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.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently informed that 30 additional daily flights would be introduced from the four airports in the state in the next three months. Five more flights would be introduced from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi. The additional flights would be introduced during the next winter schedule of airlines companies, a release quoting the Chief Minister’s office (CMO) said. The assurance in this regard was made by the Union Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola at a meeting of CEOs of various airline companies called by the chief minister here in the backdrop of airline companies reducing flights from the Thiruvananthapuram airport. Vijayan pointed out that Kerala had reduced excise duty on ATF from 25 per cent to five per cent in 3 airports —  Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, while in Kannur airport it was brought down to 1 per cent.

In a bid to ease the increasing passenger traffic at Indian airports, 10-15 aircraft are being added every month. Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said, “Today we have in air 690 aircraft. We are adding 10-15 aircraft per month. We are looking forward to a scenario when we will have 2,000 registered aircraft flying.” Puri further informed that Delhi Airport alone deals with 70 million passengers per annum and both Delhi and Mumbai Airport put together roughly deal with 34 per cent of passengers in the country. “When Jet Airways ceased operation we had 540 aircraft in the sky but a false narrative was floated that Indian skies will be adversely affected. We are adding new aircraft to maintain fleet as per the traffic requirement,” he concluded.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced that it will organise another edition of its Singapore Cruise Forum on 12 September 2019 in New Delhi. STB wants to continue tapping India’s outbound potential particularly when it involves cruising. GB Srithar, Regional Director (India, Middle East & South Asia), Singapore Tourism Board, says “We partner with stakeholders in the cruise industry to secure a vibrant pipeline of cruise ships and new cruise offerings in Singapore and tie that in with Singapore’s strong suite of leisure offerings to create attractive pre and post cruise-stay experiences in Singapore.”

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of July 2019 has been 1.74%, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Air Asia recorded least cancellations at 0.25 per cent, followed by GoAir at 0.46 per cent. Vistara was at the third spot recording 1.27 per cent of cancellations, while IndiGo was fourth at 1.33 per cent. SpiceJet recorded 1.59 per cent cancellations, while Air India was at 4.14 per cent.

In the first half of 2019, Chinese arrivals to India recorded a Year-on-Year (YoY) increase of 21%, according to a report released by China Outbound Tourism Research Institute. The report also revealed that Chinese arrivals to India reached an all-time high at 282,195 in 2018. In the second half of 2018, the Year-on-Year increase reached 32%. Total arrivals from China to India in fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018 was 84,487, recording a share of 0.2%, as compared to number of Chinese outbound travellers to all destinations across the world in Q4 of 2018, which was 40,000,000