Thomas Cook (India), in its bid to improving tourist infrastructure and promote better sanitation-hygiene at tourist destinations has announced the pilot launch of pre-fabricated sanitary installations. Udhagamandalam (Ooty) was chosen as the first site for this initiative. The Thomas Cook India toilet units can be used free of cost. Abraham Alapatt, President & Group Head-Marketing, Service Quality, Financial Services & Innovation, Thomas Cook (India), said, “Through this initiative, we at Thomas Cook India, intend to improve the sanitation and hygiene of prime tourist locations across India. While the choice of location depends upon various factors like community need, land availability, clearances/approvals from local administrative bodies, availability of resources, etc., we are looking at targeting major tourists hubs to further the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. We have identified prime destinations in India that receive high tourist footfalls but face a deficit of sanitation facilities for this.”

Chetan Momaya has resigned from the post of President-Maharashtra state of IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) due to differences with the Western India Director and the Maharashtra Team. He was elected President in August 2014 and re-elected in August 2015. Proprietor of Mumbai-based Olympia Travels N Tours, Momaya had also resigned within 10 days of the elections which was not accepted by the National Committee. He confirms, “I have resigned as President of IAAI – Maharashtra State on March 5, 2016.”

Cathay Pacific Airways and its subsidiary Dragonair have revised their baggage policies and will now be offering customers an additional 10kg of check-in baggage. The new policy will be valid starting September 15, 2016, and will be available to all passengers, whether they are travelling economy, business or first class. But, the revised checked baggage policy will have a limitation on pieces of baggage. Economy, premium economy and business class passengers will be able to check-in up to two pieces of luggage, while those in first class will be entitled to a maximum of three bags. On the other hand, Marco Polo Club silver, gold and diamond tier members would get an extra 10kg, 15kg and 20kg, respectively. Meanwhile, Dragonair has also revealed that it will increase its carry-on baggage allowance to match that of Cathay Pacific. From a set 5kg for all classes, the new allowance will grant economy and premium economy passengers a new limit of 7kg, while business and first passengers will receive 10kg and 15kg respectively.

The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) is currently on a five-city roadshow that started from Mumbai on Aug 22 and reached Ahmedabad on Aug 23. The delegation will then travel to New Delhi on August 25, Bengaluru on August 26 and finally concluding in Chennai on August 27. Leading a 30-member delegation from Mauritius was Kevin Ramakaloan, Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority. Mumbai saw attendance from more than 170 agents and tour operators and about 15 wedding planners from India to meet the international sellers. Ramkaloan said, “The Indian market is extremely important for Mauritius. We have over the years seen an increase in the tourist numbers from India. But recently, as of last year, we have seen a 20 per cent increase, we hope to reach the 100,000 mark by 2017 with the help of MPTA India. Apart from honeymooners, we are targeting the MICE segment as well as cruise tourism. We currently see around 5,000 arrivals for MICE from India so we can easily double and even treble this number.” He added, “In 2015 Mauritius we had growth from 2014-15 of more than 11 per cent in the number of tourist arrivals. And close to eight to nine per cent in terms of tourist earnings. This year we would like to continue this growth and hence from 1.15 million tourists overall coming to Mauritius grew to 1.2 million. India represents 72,000 tourists per year. Last year we did a 20 per cent increase which brought us to 72,000 tourists from India. For the half from January to July this year, we did 12 per cent increase. Just in July we saw 43 per cent increase in arrivals. By 2017 we should …

Kerala will honour the two Indian medallists at the Rio Olympics with bespoke rejuvenating sojourns in ‘God’s Own Country’ following the Games. As a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for bringing glory to the nation, Kerala Travel Mart Society and Kerala Tourism will invite badminton star P.V. Sindhu – the country’s first woman silver medal winner and the youngest Indian medallist, and Sakshi Malik, the first-ever Indian female wrestling medallist, to relax in and enjoy the state’s scenic beauty. The duo will also be honoured at the upcoming ninth edition of the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), which will be inaugurated on September 27. The largest gathering of tourism stakeholders in the state, KTM 2016 – organised by the KTM Society in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala – runs from September 28-30. “This invitation to see the very best of what Kerala has to offer with carefully tailored tour itineraries across the state is our way of thanking the country’s newest sporting heroes for doing us proud. We’ll pull out all the stops to ensure their stay here will be as memorable as their performances,” said KTM Society President Abraham George. From the healing touch of authentic Ayurvedic therapies to the peace and quiet of a hill station, a tranquil cruise along the backwaters or enjoying splendid unspoiled beaches, the champion athletes are assured of some well-deserved rest and relaxation. “Besides the stresses faced by high-performance athletes, the rigorous training they would have put in over the past few years in the run-up to the Olympics, Kerala will be the ideal destination for them to recoup their strength. Our much- sought after Ayurvedic massages, in particular, will aid …

