Small Luxury Hotels of The World (SLH), with its India Representatives, ISA Tourism, conducted series of sales meetings with important travel partners and organised Key Partners Meet in Mumbai and New Delhi. SLH has more than 500 member hotels in over 80 countries. In Asia Pacific, there are more than 100 member hotels in its portfolio that offer unique luxury experiences complemented with the highest standards of intuitive service to independently minded upscale travellers. “To augment the brand presence of SLH and to grow the number of discerning Indian guests at our hotels and resorts, it is our first meet conducted at Mumbai and New Delhi with first batch of select key partners that are already booking with us. The meet was also aimed to educate the partners about new SLH affiliated hotels and update them on the channels of bookings. Now with our representative office in India, it is important for us to enhance our local sales presence and provide better customer service to our travel partners.” said Mark Wong, Vice President Asia Pacific of SLH. The event focused onboosting SLH brand awareness with the travel trade and driving reservations from the luxury outbound travel market. Additionally, it will generate leads for small corporate meetings and leisure groups including family travel and small wedding groups. Travel consultants were given more insight on the destinations, niche accommodation, unique activities et al, that is not easily accessible to a casual browser (end customer) planning a trip.

As part of a new facility to ease visitors and skip the queue at Qutub Minar, tourists can purchase tickets online at a discounted rate or just by scanning the QR code through their mobile cameras. Tickets can be booked at asi.payyoumoney.com. Tickets for foreigners is Rs 600, if bought online or by scanning QR codes, they will get it at Rs 550 and for Indians a ticket costs Rs 40, but after discount it will be Rs 35. The culture ministry is planning to extend the discount to all other monuments also. The ministry has also decided to illuminate the Qutub Minar from 7pm-11pm with architectural LED at a monthly cost of Rs 16,615 to boost night tourism. As part of the effort to increase footfall in the evening, timings for public entry at Red Fort, Safdarjung Tomb and Humayun’s Tomb have also been extended to 9 pm. Qutub Minar, however, is already open till 10 pm.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has proposed two resorts – one in Pahalgam in Kashmir and the other in Leh, Ladakh, to boost tourism in the two destinations. The state cabinet has approved the proposal and set aside a token amount of Rs 2 crore. The Maharashtra government will either seek land or ask the local government if they have land and want to construct a resort or if there is a hotel, which they want them to run. A land survey to identify the location will be undertaken in 15 days, Maharashtra tourism minister said he will visit the area in the next 15 days and decide on the proposal. Maharashtra is likely to be the first state in the country to propose investments in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370.

Tamil Nadu will soon see an influx of buyers from within India and other countries to attend CII Tamil Nadu Travel Mart (TTM) scheduled from September 19-22 at Chennai Trade Centre. Participants can also opt for one of four post-event tour programmes that will take them to the inner regions of Tamil Nadu. Most of these tours are already getting booked, T Nataraajan, President, Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society & CEO of GRT Hotels & Resorts claims. “Our Society’s objective is inbound tourism. Tamil Nadu can offer all forms of tourism and is already well-known across the world. The TTM Society is now projecting hitherto unknown aspects of Tamil Nadu spread across its various districts,” he adds.

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) started his 3-day tour to Leh for exploring the opportunities of increasing tourism in the region. Union Tourism Minister is leading a delegation of senior officials of the Ministry of tourism to meet local administration and tourism stakeholders to discuss and draw plans for development of tourism sector in Ladakh region. After reaching Leh, the Minister started series of meetings with various stakeholders  and discussed proposals of promoting tourism and cultural activities in Ladakh. MP from Ladakh Shri Jamyang Tsering Namgyal was also present during the meeting. The minister also held meeting with members of Cultural Society of Leh. The Minister also held a meeting with Travel Trade Alliance of Ladakh region to understand the problems of stakeholders in tourism sector. In the meeting different stakeholders from the alliance raised their problems before the Minister. They also gave suggestions to Minister for expanding opportunities in  tourism sector in the region. Promoting adventure tourism, winter tourism and cheap and better connectivity from different part of countries to Leh, Kargil and Nubra Valley in all seasons remained the highlight of the discussions. They also requested the Minister to facilitate opening of Hotel Management Institute and Mountaineering Institute in the area to promote local talent in the region. The Alliance members also gave a memorandum regarding their concerns to Union Minister. In response to Alliance concerns and suggestions, the Minister assured them that the Government  is very positive regarding their concerns and full support will be given to Ladakh regarding development of tourism in the newly announced UT. He said that central government has arrived at the doorstep of Ladakh to fulfil the …

