States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh exchanged 86 MoUs, aggregating close to Rs 15,000 crores during the inaugural edition of Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit (IITIS) 2016. Gujarat exchanged MoUs close to Rs 9000 crores, Karnataka with Rs. 2600 crores, Rajasthan with Rs. 1000 crores, Uttarakhand with Rs. 500 crores and Chhattisgarh with Rs. 12 crores. Also, B. R. Shetty Group is keen to invest Rs. 450 crores and Costa Cruise Rs. 750 crores and Triveni Singapore close to Rs. 800 crores in the country. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, informed that IITIS will be held annually to boost tourism and will be supported by World Bank. The next edition of IITIS will be organized in September 2017. “World Bank is supporting India’s Buddhist Circuit development and will provide support for sustainable tourism development including through funds,” said Cecile Fruman, Global Director, Trade and Competitiveness, World Bank. At the Summit, organized by Ministry of Tourism (MoT) in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Tourism Finance Corporation of India, Zutshi also announced various initiatives like setting up of a task force headed by Secretary-Tourism, with membership from relevant ministries, state governments, and industry associations to undertake strategic planning; setting up of an investor facilitation desk to handhold investors and facilitate projects and organising investor meets in states with the support of MoT.

GAA SpeedJet Aviation in association with Jet Airways recently provided on-ground training to its students from the current batch of cabin crew and ground staff at a leading flying club in Madhya Pradesh. GAA SpeedJet students got exclusive access to airplanes Cessna 152 and Cessna 172 along with hands-on experience of the Simulator. Jet Airways, on its part, offered students lessons in ground duties – including airport check-in, passenger and cargo handling. GAA SpeedJet Aviation is a partnership between Gulf Aviation Academy (part of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the investment arm for the Kingdom of Bahrain) and domestic aviation training institute SpeedJet Aviation. Jet Airways is India’s premier international airline which operates flights to 67 destinations, including India and overseas.

Stayzilla.com and Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) signed an MOU to jointly promote and market homestays and alternate stays in the state of Gujarat. The MOU was signed and exchanged by  S.J.Haider (IAS), Principal Secretary (Tourism) of Gujarat Tourism in the presence of Hon. Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Dr. Mahesh Sharma and Hon. Tourism Secretary, Vinod Zutshi, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Under this agreement, Stayzilla and Gujarat Tourism will share the current base of homestays on each other’s digital platforms to bring more awareness on homestays in Gujarat. Stayzilla will also aid verification procedures and jointly promote the concept of homestays in the state. All homestays registered with TCGL will receive technological and operational support to run. Also, Stayzilla & TCGL will jointly conduct education and training sessions for TCGL registered homestays on best practices such as online usage, content management, operations and expense management, which will benefit the hosts of the homestays. The company is closely working with various state tourism departments for joint promotion and marketing of homestays. Stayzilla has recently signed MoUs with Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation and Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board to enhance homestay concept among the travelers in these states. There have been around 600 workshops conducted pan India, at various locations, with the hosts from different corners, out of which about 80 workshops were conducted in various towns and cities of Gujarat. This has helped in boosting homestay supply in Gujarat over the last 6months, thereby bringing up the number of verified homestays in the state to over 400. Commenting on this announcement, Ankit Rastogi, Vice President, Marketplace, Stayzilla said, “We, at Stayzilla, have maintained …

Club Vistara (CV), the airline’s frequent flyer program has undergone a revamp and now offers faster earning points, redemption and elite tier upgrades. The program has also introduced a Platinum membership as its highest tier, in addition to the existing CV Gold and CV Silver membership tiers, and has launched a two-track scheme for elite tier qualification based on points accrued or flights flown. Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara said, “In response to the evolving needs of our frequent flyers, we have enhanced our program and introduced new features that are relevant and important to them.” Elaborating on the revamp, Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer, Vistara, said, “When we set out to redesign Club Vistara, we started by asking frequent flyers of Vistara and other airlines what they would want to see in their ideal program. We asked them what they valued most, and also what were their key pain points across different loyalty programs. We then designed the program to reflect what we heard. Not only is it now the fastest rewarding loyalty program, it is also the most generous. Importantly, Elite level benefits can be enjoyed by customers regardless of class of travel or fare paid. It is truly a program by frequent flyers, for frequent flyers.” For existing members, Club Vistara’s new tier qualification criteria will be applied retrospectively which will result in automatic tier level upgrades for many members. With major expansion plans in pipeline, Port Blair, the airline’s 18th destination in India will be launched on September 30th while its fleet is expected to grow to thirteen aircrafts over the next four weeks.

