and departure numbers of Chinese and foreign tourists at the airport reached 151,400 as of Dec 6, up 3.48 percent year on year.

The total number of arriving and departing tourists in 2011 is expected to surpass 160,000.

Qingdao is near the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, countries that boast close economic and cultural exchanges with China, and the number of tourists that have visited China from these two countries ranked in the top two among other foreign tourist groups.

To date, Qingdao Liuting International Airport has launched flights to 11 international and regional destination cities, including Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taipei.

Qingdao Liuting International Airport, which hosts the largest volume of passengers in Shandong, has became an important transport hub linking Japan, the ROK, Hong Kong and Taiwan.