Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #35

Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #35
2017 Summer Edition 27
GROWTH
market in 2017
in RPK (revenue/passengers/km) since the
beginning of the year. India’s domestic traffic
grew last year by over 20% and this is expected
to grow again by 15% this year. China will see
its domestic traffic growing between 12% and
15%.
Since the beginning of the year, the fastest
growing segment out of Asia has been routes
to Europe with Revenue/passengers/km up
by 11.7% on average between February and
April 2017. Asia-Middle East was second with
a growth of 6.75% and Asia-North America
with 6%. In the Pacific, the fastest growing
market is the segment Pacific to North and
South America up by 12.3% since the start of
the year. The average occupancy is expected to
rise. Last year, it reached 79.6% and rose during
the first months of the year to 80.9%, a new
record in history.
Passenger demand in the region is stimulated by
the growth of China’s and India’s middle classes,
the world demand for Asian destinations such
as Thailand, Vietnam or Japan and the fast
development of low cost carriers in the region.
Airlines are expected to report a US$31.4 bn
profit (up from the previously forecast $29.8 bn)
on revenues of $743 bn (up from the previously
forecast $736 bn). While North America will
represent half of all the industry’s profits
(US$15.4 bn), Asia Pacific airlines are forecast
to post a $7.4 bn net profit (down from $8.1 bn
in 2016), equal to $4.96/passenger. Asia/Pacific
airlines’ profits should be on par with those of
European air carriers.
Yields, however, are down by 3% to 5% due to
increased competition; but there are signs that
yields are possibly bottoming out
EXPANSION PLANS FOR
BANGKOK AIRWAYS IN 2017
Strong tourism and economic
growth in Asia helped lifting
Bangkok Airways results in 2016.
The last year carrier carried
5.6 million passengers, up by
9.5% over 2015 while its net
profit reached US$52 million.
And according to Puttipong
Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok
Airways President, perspectives
look excellent for 2017. The carrier
projects a growth in passengers of
over 12% while the airline load
factor could reach 72%: three
percentage points higher than in
2016.
The airline will add five Airbus
A319 and ATR72s to its fleet and
further grow its network from
its three main hubs of Bangkok
Suvarnabhumi, Samui and Chiang
Mai. According to Prasarttong-
Osoth, new non-stop services
should this year start from Chiang
Mai to Vientiane (Lao PDR)
and to Bagan (Myanmar) while
Bangkok will be linked to Nakhon
Ratchasima (Thailand) and Phu
Quoc (Vietnam).
KOREA’S INCHEON
AIRPORT INTRODUCES
ROBOT GUIDES
This summer, Incheon airport
began featuring some “new
faces” in the form of robots – to
help passengers find their way.
The Airport Guide Robot, designed
by LG Electronics, is an intelligent
information assistant for travellers,
answering questions in four
languages: English, Chinese,
Japanese and Korean. It offers
directions to destinations inside
the airport, along with estimated
distances and walking times,
and can even escort lost or late
travellers to their gates, or any
other airport location.