In a bid to cater to the demand of Indian diaspora and foreign tourists to visit various destinations, Air India has introduced ‘Discover India’ scheme valid for sale and travel up to March 31, 2020. Under the scheme, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Foreign nationals will now be able to buy five domestic Air India economy class tickets for Rs. 40,000 which will be valid for travel within 15 days of the first leg of travel. According to a statement, “Ten domestic economy class tickets are also on offer for Rs 75,000 with a validity period of 30 days both on firm basis. The passenger will be allowed to travel to any destination of their choice within India and are also permitted to reroute their journey as per their requirement.” The scheme allows re-booking, which is permitted without penalty till 4 hours prior to scheduled departure. The passenger can also change the date of the journey without any charge. “Air India offers unique benefits to passengers like 25 Kilograms free baggage allowance to all adult and child passengers and also 10 kgs free baggage allowance to infants. Besides, comfortable seats, range of inflight cuisine in plush new aircraft,” revealed the statement by Air India.

The number of weekly international seats deployed by IndiGo to/from India has increased by 43% in just 3 months, according to CAPA. The airline offers over 1400 daily flights and connects 57 domestic destinations and 19 international destinations and has added

Travel Nevada will host a webinar for travel agents on September 10. The event will be limited to 250 agents from across India who will learn about the key highlights of the destination and will be educated on what makes Nevada an ideal destination for Indian tourists. The event will also include an exclusive speech by SanJeet, India Representative, Travel Nevada. For registration, contact, Arjun Chadha at arjun.chadha@buzzindia.in.

In a recent interview, Atul Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Best Western Hotels & Resorts India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, says, “Following the signing of 20 new hotels in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the group regional pipeline now features 36 hotels containing over 3,000 rooms. The new hotel signings will operate under Best Western, Best Western Plus, SureStay Plus and SureStay Hotel by Best Western. The company’s expansion will start immediately, with the opening of Best Western La Vista Pathankot followed by Best Western Plus Mohali. By the end of this year, 6 more Best Western-branded hotels are on track to open their doors. This include Best Western brand in New Delhi, Nawanshahr and Goa; Best Western Plus brand in Vizag and Gurgaon.”

The Royal Thai Government has approved the extension of the visa-on-arrival fee waiver for citizens of 20 countries including India for another six months, until April 2020. The scheme was to expire on October 31. The waivers are part of a $10-billion stimulus package to boost growth, including a debt moratorium for farmers, loans for smaller businesses, and more money for low-income earners. “The cabinet approved the extension of fee waivers until April 2020,” said the Thai Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, adding that the scheme would cover Lunar New Year and the Thai new year, Songkran. The fee of 2,000 baht (INR 4,666) is to be waived for tourists staying up to 15 days until next year. Meanwhile, the Thai cabinet has rejected a proposal for visa-free entry for visitors from China and India, because of security concerns.

Considering the option of Joint Bank Guarantee for hotels and discussing its viability, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, says, “We are open to consider Joint Bank Guarantee option but it would require a prior and complete scrutiny and understanding of the JBG terms and conditions. For instance, the JBG  should be given by either the TA or a renowned association on behalf of the agent so that there is a guarantee for payments for the hotels and the TA can enjoy extended credit.” 

Starting October 1, 2019, IndiGo and GoAir will operate all domestic flights from T1 and international from T2, while SpiceJet will shift its full operation to T2. The structural streamline of airlines initiated for the greater benefit and convenience of the passengers. While Terminal 2 of the airport operates both domestic as well as international flight, the airport currently operates 50 international and 9 domestic airlines. The primary runway at CSMIA handles more than 46 arrivals and departures per hour while the secondary runway has a capacity of 35 flight movements per hour. Airline Domestic flights International flights IndiGo T1 T2 GoAir T1 T2 SpiceJet T2 T2

According to Hotel Momentum India, H1 2019, by JLL, first half of this year witnessed 46 new hotel openings (branded) with 3,509 rooms. Besides this, the number of hotels signed (branded) in the first half of this year were 85 which will have 8,612 rooms. Domestic hotel operators dominated the hotel signings during this period where 36% of new signings are conversions of old hotels.

The Amravati Tour & Travel Association (ATTA), which is a small 23-member association based in Amravati, will be hosting its second edition of the three-day B2C Travel Expo 2019 from November 29 to December 1, 2019 in Amravati. The association, which is in its third year now, is led by Babanrao Kolhe, President, ATTA, alongside Vishwanath Arora, Vice President, ATTA. Speaking to TravTalk, Arora said, “This is the first time that a travel trade association is conducting a B2C expo. We saw huge success in its first year with more than 50 booths and so we decided to organise it again this year. It will start from November 29, 2019 and end on December 1, 2019. Last year, we were supported by MTDC and Genting Cruise Lines. The aim is to get more and more big travel companies to Amravati as there is a huge market here. We hope to get good support from companies this year too and we are in discussions for the same.”

The year 2019 is expected to outpace 2018 with a total of 105 new branded hotel openings with a total key count of 8,574 keys, revealed HVS ANAROCK in its recent report. It revealed that the effort to open new hotels, big or small, requires hotel operators to coordinate large amounts of preopening effort. So, while domestic operators opened 65 hotels of the total 134 openings in 2018, which represents nearly half of all the openings, in terms of key counts, domestic operators represented only 32% of the total 7,215 keys.