Shuja Mehdi, B2B Manager – India, VisitBritain, shares that VisitBritain Cricket Carnival Season-1 allows travel trade to play virtual and win actual. “Prizes range from shopping vouchers to UK trips, including hotel stays across Lake District and other parts of North England. The grand prize is two tickets for India v/s England at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, in the hospitality lounge.”

Post the ease in travel guidelines and resumption of domestic tourism, ITDC along with other industry leaders participated in a webinar organised by Indo Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ISCCI) to discuss the overview of tourism industry in Sri Lanka. G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, ITDC joined the discussion along with other eminent dignitaries including Dr Krishna Kumar, Former Union Minister, Government of India, Lt Gen Rakesh Kumar Loomba, PVSM, AVSM, Engineer Naseer Ahamed, Member, Parliament in Sri Lankan Parliament, Mr Dushan Wickramasuriya, Director Marketing of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and Mr Aamir Ali, ED, Sri Lanka Airlines. While delivering keynote address during webinar organized by Indo Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ISLCCI) on ‘An Overview of Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka’  C&MD, ITDC highlighted that there is a great potential for improving tourism and tourism related activities between India and Sri Lanka during COVID scenario.  He highlighted the importance of various products such as Buddhist circuit and Ramayana Circuit and mentioned the efforts made by Ministry of Tourism in promoting Indo Sri Lanka tourist relations and strengthening the eco system.  He also highlighted the potential growth in cruise tourism between Sri Lanka and India, Ayurveda and Yoga are the other significant areas of mutual cooperation.

In order to showcase this new destination to the India market, the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) will be organising a two-day roadshow on March 2-3, 2021 between 8am – 8pm IST. The event titled ‘Journeys in Arabia’ virtual roadshow will showcase the best of what Saudi has to offer. It will also offer the trade an opportunity to meet senior representatives from up to 30 destinations, experiences and hospitality brands one-on-one.

Ministry of Tourism organised a three-day Incredible India Mega Homestay Development & Training Workshop in Darjeeling from February 22 to 24, 2021 to enrich the hospitality skills of the Homestay owners of the region and to ensure a better experience for the tourists. It was organised by MOT Regional Office (East), Indiatourism Kolkata, in association with Eastern Himalayas Travel & Tour Operator Association as Resource Partner and IIAS School of Management as Knowledge Partner.

First direct Bengaluru-Rajkot flight, operated by SpiceJet, was welcomed in the city with a water salute on 24th February, 2021. Hyderabad will also be connected with Rajkot from 1st March via SpiceJet. Flights between Goa and Rajkot will also start in March.

KB Kachru, Vice President, Hotel Association of India, has shared that they have created state chapters so that they can deal both at central level and state level. “We realised that we needed to have a better voice and we needed to be significant enough to make a difference. Keeping that in mind, we felt that we needed to deal both at central level and state level. Hence, we decided that in order to expand, we need to get more quality products, respective to the segment, whether it’s luxury hotels, first-class hotels, mid-market hotels, or good economy hotels, and make them part of us, so that we have right numbers and then work towards getting our due from different states because all of them have different policies. Hence, we established state chapters in different states,” he said.

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, has said that tourism and civil aviation have been complementing each other for a long time. “By working together these sectors can achieve all objectives. We have the coordination committee at the level of Secretary, which MOT is also part of and under UDAN, we have regular meetings, where they communicate their requests, based on their stakeholders’ inputs,” she said.

Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) has reported a net profit of Rs 24.06 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2020 (Q3FY21), revealed Anirban Chakraborty, MD and CEO, TFCI . It was only down by 12 per cent as compared to the same quarter last year. However, the net income for Q3FY21 increased by 6.19 percent to Rs 39.36 crore as compared to the year-ago period. In comparison to Q2FY21, there was a massive 21.38 percent jump in the net income of TFCI.

Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism, will be moving from Ministry of Tourism, according to a circular by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. She will now be joining the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and will be availing promotion. She will join as Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General. Sharma joined MOT in May 2016as ADG and was promoted as DG in May 2019.

Virgin Atlantic has introduced unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings as part of a series of enhancements to give further flexibility to customers and support their future travel plans. Alongside the improved changes policy, the rebooking horizon has been extended for all customers all the way until 30 April 2023, giving a broader window of time to reschedule plans if needed. The updated commercial policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new booking for travel up to 30 April 2022, or those with a cancelled flight up until 31 August 2021, to make as many free-of-charge changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination all the way until 30 April 2023, as well as one free name change. The changes also apply to customers who already have an open ticket with credit due to flight disruption. The cost of fare difference for all customers will be completely waived if the new travel date takes place on or before 31 May 2021 – a two-month extension on the previous policy. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic, said, “We understand the difficulties that Covid-19 and ongoing travel restrictions may pose to our customers, so in order to support them we have revised and simplified our policies. By further increasing flexibility, customers making new travel plans will enjoy unlimited opportunities to make free changes, all the way until 30 April 2023, offering greater peace of mind and enabling them to book future travel with confidence. “We look forward to welcoming our customers back on board and when the time is right, flying them safely to their favourite destinations.” All Virgin Atlantic customers with a pre-existing booking made …