Thomas Cook has launched Holiday Mate, allowing the travel trade to get direct access to their booking system. To know more about Holiday Mate, join the webinar today at 3pm. To register contact Jaspreet Kaur on jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or +91 9650196532.

In a planned initiative to provide stimulus to their current business and supplement their growth in the high-potential Indian outbound travel market, Desert Adventures the preferred DMC partner of tour operators and travel agents worldwide for UAE, Oman and Jordan recently signed a partnership agreement with Global Destinations. The collaboration will focus on building further awareness, expansion of their sales channels and boosting productivity for their travel products in India. Desert Adventures Tourism brings with them a depth of local expertise, vast reach, strong relationships with key players of the global travel industry – including government and tourism authorities – and innovative B2B systems to facilitate the offering of a wide range of high-quality products and services as well as seamless operational compatibilities with partners. From visa support and transport services to a wide selection of hotel accommodations, an exciting range of unique tours and excursions, and pre-decided to tailor-made packages, they can cater to every traveller needs and desires of visitors within their destinations. As the world’s trusted gateway to Arabia for over 25 years, Desert Adventures are a reliable partner in creating exceptional destination experiences for Groups, FIT, Business Travel, VIP, and Ultra-Luxurious Holiday Makers. Peter Payet, CEO, Desert Adventures Tourism, says, “We are excited to join hands with Global Destinations as our presence in the Indian market has now grown exponentially. India has always been one of our biggest source markets, having built and refined some of the best destination experiences that cater directly to the Indian visitor; however, the potential for growth is far greater. With Global Destinations we are able to maximize our reach across India, allowing travel trade companies of all sizes in all regional …

One Above Global with its presence in over 30 countries has now ventured into cruise liners, we are now the preferred selling agents for Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Costa Cruise Line, Genting Dream Cruise Line. Sharing this news is Rahim Aslam, its Founder Director, who says, “With One Above, our partners can look at land plus cruise packages making us the one-stop solution for all their B2B requirements. We are excited to announce that soon  we will be joining hands with other cruise companies such as Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises to expand our services. Ensuring to offer more destinations, more packages, and more discounts to our agents, making it easier for them to plan their perfect cruise. Preeti John comes with immense knowledge and experience in handling sales and operations for cruises. We are confident to support our B2B customers and help grow our businesses mutually.”

Harpreet Singh (IPoS), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DONER), mentioned that tourism continues to be an important sector for the Indian economy and majority of the infrastructure development projects undertaken by the Government are towards the tourism sector. He added that the 8 states of NER comprising 8% of the area of the country and close to 4% of the population has huge potential for tourism but it still has only 0.3% share of domestic tourists and 0.93% share of the foreign tourists. There holds immense potential which needs to be tapped in the NE region through effective infrastructure development and better connectivity, added Singh.

Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia hailed the rapid uptick in the usage of the DigiYatra app at Varanasi airport, saying that it had improved the ease of travel considerably. The DigiYatra facility will allow passengers to link their travel and identity documents and create a facial scan beforehand, which will do away with the need for them to produce boarding passes or identity cards when they arrive at an airport, drop their baggage, or proceed for boarding. Instead, passengers will need to show their face to a facial recognition camera to authenticate themselves.

The millennial generation and Gen Z are driving change in the hospitality business and it is important to understand their expectations. The incredibly tech-savvy and adaptable Gen Z are leading to changes in travel preferences in this digital age. For them, 4 out of 5 methods for planning a trip are online-based channels. Thus, a shift from multichannel marketing to omnichannel marketing will be more effective. As a result, the hospitality sector must adapt to these developments. This generation is the first digital natives and value experiences.

The state government of Meghalaya has implemented a number of different initiatives such as encouraging ecotourism and locally developed products, with the goal of making tourism more sustainable. These also include promoting festivals like Cherry Blossom Festival and the Shillong Literary Festival. Meghalaya also hosted ‘Megha Kayak festival’ in October 2022.

Over the past few years, Odisha, under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister  Naveen Patnaik, has undertaken several ground-breaking sports initiatives to transform itself into a ‘preferred global sports destination’. From hosting marquee events to developing world-class infrastructure to strengthening sports grassroots programs, Odisha has been at the forefront of supporting all forms of sports. It is also the hub of High Performance Centres. The state has contributed massively to the development of sports is a prime example of sports tourism. Hockey is deeply connected to Odisha’s rich culture. It has produced champions like Dilip Tirkey, Pramod Tirkey, Lazarus Barla, Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Sunita Lakra, Amit Rohidas, Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, among others. Hon’ble Chief Minister himself was the goalkeeper for his school team, hence he has  a deep   emotional connect with the sport. Hockey is integral to the state and attracts audience in  thousands. Odisha has been one of the pivotal reasons behind Indian Hockey’s success in the recent years. The Odisha State Government became an official partner of Hockey India in 2018, and since then Indian Hockey teams have significantly improved. Over the years, Odisha has hosted various marquee tournaments such as Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, FIH Men’s Series Finals 2019, Olympic Hockey Qualifiers 2019, FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021, FIH Hockey Pro League 2020, 2021-22 and 2022-23. The FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 was hosted with grandeur at the state-of-art Kalinga Hockey Stadium, which was refurbished with two new galleries, increasing the capacity to 15,000 seats.  It received an overwhelming response from hockey followers world-wide. It attracted massive tourists from India as well as around …

After becoming the pharmacy of the world, India has emerged as a medical tourism hub on the global healthcare map, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, she said India’s medical tourism industry is estimated at $9 billion, which makes India the 10 th biggest global medical tourism hub. “It is good medical institutions that train and mould good doctors. About 2 million patients from around 76 countries visit India for medical, wellness and IVF treatments, generating $6 billion for the industry. This is expected to increase to $13 billion by 2026” she added. Sitharaman said India is already recognised as the pharmacy of the world as the Indian pharma industry is sought after by most countries mainly due to its expertise in producing medicines in accordance with global standards and for its cost competitiveness.

In view of rapid expansion of air services within India and on international routes to/from India and with the increase in the volume of passenger traffic, it has been noticed that sometimes Airlines downgrade passengers (tickets). For example when a passenger who has booked his ticket on first class, business class or premium economy, is downgraded to a lower class at the time of check-in due to various reasons like unserviceable seats, change of aircraft, overbooking, etc. In order to cater to such situations, DGCA is in the process of amending its Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) “Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights.” to protect the rights of air travellers affected by downgrading of their ticket. The amendment will allow the passenger, who is downgraded involuntarily from his booked class of ticket, to receive the full value of ticket including taxes as refund from the airline and the airline will carry the passenger free of cost in the next available class.  However, this proposal will go through stakeholder consultation and the final regulation shall be published and made applicable afterwards.