Ireland witnessed a growth of 20 per cent in the number of visas issued to Indians travelling to the destination. This was revealed by Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland, at their sales mission in Mumbai and New Delhi. Gibbons informed that the destination witnessed 27,500 Indian tourist arrivals in 2015, corresponding to 14 per cent increase over 2014. Also, the total number of tourist arrivals from January to August, 2016, was up by 12.3 per cent with 6.55 million people visiting the destination during this period. “With Northern Island also a part of Ireland, we expect to have 10 million visitors by the end of 2016 with a double digit growth. Our traditional markets are Great Britain, North America, Germany and France, comprising 70 per cent of the tourism business but we feel the potential of India as a market is huge for Ireland. The number of visa applications for Indian nationals has seen a growth of over 20 per cent and the BIVS scheme has also facilitated many Indian visits. We have interacted with over 150 companies in New Delhi alone,” said Gibbons. He also added that Tourism Ireland is committed to grow visitor numbers to Ireland from India and the sales mission will play a significant role in helping to achieve this goal. “Our sales mission is a key element of our promotional programme in India. It will give our tourism partners a platform to inform, influence the Indian travel trade about what the island of Ireland has to offer and importantly encourage them to include the destination in their brochures and programmes,” he said.

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) President Praveen Chugh has been elected as the Treasurer of World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) of which TAFI is a member. WTAAA held its Annual General Assembly and bi-annual Board meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, recently and elected a new board. The new WTAAA Chairman is Otto de Vries (CEO of Association of Southern African Travel Agents), and Mark Meader (Vice President of Industry Affairs American Society of Travel Agents) is the new Vice Chairman. WTAAA brings together 56 countries and represents more than 80 per cent of the BSP worldwide. WTAAA is a global voice for the travel agency distribution channel and regularly engages with IATA, UNWTO, WHO, Media, GDS, European Union, DOT and other regulators and bodies around the world. The mission of the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA) is to act as the global travel agency voice through the exchange of ideas and information. WTAAA members include the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA), Association of Brazilian Travel Agents (ABAV), European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA), Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA), Travel Agency Federation of India (TAFI) and Travel Agents’ Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) Spanish Federation of Travel Agents (CEAV), Federation of Asean Travel Agencies (FATA).

In an effort to promote positive social values through art and encourage young artists, Cox & Kings, in association with David Hall Art Gallery presented an art exhibition in Mumbai titled ‘Imprints: Mapping memories’ by artist Reshma Thomas in the presence of Rika Jean-Francois, CSR Commissioner ITB Berlin and Sandeep Dayal, (Head- Sales, BD, Special Projects, Inbound Travel) Cox & King and Jose Dominic, CEO, CGH Earth.

In a show of solidarity to the tourism community, the United Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA) board has decided to stick to its original decision to have its Golden Jubilee Congress in Istanbul after reviewing the current situation. Sunil Kumar, President, UFTAA, said, “November 25 and 26, 2016, will witness the Golden Jubilee Congress of UFTAA in Istanbul. One of our most prime member associations, TURSAB, will be co-ordinating this event which is being supported by the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Turkey. The Golden Jubilee Congress is anticipated to give UFTAA a huge push to its next level and since it is held in the most beautiful locales and hotels Turkey has to offer, it is anticipated that this will be a successful event.”  

The centre plans to issue chip embedded e-passports, which can be incorporated with passports so as to verify information electronically, by next year. Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh reported said that fully digital passports that could be even carried in mobile phones would be introduced in the second phase. Singh was talking to media persons during a visit to the Regional Passport office. He said that facilities for e-passports are being installed and it is expected that all fresh passports to be issued from next year would have the chips incorporated in it. The minister also said that once the delay in police verification process is sorted out through electronic passing of information, the time required for issuing passports could be minimised. In reply to a question, Singh said the restrictions imposed on overseas recruitment of nurses and female domestic workers had helped curb the exploitation in the sector. Singh, who had recently visited Saudi to help those stranded there following job losses, said the Saudi government is cooperating in getting the claims of Indian workers from Saudi employers. He also advised those still going to Saudi to take up employment to be cautious and go through genuine channels. Earlier in the day, Mr Singh reviewed the working of the Passport Sewa Kendra, Kollam also. (Source: PTI)

