Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, GPS, has revealed that in 2023 GPS will be held in person across 13 cities covering all major Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities. It will be held in Kolkata (19-20 Jan), Bhubaneswar (24-25 Jan), Nagpur (13-14 Feb), Lucknow (20-21 Feb), Chandigarh (28 Feb-1 Mar), Pune (24-25Mar), Ahmedabad, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Indore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Guwahati. “We expect attendance of over 10000 travel professionals from more than 800 towns and cities of India. In addition, value add Registered Exhibitors will have the opportunity to stay connected year-round with all attended and registered buyers through the GPS-CONNECT Hybrid platform virtually as well,” he said.

Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, today introduced its in-flight safety manual in Braille for persons with visual impairments. In keeping with the airline’s core value of empathy and ensuring that each of our customers have a warm and consistent experience, the Braille in-flight safety manual provides an explanation of the safety instructions, in English and Hindi. Akasa Air has partnered with The Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC) to develop this Braille in-flight safety manual. The Braille in-flight safety manual provided to passengers onboard upon request, covers detailed instructions on seatbelt operation, location of emergency exits and life jackets, tactile diagrams that help orient passengers to aircraft and aircraft positions and other essential safety information. Commenting on the launch, Belson Coutinho, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Akasa Air, said, “We are committed to being socially cohesive with a focus on being dependable, warm, efficient, and reliable and our Braille in-flight safety manual is a testimony to this commitment. We are extremely grateful to Dr. Sam Taraporevala and the entire team at XRCVC for their guidance and constant support in our endeavour towards inclusive travel.” Dr. Sam Taraporevala, Executive Director, XRCVC who helped develop the manual, said “The Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), a department of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (www.xrcvc.org), is a national level support and advocacy centre for persons with disabilities. XRCVC was set up in 2003 as an Assistive Technology support centre for students with visual impairment in higher education. Akasa Air’s Braille in-flight safety manual is an example of an airline taking a step towards social inclusion.”

According to the research from Booking.com, 2023 will see 53 per cent millennials planning more last-minute trips whilst older generations will take comfort in planning ahead as the best opportunity to get a good deal. 

The new Assam Tourism Policy 2022 aims to guarantee and safeguard the effective standardization of processes and practices, to foster uniformity which can result in sustainability and an overall improvement in the quality of the tourism products.  

Naveen Kundu, Managing Director, EBIXCASH Travel Services said, “A lot of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India should be developed for MICE. I firmly believe, India has the potential to give the world 100 wonderful cities for MICE and the world should look forward to it.”    

The Insurance Regulator and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made KYC norms mandatory for buying health, auto, home, etc for the purchase of all new insurance policies. The rule applies to all types of insurance–life, general, and health insurance.  

Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, today announced its entry into Telangana with the addition of Hyderabad as the 13th destination to join the airline’s fast-growing network. The airline will offer daily flights on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Hyderabad-Goa routes starting from January 25, 2023. In line with its phased but rapid approach to network expansion, in December 2022, the airline announced Goa as its 12th destination connecting Bengaluru and Mumbai. With this launch, Akasa Air will now offer six daily non-stop flights ex-Goa connecting three cities – Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Commenting on the launch, Praveen Iyer, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air, said, “We are pleased to launch Hyderabad as the 13th destination on our network. The city is an important centre of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals and connecting it with Goa and Bengaluru will cater to the strong demand for both, business, and leisure travel. As India’s fastest growing airline we have now established a strong presence in South India, in our effort to boost the country’s economy by strengthening its important transportation linkages.” Akasa Air, which commenced operations in early August 2022, has been progressively scaling up its operations and has taken delivery of 13 aircraft, carrying over 5.5 lakh revenue passengers in less than six months from the start of its operations. By December 2022, the airline has crossed the milestone of operating over 500 weekly flights and has announced a total of 20 unique routes across 13 cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Goa, and Hyderabad. It will continue to grow its network to establish a strong pan-India presence with a focus on metro to tier 2 …

Naveen Kundu, MD, Ebixcash Travel & Holidays said, “With the G20 Presidency of India in 2023, there are a huge expectation. It’s a challenging time and G20 will test the tourism infrastructure and the tourism development of this country.”  

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has suggested fast-tracking the creation of a National Tourism Council on the lines of the GST council. Merely drafting a National Tourism Policy is not enough for the development of the tourism sector in the country, a Parliamentary committee has said. 

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO said, “In new Foreign Trade Policy, IATO recommended that the benefit of SEIS scheme should be continued for the tour operators and travel agencies for the next 5 years.”