India’s first tourism news channel, Travel TV has been gaining immense popularity since its inception in August 2015. This new way of viewing the news reaches over 500,000 industry professionals in their mailbox thrice a week and provides relevant news to better their business. Easily downloaded and effortlessly shared amongst peers, Travel TV is available on email as an attachment; WhatsApp, and through a mobile App. Focused on growing the industry, Travel TV provides relevant and timely news and information that can be easily forwarded amongst colleagues. This digital news format is gaining popularity across the world and subscribers are on an all-time high.

Bringing travel and tourism news closer to you and making it more easily accessible, Travel TV has launched mobile Apps for iOS and Android users. This free App is easy to use and can be downloaded in a few clicks. Viewing the latest news while on the move has now become much easier. The App will keep you connected with the newest developments in the industry and make sure you don’t miss out on anything.

Shangdong Airlines is now operating four flights per week from New Delhi to Kunming, Jinan, and Qingdao in China. Wang Shuai, General Representative of India, Shandong Airlines, said, “This is our new flight route. We now have four flights per week to Kunming, Jinan, Qingdao. Monday and Friday, the flights have been scheduled to fly to Kunming, Jinan. While on Wednesday and Sunday they have been scheduled to fly to Qingdao, Kunming.” Shandong Airlines started operations in India in November 2015, and is using the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which has 160 economic and eight business class seats. “The time for the Delhi to Kunming flight is four hours, while that of Delhi to Jinan, Qingdao flight is eight hours,” he said. Shuai added, “Our flight will arrive at Qingdao and Jinan in late night. Therefore, we provide free hotel for transit passengers. Passengers can take Shandong Airlines domestic flights in the next morning to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, almost all the large-medium cities in China.”

Sriram Rajmohan has been appointed as CEO and Managing Director of Club7 Holidays Limited with immediate effect. He is currently an Independent Director in Club7 Holidays Ltd and has been instrumental in securing relationship with various tourism boards, adding new corporate customers and growing the relationship with the trade partners. In the last two years of his association with the Centrum Group he has brought in tremendous value to the group through on-line visa and other travel products. Prior to joining Centrum Group, Rajmohan was the Group CFO of Kuoni Travel India.

ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be held from January 16-20 next year. “Singapore is honoured to host the next ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in 2017 with the theme – ‘Shaping our Tourism Journey Together’. This theme speaks to the importance of continual, collective efforts by ASEAN members to address challenges and opportunities as we jointly develop and grow the tourism industry in the region,” says Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board. To commemorate its 50th anniversary, ASEAN will also launch a year-long travel campaign to promote the region’s diverse offerings. Within the ASEAN Economic Community, Tourism is one of the priority sectors for integration by 2015, and to achieve this, ASEAN had adopted the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2011-2015. ASEAN will further build on this momentum and develop the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016-2025. “This will strategically transform our region into a competitive, sustainable, and more socio-economically inclusive and integrated tourism destination,” Yeo remarks. TRAVEX, a key component of ATF where sellers from ASEAN get to meet buyers from all over the world, will be held in Singapore from January 18-20, 2017.

OYO Rooms has crossed its one millionth hotel check-in. OYO Rooms presently operates in over 165 Indian cities through more than 4,500 hotels offerings 45,000 rooms. Having established its market leadership in India, OYO Rooms has also recently launched operations in Malaysia. Speaking on the occasion, Abhinav Sinha, COO, OYO Rooms, said, “OYO rooms was conceived with a vision to change the way travellers view out-of-home stay. We pioneered the transformation of unbranded hotels to offer a predictable, standardized and affordable experience to our customers. This latest milestone of crossing one million check-ins is yet another validation of the enthusiasm with which customers have responded to our offering.”

