Harish Chandra Gurnani, Owner of Hollywood (India) Travels, passed away today. A champion of the travel trade in Lucknow, Harish Gurnani started the first-ever travel agency in Lucknow in 1965. Well-known to the airlines, travel and hotel industry, Gurnani, popularly known as Hari bhai, was regarded with a lot of love and respected by the tourism industry in Uttar Pradesh.

Founded by Jerrin Jos and Satheesh Satchit, Verteil Technologies is a travel technology company that is transforming the 40-year old legacy airline distribution space with its retailing and distribution platform using the new distribution capability (NDC) standards promulgated by IATA. Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Chairman Emeritus of V-Guard Industries, has made an investment in this Kerala-based travel technology start-up Verteil Technologies as part of its Pre-Series A funding round. Verteil has on-boarded more than 26 airlines from around the globe, including Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Verteil operates from Kochi, Kerala and has an operating unit in Tokyo, Japan. A beneficiary of the vibrant start-up ecosystem in Kerala, Verteil has been backed by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC). The amount of the Pre-Series A Round was undisclosed. Verteil will use the money raised for onboarding more airlines into the platform and will invest further in technology to augment additional features to the current product.

VisitBritain is gearing up to host virtually its flagship global travel trade event ExploreGB from 1 to 5 March. It will bring together more than 350 global buyers to connect online with 350 tourism industry suppliers and destinations from across the UK to do business. Delegates can manage their own diaries across the five-day event with the virtual platform open daily from 06.00-23.00 GMT. Travel industry buyers from 20 countries are joining the event. More than 1000 pre-scheduled one-to-one virtual business meetings will take place during the event.

The Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh has received all the necessary clearances from the DGCA to become the state’s third licensed international airport and the latest operational airport in the country. The DGCA issued the airport the aerodrome license for public use. This will boost tourism in the region and facilitate travel on Buddhist circuit by providing direct aviation connectivity to the city where Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. Spread over 590 acres, AAI’s Kushinagar International Airport is ready to welcome commercial flights after receiving a 4C VFR license for day operations from DGCA. The airport is licensed for operating B737-900 type or equivalent aircraft.      

The Globus family of brands has curated a selection of 6 programmes titled Monograms India Discoveries to help travellers discover India. Varesh Chopra – Regional Director – Globus family of brands, says, “In our continuous interactions with our trade partners through 2020, they exhibited immense confidence in the idea of us offering experiences in India for domestic travellers. So we designed some of the best experiences to destinations within India.”

Goa grew to be the RevPAR leader in absolute terms, despite a decline of RevPAR by 33.3% in Q4 2020, making it the fastest recovering market in absolute terms. Jaideep Dang, MD, Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia, JLL, says, “We are already seeing signs of domestic business travel pick up in the new year. We expect that occupancies in business hotels to ramp up from March-April 2021 onwards.”

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will soon be visiting Ayodhya to review the progress of the developmental works that are being carried out to provide world-class facilities to tourists. He will visit spots and oversee the progress of projects which include expansion of Bhajan Sandhya Sthal, Queen Ho Memorial Park, Ram Katha Park, and beautification of Ram Kath Gallery, Ram Ki Paidi. Development works include widening city roads, construction of multilevel parking sites and revamp of bus and railway station.

Speaking on the sidelines of ADTOI’s annual convention at Kevadia, PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, said, “We should all go for ‘Vocal for Local’ and bring make all efforts to promote domestic tourism. Gujarat Tourism has developed Kevadia and it is one of the best upcoming MICE facility in the country. The city has everything – all amenities and great connectivity. MICE travel in India should be incentivised. This is the time to grab all corporates from India for events.”

EaseMyTrip is set to become the first Indian OTA to list on the local bourses as it prepares to launch a Rs 510 crorāe IPO by March end. It will look to utilise a surge in liquidity in primary markets that has led to blockbuster demand for IPOs in recent months. It could, however, face the uphill task of convincing investors at a time when āthe travel industry is struggling to ride out the adverse impact of the pandemic though news on the vaccine has raised hopes of a full

In order to revive film shoots in Jammu & Kashmir, a delegation of film-makers led by producer Mahaveer Jain met Nitishwar Kumar, J&K Principal Secretary to LG, to discuss challenges and opportunities. Also present at this meeting in Mumbai were filmmakers Ekta Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali.