Tag Archives: Ahmedabad

Australian hotel management company, StayWell Hospitality Group has extended its international footprint with the opening of its fifth property in Rajasthan, the Leisure Inn Shrey in Jodhpur. Rohit Vig, Managing Director for StayWell Hospitality Group in India, said that the opening of the new property solidifies the brand’s presence in the region. “We have signed 12 hotels under the Park Regis and Leisure Inn Brands, which will result in the opening of properties in Hyderabad, Goa, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Gurgaon–Sohna Road and Greater Noida,” he said. The opening of Leisure Inn Shrey in partnership with Hukam Constructions & Hotels Pvt. Ltd will deliver a roof-top restaurant and conference facilities along with well-appointed rooms and international service standards that the Leisure Inn brand is famous for. Additionally, the hotel will house the famous vegetarian restaurant ‘Grand Chanakya’ which has a sister restaurant under the same name in Jaipur at the Leisure Inn Grand Chanakya. Shranik Jain, Owner of Hukam Constructions & Hotels Pvt., said that the partnership with StayWell Hospitality Group was about aligning with the best possible global partner to enter the hospitality sector for the first time. “Our partnership will deliver premium hospitality expertise and a world-class experience to not only our guests but to the region, it’s an alignment we are extremely proud of as we feel we are in the best possible position for future success,” he said.

GoAir starts two additional flights out of Pune. Effective May 19, the airline will start daily flights from Pune to Bengaluru and Kolkata. The airline will now provide non-stop connectivity from Pune to Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Nagpur, Delhi, and Kolkata. The city of Pune and state of Maharashtra both play an important role in GoAir’s network. The new routes aim at connecting Pune across its network and providing passengers flexible options in planning their travel.

New Zealand has witnessed a steady increase in arrivals from India with 53,424 travellers visiting there as of March 2017, a 14.9 per cent growth from same period last year. To further boost the Indian tourist numbers, Tourism New Zealand is tying up with two airlines to promote the island country in the India sub-continent. The partnership between Tourism New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand is valid from May 2017 to April 2018 and will seek to position Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines as the preferred carriers for travelling to the country and promotional fares will be offered to passengers. The strategic partnership aims to encourage more travellers from key cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram and Vishakhapatnam. “New Zealand is the ultimate destination for many Indian travellers and special promotional fares provide a great opportunity to turn their dream holiday into reality,” said Tourism New Zealand regional manager, South and South East Asia, Steven Dixon. Elaborating on the initiative, David Lim, General Manager, India, said, “We offer 98 weekly connections from 11 cities in India to Singapore and together with our partner – Air New Zealand, we provide over 25 weekly, onward connections to three cities (Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington) in New Zealand.” Scott Carr, Regional General Manager-Asia, Air New Zealand, said, “India is one of our fastest-growing emerging markets and we’re excited about the potential of this campaign to reach more Indian travellers. Through our alliance and code share services with Singapore Airlines, we connect passengers from 11 Indian cities to Singapore, where they can access three non-stop flights a day to New Zealand.”

Created exclusively for the ultra-luxury market, One&Only Resorts recently held a presentation over lunch in Pune city. About 60 agents attended the event that had presentations from all One&Only Resorts, with a focus on One&Only Royal Mirage. A similar presentation was held in Ahmedabad this week as the focus for the hospitality group is on Tier-II cities of India this year.

Singapore Airlines has announced the launch of its fourth weekly flight from Ahmedabad to Singapore, starting March 26, 2017. All flights will be operated by the Airbus A330-300 wide-body aircraft. David Lim, General Manager India, Singapore Airlines, commented, “Travel to and from Ahmedabad has steadily increased over the years. Singapore Airlines is pleased to offer an additional frequency to meet the growing market demand. The new service will provide travellers a much sought after weekend departure window, to travel to Singapore and to onward destinations.” Furthermore, travellers from India can redeem a complimentary S$20 Changi Dollar Voucher for use at all participating shops, restaurants and lounges when they transit at Singapore Changi Airport. Indian nationals can also avail of one-way, Visa Free Transit Facility for up to 96 hours in Singapore with a valid onward ticket and a valid visa from selected countries. The transit facility will be provided at the discretion of the immigration authorities.

Having grown its annual roadshow from five cities to six now, Mumbai-based U&I Holidays is keen on adding Tier-II cities from next year. Shyam Upadhyay, Director, U&I Holidays, says, “This time, we wanted to include a new city so we added Kolkata, which to our surprise was a hit. Most of the participants found good potential there. Every city got more than 100 attendees but Kolkata was at 150 which is really good for a city like that.” The six cities were Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The roadshow had 32 participants from Bali of which 31 were hotels plus one caterer. Speaking about Kolkata, Ashish Indulkar, Director, U&I Holidays, adds, “Although we have been doing some activities in Kolkata, we never ventured full-fledge into the market. We were very happy with the turnout. It is a very interesting market because there are whispers that AirAsia India is planning to launch a direct Kolkata-Bali flight via Kuala Lumpur.” Upadhyay adds that next year’s roadshow will continue to travel to six cities but a new set of cities which will include a Tier-II city like Nagpur, Jaipur or Pune. U&I Holidays sent 15,000 Indian pax to Bali last year. “In 2015, it was 12,000, and this year we are expecting bigger numbers. We are focusing more on MICE as well,” Indulkar adds. U&I has its own office in Bali and they are also a DMC for Maldives. Last year, U&I Holidays entered the wellness segment by opening Ashoka Spa outlet in Mumbai. It opened another one in Bali in December 2016. It will now focus on hotel spas in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra and are already in talks …

