Singapore based international hospitality brand, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts has launched its new vertical Banyan Tree Lifestyle Services (BTLS) to cater to the growing demand of luxury products and services in the Indian market. BTLS encompasses the entire portfolio of hotels, resorts, residences and related services under the Banyan Tree Group. Currently, the Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts portfolio is grouped under four brands – Angsana, Banyan Tree, Cassia and Dhawa; and covers the different segment of evolved discerning travellers and thereby covers the A,B,C,D of segmented hotel portfolio. BTLS has 3 key offerings— Bespoke concierge service, Banyan Tree Private Collection and Banyan Tree Group Residences sales and owners club. BTLS will be promoted by recruiting independent consultants that have prior experience in luxury realty, in high ticket investments and are well connected  with HNI in the upscale segment that values the exclusive lifestyle benefits. They will also be conducting seminars and consumer connect events to educate the membership benefits and uniqueness to the potential consumers. It also entails visit and experience of various Banyan Tree locations so that the consumers can choose the right services and become a part of the growing Banyan Tree brands’ family.

The West Bengal Tourism department has launched a mobile App based on its theme of ‘Experience Bengal’. Alongside information on places of tourist interest, the App would be loaded with other facilities like maps and directions. The sight would be powered by information on each and district of the state and the various places that can be visited and activities that can be taken up. There would also be information on the various festivals of the state. Through some related links on the App, the users can also get access to Facebook, Twitter Page of West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation and Bengal cuisine website. Online booking facilities would also be available through the App available on android.(Source: Economic Times)

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-June, 2016, were 475.79 lakhs as against 388.33 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 22.52 per cent, according to the statistics released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). SpiceJet ruled with the highest Passenger Load Factor (PLF) of 93 per cent. However, overall the PLF in the month of June 2016 has slightly decreased compared to previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of June 2016 has been 0.96 per cent. During June 2016, a total of 788 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. In terms of On Time Performance (OTP), Vistara emerged as a clear winner with a score of 86.5 per cent.

The Medical Tourism Index (MTI), released by Visa and Oxford Economics, shows that India’s medical tourism sector is among the top five markets in the world with affordable yet high-quality of healthcare. Canada, the UK, Israel, Singapore, Germany, France, South Korea, Italy and Colombia are some of the other top markets included in the list. Globally, the sector is worth an impressive US$439 billion, and could soar to a staggering US$3 trillion by 2025. The new report forecasts an annual growth rate of up to 25 per cent over the next decade given that 3-4 per cent of the world’s population will travel internationally for medical treatments in the coming decade. “The borders to quality healthcare access have begun to disintegrate,” MTI’s co-authors, Renée-Marie Stephano, president of the Medical Tourism Association, and Mark Fetscherin, associate professor of international business & marketing at Rollins College, said a joint statement. “Speculation about the medical tourism industry as a ‘phenomenon’ is over. This report and the rankings of the Medical Tourism Index provide a unique opportunity for investors seeking new ventures to make smart choices in destinations driving patient travel.” The report also predicts that China will overtake the US as the world’s largest outbound medical tourism market within the next 10 years.

In a bid to offer convenience to its passengers, Air India has set-up two specialised check-in counters at the New-Delhi metro station of airport express line. The counters that will provide enhanced facility to the passengers were inaugurated by Air India CMD, Ashwani Lohani and became functional on July 27, 2016 at 1600 hours. The newly introduced counters shall allow the Air India passengers flying on international and domestic routes to book tickets, get desired flight information and also check-in the extra luggage. The flight check-in facility shall close two hours before the departure of the scheduled flight. With the inception of this facility the airport passengers can obtain their boarding pass, check-in at the city check-in counter and can enjoy sightseeing in the national capital. These counters shall remain open from 4am in the morning to 11:30pm in the night. Lohani, said, “We are pleased to extend the facility of city check-in on both the domestic and international flights operated by Air India. Earlier, city check-in was available only for domestic sector flights and on a few gulf countries only. But to supplement the efforts, we have set up this Air India flight information cum excess baggage cum ticketing counter at each of the two stations. The objective of this is to enhance the overall travel experience and make it less hassling for passengers.”

