Carry on: Visitor numbers hit 3.3m, departures boom and more

International visitors top 3.3 million
Confirmation of the tourism boom is continuing to come from new records set in June. Arrival numbers hit 3.31 million in the year to June and a rise of 11%. Most of this was a 16% increase in holiday travellers, with China up 83,600 to nearly 400,000 for the year, nearly 80,000 Australians to 1.4 million and 24,200 more Americans to 257,500.

New Zealanders also departed on 240,000 overseas trips in June, pushing the annual total to 2.5 million. The most popular destinations were Australia, up 30,400 to 1.15 million for the year and the US at 176,160. Apart from Australia, the biggest increases were for Fiji (up 17,500 to 153,800) and the UK (up 12,300 to 113,300). The US figures include one week of the new American Airlines service and none from United Airlines, which started its service earlier this month.

Chinese airlines add more Australia flights
Air China is significantly expanding its presence in Australia with the launch of direct flights from Shenzhen and Chengdu. The new Sydney-Chengdu and Melbourne-Shenzhen routes will run three and four times a week respectively from late October using A330-200 aircraft. These are also used on flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Melbourne and Sydney. Meanwhile, China Southern will launch flights between Adelaide and Guangzhou from December 12, also using A330-200 aircraft.

Competition hits Cathay Pacific
Competition in Asia from Chinese operators is hurting Cathay Pacific Airways, latest traffic figures show. Performance in the first half of 2016 was "below expectations" as growth in the number of fliers failed to keep pace with an increase in capacity, Cathay says. While capacity increased 4.2%, the growth in passenger traffic was just 2.7%. "Passenger revenue has been adversely affected by the reduced load factor and intense pressure on yield," chief executive officer Ivan Chu says. "Cargo tonnage has stabilised but yield continues to decline."

Emirates introduces credit charge
Emirates customers in Australia and New Zealand will now pay a 1.5% surcharge for using a credit card. It is capped at a maximum of $70 per passenger per booking for journeys beginning in those countries. Australian Business Traveller says it’s a double whammy as Emirates processes its card payments in the United Arab Emirates, triggering a further bank-levied overseas transaction charge on many cards, even when paying in Australian or New Zealand dollars. ABT says the levy can be avoided by using the Visa Checkout option.

Meanwhile, Emirates says it will boost its Dubai-Milan route by putting a second A380 superjumbo on the three times daily service. It replaces a B777-300ER from October 31. One of the Milan flights goes to JFK Airport in New York.

World travel rises 5% in first four months
The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer says 2016 started on a strong note for international tourism, with arrivals increasing 5% between January and April. Destinations worldwide received 348 million international tourists (overnight visitors) between January and April 2016, some 18 million more than the same period last year  (up 5.3%). This follows an increase of 4.6% in 2015 and, if sustained, could make 2016 the seventh consecutive year of above-average growth. Asia and the Pacific (up 9%) recorded the highest increase. Prospects for May-August remain positive, with about 500 million tourists expected to travel abroad in the northern hemisphere summer holiday peak season.

Route news of the week
Singapore Airlines is switching it transatlantic route from Moscow-Houston to Manchester-Houston from October 30. Flights from Singapore–Moscow will continue four times a week while Singapore-Manchester is a new non-stop service that operates five times a week. Munich-Manchester services will be suspended but the Singapore-Munich route will continue to operate daily. Fiji Airways plans to operate its seasonal Nadi-San Francisco route from December 1 to January 29. The airline launched this route in June, mainly operating between June and August and between December and January, using A330-200 aircraft.
 Scoot will launch a Singapore-Qingdao-Dalian service from October 30. This replaces the existing twice-weekly Singapore-Qingdao-Shenyang flights. Instead, Scoot will fly Singapore-Shenyang direct three times a week.

United Airlines will cease its flights to Vietnam from late October. The Hong Kong-Ho Chi Minh route uses a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on a daily basis. The last flight departs Hong Kong on October 28 and from Ho Chi Minh on October 29. Emirates will adjust capacity on the Dubai-Kuala Lumpur route from September 1, ahead of planned frequency changes from October 30. From September 1, a second daily 3-class A380 will be used and from October 1 will switch to a 2-class A380 operation, Overall frequency will be reduced from four to three daily from October 30. Ryanair has added new 2017 summer destinations to flights from Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford.  They are: Newcastle-Faro (from March 26), 
Newcastle-Girona (from March 28),
 Newcastle-Palma Mallorca (March 26) and Leeds/Bradford-Girona (March 27).

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