With an objective to re-establish its connection with the travel trade in India and further entice Indians to visit Greece, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) has prioritised certain focus points for this market. Its aim is to touch base with the disruptive and ever-growing Indian travel trade associations and together explore opportunities. It will also share safety measures and travel guidelines that are being undertaken by Greece to ensure health and safety of all its visitors. Dimitrios Fragakis, Secretary General, remarked “Health first has been our imperative since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. And I am proud to say that we have been successful. The Greek government designed detailed health protocols, in consultation with the leading experts. The protection measures have been implemented professionally, consistently and credibly by the businesses and the Greek state, since the reopening of borders in July of 2020. My clear message as the Secretary-General of the Greek National Tourism Organisation is that this summer Greece managed to keep its visitors safe, by implementing all health protocols in tourism. The South Asian market, and in particular the Indian market, is a new dynamic and exciting field for the Greek Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourist Organisation. We are looking forward to enhancing our collaboration with the Indian market.” GNTO is working towards finding more lucrative opportunities to strengthen and expand their network in India and directly involve with travel communities to boost travel activities and position Greece on top of every Indian traveller’s bucket lists. Harris Theoharis, Minister of Tourism commented, “India is one of the emerging markets of high quality and importance on international level and it is one of the …

Chanchal Patel, Proprietor of Sewa Enterprises in Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, is among the many winners of this contest. He says, “Tripjack is the first B2B travel portal that has conducted this wonderful contest. I’m really enjoying this. I have been associated with them for many years now. They have very competitive rates for flights and hotels.” Top winners every week also get Jalesh cruise package, air tickets and hotels stays. Visit tripjack.com now!

With easing of restrictions across the country, 60% respondents say they will plan a trip domestically within the next 6 months, according to a report titled ‘Consumer Sentiment Index Report’ by InterMiles. Only 20% said they were wary of travelling within India, with 14% saying they would not cross domestic borders without a vaccine, and a meagre 6% said they do not currently have travel on their mind. It is based on responses from more than 7,500 InterMilers in India between June-end and August-end.

Teleporters Travel Solution, a new offering by Gurinder Bawa and Neeraj Sarna as Managing Partners, is set to be officially launched on October 17. Rajan Sehgal is Advisor for this venture, which focuses on engaging travel professionals across the country, both for sales and operations, to be able to use the resources, inventory and booking option on Teleporters and share revenue as per the business they generate. The platform allows people who are out of business or jobs to earn money.

IATO’s has initiates an all-India campaign ‘Save Tourism’ under the umbrella of FAITH whereby it has requested members to write postcards or inland letters to the Prime Minister of India immediately with messages about saving the tourism industry and its work force.

Sharing his views on whether travel will become more expensive, Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director of Thomas Cook (India), says, “Air fares haven’t jumped dramatically so far – it is too early to tell. But I don’t think prices are going to change dramatically, because all of us are responsible for inducing demand. So I don’t see air fares and hotel prices going up dramatically in the next 12 months – they may correct from where they are a little.”

IATO in association with TravTalk is organising a motivational session with renowned speaker Shiv Khera for its members as part of its skill development initiative. Scheduled to take place today at 11:30am, the webinar will focus on the topic ‘Turn Setback into Comeback’ and will touch upon various topics for the travel industry.

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) in association with Pride Hotels hosted its North India members at a physical event called ‘The Comeback’ – an example of creating a safe event in the current times. Sangeeta Manocha, Chairperson of ETAA North India, says, “This is the time to come back as the travel industry has started taking baby steps.” Saurabh Tuteja, General Secretary added that travel industry has gone through many ups and downs from time to time and will surely bounce back this time as well. Dinesh Kumar, Treasurer emphasized that keeping patience is the need of an hour. Praveen Ghai, Joint Secretary is hopeful that domestic tourism has a golden time ahead and international will follow. Punit Bhasin, Joint Secretary added that this is the time, when we need to forget the past and be more innovative in creating the golden time ahead. Arush Mittal, Head-Alliance emphasized members that helping and supporting each other will be the key to success. Gaurav Arora, Head – Events added that soon industry will move to the normal state, MICE will surely pick up as people want to move out of their stress zone. Jagat Mehta, President – ETAA and Dharmesh Advani, General Secretary also shared their thoughts with the members via a video message. The event concluded with a performance by a Bollywood band. During the lockdown, ETAA conducted numerous knowledge sessions via online webinars on different destinations and tourism opportunities.  

The Travel Agents Federation of INDIA (Gujarat Chapter) recently organised a four-day FAM trip within Gujarat to Saputara and Tent city 1, Kevadia. Led by Chapter Chairman, Jigar Dudakiya, the team undertook this educational tour sponsored by Gujarat Tourism. Keeping the health safety in mind, the TAFI team gave suggestions and precautionary measures which every members had to follow during the tour. They also distributed Covid kits to delegates that included steam machine with Genvol inhalant capsules, thermometer, sanitizer, and masks.

The Supreme Court has pronounced the verdict on the airline refund case that was led by Pravasi Legal Cell. It has accepted DGCA’s recommendations on airfare refund and travel agents will get a full refund for tickets booked by them, and not directly to the passengers. The full refund scheme formulated by the DGCA has been approved by the Supreme Court. Both, the Indian Tour Operators Association of India (IATO) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) had filed a writ petition in court for this. Sharing this happy development, Pradip Lulla, Acting President and Vice President, TAFI, says, “We are very happy with the verdict. The tickets purchased through travel agents will be refunded back to agents and coupons of passengers will be made through travel agents.” The judgement copy stated, ‘…the action on the part of airlines operating domestic as well as international flights in India, in refusing to refund the full amount collected for tickets to travel during the period of ban on air travel, as illegal and arbitrary…’ It adds, ‘It is the case of the petitioner that where the tickets are booked by travel agents from their account, refund should be made in the same manner and channel though which payments for tickets have been received by the airlines.’