Seyfert Sarovar Portico has been rebranded as Seyfert Sarovar Premiere, Dehradun. The property has undergone extensive refurbishment from adding extra facilities to upgrading the existing services. The added features incorporate Indian specialty restaurant- Aanch, spa and up-gradation of amenities and its 68 rooms. The hotel is conveniently located close to Dehradun Airport, bus stand and railway station providing easy access to tourist and numerous pilgrimage destinations in the upper and lower hills of Himalayas. Commenting on the development, Anil Madhok, Executive Chairman, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, said “The decision of rebranding the hotel reflects company’s continues efforts to push for higher standard while driving business growth for the company. The rebranding will bring fresh perspective to the hotel, sturdier base and will offer services at affordable prices for business and leisure traveller alike”.

Roseate Hotels & Resorts has unveiled The Roseate Ganges, a luxury retreat on the banks of the river Ganges in Rishikesh. “The opening of The Roseate Ganges is a significant milestone in our expansion and is the only retreat in the region to offer an exceptionally luxurious stay experience. We now offer a collection of six unparalleled stay experiences around the globe,” said Kush Kapoor, Area General Manager, Roseate Hotels & Resorts. “We are confident that guests at The Roseate Ganges will appreciate the retreat and bespoke services offered, becoming a focal point to explore and experience,” added Kapoor.

Tourism Malaysia Mumbai, in association with Kesari Tours & Travel, has announced a four-city seminar that will include product briefings. This will be held in Surat on March 11, Indore on March 13, Nasik on March 15 and Pune on March 16. The seminars aim to highlight Malaysia as a value for money destination for its various product offerings and attractive packages. An update on visa documentation will be the key feature of this seminar. Product partners of Tourism Malaysia will include Resorts World Genting, Star Cruises, Legoland and Lexis, Swiss Hotels and Ipoh, Malindo Air and Desaru Coast who will be present to showcase their offers. Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Director, Tourism Malaysia Mumbai said, “We are happy to announce our four-city product briefing seminar in Surat, Indore, Nasik and Pune. We look forward to a fruitful association with Kesari Tours & Travel to boost Indian tourist to visit Malaysia. Malaysia is a bio-diversity country with rich tradition and culture. Our natural environment surrounded with rich flora and fauna, pristine beaches, theme parks, adventure activities, nightlife are appealing to Indian tourists. Luxury enjoyed at affordable price is what Malaysia is and will be.”

Messe Berlin has announced that it will be organising the inaugural ITB India in 2020. The three-day B2B travel trade show and convention will be held at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai from April 15-17, 2020. The show will bring together key travel industry leaders and buyers from cities across India, and international exhibitors from the MiCE, leisure and corporate sectors. ITB India will also have a Hosted Buyers’ Programme that will cater to buyers from first, second, and third tier cities in India. The Indian travel industry is expected to be valued at US$56 billion by 2020 with UNTWO, the World Tourism Organization, predicting that there will 50 million outbound travellers by then. ITB India represents a major opportunity for National Tourism Organisations (NTOs), travel, and hospitality companies to be part of this dramatically expanding market opportunity. “In recent years we have given the ITB brand an increasingly international dimension,” said Dr. Christian Göke, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin. “From a global and regional perspective, India is a vast source market for the travel industry with a huge growth potential. We are delighted that ITB India will in future complement the trio of ITB Berlin, ITB Asia and ITB China, making it a quartet and strengthening the global ITB brand.” India’s economic growth means that its citizens are earning more disposable income to spend on travel. India’s outbound travel expenditure increased 7% on average year-on-year between 2006 and 2016 and saw an even higher growth rate of 8.5% in travel expenditure from 2015 to 2016. This rate was considerably higher than growth rates seen by other major countries including China, Indonesia, and Brazil for the same period. “Having …

Ratnagiri Airport, a defence airport as on date, is all set to start civil air operations soon. An MoU is being signed between Airport Authority of India and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on March 5, 2019, which will facilitate in activating Ratnagiri Airport for Regional Connectivity Scheme operations under UDAN scheme of Ministry of Civil Aviation. The MoU stipulates AAI to provide all support for activation of the airport including CNS/ATM services, and MIDC to provide infrastructure for handling of aircrafts and passengers such as building passenger terminal, apron and taxiway for commencing RCS operations. Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has been speaking with all stakeholders such as the Ministry of Defence, the Maharashtra State Government and the Airport Authority of India to make Ratnagiri airport a civilian airport. Speaking on the MoU, the Minister said: “We are fully committed to start air operations from Ratnagiri at the earliest. Bids under UDAN 3.1 have already been invited for operations for Ratnagiri-Mumbai-Ratnagiri sector. In order to speed up the work of construction of civil terminal and establishing navigation facilities, AAI is ready to work with MIDC and an MoU is being signed between AAI and MIDC in this regard on 5th March, 2019. We fully support and are committed to early operationalization of both Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri airports to boost tourism and economy of the Konkan Region”.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has given its approval for development of new greenfield airport at Hirasar in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs.1405 crore. The existing airport at Rajkot is severely land constrained having only 236 acres (approx.) of land and situated in the heart of city. This Airport suffers from considerable capacity restraints due to presence of residential & commercial buildings around it. Railway line and State Highway located around the airport on eastern side also prohibits the extension of runway. Thus there is no feasibility to expand the airport on city or airside, hence possibility of operating wide bodied aircrafts at the existing airport location is ruled out. Rajkot is the fourth largest city in the state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. The city is the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat and the 35thlargest urban agglomeration in India with a population more than 1.2 million as of 2015. It is also the 22nd fastest growing city in the world. Considering the constraints and compulsions with respect to existing airport, State Government desires to develop a new Greenfield Airport in Rajkot. Government of Gujarat has identified required land for the new airport and requested Airports Authority of India to develop, operate and maintain the new airport

