The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines is conducting the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in Ahmedabad on February 24, 2016. The 25-member delegation is led by Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines. The delegation comprises of hoteliers, resorts, spas, and representatives of tour attractions, interacted with over 100 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. The roadshow, also held in Pune on Feb 22, included interactive B2B sessions, educaion programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries in these cities. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin 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. “In order to strengthen co-operation between DOT and our important business partners in the Indian travel industry, several promotional activities such as roadshows, taxi branding, participation in fairs and exhibitions and Fam trips have been carried out and further activities will be organized during this year,” added Glen. As a part of its marketing development strategy, Department of Tourism, Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad.  

Jet Airways is expanding its operations to Bangkok with the launch of new daily flights from its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. With the introduction of these new frequencies, the airline becomes the largest Indian airline flying between India and Bangkok. With effect from March 27, 2016, Jet Airways will launch a third daily frequency from Mumbai to Bangkok, making it the airline with the maximum number of daily frequencies between the two cities. Jet Airways will also launch a second daily service from Delhi to Bangkok from March 27, 2016, offering greater choice to guests travelling between the two capital cities. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to introduce additional frequencies from Mumbai and Delhi to Bangkok providing greater choice and convenience to our guests on these popular routes. Bangkok has been a popular destination for business and leisure travellers and demand on routes from India to Bangkok continues to grow. By adding more capacity to this key destination from our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi we aim to provide easy connectivity with convenient schedules linking to our wider domestic network.” Jet Airways will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests, a best in class in-flight product, warm service, and award-winning in-flight entertainment and cuisine.

Vinod Zutshi, IAS, Secretary, MOT, Govt of India, said, “MOT is contemplating on organising a Mega Tourism Investor’s Summit around July/August this year for promoting investments in tourism sector. The summit will witness participation of all important states coming with their incentives and packages. The summit will provide to the private investment, stakeholders within India and abroad a chance to cease the immense opportunity of investment in the tourism sector in India.” He said, “I urge all stakeholders to make use of this forthcoming Mega Summit to help us promote Incredible India and Make in India.” Speaking at the launch of the ‘Swachh Parayatan Mobile App’, Zutshi said tourism in 2016 has began on an optimistic note and the Ministry of Tourism is committed to carry on its juggernauts of new initiatives and drives in the coming days. International Branding and promotional campaign has begun. He added, “The forthcoming financial year will see a more aggressive marketing and promotional campaign from Incredible India all over the world. MOT has sanctioned tourism infrastructure projects over Rs 1,500 crore, in the past six months, which shall continue in the forthcoming financial year. We are hopeful that huge public investment of this nature will trigger and promote private sector investments in the tourism sector.”

IndiGo has added additional flights on its Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes to enable those stranded due to ongoing protests in Haryana to travel between the two cities. The airline operate two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on February 23. On February 22, the airline operated two flights on Delhi-Chandigarh and two flights on Delhi-Jaipur routes respectively. These supplementary flights will allow stranded passengers to travel between these cities, as rail transport is not fully operational and roads have been blocked by protestors.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced the launch of direct daily flights ex-Mumbai to Narita on its new Boeing 787 with effect from March 27, 2016. Till now, it was only servicing New Delhi to Narita flights. On the new route, the Dreamliner will have flat beds, 46 staggered seats in business class, 21 in premium economy and 102 seats in normal economy class. This will make ANA the only airline to operate direct flights to Japan with business class seating. The airline has also announced introductory fares as well as special fares for the travel agents.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) launched a “Swachh Parayantan Mobile App” to flag issues related to cleanliness in and around tourist sites. To start with, 25 Adarsh Smarak Monuments protected by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been identified for inclusion in the App. The application would be scaled up to include more monuments as the campaign expands.  Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, inaugurated the App in the presence of Vinod Zutshi, Sectretary-Tourism, MOT, Sanjeev Ranjan, Additional Secretary-Tourism, MOT, Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, MOT, Dr. R K Bhatnagar, ADG, MoR, Umang Narula, CMD, ITDC, among others. Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Sharma said that since the general public and the tourists are the largest stakeholders in keeping the monuments clean, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to facilitate the general public to communicate their complaints about any unclean area/garbage piles in and around tourist destinations. Hence as a part thereof, the Ministry of Tourism is launching this Mobile App. He opined that till all stakeholders don’t contribute, such project will not succeed. This mobile App enables a citizen to take photograph of garbage at the monument and upload the same along with his/her remarks. The application then sends an SMS to the ASI Nodal Officer concerned with the monument upon receipt of which the Nodal Officer gets the garbage cleared/removed. The Nodal Officer thereafter sends confirmation about the redressal of the complaint through an SMS to the complainant.

Rwanda Development Board has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) to promote the destination in India. It signed an MoU with TAAI on February 18 during OTM Mumbai in the presence of Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI; H.E. Ernest Rwamucyo, High Commissioner of Rwanda, New Delhi; and Jay Bhatia,Treasurer and Tourism Council Chairman, TAAI. Rwanda also signed an MoU with TAFI that evening at its event ‘Remarkable Rwanda’ in the presence of TAFI National President Zakkir Ahmed and Linda Mutesi, Tourism Marketing Division Manager, Rwanda Development Board. The Rwandian visa processing takes 24 hours. Through the East African tourism visa – a multiple entry visa valid for 3 months could be availed.  Travellers can explore Rwanda along with Kenya and Uganda.

The third terminal at the Cochin International Airport will be officially inaugurated on February 26 by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. According to reports quoting Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) official, the new terminal is built in a record time of two years over an area of 15 lakh sq ft and will handle 4,000 passengers. Opened in 1999, CIAL is the country’s first greenfield airport built and managed in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. It is the biggest of the three international airports in Kerala. The total paid-up capital of the airport is Rs 306.06 crore of which the Kerala Government accounts for Rs 100 crore. The CIAL became the first airport in the world to operate on solar power last year when a 12 MW solar power plant was commissioned. The Kerala hub handles multiple Indian and international carriers, including Emirates, Etihad, AirAsia, Qatar Airways and SilkAir. (Source: Economic Times)

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines is conducting its ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow today in Pune for its travel trade partners in the city. A 25-member delegation, comprising hoteliers, resorts, spas, and representatives of tour attractions, will interact with key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, will lead the delegation. The roadshow will include interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries in these cities. The Indian market continues to be one of the important contributors of international visitors to the Philippines. In the upcoming year, targeting over 25% rise in outbound travel from India.

Come April 6, Air India will commence flights between Delhi and Vienna. This will be Air India’s eighth European destination. The flight will operate thrice a week on AI’s Boeing 787. It will leave from New Delhi at 1400 hours (IST) and land at Vienna at 18:45 hours(local time). On the way back, the flight will leave Vienna at 22.45 hours and arrive in Delhi the next day at 09.25 hours(IST). The national carrier is also in talks with Austrian Airlines for a code-share. Vienna drew a record number of 40,355 Indians in 2015, accounting for 89,628 overnight stays. While the number of Indians visiting Vienna increased by 49.5 per cent over last year, the number of overnight stays grew by 38.7 per cent, according to Vienna Tourist Board. As per the data, the growth in Indian visitors to Vienna was among the highest after the Arabic countries and Taiwan. During 2015 overnight stays crossed the 14 million mark for the first time, representing a healthy 5.9 per cent increase of over previous year.