Tag Archives: President

The newly rebranded Radisson Hotel Group announced its expansion plans at Hotel Investment Conference South Asia (HICSA) 2018. The company aims to expand its portfolio to more than 200 hotels in operation and under development by 2022 in South Asia. The group has already signed Radisson Blu Resort Visakhapatnam, Radisson Panipat City Centre and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson Agra in the first quarter of 2018. Radisson Gwalior opened last month and the group is on track to open another eight more hotels in India this year. “This is the most exciting period in our company’s long history,” said Katerina Giannouka, President, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group. “With the rebranding of our company, we are positioning Radisson Hotel Group for a bright future. India has been a key market for us for many years. We look forward to working with hotel investors, owners, developers and other stakeholders across the country as we accelerate the expansion of our portfolio to India,” added Giannouka. “With a robust performance, ahead of industry average and continued investment in technology and revenue driving platforms, we are optimistic of meeting our five-year goals. I am delighted that India is leading the way in Asia Pacific with a total of seven global brand offerings,” said Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

Vacations exchange platform and part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands, RCI added 11 newly-affiliated resorts to its exchange network in India in 2017. These additions include destinations that have been experiencing heavy tourist inflow in the past few years. They include Ananta Spa (Udaipur), Sterling La Vida (Goa), Palm Greens Club (Ahmedabad), Global family homes (Ladakh), Hawthorn Suites by Pacifica (Dwarka), Neon Lifestyle & Recreation Club (Nadiad), Valencia Group (Mount Abu), Sterling Kanha (Kanha), Sterling Wayanad (Wayanad), Krishna Bhumi Holydays (Vrindavan ) and Shivpuri Resort (Madhya Pradesh). “Vacationers today are looking for quality time with their families. At RCI, we believe in offering a complete experience be it luxury, adventure sports or just an invigorating experience. Through these associations, we are looking forward to reaching out to more travellers and leverage our strong network of affiliated resorts not just in India but internationally as well. Over the past year, we’ve added some exceptional properties to the RCI exchange network,” said Gordon Gurnik, President, RCI. “Through strategic partnerships with both new and existing affiliates, our 3.8 million subscribing members have thousands of options to choose from in sought-after destinations around the world when planning their next vacation,” says Sabina Chopra, Managing Director, RCI India.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) plans to inaugurate its Haryana and Punjab Chapter soon. This was informed by P P Khanna, President, ADTOI at the associations’s General House Meeting, recently conducted in Delhi. Giving a recap of the activities undertaken by the association in the last year, Khanna said, “We launched our revamped website in February 2018 which is linked with the website of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This will prove beneficial for the members of the association for their future business prospects. We will also launch our Chapters in Haryana and Punjab which will further enhance the growth of ADTOI. We have also launched an activity manual for 2018 for the reference of members. Thus, members can plan well in advance for all association events that shall be conducted throughout the year.”

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has declared 2018 as the ‘Visit Kashmir’ year. Speaking at the 2018 TAAI Convention in Srinagar, Sunil Kumar, President, TAAI, made the announcement before delegates. He said that as part of this initiative, the association would be aggressively promoting J&K to its diverse range of clients. Its website and letter heads would also carry a logo of ‘Visit Kashmir’ year all round the year.

Sabre Corporation has appointed Roshan Mendis as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of its Travel Network business. As CCO, Mendis will be responsible for leading global sales, sales operations and business development initiatives worldwide, and will play an instrumental role in driving Sabre’s global travel distribution business as it invests in a fast-forward approach to next-generation retailing and distribution. “Mendis has the vision, customer commitment and industry expertise to ensure that Sabre is ready to meet its customers’ needs today and well into the future,” said Wade Jones, President, Sabre Travel Network. “We conducted an exhaustive, global search and I’m not surprised that we found the very best leader and candidate from within Sabre.” A 20-year veteran of the travel technology industry, Mendis most recently served as Senior Vice President of Travel Network for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions where Sabre saw its 2017 bookings grow 9.8 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. Prior to this, he led the APAC region for Travel Network and was instrumental in the company’s acquisition and successful integration of Singapore-based GDS, Abacus International. Mendis will continue to be based in London.  

Tasaduq Mufti, Tourism Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, along with Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI),  welcomed the attendees at the 64th TAAI Convention in Srinagar on March 27. Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, was the chief guest at the event. The convention saw the registration of around 650 delegates and opened with a golf tournament at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar, followed by the formal inauguration at SKICC, Srinagar. The evening saw the attendance of ministers and senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir government as well as representatives of airlines and the tourism industry. Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the delegates and hoped that the convention shall bring with it more tourism for the state. “We have a lot of tourism products — from mountains, waters, culture, golf courses, pilgrimage and many other diverse products,” she said in her speech. Sunil Kumar said that the TAAI Convention has always brought tourists to the destination and it will do the same for the state. Saying that it’s the 8th TAAI Convention in Jammu & Kashmir, which has come after 30 years to the state, he assured that they will not take this much time again to come back.