Vistara has announced the addition of 16 new flights to its schedule including recent new destination announcements. The new daily flights include flights to newly announced destinations Raipur and Dibrugarh, new route Delhi – Jammu, and additional frequencies on existing routes. With these additions, Delhi – Chandigarh and Delhi – Srinagar will now operate 2x daily, Delhi – Bhubaneshwar 3x daily, and Delhi – Kolkata 4x daily. While some of the additions are seasonal, the majority are for year-round operations. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara, said, “Vistara is pleased to announce new destinations, flights, and frequencies in response to high demand from customers and corporates alike. We continue to carefully evaluate new route and destination possibilities, and will be adding more flights as we add aircraft to the fleet over the next fiscal year.One of the things we hear most from our customers is that they wish we had a larger network and more frequencies, and we are working hard to achieve that step by step as demand for our flights grow and we get new aircraft. We are also pleased that in recent weeks we have increased Delhi – Bangalore service to 6x daily as well.”

Accor is set to launch a new lifestyle brand in the mid-scale segment, called TRIBE. The new brand will reshape the traditional hotel experience, enabling guests to live, work and play in contemporary interiors. With a flexible and unique model, the new TRIBE concept targets an international clientele of regular travellers. Whether traveling for business or leisure purposes, the TRIBE community is just like today’s men and women: independent, curious and adventurous.

In its 8th edition, ‘Where Else’ conference is the official tourism conference held annually by the Israel Ministry of Tourism for the world travel fraternity. The week-long convention from February 7-13, was attended by 80 travel agents from 18 countries. In attendance were six top travel agents from India such as Odyssey Tours and Travels, A Travel Duet – Celebrating Togetherness, Bigbreaks.com, Gainwell Enterprises, Quintessential Vacations and Swastika Holiday Solutions. The group explored the culturally rich Old City of Jerusalem, home to the world’s three largest religions with its holy sites and breath-taking biblical landscapes as well as emerging culinary, art and nightlife scenes. Furthermore, they visited the modern city of Tel Aviv, charming town of Jaffa, Dead Sea and Masada region followed by a tour of Herzliya in the central coast of Israel. In addition to this, business meetings were held between the Indian delegates and Israeli wholesalers and hoteliers. With a grand opening ceremony in Tel Aviv, senior members of the tourism industry from around the world participated in tours of key sites in Israel with support from the regional Tourism Associations, Hotels Association and the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association. The purpose of the conference was to expose attendees to the travel brands in Israel alongside the country’s recreation, entertainment and leisure choices. Speaking about the familiarization trip, Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India and Philippines said, “Israel is currently witnessing tremendous momentum in tourism with a record of 4.12 million tourists in 2018. Arrivals from India have also increased to 70,800 visitors last year making it the 12th source market for the destination. Bearing this in mind, it was imperative for us to …

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has opened online applications for buyers and sellers wishing to attend the Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) to be held between 5-7 June at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Pattaya. Online applications will be open until 29 March, 2019. This is the second consecutive year that Thailand’s largest annual B2B tourism and travel trade event is being held at the marina. The event is designed largely to give the emerging generation of creative small- and medium-sized enterprises, especially those which cannot afford to attend international trade shows, an opportunity to network with international buyers. This year, the theme of the ‘New Shades of Emerging Destinations’ is designed to encourage visitors to explore the new shades of Thailand in the 55 provinces identified as emerging destinations or the ‘hidden gems’ throughout the country. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said: “Although Thailand is one country, every place has its own character. There’s more to Thailand than Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket waiting for visitors to discover. TAT is also trying to expose businesses from the emerging destinations to the international audiences in this year’s TTM+.” He said that as part of the focus on responsible tourism development and to make the TTM+ 2019 a green event, TAT will continue last year’s campaign to cut back on plastic usage. Thai sellers will also be partly selected on the basis of their environmental commitment. First organised in 2001, the TTM+ today attracts about 350 sellers, primarily from Thailand with a small number from the neighbouring GMS countries. About 300 buyers from roughly 60 countries are fully hosted, but the event is also open to those wishing to attend on …