Cox & Kings has partnered with RBL Bank Ltd to launch the ‘Save Now Travel Later’ programme to suit every budget. In this latest offering ‘Save Now Travel Later’, travellers get an opportunity to meticulously plan their finance by opening a Recurring Deposit account with RBL Bank. This programme has been designed keeping in mind that the traveller gets an opportunity to plan their Holiday one year in advance. Karan Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox & Kings said,” ‘Save Now Travel Later’ is a well-thought programme launched keeping in mind the fluctuating market rates. Travellers can now through instalments book their future trips at today’s price with minimal or no effect on their planned travel budget.” The interest accumulated on the EMIs will be refunded back to the customer by way of a crossed cheque to be paid in favour of that customer. Rana Vikram Anand, Head – Products & Segments, Branch and Business Banking at RBL Bank said “At RBL Bank, the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We are excited to join hands with Cox & Kings to launch this innovative new product in the market. The “Save Now Travel Later” offering fulfils the travel aspirations of the growing Indian consumers by enabling them to take charge of their finances in a systematic and convenient manner.” A passenger can also cancel the trip in case of contingencies with NIL cancellation cost, if intimated within 9 months of opening the account.

There were 26,100 visitors from India during December 2015, an increase of 15.5 percent over December 2014. This was the highest ever visitation in any single month from India to Australia. The total arrivals for the calendar year 2015 were 233,100, an increase of 18.6 per cent over 2014. This makes India the 8th largest inbound market for arrivals for the year 2015. In the year ending December 2015, 68 per cent of Indian visitors visited Australia for leisure (158,500). Other visitors travelled for business (26,400), short-term education (14,800) and other purposes (33,500). Leisure visitors are on holiday (60,500) or visiting friends and relatives (98,000). The Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) is forecasting 245,000 visitors from India for Jun 2015 – Jul 16, a 12 per cent increase over 2014-15. Arrivals from India are expected to perform well with an average annual financial year growth rate of 7.2 per cent through to the financial year 2021-22. For the year 2015, Indian visitors contributed over A$ 1.1 billion to the Australian economy, an increase of 38 per cent over the previous year. India is the 10th largest source market in terms of expenditure. Average spend for Indian visitors was A$ 5,185. For the year 2015, Indian visitors spent a total of 14 million nights in Australia, an increase of 38 per cent over 2014. Australia is targetting Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore among India’s primary markets and Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad under secondary market. Participants in the Aussie Specialist Program are all identified as strongly promoting and developing Australia as a holiday destination. As of December 2015, ASP figures were as below: Total qualified ASP agents: 2,500 As of December 2015, agents …

Air India operated the longest all-women crew flight from New Delhi to San Francisco on March 6, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The “historic” New Delhi – San Francisco flight had 14 crew members and four pilots, all women. The flight left on March 6 and will return on March 8, reports PTI. Besides, the national carrier today said it would be operate over 20 all-women crew flights in domestic routes on March 8 to commemorate International Women’s Day. Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani had said that the flight to San Francisco on March 6 will be a symbol of “women empowerment”. “It will be a historic flight and the longest to be operated by all-women crew,” Lohani had said. The state-run airline has around 3,800 women workforce of the total 27,500 people with 20,500 of them regular. Duration of the flight would be more than 15 hours. According to him, the airline has immense respect for women and everyone associated with the flight, including pilots, engineers and those at the gate would be women. Every year, Air India operates all-women flights to celebrate the international women’s day.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has announced the launch of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, a global collection of unique and independent stay experiences. The Unbound Collection by Hyatt will include a portfolio of new and existing upper-upscale and luxury properties that will maintain a distinct character while providing guests and owners Hyatt’s award-winning customer loyalty program, robust operational and marketing resources and trusted, quality brand. The properties within The Unbound Collection by Hyatt – which will include historic urban gems, contemporary trend-setters, boutique hotels, resorts, and more – will have their own individual brand identities, free from constraint or convention. “The Unbound Collection by Hyatt provides us with a myriad of opportunities to grow, not only in new markets, but also in places we know our guests want to go. The collection of properties will allow us to reach the modern traveler who seeks one-of-a-kind experiences, but also wants the reassurance and loyalty program that comes with our brand,” said Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. The Unbound Collection by Hyatt launches with properties around the world, including The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas; the Hôtel du Louvre in Paris, France; the Carmelo Resort & Spa in Carmelo, Uruguay; and the Coco Palms Resort in Kauai, Hawaii, which is expected to undergo a revitalization and re-open in spring 2018. Future hotels in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt will be equally story-worthy, whether it be through a fascinating past, an exclusive location, famous architecture and design, or an award-winning dining experience. “We are committed to creating a portfolio that works for owners and provides them with flexibility, agility, and support, all while accentuating the best of each property and …

After signing an MoU with Rwanda recently to promote bilateral tourism from and into India, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) might also be looking at it as the venue for its upcoming annual convention that will be held in August or September of this year. As part of the protocol, it is in talks with a couple of destinations for this and one of them is Rwanda, hints Zakkir Ahmed, President of TAFI. “We will be able to announce the destination only by March end or early April. Our MoU with Rwanda includes not just outbound but inbound as well. It is not very well-known to tourists in India. So we will help them do some promotions through our members and familiarization tours. If possible, we will also do our convention there,” he says.

