Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has tied up with OYO Rooms to offer standardised accommodation and a convenient booking platform to rail travellers. OYO Rooms will power the IRCTC hotel-booking page, offering their inventory and promise of standardizsd amenities to Rail passengers. Speaking on the tie-up, CMD, IRCTC Dr. A.K.Manocha said, “We are committed to drive efficiencies and enhance our service through innovation. OYO Rooms has propelled the hotel market in India towards new horizon and pioneered the standardisation of affordable hotel-rooms. This partnership contributes another chapter to the successful narrative of Made in India initiatives and how tech-enabled solutions will power the next wave of innovation. We have made the necessary technology integrations and will be actively communicating about this newly available option through e-mailers, information on e-tickets so that our travellers can explore and utilise these services.” Abhinav Sinha, COO OYO Rooms said, “We are honoured and delighted to power the hotels-booking engine of IRCTC and serve Indian railway passengers. With this tie-up IRCTC customers will have ready access to OYO’s inventory of predictable, standardised and affordable hotel accommodation, across 170 cities in India. As India’s widest and largest network, we feel confident of catering to the passengers’ needs and look forward to making this alliance a great success.” He added, “OYO Rooms was conceived with a vision to change the way travellers view out-of-home stay. Our aim is to deliver home-like comfort at affordable prices so that wherever you may be travelling to, you would want to stay at an OYO booked through IRCTC-OYO network. The first step towards fulfilling this mandate was to expand our footprint to provide the comfort of a wide network. …

Starting tomorrow, February 26, 2016, the e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) facility will be extended to 37 more countries, bringing the total count of countries under the scheme to 150. The new 37 countries included in e-Tourist Visa scheme are Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cote d’lvoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Iceland, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Moldova, Namibia, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The e-TV facility was launched by the Government of India on November 27, 2014. Till now the scheme has been extended to 113 countries at sixteen Indian airports designated for providing e-Tourist visa service. Over 7.50 lakh Visas have been issued under the scheme ever since it has been launched. On an average 3,500 e-Tourist Visas are being granted daily to foreign nationals.

As a part of its marketing development strategy, the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad. The DOT, Philippines successfully conducted the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in the cities of Pune and Ahmedabad on February 22 and 24, respectively. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines, affirmed that India is an important source market for the Philippines with 74, 824 Indians visiting the destination last year, which was a 22.36 per cent year-on-year increase. Overall, the Philippines expect to welcome 100,000 Indian tourists by 2017. VPA 2016 campaign’s aim is to drive excitement among travellers so that they revisit the country in 2016 for more fun and adventure and to garner fabulous memories to cherish.

Visit Scotland gathered its top tour operators and travel trade associations for a roundtable discussion in Mumbai on the sidelines of its three-city roadshow to help push numbers and get feedback from them. Explaining the reason behind this initiative, Vineet Lal, Senior Market Manager (Long Haul & Emerging Markets), Visit Scotland, said, “We along with Etihad Airways met a lot of our top trade partners and travel trade associations in Mumbai to look at how we can increase the volume and value of the Indian market to Scotland. A lot of the conclusions were around the ability to communicate what Scotland has to offer, communicating Scotland’s top experiences and also working on a program of education both in Scotland and in India so that people on both sides understand how to do business with each other.” The Visit Scotland delegation, that includes seven Scottish suppliers, is in India on its India Business Development Mission to encourage the development of Scotland products among the travel trade in India. It was in Mumbai on February 22 and will travel to Chandigarh on February 23-24, followed by New Delhi on February 25-26. Mumbai saw around 100 attendees at Scotland workshop and around 50 at the networking dinner.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) is going to have its convention in Khajuraho from April 8-11, 2016, in partnership with Madhya Pradesh Tourism. Jyoti Kapur, President, ADTOI, says  that the curtain raiser for the convention will happen on March 2, 2016. Sanjay Aggarwal, VP, ADTOI, says that the theme of the convention, sessions and number of delegates will be announced on the same day. It was further revealed that the approximate cost for the package for 3N/4D trip is 7000/- which includes train travel from Delhi to Jhansi by Shatabdi Express; travel by road to Khajuraho; stay and sightseeing.  

