The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has decided to create a government liaison committee to facilitate detailed interaction with the government and suggest reforms for the industry. The team led by National President, Sunil Kumar, met Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation in New Delhi on January 29. Kumar said, “The government’s role in India on aviation practices, particularly, between airlines and agencies has been extremely limited. We discussed a lot of issues and have requested him to ensure that the government plays an important role to establish healthy industry practices including remuneration that must be provided to the agencies. We also talked about forming a round-table of agency representatives and airlines led by the government to resolve decisions on the marketing practices.”

Trans India Holidays Group, one of India’s leading offline travel agencies, is now entering the online travel space with its new venture BigBreaks. It aims to touch the unreached aspect of travel planning, and customise travel plans to meet customer requirements to the last detail. Kapil Goswamy, Managing Director, BigBreaks, said, “Unlike other OTA’s which are primarily technology companies selling travel, we are a travel company adopting the latest internet technologies to give our clients the advantages of lower costs, wider variety and the convenience of 24×7 bookings. Being a late entrant in the online space may mean that other OTAs already have an established presence in the field, but it also gives us a unique advantage of having a clear picture of what needs improvement in the industry. We have modeled our services to remove the problems existing in the industry including lack of flexibility in product offering, poor responses from Customer Service teams, slow and tedious refund processes etc.  It is these important customer requirements that we seek to fulfill.” According to a survey by US-based Travel Consulting Firm Phocuswright, the size of the Indian travel market in 2014 stood at Rs 90, 000 crores, out of which the share of online travel market was just Rs 36,000 crores.

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI) is organising a Conclave on February 27, 2016 at Le Meridien, New Delhi. The theme of the conclave is “Hospitality & Tourism- Gateway to Growth”.  The HRANI Conclave will be a one-day event that aims to highlight the issues and aspirations of tourism and hospitality sector. This conclave will be a quarterly feature for the association and will be conducted in its nine member states on a rotational basis. Delhi Tourism will also launch ‘Brand Delhi’ Campaign in 2016 with a vision of encouraging tourism and increasing tourists inflow in the state. With HRANI shared aspiration of making Delhi, a top destination of choice, for both foreign and domestic tourists, the organisation is privileged to announce endorsement of Delhi Tourism Ministry towards the HRANI Conclave. A delegation led by Luv Malhotra, President, HRANI; Garish Oberoi, Hony. Secretary, HRANI; Bharat Aggarwal, Treasurer, HRANI; and Renu Thapliyal, Secretary General, HRANI, met Kapil Mishra, Minister of Tourism, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, to discuss about jointly organising a tourism and hospitality Conclave in the capital.

Following the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on the Zika virus, UNWTO recalls that according to WHO there should be no restrictions on travel with the affected areas. WHO released a statement on the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) Emergency Committee on Zika virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations. UNWTO reiterates that there should be no restrictions on travel or trade with countries, areas and/or territories with Zika virus transmission. Travellers to areas with Zika virus transmission should be provided with up to date advice on potential risks and appropriate measures to reduce the possibility of exposure to mosquito bites. Standard WHO recommendations regarding disinfection of aircraft and airports should be implemented, it said. UNWTO will continue to monitor the situation in close contact with WHO and the relevant tourism authorities. UNWTO also recalls that health and tourism authorities are working together to inform residents, tourists as well as the industry about the precautions to be taken and the tourism sector is working closely with health authorities to follow WHO prevention recommendations. As per the impact on the tourism sector, it is too early to make any effective assessment considering the evolving nature of the situation, UNWTO observed.

Jay Bhatia, National Treasurer and Chairman (Tourism Council), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), has been appointed on UFTAA’s Global Tourism Committee to co-ordinate and enhance tourism initiatives among its members. National associations from over 80 countries are part of UFTAA. This was announced at UFTAA’s board meeting that was held in New Delhi on Thursday. On the appointment, Bhatia says, “Tourism from and in to India is increasing multi-fold India has now become the heart of the globe and all eyes are set on us. UFTAA and TAAI, both, endeavour to promote tourism through educating its members. At TAAI, we have already embarked on this path two years ago and have conducted various training programs for our members. This will be undertaken globally at UFTAA too.”

