Tag Archives: Delhi

Vistara has launched a daily direct service between Delhi and Chennai and is set to double its frequency between the two cities from March 1, offering convenient same-day return options in both directions. Besides, the airline will fly daily direct between Chennai and Port Blair from March 1, and will further expand its operations from the city from March 25 with daily direct flights between Chennai and Kochi and double daily flights between Chennai and Kolkata. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara said, “Many of our customers had been waiting for us to bring ‘the new feeling of flying’ to Chennai, and we’re pleased to finally inaugurate our service to the city. We may have been late in coming to Chennai, but our aggressive expansion plan from the city truly signals its importance to Vistara. The new Chennai service would offer additional connections through Delhi to many additional destinations including Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bagdogra, and Guwahati.”

With a focus on the Indian market, SriLankan Airlines intends to increase its frequencies to 13 flights per week to Delhi and 14 flights a week to Mumbai. According to Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Country Manager, SriLankan Airlines, “We are keen on increasing the destinations and flight frequencies in India as the demand is constantly on the rise. With the new development ventures, we anticipate significant passenger numbers from our key contributors to inbound tourism traffic that includes India, China, Europe, Australia and the Maldives.” India has been a vital partner in SriLankan Airlines’ route network from the early days since it is Sri Lanka’s number one source of inbound tourist traffic. Today, the airline directly operates to 14 Indian destinations with a total of 135 flights a week. Weerasinghe adds, “The Indian government authorities and related state institutions have always been a firm supporter to all SriLankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism projects.”

South African Tourism (SAT) began its five-city roadshow from February 12-19 with Mumbai, followed by Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad. The 60-member strong participation from South Africa’s travel trade industry and scale is a reflection of the strong consumer demand witnessed from India. One of the key focus areas is to go create awareness about new destinations such as Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and the Drakensberg region. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, SAT, said, “The demands of Indian travellers are in a constant and rapid state of evolution. This makes cross sharing of insights, trends and observations between our Indian and South African partners extremely crucial. We have had South African products being tailored to suit these specific needs as a testament of the value proposition we see in the market.” Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle East/India/South East Asia, SAT, said, “We have always recorded an outstanding response from the Indian travel trade and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the positive impact this roadshow will have towards driving Indian traveller traffic to South Africa in 2018. We are also focusing on customising our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India.”  

The Ministry of Tourism is set to organise ‘Bharat Parv’ at the Red Fort, Delhi from January 26-31, 2018 as part of Republic Day 2018 celebrations to promote India’s rich cultural diversity and ensure wider participation of the public. The highlights of the event include display of Republic Day parade tableaux, performances by the Armed Forces Bands, a multi-cuisine food court, craft mela, cultural performances from different regions of the country and photo exhibition by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP). The cultural performances include choreographed tribal dances and music as well as performances by cultural troupes from different states. The food court will showcase street food from different regions while the craft mela with 50 stalls will display diverse handicrafts of the country. A live ‘Cookery Demonstration Area’ is being set up in the food court to promote cuisines of different states. The Bharat Parv event will be inaugurated at 5.00 pm on January, 26 and would be open for public till 10.00 pm. The event is open for public and entry is free with a valid identity proof.

Akquasun Group is set to go digital in terms of operations in 2018. Till now, the portal offered was an integrated system but going forward, the destination management company (DMC) plans to offer its travel partners its own inventory on the digital platform, informs Sujit Nair, Group Managing Director, Akquasun Group at the company’s Delhi roadshow. The DMC is currently conducting its four-city roadshow covering Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. The unique element of this year’s event is the partnership between Tourism Malaysia and Akquasun Group, in which the tourism board has partnered with the DMC to promote Malaysia in India. “We will be buying up our own inventory and offer the same on the online platform. We recently hosted a curtail raiser at IITT Mumbai for the same and the company will be coming out with a host of different technology tools useful for travel agents,” he said. As many as 40 partners from 18 destinations represented by the group participated at the roadshow. According to Nair, the market in Kolkata was very responsive with as many as 250 travel agents in attendance at the roadshow.