The Government of India is mulling a proposal to open up five islands of Andaman and Nicobar to tourists to promote them as eco-tourism destinations. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar reportedly said that during his recent trip to Andaman and Nicobar he explored the potential for developing five islands from tourism perspective. “I went to the place recently to meet people. It is 94 per cent forest and rest is Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). The place is so beautiful it can easily beat Thailand and Phuket… But due to our policies we could not open it for public. “We have prepared a plan and we are working on it to develop five islands of the place for eco-tourism without disturbing their forests,” he said while taking part in a budget programme of AajTak. The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago comprises more than 500 islands, many of which are uninhabited and restricted. The minister said a group of five ministries is collectively working on the concept of island development to make them tourism destinations. (Source- PTI)

The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines is conducting the ‘Visit the Philippines Year (VPA) 2016’ roadshow for its travel trade partners based in Ahmedabad on February 24, 2016. The 25-member delegation is led by Raymond Glen A. Agustin, Chief Tourism Operation Officer, Market Development Group- Russia, India & the Middle East, DOT Philippines. The delegation comprises of hoteliers, resorts, spas, and representatives of tour attractions, interacted with over 100 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. The roadshow, also held in Pune on Feb 22, included interactive B2B sessions, educaion programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries in these cities. Speaking at the event, Raymond Glen A. Agustin affirmed that India is an important source market for the Philippines with 74,824 Indians visiting the destination last year, which was a 22.36 per cent year-on-year increase. Overall, the Philippines expect to welcome 100,000 Indian tourists by 2017. VPA 2016 campaign’s aim is to drive excitement among travellers so that they revisit the country in 2016 for more fun and adventure and to garner fabulous memories to cherish. “In order to strengthen co-operation between DOT and our important business partners in the Indian travel industry, several promotional activities such as roadshows, taxi branding, participation in fairs and exhibitions and Fam trips have been carried out and further activities will be organized during this year,” added Glen. As a part of its marketing development strategy, Department of Tourism, Philippines has recently branded 100 radio cabs in Pune and Ahmedabad.  

Jet Airways is expanding its operations to Bangkok with the launch of new daily flights from its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. With the introduction of these new frequencies, the airline becomes the largest Indian airline flying between India and Bangkok. With effect from March 27, 2016, Jet Airways will launch a third daily frequency from Mumbai to Bangkok, making it the airline with the maximum number of daily frequencies between the two cities. Jet Airways will also launch a second daily service from Delhi to Bangkok from March 27, 2016, offering greater choice to guests travelling between the two capital cities. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to introduce additional frequencies from Mumbai and Delhi to Bangkok providing greater choice and convenience to our guests on these popular routes. Bangkok has been a popular destination for business and leisure travellers and demand on routes from India to Bangkok continues to grow. By adding more capacity to this key destination from our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi we aim to provide easy connectivity with convenient schedules linking to our wider domestic network.” Jet Airways will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests, a best in class in-flight product, warm service, and award-winning in-flight entertainment and cuisine.

Vinod Zutshi, IAS, Secretary, MOT, Govt of India, said, “MOT is contemplating on organising a Mega Tourism Investor’s Summit around July/August this year for promoting investments in tourism sector. The summit will witness participation of all important states coming with their incentives and packages. The summit will provide to the private investment, stakeholders within India and abroad a chance to cease the immense opportunity of investment in the tourism sector in India.” He said, “I urge all stakeholders to make use of this forthcoming Mega Summit to help us promote Incredible India and Make in India.” Speaking at the launch of the ‘Swachh Parayatan Mobile App’, Zutshi said tourism in 2016 has began on an optimistic note and the Ministry of Tourism is committed to carry on its juggernauts of new initiatives and drives in the coming days. International Branding and promotional campaign has begun. He added, “The forthcoming financial year will see a more aggressive marketing and promotional campaign from Incredible India all over the world. MOT has sanctioned tourism infrastructure projects over Rs 1,500 crore, in the past six months, which shall continue in the forthcoming financial year. We are hopeful that huge public investment of this nature will trigger and promote private sector investments in the tourism sector.”

IndiGo has added additional flights on its Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes to enable those stranded due to ongoing protests in Haryana to travel between the two cities. The airline operate two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on February 23. On February 22, the airline operated two flights on Delhi-Chandigarh and two flights on Delhi-Jaipur routes respectively. These supplementary flights will allow stranded passengers to travel between these cities, as rail transport is not fully operational and roads have been blocked by protestors.