A number of FAITH association heads met with the new Cabinet Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy and welcomed him on his taking over the charge in his office. The delegation comprised of Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH; Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO & Hony. Secretary FAITH, Jyoti Mayal,  President, TAAI & Vice Chairman FAITH, P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI & Board Member FAITH; and Ravi Gosain, Vice President, IATO. Members of the delegation assured full support to the Minister for the revival of tourism and sought similar support from him. The Minister assured all his support to the industry.

IRCTC will be starting services of a special train in September, which would cover many top tourist destinations, including Char Dham—Badrinath, Jagannath Puri, Rameshwaram, and Dwarkadhish. This comes in line with the reduction of positive COVID cases across the country. IRCTC has also launched another popular pilgrimage circuit ‘Chardham Yatra’ by ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ Deluxe AC Tourist Train. It will be second such service to be offered by the IRCTC after the great popularity and success of the ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra’ train operated on the Ramayana circuit.

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that by appointing three ministers for tourism (including one cabinet minister) and three ministers for culture, the Prime Minister has given a heavy weight focus to tourism. “We always had a lot of expectations from MOT, but now being given a cabinet berth, we expect much more and quicker decisions to take place. This is because the Government is looking at tourism as the industry, which would quickly revive the economy. Else, the PM wouldn’t have put so much of manpower into it,” she said.

Dr. V Venu (IAS) has been appointed as Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism Department, Government of Kerala. An IAS officer of 1990 batch, he has been appointed several times before in the tourism department during his tenure. He has also been appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education. Apart from this, he will be having additional charge of Member Secretary, Planning Board.

Ajay Bhatt, the newly appointed Minister of State, Tourism, took charge and shared that the priorities for him in the new role is to take the country forward and tourism sector at the top position. “We will take briefing and will come to know things clearly. Then, we would know what can be done about the issues and problems. The hotel industry is completely closed and small shops around tourist sites have been out of jobs, this include locals, rickshaws, taxis, guides, daily wagers, etc. All of them have faced problems. For them, the Government has created many schemes. Now that the situation is improving day by day, we hope to soon come back to the old level of tourism in India,” he said.

Raffles Udaipur has announced the appointment of Rajan Malhotra as Director of Sales and Marketing. A postgraduate diploma holder in business administration, Malhotra brings along with him 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry. His rich body of work includes long, successful stints at Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Services India Pvt. Ltd., The Zuri Group of Hotels & Resorts, Le Méridien Jaipur Resort & Spa, Taj Palace, New Delhi and The Grand New Delhi. In his role, Rajan Malhotra will take charge of introducing the world-renowned Raffles brand experience in the country as well as planning and implementing strategies to support the hotel’s unrivalled positioning. He will be leading the sales and marketing team, exploring business opportunities and will be responsible for the budgeting, forecasting and achieving the hotel’s commercial objectives. He will be a part of the pre-opening leadership team of the property. Commenting on the appointment, Abhishek Sharma, General Manager, Raffles Udaipur said, “We are delighted with the joining of Rajan Malhotra as a part of the pre-opening leadership team for this important launch. With his extensive experience of working for some of the leading luxury hotels and knowledge of the diverse market segments, we are confident that Rajan will best support the positioning of India’s first Raffles as a market leader.”

Raffles Udaipur has announced Abhishek Sharma as General Manager, who joins the property with over 9 years of leading teams in the role of General Manager, throughout luxury hotels and resorts, including The Oberoi Group in India and Soneva Fushi Resort in The Maldives. Sharma is a well-recognized leader with over two decades of outstanding experience in luxury hospitality and has an exceptional network across the industry. In his new role, Sharma will be leading the task of introducing the legendary Raffles brand to the country and taking charge of operations for Raffles Udaipur. On the appointment, he says, “I am filled with an incredible sense of excitement and responsibility as I lead the team at our first Raffles in the country. The Raffles brand is a global phenomenon that has set the benchmark for unparalleled excellence in guest experience and personalized services. Ethos of the brand are depicted across many noteworthy elements of the hotel, and I am particularly inspired by the  signature Writers Bar for its sophistication and innovation, where we hope India’s renowned writers, present and future, will pen their stories.  I feel honored to be working alongside a dynamic team to bring the legendary service of Raffles to our guests.” Commenting on the announcement, Puneet Dhawan, ‎Senior Vice President of Operations – India & South Asia, Accor says, “I am delighted to welcome Abhishek for this key launch of Raffles’ first outpost in India. Abhishek has wealth of experience that has enhanced his project management skills and strengthened his abilities in elevating guest engagement. He has aced the curation of bespoke and immersive guest experiences and I am confident that his knowledge and the ability to …

Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism and Manohar Lal Khattar, CM, Haryana held a meeting for the development of tourism related projects in the state and to speed up the ongoing projects in the state. The way forward was discussed with special focus on Development of Rakhigarhi and Kurukshetra and science museums apart from other cultural and tourism hubs development.   Secretary, GoI, Tourism Shri Arvind Singh , joint secretaries of Union Ministries of Tourism and Culture and  other senior officers of Central and State government were also present during the meeting. During the meeting, the state government gave details of the proposed Krishna Circuit Project-II. Development of tourist infrastructure at important tourist/pilgrim places related to SrimadBhagwad Geeta & Mahabharata at Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Karnal, Panipat and Mewat under the Krishna circuit phase-II of Swadesh Darshan Scheme is planned under this project. Apart from this, the two sides discussed Heritage Circuit Rewari, virtual museum at Jyotisar near Kurukshetra and development of Pinjore Gardens, MorniHills , science city among others.The progress of ongoing PRASHAD projects at Nada Sahib Gurudwara and Mata Mansa Devi were also reviewed by ShPrahald Singh Patel and the state government was asked to speed up the completion.

ITB Asia 2021 will be an all-virtual event, and the physical show has been postponed to 2022. Messe Berlin (Singapore) has announced the complete digitalisation of ITB Asia, which will be held from 25 – 29 October 2021. The virtual event includes five full days of business appointments and three exclusive days of conference programme. All conference sessions are available on-demand for a month. Exhibitors will get many virtual benefits and some new perks. The event is being held in conjunction with MICE Show Asia as well as Travel Tech Asia. “Our team is committed in bringing a hybrid concept of ITB Asia, MICE Show Asia and Travel Tech Asia for the travel trade industry coming October. However, global health and travel uncertainties accompanied by the rapid emergence of new COVID-19 variants had halted our efforts. The hybrid concept garnered an excellent response with over 600 confirmed exhibitors, but it has become apparent that international delegates are unable to reasonably plan their participation and travel arrangements. Therefore, with a good lead time this year we will conduct the show virtually, offering international delegates a stronger digital platform for B2B networking, learning and knowledge sharing,” said Katrina Leung, Managing Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB Asia.

In a major development for the hospitality segment following the COVID-19 outbreak, Click Hotels by Suba has acquired leisure budget hospitality chain 1589 Hotels, owned and run by Clarks Group of Hotels. With this deal, Suba added 35 new properties to its portfolio across 22 prime destinations in India which marks the milestone of total 2,000 rooms. This expansion drive is a part of Click Hotels’ acquisition of 1589 Hotels including GenX, RNB, and RNB Select. With this, Click Hotels by Suba has marked its transition to an asset-light business model and has expanded its footprint across key destinations like Ranthambore National Park, Jim Corbett National Park, and Dalhousie.