On 11th April 2022, Spree opened a new resort Yantra Resort by Spree. Located in the prime location of the city just 3.5 Km away from Ooty Bus Stand. Spree Hospitality lists more than a million customers, 30 operating properties, 974 keys including hotels, resorts, clubhouses, and guest houses across India. The properties focus on modern decor, a full-service, cutting-edge technology, and a deep respect for the environment into the experience that it carefully crafts for its customers. Spree Hospitality remains profitable even during the pandemic, as it boasts a debt-free, cash surplus and an asset-light portfolio- a rarity in the hospitality sector. The new property Yantra Resort by Spree at Ooty provides an open lawn , bonfire, badminton court, restaurants, indoor game room, banquet hall and rose garden. This resort has 31 rooms with heater facilities. Their premium rooms provide fireplace along with jacuzzi.

Malaysia has finally lifted sanctions on its border on 1st April 2022, marking the end of travelling restrictions into the country. Leveraging this new development, Tourism Malaysia has decided to embark on its first roadshow to six major cities in India from 18th until 30th April 2022, after more than two years of hiatus. The roadshow kicked off in Delhi, followed by Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. The mission is headed by Manoharan Periasamy, Senior Director of the International Promotion Division (Asia & Africa) together with Malaysia’s tourism fraternity which consists of three Malaysia-based airlines, 22 travel agents, four hoteliers, and four product owners. India remains and has been one of the top market sources for Malaysia and has contributed 735,309 arrivals (+22%) in 2019. Apart from its objective to instil confidence among Indians to feel safe to visit Malaysia once again, the roadshow aims to provide a platform for the industry community to bounce back and steer the tourism sector back to its former glory, if not better. “This is the right time to be back in India, and planning for this roadshow is very opportune. The resumption of scheduled international flights from India coincides with the reopening of Malaysia’s international borders,” said Manoharan. “We are thrilled and enthusiastic to welcome Indian travellers back on exciting, new value-driven and action-packed itineraries to witness the best and latest of what Malaysia has to offer. There is so much to explore after two years, especially with the newly opened outdoor theme park, Genting SkyWorlds, the wedding venues such as refurbished Sunway Resort in Kuala Lumpur, Desaru Coast situated on Eastern Coast of Johor, Lexis Hotels and Resorts at Port Dickson …

Palladium Hotel Group the internationally renowned Spanish hotel chain represented by Global Destinations in India recently hosted exclusive cocktail dinners for their top 50 priority travel and trade partners in Mumbai and Delhi. The evenings were graced by The Consul General of Spain Fernando Heredia Noguer along with The Director of the Tourism Office of Spain in India, Elisa Robles in Mumbai, while Delhi saw the presence of Deputy Head of Mission, the Embassy of Spain, Montserrat Momán Pampillo and Incharge of Consular Section, Embassy of Spain, Helana Escorial Lopez in attendance. Sandra Polo Canudas, Asia & ME Commercial Director Palladium Hotel Group presented insights on Palladium’s hospitality and newly established regulations for hassle-free travel for Indian visitors. She touched upon Spain re-opening borders, all ready to welcome Indians back. The guests were acquainted with the gamut of brands under the Palladium Hotel Group and were informed about the upcoming projects & developments in Spain. The evenings were full of sparking conversations with the travel fraternity exchanging tête-à-têtes over cocktails. The events presented an opportunity to reconnect with travel & trade partners in India to showcase the diverse brand portfolio the hotel group has to offer. Canudas said, “After 2 years of meeting virtually it is delightful to meet our key Stakeholders in-person. India continues to be one of our focus markets for Outbound travel. We look forward, to continue increasing our footprint in India and to further our brand presence. With international travel now open, we are ready to spoil our Indian visitors with an array of experiences, fantastic cuisine, and stunning vistas!”

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Tourism, has informed that for promotions and campaigns currently, they are going to remain in the digital space. “It has a wide outreach at minimal cost. It creates an effective campaign and also in terms of user profile, most people these days prefer the digital space for getting information for bookings for looking at user generated reviews. Hence, we believe that this is a space that will create informational height for incredible India. There will be a lot more users in digital space and in terms of the content, there is so much diversity in the country that we will continue to bring the different offerings of India as we go along with the opening. Also, there is a lot of excitement within the travel industry as well,” she says.

Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet shares that apart from ATF, excise duty is another issue that the aviation industry is dealing with. “It’s not just about bringing ATF under GST, it’s also excise duty, which is around 11%. The excise duty was hiked at the time when oil prices went down. Now that oil prices are at a record, excise duty is not coming down. Hence, we need to be very cognizant of the fact that aviation sector has suffered huge losses. It’s a chronically ill industry,” he said.

In a bid to further boost air connectivity of North Eastern Region with the rest of the country, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has approved a Scheme – ‘Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region (NER’” to promote air connectivity in the NE states and, if required, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity. As part of this scheme, two important development will take place – first flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. Alliance Air will be India’s first commercial airline to fly Indian made aircraft for civil operations. There will also be inauguration of First FTO (Flying Training Organization) for North Eastern Region at Lilabari, Assam.

The travel agent fraternity of Andhra Pradesh welcomed RK Roja Garu, the new Tourism Minister for Andhra Pradesh. K. Vijay Mohan, President of Tours & Travels Association of Andhra (TTAA), as well as ADTOI Chairman for Andhra & Telangana, said, “We look forward to working closely with the new minister for promoting tourism sector in the state.”

After the completion of several infrastructure projects in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that people will be able to travel from Srinagar to Delhi in just eight hours in the future. He stated that the government is pursuing a number of important infrastructure projects in Jammu and Kashmir that will improve regional connectivity. “The Srinagar-Katra-Delhi expressway is also under construction,” he said, adding that more people will visit Kashmir if the infrastructure is improved.

The Department of Tourism of Rajasthan Government on Wednesday signed an MoU with the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR) for organizing the Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart (RDTM) 2022. The MoU was signed between the Director of Tourism, Nishant Jain and the President of FHTR, Apurv Kumar in the presence of Principal Secretary, Tourism, Gayatri Rathore. She Rathore said that the objective of the MoU is to promote Rajasthan as the most favourable tourist destination nationally and informed that the second edition of RDTM will be organized from July 22-24, 2022 at Birla auditorium, Jaipur.

Radisson Hotel Group is embarking on an exciting new era of hospitality in India, as it prepares to double its portfolio in the country. It will continue its focus on the market as a part of its Asia Pacific growth strategy. The Group has unveiled plans to more than double its Indian footprint, with 148 hotels and resorts to be added by 2025. These will be in addition to over 140 properties Radisson Hotel Group currently has in operation or under development nationwide, revealed Katerina Giannouka, President, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group.