“This decision of the government will help the people of Jammu and Kashmir the most because It is estimated that almost 50-60% of total population of J&K is directly and/or indirectly engaged in hospitality, tourism or related ancillary related activities, says, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India. According to him, tourism contributes about 15% to the state GDP. “Till now, despite being a leading industry of J&K, concrete steps of its economic impact on state are still lacking. This move will bring in more investment in all sectors, more industry movements, more private educational institutions, more jobs and more revenue will eventually come by, giving the otherwise bogged down state a huge impetus. Despite Kashmir ticking all the right boxes as a Hospitality & Tourism magnet, its presence and business in the state is dismal. Poverty and dependency on almost non-existent hospitality and tourism, except only in a couple of cities or areas lead the citizens to be misdirected towards nefarious activities which would now be to a large extent stand eradicated, he adds.

According to Deleks Namgyal, General Secretary, All Ladakh Tour Operators Association (ALTOA), the demand for Ladakh to be declared as a Union Territory has been pending for a long time. He says, “We are happy, because the demand to separate Ladakh from Kashmir politics has been there for the last 30-35 years. Being a part of J&K has not really helped Ladakh’s development. For the past few days, there has been some unrest, but Ladakh has not been affected. Being a part of J&K, advisory was issued by some embassies, governments, as well as countries like US, because of which there were some concerns and enquiries by tourists travelling to Ladakh. We did get a circular, but ou region has not been under curfew. Road trips from Srinagar have been impacted. However, flight operations remain undisturbed and so does internet.”

The government announced that Jammu and Kashmir would be a UT with a Legislature while the Ladakh region will be a separate UT without a legislature. Talking about its impact on tourism, Parvez Dewan, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, says, “I don’t think tourism will get affected post this decision. The unrest or security issue is very temporary, and in the long run tourism will not be affected because these UTs will remain next to each other. Since 1994-95, a certain number of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims have always gone to Kashmir after the Darshan. Around 34 per cent of foreign tourists visiting Ladakh do it in combination with Kashmir and around 66 per cent might only go to Ladakh. Similarly, a certain percentage always do Jammu and Kashmir together, and that will continue.

EBIXCASH World Money was invited by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to present a paper as part of the second ground-breaking ceremony and Investor Summit on July 27th-28th, 2019 in Lucknow. The event also conducted a business session with panelists that included Venkataramani Prakash, Head (Retail Business), EBIXCASH World Money; Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and MD of Air India; Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Central Board of Film Certification; Subhash Ghai, Film Director and Producer; Steve Borgia, President Ecotourism Society of India & CMD Indeco Leisure Hotels Pvt. Ltd; Satish Kaushik, Producer, Director and Actor; Boney Kapoor, Film Producer; and Raju Srivastava, Chairman Film Development Council of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking about the event, Prakash says, “As a key member of the tourism eco-system, our views on the augmentation of travel, tourism, and film shoots in Uttar Pradesh were sought. Our paper, detailing our views was presented during a panel discussion on tourism and film shoot. During the session we apprised the audience of the scale and size of EBIXCASH World Money and the travel companies within our portfolio. We also took time to meet the CM and the Chief Secretary and apprise them of our business. The chief secretary asked us to meet us to explore synergy between the government and business. We also met key members of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh.” Also present at the event were Amit Shah, Hon Home Minister of India, Yogi Adityanath Hon Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and top industrialists including Gautam Adani, Chairman and Managing Director Adani group, N Chandrasekharan, Chairman Tata Sons, and Shiv Nadar, Chairman HCL.

