Delhi Tourism will organise the 29th Garden Tourism Festival from 19-21 February, 2016, at The Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi. The three day extravaganza will showcase variety of flora and fauna to charm garden enthusiasts. The major participants during the festival are the horticulture departments of NDMC, DDA, DJB, SDMC, EDMC, HUDA, Noida Authority, Northern Railways and others. With the theme “Garden for Environment and Health,” the main objective of this year’s festival is to encourage visitors to contribute in the cause for protection of environment as it is directly related to their own health. Soumya Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of DTTDC, says, “Special transport will be arranged from the nearest metro station to provide seamless experience to the visitors. A number of elements have been included to increase the number of visitors to the festival.” The festival will showcase terrariums, 3 day non-stop musical extravaganza, workshops, lectures, plays on environment and horticulture, cultural programmes in association with Sahitya Kala Parishad, Hindi Academy etc. A food festival to savor the taste of Delhi’s delicacies, activities like magic show, adventure activities will also be organised.

PATA CEO Mario Hardy and John Koldowski, Member Tourism Action Group, Thamassat University Thailand, will deliver a seminar on April 5, 2016 at The Park New Delhi, to help prepare tourism stakeholders for future growth, opportunities and challenges. Together with luminaries from UNWTO, WTTC, IATA, ICAO and World Economic Forum amongst others, PATA is engaged in building Tourism Advocacy across the world to ensure that Tourism is at the forefront of strengthening the global Visitor Economy. While Hardy is optimistic about the growing role and contribution of tourism in world economies, he will focus on how markets can get their fair share of this growth as well as address, both present day and futuristic challenges and opportunties. Hardy leads PATA’s charge at the Global Travel Association Coalition. John Koldowski, former Deputy CEO of PATA, is regarded as one of the leading analysts of the travel & tourism sector. He specialises in analysis and interpretation of information regarding movements and trends in the tourism sector based on emerging consumer preferences and destination development. Koldowski will share his in depth knowledge of the impact of global trends on Asia Pacific tourism.

Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) offers early bird discount of Rs 3500 + GST till Feb 20. Packages for Active Members – Rs 39,900 ++ Allied Members – Rs 49,900 ++ Non Members – Rs 59,900 ++ On spot registration for local delegates – USD 100 OTOAI has released its registration form for their 2nd Mega Convention scheduled from March 17–21, 2016, at Bali, Indonesia. “All registrations fees are waived for early bird registrations till February 20, 2016 by 1700 hours,” informed Riaz Munshi, Vice President and Convention Chairman, OTOAI. Registration charges under Package A for OTOAI Active Members is Rs 3,500 (plus GST), with cost per person on twin sharing is Rs 39,900 (plus GST) and single occupancy is Rs 49,900 (plus GST). Registration charges under Package B for Allied Members is Rs 3,500 (plus GST), with cost per person on twin sharing is Rs 49,900 and for single occupancy is Rs 59,900 exclusive of GST. Registration cost for Package C for Non Members is Rs 3500 (plus GST), with cost per person on twin sharing is Rs 59,900 and for single occupancy is Rs 69,900 exclusive of GST. Under Package D for local delegates without hotel stay and air tickets registration cost per person is USD 100. For Media Members under Package E for Media Package, cost per person on twin sharing is Rs 24,900 and single occupancy is Rs 34,900 excluding GST. Detailed information on the packages is mentioned in the registration form.

Indonesia received approximately 262,000 Indian arrivals in 2015, and are aiming for 350,000 this year, announced H.E. Rizali Wilmar Indrakesuma, Ambassador of Indonesia to India during the U&I Holidays Bali roadshow in New Delhi. The first day of the first ever 5-city roadshow saw the presence of 23 participants from Bali out of which 21 hotel properties, an Indian restaurant and the Bali Zoo were available to interact with guests and give out information. “We are here to promote Bali and to increase awareness about the variety of products Bali is well-known for,” said Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U&I Holidays. He furthered announced that the DMC would be launching their online portal this year. The roadshow began in Delhi on Feb 5, and will go on to Chennai on Feb 8, Bengaluru on Feb 9, Ahmedabad on Feb 11 and Mumbai on Feb 12, respectively.

