ibis Navi Mumbai has been awarded the Best Economy Hotel at the West India Travel Awards, held on August 5, 2016 at the Novotel Pune Nagar Road. Ashutosh Ruia, Director of Sales, ibis Navi Mumbai, received the award on behalf of the property. Situated in the centre of the city, the property boasts 196 rooms and caters to the needs of both business and leisure guests.

Novotel Pune Nagar Road has been named the Best Business Hotel at the West India Travel Awards 2016. Bandish Mehta, General Manager, Novotel Pune Nagar Road, received the award held on August 5, 2016. Rohit Chopra, Executive Assistant Manager- Rooms, Sales and Marketing, Novotel Pune Nagar Road, received the Best Hospitality Professional at the ceremony. With 223 rooms and 11,000 sq. ft. of banqueting space Novotel Pune Nagar Road offers state-of the art facilities for business professionals, and is well connected to all the business hubs as well as the airport.

Rajiv Duggal, CEO, Lavasa, won big at the third West India Travel Awards held at Novotel Pune Nagar Road on August 5, 2016. Besides being declared the Best Marketing Professional of the year for his contribution towards promoting Lavasa as a destination in its own right, Duggal also picked up the awards for Lavasa International Convention Centre which won the Best Convention Centre; and Lavasa Tourism which was named the Best All Seasons Destination. Talking about the sweeping victory at the event, the CEO of Lavasa, said, “It’s an overwhelming feeling to receive the three trophies and I am glad that the awards recognise the effort we’ve put behind the development and promotion of the destination.”

Ajay Chhabria, Managing Director, In-Time Travels, has been awarded the Most Trending Personality of the year at the West India Travel Awards held at Novotel Pune Nagar Road on August 5, 2016. Chhabria not only has been a part of the travel trade for a long time, but has also been instrumental in using social media and technology to promote the business widely.

Rajiv Duggal, CEO, Lavasa Corporation Limited, has been named the Best Marketing Professional at the West India Travel Awards, held at Novotel Pune Nagar Road on August 5, 2016. With a career spanning 27 years in the travel, hospitality and retail industries in India and South East Asia, Duggal has been a stalwart in the travel industry and has been instrumental in putting Lavasa on the map of Indian tourism.

Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Jagsons Travels, and Co-founder of GPS, won the Face of Innovative Tourism award at the third West India Travel Awards, held at Novotel Pune Nagar Road on August 5, 2016. Anand is a popular name in the travel industry of the region and is the brain behind Global Panorama Showcase (GPS), a premium travel and tourism B2B event. This year GPS travelled beyond Nagpur to the cities of Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, and Coimbatore. Anand also held the post of honorary secretary of TAAI till 2015.

The third edition of West India Travel Awards felicitated achievers in the travel and tourism industry of the region during a glittering ceremony held at Novotel Pune Nagar Road on August 5, 2016. The opening ceremony was graced by the presence of Taware Pandurang, Founder/President, Agri Tourism Development Company,  Dattaram Sawant, General Manager, Finance, Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Saudamini Naik, Gladrags Mrs. India. The who’s who of the travel industry from West India attended at the event. The West India Travel Awards salutes the best in the industry and awardees are selected based on a non-biased system of voting.

Etihad Airways has introduced a first-of-its-kind senior citizens’ package offering enhanced privileges for the over 60s travelling from India to USA. Senior citizens flying from any of Etihad Airways’ 11 Indian gateway cities can benefit from added value services, including a 24/7 helpline number, pre-flight travel and medical checklist support and special assistance at check-in counters. Also on offer are fare reductions of up to 10 per cent in Business Class and 5 per cent in Economy until 31 August 2016, for travel by 31 December 2016, together with 60 per cent bonus Etihad Guest loyalty miles on every senior citizen ticket booking. The special package is applicable to guests aged over 60 flying in Business and Economy Class on Etihad Airways. Senior citizens are also assured of Indian meals and Indian cabin crew on all flights from India, as well as a large selection of latest and classic Indian movies on all flights from India to the USA. Neerja Bhatia, Etihad Airways Vice President Indian Subcontinent, said: “Etihad Airways is all about providing the highest levels of service, and both care and attention that our guests would normally experience at home.

India Travel Mart (ITM) Amritsar is back in the city with a special focus on promoting sports and adventure, pilgrimage tourism, hill tourism, beach tourism, honeymoon packages, MICE and medical tourism. The three day exhibition is scheduled for August 12 to 14, 2016 at Hotel Holiday Inn, Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar, Punjab. ITM will witness specially prepared travel and tour packages, hotels & resorts deals from tour operators, destination wedding packages and honeymoon packages. “With the kind of stressful lives that we lead, a person tends to look for refreshing holidays and unique travel destination to unwind, to simplify this need and to help people of India in choosing the best option according to their requirements, we organize ITM-Amritsar annually wherein the customers get specially designed packages and great deals with countless choices. The constant support and eager interest from Travel Industry makes it a success year after year. So if you are planning to visit a place you have never been before or if you are willing to explore fresh tourists ‘spots then visit our exhibition” says Ajay Gupta, Managing Director, ITM. Gupta added, “ITM-Amritsar caters to the needs of both B2B and B2C visitors. The basic purpose of holding this event is to boost tourism awareness worldwide. We believe that the inflow of domestic and outbound tourists will increase in the coming months and Punjab will play a vital role in the promotion of Tourism. Our main aim is to promote tourism potential in India and spread awareness among the people. “Tier II and Tier III cities are evolving day after day and we understand the need to promote these developing cities in Indian tourism sector as they have …

To celebrate its 10 years in the domestic skies, IndiGo has launched a unique programme called – The 6E Explorer, to make travel more memorable and personalized for leisure and corporate travellers. The first of its kind, ‘The 6E Explorer Programme’ will go live on August 05, 2016 with the announcement of the call-for-entries across India to get passionate travellers on board as “6E Explorer”. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by the IndiGo leadership and external jury based on their passion for travel. The shortlisted Explorers will need to travel to a specific IndiGo destination and create fresh content in the form blogs, images & videos with their perspective of that city. This primary curated content will comprise of not so popular, seen or heard of places to eat, see, party, things to do; advise for family traveller, backpackers and much more. IndiGo will appoint one Explorer per state for an initial period of 1 year and each Explorer will be required to travel to at least 4-6 destinations within or outside his state. The Explorer will share his personalized travel experience on IndiGo website under the IndiGo destinations section. These personalised travel experiences will be populated on the website as “Travel advisory” for IndiGo passengers to view travel trends of the destinations the airline flies to. With the launch of this programme, IndiGo passengers are encouraged to refer to these travel advisories which is intended to enhance their travel experience.