Outrigger Hospitality Group announced 31 March that it has acquired the newly renovated five-star Maafushivaru Resort in the Maldives – adding another premier beach property to its expanding global portfolio. The luxury resort has been renamed Outrigger Maldives Maafushivaru Resort and is located on a private island in the pristine South Ari Atoll region, a 25-minute seaplane flight from Malé – offering convenient access and breathtaking views for arriving guests. The resort is comprised of a collection of 81 luxury villa styles including beach, pool and duplex accommodations, as well as coveted overwater bungalows and more. “There are few destinations that evoke higher levels of relaxation, elegance and seclusion than the Maldives. This resort is the perfect addition to our array of global beachfront properties,” said Jeff Wagoner, President and CEO of Outrigger Hospitality Group. “With travel on the rise, we look forward to welcoming our global guests to the Maldives and curating unforgettable Outrigger Signature Experiences that allow visitors to appreciate Maldivian culture in an iconic beachfront setting.” Located in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is classified by many world travellers as the ultimate luxury beach destination. Known for its uninterrupted views of white sandy beaches and a seemingly endless turquoise lagoon, the Maafushivaru Resort has recently undergone an extensive modernisation and is poised to be among the Maldives’ most sought-after vacation destinations. Outrigger will leverage the knowledge of General Manager, John Allanson, who has served the brand previously and has three decades of hospitality leadership experience. In his new role, Allanson will spearhead the transition of this property utilising The Outrigger Way philosophy. This ethos has allowed the brand to expand across the globe without compromising its values …

In its Indian Tourism and Hospitality performance report 2021, Noesis states that the year 2021 saw 110 properties that have opened in various parts of the country while there were 161 hotels signed in the same year. The ARR was in the range of Rs 4,300-4,600, while the ARR in the fourth quarter was in the range of Rs 5,300-5,500, reaching almost 90% of the pre-COVID level. India’s top leisure and business destinations saw a surge in room rates during the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

According to the latest HVS Anarock latest report ‘India Hospitality Industry Overview 2021’ The sector ended the year with an India-wide occupancy of 42-45%, up 10-13 percentage points over the previous year. Driven by the strong recovery in demand, average rates also began to improve after the second wave, progressively approaching pre-COVID levels. The robust growth in occupancy and average room rates (ARR) resulted in a 24-27% increase in RevPAR to ₹1,800 – ₹2,100 in 2021.

India continues to have the largest share of inbound travellers to the APAC region, at 24.4% of total arrivals in Q1 as of 11 March. Not a bad result when considering the air ticketing data from ForwardKeys shows that international arrivals in APAC in Q1 was down by 86%. However, in terms of recovery India as a destination is performing at -59% vs 2019. The best performing region in APAC for on-the-book arrivals is Pakistan with a 0.2% increase v/s the same period in 2019. The Maldives and Bangladesh are also showing strong signs of resilience.

Lotus Destinations, as the Preferred Sales Agent of Carnival Cruise in India takes great pleasure in conducting a Carnival Cruise webinar for the travel trade highlighting safety protocols, new fleet introductions and new itineraries to Bahamas, Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Australia and more, today at 3PM IST. Attendees will also get a chance to win exciting prizes. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

A new e-visa portal that went live on March 30, 2022, is set to enhance the travel to Azerbaijan. The portal was developed as a part of a cooperation agreement signed between VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide and the E-GOV Development Center (EGDC) in the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been a chosen destination for a diverse segment of travellers globally. Currently travellers from 70 nationalities are eligible to travel to Azerbaijan with travel restriction likely to open for other markets. Fariz Jafarov Director of EGDC, said “We are delighted to partner with VFS Global in our endeavour to encourage seamless travel to Azerbaijan. We are confident that travellers across the globe would realise the advantages of e-visa service and leverage its benefits.” “Azerbaijan is the 64th client served by VFS Global. This mandate reiterates our proven record of nurturing trusted partnerships, excellence in business delivery and our approach on customer-centricity over the past two decades,” said Noel Swain, Business Head – Passport Services, eVisa & Tourism services, VFS Global.

Hotel Association of India (HAI), the national apex body of the hotel industry and an integrated hospitality industry platform held its 25th Annual General Meeting on the 16th of March in New Delhi. In his presidential address at the meeting, Puneet Chhatwal emphasised the need to forge closer ties and collaborate with other industry bodies for a stronger and a more unified voice. While highlighting the pandemic related challenges confronting the Industry, Chhatwal commended the tremendous resilience and enormous innovation shown by the sector. While the industry is firmly on the road to recovery, supply chain disruptions, subdued employment growth, rising inflation, food insecurity, the setback to human capital accumulation, supply-demand mismatches, and climate change will continue to pose difficulties and would be  some of the key issues of concern going forward. He said, “International travel has gone back 30 years globally and the ripple effect of tourism is affecting the economy of countries. Indian hospitality sector has rebounded due to various components of domestic travel and a vigorous internal demand.”

