The Best Airport-Lounge Company

For nearly a century of commercial aviation, Airport Lounges were exclusive cocoons that individual airlines provided for their elite passengers flying First and Business Class. In that milieu, front-end passengers paying top-dollar for exclusivity and luxury in the air could enjoy similar benefits at airports before their flights, provided by the airline they were travelling with.

Then, just before the new Millennium, came a former global banker and erstwhile entrepreneur. Once a frequent-flyer on business trips, Hong Kong-based businessman Hoi-see Song chafed at not being able to access the privileges and conveniences at Business Lounges for a variety of reasons.

“For one thing, in some countries many airlines did not provide Airport Lounges for passengers on short-haul or domestic routes.  For another, most airlines simply could not provide an Airport Lounge at an airport where they did not have a sufficient number of flights to justify the significant investment involved. As air-travel became more and more a necessity, many affluent air-travellers found that they could not enjoy the benefits of an Airport Lounge simply because they were flying Economy Class due to corporate policy or governmental regulations”,  Song recalls wryly.

“Personally, I did not mind dining at the excellent variety of restaurants at most airports, but I did miss the convenience of being able to have a bite while accessing Internet and Wi-Fi facilities as well as the business-requirements of that time such as printers, fax-machines,  telephones, meeting-rooms and even the ability to have a refreshing hot shower in one convenient location at an airport. Airport Lounges also provided helpful staff and a conducive environment to relax, think or get work done, depending on my needs or mood at any particular time.”                                              Thinking out of the box, Hoi-see Song came up with the innovative idea of Pay-Per-Use Airport Lounges  that would cater to all air-travellers . This immediately empowered airlines of all sizes to provide a full-service Airport Lounge for their elite front-end passengers, practically anywhere in the world! Credit-card companies also found that, for the first time, they could extend executive facilities at airports to their members in a savvy move which met the evolving lifestyles of their target markets. Thus was born the Plaza Premium Lounge – a facility now found at airports all over the world, and a concept being emulated by a host of me-too players. 

Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Plaza Premium Group provides premium airport services to nearly 14 million passengers a year in over 160 airport-locations across the world. The Group has grown to provide four core airport-services:- Airport Lounges, Airport Transit Hotels, Airport Meet & Greet Services and Airport Dining.

With its corporate commitment to make the airport experience exceptional for all travellers by going beyond expectations. the pioneering Plaza Premium Group is our obvious choice for The Best Airport-Lounge Company in the world!

(Photographs by Plaza Premium Group)

The Best Public Park

Public Parks are often regarded as mundane necessities of urban planning, but in some cities, a public park has become a beloved landmark and a destination in itself, enhancing the city in which it is situated.

Some well-known public parks in major global cities have matured into classics of greenery, rest and recreation like Regent’s Park in London and New York’s Central Park.  In this category, we like 400-hectare King’s Park in Perth, Australia, which is a serene and scenic mixture of landscaped parkland, fascinating botanical gardens and wild, untamed natural bushland. Gorgeous views of the Swan River and glistening city skyline add to the charm of one of the largest inner-city parks in the world.

Other public parks have become iconic for the people and programmes that bring a unique buzz of zing and zest! Our favourite in this category is Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park on weekends, when an amazing number of subcultures and countercultures manifest in different parts of the park. From classic-car buffs and proud owners of dressed-up dogs to Elvis impersonators and sinister-looking Goths, to small chamber orchestras, bopping break-dancers and hyperactive clowns, people transform Yoyogi into a must-see destination.

Our choice of the World’s Best Public Park, however, is one of its newest and probably most unlikely in location. This is the Gathering Place Community Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A daring vision, coupled with years of planning, generous donations and active input from the local community have transformed 100 acres of scenic waterfront along the lovely Arkansas River into an innovative, unconventional and thoroughly delightful interactive environment.

Opened in September 2018, the Gathering Place is fast-becoming a magnet far beyond the immediate vicinity of Tulsa. We predict that this stunning and ever-evolving experience will become a major tourism attraction, transforming the image of this unprepossessing city – which, by the way, also has some of the most fascinating, educational and child-friendly museums/libraries/interpretive-centres in the world.

Friends with children tell us that their offspring have gleefully reported no less than eleven different slides in various parts of the park as well as an amazing mirror-maze, “old-looking holes in walls you can climb through and real musical-instruments hanging in the air”(sic), plus details of a fantastical Fairyland Forest that kept them talking excitedly for weeks afterwards. They ain’t seen nothing yet! The reality at the Gathering Place actually transcends imagination – seriously.

