The new Managing Committee of the Travel Agents Federation of India – Western India Chapter, met for the first time in Mumbai after the new committee took charge in June this year to discuss various issues troubling their members and their plan of action for the term. The meeting was followed by a product presentation by EK Holidays, cocktails and dinner. First and foremost on the plan is to get members to attend their meetings and participate. Chapter Chairman Abbas Moiz, said, “My first and last issue is to get as many members into our meetings as possible, listen to their problems and views, to add as much value to our members as possible.” Speaking about the plan devised for this year, he added, “We want to conduct workshops with IATA and have already approached them for this. They will be changing their procedures soon and the entire reporting system will change, so we would like to give a glimpse of it to our members. Currently, the pilot run is going on in Mumbai and Delhi and they will roll it out pan-India by early 2017. IATA has standardized the reporting procedures worldwide.”

HeyBnb (HeyBednBreakfast), a global company in the short stay accommodation space, has announced its entry into India with presence in cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Goa and Cochin. Headquartered in Singapore, the company works on the concept of shared economy of home sharing concept. It provides an online marketplace connecting hosts who want to make their extra rooms available and travelers who are looking for comfortable yet affordable short-term accommodations. Commenting on this, Kenny Blatt, Co-Founder, Head strategy, HeyBnb said, “We at HeyBnb are bullish about our expansion plans and we want to rope in as many guests & hosts as possible. We are focusing largely on key cities across Asia, Europe, US and Australia. In India alone, we started our operations this year with 17 cities and expect to increase our room count to 60,000 by end-October. The global size of the vacation stay market is expected to reach $170 billion by 2019, out of which five players own less than 10 per cent share, namely Home Away, Airbnb, VRBO, One Fine Stay and Tujian.”

In anticipation of IATA’s new standardised reporting procedures worldwide, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has agreed to participate in its pilot programme that will start from October this year. Four members (one from Delhi and Ahmedabad each and two from Mumbai) have agreed to be a part of it. Commenting on this, Pradip Lulla, Vice President, TAFI, said, “We are doing a pilot run on enhanced reporting for IATA and the participating agents will give their inputs once it is completed. IATA workshops will be held in different regions when they are introducing it in India where agents can come and understand the new reporting procedures.” He said that the new system of reporting will be simplified and more graphic. Everything else will remain the same. “It will help agents to have a better report, that’s all,” he said. This will be followed by workshops by IATA for its entire member base.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in association with Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has launched its special Mumbai Darshan Tours starting on August 11, 2016. The tours will start from Rs. 499 (silver package) and go to Rs 725 (gold package). For foreign nationals, it will be at Rs 1,430. It will be inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The Mumbai Darshan Tour will be divided in two tours, with different pick up and drop points, covering all the iconic places of Mumbai. Jaykumar Rawal, Tourism Minister, Government of Maharashtra, on this initiative said, “The launch of the Mumbai Darshan Tours is one step closer to advance the current tourism scenario in Maharashtra. Through this initiative we are not only aiming at highlighting the heritage that Maharashtra has to offer but also give a new outlook and revive the tourism sector in the state. The project development team has done a great job of creating and hand picking the destinations that will be covered in this tour to ensure each tourist gets a wholesome experience of what Maharashtra has to offer.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is all set to hold its 32nd annual convention from September 18-21, 2016, at ITC Grand Chola in Chennai. While announcing the decision of the Executive Committee, Pronab Sarkar President, IATO, said, “We were planning to have our convention in Chennai for last couple of years as IATO never had its annual convention in Tamil Nadu earlier. However, this year, it is going to become a dream come true. From the very beginning, we focused to have our convention in Chennai only”. He also mentioned “The stupendous success of the pervious convention has raised the expectations of the members and sponsors. More than 1200 delegates are expected for 3 day event and the IATO convention is eagerly awaited by all. Members look for an enchanting destination. Here Chennai fits in very well as this will be first IATO Convention in Chennai”. The association has been planning for the convention dates for some time and wanted to avoid any clashes with the Incredible India Tourism Investors’ Summit scheduled from September 21-23, in New Delhi. IATO is still in the midst of chalking out the detailed plans and session at the convention, which should be finalised very soon, said Lally Matthews, Honorary Secretary, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO).

