Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) will be conducting a webinar for the Indian travel trade on Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna on 23rd November from 3:30pm-4:30pm IST. Markus Kustatscher, Tourism Manager of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna will present the wonderful Imperial Collections of the Habsburg family in Vienna. “The Imperial Collections of the Habsburgs with the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, the Imperial Treasury Vienna and the Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna are one of the most important collections of artworks and breath-taking treasures in the world,” says Kustatscher. To join the webinar, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.comor call 9650196532.

Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Global Panorama Showcase, has announced that they will be doing the next edition of GPS from April 2022 in 16 cities, covering 4 cities in each quarter. “The events will be physical and depending on the participation, it will be for one day in most cities, and in certain cities it will be for two days. The same GPS format will be followed, and the virtual platform is already there so that people can connect. There are almost 2000+ verified attendees, consisting of pan India buyers, who are registered, which is the USP of the GPs platform. The 16 cities will be the four metros–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru; along with the 8 cities that were already there–Nagpur , Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune; and we will be adding Jaipur, Indore, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam,” informed Singh. He added, “Pricing will also be according to the category of cities and audience we are targeting. We won’t be targeting 1000 agents per city now. Because of COVID, we will be restricting it to between 100-300 buyers per city. With more people expected in metros, the event would probably be split over two days. GPS would be a targeted event, where we want the decision makers to be present, and not anyone or everyone.”  

The newly introduced composite fee structure in the excise policy of Delhi highlights that for hotels up to three and four-star hotels, it is INR 15 lakh per F&B outlet. While the new L-16 licence (5star and above) is composite license of INR 1 crore which means a hotel with two outlets and another one having six outlets are being charged the same fees under composite scheme.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations to commemorate 75 years of Indian independence, each ministry has been given a week, which is known as an iconic week, where they have to launch events. “Our iconic week is in July 2022, and at that time, there will be major events that we will be undertaking,” he revealed in an exclusive interaction.

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar on Thursday, November 18 at 3pm IST, focusing on three touristic offerings: –          The Jungfrau Region, a popular Alpine holiday destination –          The traditional and bespoke Hotel Belvedere Grindelwald –          Swissminiatur, the popular park in the Ticino Region that houses miniature replicas of popular Swiss attractions To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532. Or register directly by clicking on https://event.webinarjam.com/register/333/3v7k1im1

Sharing his perspective on the new entrant in the LCC segment, Gavin Eccles, Managing Partner, GE Consulting & Advisory, says, “Key for Akasa Air is to differentiate through ancillaries.  Make ancillaries a key part of the travel proposition.  And, what that means is moving beyond just ancillary development with seats, boarding, etc., but to really look at the total travel proposition.  One area growing well at the moment is an in-house tour operator that allows the airline to sell the leisure proposition via a controlled inventory system. Could we see Akasa Air Holidays?”

Ministry of Tourism is organising a conference of Tourism and Culture Ministers of the Southern Region on 28th & 29th October 2021 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Union Minister of Tourism and Culture G. Kishan Reddy and Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai will address the event on 28th October 2021. The two days’ programme will have presentations by various Ministries to apprise the participants about the various projects and initiatives being taken by the Central Government for the development of the region.

Kerala Government has made registration mandatory for service providers in the Adventure Tourism sector for conducting a wide range of land, water and air-related activities to ensure their quality and safety. Tourism Director V R Krishna Teja said Kerala considered adventure tourism as a highly promising segment, especially in the post-pandemic surge. “By introducing the registration system, foolproof safety and standard will be achieved in the sector, which will help Kerala to attract more tourists to this sector with utmost confidence,” he said.

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar on Thursday, 28 October, 2021, focusing on three unique touristic offerings – BLS Interlaken, Schilthorn and the Lake Geneva Region. This captivating webinar will highlight the scenic cruises on the Lake Thun and Brienz with BLS Interlaken, Schilthorn, the famous ‘James Bond Mountain’ and the French-speaking Lake Geneva Region along its popular attractions. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Senior officials from the ATOAI Team met with the Tourism Minister, Shri G. Kishan Reddy on 19th October to discuss the various possibilities of the promotion of adventure tourism in the country. ATOAI requested the Minister to give special focus to the promotion of adventure tourism in overseas and India in all MoT Campaigns. The Minister has assured full cooperation to the association for the same. ATOAI also presented the Indian Adventure Tourism Guidelines booklet to the Minister and requested him to push all the States and the Union Territories to adopt the guidelines officially and follow them in letter and spirit.