Oman Air will reportedly connect Indian cities like Kolkata and Ahmedabad in 2017. “Oman Air is waiting for traffic rights to be finalised to start its operation to Kolkata and Ahmedabad in India,” an Oman Air spokesperson said. Oman Air currently operates 126 weekly flights from Muscat to 11 destinations in the Indian market, which totals to 21,147 seats. In 2015, the airline started operating flights to Goa, its 11th destination in India. To woo the tourists from India, Oman’s tourism ministry recently conducting roadshows in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune. The road show started at the Park Hyatt in Hyderabad on September 19. Later, it moved to Kolkata on September 21, Ahmedabad on September 23 and will end at JW Marriott, Pune on September 26. The road shows have been organised to meet Omani tourism representatives, including hotels, DMCs and national carrier Oman Air, with the members of Indian travel trade in four cities. Events will include pre-arranged meetings between the Omani delegates and Indian travel agents. According to statistics, Oman received 299,022 Indian nationals last year, reflecting a 17 per cent growth in 2015 from 2014. This year, the Ministry of Tourism has identified Kolkata as a new market for Oman.

South Africa-based SA Forest Adventures has appointed The Strategy Store as their representative in India with effect from September 2016. Talking about the appointment, Clinton Lerm, Owner, SA Forest Adventures, says, “The Strategy Store will focus on our promotional and marketing activities as well as sales for India. Looking at the growing number of visitors from India to South Africa year on year, we believe that this market has a vast potential. This initiative will help us position ourselves, in our key growth market, India.” Sherry Varma, Founder, The Strategy Store said, “I have very emotional connect to South Arica, having worked as a Marketing & Communications manager with South African Tourism in Mumbai for five years. We are extremely happy to be assigned the task of handling marketing, sales and public relations activities for SA Forest Adventures in India. SA Forest Adventure’s competitive packages and quality of services will help us to develop and multiply their market share in India.” SA Forest Adventures offers a massive range of adventure activities for travellers in and around Cape Town. With offices in Cape Town, Piekenierskloof, Kleinmond, Hermanus and Caledon, there is always assistance on hand to book and enjoy activities, including white-water rafting, zip lining, quad biking, river tubing and sand boarding. Add in the country’s spectacular natural beauty, this product is an outstanding offering for Indian adventure travellers.

C.B. Ramkumar, India Country Representative, Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), has now been appointed to the GSTC Board, along with two new members: Dr. Rosemary Black and Dr. Ioannis Pappas; and three returning board members: Dr. Kelly Bricker, Chi Lo, and Melinda Watt. Ramkumar said, “The game-changing potential for the GSTC standards to tourism in India matches the development agenda of the Indian government and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. The conversations around tourism in general and sustainable tourism in specific should now shift. The tourism sector with its immense potential for employment generation, skill building, and adding to the GDP of the nation, needs an institutional framework for sustainable development, and GSTC provides this.” His appointment as the country representative for India will provide GSTC with a platform to work closer with a vast country like India, which has a demographic advantage with its youth, who now need to be provided with sustainable employment opportunities. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary of India Ministry of Tourism, said, “Guiding tourism on to sustainable platforms is an important imperative for India. We have beautiful destinations, hotels and resorts across the country. We are in the process of setting up an institutional framework and structure to facilitate this. With C.B. Ramkumar becoming a Board member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, I am confident that India’s efforts towards this would be suitably augmented. We look forward to working with the GSTC.” Ramkumar has been an active GSTC member, serving formerly on the GSTC Election Committee. He has also been appointed as the Chair for the Training & Education Working group and the Lead Trainer for South Asia.

