IRIS Reps partners has not just survived, but thrived in the last few quarters and so did IRIS Reps. Year 2022 is poised for a strong recovery for them, as international air bubbles get lifted, flight frequencies increase and capacity increases. Alefiya Singh adds that the company is gearing up for its next phase of growth across its business verticals. The 2022 year has given us tremendous opportunity to make new connections, reinstate the contract with existing partners, and announce a series of senior appointments to ramp up its strength. IRIS Reps proud to represent Luxury resorts in Maldives; Coco Collection Maldives, Makunudu Island Maldives, Kuda Villingili Resort Maldives, Sri Lankan Resort ; Amari Galle Sri Lanka, DMC partners; Tour Managers Fiji , Millennium Tours Azerbaijan. Attractions for South Africa include Marine Dynamics Shark Tours which is the recent venture added in the account. Singh says, “We cannot change or predict each and every new surprise and challenge what fate has in store for us but there’s tremendous pent-up demand, which we are hoping to cash on.” Alefiya Singh has been in the travel industry for over two decades, starting with tourism boards, airlines, representations and many more. She helms her team in India and adept at collaborating and implementing innovative high profile travel and hospitality brands and aimed to develop the business with her client centric approach.

A Qatar Tourism delegation was in Mumbai recently, led by Philip Dickinson, Vice President International Markets, Qatar Tourism, along with Sandeep Shevale – Tourism Marketing & Promotions and Deveekaa Nijhawan – International Public Relations & Communications. The delegation’s DMC participants covered Discover Qatar, Al Tawfeeq Travel and Travel Designer W.L.L. The team was also supported by BRANDit, India Representative of Qatar Tourism. Berthold Trenkel, Chief Operating Officer, Qatar Tourism, said “We are pleased to re-establish our presence in the India market. The objective was to highlight the various facets that Qatar offers not just in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup, but beyond as well. The aim is to leverage our tourism assets based on six demand spaces identified in line with our vision, namely Sun, Sea and Sand; Active Holidays; Relax & Rejuvenate; Cultural Enthusiasts; Luxury City Breaks and Romantic Getaways. With the launch of new hotels, theme parks, cultural hotspots, retail outlets, leisure projects and more.” To reaffirm trade partnerships, Qatar’s national carrier, Qatar Airways in association with Qatar Tourism hosted a networking dinner at The St. Regis Mumbai on 14th March 2022. The interactive evening was well-attended by travel trade partners representatives. The guests were acquainted with the destination and informed about various tourism products, developments and projects underway in Qatar. “India is and will continue to be a significant and rapidly growing market for us at Qatar Tourism. Pre-pandemic, we have witnessed a significant rise in arrivals from India and look forward to accelerate our efforts in sustaining the momentum and fully unlocking the potential of travellers across segments of leisure, MICE and weddings. It is an exciting time for the global tourism industry …

Vervotech, a SaaS-based travel technology company, has announced a new strategic partnership with GRN Connect, to address hotel data duplication challenges. Hotel mapping technology plays a vital role by enabling the vast distribution market to have standardized hotel content. Hotel mapping can help third-party distribution channels sell their hotel inventory smartly with zero duplication, minimal booking errors, and increased revenue. However, hotel mapping remains complex for most. Through this partnership, Vervotech is well-positioned to deliver their disruptive technology to remove duplicate hotel data and deliver standardized, real-time content. This will be an essential driving factor in providing GRN Connect’s client a paramount experience. Vervotech takes away the complexity with advanced technologies, including large-scale aggregation, AI-based processing, and ever-evolving ML models. Vervotech’s hotel mapping platform is powered with cutting-edge technology to de-duplicate hotel data map hotel content with 99.999% accuracy and a coverage of 98%. Additionally, their platform is completely agnostic to the source of the hotel content and delivers the latest content with real-time updates. Rajan B, Senior Director Partnerships at Vervotech, said, “We are working to streamline the complexities of unstructured data. When we resolve this with advanced technologies, it spurs innovation, helps businesses grow, and expands choices for consumers. And this partnership with GRN Connect advances us to our mission.” Deepak Narula, Managing Director at GRN Connect added, “We are excited to partner with Vervotech and leverage their hotel mapping technology to optimize our mapping process. We are confident that Vervotech’s disruptive AI-driven hotel mapping platform will enable us to be more efficient and create a differentiating customer experience in a highly competitive environment.”

