Tag Archives: Pune

Lemon Tree Hotels will be operating 85 hotels with 8,674 rooms across 57 cities by FY2021, informed Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels and Director, Carnation Hotels. He said, “This year, we have enjoyed very high occupancy, close to 79 per cent. We have opened a few properties this year, including Dehradun, Pune, Siliguri and Morjim. We should be able to open an owned hotel in Mumbai, followed by Kolkata. Then we should be able to open a managed property in Kalina, Mumbai.”    

Lemon Tree Hotels has announced the formal opening of Lemon Tree Premier, City Center, Pune. Comprising over 7,000 sq ft of modern banquet space, including large conference rooms and an open business centre, for meetings and events, this is its first ‘premier’ property in the state of Maharashtra and second ‘owned’ hotel in Pune city. Speaking on the launch, Mahesh Aiyer, Sr Vice President-Operations (South & West), Lemon Tree Hotels, said, “We are pleased to open our second and most anticipated property in the heart of Pune city. Known for its landmarks as well as noteworthy businesses, educational institutions and manufacturing companies, Pune has always been an important nerve centre of Indian culture and economy. With this hotel opening, we further strengthen our footprint in this demand-dense market. We expect to make a mark by offering a high-quality stay experience with our impeccable service and great price.”

Jet Airways is set to commence daily non-stop services from Pune to Singapore starting December 1, 2018. The new service will make Jet Airways the first airline to connect Pune directly with Singapore. The flight from Pune to Singapore, 9W 22 will depart Pune at 05:10 hrs (IST) and arrive in Singapore at 13:15 hrs (LT). On the return leg, flight 9W 21 will depart from Singapore at 21:00 hrs (LT) and arrive in Pune at 00:05 hrs (IST). To celebrate the launch of the new flight, Jet Airways has announced special ‘introductory’ return Economy fares from Pune, starting at Rs 23,999 only, as also a Premiere fare of INR 66,999. Guests can book tickets and enjoy attractive savings with these special fares, with the sale from October 24-31, 2018. These inaugural fares are applicable for journeys commencing from December 1, 2018 onwards. Raj Sivakumar, Senior Vice President–Worldwide Sales & Distribution, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways will be the first Indian airline to provide direct connectivity between Pune and Singapore. Singapore has seen over 36,000 visitor arrivals from Pune in 2017, which is the highest for an Indian city without a direct flight. The launch of this new non-stop, daily service will benefit both leisure and business travellers, as Singapore is one of the most popular destinations for tourists from Pune.” The new frequency will offer guests from Pune convenient connections to Auckland, Bangkok, Brisbane, Jakarta, Denpasar-Bali, Hanoi, Phuket, Jinjiang, Medan, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Manila, Nadi, Penang, Perth, Phnom Penh, Shanghai, Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City, Surabaya and Sydney through two-way flights operated by codeshare partners, via Singapore.  

After successful shows in seven cities across the country, the concluding Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) of 2018 opened at JW Marriot Hotel Pune with over 600 attendees. The first day of the event was inaugrated by GB Srithar, Regional Director – South Asia & Middle East, Singapore Tourism Board; Sunil VA, Regional Vice President – ISC, Oman Air; Sanjay Rao, Aviation Consultant; Vishal Bhatia, Country Manager – India, VisitBritain and Dev Karvat, Founder – TrawellTag & CEO, Emerging Markets, Covermore Group.  

Marking a milestone of being the first airline to launch Lucknow-Goa and Lucknow-Pune sectors to its network, IndiGo has announced the introduction of its maiden flights effective July 2018. IndiGo will operate a daily non-stop flight between Lucknow-Goa-Lucknow and Lucknow-Pune-Lucknow respectively. Continuing the low-cost carrier’s expansion in the domestic skies, IndiGo’s average daily departures will now be 25 flights out of Lucknow to 13 destinations. The introduction of these flights will further strengthen the airline’s operations, and will provide enhanced connectivity between Lucknow and other key cities with all-inclusive fares starting from Rs 3999. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to announce the launch of these two sectors from Lucknow, which will further provide more flexibility of choice to our customers. We are providing affordable fares on these new routes for 6E travellers. It is our constant endeavour to provide the best travel experience to our customers, as IndiGo continues to offer them on-time, courteous and hassle-free service and an affordable flying experience always.”