The recently-concluded India Travel Mission (ITM) 2016 organised by Tourism Australia every year saw a record number of new suppliers from Australia. This year, which was the 14th edition of ITM, there were at least 17 suppliers that had never participated in any sales mission to India before. This included several participants like Scoot, Visit Canberra, Tourism Barossa, Australian Wine Tour Company, Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sand Dune Adventures, Fire Truck Tours, and Wildlife  Coast Cruises, among others. Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “Over the last few years, ITM has proven to be a great learning tool for us to grow and strengthen our travel trade outreach in the country. The new Australian products participating at the ITM this year signifies the growing importance of India as a key market for Australia. Tourism Australia is focusing on the Indian market with increased marketing initiatives to reach out to our target audience. The increasing tourist arrivals from India validates that we are heading in the right direction to achieve our India 2020 Strategic goals.” The destination welcomed over 241,700 Indians as of year ended June 2016. Tourism Australia also used this platform to promote the destination through its virtual reality assets, thus showcasing its latest global campaign on Aquatic and Coastal to the Indian trade attending ITM 2016.

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has inaugurated Wi-Fi services at eight Mumbai Suburban Railway Stations in Maharashtra viz., Churchgate, Bandra, Bandra Terminus, Dadar Western Railway, Dadar Central Railway, Khar Road, Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak. The WiFi facility for the visitors and rail users of these eight busy stations of Mumbai Suburban Rail Network has been commissioned by a Railway PSU, RailTel in association with Google for providing high speed state-of-the-art world class internet experience to the commuters. It is being provided at a speed of 1 GBps. A total number of 318 access points, 120 access switches and 30 fibre switches has been installed at these eight stations to provide seamless fast WiFi to the huge number of commuters visiting these stations. In addition to eight stations being launched, RailWire Wi-Fi has been soft launched at eight more stations, Sealdah, Allahabad, Pune, Puri, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Chandigarh. They will be formally launched soon in different parts of the country. During the launch Prabhu said, railway stations are the places where the cross section of the society is available. This initiative is part of bridging the digital divide and providing high speed access network to all rail users. Once implemented this shall be one of the largest public WiFi project in the world. On the occasion of launch, CMD of RailTel said, “Our intent was to fulfill Indian Railway’s vision of providing access to high speed internet to railway passengers through our Optical fiber communication network.”

The Outbound Tour Operators of India has postponed the Turkey educational tour for its members, which was scheduled in the month of September. Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI, confirmed the news saying, “Owing to the present situation in Turkey, we have postponed the tour. We will re-assess the situation and will take the call in some time to see when we can organise it again. There is an emergency in Turkey and we do not want to risk taking our members in unsafe conditions.”

A 1.92 per cent seats were sold on the Delhi-Leh route on Jet Airways earning a revenue share of 6.18 per cent in the highest fare bucket on select 20 sectors, as per data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Jul 2016 were 560.87 lakhs as against 455.95 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 23.01 per cent. In July, SpiceJet recorded the highest passenger load factor (PLF) with 92 per cent, followed by GoAir with 90.3 per cent and AirAsia with 85.7 per cent.

The  Lemon Tree Hotel Company announced the formal opening of two new properties in Vadodara and Dahej besides the refreshed upscale property in Ahmedabad, signalling the group’s focus on Gujarat, in their overall expansion plans across India. Speaking on the occasion of the multi-city launch, Rattan Keswani, Dy. Managing Director, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company and Chairman, Carnation Hotels said, “We are excited at our fast paced growth in Gujarat. Being one of the most progressive and investor friendly States in India, we were keen to spread our wings here. Besides our owned hotel in Ahmedabad, the addition of these three properties in Gujarat opens new domestic locations for our existing customers offering them the same refreshing experience and close to home comfort that Lemon Tree is known for.”