The Land Of The River Giants, Spiral Connector, Chapman Adventure Playground, Skywalk Forest, Volcanoville, Ramble Sensory Garden, Cottonwood Lawn, Charlie’s Water-Mountain, Picnic Grove, Oneok Boathouse, Williams Lodge, Yvette’s Global Rainbow, Peggy’s Pond and The Reading Tree are just come of the wonderful attractions, all entirely free!

What ‘sealed the deal’ for us are the caring touches for the less fortunate. Visitors with disabilities are delighted to discover thoughtful features that include dedicated parking-lots and toilets, Ultra ADA Pads, braille signs, wheelchair-accessible dining counters and specially-designed seating throughout the Gathering Place.  All park entrances, pathways, bridges, lawns and gardens as well as some drinking-fountains are disabled-accessible.  The food-items sold here include vegan and allergy-friendly options. The Management also invites guests on the autism spectrum to use spaces provided in the Gathering Place to overcome sensory anxieties.

Foodies and hungry guests find “exciting eating opportunities” at The Patio, Redbud Café, Vista@The Boathouse, and a constantly-changing array of food-trucks, kiosks and food-carts. Add the pretty scenery around the Gathering Place, top up everything with a regular stream of imaginative and absorbing events and activities, and you have a really outstanding destination that we believe is the World’s Best Public Park!

Photographs: ©Alex S. Maclean, ©Shane Bevel Photography, ©Gathering Place

The Best Airport Train

When it first began operations in April 2002, it raised mixed emotions with its odd-looking snub nose that belied its superfast speeds of up to 160 kmh.  Now on track to welcome its 100 millionth passenger, it has in the 17 years between, won regional and global accolades as the undisputed World’s Best Airport Rail Link.
This is the modest-looking Express Rail Link (ERL) that connects Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur to its international airport in just 28 minutes. 

For most of its existence, ERL used German train-sets from Siemens AG, but in recent years it has added several new train-sets from CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Company of China.

Regardless of the nature of the equipment, the ride on the fastest trains in Southeast Asia seems consistently swift, smooth and seamless. With an enviable claimed record of 99.7% on-time performance and excellent standards of customer-service, Express Rail Link is now being called in as consultants to other rail projects around the world.

We particularly like its complimentary porter service where purple-liveried porters assist you with your luggage, transfers and check-in. This helpful porter service also includes complimentary wheelchairs and assistance for aged or infirm travellers. For a small fee, a porter will accompany you for the entire ride, and usher you into or from an exclusive limousine that comes with the package. 

Another feature we like about the iconic Express Rail Link is its commitment to the environment. Its operations have been certified ISO14001:2015 compliant for environmental management, and Express Rail Link says it helps save 44,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, taking 5.3 million cars off the roads in that period.

Add the extra convenience of city check-in for participating airlines at its KL-CAT terminal, and we fully agree that Express Rail Link deserves its kudos as the World’s Best Airport Train!

The Best Commercial Aircraft

When the idea for this aeroplane was conceived in August 1965, it seemed an impossible dream. Some experts said it could not be built, while others said that even if one was ever built, it would simply be too big to fly. Yet just three years later in September 1968, the first production model was completed. It had to be seen to be believed. The body of this aircraft stretched out almost a full city-block; the cockpit perched 30 feet above the ground, the tail towered six storeys high, the wings stretched 195 ft or almost 60 metres - and most awesome of all, it had a maximum take-off weight of 735,000 lbs or 333,400 kg. This gargantuan creation was the Boeing 747 - the world's first wide-bodied airliner,  and the Best Commercial Aircraft. It looked amazing, but how could such an enormous mass ever break free of the earth's gravity and soar into the sky?

From its birth, the Boeing 747 incorporated new technology that made the dreams of designers a practical engineering reality. Intimidating terminology such as High Bypass Turbofan Engines, Fault Tree Analysis, Widebody Design and Three-Segment Slotted Flaps were introduced, and soon became normal bywords in aircraft-engineering. In February 1969, the huge Boeing 747 made its maiden flight, and in January 1970 the first commercial flight of the Jumbo Jet took off from New York to London. The first 25 planes were bought by Pan American World Airways, and other airlines quickly queued-up to order this flying behemoth.

Once again, the naysayers were out in force, saying that just a couple of hundred units would be built before the Jumbo Jet was made obsolete by the new supersonic aircraft. Once again, the Boeing 747 proved them wrong. Now, over fifty years after the first production model was rolled out, about 1560 units have been built, with more on order. answers! has selected the Boeing 747 as The Best Commercial Aircraft for several reasons.