Fanatic Sports, the Joint Exclusive Sales Agent of MATCH Hospitality in India for the sale of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Official Hospitality Programme is estimating an exponential revenue growth for the showpiece international men’s football championship, to be held in Qatar. “Indian market for official hospitality is approximately 4-5% of the global market and Fanatic Sports is expecting to contribute to more than 50% of this ever-rising market scenario in India. As Official Hospitality Programmes are becoming a key part of corporate entertainment, rising income levels, a whole new generation of young aspirants and passionate sports fans indicate that people not only have the knowledge but also want to build lifelong memories. We identified this opportunity and pioneered in curating this once in a lifetime experience,” says Raghav Gupta, Founder and CEO of Fanatic Sports. According to industry estimates, the global sports industry is more than Rs 600 billion and with India moving to the concept of experiential tourism this has resulted in redefining how Indians traditionally watched sports. This year’s FIFA World Cup will be value for money as one can enjoy complete match experience along with food, beverages and lounge access.  “Sports experiential market in India has huge potential. Despite pandemic impacting travel, we have seen a steady rise in Indian sports fans wanting to travel for such experiential travels. In 2018, the hospitality sports revenue business had generated close to Rs 80 crore but this time we are expecting India to be among the highest revenue generators for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™,” said John Parker, Director at MATCH Hospitality AG, appointed as the worldwide Exclusive Rights Holder of the Official Hospitality Programme for …

With the mission of creating awareness about Utah as a potential tourism destination for Indians, AVIAREPS India along with Utah Office of Tourism organized its first exclusive B2B virtual sales mission in India on 8th March 2022. The virtual event was attended by the representatives of Utah partners like Visit Salt Lake, Kane County Office of Tourism, Bryce Canyon Country, Explore Utah Valley and Utah Office of Tourism among others. Indian trade partners like Thomas Cook, Flamingo, Make my Trip, N. Chirag, Kesari were also a part of it. Zach Fyne, Global Markets Specialist, Utah Office of Tourism, said, “India has been among the Top 10 markets for the state of Utah in international visitation over the last five years, so we’re excited to further increase our efforts and exposure of what our state has to offer to the Indian visitor. We are confident the Indian market will be delighted by the experiences and beauty Utah that has to offer from our Mighty 5® national parks and 44 state parks, to skiing the Greatest Snow on Earth® at our 15 world-class ski resorts, to taking in the night sky at the 24 internationally-recognized dark sky areas and parks, to everything in between that is connected by driving through our 28 scenic byways. We’re excited to welcome more people from India to the beehive state!” Elaine from San Juan County shared, “We are happy to participate in the first of hopefully many, virtual India B2B sales missions. We know we already have travellers from India who are visiting San Juan County, so we are really looking forward to the opportunity to speak directly with travel trade partners in India to not …

Thailand’s Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) today approved the lifting of the pretravel testing requirement for international arrivals beginning 1 April, 2022, as the kingdom prepares a four-phase plan to downgrade the COVID-19 pandemic to an endemic disease. International arrivals under any of the current three entry schemes – TEST & GO, Sandbox, and Alternative Quarantine (AQ) – will be allowed to enter Thailand without the need to show proof of a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours of travel. Two tests remain in place for the TEST & GO and Sandbox travellers: RT-PCR test upon arrival (Day 0) and an antigen self-test on Day 5. The Sandbox staying period has also been reduced to 5 days from currently 7 days. After completing five days within the Sandbox destinations, travellers will be allowed to travel domestically within Thailand. Quarantine is also reduced to 5 days and an RT-PCR test on Day 4-5.

