ANA’s new Tokyo-based low-cost carrier, Vanilla Air, will be officially launched on Friday 1 November 2013. The new airline, which replaces AirAsia Japan, will be based at Tokyo Narita International Airport, offering routes to key domestic and international destinations, initially including Sapporo, Okinawa, Seoul and Taipei. Future routes are expected to include Hong Kong and Micronesia.

The vast majority of people in Asia are in favour of a single visa system across the ASEAN region, a new survey has found. The study, conducted by travel search site Skyscanner, found that 81% of people would welcome an EU-style single visa system across the Southeast Asian bloc. This came from a sample group of 7,000 people from Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, India and China.

International visitor arrivals to Australia reached 6.3 million in the full-year 2012-13 – up 4.9% compared to the previous 12-month period. According to the latest data from Tourism Research Australia (TRA), this growth was outpaced by a 5.9% rise in tourism receipts, which hit AU$28.2 billion (US$27.0bn). Australia appears to be benefiting from the rising spending power of Chinese tourists. Receipts generated by Chinese visitors increased 20.0% to AU$4.5bn in 2012-13, compared to just 2.3% growth in receipts from Japanese tourists, to AU$1.5bn.

Pan Pacific Hotels Group has signed an agreement to operate its first Pan Pacific-branded hotel in Myanmar. Set to open in 2016, the 348-room Pan Pacific Yangon will form part of a mixed-use development also comprising serviced apartments, retail and office space. It will be located on the Shwedagon Pagoda Road, opposite Bogyoke Aung San Market. Along with the upscale rooms, the property will feature a range of facilities including a swimming pool, spa, gym, ballroom, meeting rooms and two restaurants.