First of all, the sheer audacity of its concept and the swiftness with which it was made a reality changed attitudes in aviation-engineering forever. We estimate that it has carried over 2 billion passengers, making it one of the most popular commercial aircraft models of all time. Decades before the idea of Low Cost Carriers even germinated, the Boeing 747 had made air-travel affordable and accessible to millions of first-time air-travellers. Its long-range, large capacity and economic viability transformed the development of air-routes all around the globe. The 747-400 is one of the fastest commercial airplanes, reaching up to Mach 0.85; and with up to 550 seats the Jumbo Jet was the highest-capacity aircraft for almost four decades. It is also the most recognisable commercial aeroplane in the world with its distinctive and much-loved frontal hump.

The Boeing 747 is also one of the most versatile aircraft ever built, being equally effective as a people-carrier, cargo freighter, presidential transport, private luxury jet, flying hospital, and even spacecraft-transporter.

Most of all, we believe that the Boeing 747 will eventually become the longest-enduring commercial aircraft ever built, with variants flying our skies more than half-a-century after its first pioneering flight. Slim supersonic beauties have come and gone, and mega-planes are lumbering over the horizon. Computer-control has become commonplace and smaller, sleeker planes are zipping across the air-lanes. But with a current production-backlog stretching on to 2022, the trusty Jumbo Jet will continue to fly for decades to come, living up to its reputation as The Best Commercial Aircraft!

(Pix by Flickr, Science and Society Picture Library, the Widebody Aircraft Parade, Reuters, Antoon's Foobar,etc)

The Best Destination For Enchantment

The Destination With The Best Enchantment is the lovely island of Tasmania in Australia. Vistas of stunning beauty are everywhere, though it is the leisurely traveller who will discover them. Places like Freycinet and Cradle Mountain are just some spots where the patient traveller will have moments of heart-stopping serendipity – so graceful and idyllic are the surroundings. The changing light at dusk or in the fall can create truly magical scenes, but budding photographers will find picture-perfect scenes all over the island. Beaches or buildings , farmlands or forests, mountains or marinas – everything seems ideally picturesque in Tasmania.

Even the animals seem especially enchanting. We had wonderful views of eagles swirling in aerial courtship, and wallabies in abounding conference. Warblers waited to be photographed and normally-elusive beetongs scurried away into the bush only after we saw them clearly. A deceptively innocent-looking possum politely stood on my porch trying to get invited inside my chalet, and an exceptionally enormous wild wombat placidly munched grass at my feet like a tame sheep in the gathering dusk.

People are friendly, too, and genuinely pleased to meet you. They take time to chat, and to share local lore on the bakery with tastiest meat-pies or the best vantage point for a photograph. In 2005 Tassie seemed to be what New Zealand was like twenty years earlier – rustic, scenic, unhurried and uncrowded.  Places like Launceston have immaculately preserved their old buildings, and the fact that our visit to Tasmania coincided with a vintage-car rally simply evoked a bygone era with exquisite vibrancy.
The fresh flavour of the seafood in Tasmania ranks among the best in Australia, and the haunting loveliness of Cary Lewincamp’s guitar music among the finest of its kind in the world. Like a rare wine or a precious work of art, the true beauty of this southerly hideaway can only be experienced languidly and thoughtfully.

For those who will vacation quietly, carefully and expectantly, there is an awaiting blessing called Tasmania.

(Images by Buzzfeed.com and other sources) 

The Best Destination For Music

In a world that is becoming increasingly smaller through travel and the electronic media, music is the universal language that crosses boundaries today with rhythmic regularity. It is as easy to find an excellent old-time Dixieland jazz-club in Shanghai as it is to find a Cantonese pop-music concert in London, and there always seems to be an African dance presentation going on somewhere in Berlin just as classical Western music performances seem to be available in Singapore at any time of the year. Exquisite Spanish-guitar virtuso performances can be heard throughout the Philippines, and authentic Indian dance-performances proliferate off the African coast, on the island of Mauritius. Various cities across the globe have their own distinctive music festivals and the avid music-tourist is often overwhelmed with choices.

Experienced globe-trotters and savvy travel-professionals, however, point to just one country if asked to identify a tourism destination that is defined by music more than anything else. It is a country with superb classical architecture, stunning scenery, fascinating cuisine, some very good wines, great sports facilities - and oh yes, sublime local coffee! It has an air-hub par excellence, and both road and rail infrastructure to equal any place in the world - yet all these winning tourism features are overshadowed by the sound of music. This is Austria, the country that enchants visitors with auditory delights like nowhere else on earth.

