The upcoming Tamil Nadu Travel Mart (TTM), scheduled from September 19-22, at Chennai Trade Centre, will have a parallel event- Tamil Nadu Medical Travel Mart, in association with Health Department Government of Tamil Nadu. The event will reiterate the importance of Tamil Nadu in the medical value travel sector. India has the finest and one of the largest pools of doctors and paramedics in South Asia, with many of them being of global repute. India’s expertise in highly specialized areas of organ transplants, orthopaedics, cardiology, oncology, neurology etc. has made the country an emerging hotspot for Medical Value Travel (MVT). The three-day conference and exhibition would also have B2B meetings. The two-day conference would focus on not only making Tamil Nadu as preferred Medical Tourism destination (In terms of safety, quality, cost and clinical excellence), but also health insurance; role of healthcare facilitator; role of Government to promote MVT; challenges in health Insurance & MVT; regulations in MVT (VISA Liberalisation Policy); importance of cultural competency / support services in international patient care (language, food, transport); and the future of telemedicine & MVT.

As per data released by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), GoAir posted 86.8% On Time Performance, the highest among scheduled domestic airlines. The airline has also carried 13.3 lakh passengers during the same month. The airline also clocked highest load factor of 94%.

Neeraj Malhotra, Co-founder and CEO, Ganpati Travels has been re-elected as the Chairman, Northern Region, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Gaurav Dogra, Founder, Plan Your Holiday was re-elected as the Hony. Secretary uncontested. Manish Saxena, Executive Director, Century Travels is the new Hony. Treasurer. The election was conducted at Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi. On being declared the Chairman, Malhotra said, “I am thankful for the members in the region to come in big numbers and vote for me. I am truly overwhelmed and I will be continuing my pursuit to educate the members of the region, and bring technology to them to boost their businesses.”  

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and VFS Global has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 19 July with the common objective of providing easier access to Georgia for travellers who intend to visit for tourism and business while improving the integrity of the visa and admission process. The MoU also ensures that foreign students travelling to Georgia on study visas have the right credentials, academic ability, financial capability and intent. The MoU also intend to help Georgian Educational Institutions improve the quality of their foreign students and to make Georgia an attractive study destination besides increasing the flow of travellers to experience the heritage of Georgia and have the opportunity to explore what Georgia has to offer.

According to DGCA, passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-June 2019 were 706.80 lakhs as against 684.83 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 3.21%. However, the air traffic in the month of June alone rose by 6% surpassing May’s growth which was registered at 3%. According to DGCA, the passenger load factor in the month of Jun 2019 has shown marginally increasing trend compared to previous month due to ongoing tourist season.

The central government has proposed Metrolite, a light urban rail transit system, for small cities and towns having lower projection of ridership. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has issued standard specifications of the ‘Metrolite’ system which will be developed on surface and elevated stretches. With each train having three coaches and a restricted speed of 25 kmph, Metrolite will have capacity of carrying 300 passengers. According to the ministry, Metrolite, which can be developed at a lower cost in comparison with existing metro system, will also act as feeder system to high capacity Metro. The ministry stated that metro rail system being developed at present is of high capacity which is required for bigger cities with very high ridership. The metrolite system will have a dedicated path separating the road traffic with it. Sources told the PTI that government would provide financial assistance to states to implement the light urban rail transit system.

After the conclusion of the travel season, EBIXCASH World Money has now launched an exclusive campaign for the ongoing season aimed at aspiring students planning to study abroad for the fall. Titled ‘Ready to Study Forex Fest’ the campaign will allow them to pay/remit their university fees using EBIXCASH. The company also has exciting prizes for lucky winners. The campaign will last from July 18, 2019 to September 30, 2019. It is aimed at students aspiring to study overseas this season and it will be eligible for university fee remittance/card purchase  with EBIXCASH World Money. Offers include free ISIC Cards, assured prize on every remittance/payment, daily prize of travel accessories worth INR 10,000, weekly prize of L-care smart watches, monthly prize of American Tourister luggage bags and a mega prize of five laptops which will be given to lucky students.

Air Tanzania has launched its maiden direct flight from Dar es Salaam to Mumbai. This is the seventh international route for the airline and the first outside Africa. ATCL’s recently acquired Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner  departed the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) Terminal-III in Dar es Salaam for Mumbai at 7.30pm local time and arrived into India early morning. Passengers on the flight included a huge delegation from Tanzania including the minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Isaak Kamwelwe, senior government officials, ATCL staff and local journalists. Commenting on the developments, Kamwelwe expressed optimism that the new route would help in cutting the time spent by passengers who had to connect through Nairobi, Dubai and South Africa. Ladislaus Matindi, Managing Director, ATCL, said that a return ticket is available at what he termed the ‘entry’ price of $378.

Giving further fillip to Regional Connectivity in the country, 8 more routes became functional under UDAN. These routes include Mysore-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Mysore, Goa- Mysore, Mysore-Goa, Cochin-Mysore, Mysore-Cochin, Kolkata-Shillong. Shillong-Kolkata. With this, the total UDAN  routes Operational as on date increased to 194 routes.  

Around 39 per cent of branded hotel signings in 2018 were seen in Tier III cities, which was higher than that of Tier I cities (29 per cent) and Tier II cities (32 per cent), according to a recent HVS ANAROCK report. The report stated that rapid urbanisation in the country, is increasingly making Tier 3 markets more relevant in the eyes of the hotel brands, who are witnessing nearly a third of their new hotel signings emerge from them, despite hotels being much smaller than those located in Tier 1 markets. This is also happening on account of newer Hotel Management companies setting shop as also the smaller ones looking to grow rapidly through franchise or management agreement of smaller standalone hotels in Tier II and III cities.