Amadeus has renewed its distribution agreement with AccorHotels for another three years to ensure that the hotel’s full inventory is made available to Amadeus-connected travel agencies and travellers worldwide. AccorHotels covers all market segments, from economy to luxury accommodation, and Amadeus currently exclusively distributes ibis Budget hotels, AccorHotels’ benchmark budget brand and a European leader in its category. Comfortable, no frills accommodation is increasingly relevant for both leisure and business travellers, and Amadeus currently distributes 150 Ibis Budget properties, with more soon to become available.“The industry is dramatically changing due to the growth of large online players, so hoteliers now more than ever need to retain ownership over their distribution strategy. In response to this, we have seen an increase in demand from hoteliers to distribute their hotel inventory through the GDS channel,” says Peter Waters, Director, Hotel Distribution at Amadeus. “We are delighted to renew the distribution agreement with AccorHotels and look forward to supporting them meet the needs of both business and leisure travellers.”

MakeMyTrip announced the launch of Instant Refunds, that allows immediate refund and notification to the customer about the same instantly after the booking is cancelled. The company has already started processing instant refunds on hotels and domestic flights and will be extending this to its other offerings shortly. On an average, it takes about three to four days to process refunds and till then customers keep speculating whether or not will they get their money back and whether it will be the correct amount or not. With MakeMyTrip’s new feature of Instant Refunds, as soon as the customer cancels his or her booking, the company processes the refund, and confirms the refund instantly. The customer is offered two refund options upon cancellation of the booking. For those who immediately need the refund amount they can opt to transfer the refund to their MakeMyTrip wallet, which will be processed and transferred instantly in the wallet for immediate use and for customers who are not looking at refunding the amount to their MakeMyTrip wallet, the refund will be processed instantly by the company and the amount will be reflected back in their bank accounts as per the bank’s policy. Speaking about the new feature, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO – India, MakeMyTrip said, “At MakeMyTrip we have always focused on enhancing the overall customer experience and therefore have constantly developed customer friendly innovations relevant to their travel needs. Refund processing is an area of concern that needs an overhaul in all segments, especially eCommerce platforms. With the new feature of Instant Refunds, we are taking the lead in eliminating a key pain point for customers transacting online. We believe that this initiative …

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism has said that the state governments/UTs must declare ‘Selfie Danger Zones’ at tourist sites to prevent any untoward incident. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Sharma said, “Provision of safety to tourists for various activities of tourism including safety-precautionary measures to prevent any un-toward incident including declaring of ‘Selfie Danger Zones’ at tourist sites is the primary responsibility of concerned State Governments/UT Administrations.” However, the state governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra have informed that they have taken measures to create awareness through signages indicating danger zones including selfie danger zones. The Ministry of Tourism also takes up the issue of ensuring safety and security of all tourists, domestic and international, with the State Governments and UT Administrations from time to time, Sharma said.

Air India is planning to double its direct non-stop flights between Delhi and San Francisco (USA) from three times a week to daily in the winter schedule. According to a news report, a senior Air India official said, “This flight has clearly proved that it does not take years to develop a route. We are flying planes with average 88 per cent loads and are also meeting the total cost of the flight. We are going to make it a daily flight most likely from November.” Air India, which launched this flight last December, is the only airline that flies direct on this route. (Source: Economic Times)

Monarch Cruise has enrolled two cricketers from India’s playing XI in its already start-studded line-up for its themed cruises. And the good news for the trade is that agents can now partake in these experiences. Somesh Jagga, CEO, Monarch Cruise, in an exclusive to TravTalk revealed that Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and K.L. Rahul from the current Indian team have now signed up with Monarch to sail will the travellers onboard. He says, “We take special care of our travel agents and PSAs and hold events where they can meet the celebrities we have onboard, which is something they cherish for life. We also give them exclusive signed merchandise and certificates that they can exhibit in their offices. Special lunch and dinner opportunities with celebrities are provided to high performing agents. Monarch is all about experience, not only for its customers, but for its travel agents as well.”