Tourists from all over the world flock to Austria to tramp the paths and film-locations where the screen Von-Trapp Singers immortalised The Sound Of Music, and soak up the melodies of Rodgers & Hammerstein. They visit the birthplaces, homes and old haunts of great Western composers such as Brahms, Mozart, Hayden, Schubert, Schumann, and Wagner. They relive the glories of these great musicians, and luxuriate in the timeless melodies.They witness performances of Strauss and Strauss, and thrill to the wonder of the fairy-tale Viennese Waltz. They watch the cherubic faces of the Vienna Boys Choir and revel in the purity of those incandescent voices. On these great musical attractions alone, any nation could have a dynamic and world-class tourism industry. But Austria has much, much more to offer!

There are the often overlooked genres of traditional Austrian music such as Old Farmhouse, Schrammel and Alpine, each with their quintessential Austrian distinctiveness and allure. There are the evocative melodies of neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic as well as other nations in and around the Danube-Danau region. There are festivals dedicated to a single instrument, and these can include anything and everything from the Gypsy Accordion to the Australian Didgeridoo. Austria also hosts events celebrating jazz, opera, tango, new folk, and even Brass Band - the latter attracting participants from at least 15 nations around the globe.

During a single visit to Austria in early 2009, I picked up an events-magazine and read publicity for performances of Contemporary music such as Cabaret, Café’ Concerts, Electronic, Funk, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Opera, Operetta, Pop, Rock, World Music and Funk Mundial, the cosmopolitan electronic Brazilian-styled dance rhythms. There were also performances of International music from places as diverse as the Balkans, Ukraine, Egypt, Spain, Texas(!), New York’s Harlem, Serbia, and various parts of Asia. Salzburg’s Summer Scene had Indian Classical music among its offerings, and Vienna’s Volksoper was staging Chinese Opera. And we haven't even started to talk about the glorious Christian Sacred Music that I personally find inspiring and rejuvenating...
Yes, music permeates the very fabric of Austria - it flows down its Alpine brooks and swings through its concert-halls with exhilarating freedom and diversity. Music defines much of Austria's history, and energises much of its present-day life. And for the intrepid tourist, it makes Austria The Best Music Destination In The World.


All images courtesy of Austria National Tourism Organisation
© Österreich Werbung / Trumler, © Österreich Werbung / Fankhauser, © Österreich Werbung / H.Wiesenhofer
© Österreich Werbung / Wiesenhofer

The Best Airline Re-Branding

Over the last four decades, we have had the opportunity to participate in or observe the rebranding of numerous airlines. Some were given a new identity because of new management or new marketing strategies, while others were re-branded because of new ownership or the merging into an airline group.

In the first category are case-studies such as JAL to Japan Airlines, Air Lanka to Sri Lankan, and Air Pacific to Fiji Airways. The national airline of Japan actually retained its name, but after 10 years with a modernistic non-descript use of its initials, it chose to revert to its original logo featuring its full name. In traditional Japanese culture, the red-crowned crane (Grus japonsensis) is viewed as a symbol of long life, and it is a powerful and effective symbol of how Japan uniquely cherishes ancient culture in cultivating an ultra-modern lifestyle.

The list of airlines re-branding under a larger group is very long, but to us, the most successful of these is the metamorphosis of Dragonair to Cathay Dragon, joining its sister-carrier Cathay Pacific in a stylish new simultaneous re-branding.
We believe The Best Airline Re-Branding is of Dragonair to  Cathay Dragon because it brings the healthy and growing carrier into an elegant and effective equal-partnership within the Cathay Pacific group. Each airline has an equally elegant livery of almost identical application, but in complementing different colours.

In 2006, Dragonair became part of the Cathay Pacific Group, and the two airlines have worked in increasing closeness to provide a synergy of connectivity and service from Hong Kong to about 200 destinations in mainland China and the rest of the world. It makes sense, therefore, that the new name deftly brings Cathay Dragon into the family while retaining its distinctive identity. The new livery of both airlines has been designed to align them more closely with each other, and we like the integration of that iconic Cathay Brushwing on the tail of all aircraft within the Group while maintaining a little updated version of the original Dragonair logo on the nose of Cathay Dragon aircraft.
The new hues are also distinctive and attractive – stylish with an understated dignity.  Overall, the new Corporate Identity of Cathay Dragon is clean, elegant and effective – well-deserving of our award for  The Best Airline Re-Branding.

Photographs by kalid.com.cn and Cathay Pacific Group