The second Vande Bharat Express, which will run on the Delhi-Katra route, is expected to commence operations in August, significantly reducing travel time between the two destinations by four hours. In a bid to capitalise on the high-traffic volume due to the Vaishno Devi temple pilgrimage, the train will run three days a week, every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, which may later be extended up to five. It will leave Delhi at 6:00 am and reach Katra at 2:00 pm; on its return journey, it will leave Katra the same day at 3:00 pm and reach Delhi at 11:00 pm. The train will make short, two-minute stops at Ambala, Ludhiana, and Jammu Tawi before reaching Katra. Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express is also expected to have more space for passengers as well as food storage than its earlier version, which began operating between Delhi and Varanasi in February this year.

With one boutique hotel in Phaltan, Maharashtra which is dedicated to sustainable hospitality, Jakson Hospitality has now opened its second property called ‘The Tiger Groove in Jim Corbett’ and expect to put the same values into its new offering so that it grows up to influence all its stakeholder similarly. Sandeep Talaulicar, Managing Director, Jakson Hospitality, says, “We look forward to repositioning the Tiger Groove into a wilderness resort that creates memories for everyone that sleeps and eats in its arms. This is the dream on which we plan to build this hotel.” Located in the Kyari forest of Jim Corbett, ‘The Tiger Groove Corbett’ is positioned as a Jakson Resort and categorised under the mid-market segment. It is located 8km from Ramnagar and set almost 6km into the forest which makes one feel completely connected with nature. Built on three acres, the hotel has 50 rooms across five variants including luxury cottages that sleep four per cottage. The resort has a coffee shop, a swimming pool, a games area, a party hub, lawns that can host 500 pax, a banquet hall measuring 4,500sq feet and a host of adventure activities ranging from safaris to treks, biking, nature walks, para motor gliding, rock-climbing, rappelling, river crossing, etc.  

In a bid to promote India as a heritage tourism destination, MakeMyTrip has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for allowing hassle-free online booking for 116 historical monuments and sites across India. The agreement offers an online booking gateway to world heritage and well-known monuments under the protection of ASI including Taj Mahal, Red fort, Qutub Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, Khajuraho Temple, Charminar, Golconda Fort among others. This would help travel enthusiasts to plan their itinerary, with detailed information about the monument including its history and significance and other relevant details such as timings, connectivity and access, and facilities available on site. The partnership between ASI and MakeMyTrip is a collaborative effort between tourism stakeholders to effectively promote India’s rich heritage tourism. Deep Kalra, Founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip said, “India has so much to offer in terms of its rich cultural heritage and there is a long distance that we have to cover to showcase the best that India has to offer to the world. We are thrilled to partner with Archaeological Survey of India to help make it convenient for travellers and delight them with the ease of planning and booking their visit online to these heritage monuments. This partnership will provide world class e-ticket booking service to help travellers plan in advance and eliminate hassle of standing in long queues, saving time and effort by booking online through our platform.

Raki Phillips, a hospitality veteran, has been appointed as CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA). Phillips, who took over since June 2019, brings to the table wide-ranging industry experience, which will aid Ras Al Khaimah’s goal of becoming one of the fastest growing destinations in the world. According to RAKTDA Phillips’ appointment heralds the beginning of a new phase of tourism development for the Emirate. He will be responsible for implementing the authority’s recently announced Destination Strategy 2019-2021, which aims to attract 1.5 million visitors to the Emirate by 2021 and 3 million by 2025. In his new role, Phillips will also be supervising key projects, with notable development projects on Jebel Jais including multiple zip lines, adventure park hiking trails, the Bear Grylls Survival Academy and a luxury camp. Phillips, an American national, is fluent in Arabic and has been working in the Middle East since 2005 and specifically in the UAE since 2007. Prior to joining RAKTDA, he was working for the Dubai-based International Hospitality Consulting Group INHOCO, where he was Senior Partner and Senior Vice President of Development. Phillips is also the co-founder and CEO of Dubai’s first online dessert delivery bakery, SugarMoo Desserts, and co-founder of Earth Hotels, a sustainable, tech-savvy and design-centric hotel concept. Phillips has previously worked for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Universal Studios Orlando. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an MBA in Organisational Management.

Winners of the 2019 PATA Grand and Gold Awards were recently revealed by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). It has been announced that Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, will be presented the PATA Gold Award 2019 for Marketing – Primary Government Destination for its ‘Find the Incredible You’ campaign. The awards will be handed over at the 2019 PATA Gold Awards Dinner and Award Presentation in Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan, during PATA Travel Mart 2019. This year’s awards attracted 197 entries from 78 organisations and individuals worldwide, and winners were selected by an independent judging committee. Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said, “On behalf of PATA, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to all the 2019 Grand and Gold Award winners, as well as all of this year’s participants for their submissions. I look forward to celebrating the accomplishment of this year’s winners who truly represent the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.”

