Located in the capital city of Chhattisgarh, Courtyard by Marriott Raipur is the 14th property for the brand in India, and the second in the state, joining Courtyard by Marriott Bilaspur. The hotel has the largest guest suite in the city, at 699 square feet. The rates for the Deluxe rooms start at Rs. 5500 per night, while the Courtyard Suite is priced at Rs. 13000 per night. Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Neeraj Govil, Market Vice- President, South Asia, Marriott International Inc., said, “The business community in South Asia, specifically in India, is growing at an unprecedented rate and this community is looking at lodging options that combines comfort and value. Central India in particular is evolving at a rapid pace and we want to be a part of this growth story, Raipur is an upcoming business and MICE destination, making it a key player in the region. We believe our new property will efficiently cater to this growing business segment. As always, we are committed to providing great value to our customers, while bringing the best brands within the Marriott portfolio to the Indian markets.” Each of the 96 rooms and 12 suites feature high-speed wireless internet; LED TVs; a well-appointed work area with comfort lighting and ergonomic chairs, an iPod docking station; and a coffee machine. The suites offer visual alarms and notification devices for the door and phones. The property has a relaxing Spa, with two well-appointed therapy rooms to provide soothing spa treatments, affording guests much needed relaxation after a long day. The hotel is an ideal venue for corporate and social events.  The 425-square-metre ballroom can be divided into two function space to suit events of various sizes. …

Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, presented the Railway Budget 2016, and announced that in the next three months, Railways will open the e-ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit cards for foreign tourists and NRIs. In order to ensure hassle free travel for passengers bar coded tickets, scanners and access control on a pilot basis on major stations will be introduced to tackle the menace of ticketless travel. While there will be no hike in passenger fare, the budget entailed many new initiatives for the passengers. Prabhu said that Indian Railways intends to commence sale of tickets through hand held terminals for the benefit of the suburban and short distance travellers. IRCTC will also be extending e-catering services from existing 45 large stations to all 408 ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ class stations. It will also explore the possibility of making mandatory catering services optional in trains. Local cuisine of choice will be made available to passengers. Clean my Coach service on pan India basis is introduced, where a passenger can request cleaning of his/her coach/toilets on demand through SMS. The minister has also set a target of 30000 bio-toilets in the next financial year.

Indian Railways will be partnering with the State Governments for operating tourist circuit trains and explore the possibility of a revenue sharing model, announced Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu while presenting the Railway Budget 2016-17. This year, to spread awareness about our national animal, the tiger, Indian Railways will offer complete packages including train journey, safaris and accommodation to cover the wildlife circuit comprising Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh. He also proposed to introduce the Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes. He also said that two to four Deen Dayalu coaches will be added in some long distance trains for unreserved travel to enhance the carrying capacity. These coaches will also have facility for portable water and a higher number of mobile charging points.

Jet Airways and Korean Air have entered into a codeshare agreement and a reciprocal frequent flyer programme. The partnership would allow guests travelling on both Jet Airways and Korean Air to connect from multiple points in India to Seoul over various gateway points in Asia. Under the codeshare arrangement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Korean Air operated non-stop flight between Incheon, Seoul and Mumbai, as well as flights between Incheon, Seoul and Bangkok and Singapore. Likewise, Korean Air will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ operations between Singapore and Mumbai and between Bangkok and Mumbai and Delhi.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has tied up with OYO Rooms to offer standardised accommodation and a convenient booking platform to rail travellers. OYO Rooms will power the IRCTC hotel-booking page, offering their inventory and promise of standardizsd amenities to Rail passengers. Speaking on the tie-up, CMD, IRCTC Dr. A.K.Manocha said, “We are committed to drive efficiencies and enhance our service through innovation. OYO Rooms has propelled the hotel market in India towards new horizon and pioneered the standardisation of affordable hotel-rooms. This partnership contributes another chapter to the successful narrative of Made in India initiatives and how tech-enabled solutions will power the next wave of innovation. We have made the necessary technology integrations and will be actively communicating about this newly available option through e-mailers, information on e-tickets so that our travellers can explore and utilise these services.” Abhinav Sinha, COO OYO Rooms said, “We are honoured and delighted to power the hotels-booking engine of IRCTC and serve Indian railway passengers. With this tie-up IRCTC customers will have ready access to OYO’s inventory of predictable, standardised and affordable hotel accommodation, across 170 cities in India. As India’s widest and largest network, we feel confident of catering to the passengers’ needs and look forward to making this alliance a great success.” He added, “OYO Rooms was conceived with a vision to change the way travellers view out-of-home stay. Our aim is to deliver home-like comfort at affordable prices so that wherever you may be travelling to, you would want to stay at an OYO booked through IRCTC-OYO network. The first step towards fulfilling this mandate was to expand our footprint to provide the comfort of a wide network. …

