TravelBullz added Destination India in its product portfolio for B2B travel fraternity. The launch package with WelcomHeritage Elysium, Shimla included a one-way helicopter ride, which has never been done in the past in the Indian domestic market. The aim and focus is not only to bridge the gap between the supply chain and our B2B partners and making Domestic Hotels and packages available for all of India on one platform but also to focus on niche products in each destination. With the help of technology, the agents will be able to book multi-city, multi-state packages with one click and instant confirmation without having to call various hotel/vendors. Currently the domestic product is very fragmented at a regional level and the focus is to make all hotels, transfers, tours and multi-city packages available at the most competitive prices under one login for the B2B agents. The Dynamic Packaging Module will play a big role in how the B2B fraternity makes bookings for the domestic product and is expected to be a game changer.

Since 22 December travel agents across the country have been unable to access Air India’s inventory on the GDS while the flights can be seen on the airline’s website. Attempts to contact senior management have proved futile, attributing the problem to a ‘technical issue’ . “Such disruptions, coupled with zero communication to the trade further erode Air India’s credibility,” said Ajay Prakash, TAFI President. “We’re all waiting for the House of Tata to take over the reins of the Airline and we hope that the new management will work more closely with their trusted trade partners – the Travel Agents who have supported the national carrier at all times,” he concluded.  

G Krishan Reddy, Union Minister For Culture, Tourism And Development Of North Eastern Region holds interactive meeting with various tourism stakeholders of Goa along with Department of Tourism, Goa, to discusskey issues pertaining to promotion of tourism in the state and various developmental initiatives & welfare programs of the government. Shripad Y. Naik, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Tourism Govt. Of India was also a part of the meeting.

In its 249th EC Meeting on 23rd December, 2021PATA India Chapter announced that Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, will remain as Chairman. Apart from that Jatinder Taneja, MD, Travel Spirit International was re-elected unopposed as the Vice Chairman; as well as Vikram Madhok, MD, Abercrombie & Kent as Hon. Secretary. SanJeet, Director, DDP Publications, remains Hon. Treasurer and  Runeep Sangha will continue as Executive Director, PATA India Chapter.

Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), India-chapter dedicated to the incentive travel industry, has elected Barun Gupta, Director of Sales and Marketing, CrownePlaza Greater Noida, as the new President for the next one year (2022-2023). Barun will replace Nitin Sachdeva as President who has now been nominated as the SITE Global Board of Directors representing the Asia region.

Shilendra Mohanachandran, VP-Sales, CGH Earth, has shared that by 26th December, 2021, they will have a new hotel opening in Havelock on Andaman, called Tilar Siro. “It’s a 25-room hotel, which has 16 villas. It’s a new area for us  and an upcoming destination amongst Indians, as well as inbound,” he added.

The UNWTO tourism dashboard highlights that Indians spent US$ 12.6 billion last year on outbound trips. While this is -45% from the previous year (2019) where Indians spent US$ 22.9 billion. In 2019, the expenditure per departure from India was US$ 851, this number is expected to be different in 2020. In order to better understand outbound tourism, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) launched a dashboard on country profiles with data on outbound tourism.

Ministry of Tourism will be organising an event to recognisethe women that are contributing to travel trade and hospitality in India, reveals Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism. She also shared that the event will be held on International Women’s Day on 8th March, 2022. “We will be organisingthis event because women make a lot of difference to our country, to our industry and hence we want to recognisethat,” she added.

Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi’s Webinar titled, ‘Reunite #InAbu Dhabi – Family’ is scheduled on 22nd December at 3 pm IST. Hear more about family-friendly attractions, unique hotels, culture, entertainment, and lots more directly from our destination partners in Abu Dhabi. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

The Ministry of Tourism started the destination based skill development-training program at 7 iconic sites in Financial Year 2019-20 to train, upgrade and sensitize the local people residing near these tourism sites and destinations. This program is geared towards enhancing employability, in both rural and urban destinations and to upgrade the manpower servicing the tourism sector.