Dropping Kochi in favour of Mumbai, Tourism Selangor tweaked the schedule of its four-city sales mission with Tourism Malaysia and decided to tap it along – making its debut into Mumbai. Tourism Malaysia led its sales mission to India and Sri Lanka between February 25 and March 3, 2016 which covered Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The dates were decided keeping in mind the peak travelling season from May to July. Noorul Ashikin Binti Mohd Din, General Manager, Tourism Selangor, who was leading the mission in Mumbai, confirmed that it was the first time they were visiting this market individually. She said, “Mumbai is important for us and we didn’t want to miss it. Kuala Lumpur and Genting are regular destinations for Indians but there’s more to see and agents should know about them. We feel it’s better to come alone as it gives more exposure.”

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Government of India, flagged off two new trains in the service of the nation through video-conferencing today. The first one is a new Express train viz. 15623/15624 Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi (Jodhpur) Express(Weekly) and the second one is a new Passenger service viz. 75713/75714 Siliguri-New Coochbehar DEMU (six days a week) on the newly constructed New Coochbehar-Changrabandha section. Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways, Government of India, was also present at the occasion. Prabhu says that this was a long-standing demand of the people of North-Eastern region to provide train services in these areas. He said that the connectivity through DEMU train between New Coochbehar and Changrabandha in West Bengal will benefit all sections of the society including daily-passengers and businessmen. He adds that the other train service i.e. the Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express will not only connect North India from North East India but will also help pilgrims visiting Kamakhya Temple in Assam. This train will reach Bhagat Ki Kothi station by passing seven states of India. Prabhu informs that this is a historic day and Indian Railways will work to the maximum extent possible to provide better rail transportation to the people of India.  

ixigo, in partnership with OYO Rooms and Cleartrip, launched ixibook, an in-app booking platform which will allow travellers to make bookings for flights and hotels within its app without being redirected to a third-party app or website. ixigo has collaborated with Cleartrip, and OYO Rooms, as its launch partners for flights and hotels respectively. Stuart Crighton, CEO, Cleartrip and Ritesh Agarwal, CEO, OYO Rooms said that this is the first-of-its-kind paradigm where an online travel agency and meta-search collaborate closely to create a better user experience and the travel agency will be able to expand their reach to engage leisure travel enthusiasts. On the launch, Aloke Bajpai, ixigo Co¬founder and CEO said, “This is a first of its kind innovation in the Indian travel market. With ixibook, we will deliver a much smoother customer experience for ixigoers and enhance conversions for our partners by allowing users to book with them natively within our app. We expect to move over 30 per cent of our flight and hotel bookings to ixibook within the next few months, as well as add more partners to ixibook later this year.” The app is currently available on andriod and an iOS version will be launched soon. The app allows a user to book a flight or hotel in just one tap , enabling direct booking and saving the  user’s time by shortening the conversion funnel.

India continues to be the number one source market for Bhutan. With the latest regional arrivals touching 1,09,052 demonstrating a growth of 57 per cent over last year, India remains as the biggest market for both regional and overall arrivals. As part of its India agenda, Tourism Council of Bhutan has focused on Gujarat as one of the key source markets to enhance its Indian footprint in the year 2016, through a road show targeted at key travel agents in Ahmedabad. This would be the first of many initiatives to tap the Gujarat market. Damcho Rinzin, Head, Marketing and Promotion Division, Tourism Council of Bhutan, says, “As a leading international tourism destination, Bhutan is seeking to diversify its source markets and attract new visitors. Countries like India are emerging more and more in the world outbound tourism sector, and Bhutan believes it could offer a special proposition to visitors from India. Further, international travelers to Bhutan are lured by the myriad of offerings that include heritage, culture, natural beauty and a range of quality world class hospitality and tourism industry which make a strong proposition for Bhutan as a destination.”

VisitBritain opened doors to its annual flagship event ExploreGB. Being held in Liverpool this year, the event providing 300 British & Irish tourism suppliers and destinations with an invaluable opportunity to meet and do business with up to 320 hosted international travel buyers from 40 countries. This two day event will be followed by 15 different familiarisation trips making the most exploring great Britain. A delegation of over 20 Indian buyers is also part of the event this year.