One Rep Global has been appointed as the India partner for Air Dynamic to represent them in the Indian market. Air Dynamic is a Swiss-based aviation company that offers private jets and helicopters for charters. While their helicopters are based in Switzerland, Italy, Côte d’Azur and French Alps, their jets are available for charters across the world. The brand also has a well-established presence in assisting with sales, purchase and management of aircraft world-wide as well as providing logistic solutions and aircrafts for challenging environments. Offering a variety of helicopters and jets with easy and quick bookings, door-to-door service, including authorisations and paperwork, Air Dynamic is a perfect choice for hassle free travel, be it for family vacations, getaways, celebrations events, sports events or group travel. Adding to this is the flexibility, stylish comforts, privacy, all-inclusive, uncompromised standard of service they provide. Air Dynamic assures its customers the best and safest possible travel solution, making it the smartest way to travel private. Raffaella Meledandri, Sales Director of Air Dynamic, says, “India has always been a land of opportunity. Over the past few years, increasing number of Indians have started flying charters. They have seen the advantages of this and thus, this is the perfect time for us to enter the Indian market. Armed with the marketing skills that One Rep Global brings to the table, I am confident that Air Dynamic is going to become a force to reckon with in India.” Founder of One Rep Global, Hemant Mediratta further adds, “According to reports, there has been a surge of over 60% in charter enquires since the lockdown in India as people are looking for safe travel options within India and across the world. There are several advantages to flying a private …

Mandeep S Lamba, President (South Asia), HVS ANAROCK, during a webinar, has advised hotel owners in India to not sell right now. “This is not a great time to sell. But if your cash flows are not holding out and you have no other way of managing it, then there is no option but to sell. Other than that, I would advise everybody to hold on because valuations will be a little depressed if you sell now. So the best advice I can give hotel owners is that if you have the ability to manage your cash flows for the next 12 months, then just hold on,” he advises.

The Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Sanjeev Sanyal, said during a webinar for FHRAI members, “We have, through the one-time loan restructuring option, offered to alleviate the financial burden on businesses. If for any reason this provision is not working, then the government wants to take your feedback and work on an action-plan to make it work. If this means that the banks, for some reason have displayed inhibition in co-operating with the businesses trying to avail of the government’s scheme, then we will take necessary action to rectify it.”

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has revealed that the Association is in discussion with Ministry of Tourism to host a hybrid ITM by the end of this year. He said, “One interaction with the government has happened; and we are still in the progress of deciding how we are going to conduct it, whether it will be entirely virtual or hybrid. However, we will have ITM by the end of this year and we hope to announce the exact dates very soon.”

Global Panorama Showcase has tied up with Airlines Technology by TWAI, to offer NDC (New Distribution Capability) by IATA to agents in India at an affordable price. Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, GPS, says, “NDC technology is the new solution and is the new normal, and it will be very useful to more than 4,000 IATA agents.” To this, Trideep Aggarwal, Co-Founder and Director, Airlines Technology by TWAI, adds, “Last couple of years, airlines have been pushing for NDC which allows them to distribute new things which they were not being able to do earlier. At the end of last year, we were in discussion with Varun Bansal, the CEO of Airlines Technology, as we were looking for enhancing our product offerings by having NDC on our platform. At the beginning of this year, we acquired Airlines Technology, and since then we have been merging everything with our platform. We are one of the largest NDC aggregators in the world. As of now, there are about 19 airlines on our platform, and we will have around 23 by the end of this year.”

Sarovar Hotels and Resorts continues to expand its leisure portfolio with the signing of its second hotel in Mussoorie – Rasa Sarovar Premiere. An upscale hotel nestled in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayan range, will offer an array of dining choices, state-of-the- art fitness centre, Bar, Spa centre and a conference hall. All guest rooms will feature private pools and gardens.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture (I/C), has announced that they will be launching NIDHI- National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry on September 27, 2020, i.e. World Tourism Day. MOT is also working on another platform, SAATHI – System for Assessment, Awareness and Training for Hospitality Industry. Both these platforms come in line with the brainstorming sessions that MOT had with industry stakeholders. In his Tweet, Patel said, “NIDHI will be a source of information for the country and the world. MOT had 1600 hotels registered with it; after the discussion with stakeholders, this figure has reached 21,000.”

Ark Travels, a B2B company specialising in cruise representation business, has penetrated further into the non-cruising space with the acquisition of Outbound Konnections, spearheaded by Anjum Lokhandwala, who will continue as its Director. Kishan Biyani, MD, Ark Travels, says, “I felt this was the right time to enter into the non-cruise space. Along with Ark Travels, we can have a bouquet of products besides cruises, Club Med Resorts and Europamundo Vacations to offer to their B2B network without increasing overheads.”

Most travellers in India are ready to book domestic and international trips, but only if airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey, reveals a new survey by Travelport. Demand for almost every safety measure is highest in India of the five countries surveyed.

The ‘COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism’ policy brief from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns that economic damage to the global tourism sector is likely to exceed $1 trillion in 2020 alone, with up to 120 million jobs at risk.