The European Commission welcomes agreement between European Parliament and European Council to allow digitalisation of Schengen visa procedure. It will modernise two main aspects of the procedure: digitalisation of visa sticker and visa application by setting up an EU online Visa application platform.

Upcoming regional airline, Jettwings Airways, has received the NOC for starting scheduled passenger flights. Sanjay Aditya Singh, MD & CEO of the upcoming airlines, said that the base will be Guwahati with initial connectivity within the Northeast Region. Discussions for aircraft are ongoing. He said ” Formalities will be completed and operations to start with 5 planes initially.” Jettwing Airline to be the first airline from Northeast in the country.

Lauding upcoming projects in Maharashtra, Chetan Mehta, VP, HRAWI, says, “It is crucial to enhance room capacity to meet rising demand. Maharashtra has around 3,40,000 rooms and with the number of projects in the pipeline, we will require at least double the capacity of hotel rooms. Subsidy for establishing hotels at specified tourist locations, along with incentives for eco-friendly hotels and electricity subsidies, will provide the necessary impetus for the growth of the sector.”  

The ANA Group joins the “Pokémon Air Adventure” program in collaboration with The Pokémon Company to celebrate the inaugural flight of the new “Pikachu Jet NH” arriving for the first time at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi on 13th June 2023. An ANA aircraft has been specially transformed into the all-new Pikachu Jet, complete with a spectacular Pokémon livery on the exterior and Pikachu-themed designs through the interior, including themed cabin crew aprons and other in-flight amenities. In addition, exclusive commemorative gifts will be available for all Pikachu Jet passengers, making every flight a magical Pokémon-filled adventure infused with Japanese hospitality. Tsuneya Katagiri, Country Manager, India, All Nippon Airways (ANA), gave a statement on the exciting partnership between ANA and The Pokémon Company: “We are both proud and honored that first flight of the “Pikachu Jet NH” touched down in Delhi today. Through this partnership, we hope many Indian passengers enjoy the unique experience at the highest quality. We look forward to welcoming passengers with limited edition Pokémon merchandise that will make their first flight a one-of-a-kind journey.” The “Pikachu Jet NH” aircraft features a livery designed for ANA, in which the Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza is depicted across the entire fuselage to create a vivid effect. Charizard, Latias, Latios, Vivillon, and other flying Pokémon from all over the Pokémon world move together with Pikachu toward the shining rays of hope and endless possibilities of an interconnected world. Moreover, passengers flying on the Pikachu Jet NH will receive commemorative gifts such as Pikachu-adorned Kifuda (Japanese wooden tags), Pokémon stickers, and special Pokémon-themed boarding certificates. To tie the entire journey together, ANA will welcome passengers aboard with special boarding music that …

Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism, is extremely optimistic about the India market. Post the pandemic, India has moved up two spots to become the sixth-largest inbound traveller market for South African Tourism. She says, “Led by our robust recovery efforts we witnessed over 200% surge in travellers from India in 2022, welcoming more than 50,000 Indian tourists.”

KTO will conduct a big roadshow in Delhi this August bringing in local agents and DMCs from Korea. Myongkil Yun, Director of KTO India office, says, “This year, South Korea is seeing a surge in visitors from India, and we are keen to further boost that with the launch of the K-incentive scheme. The Korea wave is very big in India today and we are ready to support travel agents who promote our destination.”

Cordelia Cruises recently started sailings to Sri Lanka from India for the first time ever, touching the ports of Hambantota, Trincomalee and Jaffna from Chennai. Present at the debut sailing were Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways. Jurgen Bailom, President & CEO of Waterways Leisure, Cordelia Cruises, says, “In the year 2023, we hope to host over 50,000 passengers for our Sri Lanka sailings alone between June 2023-September 2023.”

Thomas Cook (India) has unveiled a new campaign to capitalise on the significant demand shift towards customized holidays. The campaign positions the brand as India ka Holiday Specialist, with the Company’s long history of fulfilling holiday dreams for millions of customers over the years. The Company’s accelerated digital focus has resulted in building and strengthening its hybrid model – combining state of the art technology with human expertise and personal touch. This has resulted in a significant drop of approx. ten years in the average age of the Company’s holiday customers. With Young Indians willing to increase spends for that once in a lifetime experience – there is a noteworthy shift from a saving to spending mindset. Additionally, there is a growing sense of ‘YOLO – You Only Live Once’ amongst consumers, with an increased desire to strike off all their bucket-list experiences. This has resulted in a 40-50% increase in Thomas Cook’s customized holidays business compared to pre pandemic, with a noteworthy demand for unique, once in a lifetime experiences over exploring popular tourist locales and regular sightseeing tours. The strategic intent behind the campaign is to take a long term and leadership position in the customized holidays space by owning noteworthy differentiators such as the most experienced holiday experts (itinerary curators), who now serve customers at their doorstep as a personal holiday maker to help them create itineraries as per their preferences. The Company has also created a dynamic package building tool, wherein travellers can build their itinerary instantly across popular destinations on the website. Additionally, a 24 x 7 on-tour assistance is now being extended to all customers – experienced and empowered tour managers and experts (via call / WhatsApp) are available to offer guidance to …

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has superannuated and has moved on from Ministry of Tourism. He took up the role in February 2021. V Vidyavathi, who joined as Officer on Special Duty will be taking charge as Secretary today. She was DG, ASI before this.

The All-India Association of Authorized Money Changers & Money Transfer Agents has demanded the inclusion of foreign currency cash, wire transfers through banks, pre-paid forex cards and other international payments into the TCS exemption ambit offered to overseas transactions using debit and credit cards under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS).