Tag Archives: Chairman

India’s much-awaited high-speed train sets will roll-out on September 30, 2018. By next year, these train sets will replace most of the Shatabdi trains. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board, highlights that these trains will be a technological breakthrough for the railways at the Iconic forum in New Delhi. The train has some striking features to enhance passenger comfort. The most prominent feature is that all coaches are interconnected by fully sealed gangways to enable passenger movement from one coach to another.  

The Western India Chapter of the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) became the first association chapter to initiate a joint bank guarantee scheme for its members for hotels. It has started the pilot project with India Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). Abbas Moiz, Chairman, TAFI (Western India), said, “TAFI has signed an agreement for credit facility for small and mid-sized agents on the lines of a joint bank guarantee arrangement. With this, mid-sized agents will be able to get credit from IHCL for their domestic hotels for booking of up to eight rooms. This is a pilot that IHCL is running with the Western Indian Chapter of TAFI. It could be a new stream of income or business for agents. It is like getting recognition directly from the hotel rather than going through a third party aggregators or online portals. You are now getting a chance to create an identity for yourself and building a relationship with them with a very good arrangement and at a very good price.” Moiz adds that while some of them are already booking the hotel directly, this way offers a bit of leeway and extends a credit facility for at least for a month as long as they don’t cross that slab. “It allows you to pay through a centralised billing and accounting is not an issue here. It has its advantages and that is why we thought of offering this to our members,” he says.

The Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) witnessed 650 pre-registrations on its first day in Lucknow. The inaugural lamp was lit in the presence of Sunil Satyawakta, Chairman, TAAI UP Chapter; Vivek Pandey, President, TTAUP; M Shoeb, President, TAFCA; Manish Marwah, Director-Sales, Indigo; SMA Sheeraz, Managing Director, Sheeraz Tours and Yogesh Aggarwal, Manager-Sales, Oman Air. Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS, said, “The numbers speak for themselves; 650 is a great number to begin with in Lucknow. The industry is accepting what we are offering at GPS. GPS. The exhibition is more of an opportunity for future endeavours.”  

HPMF Sri Lanka Chapter was recently launched at Shangri-La Hotel Colombo during International Housekeepers Summit 2018. This will be the second international chapter after the launch of Middle East Chapter in Dubai in February 2018. HPMF has grown to over 12 Chapters in India and 2 outside India. The membership base has increased from its initial three to almost 2000 members across India and the Middle East. The launch event was attended by several industry professionals from Asia which mostly included housekeepers, buyers, General Managers and hotel owners. Soon the HPMF Sri Lanka chapter council members will be announced so that top fraternity professionals from Sri Lanka take forward the vision of HPMF to all members. Before the Annual Convention at Varanasi from October 25-27, 2018, HPMF intends to launch the Nepal and Bangladesh chapters. Mohan Deshpande, Chairman, HPMF was thrilled on the overall turn-out of the hospitality professionals at Summit.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has recommenced its popular white water rafting activity on the Mhadei river from June 28, 2018 all the way through September this year. There will be two rafting trips held each day with the first trip starting at 9:30 am and the second at 2:30 pm. Each trip will go on for 2.5 to 3.5 hours running 10 km each. This year, the white river rafting experience promises to be different. Goa Tourism has tied up with a top adventure sports video company in the country to capture the rafting experience through a personalised video, which would be shared via WhatsApp or Google Drive the same day. This comes along with a souvenir framed picture as well. There are also plans to offer a bus service for Rs 200 from Panjim and the Northern beaches twice daily to make the commute seamless. Speaking on the river rafting trend in Goa, Nilesh Cabral, Chairman, GTDC stated, “This year, we decided to associate with a top adventure sports video company to create personalised videos of our adventure enthusiasts braving along the Mhadei River, which can be taken home as a memorabilia. In future as well, we will continue to explore different tie-ups that would help us enhance the experience of our travellers.” Ideal for beginners and children above the age of 10, the trip costs Rs 1,890 per person including 5% GST.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has recently announced the theme for its 34th Annual Convention as ’20 Million Tourists: Challenges & Possibilities’, to be held in Visakhapatnam from September 6-9, 2018. While announcing the theme, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO said, “The theme has been finalised after consideration from the Ministry of Tourism. We will hold discussions on it and will try to look how we can achieve this target. A session will be held on hotels and airlines during the convention. The theme has been finalised by the Executive Committee.” The association has already announced the governing body for the convention. While Rajiv Mehra has been appointed as the Chairman, Rajesh Mudgil, Hony Secretary, IATO has been appointed as Co-Chairman. Amaresh Tiwari has been named as Convener for IATO Run for Responsible Tourism. The venue of the convention is Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. Talking about IATO’s activities in last one month, Mehra said, Mehra said, “We conducted a roadshow to the US with Ministry of Tourism where 25 active members of IATO participated. We also concluded IATO’s Chapter Meeting in Mumbai, attended by Hony Secretary Rajesh Mudgil.”