Travelport announced that it is actively working with multiple airlines and partners to offer Next Generation Storefront (NGS) capability. NGS is an industry initiative to enable travel agencies to display airfares just like airlines show their branded fares on their own websites. Developed by industry body ATPCO, it aims to deliver a richer and more informed shopping experience for travellers. The storefront allows users to compare and choose between multiple branded fare offers and across different airlines’ flights – all on one screen. Industry partners working with Travelport to pioneer NGS development are WhereTo, an online booking tool, and Travel Technology & Solutions (TTS), a global leading player in the development of innovative solutions for the travel and tourism industry. Travelport pioneered such innovation when it launched Rich Content and Branding in 2014. More than 270 airlines now benefit from this solution which provides travel agencies the brand and ancillary data they need to help travellers make informed decisions other than just the price. Travelport is in a leading position to provide travel agencies with information on ancillary products and other available options to deliver NGS. As the ATPCO standards continue to evolve, Travelport will facilitate exact comparisons across airlines’ full range of products, whether for online agencies, corporate booking tools or Travelport’s own travel agency desktop solution, Smartpoint. The new displays will show different branded categories such as Basic Economy, Standard Economy and Economy Plus in a single display alongside one another, enabling users to select their preferred branded offer for each leg of their journey. Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ) commented, “ITQ through Travelport has always strived hard to provide the best travel …

Multiple entry e-Visa for Malaysia will no longer be available for all Indian National applicants until further notice. As an alternative, applicants would still be able to choose Single Entry Visa (SEV) for 30 days. However, multiple entry e-Visa can  be obtained from VFS. Confirming this, an official at The High Commission of Malaysia said, “The multiple e-Visa facility has been suspended currently for the Indians. This facility will remain discontinued until further notice.”

In a press meet in Delhi, The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) has announced that the screening committee has shortlisted almost 200 foreign buyers for the second edition of the India Tourism Mart (ITM) scheduled from September 23-25. The federation is eying at hosting close to 300 foreign buyers for the mart. Last year, ITM was attended by 244 buyers from 62 countries. This year, FAITH is expecting buyers from 70 countries. Subhash Goyal, Chairman, ITM 2019 and Hony. Secretary, FAITH said, “We are closely looking at inclusivity and quality of buyers this year. The screening and selection process of ITM is very transparent. Out of 829 applications received till date from foreign buyers, we have already shortlisted 199 of them and are under process to screen more. Very soon, we will have the final numbers. We are looking at hosting close to 300 buyers, which will include foreign buyers from newer markets like China and different states of USA.” The three-day tourism mart will be organised at Ashoka hotel, New Delhi and will be inaugurated by tourism minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, while Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Shipping & Transport will be the chief guest.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is working with other ministries to ease the visa regime, as well as address the industry demand to reduce the visa fee and making visa free in lean period. Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, MOT, shared that they have been working with tourism stakeholders and working towards addressing their problems. “As MOT, after understanding the pain points of the industry and various stakeholders, we are in discussion and negotiations with various ministries to see the areas which need further facilitation, which stakeholders need for better promotion of tourism. The issues are related with the visa facilitation process, taxation or financing of the bigger projects We hope certain positive results would come out and when that happens, the respective ministries would announce their decisions,” he said.

The upcoming Tamil Nadu Travel Mart (TTM), scheduled from September 19-22, at Chennai Trade Centre will showcase their products and have business meetings with 1000 plus buyers. The registrations for the same have been opened. The three-day exhibition will witness more than 300 exhibitors showcasing tourism business opportunities in the state along with 1000 domestic and international buyers.

According to the sixth annual Global Travel Forecast, published by CWT and GBTA, India’s strong economic growth is fuelling a greater demand for business travel and driving up prices. Airfares are forecast to increase 5% (in local currency terms; 0% in USD terms), while hotel rates and ground transport prices are expected to climb 6.8% (1.8% in USD terms) and 4.5% (-0.5% in USD terms), respectively. While the global economy is doing well overall – and expected to grow a solid 3.6% in 2020 – a raft of uncertainties are set to put a damper on pricing. “Earlier this year we saw a spike in airfares after Jet Airways ceased its operations in April, so we’re already at a high base in 2019,” said Vishal Sinha, CEO, India, CWT. “With other airlines adding capacity to fill the vacuum, fares have begun to normalize and we expect that to continue next year. However, if the rupee weakens against the dollar, Indian carriers could be faced with bigger fuel bills and we might see that being passed on to travelers.” “Hotel rates are also expected to rise, as the demand for rooms outpaces supply, especially in secondary cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. At the same time, the commercialization of mid-tier properties by players like Oyo are also pushing prices upwards.”