With an aim to increase tourist footfalls from India, Embassy of Iceland organised and hosted a film tourism conference for the Tamil and Telugu film industries. The event was held in Chennai and Hyderabad on September 20th and 22nd and saw a presence of the top producers and cinematographers from the industry. H.E Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to India attended and addressed the gathering of select producers and cinematographers in both cities. He said, “Iceland has many advantages as a filming location. One among them is the spectacular variety of landscapes and locations found within short distances of one another. The local crews available are well experienced and well trained for producing quality films in tough conditions. Besides these, the incentives for filming in Iceland will be increased from the current 20 per cent to 25% in 2017. We are looking forward to work with many more Indian film-makers and are hoping to see Iceland more often on the big screen.” Kumar Sitaraman, Honorary Consul General of Iceland in Chennai added, “Iceland received 1000+ tourists from India last year. We are hoping that the numbers of tourists from India increases after audiences watch the many impressive landscapes and natural beauty the country has through the big screen.”

InterContinental Hotels Group announced the signing of Holiday Inn Dubai Science Park. The newly built hotel will operate under a management agreement with an affiliate of the Rolaco Group, who also own InterContinental Dallas, InterContinental Semiramis, InterContinental Geneva, Crowne Plaza Geneva, and Crowne Plaza Zurich. Scheduled to open in 2019, the hotel is located in Dubai Science Park, the region’s first freezone community offering facilities including office and laboratory space, as well as residential units, with the aim of creating a vibrant ‘Life Sciences’ community.  Located near the Arabian Ranches and Motor City, Holiday Inn® Dubai Science Park is just fifteen minutes away from one of the largest and busiest shopping malls in the city, Mall of the Emirates. India is one of the largest trading partners of Dubai, with bilateral trade of over $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2016 according to Dubai Customs’ data. Dubai Science Park provides facilities and infrastructure to the Indian Life Sciences sector that fosters innovations with international reach. The hotel is expected to cater to corporates within this sector as well as leisure travellers who want to experience the life sciences community and surrounding amenities. Holiday Inn Dubai Science Park will comprise of 402 rooms and suites, including five meeting rooms and a conference hall seating 600 guests. To ensure an enjoyable experience for the guests, Holiday Inn® Dubai Science Park will also offer four food and beverage outlets, an outdoor swimming pool, and a gym. Pascal Gauvin, Chief Operating Officer, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG, said: “We are delighted to be strengthening our global partnership with the Rolaco Group through the signing of their first Holiday Inn property in Dubai. …

Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA), part of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the investment arm for the Kingdom of Bahrain, has entered the Indian market through an agreement with domestic aviation training institute, SpeedJet Aviation. The new partnership between GAA and SpeedJet Aviation offers Indian students a competitive advantage in the aviation industry that is at par with international norms. GAA is a key component of Bahrain’s aviation sector and enjoys a stronghold in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. This move is a first-of-its-kind for GAA in the Asian market to offer a comprehensive range of structured training programs for all aviation personnel including pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground staff with training sessions in GAA’s training facility at Bahrain. Announcing the partnership, Capt. Dharamraj Shukla, Director SpeedJet Aviation said, “The aviation industry is on a high-growth trajectory with India likely to become the third-largest aviation market by 2020. As of now, Indian airlines are reporting increased profitability, low-cost carriers have placed heavy orders for new aircraft, there are multitude of new airports coming up and FDI flows into domestic airlines have surged. All these factors combined will lead to a sharp spike in demand for trained aviation personnel. We are confident that with GAA’s brand and credibility, we will be able to attract and hone the best talent for the industry”. “India being one of the largest and fastest growing air travel market provides great opportunities for individuals to pursue a career in the aviation sector”, said Capt. Dhaffer Al Abbasi, CEO, GAA. “Our state-of-the-art course equipment enables us to offer a comprehensive and modern aviation training infrastructure and set new standards in aviation training. Students also get …