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, is reportedly planning to start flights between Mumbai and Bali, in order to tap the growing Indian honeymoon and Hindu pilgrimage markets. It is said that Garuda might operate charter flights in advance of plans for scheduled departures. According to Handayani, Commercial Director, Garuda Indonesia, the middle to upper classes of India are the ones who go on a religious journey to Bali. Currently, Garuda does not currently operate any flights to India, and no airline flies direct between Bali and India. Earlier this month Garuda commenced flights between Bali and Shanghai.

Air India has agreed to accept travel agents’ corporate credit card for booking, revealed Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Speaking in New Delhi, at the UFTAA presentation for TAAI Northern Region members, he revealed that the team of TAAI had a meeting with Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India; Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India, and other representative of the national carrier. “I am very impressed with the response from Ashwani Lohani, Pankaj Srivastava, and the entire team of Air India on allowing travel agents to use their corporate credit cards to do ticketing. We have been consistently talking to them on the airline having no objection if a customer uses his credit card, or the agent uses the customer’s credit card. However, the agent could not use his corporate credit card to make the booking. However, they listened to us, and we are highly obliged that may be within a week, the agent corporate credit card will be used by Air India as a form of payment.”

Air India Express will start flying from Kozhikode to Ras Al Khaimah four times a week from March 29 to October 24, 2016. The new flight has been added as part of the new summer schedule by the airline. On Wednesday and Saturday, it will fly directly from Kozhikode to Ras Al Khaimah and then go to Al Ain. However, on Monday and Friday, it will fly to Ras Al Khaimah via Al Ain. The timings are 10:40 am for all the four flights. The move comes as part of Air India Express’ plans to increase its frequency between Kerala and the Middle East to 119 flights per week from the present 96 a week in order to benefit Keralites working in Gulf countries. Acknowledging Kozhikode as its largest revenue centre, AIE increases its focus in this market by enhancing offered capacity to an all time high of 11,718 seats per week from the present 8,184 seats. The fare for the Kozhikode-Ras Al Khaimah flight is Rs. 11, 604.

The Cathay Pacific Group has announced that its’ wholly owned sister airline Dragonair is to be rebranded as Cathay Dragon. The two will remain as separate airlines, operating under their own licences. The rebranding will see a new livery created for Cathay Dragon that features a Cathay-style brushwing logo. This livery will appear for the first time on one of Cathay Dragon’s Airbus A330-300 aircraft in April and will be progressively introduced to the rest of the airline’s fleet. By more closely aligning the two brands, this rebranding will capitalise on Cathay Pacific’s high international brand recognition and leverage on Cathay Dragon’s unique connectivity into Mainland China – one of the world’s fastest-growing business and leisure travel markets. The Cathay Pacific Group will launch a major international advertising and marketing campaign later this year to promote recognition of Cathay Dragon and the benefits this rebranding will bring to passengers. Ivan Chu, Chief Executive, Cathay Pacific, said, “We are very proud of what we have achieved together. Cathay Dragon is a brand that will be recognisably part of the Cathay Pacific Group for our customers from different parts of the world. The rebranding will enable us to capture the fast-growing passenger flows across the two carriers by creating a more seamless travel experience. We are building on what is a true Hong Kong success story that has made our city a leading international aviation hub and gateway to and from Mainland China markets. This rebranding will sharpen our competitive edge by offering an attractive Cathay-led brand package that carries the assurance of a consistently high-quality customer experience,” Algernon Yau, Chief Executive Officer, Cathay Dragon, said, “We can assure our customers that Cathay Dragon will …

AirAsia X has announced the commencement of its new direct flight connecting New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur. The inaugural flight will land at the New Delhi international airport on February 3. “As part of our efforts to expand our flight network and to provide enhanced connectivity for our guests in the region, we are pleased to announce that we have started operating direct flights connecting New Delhi & Kuala Lumpur,” a statement from the airline said. The airline will be celebrating the inaugural flight on February 4 in New Delhi. Benyamin Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X Berhad will be making this special announcement at the celebration of the launch of this sector along with H.E. Datuk Naimun Ashakli Mohammad, High Commissioner of Malaysia to India, in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of state for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation and Dato Fam Lee Ee, Board of Director, AirAsia X. To celebrate the recommencement of New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X offered an all-in-fares from as low as INR 7990 one way for the booking period Nov 23-29, 2015, with a travel period from February 3, 2016 until February 5, 2017.