Travelport has confirmed that the company is now the sole global distribution system (GDS) provider of Air India’s domestic flight content in India. Martin Herbert, Regional Managing Director for India and Sri Lanka at Travelport, said, “We’re delighted to reach this landmark. Wide and cost-effective distribution, coupled with impactful merchandising, are important to all airlines and we’re proud we are now the sole GDS provider of these services to Air India. The results the carrier has already achieved since it started adjusting its distribution strategy have been extremely positive.” Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient, said: “Since inception, this partnership between Air India and Travelport has presented impressive prospects. Now that we have had a glimpse of last year’s performance, with respect to positive reflections on growth, cost and savings for our partner – Air India; the future only seems bright from here. As the sole GDS distributor of Air India’s domestic content, we are aiming at easing the process, cutting down unnecessary stages and offering value-added advantage in booking Air India branded fares and ancillary services, both simply and seamlessly.”

Genting Cruise Lines will be launching their new cruise ship- Global Dream in 2021. The bookings for the same will start this year. Michael Goh, President, Dream Cruises & Head of International Sales at Genting Cruise Lines, revealed that the new ship has been made in their own building facility in Germany and can accommodate as many as 9000 guests. He says, “The Global Dream will allow the guests to open the cabin doors via their smartphones, has many configurations for luxury guests, the biggest roller-coaster ride ever built on a ship and many more features that will make it as one of the most unique and biggest cruise ships ever.”  

The Union Territory of Ladakh has increased its tourism budget to Rs 200 crore this year from Rs 55 lakh earlier when it was only a district in the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state, revealed RK Mathur, Lieutenant Governor, Ladakh, while speaking at the special ‘Ladakh Night’ organised by the Administration of UT of Ladakh Tourism Department and All Ladakh Travel association stakeholders. He also revealed that the newly allocated budget would be used to create new tourism products and infrastructure in the UT. The event saw the stakeholders presenting the tourism products of Ladakh to the travel and tour operators in Delhi. Some of the dignitaries present at the event were Rigzin Samphel, Commercial Secretary, Tourism, Ladakh and Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Member of Parliament, Ladakh.  

VFS Global is soon going to open an exclusive Visa Application Centre (VAC) dedicated only for travel agents and tour operators. Sharing details, Sanjeet Joher, Head- South Asia, VFS Global, said that the VAC will provide visa assistance to travel agents for non-Schengen countries and visas that don’t require biometric data. He also shared that VFS Global will also have dedicated helpline number for travel agents apart from special weekend visit to arrangements for large groups. He briefed that there will also be dedicated counters/time slots for travel agents across VFS Global facility location across India.

After overcoming a major civic and tourism infrastructure challenge post Cyclone Fani, Odisha Tourism is looking to prepare a blueprint for developing its most-visited tourist destinations with a focus on creating a land bank for hotel projects. Vishal K Dev, IAS, Secretary, Odisha Tourism, said, “One of the challenges that Odisha Tourism faced was creating a land bank for developing premium tourism and hospitality infrastructure. We are looking to consolidate an investment-ready land bank of over 2,000 acres for the sector in the coming years.” He added that this plots of land will be identified near all major touristic sites. Land banks will be created in areas close to Chilika, Bhitarkanika, Similipal, Hirakud, Satkosia and sea coastline. Dev added that the tourism board had already developed and launched its Marine Drive Eco Retreat at the Ramachandi Beach near the grand Konark Sun Temple. “It has been developed as an environmentally sustainable model incorporating best practices in material utilisation, zero liquid and sewerage discharge and holistic waste management. It has been envisioned as eastern India’s first glamping set up. Scheduled from 14 December 2019 to 31 January 2020, the Eco Retreat is a unique experience of glamping in 50 luxury cottages along with adventure and water sports activities. We plan to replicate the Eco Retreat model at suitable times of the year on prominent beach stretches along our 482 km coastline, each having its own unique experience,” Dev added.

On March 17, Moscow will host MITT Digital- a conference about internet technologies for tourism sector that will take place at MITT, the largest tourism exhibition in Russia and CIS. MITT Digital program includes session by leading international and Russian experts about online travel sector, current trends, new opportunities for business, and future of tourism business.

Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar, tells Tourism Breaking News that Air India and Air India Express will avoid Iranian airspace until further notice. He said, “We are still observing as to when it will be safe to fly over Iran. This rerouting will affect flights flying to Europe and US and will increase the flying time to 40 minutes from Mumbai and 20 minutes from Delhi.”

The next edition of FITUR, organised by IFEMA, will take place at Feria de Madrid from 22-26 January 2020. The 2020 edition will be the 40th Anniversary of the Trade Show. Besides this, Sustainability, technology and specialisation will be the main lines of FITUR, but in addition there will be the promotion of activities aimed at growing in professionalism, representation and internationalisation and, therefore, to exceed the results from the latest edition, which brought together over 11,000 exhibitor companies from 160 countries, and 253,000 participants.  

GPS has tied up with TripperWiFi, a global WiFi device, which can be rented out by anyone travelling anywhere in the world, revealed Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Global Panorama Showcase. He said that this device will be launched at GPS Nagpur, which will be held from January 27-28, 2020. Any corporate or individual can rent out this device, and almost up to 10 people can get connected to the device at a low rental of Rs 400 a day with unlimited data usage. It would be launched in GPS Nagpur, and GPS will be a partner of TripperWiFi in 2020. He explained, “We will be appointing area distributors in most of the major cities across India. Hence, the device will become available to many agents and it would be commissionable to them. We are keeping the interest of the travel agent/tour operator consultant in mind as well, because they will know who is travelling. This would be the best channel to source this out, as there would be a price parity.”

Twenty14 Holdings, hospitality investment arm of LuLu Group International, is developing two high-profile properties in Bengaluru at an investment of Rs 800 crore that will open in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Adeeb Ahamed, Managing Director, Twenty14 Holdings, says, “We currently have three projects in India, one of which is already operational – the first Tribute Collection by Marriott called Port Muziris in Kochi. The other two are brownfield projects under development in Bengaluru – one is near the airport and the other is in the Electronic City. One of them will be ready by 2020 and the other by Q1 2021.” The two Bengaluru properties are at a combined investment of up to Rs 800 crore, Ahamed reveals while the one in Kochi was at an investment of Rs 52 crore. “We are looking to expand in India and are in final stages of negotiations for other projects across India. We are looking at one resort property and one hill station property but we haven’t finalised yet. We are also looking at Dharamshala and Hyderabad as potential destinations,” he shares. Twenty14 Holdings was established in 2014 and aims to become a billion-dollar investment company by 2025. It is an asset-heavy hospitality investment arm of LuLu Group International and already has a few properties operating in different parts of the world. It is now planning to expand further in India and is looking for appropriate hospitality partners.