India’s first full-fledged international cruise terminal will open at the Ernakulam wharf in Willingdon Island in Kochi and will be commissioned in February 2020, said M Beena, Chairperson, Cochin Port Trust (CPT). The Rs 25.72-crore cruise terminal with facilities to handle 5,000 tourists will be spread over 12,200 sq. ft. There are also plans to have regular helicopter services from the terminal to different tourist spots in Kerala. The wharf, after the revamp will have an area to stage traditional art forms, ATMs and food kiosks on the premises. There will also be a permanent space for selling artefacts and others to tourists, aimed at improving visitor experience.

Air India in a recent announcement has said that the airline now allows 10 kg more bag allowance on all its domestic flights where the fliers can save up to Rs 5000. Earlier, 15 kg were allowed on the domestic sector. This has brought huge respite to domestic fliers. In other announcement, Alliance Air has also started Hyderabad-Hubli flights under UDAN.

The 2nd edition of the PATA India Tourism PowerHouse, presented by the Inder Sharma Foundation will be held on December 6 at The PARK, New Delhi. Participants will get the opportunity to network, learn and interact with knowledge leaders and industry stalwarts and participate in engaging discussions on aviation capacity to India, impact of tourism, digital and destination marketing, The China opportunity and more.

Organised by IFEMA, FITUR 2020 will take place from 22 to 26 January at Feria de Madrid where sustainability, technology and specialisation will again be in the spotlight. The last FITUR trade fair brought together 10,400 participating companies and over 253,000 attendees. The Trade Fair is boosting its B2B meeting agenda with the specialised sections FITUR B2B Match and FITUR MICE.

Suman Billa will be joining United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) as Director, Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Development and will be based at the UNWTO headquarters in Spain, Madrid starting December. He had been serving as the Joint Secretary at Ministry of Tourism (MOT) for the last five years. He has also been the Tourism Secretary for Kerala before. A 1996 batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Billa would be assuming charge at UNWTO next week and will be posted there for an initial period of two years. He has joined at D1 Level.

The city of Hyderabad has got its first Visa Application Centre for the Netherlands. Anneke Adema, Deputy Head of Mission, the Netherlands Embassy in India, officially inaugurated the centre. VFS Global has been offering visa services for the Netherlands in India since 2008 through a network of seven centres – New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jalandhar. The addition of the centre in Hyderabad brings the visa services closer to home for customers in the State of Andhra Pradesh, and will help the organisation better cater to the growing demand for travel to the destination from India. Anneke Adema, Deputy Head of Mission, the Netherlands Embassy in India mentioned the ever increasing number of Indians welcomed to the Netherlands. She stressed her determination to handle the visa procedures as efficiently and customer friendly as possible, to which end she was looking forward to the extended cooperation between the Netherlands embassy and VFS Global in Hyderabad. Vinay Malhotra, Regional Group COO – Middle East, South Asia and China, VFS Global said, “Our association with the Netherlands Embassy in India has been long standing and strong, and the expansion of our network of centres on their behalf is testament to their faith in our services and abilities. We look forward to serving the residents of Andhra Pradesh through our new centre in Hyderabad.” Customers can also avail a range of optional services for a smooth and seamless visa application process, including the Premium Lounge, which offers end-to-end personalised assistance, in a plush ambience. Worldwide, VFS Global serves the Netherlands in 38 countries through 84 Visa Application Centres.  Optional services available at the centre: Premium Lounge for end to end personalised …

Emirates has signed a codeshare and interline agreement with SpiceJet to give travellers to and from India seamless access to a wider and a stronger route network. This is the first-ever codeshare agreement signed by SpiceJet. From early 2020, customers travelling to India can take advantage of many more flight options on routes common to both airlines – Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Cochin and Delhi. Emirates’ customers can conveniently book and connect seamlessly in Dubai on direct services to Amritsar, Calicut, Mangalore, Madurai, Jaipur and Pune – routes served by SpiceJet.  The codeshare agreement means travellers from across the globe can book a single ticket with attractive fares to any of Emirates’ nine points across India and connect onwards to 172 domestic routes that are part of SpiceJet’s network. SpiceJet’s domestic network includes popular destinations like Goa, Dehradun, Dharamshala, Jaisalmer, Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Guwahati, Pondicherry, Port Blair, Shirdi, Tirupati, Udaipur and Varanasi. In this first phase of interline agreement customers can start booking flights from 25 November, for travel starting 15 December 2019. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer said: “Emirates has historically shared a close and collaborative bond with India. In the last decade, we have flown more than 50 million customers on our Indian routes, which we now serve with 170 weekly services from Dubai. Our partnership will help us leverage SpiceJet’s extensive route network, so that our customers who are visiting friends and family can fly closer to their hometowns, while tourists can more easily access many of the incredible sights and sounds India has to offer. This will also have a significant and positive impact on businesses in both countries and globally. We look to strengthening our partnership …

Air India has cut down its cost by Rs 300 crore in last one year by being exclusive on single GDS- Travelport, reveals Meenakshi Malik, Executive Director (Commercial), Air India. Speaking on the feasibility of the move, Malik says, “Exclusivity with one GDS system is absolutely feasible. We have seen a growth of 22 per cent without any problem and we have cut down the cost by around Rs. 300 crores this year. We have projected a saving of Rs. 3200 crores in 5 years. It’s already been one year and we are doing fine.”

Currently, Lufthansa Group has an interline agreement with Vistara, which allows a passenger to check-in his luggage at the first airport itself for the whole journey consisting of flights of both airlines. Asked if Lufthansa is planning to convert its interline agreement with Vistara to a codeshare agreement, a Lufthansa official said, “We are trying to strengthen it. We want to strengthen partnerships with other Indian airlines. So, Vistara is an obvious choice.”

Travel M!CE Show, this year, has been scheduled for December 14 & 15 at the Trident Chennai. The show will also conduct over 1800 tailored meetings over two days and will also conduct panel discussion with the industry stalwarts about the issues that remain paramount to the industry. The panel discussion will also talk about the challenges and solutions to deal with what hampers the industry’s growth at the moment.