The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has released a statement saying that there will be no funding of travel expenses for tourists visiting 15 destinations under ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ campaign, launched recently. MOT, has instead proposed to recognise the selected domestic travellers. The statement read, “It is to clarify that the Ministry of Tourism has no scheme for funding the travel expenses of tourists for visiting destinations in the country under the Dekho Apna Desh Campaign. However, the Ministry of Tourism proposes to give recognition to select domestic travellers who undertake a visit to various tourist destinations in the country through random selection for which details are being finalised.”

After announcing direct flights between Ahmedabad and Kuala Lumpur from April 29, 2020, AirAsia has launched the “Chalo! India” sales campaign to celebrate lower tourist e-visa fees to travel to India. This promotion will run until February 16 for travel between 29 April 2020 to 30 October 2020. Fly from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneswar, Cochin, Kolkata from as low as RM229 one-way, or to Jaipur, Delhi, Amritsar from as low as RM299 one-way. All promotional fares are available for booking on airasia.com or AirAsia mobile app. The campaign is offering flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneswar, Cochin, Kolkata from as low as RM229 one-way, or to Jaipur, Delhi, Amritsar from as low as RM299 one-way. All promotional fares are available for booking on airasia.com or AirAsia mobile app. On this, Benyamin Ismail, CEO, AirAsia X Malaysia said, “India has never been more affordable so there is no better time to travel. We are running some of our biggest sales yet to every India destination we fly to, including this new route from Kuala Lumpur to Ahmedabad. At the same time, the cost for the tourist e-visa fee for Malaysians is currently at its lowest. We thank the Indian government for lowering the visa fees for Malaysians to facilitate tourism growth. India is a must-see destination on many people’s travel list, and we are confident that our latest promotional campaigns and extensive flight network will stimulate travel to India and also entice more Indian travellers to visit Malaysia in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2020” Government of India had reduced the country’s e-visa fee from USD100 (1-year multiple-entry tourist e-visa) to USD10 (30-days tourist e-visa for April to June; USD25 for …

The Railway Board Chairman, VK Yadav has said that Indian Railways is all set to start country’s third private train, Tejas Express on the Indore-Varanasi route later this month. Completely run by the Indian Rail Catering and Tourism (IRCTC), the new train will run three days a week and will be the first Tejas Express which will run overnight. Last year, IRCTC launched its first Tejas Express which runs on Lucknow-Delhi route. The second Tejas Express started operating last month on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. IRCTC follows dynamic fare scheme for both the trains. Indian Railways also decided to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its routes. Niti Aayog had recently moved a draft document for discussion on private participation in Railways. Indian Railways proposed a plan to include private players in 100 routes across the country.

Tourism Minister of Kerala, Kadakampally Surendran has said that after three confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state, the tourism sector is badly affected as hotel bookings have suffered mass cancellations for the month of February and March. “Several bookings in hotels for the months of February and March have been cancelled. The bookings were almost full for these months earlier. The cancellations now are much more, compared to that after Nipah virus was reported. A lot of misinformation on the virus is being spread too,” said Surendran in the state Assembly during the question hour. Urging media to exercise self-restraint during the time of calamities and keep themselves away from fearmongering, the minister said blowing up issues beyond proportion was largely affecting tourism industry. A total of 8.19 lakh tourists had visited the southern state, popularly known as the “God’s Own Country”, in 9 months in 2019, which was 10.96 lakh in 2018, the minister added.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has informed that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Government of India has extended the validity of Airport Entry Passes for tour operators till March 31, 2020. Earlier, the Bureau had extended the validity till January 31, which initially expired on December 31, 2019. “We are pleased to inform you that with our regular follow up with Ministry of Civil Aviation/Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Director-General- Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has extended the validity of Commercial Airport Entry Passes up to 31st March 2020. Necessary directives have been issued to All Regional Directors of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to take necessary action accordingly,” said an IATO circular. The extension has been given only to the tour operators, till the time new mechanism for passes is finalized by the Bureau of Civil Aviation, Security.

Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) –India & South Asia, Accor has said that 2nd Fairmont in Mumbai with 646 rooms is in the pipeline. “Our upcoming properties for 2020 include the launch of Raffles Udaipur, Novotel Mumbai International Airport and ibis Mumbai LBS Road. We also have the Raffles Jaipur and Fairmont Mumbai Sahar, which are in the pipeline. Over the next few years, our focus is to continue to grow our regional network and introduce new brands. We have 25 hotels and approximately 5,000 keys in the pipeline and under active development.”

Pradipta Mohapatra, Asst. Vice President (Sales & Marketing), MAYFAIR Hotels & Resorts, says, “We are actively progressing in process of establishing a Golf Resort in Satapada region of Puri, Odisha wherein our group will be investing Rs 125 Crores. It will be a five star deluxe property featuring facilities like helipads. Other Projects in the pipeline include a 252-key five-star deluxe property in Kolkata- the work for which is also underway, and we plan to make it operational latest by early 2021.

The Hotels and Hospitality Overview India Report by HVS state that 106 branded hotels housing 9,316 rooms have opened in 2019 in India, while 223 hotels with 20,885 rooms have been signed during the same period. Also, according to HVS, hotel investments in India improved significantly in 2019, with the year setting a record for hotels transactions in the country.2019 witnessed transactions worth more than Rs 50 billion compared to just over Rs 5 Billion in the previous year. Transaction volumes have increased primarily on the back of opportunistic pricing of hotel assets.

Elaborating on the series of holidays,  Naveen Kundu, MD, EbixCash, Travel and Holidays says, “With these new offerings, Ebix Cash brings right to the doorstep of every Indian household, aspirational travel to destinations of their choice. Destinations like Europe, Amarica, Africa and Australia, are aspirational not affluent anymore and  we make them affordable. EbixCash, India’s largest financial exchange, is making them affordable, bringing to your doorsteps and available at easy installments. So, I invite you all to Chalo Europe, Chalo Africa, Chalo America and Chalo Australia.”  

ATOR, the Association of Russian Tour Operators, reports that the total outbound tourist flow from Russia is 7% higher than the same period in 2018.This exceeds the global average of 4% growth over the first nine months of the year, according to the UNWTO. ATOR reports that outbound, domestic and inbound have all seen a growth in sales over the period. Over 80% of Russian tourists opted for beach destinations, with Turkey remaining in prime position and seeing a 15% rise y-o-y. The Moscow International Travel and Tourism exhibition, Russia’s leading international travel trade exhibition, is the best place to gain access to the Russian travel industry. MITT attracts over 22,200 travel industry professionals – top tour operators, travel agents and other travel industry professionals.