Zuheb Hasan MZ, Founder, Travel Bee, has won the VisitBritain Cricket Carnival Season-1 for the third Test Match. Sharing his excitement, he says, “I participated in a contest after a long time. This is a great initiative, and can be extended beyond sports with travel quizzes as well. I used to play cricket at the state level, but had to discontinue. However, I know the game and hence, I chose players I thought would perform better. I am excited about the grand prize and participating in all the games.”

In order to showcase this new destination to the India market, the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) will be organising its first-ever roadshow for the India market virtually from March 2-3, 2021 between 8am – 8pm IST. The event titled ‘Journeys in Arabia’ will showcase the best of what Saudi has to offer and will give the trade an opportunity to meet senior representatives from up to 30 destinations, experiences and hospitality brands one-on-one. To register, visit https://www.journeysinarabia.com/india-roadshow-request/

Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) 2021, scheduled to take place virtually from March 1-5, was inaugurated by Chief Guest Arif Mohammed Khan, Governor of Kerala. As many as 40,000 meetings are scheduled between buyers and 600 exhibitors during the five days. Also, 500 foreign buyers and 1,500 tour operators will be part of the event this year.

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board has announced 10 lucky winners for its Facebook campaign it had launched recently to promote its new B2B dedicated Facebook page ‘Los Angeles Tourism – Travel Trade’. The campaign drew the attention of travel agents from across the country and helped popularise the destination’s social media page among the trade. The winners are Seema Narang (Dewan Travels), Prateek Jain (Thomas Cook India), Sushmita Angolkar (Red Carpet Travel), Gagan Singh (The Holiday Planner), Abhishek Anavkar (Veenaworld), Nikita Sarrof (Pristine Travels), Srinath Telukunta (Travel world), Harjit Singh (Signature Tours), Sumit Churiwalla (Nimbus Tours), and Himmat Gori (My Dream Holidays).

FHRAI has initiated #GoDirect campaign requesting patrons to book their hotel stays #BookDirect or order their food directly from restaurants #OrderDirect. This is in order to eliminate intermediaries and reduce the burden of exorbitant commissions levied by online travel aggregators (OTAs) and food service aggregators (FSAs).

IndiGo will operate flight numbers with subset series 6E 5500 – 6E 5900 to and from Terminal 1 at Mumbai International Airport from March 10, 2021, as directed by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL). All other flights, including 5000 series, will continue to operate from Terminal 2.

Union Minister for Culture & Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel, was the Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony of Udaipur Science Centre in Tripura. Late last year, it was announced by Government of Tripura that the state will have its first Science City by early 2021, while a sub-centre of the science city will also be inaugurated around the same time. Also present at the inauguration was Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais. The Ministry of Culture operates Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS) which provides for setting up of Science Cities and Science Centres in all the states of the country. Science Cities are already established in Kolkata, Kapurthala, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

Expedia Travel Agent Affiliate Programme (Expedia TAAP) is conducting a webinar for the travel trade in India tomorrow, at 11:30 am. The virtual event will allow travel agents to learn about the benefits of using Expedia TAAP. Those who want to register can write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

TAFI’s national elections have been indefinitely postponed as its MP Chapter is yet to conduct its elections. Pradip Lulla, Acting President and VP, TAFI, says, “The MP chapter election has been delayed. It was to be held on Feb 3, however, now the matter is sub judice and the person who was disqualified has gone to court. The court hearing for is on Feb 25 in Indore.”

In its first-ever end-to-end rebrand, Travelport has launched a new visual identity already visible on its website and social media channels. Sandeep Dwivedi, COO, ITQ (distributor of Travelport), says, “Indeed, this is just the beginning of the bright future that awaits, in terms of futuristic technology, products & services that enhance travel trade and retailing at large.”