The Gujarat government is working to take out a heritage tourism policy, while focusing on attracting foreign tourists, said Jenu Devan, Managing Director & Commissioner of Tourism, Gujarat Tourism. He also said that the state has registered 14 per cent growth in the number of tourists in 2018-19. “In 2016-17, tourists’ inflow was 4.48 crore and the same went up to almost 5.8 crore in 2018-19. The annual growth rate was 14 per cent. With the trend of increasing tourists’ footfalls, we are expecting that tourist inflow should cross six crore in the current fiscal. About six lakh foreign tourists visit the state last year. The state is preparing a heritage tourism policy and approval for this will come shortly. At present, there are 33 heritage properties. With the implementation of the policy, more of such properties will come within tourism map” said Devan. He also said that two prominent tourist sites – Somnath and Dholavira – would be developed into iconic tourism destinations as a part of the Central government’s Swadesh Darshan Scheme.

In a bid to expand its footprint in India, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts has plans to come up with 16 new properties by the end of 2019. With this move, it will be adding approximately 970 rooms to its current portfolio. As of now, the company has 6,000 rooms and manages three properties overseas and has a total of 73 hotels in the country. The upcoming hotels will be categorised under three brands— Sarovar Premiere, Sarovar Portico and Hometel Suites. These hotels will be located in multiple destinations which include Goa, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Udaipur, Junagadh, Dahisar, Dibrugarh, Morbi, Jammu, Bodh Gaya, and Dindi, among others. Amongst the 16 hotels, the majority will be under the Sarovar Portico brand, the hotel at Dahisar will be Hometel Suites brand while the property at Bodh Gaya will be under the Sarovar Premiere brand.

Hahn Air has announced the addition of eight new airlines into its global network of more than 350 air, rail and shuttle companies in the second quarter of 2019. With the new additions, the total number of new partners for this year becomes 22. According to a statement by Hahn Air, six of the newly integrated partners are expanding their distribution reach by using the Hahn Air product HR-169 and thereby making their flights available to travel agents on the Hahn Air HR-169 ticket. The following airlines can now be issued under their own two-letter-codes in selected GDSs: Air Greenland (GL), Air North (4N) from Canada, Cyprus Airways (CY), the Chinese carrier Donghai Airlines (DZ), the Russian airline Nordwind Airlines (N4) and MyWay Airlines (ML) from Georgia. In addition, Neos Airlines (NO) from Italy and Lao Skyway (LK) from Laos became new H1-Air partners of Hahn Air’s sister company Hahn Air Systems. Their flights can therefore be booked by 100.000 travel agents in 190 markets in all major GDSs under the designator H1 and be issued on the HR-169 ticket. Steve Knackstedt, Vice President of the Airline Business Group at Hahn Air, said, “We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of our ticketing business this year. Our partner portfolio has grown from five to more than 350 partners since 1999 and we have continuously developed our distribution services. Today, we offer airlines of any size and any business model tailor-made solutions for all their distribution needs. By forming an HR-169 agreement with Hahn Air, airlines that have already at least one GDS agreement in place can unlock secondary markets for indirect ticket sales. Airlines without GDS connections can outsource their complete …

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport in Indore gets its first international flight to Dubai on Air India on July 15. Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, has informed that the nonstop flight will be operating a 162-seater A320 Neo aircraft, which will fly directly to Dubai on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and would return from Dubai on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. There will be 150 economy and 12 business class seats in the aircraft. The starting fares are Rs 18,700 (return fare) on economy and the return fare for the business class will be Rs 42,000. Lohani said, “Air India will launch the first international flight from Indore to Dubai. The non-stop flight will fulfill a long-standing desire from the travel fraternity and tourists for direct connectivity to the Gulf.”

The sixth edition of the Travel Wedding Show that took place over two days in Mumbai at the Westin Mumbai Garden City on July 13-14,  2019, recorded a whopping 1922 meetings in total.  Day one saw 31 exhibitors interact with 31 wedding planners over pre-scheduled table-top meetings, showcasing their offerings that would interest the growing wedding market. The second day followed a similar pattern but with tour operators, who also do weddings. The show managed to bring out some interesting trends emerging in the wedding segment. The first day’s session ended with a power-packed panel discussion where industry experts deliberated on why Indian weddings are going international. This was moderated by Rajeev Jain, Director, Rashi Entertainment and the speakers included Sanjay Rai, EVP- Sales, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts; Emree Kirazci, Director of Sales & Marketing, Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thalassa Sea & Spa; Udaya Bhattarai, Senior Assistant Manager, Nepal Tourism Board; and Tekla Maira, Director, Luxury Sales, Accor Hotel Luxe, AccorHotels.