Centara Hotels and Resorts recently organised its first roadshow in India in two metro cities – at St. Regis in Mumbai and at The Leela Palace in New Delhi. Centara is a large Thai hotel chain with its strong presence in Thailand, Srilanka , Maldives, Vietnam and Oman. Paul Wilson, V.P Sales, Centara Hotels and Resorts, says, “The growth of Indian traffic to Centara has been astronomical and Centara wants to be at the forefront of every Travel agent who thinks about any of the countries where Centara is present.” The group has plans to organise roadshows in more cities and frequently. Centara’s tradition goes back over 30 years, continues to grow and expand in destinations, which include China, Oman, Qatar, Turkey, UAE, Indonesia, Laos, the Maldives, Vietnam, Combodia and Thailand. With hotels in prime destinations and a wide array of services, Centara has properties to suit any need. Whether it is a family holiday trip, travelling on company business or organising a corporate meeting or conference Centara caters to all.

FICCI along with the Department of Tourism, Government of Odisha, organised a roadshow in Delhi to inform the various stakeholders of the tourism and hospitality industry about the upcoming Odisha Travel Bazaar (OTB) to be held at Bhubaneswar from October 15-17. Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee and CMD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, informed that OTB, FICCI’s maiden show in Odisha will be modeled on the lines of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) conducted annually in Rajasthan. “At Odisha Travel Bazaar, as many as 40 foreign tour operators from 19 countries; 10 top of the line inbound operators and wedding planners and 20 leading domestic tour operators from across India will be participating as hosted buyers. The tourism fraternity of Odisha comprising of hotels and tour operators will be promoting the tourism products of Odisha as sellers,” she said. Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha, addressed the stakeholders and informed them about the various achievements of the state in terms of tourism and also discussed the various projects open for investment in the state. He said, “I invite all travel trade associations to host their conventions and other events in Odisha. It is important that the travel trade looks beyond the usual regions and focuses on the Eastern part of India to market and promote it as a favourable destination for inbound and domestic tourism.” Other dignitaries present at the roadshow included Dr. Nitin Bhanudas Jawale, Director and Additional Secretary, Department of Tourism, Govt. of Odisha; J. K. Mohanty, Chairman-Tourism Panel, FICCI Odisha State Council and CMD, Swosti Group; Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Rahul Chakravarty, Consultant, FICCI. Representatives …

Vistara has entered into an interline partnership with Qatar’s flag-carrier, Qatar Airways. The partnership enables Qatar Airways’ customers to travel seamlessly on Vistara’s domestic flights, to and from Qatar Airway’s global network. Together, the two airlines will provide the ‘through check-in’ facility, enabling customers to get their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors, both domestic and international, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destination. Vistara’s Chief Executive Officer, Phee Teik Yeoh, said, “We are delighted to launch our interline partnership with Qatar Airways, through which we will offer a seamless flying experience and international luggage allowance to our joint customers from various cities in India to and from over 150 destinations across the world on a single ticket. Qatar Airways’ customers will also now be able to experience ‘the new feeling’ with Vistara and enjoy the finest hospitality in Indian skies on their domestic connecting flights.” Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, said, “This exciting new partnership with Vistara will bring enhanced connectivity and increased convenience to our customers travelling within India. “The Indian market is very important to us and we operate over a hundred flights a week between Doha and 13 Indian cities. This new partnership expands Qatar Airways’ presence in India and reinforces our commitment to this market.” Vistara’s new partnership with Qatar Airways comes in addition to several other existing interline/through check-in agreements it has with carriers such as Air France, KLM, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA), British Airways, Finnair, Aeroflot, Ethiopian Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, and codeshare partnerships with Singapore Airlines and SilkAir.

The Philippines’ leading airline, Cebu Pacific has expanded its domestic route network and presence in Southeast Asia with the announcement of four new routes aimed at improving accessibility for travellers outside Metro Manila, but more so increasing connectivity within the region. Cebu Pacific announced it would begin operations of a thrice-a-week Kalibo-Clark flight (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) on October 30, 2017, linking Western Visayas, including the world-class Boracay Island, to tourists from North and Central Luzon, as well as foreigners via the Clark International Airport. The return Clark-Kalibo flight, on the other hand, begins on October 31, 2017 (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays). The carrier’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Cebgo, will boost its presence in Northern Mindanao, through the Cagayan de Oro (Laguindingan) Airport, with new inter-island connections. Starting October 20, 2017, Cebgo will fly from Cagayan de Oro to Boracay (Caticlan); and to Dumaguete three times a week. On top of these new domestic routes, Cebgo will also operate its first international route out of Zamboanga with four times weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) to Sandakan, Malaysia starting October 29, 2017. Cebgo is currently the only Philippine carrier with a direct service between the country and Sandakan. “Cebu Pacific is very pleased to continue being a travel enabler to every Juan as we further establish seamless connections not only within the archipelago, but to the rest of Southeast Asia. Sandakan has had centuries of trade and cultural linkage with the southern Philippines, and we are especially proud to put in place infrastructure to further enhance these ties. Now, the previous 14-hour travel by sea is cut down to just a 40-minute airplane ride,” said Alexander Lao, President and CEO, Cebgo.