Sterling Holiday Resorts has launched India’s first comprehensive holiday insurance for all Sterling guests. The insurance provides cover for trip cancellation, personal accident, emergency accident related treatment, legal liability, misplaced luggage, delayed and missed flights and more. This comprehensive holiday insurance is powered by Digit Insurance, a Fairfax company. According to Ramesh Ramanathan, Managing Director, Sterling Holiday Resorts, “The comprehensive holiday insurance ensures a worry-free holiday experience. We want our guests to enjoy the unique experiences at our resorts and destinations without any travel-related stress. This is the first time when a holiday company is offering a door to door cover. The insurance offers a total of nine unique benefits, including coverage for flight delays, missed flights and misplaced luggage.” Kamesh Goyal, Chairman, Digit Insurance, said, “Our comprehensive insurance solutions have been developed by identifying the gaps in the market and keeping in mind the requirements of customers. The insurance is backed by a seamless & easy claim settlement process. We look forward to serve Sterling Holidays’ customers and help them have a worry-free holiday experience.” The insurance covers guests from 24 hours before check-in date to 24 hours after check-out date and would be complimentary for Sterling guests in the initial period.  The insurance is issued once the guests confirm to avail the free insurance, after booking with Sterling.  

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) is set to organise a state-level workshop on the development of tourism in western Odisha on June 20. The workshop, scheduled to be held at Hotel The Grand Siba in Sambalpur, will be attended by hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents and other stakeholders. Important decision makers, government officials, media and political leaders have also been invited to give their inputs for giving a boost to the tourism growth of Western Odisha. With the addition of Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Jeypore airports in the state, the association now wants to make Odisha a 21-night destination. “With the benefits of the new tourism policy, the HRAO is now willing to spread out with additional 5000 rooms in all tourist locations of the state, specially Western Odisha. Currently, we have the lowest number of star hotels (10 hotels) and classified rooms (670 rooms) in Odisha,” said J K Mohanty, Chairman – HRAO & IATO, Eastern Region.

Sherif Salman, Chairman, Sherif Travel & Cargo Services, has been conferred the Gallery of Legends trophy at the India Travel Awards South. Having taken over the reins of the company from his father, Salman started his job in the company as a cashier before venturing into Sales & Marketing. He then went on to lead the company to new heights on which the company continues to grow till date. Sherif Travel and Cargo Services has been awarded the highest revenue contributors by British Airways, Lufthansa, Air India, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. From Chennai, he expanded the company, developing a strong PAN India network and has been instrumental in growing the tourism industry over the years.

Ukraine International Airline (UIA) has started operating its first non-stop scheduled connection from Kiev to Delhi from May 1, 2018. The flights are being operated on Boeing 767, providing passengers with options of three class configuration. Currently UIA will operate its flights thrice a week and the fourth frequency will be added to the operations on June 7, 2018. Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC group, GSA for Ukraine International Airline, said, “This historic step will bridge the gap between the two nations and tourism sector will witness about 20-25 per cent growth by the end of 2019.”