Travel Tours, the flagship leisure travel brand of FCM Travel Solutions, has inaugurated their second retail and first franchise store at Salt Lake City, Kolkata. The store was inaugurated by Shravan Gupta, Executive Director – Leisure Businesses, FCM Travel Solutions and Sitaram Sharma, President, Bharat Chamber of Commerce & The Consular General of Belarus. With the launch of this store, FCM Travel Solutions now has 28 operational Travel Tours stores across India. The new Travel Tours store in Kolkata aims at redefining travel experience from the region by focusing on both tailor-made vacations and group holidays catering to different kinds of travellers in the city. Spread over 1200 sq. ft., the outlet at Salt Lake City will cater to needs of up-market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer a range of products and services – domestic and international flights, customised and group holidays, hotels, car transfers, visa, cruise vacations, honeymoon packages, adventure holidays and more. Commenting on the launch, Gupta said, “Our second store in Kolkata is a reiteration of our strategic intent at Travel Tours, FCM to expand our footprint across key markets in East India. Through this launch, we aim to provide unbeatable travel experiences to our patrons in an untapped market.”    

With a strong development pipeline and industry’s and developers’ confidence in its ability to deliver profitable partnership, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels has now set sight to reach the magical figure of 100 hotel properties by the end of 2018. Last year, the group added 13 new hotel and resort properties, including eight operational. Three of the new operational properties have come up in Karnataka at Bagalkot, Mysore and Shimoga. Two properties have opened doors in Madhya Pradesh that include Ujjain and Gwalior. Clarks Inn has also entered the state of Jammu & Kashmir with a property in Srinagar. Besides, the company has also established presence in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and has added a second property in Patna in Bihar. Commenting on the strong growth for the company last year, S N Srivastava, President & Co-founder, Clarks Inn Group of Hotels, said, “We have seen another year of stellar performance and growth in 2017 with as many 13 new properties signed up and eight new properties that have joined operation. Our total portfolio today stands at 84 hotel properties, including 43 in operation, spread over 18 states in India and one in Nepal.”    

India will add around 10 million jobs in the travel and tourism sector by 2028, according to a latest report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). WTTC forecasts that the total number of jobs related to tourism will increase from 42.9 million in 2018 to 52.3 million in 2028. India is currently the seventh largest travel and tourism economy in the world. Overall, the total contribution of the sector to the economy was Rs 15.2 trillion (US$234 billion) in 2017, or 9.4 per cent of the economy once its direct, indirect and induced benefits are taken in to account. Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC, said, “Travel and tourism creates jobs, drives economic growth and helps build better societies. This is particularly clear in India which is forecast to be one of the fastest-growing tourism economies in the world over the next decade, adding 10 million jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy by 2028.” “Looking to the future, India can strategically lead travel facilitation within the SAARC region by introducing a standard technological solution, modern technology and biometrics. This will enhance the travel and tourism economies in the region. The Indian aviation market is expanding with rapid advancement in connectivity within India. Indian airlines have booked 900 plus new aircrafts to add capacity and expand operations over next couple of years,” Guevara shared.

Skål International Delhi-125 will be hosting the club’s first wellness programme on April 15 at Nehru Park, New Delhi. The members will be able to enjoy various active and wellness activities based on health and age like nature walk, yoga and meditation and cycling tour, informed Ranjit Vig, Secretary, Skål International Delhi-125. Vig further added that this year, the club has witnessed an increase of 26 per cent in membership, making it the largest club. The announcement was made at a special dinner event hosted at Le Meridien Gurgaon. The gathering was also a way to boost the morale of one its members, Ajeet Bajaj, Managing Director, Snow Leopard Adventures and his daughter Deeya Bajaj who will be undertaking an expedition to climb Mt. Everest in April. Sharing details about the activities of the club, Vig added, “For the first time, Skål Delhi has formulated an events calendar to have a clear agenda for the year. The same has been shared with all the members to allow them enough time to plan and participate wholeheartedly.” The club has also strengthened its PR and communication arm by making inroads to various social media platforms, informed Sunil Ghadiok, President, Skal Delhi. He said, “This year we will be twinning with Washington, wherein like minded members will come together to find business opportunities, network and share the best business practices. An agenda for the same is underway and will be announced soon.” It was also noted that the CSR and wellness committees of the club have taken initiatives to support child education and NGOs.