Luxury Gold, that offers luxury guided journeys, has announced the launch of its brand new e-learning program called the Luxury Gold Masterclass, offered through The Travel Corporation’s Travel Agent Academy. Created with travel advisors in mind to help increase their earning potential, the new Luxury Gold Masterclass will allow them to become a brand expert. The program has been designed with an interactive suite of user-friendly modules, providing advisors the knowledge and tools to better sell its luxury guided journeys in an efficient manner, while thanking them for their dedication with exciting rewards. Anthony Lim, Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold Managing Director, Asia, says, “Our new Luxury Gold Masterclass offers Travel Advisors to become a Luxury Gold Expert and increase their sales through up-to-date information on our offerings and in-depth knowledge to delight their clients with. Ultimately, we created the Masterclass with our loyal Advisors in mind to help them sell journeys beyond the ordinary and we’re rewarding them for their commitment by offering eligibility for FAM trips and opportunities to earn discounts on our journeys.” The eLearning platform is divided into three levels and Travel Advisors can access the first level, Sapphire, which is available now. The modules cover an introduction to the brand, the Luxury Gold difference, tools for selling the journeys and information on the brand’s one-of-a-kind Chairman’s Collection consisting of exceptional VIP experiences, personally curated by The Travel Corporation (TTC)’s Chairman, Stanley Tollman. Travel advisors can register for the eLearning program by following the link, offering three simple steps after registering through the TTC Academy and receiving an email to sign up and begin the Luxury Gold Masterclass.

The latest Travelport research shows Indian travellers are leading the way in voice search, with 69% using the technology. With a population of 400 million that speak over 20 languages, there is a large section of people from Tier II and III cities who are becoming more comfortable with lingual voice commands over typing—they are literally finding it easier to use their ‘voice’ to search, reveals the Mobile Travel Trends 2019 report by Travelport. Google is predicting that India will soon become the world’s first voice-driven internet market, with voice being both the primary input and output.

The Indian domestic Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) market recorded an 8.9% annual growth rate, up from 8.2% in June, reveals IATA Air Passenger Market Analysis. The market has not yet returned to the double-digit growth rates that were the norm in the past 4-5 years. Yet it seems to be adjusting well to the disruption caused by the demise of Jet Airways; capacity is also back on track (7.1% yoy in July vs 3.4% in June).

India ranks at 13th spot in terms of Price Competitiveness, with a score of 6.1, according to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) by World Economic Forum. The better price competitiveness is due to the improved ticket taxes and airport charges, where India ranks at 8th position, while in hotel price index it ranks 15 across the world. Iran and Islamic Republic topped the list in terms of Price Competitiveness. The TTCI benchmarks the T&T competitiveness of 140 economies and measures the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable development of the Travel & Tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn, contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country.

By 2020, medical tourism industry of India is expected to touch US$ 9 billion, reveals the Tourism and Hospitality report by India Brand Equity Foundation. The report claimed that travel & tourism’s contribution to capital investment in India is projected to grow 6.7 percent per annum during 2018–28. In India, the sector’s direct contribution to GDP is expected to grow by 7.1 per cent per annum during 2018-28.

The Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent charge), Prahlad Singh Patel held a meeting with all local stakeholders related to tourism sector in Ladakh. The Minster announced that the Ministry of Tourism will provide full support to the local administration in preparing a new Tourism Policy for  Ladakh. He also assured them that if needed, the Ministry people will visit every month to Ladakh to provide their support and help regarding this matter. The Minister also said that right now Ladakh region has only 14 monuments under ASI protection and the Ministry is willing to increase it to double or triple fold.. He further added that there are several many unknown yet important monuments available in Leh and Kargil regions which can be protected by ASI. In the meeting, the local stakeholders appreciated Minister’s initiative to visit Ladakh and hold fruitful meetings. They demanded support of Government of India in various matters like better connectivity, better infrastructure, rebate in taxation to boost tourism industry, to promote village tourism and adventure tourism among others. The Union Minister assured them that the Ministry and Government of India have taken their demands positively and full support will be provided to Ladakh to enable quality tourism in order to make it one of the best tourist destinations in the world . The Meeting started with a presentation given by ShriVikas Rustagi, Joint Director General, Ministryof Tourism regarding roadmap to boost tourism in Ladakh region. In the presentation it was showcased that Ladakh has great potential to attract tourists from across the globe and we need to capitalize the opportunity with better planning. He said that, a special place has been given to …

Passengers flying via Air India will avail a meet and greet service called ‘Namaskar Sewa’ from 23 September. This service can be availed at Rs 750 for domestic passengers and Rs 1500 for international fliers. In this service, dedicated personnel will receive customers at the airport entry gate and assist them till they are seated in the aircraft. Air India, which is already offering similar services to first class passengers, will be starting the initiative on a pilot basis at the Delhi airport in September. The Namaskar Sewa will be provided to passengers for a nominal fee, according to an airline official. He stated further that the initiative would be focusing more on international passengers, particularly those in transit, as they have to go from one terminal to another. Air India would have a dedicated team of up to three personnel to help passengers who register for the services through the web link ‘namaskarsewa.in’. “The number of personnel will depend on the number of customers or group’s size,” the official shared. The initiative is being rolled out at a time when Air India is dealing with stiff competition and grievances regarding services from passengers. After Delhi, the Namaskar Sewa will be rolled out at Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata airports, where Air India has sizeable international operations.

Travel Luxury Show 2019 is scheduled from September 14-15, 2019 at the Crowne Plaza Jaipur. This show will connect sellers to the travel trade luxury buyers across India, targeting Tier-II and Tier-III cities.  The show will also stage knowledge session where industry stalwarts will educate the audience on the evolving luxury travel market in the country.

In a recent interview, Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – India & South Asia, Accor, says, “We saw tremendous growth in Q1 as compared to the second quarter and this can be attributed to multiple factors. Overall India witnessed strong demand in Jan-Feb which worked in our favour. Most cities recorded double digit growth with high MICE demand, weddings and corporate movement. Most of our hotels in constraint markets witnessed strong rate increases as well during this period.  Beginning of the year we also launched two properties Mercure Goa Devaaya Retreat and ibis Kolkata Rajarhat, which helped us increase our visibility across states.”

ADTOI is going to launch its 11th Chapter in Madhya Pradesh on September 08, 2019 at Minto Hall, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Surendra Singh Baghel, Hon’ble Tourism Minister of Madhya Pradesh has very kindly accorded his consent  to grace the occasion as Chief Guest of the function. Shri. Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board will also be present during the chapter launch.   Names of the nominated Office Bearers of the ADTOI M.P. chapter are as follows:-ATUL SINGH OF TRAVEL CONNECTION, INDORE-  CHAPTER CHAIRMAN. PRATUL TRIVEDI OF LETZ GO MICE, INDORE-  CHAPTER SECRETARY SANDEEP PANDYA OF TOUR TRAVEL WORLD, BHOPAL-   CHAPTER TREASURER NEELAM SINGH OF TRAVEL INDIA TOURISM, BHOPAL-   CHAPTER LADY ENTREPRENEUR OFFICER (LEO)