Praveen Iyer, Co-Founder, and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air, said, “By expanding our network with an aircraft arriving every 15 days, we aim to fulfill our goal of developing a strong pan-India presence and expect to operate 300 weekly flights by October end.”

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Tourism, has said that the Nidhi 2.0 platform is now maturing. “We have now tested it with almost all state governments and about 20 state governments have now been brought on that platform.”

Zubin Karkaria, Founder & CEO, VFS Global, has said that they are still capable of processing 32 million applications eventoday as we did in 2019. “We are still at 60 per cent of 2019 numbers,” he added.

Cross Hotels & Resorts, along with TravelBullz is conducting a webinar today at 12pm. Representatives from both the brands will update the trade about their offerings. Participants also have a chance to win exciting prizes. Register at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, +91 9650196532.

Turpal, a post reservation solution for travel professionals, has been launched in the India market. The first-of-its kind solution in the country, will help to manage their operation and increase their per-passenger profit.

Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has declared 2023 as the year to visit Andhra Pradesh, and the campaign will be called ‘Visit Andhra Pradesh 2023’. The campaign kickstarted on World Tourism Day and a grand launch will be done in the first week of December.

Sharing his observations and concerns over the star categorisation criteria for hotels in India, G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for tourism, culture & DoNER, said, “The current categorisation system doesn’t really differentiate between a 100+ room hotel and a 10-20 room hotel. It ruins the whole India experience for a traveller.” He also said that he’s in talk with the government to change criteria for hotel classifications.

With strong focus on strengthening ‘Wedding Tourism’ in India, the bespoke two-day Wedding Travel Show’22 witnessed participation of over 35 top wedding planners in the country and more than 30 hotels,  interacting & sealing deals right at the onset of wedding season this year. An exquisite table-top event, the show was held at Hyatt Residency Dehradun and saw the biggest names of the wedding and hospitality industries like Rajeev Jain, Chetan Vohra and Arif Patel, etc discussing revenge buying by the wedding clients and post covid challenges.

Air Vistara has been officially given the rights for the air connectivity between Singapore and Pune. Sudhir Mehta, the President of the Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), tweeted “Great News. A big victory for Pune @airvistara has been formally awarded rights for Singapore – Pune. CEO Vinod Kannan shared that they are working out operational details, and schedule of flights will be announced soon.” Mehta had spoken to Vistara to increase international connectivity to Pune, and he along with Prashant Girbane, Director General of MCCIA wrote a letter to Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister for Civil Aviation Government of India regarding the same. He added in the tweet, “I thank Hon. Min @JM_Scindia ji, Hon. CM @mieknathshinde ji, Hon. DCM @Dev_Fadnavis ji, Guardian Min @ChDadaPatil ji and all others who have supported our demand, & are actively helping increase Air Connectivity for Pune. Looking forward to opening up of several other routes.”

Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Limited (ASPHL) is delighted to announce the signing of Zone by The Park Digha, West Bengal. Situated in West Bengal’s ‘Brighton of the East’ – a prominent sea resort and tourist destination, the hotel is ideal for travelers & tourists seeking a relaxing getaway. ASPHL has entered into a long-term agreement with Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) and Digha Sankarpur Development Authority (DSDA) to manage and operate the hotel. The 65-rooms hotel consists of a 1,000 seater convention center with banquet halls and exhibition center spread over 5.5 acres of land. Commenting on the signing, Mr Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Limited said, “We are delighted to partner with KMDA and the government of West Bengal. The hotel will be a destination by itself and will be crucial for tourism development and employment generation in the area. We plan to be ready for the G20 meetings in January 2023 at Digha.” Zone by The Park Digha offers a midscale experience with unique design elements and at the best price. Zone by The Park, the midscale social catalyst brand by THE Park Hotels has its presence in Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chennai ORR, Bengaluru, Jodhpur, Jammu, Kolkata, Dimapur with upcoming hotels in Amritsar, Phalodi – Jodhpur, Muzzafarpur, Siliguri and Srinagar.