Tag Archives: Mumbai

NYC&Company, New York City’s official, destination marketing organisation, is leading a tourism delegation to Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi from September 16-23 to promote travel to New York City. The tourism delegation is part of NYC & Company’s trade and media efforts to promote the “new” NYC in the Indian market. “New York City welcomed an estimated 283,000 visitors from India in 2015, reflecting a growth of 9% since the previous year.” said Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior Vice President Global Tourism Development. “The City maintains its position as one of the most desirable destinations for both business and leisure travellers from India.” In 2015, New York City welcomed a record 58.3 million visitors, an increase of 1.8 million visitors over a year ago. Visitation for 2015 comprised 46 million domestic and 12.3 million international visitors, both all-time highs. In 2015 a record 6.1 million meetings and conventions delegates visited the City’s five boroughs, contributing to the total 12.3 million business travelers that came to New York City. New York City is the nation’s number one big city destination, the number one port-of-entry for foreign visitors, and has the highest share of overseas visitation to the U.S. – approximately one-third. NYC & Company member businesses joining the delegation include Broadway Inbound, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises and One World Observatory, who will be conducting one-on-one meetings and workshops with various travel trade partners.

Thomas Cook India Limited’s education and training vertical, Centre of Learning, felicitated 270 students of the 2015-2016 batch at its fifth Convocation Ceremony held at the Indian Merchants Chamber, Mumbai. The ceremony was graced by the Chief Guest Craig Astridge, Regional Head, Marketing and Commercial Services, Asia-Pacific International Air Transport Association. Other guests at the event included Lokesh Matta – Regional Training Business Development Manager, South Asia at International Air Transport Association (IATA) along with Soraya Homchuen – Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Abraham Alapatt, President & Group Head – Marketing, Service Quality, Financial Services & Innovation, Thomas Cook (India), and Smeeta Gulvady,‎ Vice President & Head- Centre of Learning at Thomas Cook (India). The Centre of Learning Convocation Ceremony honoured its students who had successfully completed the Travel Professional Program, a Post Graduate Course in Travel & Tourism Management, Certificate Course in World Tour Management, IATA. Scholarship certificates and special prizes were awarded to top performers of Centre of Learning’s Travel Professional Program – a Post Graduate course in Travel & Tourism Management.

Effective October 30, 2016, Air China will fly four weekly non-stop flights between Mumbai and Beijing. The airline will operate Airbus A330-300 on this route. The flight CA890 from Mumbai will depart at 0230 hours and arrive in Beijing at 1130 hours four times a weeks. While CA889 will depart from Beijing at 1940 hours and arrive in Mumbai at 0100 hours.

Air India Express will connect Sharjah with Chandigarh and Tiruchirapalli (in Tamil Nadu) from September. The airline will introduce three non-stop flights per week each from Chandigarh (IXC) and Tiruchirapalli (TRZ), to add Sharjah International Airport, bringing the total number of its routes between Sharjah and Indian destinations up to seven. India is one of the United Arab Emirates’ leading trade partners, accounting for some 9.8 percent of the country’s total non-oil trade, buying 14.9 percent of the Emirates’ exports and 8.7 percent of its re-exports. The total volume of bilateral trade between India and the UAE is expected to increase from $60 billion in 2014 to $100 billion by the year 2020. India is also the largest single origin of investors for Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone and Sharjah International Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone). Air India Express has been expanding its services to destinations in the UAE, including daily Mumbai-Dubai, Mumbai-Sharjah, New Delhi-Dubai and New Delhi-Abu Dhabi routes, which it added earlier this year. According to the airline, the number of its weekly flights between India and the UAE increased from 107 flights to 146 flights per week before the summer. The low-cost airline currently operates five routes with a total of 15 weekly flights to Sharjah International Airport. Air India Express now flies direct to Sharjah from Kochi (COK), Kozhikode (CCJ), Mumbai (SAHAR), New Delhi (DEL), Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) and Varanasi (VNS. India is well connected to Sharjah, with Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia operating flights between Sharjah and 13 Indian destinations. Jet Airways, India’s second largest airline, operates direct daily flights on Sharjah-Kochi and Sharjah-Mangaluru (IXE) routes.

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has inaugurated Wi-Fi services at eight Mumbai Suburban Railway Stations in Maharashtra viz., Churchgate, Bandra, Bandra Terminus, Dadar Western Railway, Dadar Central Railway, Khar Road, Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak. The WiFi facility for the visitors and rail users of these eight busy stations of Mumbai Suburban Rail Network has been commissioned by a Railway PSU, RailTel in association with Google for providing high speed state-of-the-art world class internet experience to the commuters. It is being provided at a speed of 1 GBps. A total number of 318 access points, 120 access switches and 30 fibre switches has been installed at these eight stations to provide seamless fast WiFi to the huge number of commuters visiting these stations. In addition to eight stations being launched, RailWire Wi-Fi has been soft launched at eight more stations, Sealdah, Allahabad, Pune, Puri, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Chandigarh. They will be formally launched soon in different parts of the country. During the launch Prabhu said, railway stations are the places where the cross section of the society is available. This initiative is part of bridging the digital divide and providing high speed access network to all rail users. Once implemented this shall be one of the largest public WiFi project in the world. On the occasion of launch, CMD of RailTel said, “Our intent was to fulfill Indian Railway’s vision of providing access to high speed internet to railway passengers through our Optical fiber communication network.”

