Tag Archives: Mumbai

Visit St Petersburg India announced the opening of its office in Mumbai. Located at the Russian Centre of Science & Culture at Peddar Road, the office was inaugurated by Elena Fedorova, Deputy Chair of the committee for Industrial policy & Innovation, Government of Saint Petersburg. The event was attended by delegates from St. Petersburg, MTDC, MCGM, TAAI, TAFI and leading travel agents. Evgeny Pankevich, General Director, Saint Petersburg City Tourist Information Bureau, said, “There has been an increase of interest in tourism from India to St. Petersburg and by the end of this year, we expect to record 1,00,000 Indian tourists to Russia which is an increase of 30 per cent. We see this as a good opportunity and therefore, we opened the tourism office in Delhi earlier this year and now we are here in Mumbai. This is a great moment to open the office as we are celebrating Days of St. Petersburg in Mumbai, marking the 50th anniversary of St. Petersburg and Mumbai’s sister –city status that was established in 1967.” The new office in Mumbai will give Visit St. Petersburg a strategic access to some of the most important source market regions in western and southern India.

The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) recently organised a two-day weekend programme for its members in and around Mumbai held at RMP foundation- UTTAN. The rejuvenating weekend was attended by 40 travel agents. ETAA organised team-bonding activities with the support of Adventure Holidays, followed by a knowledge session to help agents improve their business skill by renowned business coach R Muthye. Apart from music and dance, members also participated in a yoga session.  

Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority hosted its first roadshow in India in Mumbai at the St Regis Hotel. Around 18 delegates including Bahrain Tourism officials, Bahrain’s leading hotels and destination management companies participated at the event. Yousef Mohammed AlKhan, Director of Tourism Marketing & Promotion, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority said, “We are here in India to showcase Bahrain offerings in Mumbai and Delhi to tour operators and travel industry. We have had got good growth from the India market this year. We have been witnessing an increase in tourist numbers from India as compared to last year. We are also working closely with Gulf Air to increase the numbers from India. 2018 will be a crucial year for us as we are extremely focused on the Indian market now.” Currently, Bahrain Tourism is looking to tap cities where they have direct flights after which they will focus on other Indian cities. The destination also showcased new products at the roadshow like pro diving and water sports activities, adrenaline sports like indoor skydiving, cultural and historical offerings for Indian tourists.

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India has announced the dates for its annual meeting of aviation industry leaders with an interest in India. Now in its 14th year, the CAPA India Summit will be on January 30-31, 2018, in Mumbai. This year CAPA has added a third day dedicated to airports and airspace opportunities. Titled CAPA India Airport & Airspace Summit, this will be held on 1 February, 2018.  Part of the agenda is announcement of a series of strategic research reports by CAPA, including its annual outlook for Indian aviation in 2018-19. The association expects participation from every airline and airport operator in the country and an audience of close to 250 critical decision-makers from airlines, airports, investors and financiers, manufacturers and lessors, suppliers, travel companies and tourism boards.  

Air India is reportedly going to involve its core aviation assets packaged with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and AI-SATS for sale as part of its disinvestment process. Apart from that the non-core assets, which includes Air India building in Mumbai and other offices, will not be a part of the sale but part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV). Core aviation assets include aircraft, slots at airports and flying rights to various countries. Both Air India Express and AI-SATS are profit-making subsidiaries of Air India. The other Air India arms — profit-making Air India Air Transport Services and loss-making Air India Engineering Services — will be sold separately. The SPV will include Air India’s non-aircraft debt as well as non-core assets. Source: Economic Times  

In an attempt to cater to the growing travel demands across markets, Ezeego1.com has recently opened a series of eight new franchise stores across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Dhule, Uttarakhand, Guwahati and Amritsar. These stores will provide services like flight tickets, hotels, packages, rail holidays and cruise holidays through a single platform from a diverse mix of travel suppliers offering the best in class services. The company will provide the franchisee with an active marketing, technical and store development support. The marketing activity will include print and radio advertising, attractive and preferential commercials while the store development support will include store designing to reinforce the brand’s look and feel. Training and technical support will be provided to all franchisee staff to effectively address the changing technology and enhance customer interface. Neelu Singh, CEO and Director, Ezeego1, said, “Distribution is the key to success in the growing travel market and the opening of our new franchise stores in these markets will help us gain a foothold. Our offerings are curated from a slew of travel aggregators and we enable and distribute it through our platform.’’

