Our pick of the week’s news… Greek tragedy, Maritime mess, China booming, Africa rises and more

The new French president’s plane being struck by lightning en route to Germany this week perhaps summed up how the deepening economic crisis in Europe is impacting the travel industry. Greece may well be ruing the day it signed up to the euro. Being tied to the European currency has meant even the famous Greek tourist industry could not help the economy on its slide towards the abyss. Away from Europe’s shores waters were choppy too. In the South China Sea the spat between China and the Philippines hit the latter’s tourist industry; China is certainly flexing its muscles in the world of travel and many commercial players are taking note too. So against this backdrop here is our pick of the week’s news. 

Will Greece exit the euro?

Tourism contributed nearly 16% to Greece’s economy in 2011, but it seems even Roman ruins, sparkling sands and azure seas may not be enough to keep it in the troubled eurozone. This week Christine Lagarde the International Monetary Fund’s chief said Greece’s exit from the eurozone remained a possibility if it failed to meet bailout terms with partners. Greece is an important market for European travel firms but economic and political turmoil has hit bookings for this summer. This week TUI said it was putting in place contingency plans should this happen. And Thomas Cook is working with hotels and suppliers to limit the damage. Meanwhile luxury tour operator Swiss Kuoni, worried that it will be left with euro contracts, is renegotiating to take an advantage of the expected devaluation Greek currency. This could make holidays in Greece cheaper for travellers. Some might see that as good news.  

China Sea spat hits Manila’s tourist arrivals

Beijing came out guns blazing after accusing Manila of instigating protests against China. Some of China’s largest travel agencies, including Ctrip and CYTS tours, have suspended tours to the Philippines while others warned clients to stay home. Meanwhile the Chinese embassy has warned its citizens to stay off the streets in Manila. All this isn’t great news for the Philippines; China is the fourth-largest source of tourists to the country according to the Philippines Department of Tourism. The spat is over a disputed area in the South China Sea over which China claims sovereignty. It erupted when a Philippine’s naval ship is said to have found Chinese fishing vessels in the waters which both sides – but also Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan – lay claim. The navy was prevented from making arrests after Chinese surveillance ships turned up to help the fishing boats make a speedy escort. The BBCquoted Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying as saying: ''China once again urges the Philippine side to seriously respond to China's concerns and return to the right track for handling the matter.''

Starwood Hotels recognise Chinese tourist boom...

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is the first hotel chain in China to go live with Pegasus’s global hotel inventory solution. Pegasus and TravelSky Technology, China’s state-owned global distribution system (GDS), have signed an agreement that makes Pegasus’ global hotel inventory of nearly 100,000 hotels available for booking in China.  What it means in practice: as the number of domestic and international Chinese travellers continues to rise, the agreement makes Starwood properties available to the 7,000 travel agents who work with TravelSky which maintains 100,000 terminals in over 300 Chinese cities. TravelSky also now has full access to the Pegasus Hotel Content Database (HCD). Said to be one of the largest repositories of hotel descriptive content in the world, it houses nearly 1.5 million images, videos and virtual tours, as well as property and room descriptions.

....Louvre Hotels renews Pegasus agreement to ‘drive bookings from China’

The global chain, Louvre Hotels, also expanded distribution reach with Pegasus with a three-renewal to address three next big things: mobile, meta-search and China. A part of the deal involves signing the TravelSky agreement which it hopes will drive bookings from China. Louvre has 80,000 rooms in 40 countries and like many others it would like tap China’s emerging travelling middle-class who are driving rates higher in Europe because of the sheer volume.  

Swiss movers in China

Like many other travels brands, Mövenpick has recognised the importance of the Chinese market. Next year it will open its first resort hotel in Sanya, the Hawaii of China. The firm will be marketing resorts and business hotels strongly at the point-of-sale to tap China’s growing number of outbound travellers. The firm is also closely watching the point-of-search; with 195 million internet users in the country and a rapidly growing travel portal segment, this is a wise move. While a social media strategy in China is not yet place that will follow as the first hotel opens and the brand begins to engage directly with consumers.    

Corporate jet manufacturers head for BRICs

Given the deepening crisis in Europe and concerns about growth in the US, jet manufacturers are turning to – yes you guessed right – China, which is poised to become the world’s biggest aviation market. BRICs nations --Brazil, Russia, India and China (to a lesser extent South Africa) - have partially offset the steep decline in jet purchases after the financial crisis of 2008. Sales of corporate jets in Europe are said to be 10% below the peak levels of 2007 and 2008. Last year, Brazil-based customers bought more new business jets than all of Europe. Increasingly numbers of Chinese are said to be business jet owners; China accounted for 60% of Falcon Jet’s sales last year, according to this Wall Street Journal blog.

Europe hurts Priceline.com

More doom and gloom for Europe. Priceline.com the biggest US online travel agency by market value saw second-quarter earnings that failed to match analysts’ estimates.  Why? Around 60% of Priceline come from overseas and mainly in Europe. Priceline.com’s chief executive, Jeffery Boyd, said in a conference call that political upheaval in Greece is creating uncertainty around the business. Smaller players Expedia Inc and Orbitz Worldwide Inc have fared a bit better. Expedia said this was down to hotels.com which helped drive a 12% rise in revenues.

But why go to China...when you can go to Africa? .

That is exactly what Copenhagen’s meta-search player Momondo.com has just done. It has joined forces withNation Media Group, a media house in East and Central Africa. Together they will launch Twendetwende, the region’s first meta-search engine, for flights and hotels. This will allow users to compare pricing from over 700 OTA's and airline websites, plus 25 hotel vendors that search more than 400,000 hotels worldwide. Watch out for an upcoming Eyefortravel article which will include an interview with Martin Lumbye, partner at Momondo.com, about why the foray into Africa seems a good idea.