Tag Archives: CEO

Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, is set to host the fifth round of F1H2O World Championship from November 16-18. Hosted by Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, the event is believed to position Amaravati on the world map. Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, along with Marco Pietrini, Director of Logistics, F1H2O and Sandeep Mandava, CEO, India Xtreme Adventure Activities, organised a press conference in New Delhi, to share updates about the event. Speaking at the conference, Meena revealed, “The F1H2O World Championship is going to be held in India for the second time after 14 years. With a global event like this, Amaravati will be recognised world over. In fact, there will also be a Team Amaravati with two key race drivers from Sweden—Jonas Anderson and Erk Edwin, who have been participating in all the legs of the race. In Amaravati, the race will be held in River Krishna and all the logistics and arrangements will be of international standards.”

India is set to become the third largest air passenger market, surpassing the UK around 2024, according to a recent study by IATA’s ‘20-Year Air Passenger Forecast’. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that present trends in air transport suggest passenger numbers could double to 8.2 billion in 2037. Over the next two decades, the forecast anticipates a 3.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), leading to a doubling in passenger numbers from today’s levels. The Asia-Pacific region will drive the biggest growth with more than half the total number of new passengers over the next 20 years coming from these markets. Growth in this market is being driven by a combination of continued robust economic growth, improvements in household incomes and favorable population and demographic profiles. “Aviation is growing, and that is generating huge benefits for the world. A doubling of air passengers in the next 20 years could support 100 million jobs globally. There are two important things that stand out about this year’s forecast. Firstly, we are seeing a geographical reshuffling of world air traffic to the East. And secondly, we foresee a significant negative impact on the growth and benefits of aviation if tough and restrictive protectionist measures are implemented,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA.

InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT) has been appointed as the exclusive General Sales Agent (GSA) in India by car rental company, Hertz. The exclusive partnership was formed following a year of successful collaboration in India between the two companies. The appointment will be effective immediately and will cover all of Hertz’s brands including Dollar, Thrifty, ACE and Firefly for outbound rentals. Commenting on the partnership, Siddhanta Sharma, President and CEO, InterGlobe Air Transport, said, “Hertz’s global expertise and modern fleet, coupled with our strong footprint across the Indian market will help us pave substantial inroads with both corporate and leisure holiday travellers. Our discerning network in India very much welcomes our ongoing collaboration with a renowned, truly global player such as Hertz.” Eoin MacNeill, Vice President, Hertz Asia Pacific, added, “IGAT has 29 years of experience in the Indian travel industry and is perfectly placed to grow Hertz’s presence by providing consumers with mobility solutions that suit their needs, regardless of if they’re travelling for business or leisure.” According to Research and Markets, India outbound visitors will grow 10 per cent CAGR by 2022, thus increasing the demand for Hertz’s services. IGAT has 12 offices across the country, as well as 80 sales people to help cater to this segment effectively.

OYO has announced its entry into the long-term fully managed housing rentals – OYO Living, geared to provide upgraded living experiences at an affordable price for India’s growing population. Perfectly suited for the changing housing needs of India, OYO Living will offer a first-of-its-kind, end to end managed and high-quality living experience that eliminates the hassles of finding, accessing and managing everyday housing. These accommodations are easy to find and easier to live in, where all OYO Living residents can experience the benefits of shared spaces while enjoying financial independence. With this, OYO aims to become the leading brand in the long-term housing rental and accommodations business and the biggest provider of housing in India. At the time of launch, OYO Living will have 35+ live properties, with over 2000 beds in Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Pune, targeted at millennials and young professionals. With most assets currently operating already resulting at full occupancy, OYO Living will aim to expand to the top 10 metros by the end of 2019 and will offer over 50,000 beds. Commenting on the launch, Ritesh Agarwal, CEO & Founder, OYO Hotels & Homes, said, “OYO Living represents our ongoing commitment to continue innovating and creating world-class stay experiences from India. With the launch of OYO Living, we are all set to offer something new while remaining true to our core mission of creating beautiful living spaces. This launch marks a key milestone as we embark on our journey towards becoming India’s biggest provider of housing, consolidating our position as a category innovator and leader.” Piloted in mid-2018, OYO Living offers residents fully managed independent residential units, inclusive of contracting, furnishing, cleaning, maintenance, and in-stay services.

Amadeus held roadshows in Delhi and Mumbai to showcase a comprehensive range of products and solutions in travel technology space especially beneficial for the Indian market. Commenting on the product portfolio, Rakesh Bansal, CEO, Amadeus Indian Subcontinent said, “To keep up with global industry standards, companies world over need to constantly innovate and evolve. With dynamic changes and growing demand within the travel technology industry it has become essential to create diverse solutions for different subscribers. Our portfolio of products & solutions introduced for the market today offers effective and efficient variety of solutions that help in generating additional revenue and improving productivity and efficiency for travel agencies thus, reducing costs.” The range of Amadeus products and solutions showcased at the forum included Amadeus Ticket Changer (ATC), Amadeus Travel Alerts Notifier (ATAN), Amadeus Master Pricer Expert and Amadeus Sell Connect (SECO), the only fully cloud-based booking and fulfilment platform within the travel industry, designed to save time, money, improve performance and efficiency. The range of products also included CashX, a complete web-based business accounting software which is convenient for back office operations. It enables multi service options designed to handle multiple currencies at a single point within the same document and is accurate and reliable at the same time.  