Travstarz is all set to launch a new online reservation system which will be a one-stop shop for all B2B travel requirements for agents. Pankaj Nagpal, Managing Director, Travstarz Global Group reveals, “We are launching our online reservation system next month, and all our products—flights, DMCs, visa, cruises and insurance— are going to be available on this system. It is not the global reservation system. This is going to be a DMC specific reservation system, where our 21 DMC locations will be available online. Hence, if someone wants to book hotels, tours or transfers in our DMC locations, they can do it on the system. Plus we have cruises, which agents can book from all the cruise lines we deal in, on the new system. With the new system, everything is bookable online with real time confirmations. We already have insurance live on the system, and we are looking forward to the online system now.”

The state bhavans in the national capital should not merely serve not as guest houses, but as the brand representatives of the state they represent, and be centers that promote trade and tourism as well, said PM Narendra Modi, while inaugurating first eco-friendly state bhavan, ‘Garvi Gujarat’, of the Gujarat government in the city recently.  The state bhavan has been described as a mix of traditional and modern architecture with a rich reflection of the western state’s culture. The bhavan is an evidence of the ‘New India’ mindset which believes in linking modernity to its cultural heritage, the Prime Minister said. “We want to touch the sky while remaining rooted,” he added. Source: PTI

Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Prahlad Singh Patel has said that the next meeting of state tourism ministers will take place in Jammu and Kashmir. The last meeting took place in Delhi recently. “Our next meeting of all state tourism ministers, as per their wish, has been planned in Jammu and Kashmir. When all these ministers met me in Delhi recently, all of them expressed their desire for the next meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. It could be in Srinagar as well. However, we haven’t decided the location as of now,” said the Minister. While every ministry is planning schemes for Ladakh region, he said he would be visiting Kashmir to take stock of ‘feasibility’ of implementation of schemes in the newly-carved Union Territory. “While we have sent our tourism officials to Leh and Ladakh to train the manpower for the betterment of the tourism sector for a few days, we would be focusing our energies on various schemes under our ministries. We would go to Jammu and Kashmir soon after,” the minister said. Ladakh will get dedicated projects that can make the region stand out as an international tourist destination, said Patel. (Source: ANI)

Amber Dubey, Partner and Head- Aerospace and Defence, KPMG, has been appointed as the Joint Secretary at Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, under the lateral entry scheme. An IIT and IIM alumnus, Dubey has been an aviation expert for years and is a known name in the industry. He is among the nine professionals to be appointed as Joint Secretaries in various ministries. The appointment will be on contract basis and has been done in Level 14 of the Pay Matrix as per the 7th Central Pay Commission for a period of three years.

The Union Home Ministry recently announced that foreign visitors coming to India can avail treatment anywhere in the country without procuring a medical visa. However, treatment of diseases requiring an organ transplant would be permitted only on submission of a medical visa. The ministry said in a statement that indoor treatment can be taken on primary (original) visa for pre-existing diseases, which the foreigner may have been suffering from even before his/her entry into India and for ailments that were in his/her knowledge. This decision has come in the wake of some foreigners already possessing valid visas but facing difficulties in getting medical treatment in the event of their falling sick during their stay in India. They were being advised by some medical centres or hospitals to get their visas converted into medical visas before getting admitted, the ministry statement added. The Home Ministry further stated that a foreigner who is suffering from a minor medical condition, which required only OPD consultation or treatment, would be allowed to undergo treatment at any treatment centre or hospital on his/her primary visa. “In case of indoor medical treatment of less than 180 days or up to the stay stipulation period, if any, stipulated on primary visa of a foreigner or the duration of his or her primary visa, whichever is earlier, a foreigner is permitted to take such indoor medical treatment subject to certain conditions,” the statement said. In 2018 the procedure had been revised with the central government exempting foreigners from converting their primary visa into medical visa for obtaining indoor treatment of up to 180 days for seeking admission in a hospital wing owing to illness.