Jitul Mehta, Western India Chairman, TAFI says, “I want our members to develop soft skills for themselves and for their staff because we are in the service business. So it is upon TAFI to educate its members so that they can sustain and grow their business in the long run and are equipped to deal with future challenges. A lot of them have registered for our online courses that we are offering free of cost on our website.”

Highlighting emerging trends, Amit Mehta, Country Manager, (South Asia), Malaysia Airlines India, says, digitalisation will be the way forward in this ‘new normal’ of air travel. “We have moved a significant portion of our processes online and accelerated our digitalisation efforts to ensure our staff can operate remotely and flexibly as a business, and for customers to enjoy our various digital and contactless offerings from the moment they purchase their tickets, check-in through to the arrival destination. Due to the acceleration of digitalisation, we expect airlines to also actively adopt next generation technologies to improve the experience of its customers.”

Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman, is organizing an exclusive webinar for the travel trade in India today at 3 pm. To get the latest updates on offerings at this destination, register at  jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman, is organizing an exclusive webinar for the travel trade in India on 10 November 2022 at 3 pm. To get the latest updates on offerings at this destination, register at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

Rakesh Bansal, CEO, Amadeus Indian Subcontinent, says “Amadeus is committed to rebuilding travel, and we seek opportunities to rekindle the connect with our existing travel partners, help them design better journeys with ease and foster new connections!” Amadeus India recently embarked on a series of products and solutions roadshows in six Indian cities to help its partners maximise revenue and productivity.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the Asia Pacific region reportedly contributes to 35% to 40% of global air traffic. He stated that the Indian economy is moving forward at a brisk pace and the civil aviation sector is likely to log around 400 million passengers over the next 7 to 10 years.

Sabre survey of travel agents and TMCs in APAC reveals the changing face of corporate travel. As per the survey, there’s strong optimism in the market, with 82% saying they expect a return to pre-pandemic corporate travel levels, and 15% expecting a boom greater than pre-Covid-19, within the next 12 months.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has announced that it will pay travel advisors commission on non-commissionable fares (NCFs), showcasing its industry-leading commitment to the travel agent community worldwide. NCL is the first major contemporary cruise line to compensate travel advisors on NCFs for reservations booked outside of the 120-day window. Since the establishment of the Brand’s Partners First philosophy, Norwegian Cruise Line has been committed to being the easiest cruise line to do business with by providing agents with educational tools, promotions and marketing assets to help them grow their businesses. “Our Partners First philosophy remains top of mind, and our decision to pay commission on NCFs is further proof of our commitment to this community,” said NCL President and CEO Harry Sommer. “We want our partners to thrive; we want to see their businesses grow all around the world.” The Cruise Line has been dedicated to equipping the travel agent community with the tools and information to provide their clients with exemplary service. This revolutionary choice will further help travel partners establish a stronger relationship with their clients and increase brand loyalty, resulting in repeat business and higher earning potential. “Our travel partners are incredibly important to us and our business; it is a true partnership,” said Braydon Holland ,Senior Sales Director , Norwegian Cruise Line “Advisors know why NCL offers the best cruise experience at sea and when they can speak to our unique, bucket-list itineraries, one-of-a-kind Free at Sea promotion and incredible 18-ship fleet with unparalleled onboard offerings, they are providing immense value to the business. We see this value and we wanted to reward our travel advisors like never before.” The payment of NCFs will go into effect …

Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director, India Tourism (Western and Central Region), has been promoting MoT’s scheme that the trade associations can avail for their own MICE requirements. “We want the national trade associations to have their major flagship events within India rather than take it outside the country. In fact, the MoT has a scheme which supports the activities of national trade associations of both travel and hospitality industries – where the government provides financial support for organising their annual conventions, etc. the quantum of support depends on the size of the membership, etc. these details are available on the MoT website and various associations are benefited from this scheme,” he says.

Giving an insight into how well the market is growing, Brent Anderson, Regional General Manager for South & South-East Asia, Tourism Australia says, “Right now, we are tracking it at about 86 per cent of the pre-pandemic numbers. That reflects the fastest comeback to ground zero, which is 100% of what we had in 2019. A really conservative forecast of what we should see by the end of June 2023 which is our financial year, is about 10 per cent growth out of the India market. This is while the other markets will still be going towards their respective pre-pandemic level numbers. So it is pretty amazing to see how quickly India has rebounded, recovered and growing.”