India is the top international source market for Dubai as per the latest 2015 annual figures revealed by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). With a year-on-year growth of 26 per cent, bringing in over 1.6 million tourists, India was the second fastest growing top 10 source market for Dubai Tourism in 2015. Overall, Dubai attracted more than 14.2 million overnight visitors, recording a strong 7.5% increase over 2014 – double the United Nations World Travel Organisation’s (UNWTO) projected 3-4% global travel growth for the same period. South Asia has been one of the largest regions by volume bringing in 2.3 million visitors reflecting a 21.7% increase versus 2014. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said “2015 has been a very strong year for Dubai’s travel sector with double the global industry growth levels firming up our position as the fourth most visited city in the world. South Asia, especially India, has performed phenomenally well. India has always been a key market for us and we believe our efforts to adopt a highly segment-specific approach in cities with the highest connectivity and latent capacity, as well as building stronger trade ties in market with digital travel intermediaries, have yielded results and will continue to enable Dubai capture share of the growing Indian upper middle-class family and business segments. His Excellency Almarri added, “Repeat visitation from Indian travellers remains a priority and as our destination proposition continues to grow and diversify, we are better placed than ever to continually offer visitors more reasons to come back time again, whether for leisure or as part of an ever increasing business and event line-up. We are also seeing …

The entry fee for all Grade I monuments all over India will be increased from Rs 250 to Rs 750 and from Rs 100 to Rs 250 from April 1, 2016 for all foreign visitors. N.S. Rathore, Chairman (Western Region), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), says, “We have approached the tourism minister who fortunately is also in-charge of ASI. We have requested ASI in New Delhi and they have deferred it till April. But if they implement this it will be a huge problem for agents. We have suggested that instead of increasing Rs 500 in one shot, do it piecemeal – Rs 250 in this year and Rs 250 in the following year. Business has anyway been bad. Cancellations will only happen when this is implemented. Some of our agents from Germany have said that if this is implemented they may cancel all their departures to India.

Switzerland Tourism, Swiss Travel System, and Rail Europe have launched the Swiss Travel Pass Superstar Program 2016 to promote brand awareness and enhance knowledge of various Swiss Travel Passes among the travel agents and tour operators in India. Ritu Sharma, Deputy Director & Media Manager- India, Switzerland Tourism, said, “Swiss Travel Pass Superstar program 2016 is meant for the travel agents and tour operators. It will be a 6 month program in which, every month, agents have to answer 10 questions and also sell maximum number of travel passes to stand a chance to win exciting prizes. Also travel agents will have to upload the number of travel passes being sold by them.  At the end of every month a winner will be announced and at the end of the six months there will be a grand winner. The top 30 performers will win a week long holiday to Switzerland which includes airfares, hotel stay, sightseeing, meals etc.” Sharma revealed this during a roadshow in Mumbai recently. In 2015 the program witnessed around 850 participants and this year Switzerland Tourism along with their partners expects double the number of participants than last year. The Switzerland tourism board also recorded a 21 per cent growth in 2015. The main thrust is to encourage agents to sell more travel passes with longer durations to customers. The minimum number of days is 3-4 and with this program agents are expected to sell travel passes for eight days so people enjoy longer stay in Switzerland. Switzerland tourism along with its partners will be doing training sessions in three other cities including Chandigarh, Delhi and Ahmedabad apart from Mumbai. India is the top source market for …

A new 45-km long railway line connecting Pakyong in Sikkim to Sevoke in West Bengal is currently in progress, according to Jitendra Singh, Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). He said that the funds to the tune of Rs 4,190 crore have been allotted for the railway line, which will also include 14 tunnels and 28 bridges. “This railway line will offer an exclusively picturesque and scenic journey while passing through the foothills of the Kanchenjunga mountain range and the Teesta river valley,” the minister said. Referring to the ongoing Greenfield Airport project at Pakyong, he said that it is expected to be ready by 2017 at a revised cost of Rs 605.59 crore. Singh revealed that 183 projects supported by the Ministry of DoNER have been completed in Sikkim at a cost of Rs 487.91 under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR). Furthermore, 41 additional projects worth Rs 721.89 crore are underway.

As per the statistics shared by Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), 72,145 Indian tourists visited Mauritius in 2015. This is an increase of 18 per cent as compared to 61,167 tourists who visited in 2014. Speaking on this subject, Sanjay Sondhi, CEO, OM Tourism, said that the growth was due to the stupendous efforts of the MTPA India team. He further added “We are looking forward to an even better 2016.” Vivek Anand, Country Manager, said, “We have seen a remarkable rise of Indian footfalls to Mauritius from all target groups i.e. FIT, MICE, Wedding, Families and honeymooners. We expect the numbers to increase by another 20 per cent next year with more weddings and MICE groups visiting Mauritius. We will continue promoting Mauritius as a MICE, Wedding, Honeymoon, Adventure, Golf, Family and Luxury destination in 2016.”

Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) announced its 2nd mega convention from March 17-21, 2016 in Bali, Indonesia. Riaz Munshi, Vice President, OTOAI, was announced as the Convention Chairman. He revealed, “the venue of the convention will be Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort and around 300 delegates are expected to attend the convention.” The theme of the convention is ‘India Outbound: The Game Changer.’ The three-day convention will be followed by a day trip to Ubud. OTOAI will be working on the convention with their local partners PACTO.