Thomas Cook (India) has identified Maharashtra as a significant growth market for its foreign exchange business and to leverage this opportunity, it has opened a branch at Hinjewadi, Pune. Hinjewadi, one of the India’s largest Special Economic Zones (SEZ), is home to India’s corporate houses and MNCs, including top IT majors. Via its new outlet, the company aims at harnessing this significant yet underleveraged opportunity for its foreign exchange business. The new branch takes the total foreign exchange network for the company in Pune to six and and 30 in Maharashtra. The outlet will also offer prepaid travel cards. Thomas Cook India also has a forex app. Mahesh Iyer, Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, “Maharashtra has been identified as a key source market and Pune is a strong growth driver that continues to deliver over 30% YoY for our Foreign Exchange business. We have hence selected the prime location of Hinjewadi for our new outlet in Pune- its viable catchment of consumers across families, young professionals and business travellers offers us significant opportunity.”  

Israel Ministry of Tourism has joined hands with Ola cabs in India to collaborate on a two-week contest that will run on the Ola app which is valid for its Mumbai and Pune users only. The Ola users who undertake the maximum number of rides during the two weeks period and use code ISRAEL stand a chance to win a free trip to Israel for three nights or four days. Utilising Push notifications, in-App promotion, e-mailers , Ola Website and their Social Media pages, the ride-sharing company will promote the contest. Talking more about the association Hassan Madah, Director – Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines said, “Ola is one of the largest taxi services in India and have a large user base, especially in metro cities. Today, many urban dwellers use the services of taxi hiring in big cities as it is convenient. We are always thinking of distinct ways to promote Israel and felt this association with Ola cabs will help us reach Ola’s over 80 lakh users in Mumbai and Pune. We look forward to creating more awareness of the beautiful destination among Ola users so that they can plan a trip soon to Israel.” Israel has welcomed close to 10,000 Indian travellers between January and March, resulting in a 15% increase in Indian tourists arrivals compared to the same period in 2016. With the recent addition of Air India’s direct connection from Delhi to Tel Aviv, Israel hopes to witness one lakh Indian tourist arrivals in 2018.

AirAsia India has announced the induction of its 18th aircraft and the introduction of four new routes connecting Kolkata. The 18th aircraft will be stationed in Kolkata, which is also the third base for AirAsia India, connecting it to Imphal, Pune, Vizag and Guwahati, in addition to increasing the frequency of flights between Kolkata and Bagdogra. Source:UNI

Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) and The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco hosted a joint event in Delhi. The occasion was graced by His Excellency Mohamed Maliki, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco, along with the senior management of Cox & Kings Ltd. The event showcased Moroccan culture and various tourist attraction in Morocco from the imperial cities to stunning beaches. “I’m honoured to co-host the travel agents event together with CKGS, which gives us opportunity to promote the Kingdom of Morocco as an Authentic and Exotic destination and showcases the numerous Tourism potential it has. Foreseeing growth and significance of the Indian tourism market to Morocco, we are also planning to open of a full-fledged Moroccan National Tourism Office in Delhi very soon.” said His Excellency, Mohamed Maliki. CKGS has recently opened Morroco Visa application centres in different cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Indore. Centres in more cities will be opened shortly. “We provide visa application services to Indians travelling to Morocco through our various offices in India. we have taken one more step further to promote Indian outbound travel to Morocco by partnering with The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco for this event.” said Venku Murthi, Chief Operating Officer, CKGS.

Seychelles Tourism Board is set to conduct roadshows at Kolkata, Pune and Bengaluru. The pre-fixed meetings format which was introduced last year will continue this year as well. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, says, “Last year’s roadshow allowed top agents to meet all partners in a quick pre-fixed meeting of 15 minutes each in a round-robin flow. This no-frills format focused on serious business generation and ensured that every agent invited could spend quality time with every partner from Seychelles.” For 2018, the tourism board plans to conduct workshops with its key B2B partners in cities of Raipur, Indore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. “We will also continue to meet and educate agents in main cities that will include Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. We plan to support tour operators with incentive-based trainings to encourage bigger numbers to Seychelles,” Francis adds. Seychelles Tourism Boards recently hosted an appreciation evening in Mumbai to acknowledge high performers from the travel trade in association with Air Seychelles. India emerged as the seventh-largest source market for Seychelles with an arrival of 13,518 tourists from India in 2017 which indicated a 23 per cent growth compared to 2016. In 2018, the tourism board expects a similar percentage growth.