Air Canada has announced another direct connection between Mumbai and Toronto starting July 1,2017. India’ financial hub Mumbai and Toronto will now get a thrice a week direct non-stop service starting July 1, 2017 as part of the airline’s global expansion plan. The new announcement comes just after the news of its non-stop flights between Delhi and Vancouver beginning October 20, which too is a three-times weekly flight. Air Canada has also made its Delhi-Toronto flight a daily connection starting November 6, 2016. All these announcements from Air Canada have come within a year of launching the direct flights between Delhi and Toronto on the 3rd November 2015. “Customer response to our Toronto-Delhi service has been extremely positive and hence its becoming a daily service from 6th November 2016 . With the new Vancouver route we are strategically increasing our presence in the important Asia-Pacific market. “said Duncan Bureau , Vice President , Global Sales. The non-stop Dreamliner flights from the Vancouver hub will also offer the shortest elapsed flying time from Delhi to Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles .Together with our extensive Western Canada domestic and western US trans border network combined with the seamless connection experience through Vancouver’s US in-transit pre-clearance facilities, position Vancouver to be the preferred gateway hub for trans-pacific travel to and from North America. Air Canada will be the only carrier to offer a direct non-stop service between Canada and Mumbai . These routes will operate year-round with Air Canada’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The aircraft feature 29 International Business Class lie-flat seat suites, 21 Premium Economy and 247 Economy Class seats, with upgraded in-flight entertainment at every seat throughout the aircraft.

The highly-anticipated National Tourism Policy has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Office and is waiting for a formal cabinet nod, revealed Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. “The tourism policy has been concurred to by all the ministries. It has been to the Prime Minister’s Office and they’ve approved it too. Now we are just waiting for the process of placing it before the cabinet for formal approval,” Billa informed on the sidelines of the Kerala Travel Mart, being held in Kochi from September 27-30, 2016.

GMR Group’s Delhi Airport, managed by Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL), has become the first airport in Asia-Pacific to achieve Carbon Neutral status.  The announcement has been made by Airports Council International (ACI) during the Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate presentation ceremony in Montreal, Canada, where I Prabhakara Rao, CEO, DIAL received the prestigious certificate. The same body awarded Delhi Airport the world’s number one position (in 25-40 million passengers per annum category) twice in a row under the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme. The globally reputed Airport Carbon Accreditation has upgraded Delhi Airport to “Level 3+, Neutrality”, which is the highest level of achievement available to airports across the world. Carbon neutrality occurs when the net carbon emissions over an entire year is zero. This means the airport absorbs or offsets the same amount of emission that was generated. This achievement is accredited by ACI under Airport Carbon Accreditation that monitors the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions.

Following the success of the code-share agreement launched in March 2016, Delta Air Lines and joint venture partner Air France-KLM will enhance their existing cooperation with Jet Airways. The expanded agreement adds new convenient travel options for customers flying from North America via Paris-Charles de Gaulle to India, complementing the current service offered through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Effective October 30, and subject to government approvals, Delta customers flying from the United States and Europe will be able to connect onto Jet Airways’ flights to Mumbai from Paris; and to New Delhi and Mumbai from Amsterdam. From here customers can then fly to 20 destinations within India. Subject to government approvals, Delta’s customers connecting through Paris and Amsterdam to Mumbai and New Delhi will have codeshare access to 20 onward destinations in India served by Jet Airways.  After government approvals, new Delta codeshare destinations will include Calicut, Coimbatore, Goa, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore, Pune, Trivandrum and Vadodara.  

Singapore Tourism Board recently organised a 10-day, six-city road show across key markets in India and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Themed “Extending Hands in Partnership”, the delegation was led by GB Srithar, Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) newly appointed Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA). The initiative is envisioned as an annual platform for the region’s trade partners to get updated on the latest leisure and MICE offerings in Singapore. The Singapore delegation comprised representatives from top hotels, cruise liners, attractions, airlines and Destination Management Companies (DMCs), which travelled to the cities of Colombo in Sri Lanka and then to the Indian cities of Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Jalandhar. The sessions saw an enthusiastic turnout from travel trade professionals with an average participation of 135 agents per city. Srithar said, “As we move into the next exciting phase of promoting Singapore to wider audiences in tier II cities, we look to fostering closer strategic and tactical partnerships with the travel trade to entrench the positioning of Singapore as one of the must-see destinations for the Indian audiences.”