Sunil Kumar, President, United Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA), revealed that UFTAA’ Golden Jubilee Congress will be held on November 21-23, 2016. “The board wants to do it on the same day as the anniversary which is on November 22 and there are no major shows happening around that time. We have also closed on the venue but we will announce it only later as we are still watching the situation there. It will be held outside India,” Kumar said. UFTAA will also be getting ready for the Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf) that will take place in September in Singapore, he added.  

ITC Ltd has appointed Sanjiv Puri as its Chief Operating Officer, signalling that he’s most likely to take over from YC Deveshwar as CEO when he steps down in February after two decades at the helm. As COO, 53-year-old Puri becomes the second most important executive in the tobacco-FMCG-hospitality conglomerate after Deveshwar, who will be staying on as non-executive chairman, according to the schedule announced last month. Puri will now oversee day-to-day operations of the company as COO, a position created for the first time at ITC. Puri is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and joined ITC in 1986. He has handled a wide range of responsibilities including manufacturing, operations and the IT business.

Kerala received 9,77,479 foreign tourists in the year 2015 recording a growth of 5.86 per cent over the previous year’s figure of 9,23,366. Domestic tourists footfall during the same period was 1,24,65,571 with a growth of 6.59 per cent over the previous year’s figure 1,16,95,411. Nandakumar K P, Deputy Director, Kerala Tourism, recently informed at a roadshow held in New Delhi. He also said, “Tourist figures to Kerala have been growing vigorously for the past twenty years. We only saw a little bit of slow down last year and previous year but we are still growing. So, this year we are coming out with a five year action plan to increase footfall. We are going to increase the accommodation facilities and availability and increase the number of classified hotels. We are going to introduce more than 1000 home stays also. We are also going to tap new international markets like the Eastern Europe which is an emerging market for us.” He also informs that the state aims to add 5,00,000 more employment opportunities in the tourism sector in the next five years.

RezNext has launched its purpose-built mobile application, ReX, for distribution. This application addresses the gap for instant rate updates and inventory changes while on the move. The App is available on iOS and Android. The App also allows hoteliers to work offline and all changes then sync-up once connected back with the network. Avinash Lodha, Chief Executive Officer, RezNext Global Solutions, said, “Hoteliers are challenged with using a full blown mobile application. Typically, when on themove, a feature rich application takes time to load and many-a-times hoteliers are unable to use it as desired. Hence, we recognised the need for a purpose-built application that allows general/revenue managers to quickly take action on their rate and inventory controls. Designed to deliver a robust experience, our mobile application is powered by speed and provides instant update notifications in sub-second response time.” According to Raghu T Guptha, Operations Head at Best Western by Jagadish, “ReX mobile application is very user-friendly and we are able to quickly update rates and inventory round-the-clock from anywhere. Our staff finds this very helpful, especially when they are away from the hotel be it on a holiday or business travel. The best part is that the rate updates are done instantly.” “At Vivaana, we have been able to use RezNext’s mobile application to get us more sales with the quick rate updates that we do for last minute deals. We find the mobile app super-fast and user-friendly to operate,” said David Issac, Assistant Manager Marketing, Vivaana. Key functionality of the mobile application includes • Optimised for fast speed of loading • Know status of updates real-time to ensure the right inventory and price is displayed across all channels …

The Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that they are looking to extend the e-Tourist Visa (eTV) facilities to 36 other countries, among which Italy is one of the key countries. “The e-Tourist Visa has been the biggest game-changer for the industry,” commented Suman Billa, Joint Secretary-Tourism, Government of India. “Initially, we began with a handful of countries which were our eight major source countries. We now stand at 150 countries and are looking to expand the list. Most of our most important source countries have already been included but Italy is one of the other major markets that will receive this facility after approval.” During January-June 2016, a total of 4,71,909 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1,26,214 during January-June 2015, registering a growth of 273.9 per cent. A total of 36,982 tourists arrived in June 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 15,557 during the month of June 2015 registering a growth of 137.7 per cent.