Sanjay Datta, MD, Airborne Travels-Holidays-Meetings-Events, has been elected as the President, Skål Asia. Speaking to Tourism Breaking News, he said, “We have won with an overwhelming majority and we have to live up to the confidence and expectations that people have given us. My agenda is to first put the house in order and improve the communication level. I have already had the first meeting with the board members and we are changing the process. Now all the board members will give a monthly report to all the members. That’s how we will work as a team and will no longer work as individual players. We are all going to be a team and it’s going to be a team effort, which was lacking in the earlier management. It’s a huge challenge for us. We have to work very hard.” Datta was President, Skål Delhi from 2015-2017.

IndiGo has announced new flight cancellation and change charges effective from midnight of June 27 for domestic and international flight booking. The order includes a hike in particular categories by Rs 500, to modifications which are done in a three-day period before the flight’s departure. There is no hike, if a passenger is making the change four or more days in advance of the travel dates. The airline said in a statement, “The revision only applies if the change or cancellation is made within 0-3 days of the travel dates. The charges remain the same in case a passenger is making the change four or more days in advance of the travel dates. For domestic bookings, customers can make any changes or cancellations free of charge within 24 hours of booking, if booked at least 7 days before the travel dates.”

The recently released HVS ANAROCK report estimated addition of 8,574 keys in the market in 2019, which will be nearly 19 per cent rise over the last two years. The first two months of 2019 recorded a staggering all India growth of nearly 11 per cent in RevPAR. The report revealed that in 2018 average rates grew by approximately 6.25 per cent in 2018, unlike in 2017 and 2016 where occupancy was the main driver of growth in RevPAR. In 2018, the industry witnessed an India-wide RevPAR growth of 9.6 per cent over 2017 to arrive at an absolute RevPAR of 3,927. In fact, the report highlighted that the industrywide ADRs in 2018 grew at a rate faster than long-term inflation rate of 4.5%, suggesting that markets are now on a steady path to recovery, even though they have a long way to tread before they can reach levels witnessed during the Boom Period from 2005 to 2008. In Rupee terms however, the 2018 RevPAR is approximately 40 per cent lower than that of the Boom Period, which was even more stark in absolute Dollar terms, where it is approximately 147 per cent lower than the Boom Period.

A recent report by India Brand Equity Foundation on tourism and hospitality revealed that the share of revenues from leisure travel to the total tourism revenue stood around 94.8 per cent in 2018. According to statistics shared in the report, leisure travel spending reached US$ 234.16 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$432.3 billion by 2028. On the other hand, business travel revenues were US$ 12.84 billion in 2018 and are projected to increase to US$ 24.4 billion by 2028.

SpiceJet has recorded the highest Passenger Load Factor amongst all the domestic carriers in India, recording a 93.9 per cent PLF for the month of May, according to recent statistics revealed by DGCA. Closely following this number was GoAir with a PLF of 93.3 per cent, preceding IndiGo at 90.9 per cent. Fourth in line was Air Asia with 87.8 per cent, while Vistara recorded 85.6 per cent, which was followed by Air India at a PLF of 85 per cent.

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has sanctioned the highest number of projects in Uttar Pradesh under its Swadesh Darshan scheme. This number stands at eight with Rs 505.38 cr sanctioned for it. Following close on its heels are Kerala with six sanctioned projects at a budget of Rs 503.83 cr sanctioned for it and an equal number in J&K with Rs 561.45 cr set aside for it, making the state the recipient of the largest dole from MoT under this scheme. At the other end of the spectrum though is Karnataka with zero projects sanctioned under both schemes that were launched in 2014-15. MoT, under its schemes of Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD, provides financial assistance to state governments/Union Territories/Central agencies for developing tourism infrastructure in the country. For this, the state governments and Union Territories administrations regularly submit utilization certificates for the funds released to them by the Ministry based on which the next instalment of funds are released in conformity with the GFRs and the directions issued by the Ministry of Finance from time to time.  

