Discovery Circle Tours, a full-service DMC based in Jordan, has appointed TRN Marketing, a division of Indian Travel Promotion to act as a representative and consultancy agency to support and advise it in gaining direct business from Indian-based tour operators. Discovery Circle Tours specialises in high-end luxury tours themed by cultural,  historical, religious, and specialist activities and provides its tour operator partners with exemplary service and attention to detail. Discovery Circle Tours also manages the dedicated adventure travel division Discovery Terhaal, that specialises in walking, trekking, and cycling tours across Jordan. TRN Marketing was chosen for its experience in promoting high-end luxury tours and for its unrivalled contacts within the Indian tour operator market. Jack Farraj, Owner of Discovery Circle Tours says “We were specifically looking for an agency who understands our unique view on Jordan and how we interact with our tour operator partners. We needed a partner in India that understands the luxury market and can help us develop our position in India. We felt that Sidhartha Roy and his team at TRN is not only aligned with our aims and long-term goals but also has a fantastic reputation in India”. Discovery Circle Tours aims to create lasting partnerships with Indian-based tour operators by offering them a unique perspective on Jordan, unparalleled levels of service whilst providing their clients with the very best Jordan experience possible. “We believe TRN will be able to help us achieve this quickly and efficiently,” says Jack Farraj. Speaking recently following the signing of contracts with Discovery Circle Tours, Sidhartha Roy, Senior Vice President, TRN Marketing, India said “We believe we can complement the business philosophy of the company in the Indian outbound …

In a major development Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan, officially known as Kyrgyz Republic, has appointed Salvia Visa Facilitation Services (Salvia VFS) as the India partner to process Visa applications of Indian travellers to the country. The new Visa Processing Centre was inaugurated by Kyrgyzstan’s ambassador to India, Asein Isaev along with the announcement of the appointment of Salvia VFS as the Indian office to process Kyrgyz Visa applications of Indian travellers seeking to visit Kyrgyzstan. Salvia will initially roll out the Visa facilitation services in Delhi. Commenting on the latest development, H.E. Isaev said, “Kyrgyzstan and India have shared history and culture spanning over a thousand years. The appointment of Salvia as a Visa facilitation centre is not only aimed at bringing greater ease and convenience to Indian travellers to apply for Kyrgyz Visa, but also improving services and facilities for the people seeking to visit our beautiful country and further strengthen our people-to-people relations that is centuries old.” Speaking on the occasion, Prashant Chaudhary, Managing Director, Salvia VFS said, “It is our proud privilege to extend Visa facilitation services on behalf of Kyrgyz Embassy in India. Salvia, as a brand, has been a trusted travel partner of Kyrgyzstan in India for decades, facilitating travel of Indian visitors to the beautiful country for a long time. As Kyrgyzstan’s Visa Facilitation Centre in India, our responsibility will be to efficiently, and in minimal time, process Visa application requests, while the issuance of Visa will be the sole discretion of the Embassy of Kyrgyzstan in India.”

MOT participates in the Arabian Travel Market, Dubai 2022. During the Mart, India Pavilion showcased the country as a 365-day destination with multi-faceted appeal, including culture, adventure, cruise, MICE, luxury, wildlife, wellness, and medical tourism. India Reopening as a theme has been amplified during the mart with the ‘Namaste Campaign’ to welcome international travellers.

Prashant Ranjan, Director, MOT, has revealed that the National Digital Tourism Mission is on the anvil, for which guidelines will be released soon. “Under the mission, a digital platform will be there where tourism stakeholders can check the availability of the latest policies by state governments, central ministries, the initiatives that the line ministries like Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Road Transport, Ministry of Railways, AYUSH and after COVID even the Ministry of Health is taking. This would reveal how the government is trying to assist the tour operator to have confidence and how India is ready to welcome the tourist,” he revealed.

Satpal Maharaj, Minister Tourism and Culture. Uttarakhand said, “A panel under the direction of the district magistrate is searching for land to build the airport. The proposal has been approved by the Centre, and once the airport is constructed, we would like to start offering meditation flights, yoga flights, Char Dam flights, and so on to facilitate better connectivity for visitors traveling to India.

Maharashtra Tourism has received a Siver Play button award for crossing over 1 lakh followers on YouTube. Currently, at 127k subscribers, Maharashtra Tourism’s community is rapidly growing through different campaigns, informative and engaging videos that keep the audience hooked. The content has crossed over 10 million views, and its Youtube family is growing rapidly.

Très 2022, a two-day event showcased some of the most extraordinary boutique hotels and travel concepts from the Indian subcontinent. Speaking with Trunk India founder Ali Barter at the event, revealed that tourism from Australia to India is rising. “September of this year has been booked out for the first tour and a trip in March of next year is looking good as well”. “There is a strong cultural connection between Australia & Inda, there is always somewhere to come in India), and people here are very welcoming,” she added.

New research by Sabre identifies prominent shifts in travel. The results indicate that revenge travel with the objective of making up for lost time is a meaningful phenomenon, with 68% of travel leaders responding that they are forecasting a higher spend from consumers on their future travel plans. More than a third of airline and agency leaders participating in the survey indicated that they believe travel will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024; a further third responded that they believe this will happen in 2025 or beyond. 

According to the latest ticketing data from ForwardKeys, international travel has reached 62% of 2019 levels in Q2 – Europe and the Americas are leading the race to recover fastest and are closer to recovery in the next six months. More excitingly for those agencies who specialise in designer brands or business travellers, business travel is rearing its head, at 10% of 2019 levels.

Kerala Travel Mart has used technology effectively and intelligently to ensure that no less than 55,000 meetings, have already been scheduled at the event, shared Dr.Venu V. (IAS), Additional Chief Secretary, Kerala Tourism “This is intelligent use of Technology. It is this spirit of innovation and change that has kept industry improving from one KTM to the next,” he said in his inaugural address.