InterContinental Hotels Group has partnered with SAMHI to rebrand approximately 2000 rooms (operating and under construction) within its India hotel portfolio, to Holiday Inn Express® hotels. The recently signed portfolio comprises 14 hotels, including 10 open hotels across key cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The additional four hotels are under construction. The signing sees IHG grow its pipeline by 41 hotels, positioning IHG as one of the largest players in India’s growing midscale hotel market. All hotels in the portfolio will be closed while they are being refurbished and upgraded with the latest design directives, to ensure the portfolio is fully representative of the Holiday Inn Express brand globally. The hotels will feature the next-generation design, several additional public areas and feature brand hallmarks to enhance guest service delivery. Commenting on the announcement, Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG said: “It is with great pride and excitement that we are announcing our partnership with SAMHI for conversion of their existing mid-market hotel portfolio in India to Holiday Inn Express. This is a significant move towards establishing IHG as a leading player in the midscale hotel segment in India, while we continue to build on our upscale and luxury offering in the country with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.” Jain added: “With this signing, we now have close to 60 hotels open and in the pipeline, across the Holiday Inn Brand Family. SAMHI is keen to accelerate Holiday Inn Express’ highly efficient operating model and engage the brand’s growing familiarity in the country. Holiday Inn Express is the rest and go hotel brand that delivers a …

Ezeego1.com has opened a new franchise store at Kalbadevi Road in Mumbai to cater to the growing travel demands in South Mumbai. Managed by Ravi Mahatani, the outlet will provide travel services from leading travel suppliers from India and overseas. Services like flight tickets, hotels, packages, rail and cruise holidays are provided on a single platform from a diverse mix of travel suppliers. Neelu Singh, CEO and Director, Ezeego1, said, “Distribution is the key to success in the growing travel market and the opening of our new franchise will help us gain a foothold in this market. Our offerings are curated from a slew of travel aggregators and we enable and distribute it through our platform.” Ezeego1 will provide the franchisee with an active marketing, technical and store development support. The marketing activity will include print and radio advertising, attractive and preferential commercials. Store development support will include store designing to reinforce the brand’s look and feel. Training and technical support will be provided to all franchisee staff to effectively address the changing technology and enhance customer interface.

Cox & Kings has opened its first Holiday Club store in Mumbai to cater to the increasing demand for holiday products. The centre, located at Dadar, is the fourth Holiday Club store in India with the other three in New Delhi. The stores aim to attract a diverse set of customers through innovative offers and customised solutions, and offer a range of domestic and international holiday packages. In keeping with recent travel trends, the company has forayed into niche segments such as Enable Travel for the physically challenged, Trip 360 for adventure enthusiasts and Getaway Goddess for the women-only travel segment. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said, “Central Mumbai is now the hub of retail activity and our Holiday Club store is perfectly positioned to engage with customers on a one-on-one basis, as they seek personal engagement in making sure they have a memorable holiday.” The Holiday Club stores will complement the existing points of sales that Cox & Kings has in Mumbai.  

Kuwait-based low cost airline, Jazeera Airways, inaugurated its daily flights to Hyderabad. Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will follow in early 2018 as the airline expands its network to serve its Indian sub-continent targeting the nearly 1 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait. Flight J9 608 departed November 16 at 18:40 hours from Kuwait International Airport and landed in Hyderabad at 01:35 hours. The return flight J9 608 will depart Hyderabad at 02.20 hours and arrive in Kuwait at 05.10 hours. The new evening route has a weekly capacity of 4,000 seats and allows passengers to conveniently enjoy a full day at their destination. To mark the special occasion, all 165 passengers flying from Kuwait to Hyderabad received a gift box of traditional Kuwaiti sweets. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways, said, ‘This is a proud moment for us marking the expansion of our network in to India. We are delighted to start with Hyderabad, a 400-year old city and a technology hub, bringing more choice to Indian travelers, connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. In addition, we offer for religious travellers connections to Taif in KSA, Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman. He further commented, “This new service will address surging travel demands with low cost fares at convenient frequencies for leisure, business or religious travel. India is a financial and tourist powerhouse and we are eager to capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.” SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “We welcome Jazeera Airways to Hyderabad and we are very happy to note that they have chosen Hyderabad Airport as their first Indian destination. We are confident that this will further boost the tourism potential between India and various …