According to findings in the latest TripBarometer study, conducted on behalf of TripAdvisor by independent research firm Ipsos, shows that 76 per cent of Asian travellers want to ‘try something new’ this year (compared to 69 per cent of global travellers). 29 per cent Indian travellers are set to take a more adventurous trips in 2016. These findings are summarised in the new PATA Connected Visitor Economy Bulletin, highlighting six key travel trends for 2016. The TripBarometer study notes that one in four Asian travellers will travel solo while 21 per cent will opt for a cruise and one in five will look for adventure travel experiences. Indonesian travellers are the biggest thrill-seekers, according to the study, with 30 per cent planning to book an adventure travel holiday in 2016. Besides this, 29 per cent Thai travellers too will take more adventurous trips. Global economic uncertainties appear to be having minimal impact upon travel budgets. The study finds that one in three global travellers is planning to spend more on leisure trips this year. Although inflation contributes to rising travel costs for some, nearly half of those planning to spend more (49%) state that it’s because they and/or their family members deserve it – for Asian travellers, the proportion is higher with 52 per cent saying they will spend more because they feel they deserve it. Thirty one percent of travellers globally believe that such spending is an important contribution to maintaining good health and wellbeing. The PATA Connected Visitor Economy Bulletin is published regularly by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The TripBarometer study surveyed 34,026 consumers who are TripAdvisor website users or members, and 10,756 representatives from accommodation …

GoAir has started to commercially operate night flights to Port Blair Veer Savarkar International Airport. Its maiden commercial charter flight G8 1291 took off from Bengaluru at 23:15 hrs on January 20, and landed at Port Blair airport at 01:50 hrs. As a part of its charter operations, GoAir will operate three night flights in this sector in January, five night flights in February and six night flights in March. All flights will arrive at Port Blair from Bengaluru at 1.50 am and depart for Bengaluru from Port Blair VSI Airport at 2.20 am. Effective March 27, 2016 and as per its new summer schedule, GoAir will also start operating its first ever daily direct flights to Port Blair from Bengaluru.

The Department of Tourism (DoT), Government of Odisha, in its bid to attract domestic tourists from an important source state Uttar Pradesh, organised a roadshow in Varanasi to promote the state and its variety of tourism products. The roadshow provided information on Odisha Tourism to tour operators, travel agents, travel writers, etc. “Odisha is famous for its golden beaches, sprawling lakes, luxuriant forests, teeming wildlife, majestic temples & monuments, Buddhist sites, exotic handloom & handicrafts, primitive tribes, colourful fairs and festivals and the scintillating music, dances & cuisine which attract large number of tourists,” said Ashok Chandra Panda, Hon. Minister of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha. “Travel to Odisha is truly an amazing experience that attracts people from all parts of the world for its sculptural and artistic heritage. The Sun Temple at Konark, a UNESCO Heritage site, the Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri, one of the four cardinal centres for Hindus (Char Dhams) of India and temple city of Bhubaneswar are important and popular tourist destinations. The Buddhist heritage of Odisha comprising of Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri-Udayagiri-Langudi and Dhauli attracts tourists from overseas and domestic front,” he said. To attract domestic tourists from various parts of the country, Odisha Tourism is holding roadshows in different cities. It has already organised various roadshows last year and has planned to organise few more roadshows this year. It is a happy coincidence that one of such roadshow is being organised in this great city of Varanasi.

Vienna drew a record number of 40,355 Indians in 2015, accounting for 89,628 overnight stays. While the number of Indians visiting Vienna increased by 49.5 per cent over last year, the number of overnight stays grew by 38.7 per cent, according to Vienna Tourist Board. “We are delighted at the growing number of Indian travellers, largely comprising families, youth, honeymooners and those attending business conferences,” says Isabella Rauter, Vienna Tourist Board’s Head of Public Relations and responsible for media relations with India and Italy. Vienna continued to attract more people with tourist arrivals from around the crossed the 6.6 million mark, representing an increase of 6.1 per cent. The former capital of Habsburg Empire now prepares to welcome Indian travellers in much larger numbers in 2016. According to the data, the growth in Indian visitors to Vienna was among the highest after the Arabic countries and Taiwan. During 2015 overnight stays crossed the 14 million mark for the first time, representing a healthy 5.9 per cent increase of over previous year.