Starting tomorrow, February 26, 2016, the e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) facility will be extended to 37 more countries, bringing the total count of countries under the scheme to 150. The new 37 countries included in e-Tourist Visa scheme are Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cote d’lvoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Iceland, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Moldova, Namibia, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The e-TV facility was launched by the Government of India on November 27, 2014. Till now the scheme has been extended to 113 countries at sixteen Indian airports designated for providing e-Tourist visa service. Over 7.50 lakh Visas have been issued under the scheme ever since it has been launched. On an average 3,500 e-Tourist Visas are being granted daily to foreign nationals.

As a part of its marketing development strategy, the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad. The DOT, Philippines successfully conducted the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in the cities of Pune and Ahmedabad on February 22 and 24, respectively. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, affirmed that India is an important source market for the Philippines with 74, 824 Indians visiting the destination last year, which was a 22.36 per cent year-on-year increase. Overall, the Philippines expect to welcome 100,000 Indian tourists by 2017. VPA 2016 campaign’s aim is to drive excitement among travellers so that they revisit the country in 2016 for more fun and adventure and to garner fabulous memories to cherish.

Visit Scotland gathered its top tour operators and travel trade associations for a roundtable discussion in Mumbai on the sidelines of its three-city roadshow to help push numbers and get feedback from them. Explaining the reason behind this initiative, Vineet Lal, Senior Market Manager (Long Haul & Emerging Markets), Visit Scotland, said, “We along with Etihad Airways met a lot of our top trade partners and travel trade associations in Mumbai to look at how we can increase the volume and value of the Indian market to Scotland. A lot of the conclusions were around the ability to communicate what Scotland has to offer, communicating Scotland’s top experiences and also working on a program of education both in Scotland and in India so that people on both sides understand how to do business with each other.” The Visit Scotland delegation, that includes seven Scottish suppliers, is in India on its India Business Development Mission to encourage the development of Scotland products among the travel trade in India. It was in Mumbai on February 22 and will travel to Chandigarh on February 23-24, followed by New Delhi on February 25-26. Mumbai saw around 100 attendees at Scotland workshop and around 50 at the networking dinner.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) is going to have its convention in Khajuraho from April 8-11, 2016, in partnership with Madhya Pradesh Tourism. Jyoti Kapur, President, ADTOI, says  that the curtain raiser for the convention will happen on March 2, 2016. Sanjay Aggarwal, VP, ADTOI, says that the theme of the convention, sessions and number of delegates will be announced on the same day. It was further revealed that the approximate cost for the package for 3N/4D trip is 7000/- which includes train travel from Delhi to Jhansi by Shatabdi Express; travel by road to Khajuraho; stay and sightseeing.  

The Government of India is mulling a proposal to open up five islands of Andaman and Nicobar to tourists to promote them as eco-tourism destinations. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar reportedly said that during his recent trip to Andaman and Nicobar he explored the potential for developing five islands from tourism perspective. “I went to the place recently to meet people. It is 94 per cent forest and rest is Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). The place is so beautiful it can easily beat Thailand and Phuket… But due to our policies we could not open it for public. “We have prepared a plan and we are working on it to develop five islands of the place for eco-tourism without disturbing their forests,” he said while taking part in a budget programme of AajTak. The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago comprises more than 500 islands, many of which are uninhabited and restricted. The minister said a group of five ministries is collectively working on the concept of island development to make them tourism destinations. (Source- PTI)