After a monumental year of exciting development and new experiences, Los Angeles’ Comeback Story is unfolding in Southern California. To educate and engage travel trade partners from across the globe, Los Angeles Tourism has created an on-demand webinar on what’s new in LA, including new hotels, attractions, experiences, and more. In addition to the latest news, travel trade partners will learn what their clients can expect as they start their own comeback story in the City of Angels. Viewers will also experience an exclusive virtual tour of the revamped Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. “The importance of travel trade to Los Angeles can’t be overstated,” said Kathy Smits, Senior Vice President, Global Tourism. “We are so grateful for the continued support of our valued partners and hope these webinars will serve as a useful tool.” The on-demand webinar can be accessed at any time and represents the first in a series of travel trade webinars promoting L.A. Travel sellers can visit the Webinar Library to rewatch the What’s New webinar as needed and keep an eye out for new webinars in the future.

    The Board of Management of Ethiopian Airlines Group has announced the appointment of Mesfin Tasew Bekele, as Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines Group, effective March 23, 2022. Mesfin has been a successor to the former CEO of the Airline group, Tewolde GebreMariam whose early retirement request due to health issues has been approved by the board. Mesfin has 38 years of experience in airline management and operations in the areas of aircraft maintenance and engineering, procurement, information technology, flight operations, capability development, capacity building, development of corporate strategies, airline operation management, and corporate leadership. He earned Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Open University in the UK, MSc degree in Electrical Engineering specializing in Communications Engineering from Addis Ababa University, and BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Addis Ababa University.    

Commencing their India market activation, Ajman Department of Tourism Development has announced Intrepid Marketing and Communications as their representative, who will be implementing all sales, marketing and communications initiatives in key target markets. Ajman Department of Tourism Development is venturing into the evolving Indian outbound market for the first time to capitalize on the upcoming travel season and accelerate footfalls to the smallest city of the United Arab Emirates. Ajman Tourism Development Department, will be penetrating their reach in the wedding, MICE and luxury FIT segments in India through sustained activities assisted by Intrepid Marketing & Communications. On the appointment of its India representative, Khadija Turki, Director of Tourism Development and Marketing, Ajman Department of Tourism Development, said, “We are ecstatic to set foot in the India market as we are aware of the country’s unique travel appetite and look forward to welcoming our guests seeking an exquisite getaway. India is an exciting yet a complex market for several factors and we are thrilled to work with Intrepid Marketing and Communications team and collectively derive the best methods to establish and expand our presence. The team will be endorsing our products and itineraries across key segments and markets and provide their core insights to make Ajman one of the fastest emerging destinations amongst outbound Indian travellers.” Acknowledging the latest addition to Intrepid Marketing & Communication’s growing portfolio, Madhuri Verma, Director, said, “We are stoked to introduce Ajman Department of Tourism Development to India and promote the city’s diverse tourism aspects amongst the travel trade community. Although UAE has been an established destination, Ajman as a destination is relatively new and hence will be exciting for both agents and travellers. We …

Finnair – Finland’s flag carrier airline – has added Mumbai as a new destination in Summer 2022 and announced scheduled services between Mumbai and Helsinki starting July 2022. The new launch makes Mumbai its second destination in India. Finnair will operate from Mumbai and Helsinki three times a week, i.e., on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, connecting the Indian travellers smoothly to and from Finnair’s vast network.  Finnair connects customers to almost 70 destinations in Europe and five destinations in the US; Seattle, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. When flying to Europe or the US via Helsinki, customers can enjoy the compact and uncrowded Helsinki Airport, where all the gates and services are located under one roof, in one terminal building. Helsinki Airport has recently gone through an extensive renewal, offering Asian travellers a smooth and easy transit to other destinations in Finnair’s network. Finnair will be operating the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft for this route. With strengthening economic ties between India and Europe, the launch of new route signifies the growing importance of the region. Desmond Chacko – General Manager, Finnair said, “As the world opens up to travel, it is an opportune time to expand operations and enable better connectivity for our customers. After Delhi, Mumbai is a major airline hub in India and is home to leading global businesses. Our new services will enable both business & leisure travel from the region as global economies gradually recover from the impact of the COVID-19.” The Mumbai flights will be available for sale at Finnair.com and at travel agents starting April 05th, 2022.