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.

After 20 stellar years in the Indian and global travel trade, Hema Manghnani joins forces with Silicon Valley-founded StreetGooser.com, one of the fastest growing technologies developed to redefine the business of mid-size accommodation worldwide. As VP – Business Development, Hema will head global strategy and revenue of cloud-based StreetGooser, developed by technocrat/CEO John Varghese. StreetGooser is an intuitive, revolutionary technology solution that connects mid-size properties to a diversified audience and redefines their distribution strategy.

Deepak Narula, Managing Director, GRNconnect, has said that besides the online B2B portal www.GRNconnect.com, where the company offers hotels, apartments, transfers, sightseeing and packages, they also now offer a White Label solution that includes flights. He adds that they have received a good response for it. In fact, the company also has a host of products lined up for an early-September release.