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AirAsia Berhad announced that it will resume the roundtrip international air route between Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin from February 1, 2010.

In late 2009 the airline has announced that it was suspending this route between November 23, 2009, and January 30, 2010. According to Wang Bin, the public relations manager of AirAsia China, flights will leave Tianjin at around 14:00, which will be more convenient for passengers from nearby cities. AirAsia will also add more airport buses and intercity buses to make it easier for passengers outside Tianjin to catch the flight.

The average occupancy rate of all AirAsia’s China routes has reached 75%; occupancy rates on the Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Guilin, Hangzhou, and Chengdu routes have even reached an average of 85%.

The Tianjin route is AirAsia’s first in northern China. The airline is currently planning promotional activities in cities around Tianjin to improve the visibility of this route.

The tourism development plan for Tianjin Binhai New Zone has been formally approved by the Tianjin Municipal Government.

According to the plan, Tianjin Binhai New Zone Tourism Area, whose construction is expected to be completed in 2013, will be built into an integrated area and international tourism destination comprising of world class theme parks and yachting bases.

Located in the north of Tianjin Binhai New Zone, the Binhai Tourism Area will encompass a total area of 99 square kilometers. At present, the construction of the first phase of 10 square kilometers has started with many projects, including the national maritime museum, scheduled to be started in 2010.

News from Tianjin Tourism Department is that Tianjin will build a new payment system for tour guides in 2010.

At present, there are two kinds of tour guides in Tianjin, full-time ones (20%) and part-time ones (80%). Full-time tour guides sign labor contracts with their employers and their payment consists of salary, insurance, and bonus subsidies. On the other hand there is no labor contract between part-time tour guides and travel agencies — they are paid based on the tour cost of the tour group they lead. As a result of this, many unprofessional part-time tour guides choose to cheat tourists or create problems on a tour to the guides economic benefit.

With the launch of the new tour guide payment system, it is expected that the tour guide industry will be gradually regulated and the interests of tour guides will be better protected so their interactions with tourists will be more harmonious.

So far, Tianjin has made 2010 the year for improving travel service quality. To Achieve this the municipal tourism department will work with the parties concerned to carry out reforms on the payment of tour guides. The new payment system is expected to focus on a basic salary and service fee with tour cost related subsidies for tour guides.

News from Tianjin Municipal Tourism Administration is that Tianjin will invest CNY10.2 billion this year to rebuild and renovate 20 star-rated hotels of the city.

It is reported that the city is taking the initiative to raise the service quality of its star-rated hotels in anticipation of major events such as the Summer Davos Meeting and The Second China Tourism Festival.

Currently there are 122 star-rated hotels in Tianjin, of which 10 are five-star hotels. The 20 hotels that are scheduled for renovation include Renaissance Tianjin Hotel, The Westin Tianjin, Raffles Tianjin, Sheraton Tianjin Hotel, and Holiday Inn Binhai Tianjin.

At the recent China Tourism Industries Festival, 31 Chinese provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions jointly signed the Tianjin Declaration to confront the financial crisis and boost the development of tourism.

The parties will deepen regional cooperation, cultivate tourism brands, and build a tourism emergencies handling mechanism. The declaration also encourages large-scale tourism enterprises and well-known tourism management companies to conduct cross-regional operations and branding.

In addition, they will cooperate with tourism-related industries and departments to promote the development of industrial tourism, agricultural tourism, red tourism, and ecological tourism.

Jafar Jafari, the special envoy of the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, said at CTIF that with the abundant tourism resources, China will be the largest country for inbound tourism by 2020.