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has announced an agreement to acquire Two Roads Hospitality. In India, Alila Diwa Goa and Alila Fort Bishangarh are the two properties that belong to Two Roads Hospitality. Through the addition of Two Roads, its established lifestyle brands and the management agreements for the majority of its 85 properties in eight countries, Hyatt will expand its brand presence into 23 new markets while enhancing its offerings in lifestyle hotel experiences and well-being. With Two Roads and its collection of lifestyle hotels, resorts and vacation residences, Hyatt will offer an expanded and more powerful portfolio of brands with best-in-class offerings to deliver compelling experiences and benefits for guests and World of Hyatt members, expand its relationship with valued hotel owners, and drive growth for shareholders. “Hyatt and Two Roads are dedicated to learning from each other and taking the best of both organisations forward,” said Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. “Two Roads’ passionate team members, strong brands, global footprint and robust development pipeline will expand our lifestyle offerings and grow Hyatt’s brand presence in more places where our guests and World of Hyatt members want to travel.” After the close of the transaction, which is expected later this year, Hyatt will create a dedicated lifestyle division as a catalyst to bring together the operations of Two Roads’ and Hyatt’s lifestyle brands. “Hyatt’s unique position in the marketplace brings with it the powerful benefit of global scale while maintaining meaningful personal relationships with team members, guests and owners,” said Jamie Sabatier, CEO, Two Roads Hospitality.

India is ranked as the world’s third most powerful country for travel and tourism, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) new T&T Power and Performance Report. China, the USA and India take the top three spots in the new Power Ranking which ranks the performance of 185 countries combining growth over the past seven years in tourism’s contribution to GDP, international visitor spend, domestic tourism spend and capital investment. Gloria Guevara, President and CEO, WTTC commented, “World Tourism Day is the global celebration of a sector that contributes 10.4 per cent of the world’s GDP and generates 313 million jobs. WTTC’s new report outlines power and performance rankings which showcase countries that have been most successful in growing their tourism sectors across the board.”

VITS Luxury Hotels has launched VITS Upper Thane, a luxury corporate hotel located in the fastest growing city of Kalyan. Located 35 minutes from Thane Railway Station, VITS Upper Thane is targeted at both corporate and leisure segments. Announcing the opening, Chandrakant Shetty, CEO, VITS Hotels says, “We are delighted to announce the opening of VITS Upper Thane, our seventh property in Maharashtra. It is a proud moment for us as we expand the brand’s footprint in this business district of Kalyan and Bhiwandi. We believe VITS Upper Thane – Bhiwandi with its stunning array of facilities and host of hospitality will appeal to both leisure and business tourists. VITS is positioned as a moderately priced full service luxury business hotel and enjoys high occupancy rate at all our properties nationality. We have a strong sales network across pan India and loyal customer base. As part of its domestic expansion plans VITS Hotels will unveil the VITS hospitality experience in Mumbai (Colaba), Porbunder and Mangalore shortly.”

The 26th IT&CM Asia and 21st CTW Asia-Pacific kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand and welcomed some 3,000 delegates, including over 500 hosted buyers and media, from more than 50 territories and countries. Over 50 industry thought-leaders from government bodies, related associations, corporate organisations and industry professions delivered knowledge sessions. The main keynote presented by Martin Nydegger, CEO, Switzerland Tourism; Oscar Cerezales, COO, MCI Asia-Pacific; Nichapa Yoswee, Senior Vice President – Business, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB); and Daniel Chua, Vice President – Meetings & Incentives, Singapore Associations of Conventions and Exhibition Organisers (SACEOS), set the tone towards the transformation of audience engagement as the demand to stand out and being top-of-mind becomes more competitive. TCEB hosted the Official Opening Ceremony & Welcome Reception themed ‘Thailand Limited’ that rounded off Day 1 of activities at the GMM Live House at CentralWorld, featuring a colourful night of uniquely Thai entertainment, local cuisine and hospitality.  

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) participated at the recent PATA Travel Mart 2018 in Langkawi, Malaysia to promote the tourism prospects of Maharashtra on a global platform. Dinesh Kamble, Senior Manager, Marketing and Publicity represented MTDC at PATA Travel Mart 2018. MTDC pavilion at PATA Travel Mart 2018 was visited by Mridal Kumar, High Commissioner of India to Malaysia and Sudeshna Ramkumar, Director – India Tourism Singapore, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India along with Chris Botrill, Chairman, PATA and Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA. Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) showcased several prospects of tourism such as beach tourism, Buddhist tourism, adventure tourism, wildlife tourism and Bollywood tourism at the 41st Edition of PATA Travel Mart 2018. PATA Travel Mart 2018 offered a golden chance to aggressively market the tourism catalogues, vivacious culture, exclusive destinations and investment prospects in the state. Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra said, “Maharashtra is leading in terms of foreign tourist arrivals (FTA). With the 41st edition of PATA Travel Mart 2018, we were able to promote the diversity of our state which offers 360 degrees dimension and the potential to cater to the needs of global travellers.” Vijay Kumar Gautam (IAS), Principal Secretary, Tourism, Government of Maharashtra added, “The main objective of participation at 41st Edition of PATA Travel Mart 2018 is to encourage Maharashtra as a world-class tourist destination and help the and tour operators to network with international buyers, trade buyers, exhibitors, strategy makers and investors.”