IRIS Reps partners has not just survived, but thrived in the last few quarters and so did IRIS Reps. Year 2022 is poised for a strong recovery for them, as international air bubbles get lifted, flight frequencies increase and capacity increases. Alefiya Singh adds that the company is gearing up for its next phase of growth across its business verticals. The 2022 year has given us tremendous opportunity to make new connections, reinstate the contract with existing partners, and announce a series of senior appointments to ramp up its strength. IRIS Reps proud to represent Luxury resorts in Maldives; Coco Collection Maldives, Makunudu Island Maldives, Kuda Villingili Resort Maldives, Sri Lankan Resort ; Amari Galle Sri Lanka, DMC partners; Tour Managers Fiji , Millennium Tours Azerbaijan. Attractions for South Africa include Marine Dynamics Shark Tours which is the recent venture added in the account. Singh says, “We cannot change or predict each and every new surprise and challenge what fate has in store for us but there’s tremendous pent-up demand, which we are hoping to cash on.” Alefiya Singh has been in the travel industry for over two decades, starting with tourism boards, airlines, representations and many more. She helms her team in India and adept at collaborating and implementing innovative high profile travel and hospitality brands and aimed to develop the business with her client centric approach.

A Qatar Tourism delegation was in Mumbai recently, led by Philip Dickinson, Vice President International Markets, Qatar Tourism, along with Sandeep Shevale – Tourism Marketing & Promotions and Deveekaa Nijhawan – International Public Relations & Communications. The delegation’s DMC participants covered Discover Qatar, Al Tawfeeq Travel and Travel Designer W.L.L. The team was also supported by BRANDit, India Representative of Qatar Tourism. Berthold Trenkel, Chief Operating Officer, Qatar Tourism, said “We are pleased to re-establish our presence in the India market. The objective was to highlight the various facets that Qatar offers not just in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup, but beyond as well. The aim is to leverage our tourism assets based on six demand spaces identified in line with our vision, namely Sun, Sea and Sand; Active Holidays; Relax & Rejuvenate; Cultural Enthusiasts; Luxury City Breaks and Romantic Getaways. With the launch of new hotels, theme parks, cultural hotspots, retail outlets, leisure projects and more.” To reaffirm trade partnerships, Qatar’s national carrier, Qatar Airways in association with Qatar Tourism hosted a networking dinner at The St. Regis Mumbai on 14th March 2022. The interactive evening was well-attended by travel trade partners representatives. The guests were acquainted with the destination and informed about various tourism products, developments and projects underway in Qatar. “India is and will continue to be a significant and rapidly growing market for us at Qatar Tourism. Pre-pandemic, we have witnessed a significant rise in arrivals from India and look forward to accelerate our efforts in sustaining the momentum and fully unlocking the potential of travellers across segments of leisure, MICE and weddings. It is an exciting time for the global tourism industry …

Vervotech, a SaaS-based travel technology company, has announced a new strategic partnership with GRN Connect, to address hotel data duplication challenges. Hotel mapping technology plays a vital role by enabling the vast distribution market to have standardized hotel content. Hotel mapping can help third-party distribution channels sell their hotel inventory smartly with zero duplication, minimal booking errors, and increased revenue. However, hotel mapping remains complex for most. Through this partnership, Vervotech is well-positioned to deliver their disruptive technology to remove duplicate hotel data and deliver standardized, real-time content. This will be an essential driving factor in providing GRN Connect’s client a paramount experience. Vervotech takes away the complexity with advanced technologies, including large-scale aggregation, AI-based processing, and ever-evolving ML models. Vervotech’s hotel mapping platform is powered with cutting-edge technology to de-duplicate hotel data map hotel content with 99.999% accuracy and a coverage of 98%. Additionally, their platform is completely agnostic to the source of the hotel content and delivers the latest content with real-time updates. Rajan B, Senior Director Partnerships at Vervotech, said, “We are working to streamline the complexities of unstructured data. When we resolve this with advanced technologies, it spurs innovation, helps businesses grow, and expands choices for consumers. And this partnership with GRN Connect advances us to our mission.” Deepak Narula, Managing Director at GRN Connect added, “We are excited to partner with Vervotech and leverage their hotel mapping technology to optimize our mapping process. We are confident that Vervotech’s disruptive AI-driven hotel mapping platform will enable us to be more efficient and create a differentiating customer experience in a highly competitive environment.”