Aiming at a steady increase in tourist arrivals from India, Israel is eyeing one lakh Indian travellers to visit the country by 2018. “We have been very focused in tourism promotions in India and easing the visa process. This year, in the first seven months till July, we have already hosted 34,000 Indian tourists. This is expected to go up to 55,000 by the end of this year,” the Israeli ministry of tourism’s India director Hassan Madah reportedly said. Currently, there are three to four direct flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv and numerous connecting flights from West Asia. There are talks of introducing direct Air India flights connecting New Delhi with Israel in a few months, he said, adding that if it commences, tourist traffic is likely to surge from India and this year’s number may reach nearly 90,000. There are a few global airlines that are waiting for the Air India flights to be launched, and then introduce their fleets in this direct route. “When this happens, we will see a surge in tourists arrivals from India. We have also been engaging with the tourism industry in India since last few years and are focused in many promotional activities. Due to this, we have set a target of reaching one lakh tourists from India by the end of 2018,” he said. For tourism promotions in India, the Israel ministry of tourism (IMOT) is spending $5-6 million in India this year, he said, adding that going forward, as the tourist traffic grows, the budget is likely to grow. Israel, which has positioned itself as an affordable premium destination, is targeting travellers mainly for pilgrimage, leisure and meetings, incentives, conferences, …

Hilton and DoubleTree by Hilton has announced the signing of a management agreement with Trillion Real Estate & Properties for a new DoubleTree by Hilton property in Maharashtra. Scheduled to open in Q1 2019, DoubleTree by Hilton Shirdi will be located at Shirdi’s historical town centre, marking Hilton’s entry into the popular pilgrimage destination. The latest addition increases Hilton’s pipeline of hotels in India to 19 properties. When open, the 125-room DoubleTree by Hilton Shirdi will be one of first global hospitality brands in Shirdi. It is located approximately four kilometres from the famous Shirdi Sai Baba Temple and is easily accessible to Sainagar Shirdi Railway Station, the town’s main train station, and the soon-to-open Shirdi Airport. In addition to a banquet hall and four meeting rooms, hotel will have an outdoor pool, a fitness center as well as three food and beverage outlets including an all-day dining restaurant. “With a fast-growing, global portfolio of more than 500 upscale properties, we are delighted that our award-winning DoubleTree by Hilton brand is gaining traction in India,” said Dianna Vaughan, Senior Vice President and Global Head, DoubleTree by Hilton. “With five DoubleTree by Hilton properties currently operating in India, DoubleTree by Hilton Shirdi will mark the brand’s sixth property in the pipeline in this burgeoning market. As the first upscale hotel in Shirdi, we look forward to delivering exceptional experiences to guests beginning with our signature, warm DoubleTree Cookie welcome.” Shirdi, famously known as the home of late spiritual leader Sri Sai Baba, is a popular pilgrimage town and an estimated 22 million tourists from across the country and overseas visit the famous Shirdi Sai Baba temple annually. Most recently, the city …

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Jul 2017 were 657.21 lakhs as against 560.87 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 17.18%. The passenger load factor in the month of July 2017 has shown declining trend compared to previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season. According to the On-Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines computed for four metro airports viz. Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, IndiGo led with 84.6% followed by Go Air at 78.2%, Vistara at 74.5 % and SpiceJet at 73.4%.

The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board has reportedly approved new infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,000 crore in Malabar region. According to Tourism Minister of Kerala, Kadakampally Surendran, the state is putting all efforts to leverage tourism to the Malabar region including five districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasargod and Wayanad. Surendran reportedly pointed that though a million foreign travellers and 13.1 million domestic tourists visit Kerala every year, only about a sixth of them visit the scenic Malabar and the government plans to change this with its efforts. He reportedly said that the travel destinations in Malabar will be developed in keeping with the best international tourism norms. With a new airport in Kannur about to open, the state is now installing the infrastructure to put Malabar on the global tourism map. “Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) will set up a four-star hotel in Kozhikode and three other star hotels in Bekal beach, Muzhupilangad beach and Kannur airport,” he reportedly said. The state has urged the private players to invest in Malabar. V Venu, Principal Secretary-Tourism, reportedly said that the government is negotiating hospitality projects with a number of global brands. “We’ll fill the (infrastructure) gaps with our tourism development funds,” he said. Source: India Today

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, is all set to start a new service from Tiruchi-Chennai from August 30, 2017. The 72-seater flight would take off from Chennai at 7:35 am and would reach Trichy at 8:35 am and would again leave Tiruchi at 9:05 am and land at 10:20 am in Chennai. Alliance Air will be operating ATR 600 type aircraft in the Chennai – Tiruchi – Chennai sector. Jet Airways is already operating daily services in the Chennai – Tiruchi – Chennai sector using ATR type aircrafts.

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be having its 2018 convention in Andhra Pradesh. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “The 2018 convention of IATO will be held in Andhra Pradesh. However, the city and the venue for the same has not been decided as yet.” Currently, IATO is geared for its 33rd Convention, which is to be held from September 7-10, 2017 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, and expected to see members and delegates in big numbers.