Skål Congress 2019 kick-started in Bengaluru. The event is being held from 27-30 June at Taj MG Road, Bengaluru. The event was inaugurated by Sa Ra Mahesh, Honourable Minister for Sericulture and Tourism, Govt. of Karnataka in presence of Lavonne Wittmann, President, Skål International TK Anil Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Karnataka Tourism and Manoj Mathew, President, SKAL Bengaluru. Speaking on occasion of the inauguration, Manoj Mathew, President, Skål Bangalore said, “Bengaluru among other eloquent sobriquets is one of fastest growing cities in the world, with footprints getting stronger each day with the emergence of high – end technology and a global hub for the start-up bandwagon.   The three-day action-packed event shall see over 250 delegates from across ten countries all aligned to promote friendship and fellowship through the world of tourism. ‘Doing Business among friends’ will help you evolve and nurture relationships to facilitate business among our members. The Congress shall have several opportunities for discerning members to explore opportunities among ourselves.”   He further added “The event will add tremendous value to Karnataka and India Tourism’s marketing effort, where in industry leaders from all over Asia will get rich exposure to the India’s diverse culture and heritage”.    

SpiceJet will commence eight new daily international flights from Mumbai in July, offering connectivity to destinations including Riyadh, Dhaka and Jeddah. The flights on Mumbai-Dhaka-Mumbai route and Mumbai-Riyadh-Mumbai route will start from July 25 and August 15, respectively. Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet, said, “SpiceJet is the only Indian budget airline to operate to Saudi Arabia and our new flights to Riyadh and Jeddah should greatly benefit the thousands of pilgrims travelling from India.”

IndiGo has commenced operations on 6 new connections including 4 RCS routes Kolkata-Prayagraj, Prayagraj-Kolkata, Raipur-Prayagraj and Prayagraj-Raipur. The new routes will be serviced by an ATR aircraft.  These new flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options. The introduction of these flights will further bolster the airline’s connectivity in the Tier II cities with fares starting from INR 1,999. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “As part of our continued focus to enhance point-to-point connectivity, we are pleased to commence operations on these six routes connecting Kolkata, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Raipur and Jabalpur. By linking regional centres of growth to metropolitan cities, we are aiming to support trade, tourism and mobility, to fulfil our larger objective of augmenting social cohesion and economic growth in the country.”   Mr. Boulter further added, “IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice to our customers along with on-time, affordable, courteous and hassle-free flying experience while building the best air transportation system in the world.”

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA), the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the first airline in the Middle East and Africa Region to receive the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Level 4 New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification. The ‘New Distribution Capability’ is a functionality used by the travel trade for booking air travel for individual and group bookings. It enables travel professionals to access content such images of the inflight cabin; add ancillary products, such as WiFi packages, excess baggage, and more. SAUDIA has deployed the Offer and IATA One Order Certified Order Management Solution from the vendor TPConnects, along with NDC enabled distribution to Travel Agents and Online Travel Agents. TPConnects OfrMS is integrated on top of the assets (Passenger Service System, Frequent Flyer Programme etc) as part of SAUDIA’s strategy in pushing offers including air and non-air ancillaries along with flights, both bundle and a la carte. SAUDIA Vice President, Sales, Mr. Richard Nuttall commented on the recent certification: “Level 4 is the highest NDC certification that includes adoption of additional servicing messages to support reshopping and changing orders. The airline provides the ability to execute Offer and Order Management, which means that Travel Agents integrated with SAUDIA are directly able to easily access the products that are available on the airline’s website, thereby providing a consistent shopping experience for the guests from the travel trade, similarly to the way guests book on the saudia.com website. Continued Mr. Nuttall: “With the support from a number of aggregators and travel agencies, the NDC initiative at SAUDIA is on a path from the early days of experimentation to presently operating full-scale in full force. We are targeting …