Tourism Authority of Thailand’s offices in Mumbai and Delhi are in the midst of a four-city roadshow. TAT Delhi began the roadshow with Raipur on August 18 and Bhubaneshwar (August 20) while TAT Mumbai will take the annual initiative to the travel trade in Hyderabad (August 22) and Pune (August 24). “We are taking the Thailand product beyond metros because we are also experiencing huge traffic and interest from these cities,” says Soraya Homchuen, director, TAT Mumbai office. “The focus of the roadshow will be new segments and new regions. In Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata we have already announced our focus on families, women-only holidays, bachelorette parties and luxury-seekers. We have already begun to see traction for new regions such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, Rayong, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan,” adds Homchuen. The Amazing Thailand roadshow will see over a dozen suppliers visit all four cities. Sellers will be briefed on each city’s unique needs and way of doing business, along with demand-related information, trends and connectivity to ensure that they are on the same page as the travel trade who will attend the roadshow. “The focus of the roadshow will be new segments and new regions. In Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata we have already announced our focus on families, women-only holidays, bachelorette parties and luxury-seekers in a clear shift away from bachelor parties and budget holiday makers. Additionally we have showcased and begun to see traction for new regions all over Thailand such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, Rayong, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan,” adds Homchuen. She and the team …

Brussels Airlines will commence flights between Mumbai and Belgium from March 2017. The Indian metropolis will be connected to Brussels Airport five times a week. Since last March, Belgium and India are no longer connected and Brussels Airlines is to change this as from March 2017. In collaboration with Star Alliance partner Air India, Brussels Airlines passengers can connect seamlessly on domestic flights to other Indian cities and regions. The Mumbai-Brussels flight schedule will allow connections to European, African and American destinations on the Brussels Airlines network. To operate the Mumbai route, Brussels Airlines expands its fleet with a tenth Airbus A330, with a Business Class and an Economy Class and the recently introduced Economy Privilege. Lars Redeligx, Chief Commercial Officer, Brussels Airlines, says, “The demand for direct flights for passengers as well as for cargo is high. With more than 50,000 passengers per year, Mumbai is the third most important intercontinental destination from Belgium. Furthermore, with this new route we can offer our guests smooth connections between Mumbai and the rest of Europe via Brussels.” Source: Aviation Tribune

Jet Airways will fly the largest aircraft in its fleet, the Boeing 777-300 ER, on the Mumbai-Amsterdam route with effect from Oct 30, 2016 to meet the growing demand on this key sector. Jet Airways is the only airline flying daily non-stop flights between Mumbai and Amsterdam. The Jet Airways’ Boeing 777 service offers a three-class configuration, comprising of eight First Class suites, 30 Premiere seats that open out into lie-flat beds, and 308 ergonomically designed seats in Economy. Jet Airways had commenced daily flights from Mumbai to Amsterdam on Mar 27, 2016. The capacity increase is in response to growing demand, particularly from business and corporate travellers. From Amsterdam, Jet Airways offers connectivity to 30 destinations across Europe and 11 destinations in the United States and Canada through its codeshare partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Our daily non-stop service connecting India’s commercial capital Mumbai and the key European hub Amsterdam has received excellent response since its launch. By deploying the 777-300ER aircraft, Jet Airways will be able to cater to the growing demand on this important sector at a time when trade and investment between India and Europe and North America is witnessing a healthy growth. The state-of-the-art wide body aircraft enables us to deliver a superior in-flight experience to our guests, along with the introduction of our signature First Class suites on this route.”

SriLankan Airlines has signed on board Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez as their brand ambassador. The letter of agreement was signed between SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ajit Dias and Jacqueline Fernandez on July 30, 2016, at St. Regis Hotel, Mumbai. With this collaboration it made her, the face of SriLankan Airlines and the brand continues to strengthen its presence in India. Speaking on the occasion, Ajit Dias, Chairman, SriLankan Airlines, said “We are delighted to have Jacqueline Fernandez as the Brand Ambassador for SriLankan Airlines. Jacqueline’s strong connect, passion towards Sri Lanka and being an iconic profile in Sri Lanka aligns her naturally with the brand, just like our other two brand ambassadors, Mahila Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.”

The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) successfully concluded its two-city roadshow in Bengaluru and Mumbai with a delegation of 30 sellers that included hotels, special event venues, DMCs, and airlines. The delegation was led by Nooch Homrossukhon, Director (Meetings and Incentive), TCEB, with the top management of the Meetings and Incentive department. “The agenda for this roadshow was to promote newer destinations catering to the premium segment such as the riverside properties and the Silverlake vineyard in Pattaya. We also want to talk about options for CSR activities that Indian corporate companies can participate in, in Thailand,” she said. TCEB also hosted an exclusive networking dinner for corporate clients in Mumbai after the roadshow. The bureau recently launched its own location-based mobile application for corporates called ‘Biz Thailand’ that helps them find restaurants, attractions, entertainment, hotels, meeting spaces and convention centres around them.