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines will be conducting training sessions in Ahmedabad and Delhi this February, in conjunction with the DOT’s participation in OTM 2017 in Mumbai. The training sessions will be conducted by top suppliers from the Philippines in Ahmedabad on February 24 at Hyatt Ahmedabad and on February 27 in Delhi at The Lalit New Delhi. The objective of the workshop is to educate, interact and establish commercial ties with Indian trade in these cities. Representatives from DOT Philippines along with a 14 -member delegation will interact with over 400 key travel agents and tour operators, MICE and up-market leisure operators. SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism, said, “India being an important source market for Philippines tourism, such training sessions ( our first of 2017) will provide an excellent platform to showcase the destination’s products and services. The Indian travellers’ palate has become experimental and therefore, through our numerous trade initiatives, we envisage the influencers of the Indian travel market to sell the destination more effectively to the end consumers.” The programme for the workshop will include presentations by officials of DOT Philippines, DMCs and hotels from the Philippines in addition to Q&A, detailed networking sessions, entertainment by Filipino artists and a special lucky draw for the participants.

Japan will open 13 new visa application centers in India. The centers will be opened at Gurgaon, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Puducherry and Hyderabad. This was informed by Ryoichi Matsuyama, President, Japan National Tourist Office at the opening ceremony of the 2017 the year of Japan-India Friendly Exchanges and the Announcement of Japan-India Collaboration Film Project. “Last year Japan saw 120,000 Indian arrivals whereas 230,000 Japanese visited India. Though the number of Indians visiting Japan is steadily increasing, the current figure is yet modest despite the vast size and scale of India and more so given the long-standing relationship between the two countries,” said Matsuyama. The Japan-India Collaboration Film Project was also announced. The event was attended by Kenko Sone, Minister, Economic and Development, Embassy of Japan; Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister, Government of India, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Ayog, Government of India, Kenchi Takano, Executive Director- Preparation Office for New Delhi, JNTO amongst others. His Excellency Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India added that there will be a number of cultural and tourism related events are planned to be held all around India in 2017.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic and VFS Global have opened a Czech Republic Visa Application Centre in Ahmedabad, to make visa application facilities more accessible for people in the western region. Ahmedabad is the seventh city in India where VFS Global has launched a Visa Application Centre for the Czech Republic, in the last one year. Earlier, applicants from Ahmedabad seeking a Schengen visa (if the main country of travel to Europe was the Czech Republic) were required to travel to Mumbai or New Delhi. H.E. Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, said, “Yet again, we continue to expand our footprints in the seventh major city in India, where people can submit their Schengen visa applications for travel to the Czech Republic by going to the visa centre of VFS Global. Like always, we strive to fulfil on our promises. And I will continue this journey of building convenient ways to ensure seamless travel to Czech. Our endeavours sees no limit as we will announce the opening of additional Czech Visa Applications Centres soon.” Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global, said, “We are pleased to further enhance the visa services network for the Czech Republic in India, through this modern visa application facility in Ahmedabad. The new centre will serve the ever-increasing volumes of visa applications for the Schengen country, and illustrates the emerging popularity of the Czech Republic as a tourist destination. We are confident that the introduction of professional and hassle-free Czech Republic visa services in Ahmedabad will be well-received by aspiring travellers from this city.”

redBus has launched its latest service, called Bus Hire, which would offer customers mini-buses or tempo-travellers if they are seeking to hire buses. Bus Hire will provide a one-stop access to leading chartered bus providers in a particular city who offer best-in-class vehicles and superior service quality. The platform gives transparent and all-inclusive prices along with value added information such as bus photos and convenient payment options to help customers make an informed and suitable choice. This service is presently available in seven cities across India- Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Ahmedabad and is soon being extended to other towns. The range of vehicles that customers can choose from is very extensive, and includes luxury buses, regular buses, mini buses, tempo travellers and cars. Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus.in, expressed his enthusiasm about the new service, commenting, “Often group travel such as corporate outings, weddings and pilgrimages require a full vehicle to be hired. There was no easy way for travellers to connect with multiple vehicle providers to hire a bus of their choice. With our new Bus Hire product, we aim to simplify the process by providing customers with a customised, transparent and quick method of evaluating and choosing among different vehicle options. For charter bus operators, it opens up another avenue for attracting customers and growing their business.” Once a customer provides basic details of his or her desired trip, the bus operators on redBus Bus Hire platform respond with quotations that are transparent and all-inclusive. The base fare, driver charges, tolls, permit fees and taxes are all specified in the quotations. Customers can also view images of the bus before they confirm a booking. Customers can …