Speaking at a virtual meet recently, Dr Venu V, Additional Chief Secretary Tourism, Govt of Kerala, discussed plans to make tourism development in Kerala environmentally sustainable, community-led and economically beneficial to the local people. He also spoke about creating community-level linkages and encouraging adoption of responsible tourism principles and practices among stakeholders.

SriLankan Airlines, in a bid to promote greater travel opportunities from India to Sri Lanka, has announced adding more destinations and frequencies. It currently operates four flights a week from Chennai, three flights a week from Mumbai, and once a week from Bengaluru to its hub in Colombo. It will be introducing a host of frequency enhancements out of key Indian cities effective September 1, 2021. SriLankan Airlines wishes to inform the travel trade partners across India that from September, the airline will resume services between Colombo and the Indian points: Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum and Cochin with flights once a week, whilst Hyderabad and New Delhi will be connected to Colombo with twice-weekly flights. Further, the airlines’ operations out of Chennai and Mumbai will expand up to five times a week whilst its Bengaluru-Colombo services will be enhanced to flights three times a week.

AVIAREPS India has won the Integrated Sales Marketing and Public Relations mandate for Utah Office of Tourism in India for next five years. The aim is to position the tourism offerings of Utah in India. Rachel Bremer, Tourism Global Markets Director, Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said, “The Utah Office of Tourism’s mission is to elevate life in Utah through responsible tourism stewardship. We do this through marketing, stewardship, and development. Guided by this mission, we are facing the challenge of responsibly rebuilding Utah’s visitor economy and international visitation. Our partnership with AVIAREPS will help us to not only rebuild but, to expand in India; to forge strategic partnerships that will increase our market share. Utah beckons the road-tripper, the slow traveller, the family, and the experiential traveller, those that will enjoy the viewpoints along our scenic byways, hiking in our national parks, and exploring our urban core along the Wasatch Mountains. We look forward to working with AVIAREPS to expand our product development, execute campaigns, increase Utah’s brand awareness, and work with the industry collectively.”   Speaking on the company’s diverse and expanding product portfolio, Ellona Pereira, Head, AVIAREPS India, said, “We are elated to represent the Utah Office of Tourism in India for the next five years and our immediate priority is to localize their global strategy by providing end to end solutions. In fact, some of the tourism offerings that the Utah State has to offer are apt for the Indian outbound tourists who post the pandemic, are seeking places of tranquillity, craving wide open spaces and inspiring views, as nature breaks continue to be more appealing and on-trend these days. Our team of experts will work towards the development and implementation …

India organised the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) Tourism Ministers’ virtual meeting recently where G. Kishan Reddy met the Tourism Minister of Brazil and the Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Republic of South Africa via videoconferencing. The meeting was to promote tourism cooperation among member states. A significant aspect of the meeting was the adoption of an outcome document on cooperation and promotion for speedy recovery of travel and tourism.

The ministry of civil aviation issued an order allowing domestic airlines to increase flight capacity to 72.5% from 65% with immediate effect. This was done after review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel in terms of purpose specified in the initial order. This will remain in place until further orders. In July, MoCA hiked the capacity of domestic flights to 65% from the earlier 50%.

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has announced that it will offer cashback to women travellers for travel in the two Tejas Express trains operated by it. IRCTC said on the occasion of the upcoming Rakshabandhan festival women who will be travelling in the Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express trains will get a cashback of 5% till 24 August.      

Members of TAAI’s Madhya Pradesh & Chhatisgarh Chapter recently conducted a tree plantation drive at Indore Airport. Also present at the event were PC Sharma, Airport Director, IDR, and M Singh, Deputy Commandant, CISF, along with other TAAI chapter members.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture & DoNER, held a meeting with Invest India team to discuss the strategy policy for the promotion of tourism in Ladakh. In a tweet, Reddy said, “This will help in paving the way for the UT’s tourism sector by bringing growth and investment.” The MOT is also planning to visit Ladakh this month with a huge delegation and also release a vision document on the destination as well.

Experience AlUla will conduct another exciting webinar for the Indian travel trade to educate and give an update on the various leisure offerings, MICE facilities, hotels and suppliers in AlUla. It will be held today at 3pm IST where attendees will stand a chance to win exciting prizes. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Commenting on how bringing tourism under the Concurrent List will help the industry, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, VP, FHRAI says, “We had been asking the government for this since decades. What happens now is that we have one minister dedicated to this sector. There are certain laws and policies that will be formulated by the Centre and those will have to be liable on all the states. This means things will be regulated and everything will get streamlined. A sector such as tourism which has been a state matter until now will now be brought under the Centre.”