Category Archives: Exhibitions

WTM London is going to be a virtual-only event in November 2020. WTM Virtual will take place from 9-11 November, offering delegates the chance to arrange one-to-one virtual meetings to do business, attend conference sessions and roundtables, take part in speed networking and more. Simon Press, Senior Director, WTM London, said, “Sadly, this year will be the first time since we launched WTM London in 1980 that there will be no live event. We have worked tirelessly to organise a physical show, but the increasing number of travel restrictions and the uncertainty around the world means it will be impractical for many overseas visitors to attend in person. Additionally, there remains uncertainty around business events and conferences being allowed to take place in the UK. The official deadline for this decision being the 1st October. However, thousands of travel trade professionals from around the globe will still be able to meet and do business in an extensive range of virtual sessions, to help the industry recover, rebuild and innovate.”

Announcing a new movement started by a few in the wedding industry, Rajeev Jain, Director, Rashi Entertainment, said, “If there is no auspicious date for birth, or death, then why should there be an auspicious day for weddings? To revive our industry, we have started a campaign called ‘Har Din Shub Hai’ to tell clients to fix weddings on any day so they get cost benefits and hotels and planners get business throughout the year. This will be virtually launched on 29 September.”

Ebixcash Tours & Travels has become the preferred travel & forex partner of 5 IPL teams. The company will handle travel needs of players and provide end to end support including charter flights, ground transportation, foreign exchange, hotel rooms and event insurance coverage.   A fully owned subsidiary of Ebix Inc., EbixCash has announced that it is handling the travel needs for five of the eight franchises involved in an 82-day Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket sporting extravaganza in Dubai. Under the leadership of Naveen Kundu, Managing Director, EbixCash Tours & Travels, EbixCash has been able to secure this prestigious assignment. As a part of this engagement of EbixCash independently by five of the IPL Franchises, EbixCash is handling approximately 19,000 plus hotel room night bookings for four franchises, chartered flights for five franchises, ground transportation for two franchises, foreign exchange needs for the entire entourage of four of the teams and event insurance coverage for one team. Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings are the five franchises who have engaged EbixCash Tours and Travels for varied travel needs of each of the franchises. Sharing his views on the deal, Kundu says, “We are honoured to have been chosen as the vendor of choice by the majority of the IPL franchises. Their decision was made easier with EbixCash emerging as the only end-to-end services provider who could handle their varied needs under one window. Our depth of products and services, international expanse, travel expertise and the past record was instrumental in us being selected for this prestigious engagement.” Robin Raina, Chairman of the Board, President & CEO, Ebix, said, “In COVID-19 times, …

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has revealed that the Association is in discussion with Ministry of Tourism to host a hybrid ITM by the end of this year. He said, “One interaction with the government has happened; and we are still in the progress of deciding how we are going to conduct it, whether it will be entirely virtual or hybrid. However, we will have ITM by the end of this year and we hope to announce the exact dates very soon.”

Global Panorama Showcase has tied up with Airlines Technology by TWAI, to offer NDC (New Distribution Capability) by IATA to agents in India at an affordable price. Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, GPS, says, “NDC technology is the new solution and is the new normal, and it will be very useful to more than 4,000 IATA agents.” To this, Trideep Aggarwal, Co-Founder and Director, Airlines Technology by TWAI, adds, “Last couple of years, airlines have been pushing for NDC which allows them to distribute new things which they were not being able to do earlier. At the end of last year, we were in discussion with Varun Bansal, the CEO of Airlines Technology, as we were looking for enhancing our product offerings by having NDC on our platform. At the beginning of this year, we acquired Airlines Technology, and since then we have been merging everything with our platform. We are one of the largest NDC aggregators in the world. As of now, there are about 19 airlines on our platform, and we will have around 23 by the end of this year.”

Subhash Goyal, Hony. General Secretary, FAITH has suggested that India Tourism Mart (ITM) will be held by the end of November 2020. “This will help in promoting India to the tour operators all over the world.  Last two years, we had 250 buyers, this year in the virtual mart we hope to interact with more than 500 leading travel agents and tour operators from all over the world,” he said. Goyal also thanked the  Tourism Minister for agreeing to organise a joint meeting of the Indian travel agents and tour operators with the Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri to sort out the pending issues of the tourism industry with Civil Aviation. FAITH also suggested for better coordination an Inter-Ministerial Task Force be formed chaired by the Tourism Minister consisting of mainly with Tourism, Civil Aviation, Commerce, Home, External Affairs & Railways along with the members of the tourism industry. An Inter-State Task Force should also be formed which should include all State Tourism Secretaries.  

WTM London is going ahead this year as planned on 2-4 November, 2020 at ExCeL. If attendees aren’t able to travel for the live event, WTM is also hosting ‘WTM London Virtual’ on 10-11 November. The virtual event will feature live conference sessions, roundtables, speed networking sessions, one-to-one meetings, and virtual networking sessions. The theme of WTM this year will be ‘Connecting the industry together’.

GPS has partnered with EASEBUZZ to bring a contactless payment collection solution for travel agencies, with payment link and payment gateway options available free of cost and with competitive TDR rates. Solutions like webstore and invoicing will also be offered, and agents can get activated and start collecting payments within 24 hours and with minimum documentation.

IFTM Top Resa will now be held from 17 to 20 November 2020 in Pavilion 1 of Porte de Versailles. Explaining the reason of pushing back the annual event by two months, Frédéric LORIN, Trade Show Director, says, “After this unparalleled crisis, we believe more than ever that it is essential to bring together professionals from the tourism industry.At the same time, as organisers, IFTM Top Resa must be able to provide a safe and stress-free environment for the trade show. We contacted around one hundred of our institutional partners and loyal exhibitors to listen carefully to their expectations and needs, and think about practical possibilities. Around 95% of them requested that the trade show be postponed until November; most producers and tourist destinations need time to work on their offerings, as many of them have been reduced to part-time work, following a 3-month lockdown and a huge slowdown in their business. More generally, everyone in the industry wants more time before financially committing to attending the trade show. I am delighted to officially announce that this essential event will be taking place – it is the only annual trade show in France that brings together all segments of this industry that has been so heavily impacted by the crisis –  with a focus on returning to business as usual in 2021.” The show this year will propose 10 separate zones (Africa, the Americas, Asia & Pacific, Caribbean, Destination France, Europe & Mediterranean, Generalists, Middle East, Indian Ocean, Tech Zone) and 10 thematic villages (Coach Operators, Business Travel, Parks, Cruises, Networks, Tour Operators, Mountain, and Influencers, Innovation and Start-up in the Tech Zone). IFTM Top Resa has already worked on …

An international convention centre ‘Rudraksh’ is being built with Indo-Japan collaboration in Varanasi, which is part of 100 major projects within the financial out flow of around Rs.8000 crores being undertaken in the city. Other projects include hospital buildings, national waterways, ring roads, by-pass, etc. The same was revealed in a statement by Prime Minister’s Office, where the PM reviewed development in Varanasi, which is his parliamentary constituency.