Category Archives: Agents

The Resolution Plan submitted by the Jalan Kalrock Consortium for the corporate insolvency resolution of Jet Airways (India) Ltd was approved earlier today by the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench. The Consortium awaits the written order by the National Company Law Tribunal approving the Resolution Plan and shall inform all stakeholders on next steps for the revival of Jet Airways. NCLT asks the DGCA, Aviation Ministry to decide on slots within 90 days. A two-member bench of the NCLT pronounced its final ruling on the Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan consortium resolution plan for Jet Airways on June 22. Jalan had claimed that the consortium intends to get Jet back in the skies within four to six months of getting the approval. NCLT says the airline will have no historic right over landing slots.

The Yaas relief and health check-up camp organised by ETAA Eastern India Chapter in association with CAS, NatureMates and The Rotary Club of Calcutta (South Central) was completed smoothly in June 2021 in Mousuni Islands, Sunderbans despite the challenges of the bad weather, flooded roads, partial lockdown, and unavailability of public transport. Koushik Banerjee, Chapter Chairman (East India), says, “This couldn’t have happened without the co-operation of the forest department. The local people of Mousuni islands amazed us with their hospitality, humility and discipline.”

In order to ensure safety for its employees, Tripjack recently conducted a vaccination drive for its Mumbai office. Sharing this development is Hussain Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We at Tripjack took this important step towards the health and safety of our employees and managed to vaccinate more than 250 staff members. With the completion of our vaccination drive, we urge each and everyone to take this necessary step towards ending this pandemic. As travel begins, vaccination will become an important criterion.”

KD Singh, Founder & President, TravelBullz in a message to travel trade partners has said that the success of the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ initiative, which allows vaccinated foreign tourists to enter Phuket from 1 July, is part of a bigger effort to reopen Thailand for international tourists. However, India & other high-risk countries are unlikely to be open soon for tourists. Sharing details, he said, “Phuket Sandbox – 1st July 2021 is a go however, the Indian subcontinent and several other countries that have been classified as high-risk by the authorities are unlikely to be open soon.” “We wish to emphasise that this is a constantly changing environment, and everyone we know in the Thailand tourism industry is doing everything they can to ensure that Phuket Sandbox is a success, paving the way for the Thailand reopening plan to continue on track. The good news is that properly vaccinated tourists will not need to go through quarantine and there would be no minimum night’s stay restrictions if they do not plan to visit other cities in Thailand. Guests who wish to travel to other cities will be mandatorily required to first stay in Phuket for 14 to 15 days, after which they are free to travel any place in Thailand as long as their RTPCR test remains negative before departing Phuket. The success of Phuket’s Sandbox is thought to be part of a bigger effort by the government to reopen Thailand as a tourist destination,” Singh further added. According to sources, the following is the reopening strategy by the Thailand government: 1st July to 30th Sept.  – Phuket Sandbox – No Quarantine Required plan 1stOct – 31st Dec – 8 more provinces- No Quarantine Required,  including …

Urging the industry to plan for the future now, Madhavan Menon, CMD, Thomas Cook India, speaking at the company’s ‘Mission Tomorrow’ event, said, “Q4 2021 and all of 2022 are going to see a rush. I believe we are going to enter that phase where people are going to go into revenge mode. I can see domestic travel and international travel bouncing back. Please plan your trips!”

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has funded a training course and manual to help both Thai and ASEAN travel and tourism executives understand the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The course, conceptualised and compiled by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, will facilitate brainstorming of ideas to enhance the visibility of the SDGs. The training manual will be available free of cost.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has announced that it will hold its national elections in July 2021 via electronic-voting for the safety of its members. The term for the team coming in this election would have been 2020-2022, but due to the delay this team will only have an effective term of 2021-2022. As per regular procedure, TAFI was supposed to have its national elections in 2020. However, due to COVID its chapter elections were delayed, which affected the national elections. The final dates will be announced soon.

Thomas Cook India & SOTC Travel have announced a two-pronged strategy: ‘TravShield’ and ‘Holiday First and Pay When You Return’ to cover every aspect of physical and financial safety. While the former is a comprehensive safe travel commitment to safe guard customers, the latter provides customers the flexibility and benefits of paying only once they return from their holiday.

New research from GlobalData reveals that travellers prefer booking directly with companies, leaving Online Travel Agents (OTAs) behind. In a recent poll, a total of 39% of respondents said they would typically book directly, followed by 17% that said they opted for OTAs and price comparison sites. Flexible cancellation and straightforward refund policies offered by direct booking are the reasons stated by the respondents for choosing direct booking.

Research is the very cornerstone of Phillip Island Nature Parks (Melbourne) operations, informing wildlife management and environmental programs within the Parks and helping us to understand and respond to threats to Phillip Island’s wildlife.   Phillip Island Nature Parks’ research program is diverse in scope, covering both terrestrial and marine domains. Its functions include producing evidence-based information to guide the development of policy and wildlife management programs specific for Phillip Island, and with application regionally and internationally.   Our research team is an authority on little penguins, seals and other seabirds. Little penguin research on Phillip Island has been ongoing for over 50 years – one of the longest continuous seabird studies in the world.   In the 1980s, the future of the penguin population was uncertain. A housing estate on the peninsula was presenting many dangers to the colony; Little Penguins were being killed by cars, foxes, dogs and feral cats. Their habitat was being destroyed by houses, fire and weed invasion.   A scientific paper prepared by Phillip Island Nature Parks’ research staff predicted that, if nothing were done, the world’s most famous colony of Little penguins at the Penguin Parade could be extinct on Summerland Peninsula by the year 2000. This colony was the last remaining of the original 10 penguin colonies on Phillip Island prior to European settlement, and the findings set off alarm bells across the community and Government.   A major program of revegetation and regeneration commenced, and still continues today. The penguin colony began to rebuild and grew from 12,000 to 30,000 breeding birds. More and more of the Peninsula is being used for nesting as the penguin habitat is progressively re-established and …