THE second South African Travel and Tourism Industry Conference will be held in October with venue and dates to be announced shortly. The agenda will highlight progress in the implementation of the National Tourism Strategy, and will focus on the keynote topic of “understanding the value of the traveller”.

HOLIDAY Factory has added Bali to its Far East product, prompted by the rapid development of new hotels and tourism product in the Indonesian resort area.

BOOKINGS for fastjet’s first domestic services in South Africa have been rescheduled to start on July 4. Reservations will start to be accepted from next month.

SOUTH African Airways’ new fleet of 20 Airbus A320s will begin to enter service in the next quarter. The airline has so far signed a lease agreement for the first 10 aircraft.

AZURA Retreats will honour all existing bookings for its Benguerra Island resort but plans to suspend new reservations for the balance of May, June and July in order to repair damage caused in a recent fire.

SINGAPORE Airlines and regional subsidiary, SilkAir, will reduce capacity on under-performing routes after a weak outlook for demand through June, compared to last year.

THE Department of Tourism plans to develop under-utilised state assets into tourist attractions and facilities with a feasibility study underway for a pilot budget resort chain targeting lower-income households.

* Travelpeople will hold a product workshop in Cape Town on June 6 at the Townhouse Hotel & Conference Centre.

* From June 1, Avis Rent a Car vehicles grouped A and M will be consolidated into one vehicle group, ‘Group A’. The change will mean all entry-level car rental vehicles will feature air conditioning.
 
* Scenic Cruises will take delivery of a new Scenic ‘Space-Ship’, Scenic Jade, in 2014. The new vessel will operate a series of cruises along the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers.
 
* RwandAir has increased agency commission from 1.01 to 4.01 percent and will launch two new routes from Kigali on June 1 to Douala and Accra. A new service to Juba is slated for July 1.
 
* Qatar Airways has resumed Dreamliner services between Doha and Heathrow. 787 services to Munich, Frankfurt and Zurich will be introduced shortly.
 
* Qantas and Emirates have been granted approval by New Zealand’s transport ministry to launch direct services to Queenstown and Wellington. This follows earlier approval by the Australian competition regulator for an alliance on flights to Europe via Dubai.
 
* Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has waived single supplements on a number of twin-grade cabins for sole occupancy on select 2014/15 cruises with reduced ‘twin-for-sole occupancy’ supplements of between 50 and 75 percent in other categories.
 
* Travcoa will resume escorted tours to Egypt, with departures confirmed for September 22, October 20, November 10 and December 15. The 2013 ‘President’s Journey’ will depart on October 13. Rates for the two programmes are from US$6,995 pp and US$7,295 pp respectively.
 
* The 481-room Viceroy Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, will open in 2017.