To reach out to the domestic market, Kerala Tourism is organising a string of Partnership Meets in Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi in the 1st quarter of 2018. At the Partnership Meet in Mumbai on January 09, Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom, Government of Kerala, said, “To ensure the accomplishment of an ambitious target of a 100% increase in arrival of foreign tourists and 50% in domestic tourists in five years, a tourism regulatory authority has been formed. This would help put a stop to any unhealthy practices and guarantee better intervention of the Tourism Department through scrutiny and a licensing system.” The new Kerala Tourism Policy also forms a major highlight of this year’s domestic campaign. The revamped fare with an array of new tourism products was showcased at Mumbai today.

Travkart, a unit specialising in fixed departure and themed holidays becomes the preferred sales agent (PSA) for Madame Tussauds Delhi. The attraction opened to the public on December 1, 2017.  Visitors can buy tickets on Travkart website and mobile app. Manheer Singh Sethi, Co-founder, Travkart, said, “We are extremely delighted to be the first online travel platform to have been selected as a PSA by a globally renowned brand like Madame Tussauds for the launch of its first-ever attraction in the country. Our platform offers customers a wide selection of activities and must-see places they can book, and with the addition of Madame Tussauds, it’s a great chance for visitors as well locals to enjoy this new destination in the city.” The announcement marks a significant milestone for Travkart and allows the platform to build on its robust value proposition by expanding the ambit of its offerings.

Jyoti Mayal, Director of New Airways Travels (Delhi) who was previously a Member of the Managing Committee at TAAI, has been elected as the Honorary Secretary General of the association. Mayal says, “There are a lot of changes that need to be done at TAAI. To start with, we need to change the memorandum which has been long pending and that is the first thing that I am going to do. I was with the airline council earlier, and I need to continue that job because our main concern is how the airlines are dealing with us on GST.”

Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts organised a two city roadshow in Mumbai and Delhi to strengthen the brand’s ties with the Indian travel trade fraternity. The roadshow was part of Jumeirah’s newly enhanced focus on India as a source market for its hotels in the UAE, Europe and the Maldives. Speaking at the Mumbai roadshow, Linda Lewis, the Vice President for Global Sales Middle East and Asia Pacific, Jumeirah Group, said, “The India market has witnessed a considerable rise in outbound luxury travel in recent years. Given that this demographic seek superior travel and stay experiences; our current portfolio includes hotels and resorts within a number of favoured locations; and we are one of the world’s most awarded luxury hotel brands, Jumeirah is well placed to fulfill the requirements of the Indian luxury traveller, including families, couples, the MICE industry and those seeking destination weddings and honeymoons.” Jumeirah recently signed a direct connectivity partnership with Make My Trip India, providing a easy booking channel for Indian consumers who wish to book Jumeirah hotels around the world. Lewis added, “India is a key source market into the UAE and into a number of our other destinations including the UK and Maldives. We are focusing on expanding and consolidating our ties with the FITs and the luxury travel segment to reach out to a larger audience and gain a higher market share. MMT’s reach and presence in India goes above and beyond Tier-1 states. With this in mind, our visibility on this platform will help to increase brand awareness and gain new consumers.” Jumeirah Group has 11 hotels in the UAE and a presence across Europe, Middle East and Asia. While the Burj Al …

Delhi was declared the consolidated winner in the area of travel and tourism, according to a state survey conducted by World Travel and Tourism Council India Initiative (WTTCII) and Hotelivate. The Capital bagged the Destination Leader Award after an evaluation of 11 key parameters including state expenditure on tourism, tourist visits, presence of branded hotel rooms, GSDP per capita, effectiveness of marketing campaign, urbanisation, road and railway infrastructure, aircraft movement, ease of doing business, and intangible aspects. While it did lag behind in some areas, Delhi aced in most of the categories. Since the Northeastern states did not fare well as compared to other states owing to limited road and air connectivity, Sikkim was declared the winner in terms of overall performance.