Bus Big Tours, the leading operator of open-top sightseeing bus tours in the world has announced that Los Angeles-based East West Marketing (East/West) will serve as its partner in India. East West will oversee business-to-business development and serve as the in-market sales agency for Big Bus product training and solutions from February 2020. “The Indian market is of major importance to us, and we’re excited to leverage East West Marketing’s vast trade network to expand our presence in India.” Said Omid Golshan, EVP Global Growth, Big Bus Tours. “The Big Bus digital transformation has allowed its trade partners to integrate faster,” said Rati Dhodapkar, CEO, East West Marketing India. “With these new tools and efficiencies, we’ll be able to bring the Big Bus brand to new partners in India and introduce more customers to the great cities of the world through its iconic hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours. It’s invigorating to launch this new partnership in India.”

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has identified 180 tourist sites for organizing Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) activities during the year 2019-20 to create Swachhta Awareness amongst the tourists, students of schools/colleges and stakeholders across the country. Besides, Swachhta Pakhwada and Swachhta-Hi-Seva activities have also been undertaken by MOT at several locations across the country. Facilities like drinking water, toilet, interpretation centre, wi-fi, illumination, ramps, pathways, publication sale counter etc. are provided at the World Heritage and Ticketed monuments. Further, existing facilities are upgraded as per requirement and its up-gradation is a continuous process.

Messe Berlin, the organisers of ITB Berlin have confirmed that this year’s show scheduled from March 4-8, 2020 is on track and only two Chinese exhibitors have cancelled attendance after coronavirus outbreak. At 0.3 per cent overall, the share of exhibitors from China is very low. The percentage of visitors from China is even lower at 0.02 per cent of 160,000 visitors. For the upcoming edition of ITB Berlin, more English-speaking staff as well as additional medical specialists and first responders on the grounds, have been added. The sanitary facilities will be cleaned and disinfected at more frequent intervals. In addition to hand cleansers in the bathrooms, there will also be sanitised dispensers at the entrances. The organisers’ highlight that the safety of our visitors and exhibitor will be their utmost priority and they are taking the situation very seriously.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip on Tuesday reported the elevation of Rajesh Magow as the Group Chief Executive Officer while founder Deep Kalra will take up the role of Executive Chairman.“We believe that separating the roles of Group CEO and Executive Chairman will allow us to focus more on long-term strategic opportunities within and outside India, while maintaining our market leading position in our existing businesses,” MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra said.

The venue of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) to be held in Antalya, Turkey has been confirmed and announcing this is Himanshu Patil, Convention Chairman, OTOAI, who reveals, “Our convention will be held at the luxurious, five-star Titanic Mardan Palace hotel located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. All the members will also be staying in this hotel. For now, we have received around 120 registrations and we expect more to come in now that we have announced the hotel. We are looking to close it at 200 or 220 registrations, so members need to book promptly.” He added that the destination is offering gratis visa for the convention. The Titanic Mardan Palace Convention Center boasts a 5448 m² area of 17 halls and two ballrooms designed for meetings, conferences, workshops, administrative seminars, gala dinners and weddings. It has two column-free ballrooms, each of which can be adapted to accommodate events of nearly any size.  

Switzerland Tourism invites members of India’s travel trade to participate in its exclusive webinar series. The webinar series aims to educate the trade about the most sought-after destinations, activities and attractions in Switzerland and share news and updates that are important for their clients. The webinar scheduled on 17th Feb 2020 at 2:30 pm will highlight the Swiss Travel System and its products. Viewers get a chance to learn about one of the most efficient transportation networks in the world, as well as the popular Swiss Travel Pass, an all-in-one ticket offering travellers unlimited travel by train, bus and boat including panoramic routes. Travel partners who attend all the webinars also stand a chance of winning a trip to Switzerland. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with  Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

The Indian Association of Amusement Parks & Industries (IAAPI) will be hosting the 20th edition of its annual Amusement Expo this month. It will be held from 26-28 February 2020 at NESCO Complex, Goregaon East in Mumbai. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India under the banner of Incredible India. The event, hailed as India’s only focus B2B show for amusement and theme park sector, will be spread across 80,000 sqft with participation from over 150+ exhibitors from India and across 14 countries including Canada, Germany, Korea, Hong Kong, Italy, Philippines, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Turkey, UAE, UK and the USA who will be displaying their products and services at the expo.  Sohansinh Jadeja, President, IAAPI, shares, “We will also be organising the third edition of IAC Connect scheduled to be held on February 27, 2020, on the sidelines of the exhibition. Industry experts from digital marketing experts and mall developers will speak on how digital marketing can boost ROI, going beyond social media and the future of indoor amusement centres.”  The expo will provide an excellent networking platform with decision-makers from India and overseas which will include: park and FEC operators, resorts owners, real estate and mall developers, and allied professional connected to the amusements and leisure industry. Concurrently, the National awards for Excellence 2020 will be presented to new endeavours’ undertaken within the amusement and entertainment industry. Over 4,000 business professionals from India and neighbouring countries are expected to visit this event.

To attract more tourists through web series, advertisements, documentaries and films, the Gujarat government is likely to announce a policy soon to provide aid and financial incentives to shoot films and videos in Gujarat. The state tourism policy contains guidelines for cinematic tourism, but it does not offer any financial support or benefits to attract film producers. “Apart from Gujarat’s proximity to Mumbai, we have the best beaches, heritage properties, mountains, deserts, rivers, modern buildings and other locations to offer. The state government has decided to form a new policy to promote cinematic tourism in the state,” said, Mamta Verma, Tourism Secretary, Gujarat.

To encourage private investments in the Indian Railways, the Ministry for Railways has prepared an ambitious plan to allow private players to run 500 passenger trains, manage 750 stations and even buy rolling stock from private players. This has been included in the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which has been prepared for the next five years. So far, the Ministry has stated publicly that the government is keen to allow private players to run 150 trains on 100 identified routes. The ministry on Wednesday said the draft request for qualification and the draft concession agreement have been uploaded on the websites of Niti Aayog and Indian Railways for seeking feedback from the stakeholders.

In order to provide an impetus to tourism, the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned seven projects worth Rs 594 crore in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD scheme for development of tourism infrastructure. The schemes provide financial assistance to state governments / UT administrations. With a total sanction of Rs 594 crore, six projects are for Swadesh Darshan scheme for the development of the Himalayan circuit while one project worth Rs 42.02 crore for development of Hazratbal is for the PRASAD scheme. The allocation under Swadesh scheme is for the integrated development of Jammu, Kashmir, Pahalgam, Kargil, Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 82.07 crore, integrated development of Tourist Facilities at Jammu-Rajouri-Shopian-Pulwama under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96 .38 crore, integrated development of  Tourist Facilities under the Construction of Assets in lieu of those Destroyed in Floods in 2014 under PM Development Package for J&K under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 90.96 crore, integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai- Sudhmahadev- Patnitop under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 97.82 crore, integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Anantnag- Kishtwar- Pahalgam – Daksum – Ranjit Sagar Dam under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 87.44 crore and integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Gulmarg-Baramulla-Kupwara-Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96.93 crore.